Good Life Tea

This herbal is fruity and tart. Although there are apple and orange pieces in this tisane I can’t pick either of them out. Instead there’s just a generic fruitiness. In fact, once sugar is added it reminds me a of fruit punch which makes me think this would be great iced. This is the sort of drink I think a little girl would love to have at a birthday tea party or a teddy bear picnic.

Thank you Good Life Tea for letting me sample this tea.

This sample was sent to me by Good Life Tea. Thank you!

I am a fan of Earl Grey in most of its forms, so I was excited to try this sample. The scent of the dry leaves is mostly vanilla with the bergamot and a floral scent also being present. The instructions on the packet give a steeping time of 3 to 7 minutes, a huge range for tea. I decided to see what a long steep would do and set my timer for six and a half minutes.

The tea is dark in color but light in body. Given the long steeping time I’m impressed with the lack of bitterness. There is a bit of dryness at the back of the throat, but I don’t find this unpleasant. The bergamot note is most prevalent followed by the floral note and then the vanilla. I do wish the base tea had more body, but I like the flavor of the tea overall. It’s a lighter EGC, but also a nice one.

Ben and I are in the middle of a very silly research project, Stellar Coronae! It started when we were discussing decals to use on the side of his UCM tanks and wanted an eclipse with a blue corona, I said I was not sure that blue stars have blue coronae because I could not remember if it was caused by elements, heat, or something else. It has been a long time since I brushed up on astronomy, so I am enjoying my little bit of science research.

Since it fits into the subject at hand, today’s tea is C of Tranquility by Good Life Tea, an herbal blend with citrus, tartness, and superfruits. For those not into Astronomy, the Sea of Tranqulity (or Mare Tranquillitatis) is one of the dark spots on the moon which early Astronomers mistook for water. I have a little bit of fear with this tea, you all probably know by this time that I am not a fan of Hibiscus or tart teas, but you also know that I am willing to try anything and everything, because you never know, sometimes I like things I thought I would not. The aroma is very berry filled, like dried cherries, elderberries, and blueberries. It has a sweet and tart quality with a nice citrus burst at the finish. The tartness is more of a fruity tartness rather than a hibiscus tartness, my fear is lessened.

The brewed leaves (and fruity bits) have a very sweet and fruity aroma, it is like a collection of berries with a side of citrus and a tiny hint of tart. The liquid is very berry filled sweet with a bit of that fruity tartness you get from dried berries (especially ones like cherries and cranberries) there is also a nice bit of citrus at the finish.

Ok, time to taste! It is vibrantly red and usually vibrantly red teas are filled with hibiscus tartness. I love the color of hibiscus, it is so pretty and vibrant, I could ogle it all day. The taste starts out with a punch of slightly metallic tartness (hibiscus always tastes a little metallic to me) which of course makes my salivary glands more or less explode. The tartness is very quick, it fades almost immediately to sweet berries and slightly sour lemony notes, the finish is sweet with berry notes that linger. I don’t hate it, I actually finished the cup, though it did give me a bit of heartburn (another reason I don’t like hibiscus and rose hips, they are a little too acidic) so I do not think I would seek it out because of that. Taste wise I could see myself drinking it on occasion, especially when I am in the mood for berries.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/good-life-tea-c-of-tranquility-tea.html

Ugh, I am having the worst writers block right now, which is so annoying! Usually on days where I don’t do anything constructive (I have had a really off, pain filled day today, yuck) I can think of some clever story or nerdy reference. Nope, not today, sorry everyone but yours truly is off in la-la land with her head in the clouds.

Today’s tea does not have its leaves in the clouds, but is more down to earth and floral. Good Life Tea’s Kyoto Cherry Rose Organic Green is a blend of cherry flavoring, sencha style Chinese green tea (meaning it is steamed rather than pan fried) and rose petals. You all know my weakness for roses in tea, they just smell so wonderful and taste wonderful as well. In theory this tea is a really good green tea for those who are not a fan of teas that are too grassy, vegetal, or just green, a good ‘intro to green teas’ kind of tea. The aroma of this tea is a nice blend of cherries and roses with just a gentle touch of the green base. It is very much the green of fresh vegetation, like the leaves of a rose bush or cherry tree. Sweet and summery, this tea evokes gardens in full bloom.

Once the leaves have been steeped in their little basket, the aroma of roses and cherries practically fills up my tea lair. One thing I will give this tea credit for, the cherries smell like fresh fruit and not fake cherry candy, that is something I always appreciate. Underneath the aroma of cherries and roses there is a gentle hint of vegetation. The liquid without its soggy leafy friends is sweet, a blend of freshly mown hay, honey, roses in full bloom, and fresh cherries.

The taste is, well, light and uninspiring, which is a surprise after such a strong aroma. There is a light rosy taste, a bit of freshly mown hay and green vegetation, and a tiny bit of cherry at the finish. I think if I first sipped this tea without sniffing it first I would not be disappointed, the tea is very light and the flavors are clear, just very delicate. However I did sniff it and was expecting rich roses and sweet cherry juice, more body to this tea. I find myself a bit confused on how to think about this tea, on the one hand I enjoyed its delicate flavor, on the other hand I was expecting more.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/07/good-life-tea-kyoto-cherry-rose-organic.html

So after trying the last genmaicha, I realized that I dot notice much difference from genmaicha to genmaicha. Since I have two more genmaichas in my to try pile, I decided to try them next in order to pick up on the differences.

I noticed that this tea is more toasty than roasty. Less like a roasted peanut, more like like a rice crispy treat. This is also got a sweet mellow vegetal taste. Instead of one note standing out from the other, the two seem to blend so seamlessly I can hardly pick the two apart.

And overall this is one of the more mellow genmaichas I’ve tried. This is a great choice if you want the coziness of a genmaicha, but in a more gentle form.

Just a typical Sunday in my neck of the woods, I slept in, the weather is getting to be unpleasantly hot again, and everybody (but my working sweetheart) is home. It has been a mostly lazy day for me, just catching up on some reading and tea sipping.

Today’s tea is an old classic and much loved staple of my tea collection, Genmaicha! This specific rice filled bancha is from Good Life Tea, a company just recently brought to my attention. It is always nice to discover new places to find tea, especially if you are a hardcore addict like me. The aroma is exactly what you expect from a Genmaicha, if you have never had the pleasure of sniffing one, the notes are a blend of roasted rice, a touch of honey sweetness, a bit of freshly mown grass and hay, and just a touch of fresh vegetation. It is a delightful blend of green tea and popped rice, the aroma is one of those that has always been very homey to me.

After I give the tea a steeping (oh great tea gods do not smite me for not using my kyusu, I didn’t want to get out of my chair) in a tea basket, the aroma of the now wet leaves is even more toasted rice. In fact I am pretty sure I cannot even smell the green tea over all the delicious toasted rice aroma. The liquid without its leafy and rice friends has an aroma that is a blend of rice, a touch of grass, and a bit of butter. It is very mild and subtly sweet.

The taste of this Genmaicha is a nice blend of green and rice. There are tasty notes of hay, grass, and a touch of honey at the start, this fades to a nice burst of toasted rice and a touch of nuttiness. The finish is creamy and a touch sweet, with a nice lingering toasted rice taste. This is certainly a tasty Genmaicha, it evokes that feeling of being comfy at home while tasting good, I approve.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/07/good-life-tea-genmaicha-tea-review.html

This is my last free sample from Good Life Teas. Honestly I don’t expect much from it, considering it contains both hibiscus and rose hips… There are chunks of apple in here and some flower petals. It smells lovely and fruity, not terribly tart. Steeped for 5 minutes.

The aroma is quite tart, but still fruity. I added a teaspoon of sugar before I even tasted it because I could tell it was going to be too tart without it. The flavor is actually not bad. It is quite tart from the hibiscus, but I can also taste the apple and orange in there. It definitely needs sugar though, as it is still very tart even with the amount I added. Overall, good but not great. I would drink this again but I don’t know if I’d purchase it.

Another free sample from Good Life Tea. Looks like black tea leaves with some blue flower petals mixed in. It smells pretty vanilla-y, which is a good sign for me, since I love vanilla. Steeped 3 minutes.

It smells quite floral, which I didn’t expect. There’s definitely very a perfumey quality to it alongside the vanilla. It tastes quite perfumey to me too, which is not a good thing. And I don’t really taste the black tea at all, mostly just floral perfumey bergamot with a tiny bit of vanilla. Adding sugar helps but not by much. Overall, this is not a tea I would drink or purchase. The flavoring is just too floral and has an almost alcoholic taste to it.

Backlog from last night! The first of my free samples from Good Life Tea. I’m not generally a huge fan of chocolate teas, but this was included in the sampler that I chose, so here goes! The dry leaf is basically red rooibos with flower petals in it. Apparently it also has cacao bean pieces, but I wasn’t looking that closely since it was fairly late. I remember smelling it and thinking it was minty, which I did not expect…

It was actually better than I expected. The rooibos base wasn’t terribly offensive like it sometimes can be. The chocolate flavor was nice enough, definitely not a deep or complex chocolate but more similar to milk chocolate. There was a lot of mint flavor, which is not even listed anywhere in the product description, nor is it implied by the name. My one complaint is that I feel rooibos isn’t a great base for chocolate because the brew ends up being rather thin. Black tea would’ve been much better.

I do believe that it’s an issue that the mint flavor is not mentioned anywhere, and it’s at least as strong as the chocolate, making this more of a mint chocolate chip tea in my opinion. So I believe the name should be changed, or at the very least, the description needs to include mint.