Cran-Strawberry Young Hyson

Yet another from StarFevre!  THANK YOU.  A whole pouch of Frank’s.  I guess I have been trying to focus more on StarFevre’s teas since I’m pulling out a few at a time from the box to slowly try over the course of a week, and then putting them back in the box and taking out a few more.  I’m tearing up at StarFevre’s generosity (and the same for many other Steepsterers). I’m trying to write tasting notes at least once, even if these teas are quite older.  I’m sure I’m enjoying the tea more than all of you are enjoying my tasting notes about them. haha.   This is GOOD.  I can only imagine how lovely it was when it was fresh.  The green base and strawberry that is mostly like strawberry jello, but I’m cool with that as there is also some cranberry that pairs very well with it.  Why isn’t strawberry/cranberry more of a thing?  Even the second steep was full of flavor. 

I signed up for a month of Criterion Collection movies which is one of my favorite things ever.  Anyone have favorite Criterion films they’d particularly like to recommend? Maybe I missed them.  I have watched most of what I love the best: Wim Wenders, Toshiro Mifune, Tarkovsky, many others here and there… but looking for suggestions!  I have rarely watched a Criterion film I didn’t love…

This stuff is amazing – I brewed it hot and chilled it to make iced tea and was surprised to find not a single hint of bitterness. I am usually careful not to oversteep, but most green that sits seems to take on just a hair of bitterness or astringency at least…but not this. It is a bit tart and juicy but really doesn’t taste artificial.

Another of the 52 teas that I received in my sampler from Marzipan. I absolutely LOVE it! The aroma is amazing and it tastes great. Thank you Marzipan for introducing me to this wonderful brew. :)

My tea tasting today is kind of messed up, we ended up having to get a plumber out here to take a look at our pipes, which is turning out to be a bigger job then we thought, (And alot more $$. Sighs)
So, on to this tea. Maybe it’s due to the crazy right now, but I’m not loving or even liking this tea right now. In fact it’s taking alot of my will power to finish it. It’s not terrible, and thinking I’ll save the rest of the sample for iced tea in a few months. But if it were still current stock, I highly doubt I’d want a bag.

I can barely taste any strawberry, I don’t taste any cranberry which is really disappointing, as I love sweet tart flavors.

Backlog:

I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would. I was pretty sure I’d like it, I like strawberry, I like cranberry and I’m becoming more and more fond of Young Hyson teas (although my first experience with a Young Hyson was not a good one and for a long while there, when I would see a “young hyson” I sort of cowered.)

But this is pretty darned good. The flavors are not competing with one another, they work together very harmoniously. Sweet and tart work nicely together – not too sweet, the tart cuts through some of it, and it’s not so tart that I pucker. I like that balance.

The green tea is pleasant – a vibrant, invigorating green tea base. Brothy smooth texture.

Overall, a good tea.