T2

A friend brought me this tea from his visit to Melbourne, and this is one of the most delicious breakfast teas I’ve had! The light smokiness from the yunnan is a lovely balance to the sweetness. It’s a great milk tea, but it’s so rich and just sweet enough that I don’t NEED the milk. This is a revelation – breakfast tea without milk!

I’m sad that I’ve only the one box. :(

I bought this tea recently to break my previously formed impression of all LongJing tea (I had had a particularly unpleasant experience with it from a different supplier – the reason presumably was that it had not been stored well at all.

This LongJing from T2 was much more pleasant.

The first tea session’s brew was a little weak (I had only put in 1 1/2 teaspoons for the 600ml pot) and had left it to steep for about 1min 20sec.
The second session I put in a full 2 (Chinese) teaspoons and brewed for ~1.5 minutes.
Although the overall outcome was better, I will try it again brewing to 2 minutes.

Both brews were with water that had been taken off the element as soon as bubbles began breaking the surface (would that be ~75ish degrees Celsius?).

It had a nice rounded mouth-feel that lingered pleasantly. I was impressed with how the tea blended with the water: It was like the two had completely become one (as opposed to other brews I have had that have been quite insipid or unbalanced).

The flavour I could only describe as a nutty grassy taste, perhaps with a bit of a mildly roasted sensation. I’m sure if I had eaten more vegetables and smelt more flowers in my lifetime I would have a better lexicon for this (future goal?). In summary, very nice flavour.

I couldn’t get much from the aroma. There were hints of the lightly roasted nutty flavours I had experienced in the drinking, but only from the pot. When trying to make out the fragrance of the tea in my (tiny Chinese gongfu) cup, I often found myself accidentally dunking my nose in the tea due to lack of fragrance.

Perhaps it can be said of this tea that the fragrance is mild yet compelling?

I was very happy with this tea. Thank you T2 for restoring my faith in the Dragons of the Well.

There is no way that this tea was really a Gyokuro. It didn’t even taste like it was Japanese! Broken leaves made me question if this was half-way to becoming a Matcha, but really it was just T2 over-charging for a low-grade sencha.

I was a little disappointed when I tried this tea from T2. While I love Jasmine Pearls this one had a faint chemically aroma, and the tea tasted flat. It might just be the shop I bought it from was outside the CBD so might have done less business. Or it could have been the water. Either way though T2, in my opinion, has priced this tea a tad bit too much.

I didn’t like this at first, but it is growing on me. A nice, affordable oolong.

Now I don’t usually drink tisanes, but this stuff if amazing. The liquorice is the obvious main flavour, but the mint supports it nicely. Perfect any time of the day or night, I can’t fault it. I keep it steeping in the pot, it never gets bitter, in fact becomes sweeter!

I could drink this tea all day…oh wait, I do drink this tea all day.-) I had to buy a box for home and a box for work.
Ingredients include oolong tea, ginger pieces, cardamon pods and liquorice root, cassia and bamboo leaves. I think the liquorice root is my favourite bit even though the liquorice flavour is not that strong.
Last time I was in T2 the told me it was to be discontinued so if you want to try it get in quick.

Love, love, love this tea. I did find however that drinking more than 2 cups a day caused on increase in reflux. Had the same effect on my sister.

Also need to watch certain medications with this tea due to its grapefruit content (so the T2 salesperson told me).

There were three things on my mind when I tried this tea: The is that it is organic (big points with me); the second is that, oddly, it is brewed in China (according to the T2 website) not Japan where sencha is traditionally grown and consumed; and the third was that it seems to contain a lot more stem pieces than I’ve seen in most sencha I’ve had. So with these in mind, on to the tasting notes!

Aroma: Quite fresh, ‘green’ and vegetal, with notes of spinach and grass.

Palate: Very much a grassy vibrant tea, however not astringent like many cheap sencha teas can be (even when brewed correctly). Like the nose, spinach and vegetal flavours shine through. Some notes of straw and dried flowers come through as the tea cools. Great lingering sweetness that really comes through on the second steeping. Lacks the umami of many good sencha teas. All in all a very drinkable green tea and quite unlike most sencha teas I’ve drank, but nothing that captivates me here.

Overall: I can’t say I thought much of this tea. I love sencha as it has this unique taste that immediately transports me back to my last trip to Japan, however this intangible flavor was entirely lacking in this tea. Perhaps the fact it is from China not Japan accounts for this lack of character. The organic status of this tea does however score a few extra points with me. Whilst an entirely different sencha to T2’s Organic Super Sencha, at less than half the price this could no doubt be a more enticing choice for most tea drinkers new to sencha or green tea. However in my opinion (and whilst trying not to be a tea-snob) the teas are incomparable and I would opt for the T2 Super Sencha every time, or source my sencha elsewhere. All this being said, not an unpleasant tea and great value, just not one for me!

Price: AUD$12.50/100g