Black Night

Tea: Black Night
Vendor: Red Leaf Tea
Price: $3.99 / .4 oz - $9.99 / 3.2 oz
Vendor Description: Black Night is a robust tea with a very mild hint of sweetness. The Black Night has a strong flavor and aroma and can retain its strong taste for several years because it is more oxidized than the other varieties of tea. The Black Night also contains high levels of anti-oxidant and has higher caffeine content than some tea varieties.

Leaf: The leaf of this tea consists of rather small and odd pieces. They are not round like CTC teas, nor are they particularly leafy like most black teas. It is most akin to a small grade of an orthodox tea. There is a rather fruity aroma to this tea, it is rather difficult to pinpoint, but gives off hints of orange and berries. It has an almost musty aroma to it.

1st Infusion Parameters: 3g, 5oz, 208F, 3 min

1st Infusion: This tea produces a clear dark red hue. The flavor is smooth with a light astringency on it. There is a light flavor which is slightly akin to an Earl Grey flavor, and it has the tanginess of it. Aside from that this seems like a somewhat nondescript tea and feels a bit confused as to what it's flavor is.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This tea is a bit confusing, it feels like it is trying to be a few different flavored teas at the same time, but not to the point of expressing a combined flavor. If likened to a party, it would be like a room where everyone is talking just loud enough that there's some sound, but you can't listen to anyone in particular. Combined with the rather pricey nature on the low weight end to needing 3.2 oz to get a better price, I don't see this tea as being anything particularly stellar. If you like flavors, pick a flavor and get a specified flavor, if you're looking for a purity of taste pick a nice singular tea.

Sakura Houji

Tea: Sakura Hoji - 8810
Vendor: Lupicia USA

About This Tea: The Sakura Hoji is a hojicha blended with salted sakura leaves. This year this tea is not offered on it's own, but rather only with the petit tin set.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a light brown hojicha with a large mix of the chopped sakura leaf. The sakura aroma is very prominent and pleasant. The tea reminds me of the Persimmion Leaf Hojicha from Lupicia as well.

1st Infusion Parameters: 3g, 5oz, 208F, 2 min

1st Infusion: This te has a bold autumn brown hue to it. There is a warm and sweet aroma to it. There are hints of a bancha edge to it, but it makes for a very round aroma overall. The flavor of the tea is salty. Very salty. VERY salty. There is a little bit of astringency, but aside from that it feels like a brown cup of salt water with a nice sakura aroma on top.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: Way to salty. The salt was the dominant portion of the flavor for this tea. This tea was only in the petit tin for quite a good reason this year. It smells wonderful though. But this tea is very difficult to drink due to the extreme saltiness of it. I couldn't really find the hojicha flavor hidden behind the salt. It makes for a nice potpouri though.

Mango Green Decaf

Tea: Mango Green Tea Decaf
Vendor: Mighty Leaf
Price: $8.95 / 4 oz
Source: Nilgiri, India
Vendor Description: Mango Green Tea Decaf, is a sweet blend of decaffeinated green tea from the Korakundah estate in Nilgiri, India combined with mango piences and calendula. With an intoxicating aroma, this fruity and flavorful green tea provides the perfect introduction to those new to green tea, or simply looking for a delicious, caffeine-free green tea blend.

Leaf: This leaf has a brown-green hue to it. There are yellow blossoms mixed in amongst the twisted green leaf. There are small dried pieces of fruit in the mix. The leaf appears drier than a green tea from China or Japan. The shape of the leaf somewhat reminds me of a Darjeeling.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 185F, 45s, 5 oz

1st Infusion: This infusion had a brownish caramel hue to it. Considering this was a green tea this was rather surprising. There is a light sweet aroma that quickly fades away. The flavor of the tea is very sharp. There is not much mango in the flavor of this tea at all. Most of the flavor from the tea is up front, but it is very short lived. It quickly dies off leaving not much on the back end. There is no astringency to the back.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 15s, 185F

2nd Infusion: The flavor was very similar to the first infusion. Not much flavor overall, and very short lived.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I don't drink many green teas from outside of Japan and China, let alone decaf. This tea was somewhat of a reminder of why. Normally I don't drink many decaf teas either. The flavor was light in comparison with the tea flavor, and I acknowledge that flavoring a green tea is a difficult proposition, but it still could have been better.

Kuromitsu Kinako

Tea: Kuromitsu Kinako - 8518
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Vendor Description: This is a unique blend of green tea and tea powder, flavored with soy powder and rich brown sugar.

About This Tea: This is a tea that I picked up from Lupicia, although from the looks of it, it is no longer available on their website. This is just another one of the many teas that have been slowly disappearing off of the Lupicia website in the past few months.

Leaf: The leaf has a very strong brown sugar and maple syrupy aroma. There are some small brown-red beans in the mix. The leaf has a very matte appearance, but it is likely that a certain degree of this is from the brown sugar and kinako coatings. The leaf is rather large and not needle like how a sencha is.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 208F, 2min

1st Infusion: The tea has a dark amber color. It is slightly murky and has a very sweet aroma. The aroma reminds me of brown sugar like the leaf has. The flavor of the tea is unsurprisingly sweet. There is a light bitterness to the flavor, but is overall quite smooth. There is a hint of bancha sharpness, but it is masked by the sugary sweetness.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 208F, 2:30

2nd Infusion: The tea had a darker yellow color this time. The aroma was still quite sweet. It is a little sharper this time around though and not as sweet as the first infusion. There is a little bit of snappy bitterness to it.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This tea was rather odd. I'm normally not a big fan of the flavor of kinako or adding sugar to my green tea. Because of this, this tea wasn't terribly great. This wasn't a good pairing of flavoring with green tea. I also tried this tea iced, but it wasn't very good that way either.

Tomo Sencha

Tea: Tomo Sencha
Vendor: Wegmans Food Markets
Price: $15.99 / lb
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Japan. Echoes of grass and sun-warmed straw present in this light-bodied tea with a pleasing flowery-green fragrance. The Loose Leaf Tea Experience: For true tea lovers, nothing compares to the experience of the aroma and flavor of loose leaf tea. Since these leaves aren't constrained by a pre-measured steeping bag, your palate is your guide to full-flavored enjoyment. And making the perfect cup of tea starts with a quality filtered or spring water. This Tomo (which means friend in Japanese) Sencha, is a minimally processed blend of many fine tea leaves and it's the tea to enjoy anytime you need a quick lift. We re proud of this Tomo Sencha loose leaf tea and we hope you'll agree. Remember, your satisfaction is always guaranteed with Wegmans brand products - The Wegmans Family.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is rather small with a lot of broken pieces. It's rather distinctively a chumushi. It has a slight hint of bancha aroma.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 1 min, 185F

1st Infusion: The infusion had a lightly murky yellow green color. The flavor is light with hints of bancha flavor. There is a certain tanginess to the flavor. The aroma is quite like a normal sencha with hints of bancha aroma. There is a very distinctive bitterness to the flavor. It feels like a bancha bitterness not a sencha bitterness. The bitterness is most prominent at the tip of the tongue. It finishes with a medium sense of astringency. The flavor is full bodied, but is dominated by bitterness.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This sencha really wasn't very impressive. The flavor felt a lot like a bancha, but not fully. It is nicely bodied. The flavor isn't spectacular, but the price is quite reasonable. If you are looking for a very budget priced sencha this is one of the more acceptable budget teas.

Ryokucha

Tea: Ryokucha
Vendor: Samovar Tea
Price: $16.00 / 4.5 oz
Vendor Description:

Origin: Organic Sencha, Matcha powder, and Toasted Brown Rice from Japan. Blended in San Francisco.

Flavor Profile: Forward notes of toasted brown rice crisps met with sweet green flavors that suggest grass and kelp. This tea is roasty delicious, full bodied, milky, and slightly malty.

Tea Story:Our version of the classic Japanese Genmaicha. This tea is a converter. It converts non-tea drinkers into devoted followers. Check out this infusion and you will be mesmerized and delighted. A stunning green color, this brew is like a meal in itself, a quintessential breakfast green tea.

House blended, we make this grassy, milky, roasty, malty, sweet, and smooth tea by blending organic matcha powder, organic toasted brown rice, and organic asamushi sencha.

Leaf: This tea is best described as a genmaicha blended with matcha. The color of the matcha powder is a bit offputting. It has a very pale yellow-green color to it. There is quite a bit of lightly toasted rice to it, but the dry leaf has a very unusual aroma. It has a very dry and powdery aroma to it, almost dusty. There is also a very vegetal aroma, almost pumpkin like.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 185F, 90s

1st Infusion: The tea produced a murky green brown infusion. There is al ight rice aroma. The rice aroma is mixed with a dry dusty aroma still. The flaavor is full bodied, but there is not much intensity behind it. It is smooth with a medium sense of astringency, but the flavor feels muddled and clouded.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 30s

2nd Infusion: This infusion was still murky with a yellow-brown hue to it. The flavor was again light, but there was a stronger sencha flavor in it. There was a medium sense of astringnecy, but it felt like a very unimpressive sencha

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This was the first tea that I have tried from Samovar, and I had expected something a bit more impressive from them. This may have been partly due to my expectations from them, but this tea was in a word; disappointing. The matcha did not seem fresh, it was downright a hindrance to the tea. The underlying tea itslef was not terribly impressive when it showed thorugh in the second infusion. Still, my thanks to Jessica over at Authoritea for providing me this sample.

Genmaicha

Tea: Genmaicha
Vendor: Ippodo
Price: 400 Yen / 100g
Vendor Description: One of the more popular banchas, genmaicha is a mixture of yanagi and roasted genmai (a variety of brown rice). The genmai is roasted at two different levels: lightly roasted and deeply roasted until the rice grains puff. The result is a unique savory flavor and a strong popcorn-like aroma. The quantity of genmai is purposely kept to a minimum while there is an ample amount of leaves with a light bitterness. This provides a perfect balance between the roasted aroma of the genmai and the refreshing aftertaste of the yanagi.

Leaf: The leaf consists of large uneven leaves. The rice is very lightly toasted and in a relatively low concentration. Most genmaicha that I have seen recently have been much more rice:tea.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 185F, 90s

1st Infusion: There is a heavy bancha aroma to this tea, it is a very distinctive bancha sharpness. The infusion has a light murkiness with a light yellow color. The flavor is best described as empty upfront with a certain sense of smoothness. There is a bit of bitterness on the backend. Due to the low concentration of rice, the rice flavor isn't very prominent. There is a smoothness ot the flavor of the tea, it seems like that's about all that the rice component could add. The elaves are mostly expanded on the first infusion, having opened rather rapidly for this tea. Considering the 1g:1oz ratio, this is a rather light / weak flavor.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 2 min

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a mucher darker yellow color. The aroma was more distinctively bancha in nature. The flavor had a much more rounded front end, but there wasn't a very disticntive flavor in it. There was a light sense of bitterness, but it feels like the tea only added color and texture to the tea rather than a disticntive flavor.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This is definitely not one of the better genmaicha that I have had, but there is one thing that is going for it, at its price it is a very price conscious tea. Unfortunately ordering from Ippodo involves expensive shipping from Japan. The tea itself is ok, you would probably enjoy it if you like bancha.

Kyobancha

Tea: Kyobancha - 7433
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $6.50 / 100g
Source: Kyoto, Japan
Vendor Description: Typical Bancha tea in Kyoto. The tea leaves are sun-dried and look almost like dead leaves, but their uneven roasting process makes the tea's flavor richly alluring.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea reminds me of the fallen leaves in a forest. It's a mix of leaves, large twigs, and lots of large full leaf. The leaves aren't rolled, folded, compressed, or otherwise manipulated like most teas are. The leaves are all dark brown / black in color. There are a few greener leaves in the mix.

1st Infusion Parameters: 15g, 2L, 3 min, Rolling Boil

Infusion Instructions: The infusion for this tea is very different than most teas. The water used was boiling, but the brewing instructions were to boil it rather than infuse with boiling water. And 15g of leaf are used to make 2 Liters of tea. Quite a lot of tea for that amount of leaf.

1st Infusion: The infusion has a light aroma and a rich brown color. The tea has a light roasted flavor, but aside from that there is not much behind it. There is a little bit of flavor in the middle. There is not much of an early flavor and no aftertaste. There is no astringency or bitterness

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This tea has very unusual infusion instructions. It takes longer to infuse and takes more care to setup than most teas, at least with my regular setup. The cup of tea it produces has a very weak flavor. There are not many downsides to this tea, but there aren't that many upsides as well. A regular hojicha is preferrable in taste. This tea may be better iced.

Honyama Sencha

Tea: Honyama Sencha
Vendor: Wegmans Food Markets / Ito-en
Price: $72.99 / lb.
Source: Shizuoka, Japan
Vendor Description: A delightful hint of maize in the bouquet hints at the gentle firing of the drying process. This tea offers a subtle sweetness. Its flavor signature is generous and soft, with a compelling wildflower aftertaste. From Shizuoka's Abe River region.

Leaf: The leaf for this is a very normal appearing chumushi sencha. It has a dullish green / brown color to it, but not extreme so.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 180F, 2 min

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a lightly yellow green color. The aroma was light and had almost a hint of a genmaicha aroma. The flavor was light, it was very front loaded with no sense of bitterness or astringency. The flavor was very thick with a strong marine flavor to it.

2nd Infusion: This infusion was a dark yellow infusion with a light brown hue to it. The flavor was very crisp this time and had a sharp bitterness to it. The marine / seaweed flavor was still quite present in this tea.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This was a rather unremarkable tea. The price is moderately high considering the flavor of this tea. For it's price there are many other teas which have a nicer flavor to them. While the tea itself has no particular flaws, it is a short lived sencha which quickly moves into a sharp bitter flavor in the second infusion.

Sencha "Sakura Saku"

Tea: Sencha "Sakura Saku" - 8005
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Vendor Description: Blend of Uji Sencha which is firmly rubbed.

Leaf: This tea is a well polished dark green sencha leaf. There is a light aroma to it. The shape of the leaf is very expected with a good distribution of large leaf and a light amount of small flecks.

1st Infusion Parameters: 4g, 160F, 1 min

1st Infusion: There was a pale light green color to this infusion, it didn't have much of an aroma to it. The tea is a light clean flavor with a medium grassiness. The flavor was very sweet and almost like a shincha in vibrance.

2nd Infusion Parmeters: 180F, 1 min

2nd Infusion: This infusion was a darker yellow color with a very bitter flavor to it. It felt like the temperature was a massive overshoot.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This sencha would normally have been a very normal and good example of an Uji sencha, but instead it seemed to be very very temperature sensitive. Temperatures which would seem normal for most senchas seemed a bit too extreme for this tea. The flavor of the first infusion was quite good, but nothing to warrant the fickle nature of this tea. I tried this tea later using a second infusion at 150F and the result was a very average tasting sencha.

Organic Detox Infusion

Tea: Organic Detox Infusion
Vendor: Mighty Leaf
Price: $9.95 / 15 pouches
Vendor Description: A luscious, detoxifying herbal infusion highlighted by clean notes of mint and basil. A spa retreat in a cup.

Teabag: This is one of the normal satchel type teabags made by mighty leaf. Inside was an interesting mixture of things which I wasn't really sure about. According to the mighty leaf website it contains:

Organic peppermint, organic burdock root, organic dandelion root, organic spearmint, organic licorice root, organic red clover flowers, basil.

I could definitely smell the peppermint. The rest I wasn't really able to discern out.

1st Infusion Parameters: 1 teabag, 5 minute infusion, 185F, 5 oz.

1st Infusion: After the teabag got wet it was apparent that there were more ingredients to the blend than I had originally had thought. There was a brown powder that was settling on the bottom of the cup. There was certain almost savory smell to the tea while it was infusing. There is a very unusual taste to this tea. There is a very strong minty flavor that is very discernable on the back of my throat. There was a little bit of a peppery flavor on the front of the taste and it leaves me with a minty breath feel. There is something on the front end that I couldn't really figure out what the flavor was.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This stuff was very strange. Even as I was drinking it and after I had finished the cup I didn't know what to think of it. It was very apparent that it wasn't tea, but I knew that before trying it. I don't know much about what detox entails or what you can/cannot have during it, but this tea isn't something that I would have in the place of a regular cup of tea. If I wasn't allowed to have tea though (which I have a feeling you aren't allowed to while detoxing) I could understand drinking this instead.

Genmaicha

Tea: Genmaicha
Vendor: Tao of Tea
Price: $2.75 / oz.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: A traditional Japanese favorite. Also known as 'Brown Rice Tea', Genmaicha is blend of Sencha 'steamed green tea' and two varietals of rice. One kind of rice develops a golden color and toasted flavor, whereas, the second varietal of rice used is known as 'Mochi-Gome' and 'pops' into white kernels. The fresh vegetal flavor of the green tea is carefully balanced with the toasted, nutty flavor of the rice. Green tea is known to contain high amounts of anti-oxidants that promote a healthy lifestyle. Low in caffeine.

Leaf: The leaf for this had lots of very flat leaf for a sencha. There wasn't as much rice in it as other genmaichas. The rice that was there had a much lighter hue to it than many other genmaichas that I have been having recently. There was a surprising amount of stem in the mix as well, and the tea as a whole smelled similar to a bancha, and not of the typical rice aroma.

1st Infusion: The tea has a lighty yellow green color. There is a light sense of the rice aroma coming from the tea as well, but there is a lack of a tea aroma coming from the tea. The tea tastes thick on the front end with a light amount of rice flavor on the back. The middle of the flavor has a surprising amount of bitterness and a flavor resembling that of bancha.

2nd Infusion: This infusion is lighter green in color. The roasted rice flavor is prominent on the front end, but aside from that there is not much flavor to be found at all.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This genmaicha was not very interesting. It lacked substantial flavor for the tea and the rice flavoring, it only held up to one infusion anywhere near well, and it's price is too high for the level of quality of this tea. There are many other much better genmaichas out there.

Shimizu

Tea: Shimizu
Vendor: Far Leaves
Price: $14.50 / 2.25 oz.
Vendor Description: japanese green tea; "spring water" infusions present a fresh clear cup with a crisp grassy finish

Leaf: This leaf was very unusual for a sencha. The leaf was more a mixture of flat leaves and curled leaves, not the normal needle like appearance of a sencha.

1st Infusion: This tea has a rather yellow colored infusion. The picture actually makes it appear greener than it really is. There was a roasted notion to the aroma. The flavor is medium bodied with a medium sense of bitterness and a light sense of astringency. The tea has a very crisp feeling to it. Aside from that it feels very generic.

2nd Infusion: This infusion was much darker yellow in color, it is murkier than the first infusion and has a much stronger bitterness and a stronger sense of astringency. It was strong enough to the point where it made this tea very difficult to drink.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I didn't enjoy this tea very much. In general I'm not a big fan of highly astringent, highly bitter teas. I didn't think that this tea tied very well at all to it's description. Especially considering it's price, there are quite a few other teas that I would rather drink. I still don't know what to think about the size and shape of the leaf as well, it seemed very unnatural for a sencha.

Darjeeling Green

Tea: Darjeeling Green
Vendor: Tea Chai Te
Price: $5.00 / oz
Source: Makaibari Estate, Darjeeling, India
Vendor Description: From the Makaibari Estate, this tea has a golden color with a mild fragrant Darjeeling taste.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea looked a lot like a normal black Darjeeling. I don't think that I would be able to tell the difference between a normal Darjeeling and this if they were placed side by side. The size of the leaf was smaller than I normally see, this wasn't rated so I don't know what the grade for this leaf was.

1st Infusion: The liquor for this tea was a normal red color, which makes me wonder what about this tea makes it a "Green Darjeeling". This tea though has a very different flavor than a normal Darjeeling. It has a very smooth sweetness on the tongue, but it not very full bodied. The flavor sits primarily on the tongue, and leaves with a medium sense of astringency. The flavor doesn't really remind me of a green tea at all, just something different.

2nd Infusion: There is a small sharp bitterness on the tip of the tongue from this tea. This is followed by a sense of bitterness that is felt throughout the whole of the mouth. There isn't really much left of the flavor but a rather general black tea flavor and bitterness.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I'm not sure what makes this tea "green" at all. It tasted like it was a mix of Darjeeling and a more mundane black tea. I would suggest sticking to a regular Darjeeling especially considering the somewhat high price of this tea.

Mate Green

Tea: Mate Green - 9011
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $5.50 / 50g
Source: South America
Vendor Description: Non-fermented mate tea from S.America, (drinking vegetables) with leaves and sweetness like Japanese tea. Before pouring allow hot water to stand. Drink as iced tea to replenish vitamins and minerals.

Leaf: The leaf for this tisane is an assortment of small particles that looks like it belongs on a spice rack somewhere.

1st Infusion: The smell of this tisane reminds me of a pet food store or the spice rack at the grocery store. There was a very dark brown color to the liquor which was a very unappealing color. The tisane smelled very woody, and had a taste to match the aroma. It's flavor reminded me of the flavor you get when you gnaw on the end of a pair of disposable chopsticks. The flavor on some level vaguely reminded me of puerh, although with this it was a very short lived flavor.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I did not particularly enjoy this tisane. I have heard of people enjoying it for caffeine content, but even for caffeine I would chose one of the other caffeine options.

Pride of the Port

Tea: Pride of the Port
Vendor: Peet's Coffee and Tea
Price: $11.45 / 4oz
Vendor Description: Our finest blend of high-grown, whole-leaf black teas. The flavor is malty, floral, and complex.

We always use the best quality whole-leaf teas from India and China to make this blend. Normally, teas that are termed “self-drinking” (teas that do not require blending but contain enough quality and complexity to be drunk straight) are not used for blends. With Pride of the Port we set out to produce a cup that emphasizes the characteristics of our favorite origins, and that means using the best “self-drinking” teas we can. The flavor is malty, toasty, and fruity, with sweet honey notes balanced by a firm pungency. “Pride of the Port” was the name of the Maine-built clipper ship captained by the great-great-grandfather of Peet’s tea buyer.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea had really nothing remarkable about it. It was a fairly normal looking blend of black teas and a multitude of colors. It somewhat reminded me of mixing a Darjeeling with a black.

1st Infusion: The first infusion had an aroma similar to a Darjeeling. The flavor though was very mild and smooth. It felt surprisingly even, there were no peaks or changes, it simply came and went. It left with a light sense of astringency and no bitterness. This was probably the most mundane tasting tea I have ever tried. If I were to chart the intensity of the flavor it would be simply a flat line.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: If it weren't for the price this tea would actually be fairly decent. It is a very consistent flavor, but for the price it would be better to get something more interesting.

Teabag - Japanese Green Tea

Tea: Japanese Green Tea (Sencha Matcha)
Vendor: Costco / Ito-en


This was a teabag that I was given to compare it for review. Costco is not normally somewhere that I would look for tea, but I figured I would review it anyway.

Teabag: The teabag was packaged individually in mylar packaging. When I opened the teabag there was a small puff of green tea which surprised me. I wasn't expecting this to be a Sencha Matcha bag since the teabag wasn't labeled as that. It was simply labeled as Japanese Green Tea, such an informative title, right? The teabag itself was made of the same material as most teabags are nowadays with a nylon like mesh material. The bag was in the shape of a satchel though, cut as a completely flat pouch, with no ribbing for expansion.

1st Infusion: The tea gave off a very strong sencha scent. As expected from a from a sencha matcha blend the color was very murky and a bright green color. The flavor of the tea was actually very weak. The tea had no bitterness or astrignecy and the flavor was very hard to find. In general it seems like the tea had the right look, just not enough of a flavor to back it.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: There just wasn't enough of a flavor here to really enjoy this tea. The appearance of the tea was quite nice, but it was quite lacking in strength.

Honey & Pear

Tea: Honey & Pear 8500
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $5.50 / 50g
Vendor Description: Flavored with juicy Japanese pear and delicately sweet honey, this tea offers a refreshing fruity taste and faint natural sweetness.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea rather surprised me. I had not read the description when I first saw this tea and was surprised when I saw that it was a roasted tea. The leaf was smaller than it would be for a pure roasted tea, i'm guessing a somewhat lower grade was used to than would be used for pure hojicha.

1st Infusion: The tea had a surprisingly dark color to it. It was dark even by a hojicha standard. This unsurprisingly paired with a heavy roasted aroma. I could detect a definite sweetness to the tea, but it was masked by the hojicha flavor. Behind this hojicha flavor is a light pear flavor. It is hard to pick out from the hojicha flavor, but it is there. I couldn't really find any particular honey flavor in this tea though.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This tea was little more than a low grade hojicha. It was supposed to be a flavored tea, but I couldn't find the flavoring. If you like hojicha you're better off getting just hojicha.

Teabag - Gyokuro

Tea: Gyokuro
Vendor: Maeda-en
Price: $6.50/10 teabags
Vendor Description: Maeda-en's Premium Gyokuro Tea Bag is characterized with clear crystal blue-green color along with Gyokuro's unique balance between bitterness and sweetness. For maximum brewing, we use nylon-mesh tea bag.

This is the first teabag that I decided to review. I was a bit skeptical about this when i picked it up, mostly because I picked it up at an asian grocery store. I have had some of the products from them in the past and was generally happy, although as I got more and more into loose leaf tea I started stepping away from buying tea from non-specialty shops. I love the taste of gyokuro and I figured that this might be a good solution for it.

This teabag is made of the nicer non-paper material. Although the shape of the teabag is the flat satchel type. This was actually the first time I had seen one of these in this shape / material combination. The teabag does come individually wrapped in a foil package.

The leaf itself was rather small and it was a smaller particle size than most gyokuro I have had from them in regular loose leaf packaging from them. The brewed liquor was actually more of a yellow color than I normally see in a gyokuro.

The tea has a very mild vegetal flavor to it, with a weak flavor to it. There is a very light sense of astringency, but all in all this was a very weak flavored gyokuro. This was actually rather surprising considering I steeped this teabag with a rather small amount of water so the ratio of tea to water was rather high. All in all this was a very unremarkable gyokuro.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: I was hoping for more out of this teabag, but was disappointed. The style of teabag is ok, but I would have thought a tetrahedral or pyramid shape would have been better. The tea is very weak all around and not worth the cost. All in all you're better off looking elsewhere.

Gunpowder Tea

Tea: Gunpowder Tea 7053
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: unkn
Location: Zhejiang, China

I got this tea as well in part of the assortment pack that Lupicia had. (I do drink teas other than from Lupicia, I swear. I just happen to have a lot of them to try after stocking up last time I was there) I can't seem to find it on their website so I don't know what the pricing would be per package.

The flavor of this tea reminds me of drinking scotch. It has a very strong woody/smoky flavor to it, in the same way that a scotch has an oak flavor. While the taste of scotch is that of oak the flavor of this tea is a bit harder to place. I'm tempted to say that the flavor is almost like bamboo. I'm reminded of the taste that you get if you suck on the end of a pair of disposable chopsticks. The smokiness seems to preclude the fact that this is a green tea you can't really tell by the taste of the tea. All of the characteristics associated with a nice sencha or gyokuro are overwhelmed by the smokiness.

I did notice that the tea did change significantly with between the first and second infusions. The color also did change. The first extraction is in the picture on the left and second on the right. The heavy smoky flavor in the first is not quite as strong in the second, but not subdued enough to let the green tea come through.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: If you enjoy scotch and are looking for a tea that tastes like scotch, then this may be the tea for you. Aside from that the flavor is a bit too smoky for my tastes. I have a feeling that this is a tea that is going to be sitting in the back of my shelf for quite some time. I might try to find some use for it for cooking.