Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Product Description:
Monk’s Choice™ is the grower’s most popular tea among his Japanese customers for its full herbaceous flavor complimented perfectly with brisk citrus overtones and a subtle berry-like sweetness. This is truly a tea you can sip all day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the nicest Guricha teas that I’ve tasted in quite a while.
It has a delicious earthy/vegetative tone, complimented with a slight roasted nutty flavor in the background and hints of fruit throughout. The above description depicts notes of citrus and a berry sweetness, and I get those notes too. It is a very flavorful tea.
There is no bitterness to this tea and only a moderate amount of astringency toward the tail that ties in well with the citrus notes. The sweetness is remarkable, it doesn’t taste like sugar, or honey or caramel or any of those other descriptive flavors that I often use, it really does taste like a fruit-sweetness. Even in the aftertaste, I have just a hint of that berry tangy note on the tongue. That is indeed interesting!
If I had to choose only one word to describe this tea, though, I think I would choose the word mild, because even though it is not what I would consider delicate or light in any way, it has a soothing character to it – mild and relaxing – as it mildly and calmly recharges the batteries, so to speak.
It has a smooth tone to it, making it incredibly easy to sip – a perfect every day kind of tea that goes well with meals or just any time of day when you want a green tea pick-me-up. And it is very reasonably priced, making it incredibly easy on the pocketbook!
Mountain Snow from Mellow Monk
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Product Description:
Finely powdered matcha-style tea made from sencha varietals.
Taster’s Review:
I have tasted quite a few Matcha teas (especially in the last couple of years). And of those different Matcha teas, this one is perhaps the most different. I attribute that difference to the fact that this tea is made from Sencha rather than Tencha.
And this difference can really be tasted in the tea. This Matcha presents a strong vegetative flavor. Yes, Matcha is usually vegetative, but, this tastes grassier than other Matcha teas. That vegetative flavor offers a savory bitter tone that arrives about mid-sip.
The sip begins with a smooth sweetness which is cut by the aforementioned bitter note. The sip finishes sweet and is somewhat fruit-like. The aftertaste is grassy but not unpleasantly so. Actually, I am finding this to be a very enjoyable bowl of Matcha. Different, yes. But as I’ve said before, different can be good. That is certainly true in this case.
This is a Matcha that I would recommend for other culinary uses, as well. Because of its stronger vegetal taste, it will be a good tea to use in dishes that you want to bring out a very strong “green tea” taste. Especially good in smoothies!
Top Leaf Green Tea from Mellow Monk
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Mellow Monk
Product Description:
This is our top-of-the-line honcha, or traditional green tea. Top Leaf™ Green Tea is specially pampered in its own separate corner of the tea orchard. Not only does this tea receive extra fertilizer (organic, of course) during the growing season, but at harvest time, the growers pick only the top layer of young tea leaves. The result is a distinctive, more subtle, gentler flavor. This tea is always first flush. Top Leaf™ is a winner in the 2010 North American Tea Competition.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! Just… WOW!
This is one of the best green teas I’ve ever tasted. The flavor is stunning!
The dry leaf looks a lot like a Gyokuro – it is deep green in color and has a very fine cut. As it steeps the leaves expand quite a bit – it is best to brew this in a tea pot which will allow for plenty of room to achieve the fullest flavor. And believe me – you want as much flavor as you can get from this tea – it’s really remarkable!
There are notes in this tea that remind me of a Gyokuro, and notes that remind me of a Sencha, and still other notes that remind me of neither of these types of teas. It is a very complex tea. I can taste the note of grapefruit as described by Mellow Monk, it is a subtle note, although still quite distinct.
It has a vegetative taste, but not a grassy one, if that makes sense. That is to say that it doesn’t taste like grass; it tastes like freshly steamed and lightly buttered vegetables. The taste falls somewhere in between broccoli and asparagus, but a bit more mild. It has no bitter aftertaste to it. There is a very mild astringency that doesn’t start to feel dry until well into the aftertaste. The tang of citrus sits upon the tongue in the finish.
This is the first tea that I’ve had the opportunity to try from Mellow Monk, and it has certainly piqued my interest to try others from them. If you like high quality Japanese green teas, you really MUST try this one. It quickly became a favorite of mine – after just a few sips, I was hooked!