Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos & Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: SerendipiTea
Tisane Description:
Escape for a short while to a secret place for which you only hold the key.
Ingredients: Chamomile (Organic), Lavender (Organic), Peppermint (Organic), Rooibos (Organic), Rose Petals (Organic)
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the third tea/tisane from my June Steepster Select Box, themed “Around the Clock.” Of the three teas in this month’s box, this was the one I was least excited about, but as it turns out, I really am enjoying this … so much so that this one could easily become a permanent fixture in my cupboard. Yes, I like it that much!
One glance at the ingredients suggest that this is the evening tea of the Steepster Select Box: soothing, naturally caffeine-free chamomile and lavender, cool peppermint, and sweet rooibos and rose petals. This is definitely a tea made for bedtime.
I really like the way the ingredients work together in this blend. The rose and peppermint offer the strongest flavor, but, they also balance each other out so that it is neither too rosy nor too minty. The chamomile is subtle, but offers a sweet, apple-like flavor in the background. And thankfully, the lavender is not overdone here. I love lavender, but when lavender is too strong it imparts a very perfume-y taste, and while this is strongly floral, it doesn’t taste of perfume.
The rooibos is not a strong flavor here, and I’m okay with that too. It does offer a slight earthiness to the overall flavor, somewhat nutty and woody, but, these flavors manage to meld together with the stronger floral essences and create a very pleasing taste. The overall cup is definitely on the feminine side – sweet with exotic floral tones – and I find that helps to give the cup an almost nurturing effect.
I feel very calm and relaxed after sipping on this tea, and I find this enjoyable enough that I could easily enjoy this on a nightly basis. It’s really quite nice!
Garden Bancha Tea from BigTeaHouse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: BigTeaHouse
Tea Description:
A traditional loose leaf green tea with a hint of sweetness and a medium astringency. Bancha is known for its earthy tones and scents.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the second tea from my “Around the Clock” Steepster Select box, and it is one with which I was pleasantly surprised. I would not have thought of including a Bancha in this box, but, when I really think about it, it makes perfect sense, since Bancha is considered an “every day” type of tea in Japan.
However, if I were to make a list of Japanese green teas with which I’m familiar, Bancha would not be at the top of the list. I’d immediately list Sencha, of course, and Matcha, followed by Genmaicha and Gyokuro. Then I’d probably add Houjicha and Kukicha to the list. At that point, somewhere down toward the bottom of the list, I might add “Bancha.” I just haven’t tried all that many Bancha teas, so I’m just not all that familiar with them.
But, I am really glad that I’m getting to know this Garden Bancha from BigTeaHouse. It’s really quite lovely. It starts out very mild. Almost too mild. It took a few sips for me to really get much out of the cup, but, once the flavor started to build upon my palate, I found this to be a very enjoyable cup of tea.
The tea is quite vegetal, as you might imagine. I’d call this an “earthy vegetative” taste, it doesn’t taste real grassy, nor does it taste strongly of vegetables, but, it has more of what I’d think of as a forest-y vegetative taste, a taste that I might get from the air while hiking in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest, where it is thick and green and wet. From that note you should draw upon the word “air” because even though it does have a strong herbaceous note, it has an airy quality to it too, giving it a fresh character… like a breath of fresh air!
It has a sweetness to it, but I don’t find it to be incredibly sweet or buttery the way I’d usually classify a Sencha. It is more mellow and relaxed, with a gentle sweetness and a pleasant savoriness. A bit brothy … soup-like! Yes, that is what this reminds me of, a delicious cup of soup! Very comforting and soothing.
Very nice, indeed!
Organic Indulgashena Garden Green Tea (FTC) from Stash Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Stash Tea
Tea Description:
Mild green tea from Sri Lanka with a sweet finish reminiscent of honeysuckle. Large tea leaves hand-rolled into long, twisted spears that infuse into a clear, light amber color. Fair Trade Certified Organic Indulgashena (alternate spelling Idulgashinna) Green Tea is grown in the Idulgashena tea garden, the first certified organic tea garden in the world. USDA and QAI certified organic.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I LOVE this tea! LOVE IT!
When I first opened the pouch, I was greeted with an aroma that is very grassy. The fragrance reminded me of that very first lawn cutting in spring, when the grass is tender and beginning to bear fresh, new blades after the cold of winter. It smells like that freshly mown lawn, clean, crisp and vibrant.
So, I was astonished when I took my first sip and my first reaction was: Pepper! That’s what I tasted. I tasted again to see if my taste buds were deceiving me, but, again, I tasted fresh ground black pepper. After a couple of sips, the flavor tapered somewhat and tasted a bit more like a peppery cinnamon rather than black pepper, but there is a distinct spice tone to this tea. It is warm and quite enjoyable.
As I continue to sip, more flavors reveal themselves to me. It is not nearly as vegetative as the aroma of the dry leaf would suggest. In fact, there is not a grassy tone to be tasted in this cup! Maybe a mild vegetable taste, but not what I would call grassy. It is sweet and has a honey-esque tone to it, tasting a bit – as the description above suggests – like honeysuckle.
After my first infusion, I noticed that the tightly spiraled leaves looked like they did when they were dry. That is to say, they had barely unfurled. You know what that means: multiple infusions! I managed three very delicious infusions from the same measurement of leaves, and I might have been able to get a fourth if I had the time to brew it.
This one gets high marks from me – I highly recommend it!
Oothu Garden Green Tea from Choice Organic Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Choice Organic Teas
Product Description:
Brighten your day with this sophisticated, single estate tea from one of India’s first organic tea gardens. Nestled in the Western Ghats Mountains, Oothu’s surrounding rainforest is home to a tiger reserve and many other endangered species. The taste is crisp and lively with a sunny color sure to inspire.
Taster’s Review:
This is a really decent, bagged green tea.
This single state green tea from India has a sweet, vegetative taste. I would classify this vegetative taste as more grassy than steamed vegetable, although I can taste a slight “steamed spinach” kind of flavor as well. It is a very pleasant taste with no bitterness, and very little astringency.
As the tea cools, I notice that the grassy flavor intensifies, although it never becomes a bitter grassy taste. It remains sweet, but as the grassy flavor grows stronger I notice it becoming slightly sharper as well. Still a pleasant cup, but, I think I prefer it when it’s hot.
Besides the obvious convenience of the tea bag, I like that Choice Organic Teas supports the Jane Goodall Institute, and that some of the proceeds of the sale of this tea is donated to the institute. And of course, I love that this is organic.
A good tea that is also good for the earth!
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, October’s Shipment, Part 1: SiaoSyue – Winter Jin Syuan
Leaf Type: Oolong
Produced By Dignitea Garden
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
October’s shipment of teas for ITFA’s Global Tea Taster’s Club brought me teas produced in Taiwan. And when I think of teas from Taiwan, I immediately think Oolong! And, yes, this shipment featured three different Oolong teas (as well as one Black tea). Yay! I do love Oolong!
And of course, my favorite Oolong is Ali Shan! And so what better way to start off these tastings from October’s shipment than with an Ali Shan Oolong?
This Ali Shan Jin Shuan SianSyue Oolong from the Dignitea Gardens is the first tea that I selected from my October package, and it is LOVELY. It has a remarkably light roast to it, giving it a hint of nutty, buttery flavor without a strong roasty-toasty taste. 
It is remarkably fragrant, with a beautiful floral note that reminds me of something between orchid and lily. This floral note translates to the flavor, but while the floral taste is there, it is in keeping with the overall lightness to the cup, and does not overwhelm.
In one sip, I notice not only the delightful floral notes, and the nutty flavor, but hints of buttered popcorn, and a very subtle undertone of spice. For such a light tea, there is a surprising amount of flavor and body to the cup.
This tea is a perfect example of why I adore Ali Shan so much.