This tea is part of a package of samples that were selected by the company owner, Jim Schreiber. My humans would have cautioned him against sending any teas that have flavorings added. They have tried a number of these flavored teas and are usually disappointed that the tea flavor is overwhelmed by the added items. Nevertheless, they did their best to be objective in reviewing this tea.
The Subject: City in a Garden Green Tea from Shui Tea.
Water temperature: 160-170° F (per their site)
Steeping time: 2 minutes
Tea type: Sencha-style Green
Scents, flavorings, etc.: Freeze-dried Orange
Aroma, dry: Orangey, strong spicy
Aroma in the cup, plain: Strong spicy
Taste, plain: Strong spicy
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: N/A
Taste, enhanced: N/A
2nd Infusion: Weaker but still spicy
Chilled: N/A
Comments:
One of the neat things about trying a new tea is not knowing how it is supposed to taste, but rather confining our experience to our own perceptions (sight, taste, smell). We did that with this tea, trying it first, then looking it up on the Shui Tea Website.
Our perceptions: The tea has the fragrance of allspice (we have some and compared the two side by side), with a hint of orange, and totally overwhelms any fragrance from the green tea. This carries through to the pale green liquid. We did two infusions. The first was strongly flavored with that allspice-like scent. The second was weaker. Neither had any green tea taste.
When we saw on the Website that there was only freeze-dried orange added to the Sencha-style green tea, we were quite surprised. The spicy fragrance must be from the orange.
For those of you who like teas with fruit and spice flavors added in, this would be a great option. For us, though, we would prefer just the Sencha tea.
Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.
This is actually one of my favorite flavored green teas. The citrus notes ring true.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the citrus was there, albeit overwhelmed by the allspice-like fragrance. Our main issue was not being able to smell or taste the tea. Glad you liked it. I'm sure other citrus-lovers will, too.
ReplyDelete