709 Tasting Notes
So, for my third or fourth (but final!) pot of tea for the day, the beau and I have chosen Night Out. This is a treat that we ration, since the tea was discontinued at some point in the fall when I wasn’t looking. We’ve got something in the ballpark of a half tin left, but this beauty packs a punch, so luckily we can be selfish and use only 1 or 2 teaspoons to a full pot.
As always it steeps up a pale pinkish shade, and has a delightful aroma and taste. I get an oatty sort of smell from the dry leaves, but I get a lot of apple flavour from the tea itself. Sort of a baked apple sort of taste. To an extent, this is what I wish David’s Tea’s Baked Apple tastes like.
Anyway, this pot only enhanced with time. Really delicious, though I have yet to truly experience the promised side effects. I think! : )
Preparation
Hello old friend…
A long standing favourite. Historically, it is my favourite lemon tea, but I don’t know where I stand on that now. I’ve only just realized it has green rooibos in it. That makes three teas I own with green rooibos that I didn’t realize.
I just took a lemon meringue ppie out of the oven, and thought a pot of this would hold me over until it’s cool enough to properly enjoy. The dry smell is a rather sharp lemon, and it’s a beautiful tea to look at…if you like lemongrass, etc. It steeps up a fairly vivid yellow – This tea never lets you forget that it’s loaded with lemon. Much like 52Teas Lemolicious, but obviously without the guayusa taste.
The steeped smell is spot on lemon…But the tartness of lemon. I suppose it could be easily compared to lemon cleaners, but that’s an authentic lemon smell to me, so what can I say?
The actual lemon taste is not so tart as the smell would lead you to believe. I find this a nice smooth lemon tea, and a great precursor to my lemon meringue!
Preparation
Interesting thought, to sneak some green rooibos into an essentially lemon tea. When did green rooibos hit the market, anyway? I’ve only recently heard of it, and I’m curious as to when it emerged. I will ask you instead of Google, because well, why not? :P
I really don’t know. I don’t know anythign about it, actually, other than that it seems like people who don’t like red rooibos often like or don’t mind green. I think KeenTeaThyme also doesn’t get headaches from green rooibos, but does from red. What a difference oxidization makes!
Green rooibos is a recent addition for adagio it seems, or at least their green rooibos sampler pack is. It definitely has less wood to its taste and my wife who can’t stand red rooibos really likes a lot of the green rooibos teas. I’ve never had one with lemon that I can think of but I could see where the green rooibos would mix well with it. I would expect a malty undercurrent added to something that was pure lemon…
Green rooibos has a much cleaner and lighter taste than red roobios, and, if blended, does not dominate as red rooibos often does. Drinking them solo. the difference really is comparable to green vs black tea. I love green rooibos. I have less and less patience with red rooibos these days.
I really liked red rooibos. I think I still do…but I’m getting tired of it. I think I’m going through another tea cycle. : )
Ah, I see! Color me wary on red rooibos as well; I have tried it several times, and each time, flavored or not flavored, I am left thinking, in a word, “Yikes.” There’s a certain amount of guilt involved there, though, heh. I always feel like my palate isn’t developed or hardy enough when I admit to disliking the “tobacco underbelly” of rooibos. (Caveat: a dash of Adagio’s rooibos vanilla chai in a blend can be pretty darn tasty, but I suspect that’s because the chai spices cover up the malty/woodiness of the rooibos.)
Is green rooibos just an Adagio thing? That’s where I first heard of it, too, but I wonder if this new infusion comes from a new-fangled plant (i.e., one that was bred to produce this tea recently) or … uh, an old-fangled one (i.e., one that has been producing green rooibos for many moons, but we just haven’t heard of it before). Maybe green rooibos should be next on my trial list, since everyone is in agreement about its marked difference!
Thanks for the food (drink?) for thought!
Green rooibos is a global thing…my green rooibos teas are from david’s tea, they’ve got a surprising number of them. From what I understand it’s from the same plant as red, but dealt with in a different way. Lezz oxidization? more? Something like that!
I believe it is less oxidization based upon what I’ve read somewhere. That being said in a quick search I can’t find the “somewhere” that I read it!
Here’s what davidstea.com says about green rooibos:
“When South African rooibos is quickly withered and steamed to prevent oxidation, it retains its green colour. The benefit? Studies are showing that green rooibos has more antioxidants – making it comparable to green tea. So it may be better at preventing cancer, slowing the aging process and all those other great things that red rooibos is known for. Plus it has a light, fresh taste all its own.” (http://www.davidstea.com/rooibos/green-rooibos-organic, accessed 16 March 2011.)
That’s interesting, since there seems to be constant debate about whether red rooibos or green tea have more antioxidants…If green rooibos has more than red rooibos, then it would presumably have more than green tea!
Of course, but then I find a website claiming that white teas has the most with up to five times as much as green tea. Gah. (http://ezinearticles.com/?Antioxidants—-Foods-High-In-Antioxidants-Include-Loose-Leaf-Tea&id=757228)
We need more scientific studies! I have seen something quoted that claimed white had more antioxidants than green tea as well. No idea who funded that study, if it happened to be white tea growers…
I guess the only consensus is that black doesn’t have the most..
But hey, it’s all good in the end. Even a cup of Tetley (blech!) doses you up with good stuff.
The beau and I made a very delicious pot of this to enjoy. We’ve been playing Sonic on the PS3 and drinking Very Merry Berry for the past hour or two…a fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Today we had one giant blueberry and a giant blackberry in our tea…they flavoured up the mix quite nicely. We also got at least 4 12 oz cups out of only 1 tsp of tea. Yay!
Preparation
Mmm… One of my favourite fruit teas from David’s. At one point, we had this one, Berry Up and Xanadu at the same time. Now Xanada is gone and this is almost gone too…A nice treat, very juicy and fragrant. As with most berry teas, I have trouble distinguishing one berry over another, but I get a bit of tartness – Maybe the blackberry? Yum!
Preparation
Had a second steep of this for breakfast, since it was conveniently already chilling out in the teapot. The flavours were more muted this morning, but it was still a nice soothing lemon with smooth (and interesting!) flavours. The smell is always a little weird from the guayusa, but this is a great tea.
I enjoyed a cup of this with the beau after work today. Our package is half empty (It’s the beau’s favourite) but luckily we ordered another today. That, and 4 or 5 other things. Whoops! Tea buying ban thrown out the window. Oh well!
Anyway, I think I shall increase my rating of these tea. For one reason or another, I found this much more smooth and delicious than last time. I’ve been assured it will make a great second steep later as well. The lemon is the dominant flavour, but not the sharp tart lemon that one might expect from a tea with lemon verbena, balm, rind, myrtle, etc. It’s quite smooth and extremely palatable with a slight “earthy” taste from the guayusa. I am still at a loss to explain the guayusa taste.. :)
A nice relaxing cuppa for the afternoon. Wish I were at home with my beautiful mugs and my loose tea collection, but Twinings bagged Lady Grey isn’t the worst thing that could happen. :)
what would you say are the diferences between reg earl grey and "lady Grey??
More lemon flavour and citurs flavour in this than bergamot, if that makes sense. It seems more crisp to me.
“but Twinings bagged Lady Grey isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”
I find that to be the case with most of their teas, infact there are some I just plain enjoy. This one included.
I haven’t had too many of them, but I really enjoy this one and their blackcurrant. I LOVE that one.
Really enjoying this right now. For a bagged tea, this is phenomenal. Today I have a strong lemon flavour, a hint of ginger and significantly more mint. I can feel the coolness of the mint on my tongue and almost taste it. Delicious to sip, relax, unwind and enjoy.
