Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Product Description:
Monk’s Choice™ is the grower’s most popular tea among his Japanese customers for its full herbaceous flavor complimented perfectly with brisk citrus overtones and a subtle berry-like sweetness. This is truly a tea you can sip all day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the nicest Guricha teas that I’ve tasted in quite a while.
It has a delicious earthy/vegetative tone, complimented with a slight roasted nutty flavor in the background and hints of fruit throughout. The above description depicts notes of citrus and a berry sweetness, and I get those notes too. It is a very flavorful tea.
There is no bitterness to this tea and only a moderate amount of astringency toward the tail that ties in well with the citrus notes. The sweetness is remarkable, it doesn’t taste like sugar, or honey or caramel or any of those other descriptive flavors that I often use, it really does taste like a fruit-sweetness. Even in the aftertaste, I have just a hint of that berry tangy note on the tongue. That is indeed interesting!
If I had to choose only one word to describe this tea, though, I think I would choose the word mild, because even though it is not what I would consider delicate or light in any way, it has a soothing character to it – mild and relaxing – as it mildly and calmly recharges the batteries, so to speak.
It has a smooth tone to it, making it incredibly easy to sip – a perfect every day kind of tea that goes well with meals or just any time of day when you want a green tea pick-me-up. And it is very reasonably priced, making it incredibly easy on the pocketbook!
