Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Tea Description:
A very interesting green tea. It looks like Chinese gunpowder tea in that the leaves are rolled up into little balls. This particular one from our supplier Chakoan has a strong savory umami aroma that is similar to gyokuro.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Yunomi’s Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t recall ever trying a Gyokucha tea before tasting this Ureshino Gyokucha Ochatama from my monthly mystery Tea Sampler’s Club from Yunomi.
That’s one of the reasons that I love tea sampler clubs like this … I get the opportunity to try teas that I might not have tried otherwise. In fact, when I first saw this package, I thought it was Gyokuro, and it wasn’t until I opened the pouch and saw the tiny pellets that resemble Chinese Gunpowder green tea that I realized that this is NOT a Gyokuro!
But even though this looks a lot like a Chinese Gunpowder (in shape, but the color of the leaves here are a much more vivid green) … it doesn’t taste like a Chinese Gunpowder. It tastes more like a Gyokuro … although it is a bit lighter and crisper on the palate.
The first thing I noticed when I tasted it was a distinct nutty tone. It starts out sweet, and then transcends to a strong savory note. The finish is clean and there is a dry astringency.
There is relatively little aftertaste here, just faint notes of a grassy taste that rests upon the tongue. The taste is very clean … and it’s a very “cleansing” sort of feeling that I get from this tea.
I’m really enjoying this Japanese green tea. A very interesting tea, indeed!
Yunomi Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club: Light Roast Houjicha from Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantation
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yunomi
Tea Description:
Roasted green tea, or Houjicha, is unlike any green tea you’ve tasted before. With a smooth, smoky flavor that is simultaneously light and sweet, houjicha has none of the bitterness of traditional green teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about Yunomi’s Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club here.
Taster’s Review:
This Light Roast Houjicha from the Kyoto Obubu Tea Plantation is the third and final tea that I received in this month’s Yunomi Monthly Mystery Tea Sampler’s Club package.
As I’ve professed before, I am quite fond of Houjicha (or Hojicha) because I love that roasty-toasty flavor! This particular tea is “Light Roast” and the difference is noticeable in the flavor.
It is a much lighter taste – a mild smokiness and a gentle toasted flavor is what I’m enjoying with this cup. It is sweet and mellow and lacks any bitterness whatsoever. The astringency is also quite light here – it’s barely noticeable.
The roasting process of Houjicha seems to mute out the strong vegetative or “grassy” notes that is often found in green teas, and replaces them with a sweet, toasty taste, and I think that’s what I like best about Houjicha. Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy that grassy taste from a Japanese Sencha just fine, but, sometimes, it’s nice to change things up a bit.
I like how the lighter roasting of this allows some of the smoky tones to be explored. It isn’t a strong smoky overture, but I can note the complexity in the smoky tones. This seems much more complex to me than a typical, “medium” roast or stronger roast Houjicha. Smooth with layers of flavor that are smoky, nutty, sweet, earthy, somewhat woody, and deliciously toasted.
A very tasty Houjicha … very relaxing to sip, and a very smooth, comforting cup!
Kiwi Cherry Bonanza Fruit Tisane from Tiesta Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Fruit Tisane
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tisane Description:
Kiwi lovers rejoice, your tea is here. Non-kiwi lovers rejoice, you’ll love it too. This tea smells sweet and tastes sweet (not a huge surprise since it’s a blend of different fruits).
There’s a hint of spice courtesy of the ginger bits that gets ya mostly in the delightful cherry ginger finish.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Learn how to subscribe to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
OK, I didn’t have my hopes too high for this Kiwi Cherry Bonanza from Tiesta Tea – the third of the three teas in this month’s Tea Tasting Box from Amoda Tea. I enjoy fruit tisanes on occasion, but generally, I find them to be pretty weakly flavored infusions, and kind of boring, really.
Not so with this tisane! This tisane has a lot of flavor to it! It is definitely one of the better FRUIT tisanes I’ve had (that is, a tisane that is primarily fruit and not so much herbs, hibiscus and other stuff). The only non-fruit ingredients this tisane has is carrot, which is my favorite vegetable so I’m all for the carrot being in there; and ginger, which adds a pleasant hint of spice to the cup … a really nice contrast to the sweet and tangy flavors of kiwi and cherry.
The apple plays a big role in this cup, which is often true of fruit tisanes like this … and that’s one of the reasons that I typically am not a big fan of fruit tisanes. The apple is often all that I can taste in fruit tisanes, and it ends up tasting not like apple juice or apple cider, but a washed out, weak apple water. But, again, this tisane is NOT like fruit tisanes I’ve tasted in the past. The apple here is strong, but, it doesn’t leave the cup tasting like a weak apple water. It enhances the overall cup, adding a little bit of body to the cup as well as sweetness to amplify the flavor of the cherry and especially the kiwi.
I love the cherry here. It is a little bit tart and a little bit sweet, and it is the star of this cup. I like the role that it plays. The cherry steals the show with it’s flavor, brightening the cup with tangy notes and a sweet, juicy cherry taste that is not at all medicinal the way many cherry flavors can taste in teas and tisanes.
The kiwi flavor is what I was most excited to experience though, because there really are very few kiwi teas and tisanes out there. And I love the kiwi! Here, the kiwi flavor is sweet and tastes a little subdued in the midst of the stronger cherry and apple notes, but I find that the kiwi comes through especially well toward mid-to-end of sip, I notice that sweet, distinct kiwi note. YUM!
This is really much, much better than I anticipated it to be, and I’m really glad I got to try it. Despite my woes with having too many tisanes in these tea tasting boxes from Amoda Tea that I mentioned in my Amoda Tea Box post, I really quite enjoyed both tisanes that were included in this month’s box. Sure, I would like very much to have more teas than tisanes in these boxes, BUT if Amoda keeps picking winners like they did this month with tisanes, I would still say that I’m a very satisfied Amoda Tea subscriber.
White Ambrosia from White Lion Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: White Lion Tea
Tea Description:
Rare white tea leaves are laced with sweet toasted coconut and juicy pineapple. It’s like having a vacation in a cup!
Canister $42.95 7 Ounce
Glass Jar $15.95 1.5 Ounce
Sample Tin $4.75 0.5 Ounce
Also available in Sachets
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
White Ambrosia from White Lion Tea is a smooth blend with a full and creamy mouthfeel.
You can taste the toasting of the coconut, which sets it apart from many of the other coconut tea blends out there. The pineapple is lighter and a nice afterthought that is not too powerful but present in the sip. It gives the tea a fruity punch toward the end of the sip.
A great iced tea but I actually prefer this one hot which surprises me!
White Lion Tea is served in spas and I can absolutely see why! Every blend I have sampled from White Lion Tea has been excellent! They are all in their own way either relaxing, or rejuvenating, and I can see how you could easily find one of their blends to fit your mood and needs perfectly!
Every time I order from White Lion I get a couple of sample sized tins, which are really cute. Each time I wish I had ordered a glass (full size) instead. I have never had a tea from White Lion Tea that I did not like! There are some companies that do a few teas really really well, and the others are more or less fillers in their inventory, either so so or really not worth ordering. With White Lion Tea you can be assured that all of their teas that they sell are top quality!
This is one of those teas I ordered as a sample only. And as per usual, I want to order more!
I love the glass jars! Even though you want to keep them out of direct sunlight to preserve the flavor of the teas, they are so kitchy, so cute, and they look amazing displayed!
Lychee Black Tea from King’s Zen Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Amoda Tea
Tea Description:
The dry leaf smells incredible. Lychee fruit is unique and distinct. Hopefully you’ve tasted lychee before, because it’s flavor is tough to compare. It has a natural sweetness that is present in this tea. Mixed with the smoky Chinese black tea, you get something a little exotic, sultry and sweet. This tea is smooth and light-bodied.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn how to subscribe to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.
Taster’s Review:
Lychee teas are often hit or miss with me. Sometimes the Lychee is just too much – way too fragrant, way too over-scented, and the cup ends up tasting like someone spiked my tea with artificial tasting, nasty chemicals. Then there is sometimes the opposite side of the spectrum, where the tea is lacking in scent and flavor.
But this Lychee Black Tea from King’s Zen Tea – a tea I received in my Amoda Tasting Box for February – is really fantastic. The black tea base is nicely pronounced here – it isn’t hidden behind the Lychee flavor. It tastes rich and smooth, with a hint of smoke and I think that this smoky tone interacts quite well with the sweet, exotic flavor of the lychee fruit.
I have to disagree slightly with the description above, I don’t think I’d categorize this as a “light-bodied” tea. The lychee taste is light (when compared to a typical Lychee Congou tea) but the tea itself is what I’d categorize as a medium bodied tea … or even a medium to full bodied tea. It has a nice richness to it, it certainly isn’t as thick or rich as … say, an Assam tea or a Yunnan tea, but, it has an understated yet satisfying richness to it that is a bit more than what I’d call “light.”
The lychee fruit flavor is indeed subdued compared to some of the other lychee scented teas I’ve experienced. But I think that’s what I’m digging so much about this cup … it doesn’t have that overwhelming lychee taste that almost tastes of chemicals. This tastes light, sweet, and naturally fruit-y, while still maintaining that rather unique lychee taste.
A very nice cup. Thank you Amoda, for including it in this month’s box!