Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Vintage Tea Works
Tea Description:
Inspired by Sauvignon Blanc, we blended natural
ingredients to create a green tea blend that is medium bodied, with a
burst of fresh grapefruit offering a racy hit of crisp acidity. (2.0oz. / 56.7g – about 20 cups)About Sauvignon Blanc – Sauvignon Blanc is high acid, medium bodied, white wine that makes a wonderful food pairing wine. Sauvignon Blanc’s aromas and flavors are often compared to fruits like grapefruit, gooseberries and green apples combined with an undertone of a grassy, vegetal nature.
Tea and Food Pairings – Pair our Green Tea Sauvignon with Asian inspired cuisine, cheeses or salads. Try it on ice for refreshment anytime.
Ingredients – Green tea, organic grapefruit peel, calendula marigold flower petals, natural flavorings..
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have recently ordered three teas from Vintage Tea Works, but this was not one of them. I was drawn to three of their other teas but this will go on my list for future orders! I am lucky to be able to sample this selection due to the generosity of my SororiTea Sister Anne.
I used to be quite the wine drinker before health concerns capped off my more indulgent days. I suppose some would have considered me a wine snob. Yet this, this is a tea, and a very fine tea at that!
Vintage Tea Works has found the perfect unison of wine and tea in this blend. They have made it noticeable that this is not a wine yet wine like enough that those who appreciate a good wine will be able to pick up the notes, the flavors, the balance, and nuances of what a fine wine would offer. What I am trying to say is that you do not have to be wine lover to love this tea, yet if you are, you will love it all the more!
The first thing I notice upon sipping is that there is a marked floral and fruity flavor which is well balanced and well blended. The sweetness of the tea is noticeable as well yet becomes more pronounced as the tea cools slightly. So if comparing to a wine this would be on the side of the more tropical Sauvignon types. Comparing to a tea it is also quite tropical in its flavor with notes of grassy flavors in the aftertaste followed by a slight buttery note but that note is very subtle. Granted there is not much, if any difference between wine tasting and tea tasting.
When I was selecting the three teas from Vintage Tea Works that I wanted to try I of course went with my favorite wine types and I grabbed the pu-erh because I love pu-erh and really wanted to see what they did with that blend. The main reason, however, that I did not select this particular tea was due to the grapefruit element. At the time that I placed my order I was not feeling that I wanted a grapefruit flavor. Now that I am drinking this tea though I have to say I am not picking up much if any of an actual grapefruit flavor. I feel that the grapefruit in this blend adds more to the palate cleansing effect more than the flavor itself. Like a wine however, or a masterfully blended tea, you really can’t judge the final outcome by the ingredients as stand alone elements. I guess I just needed Vintage Tea Works to come around to remind me of that.
I love the use of Calendula in this tea. Calendula is one of my favorite herbs. Granted it is also a flower but it is technically an herbaceous plant. I have used this herb in my home remedy blends for decades. Calendula lends an interesting floral yet savory note to the tea.
This tea also is quite excellent chilled which makes it versatile for summer or winter enjoyment.
When you swish the tea around in your mouth you pick up the fruit notes, then the sweetness, but as you swallow you get this green clean taste that is reminiscent of summer fields and marigolds which the Calendula plant is in the family of. The grapefruit notes as I said are barely noticeable but I get those mostly long after the swallow, about 30 seconds to 1 minute later, which serves almost as a drying effect and reminder to take another sip.
I do wish I had grabbed this tea as well in my order but now I have something to save up for and look forward to.
Green Tea Sauvignon from Vintage TeaWorks
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Vintage TeaWorks
Tea Description:
Inspired by Sauvignon Blanc, we blended natural ingredients to create a green tea blend that is medium bodied, with a burst of fresh grapefruit offering a racy hit of crisp acidity.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not a big wine drinker. I have an occasional glass of wine, but, it is really a very rare occasion, indeed. Tea is my beverage of choice, so if I were to drink wine, I’d prefer it to be a wine infused tea, like this one from Vintage TeaWorks
And I’m really loving this Green Tea Sauvignon. The green tea flavor shines through with a hint of buttery vegetation: very soft, subtle and smooth. It adds a pleasant sweetness to the sweet, fruity notes of Sauvignon Blanc, and softens the acidity of the wine and grapefruit, without completely muting them.
I love the way the grapefruit is showcased in this tea. If I hadn’t brewed the pot of tea myself, if I hadn’t measured out the tea … I would have thought: WOW! This is an amazing grapefruit tea – and maybe my search for that amazing grapefruit tea is over with this tea! The grapefruit is strong without being too overpowering, and it manages to capture the sweeter, juicier characteristics of the grapefruit without the bitterness of it.
As I don’t drink a lot of wine, it probably would have taken me a moment to place the wine in this, because it is a softer, sweeter wine-like flavor. That is not to say that the wine is not prominent – it IS. What I am trying to say is that this tea has been so cleverly blended to bring out the very best in each component that it doesn’t taste just of tea, or of grapefruit, or of wine, but, performs as a beautiful composition of all three. It comes across sweet and smooth – not overly tannic and not tart. Just absolutely delicious!