Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Simple Loose Leaf
Tea Description:
Sleeping Dragon green tea is grown at about 3,000 feet in the mountainous Fujian province. The tightly rolled leaves and silvery fuzzy buds give this tea its signature shape and name. In the cup, it delivers a soft, fruity sweetness enfolded by a rich smokey note similar to a gunpowder, but more complex and crisp in the finish. Sleeping Dragon remains a great cup for a green tea novice or those who oppose the grassy character of some varieties.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Simple Loose Leaf’s Selection Club subscription program here.
Taster’s Review:
The fragrance of the dry tea has a strong vegetal scent, reminding me a little bit of the smell that fills the kitchen when I’m steaming broccoli. Maybe with a tad of seaweed in the steamer. Although … I’ve never done that. I probably won’t either.
Fortunately, this Sleeping Dragon Green Tea from Simple Loose Leaf doesn’t have a seaweed-ish taste to go along with that aroma. This is actually quite lovely!
The flavor reminds me of something between a green tea and a white tea. It has some of the fruity, melon-y notes that I might find in a white tea, but with a more forward presentation. It isn’t quite as delicate as I find most white teas to be, although it is a little more delicate than most green teas that I’ve encountered.
I also taste hints of citrus with the melon, and there are sweet, vegetative notes of a green tea that meld in a harmonious way with the fruit tones. Not grassy, but, with a non-aggressive vegetative note that reminds me of a sweet, mild green vegetable, perhaps a perfectly steamed artichoke. As suggested in the above description, I am also tasting a very subtle smokiness. There is only a very subtle dry astringency to this – so subtle that I think even those who tend to be sensitive to astringency can enjoy this.
The tightly wound leaves of this tea didn’t fully open with the first infusion, so I decided to take them for another steep! The second steep was very similar to the first. It was darker in color, and a little stronger in flavor than the first infusion, but, overall, the flavors were very similar. I noticed that the citrus notes that I detected in the first cup were not very noticeable in the second, but, these seemed to be replaced by a creaminess that I didn’t experience in the first cup.
Overall, a very interesting and delicious green tea. I don’t know that I’ve experienced a “Sleeping Dragon” green tea in the past, and so I’m glad I got to try it. I love that I’m being exposed to some new and exciting teas thanks to the monthly Selection Club box from Simple Loose Leaf!
To save 25% when you sign up for the Selection Club, use this code: SISTERSELECTION25. This discount is not applicable on the retail selection of teas, and is only good for the selection club subscription.
Organic Goddess Tisane from Shuswap Infusions
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tisane Description:
Strong hibiscus and cassis on the nose transforms to a delicious sweet blueberry and sour currant on the tongue. Sweet to start, tart to finish and herbaceous all around.
All organic ingredients: raspberry leaf, hibiscus, rosehip chips, dried currants, blueberries, natural flavour.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! Where did June go?
This is the last of the three teas/tisanes that I received in Amoda’s June Tea Tasting Box: Organic Goddess Tisane from Shushwap Infusions. After reading about this tisane on the Amoda website, I decided to follow their suggestion and ice the tea … so I hot-brewed it and stashed it in the fridge until it got nice and cold.
This tea was included in the Amoda box to celebrate the coming of Summer. I’m not exactly sure I see the connection yet – I mean, berries, yes those are summertime … maybe that’s it. I’ll reserve my final judgement until the tea cools and I’m sipping on some iced tea.
The dry leaf smells a bit like wine to me. Like a sweet, fruity wine. That gave me some hope for this one, unfortunately, no amount of hope could really … save this tisane.
Meh … I gotta be real, this one isn’t doing a whole lot to inspire flowery prose from me. I taste the berry notes, but mostly what I taste is hibiscus. It isn’t overly hibiscus-y, fortunately, because I didn’t steep it too long. It has a tart-sweet flavor and reminds me a bit of Kool Aid.
Not all that exciting really. It’s not horrible, and I’ll be finishing the pitcher of it that I brewed. It is light and thirst-quenching. But I do think that this could really benefit from … something. Perhaps the addition of some peppermint or spearmint … or even some cinnamon, ginger, or … something. It lacks “umph!” You know what I’m saying? It lacks that excitement factor. It lacks that something that makes me want to keep sipping it.
This is the first tisane that I find myself truly disappointed by from the Amoda Tea Boxes, and since I’ve been subscribed since November, I guess that’s pretty good.