Blue Moon

Tea: Blue Moon
Vendor: Red Leaf Tea
Price: $ 3.99 / .4oz - $9.99 / 3.2 oz
Vendor Description: The Blue Moon Tea is a very rare tea from Europe that is made primarily of black tea with pieces of safflower, marigolds and blue mallow blossoms. The tea is characterized by a full-bodied flavor with a hint of sweetness from the Marigold. The safflower and the blue mallow blossoms contributed to the color of this fragrant tea.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea consists of smallish black orthodox leaf. It has some bright orange and yellow flowers mixed in with the leaf. The leaf has a somewhat sweet smell mixed in a musty leaf aroma.

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

1st Infusion: This tea produced a clear orange hue. There was a light and sweet characteristic black tea aroma to it. There was an almost citric undertone to the flavor. The flavor was light and sharp with a lofty feeling to it. Despite being sharp it was bold all the way through from front to back. The central flavor on the tongue was quite strong and reminded me of that citric undertone again. There is a bit of a tart flavor that lingers on the tongue as an afterthought.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This is another one of those black flavored teas that feel like they're trying to hard. It's a mix of so many different flavors that you cannot really find any singular flavor, just a feeling. It's not one of Red Leaf's really pricey offerings and isn't that bad, but there isn't really anything singularly amazing about it either. Broad, round jumbled flavor, moderate price. Unless you really like those I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Pre Rain Organic Anji Bai Cha

Tea: Pre Rain Organic Anji Bai Cha
Vendor: Jing Tea
Price: £15.00 / 50g
Source: Zhejiang, China
Vendor Description: Deliciously fresh, picked on 3rd April 2009 from the Undulating Retreat garden. The first picking of the year, before the Qing Ming festival.

Vivacious and exuberant flavours combine spring blossom scents with sweet sappiness, lush textures and beautiful floral top notes.

Certified organic by the Soil Association. Fair Trade certified by IMO Switzerland.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a light green fluffy leaf. It is lightly pressed with a brilliant fresh green hue to it. There is a light and fresh aroma to it. The leaf is a mix of smaller buds mixed with larger leaves and buds.

1st Infusion Parameters: 3g, 50z, 185F, 1 min

1st Infusion: This tea has a clear radiant yellow-green hue. It has a bright and fresh aroma to it. The flavor is very smooth with a mouth watering feel ot it. The aftertaste is a bit empty after an overall somewhat light and delicate flavor. It feels quite a bit like a light sencha.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 2:00, 185F

2nd Infusion: This tea again shows a brilliant fresh aroma, to a yellow hued infusion this time. The aroma is not present in quantity, but rather a light yet fresh brilliance. There is a rich feeling to the flavor of the tea, but this is in contrast to an almost empty flavor all around. It feels like this tea is more about the background flavor than the central prominent flavor.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: The best way to describe this tea is light and subtle. The subtle nature of this tea is quite enjoyable, but a bit light. It is well representative of spring, showing some vibrance and freshness. It is also quite expensive though. More leaf compensates for the light flavor, but that exacerbates the relatively steep price for this tea.

Ceylon Kenilworth

Tea: Ceylon Kenilworth
Vendor: Narien Teas
Price: $7.00 / 4oz
Source: Sri Lanka
Vendor Description: Ceylon Kenilworth is an excellent black tea from the Kenilworth Estate, Sri Lanka. The long, crisp, dark leaves infuse into a malty cup that is full of flavor and very smooth.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea consists of large black leaf with light grey edging to it. It has a sweet and distinctively Ceylon aroma to it. Nothing really unusual here.

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

1st Infusion: This tea has a sweet Ceylon aroma to it. It is very smooth and very typical for a Ceylon. It is a bit smoother and more reserved than other Ceylon samples I've tried. It has no astringency or bitterness to it. Overall it has a very even flavor.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: Different Ceylon black teas fail to impress me as one versus another. They tend to have a very similar flavor to them and don't stand apart from one another. Differences are very subtle and not very noticeable.

Oriental Spice

Tea: Oriental Spice
Vendor: Adagio Teas
Price: $6.00 / 4 oz
Vendor Description: To most Westerners, it is a little known fact that the word 'Chai' simply means 'tea' in Hindi. Therefore, all teas are technically chais. However, instead of the 'chai' that most Americans are used to (which usually contains really bad tea), we offer an Oriental Spice tea - premium Ceylon black tea with a unique blend of spices; cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea looks like a normal orthodox black tea leaf. There are small pieces of ginger and orange peel mixed in. There are also small chocolate colored brown pieces in there which I couldn't really identify. Based on the description of the tea I would assume the pieces to have been the cinnamon. The aroma of the tea is very chai like.

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

1st Infusion: This tea had an aroma sweeter than most masala chai that I have tried. It seems very close to a traditional masala chai though, and based on the ingredient list it is very similar to most chais. The tea itself has a dark red almost chocolate brown hue to it. It has a very chai like flavor on the back end of the flavor. It is very rich with a light sense of an astringency on the backend.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea is very much like a traditional chai, but has a higher tea:other ratio than most chai. It is quite inexpensive though, but the rest of the Adagio selection of chai are all relatively equally priced. If you want a chai like tea, I would suggest getting one of the specified chais.

Mango

Tea: Mango
Vendor: Adagio Teas
Price: $6.00 / 4 oz
Vendor Description: An ancient Hindu legend recounts the story of the mango tree growing from the ashes of the sun princess who had been incinerated by an evil sorceress. When the mango ripened and fell to the ground, the beautiful sun princess emerged. Our bestselling Mango Tea combines the taste of Ceylon tea with the flavor of perfectly ripened mangoes. Sun princess sold separately.

Leaf: This is another one of the lineup from Adagio's flavored tea category. It has their typical black tea base to it, with some dried fruit and yellow blossoms mixed in. It has a rather unusual musky aroma to it.

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

1st Infusion: This tea produces a very typical black tea, red hue. The color is somewhat vibrant and warm. There is a very sweet fresh mango aroma paired with the smell of dried mangoes. The tea itself is somewhat light bodied for a black tea. The flavor itself feels sharp and there is a rich fruitiness on the back. There is a medium sense of astringency when it finishes off.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: There is nothing impressive about this tea. It falls right into the ranks of the rest of the flavored lineup from Adagio. Good if you want to make a mango inspired blend with one of their signature blends, but unless you're a great mango fan I don't see many people picking this one up specifically.

Daruma

Tea: Daruma - 5521
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $7.00 / 50g
Vendor Description: By legend, this tea was created from the discarded eyelids of the monk, Daruma. Black tea and fruits of India are blended. Pink pepper shaped like Daruma is added and said to give an energizing power.

Leaf: The leaf consists of lots of CTC style pellets of tea. There is a little bit of orthodox leaf mixed in with this. There are also small red peppercorns and pieces of dried fruit in the aroma. The leaf has a very fruity aroma to it with hints of pepper as well.

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

1st Infusion: The tea produced a very dark brown hue. The aroma was very sweet yet unique. It had a smooth and inviting feel, yet odd due to the pepper. The flavor was light and crisp for a black tea. It was light bodied yet flavorful on the tongue. There was a light sense of astringency and a warm feeling at the end.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: In the end this was just another oddly flavored black tea. The fruit and peppercorns were an interesting mix like an ode to a chai, but not quite. In the end I would say that the price is the downfall of this tea though. There are much better alternative teas to this at lower prices, even from the same vendor.

Pumpkin Chai

Tea: Pumpkin Chai
Vendor: Tea Chai Te
Price: $2.50 / oz
Vendor Description: All the spices in your typical pumpkin pie are called upon here to recreate the same effect in liquid form. This chai has cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, clove, nutmeg and black tea.

Leaf: The leaf consists of small orthodox looking black leaf. There is a noticeable amount of clove in the mix. There are lots of small other bits added in that I couldn't as easily identify.

Infusion Mix: 6 oz milk, 6 oz water, 6g chai, 2tsp honey, 3 minute boil

Infusion: The chai has a very sweet chai aroma to it. The cloves are very prominent and the flavor is very sweet and milky. There is not much of a pumpkin flavor, but there is a light amount of pumpkin in the aroma

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This doesn't show the pumpkin side of the chai very well. Aside from that it feels like a clove dominated chai. Most of the flavoring feels like the milk and the honey, as opposed to the chai spices and the tea. Personally I would prefer a bolder chai that is less dominated by chai.

Lu'an Guapian

Tea: Lu'an Guapian
Vendor: Swan Sisters
Price: $10.00/oz
Source: Anhui, China
Vendor Description:
Luan melon seed, English for the Chinese "Luan Guapian" is named for its tightly rolled seed-like shaped leaves. This emerald green tea made in Luan county of Southern China's Anhui province is one of the great bargains of the green tea world. This is because Luan Guapian is largely ignored in the Chinese tea market, though only prime spring leaves are used with a painstaking hand made process. Melon seed is roasted longer than most green teas which gives it the longest shelf life. Try this tea in winter when other green teas are losing their luster.
Harvest Date: 04/ 2008

Leaf: The leaf has a very uniform shape to it. The leaves are twisted and curled and have a dry, dull, and matte appearance to them.

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

1st Infusion: The tea has a yellow hue to it. The aroma is quite sweet, it is quite light and subdued though. The flavor is quite bold and shows some bitterness and a medium sense of astringency. Some of this flavor reminds me of a dragonwell.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 20s, 185F, 5oz

2nd Infusion: This infusion was yellow in color again. The flavor was lighter and crisper than the first infusion. It reminds me of a dragonwell yet again. It has what seems like a light woody taste as well. There was the bitterness once again.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about this tea, and at $10/oz it doesn't seem to compare well to teas in the same price range. This is possibly influenced still by my general distaste of Chinese green teas, I have yet to find some that compare in flavor to a Japanese green tea. While the two are different entities, I don't see any appeal on the Chinese side over the Japanese.

Awacha

Tea: Awacha
Source: Japan

About This Tea: This tea was a sample from Alex over at Another Tea Blog. This tea was labeled as Awacha, from Shikoku. Neither of us really knew what type of tea this entailed or much more details about it.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea had browner older woodier stems in it than most Japanese green teas. The leaf was rather flat, but not as much as say a dragonwell tea. The color had two main components to it, a lighter green color and a nice dark green leaf color. There was not much of an aroma from this tea and it seemed rather dry.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 50z, 1 min, 185F

1st Infusion: The infusion had a very yellow color to it. The tea gave off a very bancha like sharp aroma. The flavor matched the bancha flavor with a hint of mellowness to it. There was a ligth bitterness on the backend of the flavor and no astringency.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 30s

2nd Infusion: This infusion was again yellow in color, but it was a much stronger, bolder, darker shade of yellow than the first infusion. The flavor was much heavier and richer. The strength of the tea hinted toward a strong almost metallic taste.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: We didn't know much about this tea aside from it's name. Based on it's flavor profile it feels like a slight variation on a bancha. Most of the charactersistics are shared with bancha, but the stems were a bit unusual for one. Granted this is not enough to exclude it from possibly being one. Without pricing it would be hard to say how good of a value this tea would be, or even where to go to get some. With that said though, the flavor of this tea was somewhat mundane and I wouldn't go out of my way to go hunt some of this down.

Tarte Au Poire

Tea: Tarte Au Poire - 8521
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Vendor Description: This sweetly scented Japanese green tea will remind you of a freshly baked pear tart.

About This Tea: This tea is one of the seasonal Christmas teas offered by Lupicia. It is no longer available from the website.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a sencha/bancha looking leaf mixed with some radiant blue flowers. The aroma to this tea is quite amazing, it reminds me of a freshly baked pie crust. There is a combination of a sweet and starchy aroma. The sweetness portion of the aroma reminds me greatly of canned pears.

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

1st Infusion: The infused tea does not have quite the fruity aroma as the dry leaf does. The infusion has a yellow-brown hue to it. The front end has a very strong and noticeable pear flavor. In the middle it transitions into a medium bitterness paired with a starchy flavor. The bitterness is a very characteristic bancha tanginess. There is not much of a pear flavor like I was expecting, I was imagining something akin to canned pears. The end of the tea finishes with a light astringency.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: While the flavor was moderately enjoyable, it felt like a bit of a letdown from the aroma of the leaf before infusion. While the pear offered a strong sweetness at the beginning of the flavor, the pear and tea flavors failed to pair well together and each represented their own sides. The starchiness in the aroma also seemed to disappear.

Yame Gyokuro

Tea: Yame Gyokuro
Vendor: O-cha
Price: $27.95 / 100g
Source: Yame, Japan
Vendor Description: Yame Gyokuro "Select" - High quality first-flush gyokuro grown in Yame, Japan. Over 50% of all gyokuro grown in Japan comes from Yame. Gyokuro is shade grown before harvesting, giving it a greener color and sweeter taste. Once you learn to make it properly, you wil be hooked for life! Make sure to read our brewing instructions, as it is brewed differently than sencha.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a very noticeable and pleasant gyokuro aroma. The leaf is a dark green color, and has a relatively long and thick appearance to it. The leaf does not appeared as needle like as some senchas. There is a surprising amount of powder to this tea.

1st Infusion Parameters: 10g, 5 oz., 140F, 60s.

1st Infusion: The tea came out witha very murky grassy green color to it. There is a slightly light and tingly aroma to it, which was surprising. Most gyokuro has a thicker aroma. The flavor is rich and distinctively gyokuro like, but not as thick as most. There is a light sense of astringency, and no bitterness. The flavor is very full and enjoyable, but lighter than most gyokuro.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 150F, 30s.

2nd Infusion: This was a darker and murkier infusion than the first one. The flavor was lighter and thinner than the first and it has an almost clean feeling to it.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea was rather unusual for a yame gyokuro. It could not hold up well for as many infusions as other yame gyokuro. Tweaking with the parameters would probably extend this out to 4, but not past that. It feels almost like a what a fukamushi is to a sencha, this feels like it is to gyokuro. The cloudiness in the first infusion was very unexpected. Later experimentation with this tea showed that it brews well at lower leaf:water ratios and warmer water. It is wonderful in almost sencha like conditions.

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 a pile of leaves raked up during the autumn. There are some larger twigs in this tea, larger than most karigane/kukicha teas. The stems are over 1cm in length. The leaves are quite large and flat, there is no rolling or curling at all. The leaf is primarily black in color with some leaves which have a greener color to them.

Infusion Parameters: This tea has some unusual brewing parameters to them. Instead of steeping the tea with the water cooling down from boiling, the tea is boiled during the steeping process. 15g, 2L, 3 min.

Infusion: The tea has a very light aroma to it and a rich brown color. There is a light roasted flavor, but not much behind it. There is a very light to mid flavor and that's the majority of the flavor. There is no early flavor or aftertaste. There is also no bitterness or astringency.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: As a hot tea this tea is somewhat unimpressive. There isn't a lot of flavor to this tea, but you make quite a bit for not too much leaf. It is quite inexpensive though and makes for a good everyday tea. I'm curious how this tea will turn out as an iced tea.

Gyokuro Kin Fridge Brew

Tea: Gyokuro Kin - Fridge Brew
Vendor: Den's Tea
Price: $13.50 / 2 oz.
Source: Asahina, Shizuoka
Vendor Description: Gyokuro Kin offers the elegance and beauty of the famed Gyokuro teas. The harmony of slight astringency and natural sweetness turns to full-body in your mouth. Den’s Gyokuro Kin is a cup of affordable luxury.

About this tea: Like the Strawberry & Vanilla this tea was brewed as a fridge brew with cold water. The ratio used was 20g / 1 L.

Infusion: The infusion from this tea had a light and luminescent light green color to it. It has a light yet rich gyokruo flavor. It has the grassiness of a normal gyokuro infusion, but lighter. It was weaker than the shinobi-cha flavor. It was more refreshing than a traditionally brewed gyokuro. This tea presented a well balanced flavor of grassiness and strong gyokuro flavor.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea was refreshing and enjoyable, but used a rather large amount of leaf to do so. Being gyokuro it did not produce a significantly better cup of tea than a ice brewed sencha.

Keemun

Tea: Keemun
Vendor: L'amyx
Price: $14.95 / 1.5 oz
Vendor Description: Its sleek black leaf with golden tip produces a rich, auburn liquor and floral aroma. Produced in very limited quantities. Considered the Champagne of black teas.

Leaf: The leaf is very uniform looking black leaf and has a very strong black aroma to it.

1st Infusion: The tea has a rich black color to it. The color reminds me of a mixture of caramel and coffee. It has an interesting aroma. It reminds me the most of the Pride of the Port tea from Peet's. There is a very distinctive flavor to this tea, it is strong and almost smoky in it's flavor. There is a fair amount of bitterness in this infusion and it is medium bodied. The flavor itself is very rich and strong.

2nd Infusion: There is a sharp bitterness to this infusion. It has the same deep and complex flavor as the first infusion. It is medium bodied like the first infusion.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This is a good strong cup of black tea. It is rich and traditional for a black tea. I could see this tea being good if mixed with milk and sugar. As a pure black tea it seems a bit strong for my tastes.

Matcha Latte Iced

So having had a matcha latte, the next step in the progression was to try icing it. Using the same recipe as the regular matcha latte, I tried pouring that over a bowlful of ice. The latte pictured is made with the Tao of Tea matcha, Lupicia recipe, and then poured over ice.

Infusion: The taste of the latte was very refreshing. It was cool and clean. The sweetness was a bit more hidden having this beverage cold as opposed to warm, although it does bring out the tea flavor a good deal more. There is a very creamy texture to it and the actual matcha flavor is a bit more subdued. There is no bitterness to it, just a creamy milky tea.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: While the hot version of this was a bit better than the traditional matcha infusion made with the Tao of Tea matcha, this version was in it's own right very enjoyable. It is a bit of a stretch from a traditional tea, and is more akin to a starbucks beverage than something a tea purist would look at. But I believe that it has it's place, it is enjoyable for what it is. I will probably be enjoying beverages such as this a fair amount when summer rolls around again.

Matcha Latte

Tea: Matcha Latte

About this Latte: After opening and trying the Liquid Jade matcha from Tao of Tea, I decided to try using it as an ingredient grade matcha for a matcha latte. I tried using the Lupicia recipe for a matcha latte which can be found here.

Latte: The latte itself had a very sweet aroma to it, most likely due to the added sugar. The color was a very light shade of green, which masked the dull color of the matcha used. There is a very sweet and light matcha flavor to this drink and no bitterness at all. The flavor is very milky and smooth with a thick feeling to it. However there is a very noticeable gritty texture to the drink.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: The matcha latte was a much better way to drink the matcha used. It masked some of the downsides of the matcha and brought out a very nice enjoyable beverage. However the gritty texture was a bit of a turnoff. If it wern't for the amount of effort required to make this I would consider making these more often.

Marron Chocolat

Tea: Marron Chocolat - 5523
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $6.50 / 50 g.
Vendor Description: The image of this tea is an unpeeled chestnut cooked in a liqueur. The sweetness of the chestnut and astringency of its skin bring out the high-quality cocoa flavor. Recommended for relaxing times

Leaf: The tea is a very noticeable blend. There is a very noticeable mix of CTC style pellets and orthodox leaf. The appearance of the tea reminds me a lot of the cookie tea.

1st Infusion: This tea is a very dark and rich color, it reminds me a lot of coffee. The aroma is very chocolaty. It has a very light black flavor paired with a light chocolate flavor. It is very full bodied with a light sense of astringency. The flavor is very smooth, but there is not much flavor aside from the traditional black tea and mild chocolate flavor.

2nd Infusion: This infusion has the same color to it, but a lighter flavor. There is a medium sense of astringency and a medium body. There is no more chocolate flavor remaining.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: The flavoring for this tea was rather weak, but the color and aroma were quite enjoyable. Perhaps with using more leaf it would have been more enjoyable.

Minute Matcha

Tea: Minute Matcha
Vendor: Lupicia USA

About this tea: Minute matcha isn't exactly a stellar matcha, but it has it's appeal in being in small packets. The matcha is packed into small tubes resembling sugar packets (the long kind, not the traditional American rectangular ones). So they are primarily a convenience item so you can add matcha to something on the go.

Powder: There are two notable characteristics about this matcha. The first is that it doesn't clump. There is an anticlumping agent added to it for this. Secondly it is very dark in color. This alludes to the quality of the matcha being less than top end.

Matcha: The tea had a very dark green color to it, and it was very difficult to get to foam up like regular matcha. The flavor tasted like an average matcha, nothing special and nothing terrible. There were hints of a nori(seaweed) flavor to the matcha. It also had a slight astringency which is rare for matcha. The texture was slightly more gritty than regular matcha.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: As pure matcha this tea is not terribly spectacular. The primary appeal of it is in it's convenience. It makes it easy to make a bottle of matcha flavored water on the go very easy. Just rip open a tube and pour it into a bottle of water. It has the same appeal as the instant iced tea / lemonade / crystal light packets. I carry a few of these around with me when I travel, it makes for a nice addition to a bottle of orange juice in the morning.

Adagio

Tea: Adagio
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $8.00 / 50g
Vendor Description: Adagio is a flavored green rooibos tea with lemon grass and scented with grapefruit.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea has a very strong lemon scent to it. It's very obviously a mix of rooibos and also had a large seed and what appeared to be small pieces of dried fruit, the two of which I assume to be from the grapefruit flavoring.

1st Infusion: The tea gives off a strong clean lemon scent to it. It reminded me of lemon scented cleaner or soap. The flavor is very short lived and a very mid tongue flavor. It is very crisp and very lemony.

2nd Infusion: This is not the same flavor as the first. It has less of a rooibos flavor to it and yet the lemongrass flavor is showing through still. It is still crisp and short lived though. It felt like a very light flavor nonetheless though.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: The flavor of this tea is very short lived and brisk. I would have preferred if it had more depth to it. The grapefruit flavor was not very noticeable. In the end it felt a bit mundane and not remarkable. I find myself at a loss about what to say about it. The one sentence description from Lupicia does a fairly good job of describing it and what to expect.

Genmaicha (Organic)

Tea: Genmaicha (Organic)
Vendor: Lamyx
Price: $8.95 / 3oz
Vendor Description:

Toasted rice kernels are blended with tea leaves to produce a sweet, nutty brew.

Leaf: The leaf for this genmaicha looked a bit drier than most genmaichas I have been drinking recently. There is a lighter color to the rice, and a light floral aroma to the leaf. The leaf itself though has a very light color to it.

1st Infusion: The tea had a very light and clear yellow-green color to it. The toasted rice had a very light aroma, and at the same time there was a very sweet aroma to this tea. The flavor matched the aroma as well, being light and sweet. The flavor of the rice was definitely noticeable as a distinctive flavor to it. There was a medium sense of astringency and the tea finished with a bit of a starchy aftertaste.

2nd Infusion: The flavor was still very light, and had a medium sense of astringency. The tea did finish with a very clean feeling, but there was not much flavor due to the rice in this infusion. It feels as though most of the flavor was used up in the first infusion.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This genmaicha was not particularly interesting. I'm curious how much the organic nature of this played into the less than stellar performance of this tea. At it's price though, it's not a particularly expensive genmaicha, but most genmaicha is not particularly expensive. I guess if you are looking for an organic genmaicha this could be a suitable choice. Personally I would look elsewhere.