Traditions/Good Young Co.

I pulled in the photo of the bagged version of this tea; I have loose leaf at home: this is also the company that once put out my gold standard favorite strawberry tea ever, but I can’t see that they are currently purveying anything.

At any rate … we did a carry out lunch in support of our favorite restaurant: a mom and pop Thai place. Ahh…after days of my lousy cooking, fresh pud thai and tamarind chicken! And though I am not much of a jasmine fan, for some reason, I craved this for dessert. It is exactly what it says it is. Decent green tea with jasmine. Since this isn’t a regular drinker at my house, that is absolutely adequate.

I finished the cup to the last drop several minutes ago, but the scent is still there. Maybe that’s it — I just needed a good sniff of spring!

Wow, this was a pleasant surprise. I got this at the Oriental Mart nearby, and decided to get some to see if it was any good. It was, and it is a good light oolong. The package doesn’t say what type with the exception of it being from Taiwan. Every time I’ve had it, it’s had a slightly different taste. It’s a medium roast, but at first I could have sworn it was like a Jin Xuan. Later on, it was more like a Li Shan, but a little more floral and less salty.

Steeping is very forgiving for this and it changes over time. At three minutes, it’s light, vegetal floral, and a little creamy, but at five minutes, it’s more buttery and almost nutty with the same profile as before. I can steep it again at least once. This matches the descriptions that I’ve seen of Li Shan, and most of the others that I’ve had were way too light and salty. This one is flavorful and still simple. I’d probably introduce people to oolong with this one because the steeping is so forgiving. Even more experienced drinkers might at least appreciate it.

I might up the rating later since it’s so good yet so cheap, but it definitely works for my college setting.

This tea is a very lovely savory tea with minimal bitterness. The barley taste is a bit weak unless it is steeped for a long time, but when it is strong enough, it’s really great! You can taste the toastyness of the barley grains. I’m usually a lover of sweet teas and adding sugar to everything, but this has changed my mind entirely. Wonderful tea, would recommend. :)

After 10 years of drinking this tea regularly, I’m bumping up the rating.

I normally choose loose-leaf, but sometimes a teabag sealed in mylar foil is called for. This has become my go-to bagged Oolong tea in terms of freshness, value, and flavor.

It’s perfect for traveling, camping, a quick-fix when I don’t want to deal with loose leaf, or for keeping the office shelves stocked.

I’m bumping this tea a solid 99/100 based solely on the quality and value for the low price. This is the cheapest enjoyable and desirable tea I’ve ever found.

Be careful: ONLY the individually mylar-bagged tea is this good. They also sell visually similar tea in different packages that are not individually sealed, and that tea is dramatically lower quality and freshness.

Whoa, this is a surprisingly decent Thai Oolong tea for the price.

I picked up a box of 20 individually wrapped tea bags for $1.89, on sale at 99 Ranch Market. In the past, when I’ve purchased tea for this cheap, it’s been pretty awful, but I’m so glad I tried again. This tea is totally decent! For the super cheap price, I’d even say it’s excellent.

I poured the contents of two tea-bags into my strainer basket, and brewed a delicious cup, followed by 2 re-steeps.

The flavor is similar to much more expensive Thai oolong teas I’ve recently enjoyed from Steepster Select, although maybe not quite as complex. I enjoy the mineral, floral, and grassy notes, as well as the natural sweetness I expect from Oolong teas from Thailand.

The tea has a few stems, but is mostly tightly rolled leaves. During the second brewing, the whole tea leaves unfurled beautifully.

I’m going back to 99 Ranch to buy another box (or 3) of this awesome deal.

Backlog:

A very disappointing tea. The aroma of both the dry leaf and the brewed tea is very soft to the point of being non-existent. Since this is a lavender tea, I expected more from the aroma but didn’t get it.

The barely there aroma translates to the flavor too, that is to say that the flavor is barely there. I don’t taste much lavender or green tea. I don’t taste grassy or vegetal, I only taste very subtle notes of a buttery-like taste. If I focus on the sip, I taste a whisper of lavender.

Very disappointing, as I said. Not something I’d recommend, not something I’d drink again … not even something I’d want to pass on to someone else … just … tea gone horribly wrong.

Still throat-scratchy and a little achy; still sticking with antioxidant-heavy choices. This one is such an opaque green-beany/guacamole color, even with a scant 1/4 teaspoon of the powder to the cup, it has to be good for me, yes?

This particular powder needs a light touch, it’s very vegetably. But not unpleasant.

Well, after my last experience with this one, there was nowhere to go but up. Tried more like a 1/4 teaspoonful to a cup of water. It’s still thick green like pea soup (I guess that’s just the personality of this stuff?) but the flavor is pleasant spinach-salad leafy green now. Makes me feel healthy and noble drinking it. If I back off the powder just a nootch more next time, I may have something I can relax and enjoy.

http://www.goodyoung.com.tw/tc/p3-product-detail.asp?PKey=aBWUaB34aBMXaB31 There it is. I can’t get the picture to load.

Now, matcha experts, don’t laugh at my complete “fail.” (Okay, laugh all you want.)

So…after all the matcha love, I decide it’s time to broaden my horizons a little. This inexpensive matcha sports the same label so as my favorite summer love strawberry black tea. So it can’t be bad, right?

I have no proper matcha equipment. Rummaged around the kitchen for an oversized soup mug and (whisk…whisk…whisk…uhh….) a chopstick. Because I don’t read Taiwanese characters, I had no idea about proportions, so I measured out my favorite perfect teaspoonful. And stirred. It looked like liquefied green spackle and tasted like eau de asparagus.

Blech. Straight down the drain.

Too much powder? Advice?

Ineptly yours,

Me

This tea is definitely different, but its also very good!

The liquid is sour at first, with a dry bitterness. Hold on though, it quickly changes into a sweet roasted corn flavor. This taste lingers for quite awhile. There are some similarities at first to Genmaicha, but you certainly can taste the difference of the roasted barley in this one (verses the rice).

Honestly, it reminds me a lot of Honey Smacks once you get past the first bite of sharpness of the sip. There is a lot of sweetness in this tea. No question – its worth trying!

Edit:

I forgot to add, that there is a small amount of black tea that is added to this Barley Tea. Just enough to blend a little extra goodness. I’m not sure what type of Black tea since the Barley is the dominant flavor. I will have to keep trying this one a few times, to possibly pick up more of the added black tea characteristics.