Rishi Tea

Sipdown (71)!

In the end, I like how this one smells more than it tastes. It smells like sweet orange with a bit of lemonheads in there. But it tastes like a blend of yellow and green Fruity Pebbles.

The oolong adds some vegetal, broccoli-like notes and the citrus begins to mellow around the third steep, but I don’t think I like Fruit Loops or lemon quite enough to seek this out again.

This is all Fruity Pebbles (which I think are slightly more flavorful than Fruit Loops. But same idea). Luckily, it’s fresh and floral and not soapy or counter cleaner-y.

The oolong adds a bit of buttery smoothness, but this blend is all about the citrus.

OK, so I haven’t had too much experience with Earl Grey (I’ve had some whole food store’s tea and a decent stock from Metropolitan Tea Company), but I noticed the initial aroma of this was quite different than what I’m used to. I’m not sure how to describe it, as the bergamot oil is very potent, but it smelled more natural than the others I’ve had. I don’t know…I can’t put my finger on it. It wasn’t as appealing at first because it wasn’t what I was used to, but I haven’t been disappointed by Rishi yet, so I figured “what the heck.”

I wasn’t very much impressed with the initial brew. I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was a bit strong and bitter. I wasn’t going to give up that easily, though, and decided to make another pot fresh. Again, it was piping hot and a bit bitter, so I left the cup for a little while. I came back to it maybe 15-20minutes later, and it was PERFECT. I don’t really know how to describe what happened, but it was a lot smoother and enjoyable to drink after the heat dissipated and things mellowed out. No signs of bitterness, and the bergamot was lovely. Wouldn’t drink this tea if I was in a rush, but if you have a little time to let things mellow out, it is rather enjoyable.

First of all, the leaves seem oddly abused. Instead of large white peony leaves, it’s rather broken up. I bought this tea as packaged in a box and sold in a store, so maybe it was mishandled somewhere along the way. I consider white peony to be the prototype flavor for other whites such as silver needle. Unlike silver needle, this tea doesn’t hide behind any subtle flavors. The dry leaves smell almost like roasted grain and earth. The flavor is full with surprisingly little astringency considering how strong I brewed it. The flavor is quite strong, it has a roasted grain or maybe burnt sugar flavor, and notes of plum. The plum flavors remind me of shui xian, which might not be too far off considering the amount of copper colored leaves in this tea.

I haven’t been drinking much sencha lately, I find that the strong vegetal flavor just doesn’t appeal to me as much as it once did, but I’ve had this package sitting around longer than it should have and decided to open it up today. With the subzero weather we’ve been having all month, I needed a reminder that spring is coming and delicate sakura blooms nestled among the sencha remind me very much of spring and the many days I’ve spent viewing the sakura blossoms with friends.

The flavor of this tea is quite different from any other sencha I’ve tried. There is the slightly astringent vegetal flavor that I expected from a good quality sencha, but hiding beneath that is the flavor of the sakura. It seems to come out more as the tea cools giving the tea a slightly sweet and floral flavor. I’m not sure I’ve had anything else that even remotely compares to the flavor I’m sensing, which makes it very difficult to describe. I can’t wait to try this as a an ice tea, I think it would be wonderful. I may try that later in the week since the weather will be up in the high 30s (not really iced tea weather, but the closest I’m going to get for a few more months.)