Island Green Tea

Boiling water? For a green? Well, I have seen that once or twice before, so I gave it a go. I was expecting an awful lot of this, and braced myself for a sour or astringent cup of tea.

Surprise number one was that when the water hit the leaves it smelled like matcha! The tea came out smooth and bright, not sour at all, and not astringent. This was a very pleasant green to end the tea party with!

I was a bit worried at first as this tea smelled STRONGLY of seaweed while in the bag, but it is quite nice brewed! Nothing too special, but I am enjoying my cup. Vegetal, smooth- maybe just a hint of the seaweed in the background… maybe that’s why they call it island green ;)

Bought this while on vacation in South Carolina. It’s a basic, no-frills green tea. Nothing complex, but nothing that your palate needs to adjust to either. Slightly vegetal. Unlikely to offend, but just as unlikely to induce rabid affection. The loose tea was finely chopped? The tin lasted forever. For me, more a reminder of a great vacation than a great tea, but if you want to try a tea grown in the States, it’s not bad.

Fairly standard – yet a flatter tasting – green – in a bag. Not bad yet not overly memorable either.

The last bag from the Charleston Tea Plantation. This is such a nice cup of tea. It tastes clean and fresh. It is a very plain tea, so I bet it would be good in almost any tea preparation. I would totally get some of this tea as a safe tea to carry around in areas where you can’t control the water temperature very well. Like a college where you have to pick between a communal tea kettle or the boiled water that is in the cafeteria.

I drink this loose leaf tea at home in the South. Makes a great iced green tea and a nice alternative when suffering from a sweet tea overdose. PLUS it comes from the only tea plantation in the United States. I didn’t know until recently that you can purchase it online. Now I don’t have with(Southern)drawal.

For the sipdown prompt, “a tea from a US company.” Prepared cold brew.

This last Tuesday, I held a presentation at the library where I work as part of our adult Summer Reading program line-up on U.S.-grown tea. Hopefully over the next several days I’ll manage to finally get down my thoughts on each of the four teas that I covered and provided as samples to the attendees. This was the green tea from the line-up, and the only one of the four that was offered cold brewed during the presentation.

Both the cold brew I’m currently drinking in my water bottle and the cold brew that was prepared for the presentation on Tuesday used a 3 teabag per liter ratio, though the tea made for the presentation had a very precise 8 hour steep (teabags went in at beginning of shift, out at end of shift) and what I’m drinking now cold brewed a bit longer in the fridge. On Tuesday, I found the tea slightly bracing with more of a gunpowder/hyson sort of flavor profile, that dry grass/hay mixed with smoke note. This longer steeped cold brew is instead very rich in grassy and vegetal green notes. Wet, squishy green grass and mixed asparagus/spinach. Still a little bracing on the aftertaste.

Not my favorite green, but honestly not that bag for teabag green, where I’ve had a lot worse than this. While I don’t typically sweeten my cold brew, this one may be a candidate since I’m not using much leaf and it’s still coming off a little stronger and more biting than I prefer my greens.

Another basic green tea. No intense or complex notes just vaguely green and vegetal. There wasn’t a lasting mouthfeel either which makes me wonder about quality. There were no “island” notes nor did I find any hay or lasting bitter greeness.

When things say island it elicits the thoughts of tropical fruits, beaches, the ocean etc. Nothing about this tea shouts island to me besides the fact that it was made on an island. I honestly find it a bit bland. Greenish should at least have some grassy flavors but this… maybe some hay?

Brewed this up this afternoon, seems like a fairly basic green, it was decent – not super or otherwise memorable – just a decent cup of green. Had bought a few Charleston tins visiting my sister in South Carolina – was surprised to see this is the only USA grown te company and plantation :)