The moment I set eyes on the title of the tea (before even reading the name of the company) I knew they were referring to The Lord of the Rings.
This Canadian based company is owned by a lady who is a botanist and a geek who loves tea. Pairing the geek with the tea is a win in my book. If you are a geek you have to give their website a gander.
Now all that being said I’m disappointed in the packaging. One should never package in plastic. Especially clear plastic. Tea can be highly influenced by other aromas around it. And if not sealed tightly will quickly lose its freshness. I can tell just by smelling the dry leaf that it has been sitting a bit too long. It still brews up fairly well.
A bit astringent and a bit lax on the grassy flavors but I intend to save this company and order from them to give them a nice fresh taste.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: green
Where to Buy: Geek and Tea
Description:
Delicate with a surprisingly fresh and grassy quality, this organic green Ceylon tea will transport you to a in time in The Shire where friendly Hobbits roamed the country side covered with cotton-grass, moss and bracken.
Fresh, grassy and earthy aromas will delight the senses of this light amber green tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Organic Gunpowder / Bare Leaves
Your zest is but that of a fresh summer rain. The astringent label, given to you by sailors, is to be ‘savored’ only in the after taste. Liquid clear and cunning with golden hues so vibrant you would think they dipped the tea in gold.
Your fresh dry leaves, tightly rolled balls of love and affection, show the care your makers had in your processing. Wet leaves dance in the water and open up with beautiful hues of green. With a few over oxidized here and there that make them appear black. Aroma of wet leaves; a bitter scent with hints of earth.
If your nostalgia for summer has peaked to a depressive state, grab a cup of this tea and savor the thoughts of a sunny day with light rain showers.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Bare Leaves
Description:
Organic green tea from China. The leaves of this famous Chinese green tea are hand-rolled into pellets that resemble gunpowder. It produces a bolder flavor than most green teas.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
1st Picking Shi Feng Dragonwell / Verdant
ASPARAGUS!
It smells like it was grown with asparagus! Never have a smelled a tea that so strongly resembles this vegetable. I like asparagus if it’s done right but drinking it? I don’t know…
The wet smell is glorious. Simply heavenly. Would buy this tea just so I could smell this all day. Slightly roasted scent with hints of asparagus still lingering. Fresh like the day it was picked. In fact, if you close your eyes you can probably imagine the walking in the thick of the tea trees on the Shi Feng mountainside.
Once you pull yourself back into reality you awake with very vegetal flavors. This is presumably the most vegetal green or tea in general that I have ever had. Let me be real honest though, it’s like drinking asparagus juice.
Not quite as strong though as there are also slight mineral characteristics to mellow it out. Which I’m assuming come from the unique earth in the Shi Feng area.
It is a crisp sip with a bit of astringency. I know I probably don’t make it sound very appealing but it really is unique and should be tried!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Description:
The new 2019 Pre-Qingming Dragonwell is now available! This early spring tea is all about a fine and subtle sweetness, and a long, drawn out aftertaste and crisp texture. Cool spring weather produces a small harvest of truly sweet tea. This is Mrs. Li’s first picking of the season, carefully hand-finished by her husband, Shui Huamin. Her true original cultivar Dragonwell (Longjing Qunti) grows on the mountain slopes of Shi Feng and draws in sweet mountain spring water.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Matcha Honey & Lemon/Tipson
Recently, the SororiTea Sisters received an incredibly generous box with quite a variety of different Tipson teas. Tipson is not a tea brand I’m familiar with but was intrigued by the different varieties they offered- all in tea bag form.
The first one that caught my eye was their Matcha Honey & Lemon variety. I’ve had matcha before in a tea bag form and was not crazy about how the flavors came around so I was intrigued if this take on a bagged matcha would be different. This particular variety not only had organic matcha, but also had organic green tea and lemongrass with natural lemon and honey flavors listed. Again, interesting combo but wasn’t 100% sure those flavors would mingle well.
So this morning I prepped my tea up with freshly boiled water and allowed the tea to steep for the recommended 3 minutes. First sip in- I was surprised. The flavors weren’t what I was expecting. The first flavor that comes across is the green tea and lemon notes and I have to say, the flavor was pleasant. The honey flavor comes in towards the middle of the sip and it isn’t my favorite take on honey. The flavor reminded me more of a cough drop than actual honey flavors but I know that honey flavors are sometimes hard to pin point. At the end of the sip you get the slightest hint of matcha.
To try to pull out the matcha flavors, I tried making this tea as a cold brew tea and the flavors were about the same as hot brewing. Overall, this tea exceeded my previous experiences with bagged matcha and I can see having this tea on hand for those days where brewing loose leaf may just not be in the cards. Not an everyday drinker but one that I could easily sip on during the day and for sure has me intrigued to check out other teas from Tipson.
And a special for our readers- Use 20OFFBOXES to get a great discount at checkout!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Tipson Tea
Description
ORGANIC MATCHA WITH HONEY & LEMON – Organic Matcha, Organic Green tea, Organic Lemongrass and natural lemon and honey are complimenting ingredients, which will add long term benefits to your overall wellbeing. This sought-after Organic Matcha tea has been joyfully combined with the other ingredients to elevate its quality and nutrients. Brimming with anti-oxidants, minerals, EGCG and vitamins, this Organic Matcha tea is a perfectly healthy start to your day.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chai Spice Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha/52Teas. . . .
I let my daughter pick the teas we would drink together during our visits. She loves chai, she loves marshmallow treats, and she loves tea so this was a natural choice out of my box for her to try.
When she started making it, I hadn’t seen that it was a Genmaicha, so when the water hit the infuser basket I thought, “Oh no! Someone must have left coffee in the pot!” Ah no! It was the roasty scent of genmaicha, that comforting burned aroma that smells like warmth in winter time, like a campfire on a late fall night, like a warm mug clutched by frozen fingers.
Add to it the scent of chai spices and you have a real comfort food vibe. This tea has a lot of whole or large spices in it, so stir it up to distribute them according to your liking. We love cardamom and this had lots, giving it a lovely lemony flavor.
The funny thing was that almost together, as I was about to say that these were very pleasant chai spices, one daughter said, “Oh, it’s so cardamom-y!” at the same time the other said, “It tastes like marshmallow!” I think we each picked out our favorite flavors and focused on them.
And the good news is that it resteeps like a champ! Since these are almost all limited edition teas, you want to get all you can out of your favorites.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.