Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Grapefruit Dragon has an Organic Dragon Well base that originates from Anhui, China. At the beginning of the sip, the grapefruit is almost immediately noticed then the mellow sweet marine notes of the green tea appear. Towards the end of the sip, more intense natural grapefruit notes produce a slight tartness that tingles the tongue. The grapefruit flavor most resembles pink grapefruit or perhaps a gentle white grapefruit. With a little brown crystal sugar the grapefruit flavor is much sweeter and juicier with only minimal tartness and somewhat resembles a Grapefruit Brulee but sweeter.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really happy when I learned that Butiki Teas recently introduced a grapefruit flavored green tea to their collection! I’m so fond of the flavor of grapefruit + green tea, which is actually kind of funny to me, because I don’t regularly eat grapefruit. I like it alright, but, I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorite fruits … or even one of my favorite citrus fruits. But, the tangy, bitter flavor of grapefruit seems to marry so well with the sweet, grassy tones of green tea – something that I discovered a couple of years ago when I visited the Tahono Chul Park in Tucson, Arizona.
Oh my goodness, I so loved that place, I was ready to move there. I don’t know where I would have slept in the park, exactly. Perhaps someone should make a park like that in Portland. Yes, I think it would be a perfect addition to Portland!
Butiki Teas has nailed the grapefruit flavor here perfectly! It is tart and tangy and even a little bitter, just like a true grapefruit! I can feel the tingly sensation on my tongue in the aftertaste that is similar to the way my tongue feels after eating grapefruit, or drinking grapefruit juice. It truly tastes as though someone squeezed a liberal amount of fresh grapefruit juice into a cup of Dragon Well tea!
And let’s not forget that we’re drinking tea … and I’m happy to say that the flavor of the Dragon Well tea is there too. Dragon Well seems a good choice for the base, it is sweet and a little vegetative, and offers a pleasing broth-y texture and a lightly buttery taste to the cup. The sweetness from the Dragon Well softens the taste of the grapefruit in a very appealing way, so that the true nature of the fruit is intact but, some of the sweeter tones can also be enjoyed.
These two flavors have a good balance. Neither flavor attempts to overwhelm or overpower the nuances of the other. I can taste the many subtleties of the grapefruit, as well as those in the Dragon Well.
Refreshing and zingy, this grapefruit green tea is even BETTER than the grapefruit green tea that I enjoyed at Tohono Chul Park!
