Bitaco Tea Co.

Teabox Tuesday! Well, my car that got a brand-new battery in it just a month ago was completely dead this morning, so I got to jump that from a coworker in the snow tonight, and now it’s sitting back at the dealership so tomorrow morning I’ll be stuck without it yet again as I have to get their shuttle to get me over there to hand over the key and get rides to work again… SIGH. So tired of this… $1140 in repairs last month and still the damn thing won’t start? #sooverit I wish I could just take it somewhere else, but since I need their stupid shuttle, I guess they’ll just keep ripping me off… (Was trying to make it to my next business day off so I could go somewhere else but NOPE, it crapped out before then… DOUBLE SIGH.)

My hands and feet were freezing after jumping it in the snow, so soup and tea was pretty much all I wanted tonight. And I felt so drained and exhausted I didn’t even care and decided to have green tea; I figure I’m so tired I’ll pass out anyway. So this is one of my oldest teabox teas, and if it has no flavor left, meh. I’ll be happy if it’s just a tasty green leaf, but considering the age and being a green, I don’t have particularly high hopes. But I need this old stuff to stop getting older. This came from the last Here’s Hoping Teabox, so thank you tea-sipper for organizing and to all that shared in this teabox!

So this is supposed to have lulo fruit and starfruit flavoring, which to be honest I would probably not recognize as I don’t think I’ve seen either let alone tasted, as well as mango. The tea has a sort of… strange aroma? I’m getting more of a pea/greenbean sort of smell, like a Chinese green. Tasting it… yes, I think any of the flavoring is long faded. I had tried another Bitaco tea from this box, Andean Princess, and had the same issue, so they likely were the same age. There is maybe a ghosting of something like peachiness in the background, but that is a stretch; from what I can make out of the base tea, it definitely is vegetal, with pea and bean notes, and is pleasant enough, aside from being a bit stale.

This is one I’ll likely try out from S&V sometime when I’m not on order hiatus, as I’m curious what those foreign fruit notes would taste like since they are not ones I am familiar with.

A Berry Frui-tea July! This is one of the teas I grabbed a single sample of from the last Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox (thanks to all contributors and tea-sipper for organizing!)

Sadly, I didn’t really get any fruit flavor from this tea… it’s supposed to have raspberries, grape skins, and a touch of hibiscus petals, but it is just tasting like a standard black tea for me, so I think age has gotten the best of this one.

It is a fairly tasty black tea; very malty, a slight bit of a baked bread quality to it, and a little citrusy toward the end of the sip, with a mild astringency left after the sip. It isn’t quite as harsh as the experiences I typically have with assams; it reminds me a bit of a mix of a sweeter Chinese black with a Ceylon. But I was really hoping to get some of the berry notes in the cup, and there is simply not a hint of that flavor left here. One day when my cupboard isn’t so crazy I plan to try some Simpson and Vail teas and I’ll make a note to put a sample of this one in there at that time, so I can get a better read on it; until then I think I’ll leave it without a rating. The base is nice, at least?

An attractive, uniform dry leaf with a generous portion of tips. Dry leaf aromas of dark chocolate, malt, toasted grains, and a touch of raisins. Tea liquid has a beautiful rich amber color. Liquid aroma and tastes of malt, dark chocolate, and baked bread, with a full body, pleasant astringency, a layered, biscuity texture, and a malty aftertaste. This would make for an excellent breakfast tea, with or without additives.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #40
Sadly, I wasn’t tasting any fruits at all in this green blend. Not even when it was stored in a nice package. So this turned out to just be a decent green tea. Too bad, I would have liked these fruit flavors if they were present.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #22
MMM… the green tea here paired with guava is divine, especially as it gets colder sitting out on an autumn day. Meaning it would be excellent iced. The green tea is so good it probably didn’t need flavor, but I appreciate that this actually has it. Actual fruit pieces in the infuser! A good one. Love to find this sort of tea in the teabox.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoon for a full mug// 30 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Seven- Tea #9
Without looking, I thought this tea was cocoa flavored, it definitely tasted like additional flavoring had been added and not just black tea. But it is amazing if this tea just naturally tastes like this much cocoa. But maybe there is cocoa flavoring I don’t know about. The aftertaste was even better which is something I don’t usually notice. There was an odd clump of something in the leaves. Not sure what that was still. And THEN I look on Steepster and this should have had raspberry flavor… there was definitely absolutely NO raspberry flavor. Ah well, I would have liked this for what I believe to be the natural flavor of the leaves anyway.

Also from the Here’s Hoping TTB…

This tea is fairly unique for a black tea blend. It’s not bad iced. It’s no “Cocoa Kisses” (that one is better) but it works. It’s actually got some creamy undertones to it. This is probably a decent flavored tea if you are not a huge fan of chocolate or desert teas in general. Otherwise I’d pick Cocoa Kisses over this.

From the Here’s Hoping Tea Box..

I REALLY wanted to like this green base more, since I’m a big fan of flavored greens. Tried it hot, I tried in iced. This tea is pretty finicky and I found that I like it brewed hot and then iced. The trick is to not steep it for too long – I found under a minute was best for me. I know, I’m a wimp.

Also, the Bitaco website is down and has been for a while. What is up with that?

Bitico Tea Group buy. This is a nice tasting green as far as the tea goes. However as a flavored green it does not work that well. While I still like the tea the fruity flavors just really aren’t there in any strength. Still the base green tea is very good.

I brewed 3 tsp leaf in 175 degree water in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 2 minutes.

This is a nice green tea with a vegetal note and a mild fruity note. Got it with the group buy I put together for Bitaco. Their teas are an incredible value but you have to order 6 kg so a group order was the only way to try these teas.

I brewed this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 2 minutes.

Drinking this hot this time. I think it may be better hot than iced. The raspberry flavor is a little stronger. This is quite a tea when you consider it cost $5 for 100g. If we do another group buy next year I definitely recommend others join in. It is good stuff.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

Tried this as a cold brewed iced tea. It came out a little bitter and the taste of the Andean Raspberry was not as strong as I had hoped. It was decent but maybe this one is better hot. It just seemed like a logical one to make iced. I suspect that the Andean Raspberry is not as powerful as normal raspberries or I think there would be more flavor from it.

I steeped one liter of water overnight in the refrigerator in a 1 liter Lupica Handy Cooler with 4 tsp leaf.

This is the first tea I am drinking from the Bitaco Tea group buy. These greens had me a little worried that they looked like black tea. However, once brewed the tea was very green. The foreground note on this tea is a vegetal note with the tropical notes more in the background. I think I like this tea. The next test is to cold brew it as an iced tea and see how it tastes.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for two minutes with 175 degree water and 3 tsp leaf. While I would recommend this tea the problem for anyone not already in on the group order they have a 6kg minimum purchase. If you can meet that limit however the teas are an incredible value at $50 for 1 kg of tea, breaking down to $5 for 100g. And they shipped for free too.