Review: The English Tea Store’s Lavender Butterfly Green Tea

Part of My Floral / Fruity Extravaganza
© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder. The Subject: Lavender Butterfly Green Tea from The English Tea Store.

Rating:

Water temperature: 180° F

Steeping time: 3 minutes (see comments)

Tea type: Green
Scents, flavorings, etc.: Lavender
Aroma, dry: Grassy, lavender floral, almost minty
Aroma in the cup, plain: Grassy, lavender floral
Taste, plain: No bitterness, subtle floral
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: N/A
Taste, enhanced: N/A

2nd Infusion: Lighter color, milder flavor

Chilled: Didn’t do

Comments:
The key thing with this tea is the flavor balance between the grassiness of the green tea and the floral notes of the lavender. The first infusion achieves this, while the second infusion tilts toward the lavender side but is still quite pleasant.

The vendor’s site recommends a steeping time of 1 to 4 minutes. Therefore, when steeping this tea, we tried it at 1-minute intervals, with these results:

1 min: No flavor, like drinking hot water. Liquid was very pale.
2 mins: Slight “butteriness” detected, otherwise very light flavor. Liquid was light yellow.
3 mins: “Butteriness” disappeared, but taste was very smooth, floral notes were subtle and balanced with the grassiness. The liquid was dark yellow. We stopped here, being satisfied with the results and not wanting to risk oversteeping.

This tea is known as a great one to drink to help curb your hunger. So, if you are looking to scale back your scale reading (hee!), keep some of this tea on hand and have a cup or two during the day.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.