Rishi Tea

With milk & equal

My last cup of this (from the Rishi rooibos sampler). Loved it from start to finish. Such a strange combination of spices. Peppermint? Black pepper? Fennel? Ginger? What!? I taste different flavors each time and its great with soy milk & sugar. I’ve enjoyed this on its own, with sweet breakfast foods, and with last night’s curry. Yum all around. Because I’m so sensitive to caffeine, I really appreciate having a good rooibos based, caffeine-free chai. I’m debating ordering more.

I think I could like this tea quite a bit, but I need to spend more time with it.

The dry leaf smells like something between buttermilk and yeast to me, and there’s a lot of that flavor in the tea as well. At times I get a malty flavor and occasionally it sweetens into more of a caramel, but it’s not always present.

The description says that it contains pine notes, which to me would read as woody, sharp, and edging on bitter. I think I can taste it [how much of that is purely psychological I couldn’t tell you], but thankfully it’s muted. Too much of that would ruin this for me, easily.

If it weren’t for the occasional sweet flavors I get in this I don’t think that I would enjoy it overall. However, the melding notes and shifting flavors make it intriguing. This isn’t something that I’m going to drink all the time, but I like it and it warrants some extended experimentation.

My staple.

My friend Daniel has a theory about anything food-related: if the presentation and harmony of the colors looks appealing, it usually ends up tasting good too. I think this tea fits in very well with his theory.

The leaves, after you remove them from the pot, look beautiful. Bright green mint leaves on a bed of dark pu-erh, with a few smaller light brown pieces of spice and a couple twigs sprinkled on top. Kind of like someone took an oak tree and smushed it into the strainer.

Taste-wise it’s pretty mindblowing. The flavors are distinct too. First you taste the pu-erh and think “hmmm, maybe this needs to be sweeter”, then the vanilla comes in, says “hey guys, what’d I miss?” before the mint sneaks up from behind and leaves you with that fresh, just-brushed-my-teeth feeling.

Which usually means it’s time to take another sip.

I’m nearing the end of this tin of tea, but thoroughly enjoying it. Just the perfect tea to usher in the nice weather of spring, with mellow grassy flavors of the sencha, and sweetness from the cherry blossoms. Delicious.

I love this tea so so much. It’s my official “it’s time for spring” tea to welcome in the nice weather. I bought this tea last year, and I got 2 50 gram packets of it… so the second one I had been waiting to open up, which I did yesterday, and tasted as fresh and delicious as I remembered it last year. It’s a very good sencha with cherry blossoms, and there’s a light sweetness to it, and is tasty through the 3rd steeping. Delicious!

One of my favorite green teas. Very complex, grassy, sharp, clean, rich. Very reasonably priced given the quality.

Whoa!! JUICY!
It’s juicy in a similar way to Rishi’s Blueberry Rooibos. I really like it!! Seems like something even kids would enjoy. I’m going to try it iced sometime… I’ll let you know what happens!

OhmygoodnessGuessWhatIFound?!!?!!?!!

This… is the… BEST… unflavoured… unsweetened… tea I have ever experienced.
That’s right… I did not just taste it… I EXPERIENCED it.

Have you ever spread fresh honey from the farmer’s market onto freshly baked, still warm, French bread?
You’re salivating right? Good. That is the aroma of this tea. The aroma matches the taste. It’s glorious.

This is the very first yellow tea I have ever had… and I do believe it may become my new obsession, if any others even slightly compare to this.

I saw that Rishi has one other yellow tea right now, called Yellow Sprout. It’s next up on my “to-do” list. As for the Yellow Buds… I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM.

I’m feeling a little sickly today, so I thought a touch of citrus might do me good. I can’t really taste the oolong due to the overpowering citrus, but I like it. Citron Oolong smells very clean and lemon-y. The taste is like a mild Fruit Loops/Fruity Pebbles kind of thing. Both wet and dry, the leaves and the flowers in the tea are very pretty to look at.
I’m a big oolong drinker, and I wish the oolong stood out a bit more…but this one is still a keeper.

Strong lemon/lime and spicy ginger. Can’t discern any rooibos. This would be be great as a replacement for pickled ginger in between bites of sushi. Very zesty!

One of the best Earl Grey teas I have tried to date. Definitely a more bold and less flowery variety. This will wake you up and take you through your day like an old friend.

Last time I did an about 50/50 mix of this and a plain green oolong to try to get more oolong taste in this. I didn’t think it made that much of a difference so I made it straight today.

Now I know that the mix last time did make a difference. I think having more regular oolong in this gives the flavor more depth, makes it more interesting. It’s still tastes like a big bowl of sugary, citrusy kids’ cereal but it has a more solid base. So a more interesting sugary kids’ cereal.

Go Fruity Pebbles!

Drinking yesterday’s 3rd steep iced. The flavor seems a little milder. Not really weaker, so I don’t think it is the fact that it is the 3rd steep but maybe the extra oolong I added is showing through a tiny bit? Or maybe not. Regardless, it is pleasant and feels very refreshing.

I was kind of in a Fruity Pebbles type of mood tonight, so I decided to give this one another go. I added a bit of Forever Spring oolong in there to see if I could get some actual tea taste in there with the citrus. Don’t think it really worked. I think green oolong has too delicate of a flavor to come through this strong citrus taste.

That being said, since I was expecting and in the mood for an insane sweet citrus smell and taste experience, I’m enjoying this tea tonight. This is certainly something I have to be in the mood for but eh, sometimes you need those types of teas, right?

Great alternative to plain old peppermint. The rooibos adds a little more body, without competing. This is perfect when I’m avoiding caffeine but still want to feel refreshed and alert. No need for sugar even. It also tastes similar to Foxtrot, but lacks the sleepyness inducing chamomile element.

Very good puerh tea. If it is your first time with one of these make sure to steep it a few times before jumping to conclusions. The later infusions are much better and smoother.