Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aiya
Tea Description:
Premium Sencha is one of the most prized Sencha teas available in the Japanese tea market. Enjoy the depth of authentic Japanese green tea flavor. The emerald green tea leaves are tightly rolled into long strips to retain their freshness and taste.
Preparation:
Bring the water to a boil and allow it to cool to 80°C/176°F. Steep 1 heaping teaspoon (3g) of Premium Sencha for 1.5 minutes in 1 cup (240ml/8 oz) of hot water. With this tea, one can pour more hot water over the tea leaves and enjoy another cup.
Ingredients:
Japanese Green Tea – Premium Sencha
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The best way that I can describe Premium Sencha from Aiya is fresh delicious perfection. I have sat here with this cup so immersed in it, just allowing myself to become a part of it, and it is just the freshest sensational cup of tea ever. There is a nutty sweetness with just a slight astringency that gives it almost a citrus like zest. The left over flavor on the palate is lingering, nutty, and a little tart. Yes, you will find a grassy flavor in the tea, but it is not grassy like other green teas I have experienced, this tea is more like a seaweed with a slight saltiness, a vegetal flavor that is really special. The aroma is equally pleasing. I can only describe the aroma as something you would experience in a prairie meadow on a breezy, warm, summer’s day.
When I received my tin from Aiya I was really surprised to find that under the lid was a secondary sealed pull back lid. I was so excited and impressed I made my daughter and husband come look. Upon pulling off the sealed lid by the ring (like an older style soda can) and hearing the freshness seal open, with an airy sound, the aroma of the dry leaf was mesmerizing! The lead is dark green and almost shimmery silver looking. No wonder this is the freshest tasting sencha I have ever experienced!
Now I love green tea, although I must have my morning black tea, but during the day, as I am working, or running errands, I must have my green tea. Green tea energizes me in such a positive manner. It does not over excite me, or make me nervous, nor does it relax me so much like a white or yellow tea which I reserve for early evenings. Green tea makes me feel like I can conquer everything on my “to do” list. It just feels healthy to drink, and of course, it is, but green tea like this, from Aiya, well, it really makes me feel as if I am drinking something special, because I am. If you have not tried a tea from Aiya please do yourself a favor and get yourself some right away! You won’t be disappointed in their teas.
Also be sure you check out their blog here. They have so many great articles and keep you apprised of their latest harvests, with a lot of wonderful photos, not to mention recipes and other wonderful things, such as how to make Matcha ice cream!
As I am finishing up my review of this tea I decided to go read my SororiTea Sister’s review (apologies for not having read it yet) and I have found that she too discovered the same qualities in this tea that I did from the citrus flavor, to the freshness, and even the awe and surprise of pulling back “the ring”! This made me smile because when you have a tea so spot on, so delicious, it is not confusing or too complicated to describe, it is just darn good!
Genmaicha from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Genmaicha green tea, also known as “poor man’s tea” is a great choice for bold flavor. This earthy infusion of organic loose-leaf sencha and toasted rice kernels pairs perfectly with savory snacks and Asian meals, and has just enough caffeine to pick you up after a long day.
Ingredients
Organic Sencha Green Loose-Leaf Tea, Roasted Rice Kernels
Characteristics
Bold, Organic
Flavors
Earthy, Grassy
Caffeine Content
Low
Steep Temperature
175˚
Steep Time
3-5 mins
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Genmaicha from the Persimmon Tree, One of my favorite teas! There are different levels of “roastiness” in genmaicha this is not one of the roastiest that I have tasted but it is well balanced and quite lovely. Genmaicha is a “go to” tea for me really anytime, but always when I can’t decide on what to steep. Genmaicha always satisfies. I love sencha, and I love the nutty toasty flavor that Genmaicha has to offer. Call it poor man’s tea if you must, I feel rather lavish when I sip on a cup!
The mouthfeel is creamy, buttery, and fresh, with that lovely sencha flavor that I can’t resist. The rice kernels are plentiful too, and I like that! This is also a very forgiving tea for a green tea, it takes to an over-steep quite well if you are prone to forgetting about your steeping tea. Not that I ever do that, (yeah right).
Today I needed something to center my mind. I have had a crazy busy week, missing one day of reviewing entirely (sorry about that), so today I just needed to get focus back, and ground myself. This tea was calling to me and it is doing just what I needed it to. I also find that Genmaicha helps curb hunger pangs and will really get you through to meal time.
I have sampled a lot of Genmaicha teas and this is one of my top three favorites due to its high roasted flavor. Yet, even with its high roasted flavor, the sencha is the star of the show! You do not lose one bit of the wonderful sencha taste. It also just fills my room with earthy, fresh aromas and is way better smelling than any room spray!
I love a tea company that does good. You can read all about the Persimmon Tree here. I personally love this excerpt:
We, at The Persimmon Tree®, contribute to the sustainability of our planet. Where possible, we use recycled and recyclable materials in our shipping supplies and printed materials. Using recycled products increases the demand for recycled material, which increases the rate of recyclability. Our passion is to instigate and experience positive change through the simple things, and we encourage our customers to do the same.
A very good Genmaicha, a very good company!
Honeysuckle White Tea from Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Description:
In China, there are over 100 species of wild Honeysuckle. highly prized for its medicinal vale, Honeysuckle is used in China and Europe to cool the body, alleviate headaches, sooth sore throats and contains anti-inflammatory properties. This tea is lovingly made with “White Peony King” White tea and combined with wild honeysuckle blossoms for an enchanting cup of tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Honeysuckle White Tea from Phoenix Herb Company is sweet perfection. Sourced from Shang Tea, one of my favorite tea companies, Honeysuckle White is sweet, relaxing, lovely, scented, and buttery. There is almost this milky mouthfeel to it. Its an enchanting tea. The color is gorgeous! A very light vegetal flavor comes out in the after taste. It is also slightly nutty but each steep brings forth different notes. The vegetal flavor mixed with the buttery milky flavor remind me of buttered green beans. Yes I put butter on my green beans, don’t you? Honeysuckle White is pure ecstasy. That is if your idea of ecstasy is a creamy mouthfeel, sweet florals, buttery light vegetal flavors, and an undertone of nuttiness.
When I was a kid there were a lot of honeysuckle bushes around my neighborhood. You could pick the blooms of the honeysuckle bush and pull out the middle section, the stamen I believe, and there would be this shiny wet dew on the stem of the stamen. This was honeysuckle sap. It was sweet and delicious just like this tea but a natural sweetness of course, no where near as sweet or sappy as honey. This tea evokes those memories for me. A time very early in my youth that followed me into my own children’s youth as they too would learn the secret of the honeysuckle bush! I love a tea that can evoke a memory.
This tea is soothing, calming, almost meditative. The color is so beautiful – a bright sunny golden amber. The aroma makes the eyes open brightly with the lovely smell of honeysuckle blossoms, then the eyes shut with a soothing Ahhhhhh feeling of release. Since this tea is made with the White Peony King tea base you will pick up subtle nuisances of fruity undertones in later steepings.
This tea is a forgiving tea in the sense that you can play around with brew times if you wish to have your tea a bit stronger or a bit lighter. I steep mine for a good 3 to 4 minutes on the first steep and 5 or more on the following steeps, yet you can go as little as 1 to 2 minutes and still get a lovely flavor. Note the directions to bring water to a boil, then let rest one minute before immersing leaves to steep. You will find this tea can easily be steeped 3 to 4 times and still give a high quality enjoyable flavor palate for your palate!
This playful tea has the quality to be snobbish yet lets everyone enjoy its bounty, at 8.15 USD per ounce which I consider a fair price for such a lovely tea. Every time I enjoy this tea I will think of the years past, running around my neighborhood, picking honeysuckle and lapping up the sweet nectar of life and remembering times doing the same with my own little saplings!
Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Produced in Tianmu Mountain(天目山), Lin’an County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, China
Harvest time: March 8 – March 10, 2013
One bud with one or two leaves
Dry tea is shaped straight and pretty
Soup presents tender a yellowish green color, tastes sweet and brisk; aroma lasts long in the middle and back part of the tongue.
Fresh aroma with chestnut flavor
Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I received my samples of the new spring teas my first tasting selection to sample was Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian Dragon Well Long Jing Green from Teavivre. The aroma is strong, awakening, and as fresh as a tea can smell. The dry leaf is so pretty and bright green. The flavors range through various steepings from nutty, buttery, vegetal, and salty, but every single steep brings forth the freshest flavors you could imagine.
When steeped properly there is absolutely no astringency and of course no bitterness. There is also a lovely light sweetness to the flavor that can be detected at different levels through the various steeps. The color is very light so do not be tempted to over steep this lovely tea. Take your time with it and let the flavors be gently caressed out of the leaf with shorter steep times which will provide you a longer and more relaxing brewing session. Green teas like this one from Teavivre are deserving of your time and focus. I do not recommend a tea like this for an out the door on the go tea. You can do that if you wish, but I feel it is cheating the tea from providing all that it has to offer and really just cheating yourself.
Some teas are great for an on the go pick me up and get me going for my day ahead tea. This Long Jing however is a relaxing, meditative, sip and consider type of tea that will rock your world in a totally different way if you give it time and allow it to. I find that while this tea is refreshing, and so lightly fresh, it has a brothy mouthfeel, verging on creamy in some steeps. I love it when a tea can bring out both feelings, light and fresh, yet thicker in the mouthfeel, as it is an unusual combination.
Teavivre brings us so excellent offerings in their new spring line, and I am really amped up to try them all but today I shall sit with this tea, looking forward to many steeps to come. It is absolutely lovely. See all of Teavivre’s Spring Teas here and learn how you can get samples of all of them for free!
Nutty Enough Tisane from Naked Teas Galore
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit/Herbal/Spice Melange (And a lot of nuts!)
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tisane Description:
We taste the brazil nuts upfront and the almond/marzipan near the end. It finishes with apple that is mouthwatering and nicely tart. Similar to opening a can of mixed nuts and snacking, this cup of tea is hard to put down.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn how to subscribe to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the third tea/tisane from my April Amoda Tea Tasting Box. And as you can see from the above information, Nutty Enough is a tisane from Naked Teas Galore. The dry leaf looks a lot like (and smells a lot like!) what you might experience if you were to open a jar of mixed nuts. Sure, there are some other components to this as well, like dried apple bits and cinnamon and cacao nibs … but it still looks like a bunch of nuts … and it smells like it too.
I taste the brazil nut right off the bat. Then the cinnamon starts to come through as well as notes of apple. I taste a hint of honey. The cacao flavor is a little less distinct and I find that this is better experienced if you slurp the tea, which allows for maximum aeration of the tea and the palate can pick up those subtle notes of cocoa.
Now that I’m about halfway through my cup, this tastes a lot like what I’d imagine a cup of apple cider that’s been simmered with a handful of nuts instead of a bunch of spices. The cinnamon is mild, and just enough to really accentuate the apple in a very pleasant way. It’s really quite tasty – different, certainly! – but I like it.
As I am finishing this cup, I look forward to what teas Amoda Tea will be putting in my mailbox this month! Have you subscribed yet? Why not? Click here to learn more.
