Sazen Tea
Kiyo No Mori - Marukyu Koyamaen Matcha
Reviewed July 2021
About Sazen: Sazen Tea is a tea distributing company based in Kyoto, Japan. In 2014, Sazen was founded by a couple who initially met and fell in love in Hungry. Among many things, Motonari Jotatsu is a Japanese tea instructor and Agnes Balogh is a Urasenke tea artist.
Sazen offers a wide variety of high quality teas, matcha, and teaware. At the time of this review, Sazen offered matcha from 5 distinct tea producers. With such an abundant inventory, it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out which matcha to purchase.
Why buy from Sazen instead of the tea manufacturers? I found that Sazen offers an unbeatable online shopping experienced when compared to the tea producers them selves. The price was identical at Sazen as it was directly through the manufacturer.
Kiyo No Mori matcha is from Marukyu Koyamaen (MK), a tea grower, producer, and blender also located in Kyoto. Their tea estate dates back to 1704, when Kyujiro Koyama began growing green tea in Ogura, Uji. MK combines old tradition and modern farming techniques to produce a highly regarded product.
About Blend: The name of this blend translates to mean "The Forest of Purity" (清 Kiyo = Clean, pure; 森 Mori = Forest). It is favored by Koshin Sokei, the 12th generation grand tea master of the Enshuryu tea school. It is renowned by Sazen for being creamy and rich with umami.
Price: Approximately $ 9.89 for 20g plus shipping cost as it is being shipped to you directly from Japan. The shipping cost will likely exceed the cost of the blend.
Kiyo No Mori Matcha Review
Scent: Deep, rich, forest like scent with bright fruity notes.
Color: A bright green powder and liquor, which reflect a fresh, healthy, and high quality matcha. pints 5
Foam: This blend makes beautiful crema, with perfect micro-foam and perfect texture. For comparison, the froth doesn’t form as quickly as with Eiju from Sazen, but it is considered perfect by my standards. Points 5
Taste: This was an incredibly fun blend to experiment with, as it is lends itself well to usucha and koicha. It is not heat sensitive, meaning it does not turn bitter with hot water temperatures, which makes it perfect for beginners or people in a rush.
The flavor chart is based on a usucha preparation. As usucha, the first note to hit my palate was a light roasted flavor of cocoa, followed by an unsual oceanic umami that slowly unfolds from start to finish. At the end of the sip a tingling like mineral note kicks in (think pop rock candy), giving the blend an earthiness and a bit of heaviness to the flavor. It is very low in astringency and has a nice creaminess. A brief tasting of tarragon and spinach can be spotted mid-sip. Lastly, a light sweetness of oats can be detected in the long finish of this blend.
As koicha, the blend can be compared to a melted dark chocolate bar. Notes of vanilla and zinc dance together, then disperse into a lovely umami and spinach finish.
Given the full-bodied flavors of this blend I was surprised that much of the flavor interest disappeared in a latte. Points 4
Final Score: 4.7 out of 5 points
Thoughts: For the quality of this blend, this price is unbeatable. Yes, if you live outside of Japan you will have to pay a high shipping fee, but compared to many companies that offer a similar grade matcha in the USA, even with the additions of shipping costs, this price is the best value.
As far as comparing blends, if you liked Ippodo’s Ummon-No-Makashi you might find Kiyo-No-Mori of interest as well. In fact, I prefer it. Because this is a full-bodied blend, it will likely not suite beginners, but will be thoroughly enjoyed by more expert drinkers or those who enjoy the extremes of oceanic flavors. Due to the unusual mineral like tasting note, this blend is flavorfully stimulating and though provoking, at least for us matcha nerds. This blend is designed for and I think best experienced as a thin tea. I would definitely try it again, but if you prefer something a bit more smooth or would rather drink koicha, Eiju from Marukyo Koyamaen is an all time favorite.
