Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tea At Sea
Tea Description:
Grown in the Halimun Mountains of Indonesia at 800m above Sea-Level, this tea is treated with natural spring water and fresh mountain air. The lightly oxidized tea leaves have a seaweed aroma, slight fruity taste of superior freshness. Steep at 85°C and observe the leaves slowly unfolding to extract their natural flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve not tried a lot of teas from Indonesia, but I’ve had the good fortune to be able to try a few. This Organic Mountain Indonesian Green Tea from Tea At Sea is one of the most impressive teas I’ve tasted from the region.
The leaves of this are wound into pellets resembling a greener Oolong like Tie Guan Yin. This has a very fresh, uplifting flavor that is soft and smooth, with some buttery notes and a texture that is similar to butter too. There is a mild vegetative taste to this, and together with the buttery taste, it’s reminiscent of freshly steamed, lightly buttered spinach. There are floral mid-notes, and delicate nutty tones and fruit notes in the distance.
But mostly what I taste from this tea is sweetness! It’s a beautifully sweet green tea – no bitterness and next to no astringency. There is a hint of citrus-y taste toward the finish which is very, very lightly astringent.
These leaves barely opened in the first infusion. They are just begging me to infuse them again! I must comply!
The second infusion was even more flavorful than the first. I found stronger floral and vegetative notes, and the distant nutty tones started to become more distinct. This is still sweet and creamy. I am noticing a little more astringency with this cup.
I infused the leaves a third time, and found that the flavors began to wane with this cup. It’s still sweet but not as creamy. The flavors were more subdued with the third cup, but it still is a very pleasing cup – and it’s certainly worth the effort to infuse this tea at least three times (it could probably go a fourth!)
Tea At Sea is a new company, and this is my first time sampling one of their products – and this tea is definitely one worth exploring! I love this company’s thoughtful packaging – it’s very fun and has a definite nautical theme in keeping with the company name. The labels are tags (shown above!) that are tied onto the packages with white string and in my envelope of samples I also received a cute little cork ship! Neat!
