Green Caramel

Either the packaging of this tea or the website is LYING to me. The package says that this is a green and white tea blend. The website says that this is a blend of green teas and rooibos. If it is a green and white blend, I would brew it at a low temperature for the white tea, at a slightly longer time. If it’s a green and rooibos blend, I would have kept it a little higher than I would for the white tea, and for a slightly shorter time. Since I had the package with me in the kitchen and was not looking at the website at the time that I was brewing, I went with the green and white tea brewing parameters, and that irritates me because this IS a green and rooibos blend.

So, I guess I am going to have to try again with this tea tomorrow or the next day before I write my full-length review on this tea. And it wasn’t nice to lie to me, it makes me grumpy.

aww it IS a kinda buttery cup isn’t it!
so nice yum from the Traveling Tea Box

also, has everyone seen the shoe hype? maybe i’m late to this game but here:
http://www.amazon.com/Mizuno-Womens-Wave-Rider-Running/product-reviews/B008KFY53K/
hilarity ensues!!!

This is buttery, smooth, sweet, sugary, rooibosy, slightly vegetal-green but in a sweeter way, and pretty darn tasty. Better than I thought it would be. Yum!

I was pretty nervous that rooibos was an ingredient in this. I’ve had some less than stellar experiences with rooibos lately and almost ignore them completely at this point. But the rice and caramel mixed with the green tea made me give it a try. I’m quite happy with it. I don’t taste the rooibos. Maybe it gives it a slightly sweeter edge? I don’t know. But the genmai cha is awesome. And it’s overall just a smooth, buttery, enjoyable night time cup! I will definitely think about keeping this on hand.

Another from Teabox B! I thought ‘just add honey’ was steeping suggestions, not the name of the tea. haha. This one seemed a bit odd.. especially as it mentioned cocoa beans. But this is really nice. I waited a while for the water to cool and steeped for 2-3 min. This has a really smooth flavor that lingers (except for maybe the rooibos, which I’m not really sure WHY it’s in this blend.) There is something like genmaicha about it, since it has popped corn, which kind of makes it like caramel on its own. I wouldn’t think caramel would go with green tea! Maybe I should have just added honey anyway…

Green Caramel – Just Add Honey – 2/5/14
2 minutes, 175 degrees

This smells smoky to me. Is there smoke in the ingredients? Looking at the ingredients, I suppose it could be one of the roasted things but it’s really quite strong. I kept to the green steeping parameters because although rooibos can do boiling and a long steep, I don’t think the green would survive that. The steeping smell still has a bit of smoke but I can pick up more on the wood smell coming from the rooibos now. I’m not really a fan of rooibos so I hope it stays subtle.

Without sugar, this tastes very smoky to me. Like a very very mild lapsang might. With sugar, I’m still tasting a horrible taste reminiscent of beef jerky covered in caramel. Wow. I’m forcing myself to drink the rest of this but it’s a struggle. This is not a tea for me.

TTBB #6 (after lunch)

tried this one the other day and was really satisfied!