110 Tasting Notes
I bought this bagged for iced tea, which is very handy. This is delicious iced – sweet, fragrant and complex. Even though I live in the Land of Sweet Tea, I felt this needed no sweetening at all. I used one bag for 1 quart, and resteeped it to make a second quart. The resteep was also excellent.
Preparation
I ordinarily don’t care much for flavored teas. And, I’m not a big fan of many green teas either.
I love this tea.
The coconut flavor is mild and very natural tasting, and does not overwhelm the bright, grassy notes of the green tea. So often coconut flavored teas have a very harsh in-your-face I’m-meant-to-taste-like-coconut-but-really-taste-like-the-product-of-a-chemical-lab sort of flavor. The ginger is a gentle sort of zing that tickles the palate in passing. Harney’s ginger oolong is one of my favorite teas, and now it has competition. I think this will have to become a cupboard staple, as I don’t want to think about running out.
Preparation
After one sip of this tea, it is clear to me why the British Isles have not been successfully invaded since the introduction of tea. It makes a really muscular cuppa that will jolt me awake in the morning. Very strong Assam flavor, dark brown color and heavy on the caffeine. I drink my first cup of the morning with milk and sugar, and this tea is plenty robust enough to stand up to it. After the second cup, I am ready for anything!
Preparation
I think I may have mentioned before that I love mint. I do. I really love mint.
So, this tea makes me really, really happy. Just opening the pouch and sniffing the fresh scent of it makes my whole day. Since I bought it earlier today, I have not been drinking it so much as actually swilling it.
Since I love mint so much, why not just drink straight mint tea, you ask? Because the gunpowder green tea adds a richness and complexity that makes mint so much better. It’s a light, buttery note that adds sweetness to the mint. A match made in heaven. A marriage of true soulmates. It makes a really, really good tea.
Preparation
The scent of the leaf is bold and winy – it reminded me of opening a bottle of a good dry red wine.
The liquor is dark and red. The flavor is very bold, and I taste mostly Assam with some overtones of Ceylon and something else. Very little bitterness, and the fermented grape smell persists after brewing.
Preparation
If you live in the South, you are familiar with the muscadine grape, or scuppernongs, as they start making an appearance in the grocery stores and farm markets about now. They are rather alien looking, as they are perfectly round and very large, and have this incredibly thick, tough skin. They also have the oddest flavor – very sweet, musky like a cantaloupe, but with a tannic, rather bitter bite.
This tea reminds me strongly of fresh muscadines. Which is a good thing. And which reminds me – since the muscadines are coming in, it’s time to put up some scuppernong jelly. Which would taste wonderful on toast, with a cup of this tea.
This may be the tea that reconciles me to bancha. The color is green-gold, and the aroma is grassy with just a hint of rose. The taste is fresh and light, with just a hint of sweetness. I steeped for just about 2 minutes, and there is only a tiny hint of bitterness. Most banchas taste horribly bitter to me, and this tastes more like a lower grade sencha. Which is a good thing.
This is a refreshing summer cup for a hot and muggy Florida morning.
Preparation
I don’t know what I was expecting from this tea, but It was definitely a very pleasant surprise. The flavor reminds me of chocolate covered candied orange peel, and that’s not a bad thing ;) The tea is a robust, earthy black. I’ve not had any mate before, so I really can’t identify the flavor.
A surprising amount of depth and complexity. I usually don’t like flavored teas, and this one is definitely good.
