558 Tasting Notes
Haven’t had this in quite a long time. Needed something green and sweet after dinner tonight, and this did the trick. Steeped 4 tsp in 175ish water for 2 minutes and poured over ice. Iced this has quite the vegetal/hay flavor I like to avoid, maybe a few fresh lemon slices would make it go down faster…but I have no lemons. I can taste the lightly sweet cherry but the grassy green overpowers it. Not bad, just not great. I won’t change the rating as I remember liking this a bit more hot.
This is a perfect rainy evening tea. I already love 52teas Bai Mu Dan base (black currant with it was wonderful). This is just as wonderful. The cinnamon pieces and clove give great flavor to this white tea. The pear is soft and well blended with the spices. I think I will infuse this a bit longer with slightly hotter water next time to see if I can get a stronger flavor from it, as it was quite light. As it is cooling down (and now near cold) it has become more flavorful. This could be a great iced tea….might have to place a 2nd order this week.
Is the special good for buying 6 bags get 2 free? I’ve already ordered 3 and might just cave for 3 more if there is more of this left. Gave several samples out before I reviewed it myself.
Preparation
I have never had a white chai like tea- I’m definitely getting this at some point. I’m not sure… I thought it said 1 per customer. There’s a REALLY good chance I could be wrong though.
I bet it was one per customer. That’s fine…I should probably make room in my cupboard first….it’s over flowing into the food section of the cupboard. Too many boxed teas and samples taking up precious space in there.
This and Teavana’s Spice of Life white are great chai like white teas, both naturally sweet.
Meghann, didn’t you know tea is a plant so it’s a vegetable just like lettuce. And if you drink it from a bowl it’s considered soup, especially if it has a savory ingredient. How’s that for rationalization?:)
I’m a tea failure today. I attempted to make stovetop chai per samovars stovetop recipe. I brought filtered water to a roiling boil, added chai, rock sugar and black tea leaves. It boiled beautifully and made my apartment smell wonderful. I grabbed my milk from the fridge and poured out a huge glob of milk. Looked at the expiration date and it was only two days past. Sigh. Dumped it all started again. Got the leaves and sugar mix out and le it boil five minutes and figure I’ll pour in some chocolate soy I picked up. Checked the expiration date and it is goo until December as it had not been opened. Added some soy and simmered while stirring. Everything smelled so good my mouth was watering. I strained my tea into my 16oz glass mug, rinsed out the strainer and watched the milk as it curdled.
Atvthis point I give up and am enjoying a can of diet coke:-(
I won’t “like” this because that is so terrible! Have you ever been able to make stovetop chai before? There’s a thread on the forums here that has several different recipes for making stovetop chai. I believe it is just called “Chai” or something like that.
OH NO! I’ve never had more than 1 milk disaster in one day. When things like this happen I go for something non tea as well. A.) Cuz I’m too frazzled and know I will screw up again and B.) to punish myself lol.
I felt so bad for wasting so many tablespoons of leaves. And to top it off we just bought groceries tonight and I didn’t’t get milk because I thought I had another weeks worth. I think I’ll be drinking my chai and teas plain for the next week to punish myself. I think this makes my case for needing the breville tea maker:-). Although I’m still not sure I can convince my husband.
A sad day indeed. Hope tomorrow brings you better luck.
YES! Breville! And maybe a cow so you always have fresh milk LOL!
LOL @Coftea, well I do live in IL farm country so a cow isn’t too far out of the picture. I just wouldn’t know what to do with one as I’m quite the city girl. Hopefully I can find Breville at a local Bed,Bath and Beyond or Williams Sonoma. I want to see it in person.
A ‘glob of milk’. Ew. D:
That is the saddest tea story I’ve heard in awhile :(
Oh, honey. That’s just so sad. You definitely need the Breville.
You could always do a cost/benefit analysis for your hubby. “See, sweetie, I mess up my tea and waste $XX dollars a week. In XX weeks, this would pay for itself in the cost of saved tea.”
Or you could tell him what my mom tells my dad: “It makes me happy, and anything that makes me happy helps keep me from annoying you.”
That is a sad. sad tea story :(
LOL Jaime, you rationalize as good as I do!:)
I’ve got skills like that. I’m also the queen of “well, if you don’t get it now, then it might not be there when you come back for it” and the “donate and upgrade.”
Jaime-thanks for giving me another good line, I love the “it makes me happy” line your mother uses.
Today is a better day, cranberry matcha smoothy made with only the tools of a scoop, vanilla yogurt and some mixed berries in my magic bullet. Had to go the easiest route possible, short of stopping at starbucks.
Yay for matcha smoothies!
I just love the aroma of the wet leaves (tea bag) in this tea. It is so deliciously like black raspberries taste. I can’t wait to pick up the loose leaf version next time I make a trip to whole foods. Wish we had more tea stores by me, but all I have is one coffee shop that sells Republic’s traveler’s tins, which is what I got of this :)
My first ever matcha experience! And I get to try Franks flavored matcha’s thanks to AmazonV!
I tried using 1/4 tsp with 6 oz water that was 180F and whisked it with my metal wisk. The matcha almost instantly blended with the water into this deep olive green. I smell a faint cranberry with the green tea, but like Cofftea, I can’t find the flavor in the hot matcha. There is a slightly sweet flavor, which could be from the cranberry flavor. I may have to try this with cold water, or in a smoothy, or some of the other ways matcha can be had.
I can’t even find it w/ 1tsp/8oz… that’s a bit of matcha! But yay for 1st matcha experiences! Are you going to take advantage of his special and buy a (or 3 lol) full pouch?
oops I meant tiny bit, but obviously my effort to make tiny tiny in size made it disappear.
I think I will take advantage of the sale, as long as some of the teas I enjoy are available Friday!
First matcha experience was alright…I think I may get some OJ tomorrow to try James Bond style. Have you tried it with cold water at all? Or any Matcha with just cold water? Curious to see if that would work James Bond style.
I have… and it’s just not my thing. A flavored SoBe Lifewater is pretty good- although that’s sweetened and I feel the need to add lemon or lime juice and matcha just to make it not too sweet. On the flip side it makes a great flavored matcha lemonade. You could also make a frozen lemonade (or limeade which is what I prefer) by using plain matcha and blending it w/ frozen unsweetened fruit in place of ice. Mom bought me a regular size bottle of Raspberry V8 Fusion + tea so I’m gonna add matcha to that a bit later. Stay tuned for that:)
I am surprised that you’re not getting the cranberry. I get a lot of cranberry flavor in my chawan!
@liberteas, how much matcha do you use per what quantity of water? Maybe I’m not using enough per liquid. I can’t wait to see how the flavor comes out in the banana and apple. I may have to combine cranberry apple as I loved Ocean Spray’s cran-apple light. I think I may get a chasen soon too…so much tea ware I’d like to purchase…
Idk how much LiberTEAS uses, but I use 1tsp/8oz water for flavored matchas… I’m actually shocked you get any flavor at all out of that tiny amount:)
I think I actually used a 1/2 teaspoon. I couldn’t find one that was smaller like the matcha scoops seemed to be. I think I’ll experiment after work this afternoon if I’m not too exhausted.
Meh. I think this steeped for too long. On the bag they recommend 5 minutes but don’t give a temperature. I did five minutes at 175 and got a cedar colored tea with a slight pink tinge. Taste wise it is a light slightly tart berry with a strong white tea taste. I think I need to play around with this some more.
Upon first sniff I knew this wasn’t the green tea for me. I don’t enjoy vegetable greens. Smells like asparagus and tart apple. So NOT my tea. The apple made me want to try it. The sip confirmed that it wasn’t my style. Adding to the swap pile.
