So I recently subscribed to Bokksu, a Japanese snack subscription box. I’ve been doing some casual short little reviews of the snacks on Instagram, and for the last few I’ve been pairing them with teas. This is the tea I chose to have with an absolutely scrumptious white peach castella cake.
Honestly though, this one’s just not great. There’s barely any peach or osmanthus at all. Mostly I taste the generic Chinese sencha base, with its dry grass notes. There’s no bitterness at least, but there’s not much else either…
So, a bit of a rant. I’m having a really hard time with New Moon Tea Co lately. I noticed that this and one of their other new Spring teas – White Strawberry – are very obviously sourced from Shanti Tea. And while I get that a lot of places resell blends from wholesale sources, the packaging states these are “small batch, hand blended, farm to cup teas” and that this is “proudly made in British Columbia, Canada”… Which is clearly a load of crap when it comes to these two teas, and I assume many others.
This is a brand that I’ve been so happy to support in the past, but now I have to wonder how many of the teas are falsely advertised like this. I don’t know whether to (tactfully) bring this up to the owner, or just stop buying from her entirely…
Have any of you have this issue before…?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLNRQuyg2k4/
(ETA: I confirmed with the vendor that this tea is sourced from Shanti Tea. I would delete this note, but I don’t want to lose the comments!)
Flavors: Dry Grass, Grass, Peach, Sweet
Such a sad finding. I’m not over it. :,(
I know what you mean! I mostly just want to buy from brands who make their own teas, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.
I’m the same way AJ, and especially in a situation like this where I could just buy it from the source if I wanted it…
Also, the very obvious price jump from New Moon is not okay.
I recall feeling that way when I remember Plum Deluxe also adverting themselves as small-batch original blends, and then many in the advent were obviously wholesaled teas…
Yeah Plum Deluxe kind of have me that vibe too, but I’m having a harder time with this since this is a brand I felt good supporting. :|