Haiku

I’ve always liked the taste of this quick fix tea --smooth with a bit of an earthy quality

A review of Kukicha (Twig) Tea by Haiku

To prepare hot, add 1 teabag per cup or 4 teabags per 4 cups (a teapot) to cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 3-5 minutes. Remove the teabags and serve.

As this is Iced tea month, I am brewing myself jugs of tea to consume throughout the day. I never realized how making a jug of tea is so much time consuming than getting up each time to fix a cup of tea.

I love the aroma of this tea when brewing several tea bags in one big pot. I use five tea bags and very fresh coldly drawn water and let this boil for a good five minutes and after having come to a rolling boil.

I let it cool for at least ½ hour and pour content unto a jug. Well in this case it is a small pot. For my cup I add some crush iced to the bottom of the glass and pour the tea.

I love the dark amber color of the tea. It is so very black and rich of smoke (twigs burning).

I sip this tea and think immediately of the outdoors and camping since this sometimes entails a fire burning made of wood and twigs.

This tea is so rich in flavor and the caffeine is next to none because it is made mainly of twigs and so this tea can be enjoyed through the day.

I am heady and happily enjoying my roasted cup of twig tea and more of it to follow (a potful)of it.

A review of Kukicha (Twig Tea) by Haiku

I like the roast smelling of twigs making me think of being outdoors by the burning of woods. I decided to brew this tea using two tea bags placed in cup and adding boiling water for a few minutes. I was not disappointed. Tea color was very dark amber and the smell of the twigs was very prevalent.

I enjoyed sipping this tea through out the day since having made a whole pot of it. I know that each varietals was to have been roasted separately in order to bring out its rich flavor and this I am noting in the taste. It is of a smoky aroma and I think smokers would like this tea since it does make on think of smoking and of burning of woods.

The caffeine level is more concentrated in the leaves and twig tea is to be very mild, yet having drunk this tea throughout the day, I did find myself feeling restless at times and not quite able to relax as I normally would. Perhaps it is not the tea, just my fragile state of being lately.

Overall, tea has fullness with a very smoky aroma; a fragrance that is very inviting to those liking the smelling of smoke, smokers or specifically those who have given up smoking may enjoy this inhaling this tea for its aroma. I like that this tea makes me think of burning wood, a roasting fire even and something that men has been enjoying for centuries.

A review: Kukicha (Twig Tea) by Haiku

Tea farmers turn to the harvest of tea twigs for kukicha, the “peasant drink”, so-called because farmers drank it after selling the leaves to sophisticated urbanites as a cash crop.

Kukicha is described as twig tea, which is a Japanese blend of green tea. Tea farmers carefully select 40% of medium twigs aged 3 years, 40% thick twigs aged 10 years, and 20% thin twigs and leaves aged 1 year; they then roast each variety separately to bring out its rich flavor. Over all tea has a nutty, slightly creamy flavor.

The water is bought to full boil and adding some to a cup with two tea bags, I allow for it to simmer for five minutes. I like tea’s aroma straight away: smelling of burnt wood from a roasting fire. It is a very nice smoky smell; those liking tobacco would favor this type of aroma.

Tea’s color is a dark red, or a very dark amber because it is more brown than red. As I sip this tea I am reminded of the other time I have tried twig tea, it was last year and I did like then as well. It was loose-leaf tea; and this Haiku Kukicha (Twig Tea) is tea bag. Tea is mildly astringent and has a nutty grainy texture to it as it reached the back of the throat.

Signature attributes of this tea are that it is nutty, with a slight creamy flavor. And I think I can understand, appreciate why it is described as “peasant drink”, not affording tea leaves and wanting something hot similarly to tea; this twig tea could suffice.

I remember using such words to describe the kukicha I had last year: ‘a large oven baked cookie slightly on the burnt side; and with longer steep and two tea bags as opposed to one makes for a nuttier taste, bringing about the smokiness in the aroma and adding sugar brings about the burnt sweetness of the cookie; were it to be that.

I am saying it is good tea to be played with and to enjoy discovering its many folds.

A review: Kukicha (Twig Tea) by Haiku

Tea’s color: Dark amber
Tea’s aroma is of wood burning, twigs to be specific, like when at campfire.
Tea was steep in 160farenheit water for close to five minutes.

This tea is not astringent; in fact it is quite a welcome change. It is flavorful and raw with a roasted aroma like none other. I would say tea is fuller in body in that it has a good heft to it. And the aroma is definitely of a roasted cup of tea, making one think of coffee and yet not.

This tea would do well with milk and sugar and those who like coffee and wish to switch or try something somewhat similar might like this tea for its roasted aspect.

I have tried Roasted Kukicha tea from the New Mexico Tea Company and they both have a roasted flavor. With the Roasted Kukicha being smokier in flavoring. This organic Kukicha is milder when comparing the two.

Overall, this kukicha is milder and more subdued. The roast aroma does add to the character of the tea since this is what this tea is all about; finding remnants and making use of them; the twigs in the forest, on the branch have importance as well. This tea can be had throughout the day; it is very low in caffeine.

Backlogging. 4 days ago. Wednesday evening.

I had a tasty cup of this one with spicy chicken bul-go-gi and sides for dinner.

Hello Steepsterians! Long time, no see.

(The explanation: Christmas 2010, I ended up with a lot of rough tasting “notes” jotted down on slips of paper that I hadn’t entered on to Steepster. This continued on and on with briefly writing down my thoughts in my moleskine or typing out an actual tealog posting in a wordpad file AND dating everything with the intention of backlogging it up on to Steepster and having a complete catalog of my tea drinking for the past year plus. However, I have slowly come to the realization that this isn’t likely to actually get done (anytime soon) and I miss posting my tasting notes so I’ve scrapped the idea of getting my tealog up-to-date and I’m starting posting again as of February with the teas I drink going forward. I hate to not post the completed tasting notes that I’ve written but I’m a bit of a completionist so I’d end up frantically trying to post everything if I did.)

And now, on to the tea. I picked this up on sale at Earth Fare awhile back not knowing what it was but thinking a roasted green tea sounded like it could be good. I decided to try it yesterday night with Korean leftovers because the regular girl at the Korean place asked me if I wanted a hot tea awhile back on a cold night and has since given me tea with Asian characters and sometimes some English on the tags (twice genmaicha, once oolong) and since the genmaicha, as a toasted rice tea, went well with the Korean, my thinking was that a roasted green tea would as well. And it did.

Just taking the plastic wrapping off of the box of tea, I could already smell the toasty roastiness of it. Steeping instructions recommended 2-5 minutes so I settled on 3:30 for my first try and was quite surprised to find the tea had come out so dark considering the genmaicha has come out a lighter brown and I had expected them to be similar. The toasty roast smell of the steeped tea was lighter than the smell of the bag had been. The taste was much stronger than I expected but still good and tasted pretty much like you’d expect something like this would. Next time I’ll either steep this for less time or use a bigger mug, possibly both, as I’m sure I’ll enjoy this tea more when it’s less strong.

I’m rating this tea a 52 to start – a nice bagged tea. I think it will creep up a few points once I get the steeping time and water quantity adjusted more to my tastes.

I love this tea – specifically for night time application. I do prefer more subtle and traditional green tea flavors. But this one is a nice change of pace. And it does have a lower caffeine content for better sleep. (although i don’t seem to be too effected by regular greens) Regardless, i recommend that people try this style of green tea.

This is a tea that I have stashed away and don’t drink often. I only drink it when I am looking for a change or really want something different. The smell isn’t pleasant to the nose at all…pure bark and dirt smell. The coloring is light brown. It has a very earthy taste to it, indeed, maybe even a little smokey. I’m neutral on this one. I’m careful not to over steep, however, then it would be pretty nasty.

This doesn’t smell very pleasant but it has a strong Green Tea and hardcore earthy taste. I’m pretty neutral on this tea. I wouldn’t say I LOVE it but it’s good to have if you are looking for something different.

This tea has a smell similar to high quality pot more than anything else. It has a decidedly earth flavor profile, and tastes quit coffee-like in flavor. This is most likely due to the fact that the tea leaves are roasted. Not the best tea I’ve ever had, but definitely worth a shot if you want to experience a new taste.