Dragonfruit Green Tea +C from Sen Cha Naturals- Pump Up The Vitamin C!

I’m not sick but it seems like everyone else around me is lately. I figured it was time for a BOOST. Enter DRAGONFRUIT GREEN TEA +C from Sen Cha Naturals.

The ingredients include: Organic Matcha & Organic Sencha Green Tea, Acerola Cherry, Citric Acid, Natural Sodium Bicarbonate, Dragonfruit Extract, Natural Malic Acid, Ginger Root, Coconut Water Powder, Organic Orange Peel, Turmeric Root, Stevia. It’s Vegan, Gluten Free, and Non-GMO. Excellent! I have had one of Sen Cha Naturals +C’s before and I remember it being a fizzy-fun experience! This one followed suit!

The differences being…the flavor, of course! This time around I could certainly taste the Dragonfruit, Acerola Cherry, and Citrus flavors. They were VERY potent and impressive. If you LOVE fully flavored fizzy drinks you will have to give this one a try! Yes – it has Stevia in it and YES you can taste it but it goes hand-in-hand with the over-all flavor profile.

This was an eye-opening flavor experience and another tasty taste-taste of Sen Cha Naturals offerings! I’m a fan – that’s for sure!


Here’s the scoop!

Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Sen Cha
Description

We believe that nutrition should come from whole food ingredients, not synthetic vitamins. Whole leaf green tea, acerola cherry, coconut water, and supporting herbs to help you stay well. Exotic dragonfruit has a tangy, yet slightly sweet flavor profile we think tastes extra amazing over ice.

Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!

Product Review: Sen Cha Green Tea “Washi” Gift Set from Sugimoto America

tin2Product Information:

Where to Buy:  Sugimoto America

Product Description:

“Washi” Green Tea Gifts – Sen Cha feature high-quality Japanese green tea packaged in a beautiful Japanese “Washi” canisters. “Washi” is traditional Japanese paper printed with authentic Japanese patterns. Sen Cha is a premium tea renowned for its balance of sweetness and astringency. For over three centuries Sen Cha has been Japan’s favorite green tea.

Learn more about this product here.

Taster’s Review:

washitinI have said before on this blog that I’m a sucker for beautiful packaging.  This Sen Cha Green Tea “Washi” Gift Set from Sugimoto America has to be the most beautiful presentation that I’ve ever seen.  The tin has been covered with beautiful blue washi paper (just as you see to the right), and yes … the paper pattern has been matched up precisely!  I was actually quite amazed by this, because you can see the true love, care and craftsmanship that was put into this gorgeous tin.

sencha

Tucked inside the tin is a 30 gram bag of Sen Cha Japanese green tea.  And this is the good stuff!  The flavor is sweet, slightly buttery and lightly grassy.  It isn’t overly vegetal, and I’m not detecting a strong bitter bite from this tea.  It’s sweet and really quite lovely to sip.

This Sen Cha has that fresh and uplifting flavor that I look for in a Japanese Sen Cha.  It’s a crisp and pure flavor that revitalizes from the inside out.  If I drink this after a long, busy day, I start to feel less weary and drained.  It’s the kind of tea that puts the spring back into your step.

It’s hard to say what excites me more about this product:  the tea or the tin?  The tin is absolutely stunning and the tea tastes wonderful and refreshing.  But what’s great about this product is that you don’t have to choose which is your favorite because you get both for a really great price.  It’s an outstanding value and would make a great gift for your favorite tea lover (even if that tea lover is you!  Hey, you deserve a gift too!)

Sen Cha Fukamushi from Sugimoto America

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where To Buy:  Sugimoto America

Product Description:

This is our signature Sen Cha. Our Sen Cha is “Fukamushi.” refers to the deeper (longer) steaming process after the harvest. This extra steaming time results in fine leaves, and the taste is richer and more full-bodied than regular Sen Cha. Depending on steeping conditions, it has a bit of sweetness and outstanding fragrance.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I am finding myself just as excited to learn about the theme that Steepster has selected for the latest Steepster Select box as I am to receive the tea itself!  This month, Steepster chose “Steep for Japan” as their theme.

Here’s some more information on this theme:

To say Japan has had a difficult year would be an understatement.  This past March, the island nation experienced one of the most powerful earthquakes since the beginning of modern record-keeping.  The quake and resulting tsunami have devastated the country, and while tea production was largely unaffected, the damage to Japan’s infrastructure has severely impacted thousands of Japanese people and businesses. 

As rebuilding continues, we’d like to introduce you to a few classics from a country synonymous with green tea, as our own small way of supporting the cause. 

All proceeds for this box will be donated to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund, which assists organizations providing aid and emergency services to the victims.  For more info visit bit.ly/steep-for-japan.

This Sen Cha Fukamushi is the first of the three teas that I’m tasting from December’s box, and I’m loving it!

The aroma of the dry leaf is incredible… very fragrant.  Sweet and floral.  I don’t get much of a grassy smell from the dry leaf at all, which is really unusual for a Sen Cha.  At least, in my experience, it is.  Normally, I can smell a strong vegetative sort of quality, but, not here.  Interesting.

The brewed tea does have a vegetative aroma, smelling faintly of steamed vegetables – something mild like spinach, perhaps?  I still detect notes of flower and that sweetness that I noted in the dry leaf, but, with the brewed tea it has become more of a unified fragrance that is a little sweet, a little savory and a little flowery.

The flavor is quite unlike any Sen Cha that I can recall tasting.  It is remarkably light in color, but the flavor and texture is quite another story.  The texture reminds me a bit of a light broth.  The flavor is full and sweet, with a savory tone that hits the palate by about mid-sip.  This savoriness is difficult to describe, because it’s not quite bitter, it is not quite briny and it is not quite sour … but it is a little of all three, and it arrives just in time to rescue the palate from what might otherwise be a sip too sweet – delivering a sense of balance.  Very nice!

I’m finding this Sen Cha very enjoyable – a rich, smooth, satisfying green tea with very little astringency.  Take the leaves for a second infusion – it’s just as lovely as the first!  Another excellent choice from Steepster Select!