Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Green Teas’

On the package, Hampstead Tea promises the drinker an evening on the beach. So, with that promise in cup, I brewed up this Lime Green tea.

As I look at the dry tea bag, I can see bits of ginger intermingled with an abundance of tea leaves. The smell of the dry tea bag is of limes. Ok, I have never had lime in my tea. A two minute infusion, the tea bag is heavy as I pull it out of the water. This is not your run of the mill grocery store tea bag, these bags are full and the leaves expand into the entire tea bag. My first sip…’you put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up’ hum…sorry I got carried away by the LIME in my tea. Did I mention it had LIME in this tea? The lime is not overpowering, it balances the green tea. Oh my, I have never tasted a green tea that was so refreshing, so different, so totally not grassy or bitter.

OK, so now you know my issues with green teas: bitter, grassy, generally yucky. BUT, Hampstead Tea promises that their green teas are never bitter or grassy and it is all because they grow their Organic Fairtrade green teas at a higher altitude. I say hooray for the higher altitude and for a company that goes that extra mile to bring us good organic affordable teas.

When I first started on my tea journey, I drank green tea. I kept thinking over time I would learn to love it, but I never did. Granted I was not drinking high quality leaves, but I did not like it. Since that feeble attempt at green teas, I have found a few that I can tolerate to drink. This green tea is in a class all by itself in my humble opinion, it is mellow and fresh. I find myself looking forward to the next cup. As you might have guessed by now, I am a fan of this Lime Green tea. It is a perfect after meal tea. I can see myself drinking this throughout the day and night. The caffeine is low on this one, so this can be added to your nighttime tea stash.

Lime zest + Green Tea = Enjoyment.

You can purchase the Lime Green directly from the Hampstead Tea website.

Per Marcus Stout of the Golden Moon: “The four qualities of Dragon Well is the Jade green color, the sweet aroma, the roasted vegetable flavor and the shape of the leaves. The leaves are all hand processed to look like small flat blades.” Once the leaves are wet, they reminded me of cooked greens. The smell is of vegetables, at first I thought I could not get past the smell, but as I sipped I grew more accustomed to the taste of this green tea. If you are a fan of green teas, this is a must try. For me, this tea was a no go. I wanted to appreciate the tea the way Marcus Stout does, but the black tea side of me refused to let me go Green.

You can purchase the Dragon Well – Lung Ching directly from the TeaFrog website.

My first visual impression of this compressed green pu-erh was the bottom of the leaf pile I raked to the curb two months ago that the city maintenance crew still hasn’t picked up. The first smell impression was a strong memory of Grandpa Jenkins’ damp cement-block garden shed resplendent with rusty spades and bins of stored potatoes. Which, lest you think otherwise, is not an unpleasant recollection.

Since my sample didn’t come with an instruction manual, I averaged the best advice I could find online and among acquaintances. Starting gingerly with a nugget the size of an unshelled almond, I gave it a quick rinse with hot kettle water. With water just underneath boiling, I steeped the first batch in a two-cup pot for a minute. The garden shed smell was still prominent, but the taste was lighter and mellower than the eau de potting soil I was bracing for. Almost maple-sugar sweet and leafy with a thickness on the tongue that I don’t generally associate with green teas.

The second steep, since I declared myself over my initial apprehension, was allowed to go a whopping extra 30 seconds. Color deepened just one tint from golden to dark amber, and the sweetness intensified equally.

I’ll end this narrative with Steep #3 (2 minutes, 30 seconds), which is still darker, still sweeter, and apparently still viable for several more steeps. As a newbie to the pu-erh spectrum, I think I should skipped Steeps 1 and 2 and just started here.  Thanks, Grand Tea, for providing an afternoon of entertainment and analysis, as well as proof that even an untutored and clumsy tea preparer can learn to appreciate the personality of this unusual variety.

You can purchase the Year 2000 – 7542 Green Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.

China Moon Palace – Chun Mee Tea is a pretty typical Chun Mee like Green.  It’s a fairly straight forward and good “go-to” Green Tea…everyone should have a few “Good ole standby’s”, ya know?  As for flavor…it’s a little grassy but not overly grassy.  There are hints of buttery and hints of semi-sweetness – but only hints.  The after taste is a little vegetal but doesn’t linger on for too long and doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste of some greens – which I appreciate!  Overall this is a good green tea to have on hand and anyone who likes green teas should try this at least once!

You can purchase the Chun Mee directly from the TeaFrog website.

Opening the package, the dry leaves smell grassy and have a perky sweetness about them that I’m eager to try (too much time spent drinking roasted and musty green teas has drawn me from teas like this). Two teaspoons of leaves, two cups of water, and three minutes later, I had a pale green brew with a much deeper aroma than the dry leaf had. Deeper, yet still as sweet, the grassy notes linger as well.

Deliciously smooth. The grassy flavour does not overwhelm, as some greens are apt to do. For such a lightly flavoured tea, the brew seems to carry a moderate amount of thickness to the mouthfeel. However, even those light flavours are complex by themselves, making each sip a lingering pleasure, if left to settle on the tongue.

The sweetness and delicacy of the brew leave one with a very refreshed feeling, and it is a very enjoyable tea to drink. I gladly give it a 77 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale, and would certainly recommend it.

You can purchase the Dragonwell Green directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.