This is going to be a rather unconventional review, because rather than review just one tea, I’m going to review the first two teas that I tried from the Yunomi Tea Discoveries Club (scroll down a bit when you get to the page and you’ll find the Discoveries Club in the middle of the page!) and then tomorrow, I will review the other three that I received in the club. Plus, I will review the club itself.
The main reason I’m doing the review this way is that this month’s Discoveries Club included teas that aren’t available on Yunomi’s website, so they aren’t available for you to buy from Yunomi. These are exclusive teas available only to the Discoveries Club subscribers, and you should be one! So this review is more about the club itself rather than the five teas that were part of the review, although I’ll tell you about each of the teas too!
This month’s Discovery Club package was filled with five different teas: Sencha Suiren, Sencha Suiho, Mochi Rice Genmaicha, Hojicha Soybean Blend and Bancha Tea Blend. All five of the teas are from Onocha Tea Factory & Shop.
The first tea that I decided to ‘discover’ was the Sencha Suiren. It’s been a little while since I’ve had a pure Japanese Sencha so I found myself very excited at the prospect of a fresh tasting, clean, invigorating green tea.
And that’s just what this tea delivered for me. It’s a lovely tea. I found my palate refreshed after each sip. There’s a contrast between sweet and savory bitter notes. The sip starts out with sweetness and by mid-sip, I feel the savory notes tantalizing the taste buds. The finish is sweet and clean. There is very little astringency to this – as in I’m finding it difficult to detect much astringency at all! I feel a slight “tangy” sensation on the palate and on the insides of the cheeks in the aftertaste, but it’s very slight.
What was nicest for me about this particular tea is how the palate felt so clean and refreshed after I’d finish a sip. I felt it slowly rejuvenate me, as if it was removing the stress of the day.
It’s sweet, it’s light, it’s refreshing. It’s a really lovely cup of tea! After I enjoyed a couple of cups of this tea (the leaves resteep very well!), I scooped out the leaves and put them in a little bowl with a light vinaigrette and ate the leaves like a salad. Delicious!
Time to move on now to the Mochi Rice Genmaicha – also from Onocha Tea Factory & Shop.
Most Genmaicha has roasted brown rice, not Mochi rice. So I wondered how different this would make the flavor of this tea.
I noticed as I measured out the tea that there are very few popped kernels. I think I only spotted one popped kernel, actually! The rice looks different from the toasted brown rice in other Genmaicha. Other Genmaicha looks a bit like crisped rice cereal that had been toasted, while this rice looks much more solid. I didn’t notice the ‘air pockets’ that I would normally see in the roasted brown rice.
As far as flavor goes, this tastes different too. The rice doesn’t taste quite as ‘roasty-toasty’ as a typical Genmaicha.
The tea is still sweet and I do still get nutty flavors from the rice. The sweetness is a little different, this is more like a slightly sugary sweetness as opposed to the roasty-toasty sweetness that I’m used to from a Genmaicha. The green tea has a fresh, vibrant flavor that I expect from a green tea in a Genmaicha and it melds nicely with the flavors of the mochi rice.
This is different, but it’s very tasty in it’s own way. It also has a similar soothing quality that I get from Genmaicha. I don’t get that roasty-toasty cozy flavor, but there is a certain cozy character about this tea too. I like it and I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to try it, thanks to this month’s Tea Discoveries Club package!
Stay tuned to tomorrow’s post (same time!) to learn about the other three teas in this month’s Tea Discoveries Club package!
Candy Cane Flavored Iced White Tea from Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Don’t let the simplicity of this flavor fool you: this is a blend of our premium organic shou mei white tea fannings with organic peppermint candy cane flavors and it does not disappoint. Believe me when I say, you’ll have a hard time keeping this tea in your refrigerator.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn about SBT’s subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
After having tried the Candy Cane Iced Black Tea from SBT last year and loving it, I had really high expectations for this white tea version. Unfortunately, it fell a little short of the expectations I had.
Oh, this is still a really tasty iced tea. It’s just not as amazing as I remember the black tea version. Then again, it could be that my expectations were too high, so this was not going to reach those heights.
But this is – as I said – quite tasty. The white tea is light and I like the crisp, refreshing flavor. It has a sweet flavor that’s airy and hay-like and very fresh tasting.
This fresh taste melds well with the cool notes of the minty candy cane flavor. It’s not just “minty” – there is a light sweetness in there too so this tastes more like a white tea flavored with a candy cane than it does a white tea flavored with peppermint. There are hints of vanilla and a soft, almost ‘candy-like’ sweetness in there. I like that I’m getting this really delicious sweetness but it isn’t too sweet.
It’s a tasty tea. That said, if I’m going to be shopping for a candy cane iced tea, I’d probably be putting the black tea version in my cart before I’d grab the white tea version.
Please take a minute to check out Southern Boy Teas’ Indiegogo campaign and support this small business – help them take their business even further.
Tezpur Estate Assam Black FBOP Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
India Assam region is home to some of the world’s grandest teas. Our Tezpur estate Assam tea is a great, brisk, and malty tea. It’s great for the morning and relaxing in the evening, try it any time.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh … lovely. (Imagine satisfied sigh here.)
This is the kind of Assam that I absolutely adore. It’s bold and malty. It’s smooth. It’s not bitter. (I’m sure it would be bitter if it were brewed too long, it’s always important to watch the brew time with Assam teas, it’s been my experience that they’re not a very forgiving sort of tea.)
It’s mildly sweet yet it has a certain invigorating, bracing flavor that I want as my first cup of the day!
To brew this tea, I used my Kati Tumbler. I tend to like my teas a little on the stronger side, and the amount of tea that was in my sampler from M&K’s appeared to be enough for a weak brewing in my Breville or a strong brewing in my Kati, and I opted for the strong brewing in my Kati.
I poured the contents of the sampler into the basket (save just under 1/2 teaspoon which I added to my “breakfast tea” tin – a tin that I keep with small remnants of black tea that are too much to throw away but not enough to brew a cuppa, so I put the small amount of tea into the tin until there’s enough for a pot of tea). Then I heat the water to 205°F (I tend to go with a slightly lower temperature with Assam – remember, they’re a little finicky) and poured 12 ounces of water into the tumbler and let it steep for 2 1/2 minutes. Perfection!
The rich tasting tea doesn’t need additions – it tastes great served straight! But, if you’re one who likes a little honey or sugar and milk in your breakfast tea, this tea would certainly take those additions well. It would make a marvelously rewarding latte!
To brew a latte, I recommend steeping it a little strong – instead of taking out that aforementioned just under 1/2 teaspoon of tea to add to the breakfast tea tin, keep it in the basket so that you have a strong brewed tea. The key for stronger tea that tastes great isn’t to steep it longer, it’s to add more leaf. Steeping it longer will produce a stronger tea, but it will also produce a more tannic brew: tannic = bitter. Use a little extra leaf and steep for the 2 1/2 minutes. Then add the dollop of honey or other sweetener of your choice and some steamed milk for a yummy morning latte!
The sip starts out strong and I taste the sweet, caramel-y notes immediately. Then I start to taste some of the stronger, more rugged earthy notes, hints of leather and fruit notes. The fruit notes remind me of raisin and dried stone fruit – like the sugary sweetness from a dried plum.
As I continue to sip on this tea, the astringency does build. It started out with barely any astringency, but now I am getting a distinct dryness on my palate at the very tail of the sip and in the aftertaste, my palate feels like it’s been patted dry with a soft cloth. Like it’s preparing me for another sip.
The description above suggests that this would make a good evening tea, but, I don’t know that this is a tea that I could drink very late into the evening. It would keep me awake and alert for a couple of hours. It’s got some gusto!
For a breakfast tea though – this is the stuff! It’s awesome!
Hawaiian Ginger Jasmine from Swan Sisters
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Tea Information:
The word exotic comes to mind when we sip this tea. Naturally sweet, exquisite and mellow Jasmine pearls livened up with spicy ginger and zesty citrus. The ginger is grown on an organic farm in Maui. The Dragon Pearls are infused with jasmine flowers six times when the jasmine pearls are made. This tea is a permanent favourite.
This tea is available from Amoda Tea.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda Tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh wow! This is really nice!
The ginger hits the palate first. The first few sips are really all about ginger with a light note of green tea in the background. But it isn’t an overly spicy or zesty ginger flavor. It doesn’t bite you, it’s a gentle, peppery warmth from the ginger.
After the first couple of sips, I pick up on the jasmine. Sweet and soft jasmine notes that offer a really lovely contrast to the heat of the ginger.
The green tea is a soft background note. It’s light and sweet with hints of creaminess. Not exactly ‘buttery’ but more of a soft, creamy texture that also translates to a slightly creamy taste. It’s not an overly grassy or herbaceous green tea flavor. It’s delicate and light, the same type of green tea taste you’d experience from a top quality jasmine pearl tea.
Which is what this appears to be – it’s a jasmine pearl tea that’s been blended with some of the most beautiful pieces of dried ginger I’ve seen. A lot of times, ginger looks sort of ragged and root-y (especially that which you’d find in a typical chai or other tea blend) but this ginger looks like it was prepared with care and love.
To brew this, I suppose I could have used my gaiwan with great results, but I decided to try brewing it in my Kati Tumbler and this worked just as well too. I measured out a little less than a bamboo scoop of tea and put that in the basket of the Kati. I heated the water to 180°F, poured the water over the leaves and let it steep for 2 minutes.
Overall, I’m thrilled with this tea. I usually associate a jasmine tea with ‘springtime’ but the addition of the ginger make this a really nice cooler weather drink. This would also be really good iced, I think!
Florida Sunrise Herbal Tea from Because UR Priceless
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos/Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Because UR Priceless on Etsy
Tisane Description:
FLORIDA SUNRISE Herbal Tea Blend reminds me of all the things I love about summer. The aroma of orange and the tang of hibiscus draw me in, and I can almost feel the warmth of the sun. Add in the antioxidant rich, good for you combination of green rooibos*, rose hips, and red raspberry leaf and you have awesomeness in a mug.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
I gotta tell you, I wasn’t really looking forward to trying this tisane. Hibiscus! UGH!
However, the hibiscus isn’t a strong flavor in this. There is a certain tangy ‘hibiscus-ness’ to this but it’s not overpowering the cup. Instead, it seems to accent the orange notes in a really pleasant way.
The raspberry leaf together with the hibiscus gives the cup a berry-ish sort of taste that nicely complements the orange notes. The green rooibos has a light, fruity note that melds well with these flavors.
It’s a refreshing beverage. Sweet, fruity and pleasant to sip. I appreciate that the hibiscus hasn’t been overdone. I don’t get that heavy hibiscus texture nor do I get a strong flavor from it, and what flavor I do taste from the hibiscus marries well with the other flavors of the cup.
I enjoyed this.