I steeped this tea with 2 heaping teaspoons of leaf in 1 cup of 200 degree water for about four minutes.
I was a little concerned that the jasmine flowers wouldn’t have much fragrance left because I couldn’t detect much smell in the dry flowers, but when I started steeping the tea it started giving off its perfume right away, so I guess hot water is the magic ingredient to bring that out!
There are tons of jasmine flowers in this tea, too. Like, actual jasmine buds. And they smell like a combination of candy and perfume once they’ve started steeping. The green tea fragrance isn’t really coming through at this point, but I’m not surprised at all given how flowery the smell is.
I let it go to four minutes because I didn’t want to waste any of the jasmine fragrance.
Once the tea is steeped, I noticed that some leaf has escaped the ball; the tea is orange-yellow in color and, as mentioned before, highly fragrant.
First sip: Apparently Jasmine tastes sweet as well as smelling sweet. There’s an edge of bitterness to the green tea, though; there’s also some umami and maybe a little seaweediness to it, rounding the flavor out. I blame myself for the bitterness, because I used 200 degree water instead of 195 degree water like recommended (because hey, my electric kettle only has so many settings. Next time though I’d go with the cooler option, which I think would be 185 on my kettle).
A little sugar helps with any bitterness; or you could just steep at the recommended temperature, unlike me, and do a less intense steeping as well (three minutes instead of four). It’s really great as is, though, and tastes like drinking flowers!! Jasmine is so magical it kind of blows my mind every time I try a good jasmine tea (the reason I don’t try them more often is probably because I’m kind of scared of getting a not-so-good one).
I’m also really impressed by this tea company’s mission and activism; they don’t just say that they support charitable causes, they also give 25% of their proceeds (that’s a quarter of everything they get!) to mental health causes, according to their website.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Love Tea Company
Description
Jasmine tea is one of the most pleasant fragrances to all people. To the nose, the dry tea has a floral bouquet, which causes your senses to come alive with pleasant thoughts. This tea is filled to the brim with an abundance of beautiful jasmine blossoms which gives the tea an amazing presentation value. In China, they declare this jasmine tea as ‘Jasmine #1’.
This high quality green tea – produced between the middle of March and the middle of May – has jasmine flowers that bloom between the 1st of May and the end of May (the time of the most intense aroma). This tea yields a cup with all the concentrated heady bouquet of a garden in bloom, even if its your neighbor’s jasmine bush.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blueberry Green Kukicha from Frontier Organic . . . . .
I’ve really been looking forward to this organic Kukicha touting the same blueberry green flavor profile that got me through finals week. This kukicha style of tea includes twigs from the tea plant so it’s a bit lower in caffeine and usually a bit more woody tasting. To be honest I’m a little judgy about low caffeine teas, I have an assumption that they’ll be less flavorful but I’m more than willing to test my hypothesis, especially since this is my comfort flavors! The stars of this blend are plenty of flat greens (I’m guessing it’s Dragonwell tea / longjingcha) dotted with teensy dried blueberries.
As it brews, it smells earthy but pleasant and delicate, like walking through a forest in the summer, with teases of juicy berries begging to be eaten. Not getting as much lemongrass scent, though I see it. The different components stratify themselves by weight in my gravity strainer, producing a really neat effect in the deep caramel-colored infusion. You can blame my geology profs for that last observation 😉
The complex taste of the green tea seems to expand past my mouth! It makes a single sip seem impossibly full of flavor. It’s unexpectedly rich, and then the sweet berry aftertaste lingers for a nice long while. The lemongrass is hiding somewhere in all this, but it’s not undetectable, just subtle. My second steep included rock sugar, which eased the flavor intensity a bit and made it more my taste.
I have to say, despite my bias I’m impressed with how well this low caffeine tea passed my taste-tests. Each flavor amplified the others, but nothing is overpowered. Since I’m already committed to nerdy buzzwords here, I’m going to call this a synergy blend, where the end product is more flavorful than the sum of its parts alone. Yum!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Frontier Co-Op
Organic and Kosher loose leaf Kukicha
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
A Gentle Hug from Nessie in Tea form! – Nessy Tea by Wendigo Tea Co.
Hello readers! I come with another review for a tea company that continues to impress me. As some of you may know that the tea blend named after the company has impressed me as far as green tea goes (the review is here). And like the tea that I had before named Wendigo, the Nessy blend also drew me in with its name. For the Loch Ness monster or Nessy has always piqued my interest for according to the legend Nessy is what you will call a gentle giant. Instead of the Chupacabras and the Nosferatus before her, she mainly keeps to herself with no intent to harm. With that being said, I believe this tea is a perfect representation of Nessy’s character.
At its base form this tea is referred to as Imperial Grade Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea and since I have not had much experience in the pearl tea family I can’t tell you much in comparison other than I enjoyed every cup I had of this tea. This tea was smooth and uplifting, it gave the feeling of the smell of clean linen. It was comforting and warm while giving your brain a nice clean jump start. This tea was also delightfully sweet, without one note of harshness. And this is without much sugar, for me personally on an average basis add 2-2 1/2 teaspoons of sugar depending on the beverage. So with this tea, I found 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar was perfect.
Now onto the numbers. Nessy, like the legend itself, is a treasure and so this blend is not an average price that I would pay for a container of tea. This tea, in my opinion, is a splurge item and every sip should be treasured for the asking price is 12.99 for 2.2 oz and $25.99 for 5.5 oz. So the 2.2 oz is not terribly expensive but it exceeds my normal purchases two-fold but then again this is Jasmine tea pearls we are talking about. Unfortunately, I have failed to find any type of samples on the site but there is a space for a Wendigo tea club in the works so I will stay tuned for that.
With all being said, I would say that I would recommend this tea to anyone who wants to try out authentic jasmine tea pearls. For if there is one thing that this company does well that is to provide its customers with the most authentic and pure taste of tea without adding weird ingredients like rice crispies or sprinkles. This tea is definitely on my list of future wants and I hope for the day where I can have Nessy with my evergrowing tea collection.
See you for the next cuppa!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Wendigo Tea Co
Description
You may know me better as the Loch Ness Monster. I am a jasmine scented tea whose leaves have been rolled into tiny pearls to release my beautiful taste and smell as I uncurl for you in the hot water. There is nothing quite like me.
Sometimes people call me an Imperial Grade Jasmine Dragon Pearl from Fuding of the Fujiang province of China and scented five times by jasmine flower buds picked just after they had bloomed. You can just call me Nessy though. All you really need to know is that I make one damn good cup of tea that will make you feel refreshed and comfy.
You love me, but just don’t know it yet.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Have a Sweeter Breakfast Blend with Aso Black from Mellow Monk
Aso Black from Mellow Monk is technically a black tea but it is processed a little differently that most black teas. If I understood their description correctly, Aso Black tea is made from the tea leaves that would normally go into making sencha green tea. Picked in the mountains of Japan, these leaves are less processed and less fermented than traditional black tea. Aso Black is also called “kocha” or “crimson tea”, perhaps due to its medium level of oxidation. But I digress.
The leaves in my sample were small and flat, though very dark in color. As it brewed, the tea smelled distinctly starchy like oats or bread. It had none of the citrus brightness I associate with other black teas.
Mellow Monk recommends letting this tea cool slightly before drinking to let the flavors come forward, so I stepped away from my cup to let it cool down.
When I took my first sip of the tea, I was once again hit with the starchiness of the flavors, though this time it also had quite a bit of sweetness. In an abstract way, the tea reminded me of oatmeal raisin cookies if they could be turned into a breakfast tea.
In the aftertaste there is a vegetal note that I expect more often from green teas. It reminds me of the sweet and sour fermented green tea note that I often taste in kukicha green. With all the sweetness and smooth mouthfeel of the rest of the blend, the green tea aftertaste is less grassy and more fruity, complimenting the sweet oat flavors in the overall smell and taste.
This is a unique tea, worth a taste by black tea and green tea lovers alike. If you are tired of ceylon’s sharpness, or assam’s full fuzziness, try Aso Black for your next breakfast blend and maybe you’ll find it makes for a sweeter morning.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black and Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Description:
How about a nice change of pace? Aso Black™ is black tea (kocha, or “crimson tea” in Japanese) made from the leaves of green tea varietals grown in the pristine foothills of Mt. Aso. Gently harvested leaves are only lightly fermented compared to conventional black tea, for a sweetness not found in ordinary black teas.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Blood Orange Punch from A Quarter To Tea. . . .
I’ll be honest, friends– green tea and I have a storied history. And the story mostly goes like this: Mary brews green tea, with visions of health and wellness floating in her head. Timer beeps, tea strains, Mary takes a sip and then makes an ‘ick’ face, forgets about tea, lets it get cold, dumps out. THE END.
Needless to say, traditional grassy, herbaceous green teas haven’t been my jam in years past. Now, as the years have gone, I’ve grown my palette for teas a bit wider, and I’ll eagerly at least try greens with something interesting or fun about them (to varying success). Combine that with a post-holiday need to lay off the jittery caffeine and let my body reset itself, I’ve been looking towards teas with lighter caffeine, like some of my oft-overlooked greens and whites.
When this tea showed up in my monthly box from AQTT, I was psyched. Fruity greens in particular are almost always a hit in my book, and Blood Orange Punch (besides just sounding super punk-y and cool) just sounded so delightfully refreshing.
Steeped at below-boiling water for two and a half minutes, this tea brews up beautifully peachy-red-orange, just the colors of blood oranges. The scent is to die for– crisp, citrusy, but still light and smooth. I don’t get too much of the “brandy, rum and cream” that the descriptions heralded, but regardless, I find myself sipping cup after cup of this one. Hot, of course, as it’s been negative eleven billion degrees outside– but with it’s strong, fruity notes, I bet this one would be absolutely to die for as an iced tea come warmer months. A Quarter to Tea, you’ll make a green tea drinker of me yet!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: A Quarter To Tea
Description
A deep orange flavor with hints of brandy, rum, and cream.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
