266 Tasting Notes
Another interesting green tea with a nice fruity mix. Personally this flavored green tea comes off as tasting a bit more like a juice cocktail mix than a typical green tea. But that is perfectly fine with me as that is how I treat these less serious flavored green teas as a lower/zero calorie alternative to juice.
Preparation
A very interesting and good tasting teabag green tea. What impresses me the most of this tea is that it tastes like honey yet the ingredients do not include honey as it is actually a mix of green tea, orange peel, chamomile flowers, licorice root, roasted chicory root, natural flavor (whatever that means) and soy lecithin. While not a traditional tea in any sense this herbal honey blend with a very decent green tea base (or at least I could taste that it was green tea and not bad green tea) is very enjoyable. Better watch out tea snobs because if Lipton keeps it up with more teas like this one it can no longer be used as a synonym for bad tea.
Preparation
Wow I must admit that I was very skeptical of the free sample included in my last order as in my experience aged ripe puerh tends to be both overrated and overpriced. While I would not buy a full tuocha of this one given its price the sample made an enjoyable set of gaiwan infusions. It is indeed sweet and smooth but I can not really say too much else about it as it is a fairly weak and plain tea, which is a bonus for a lot of people but not for me given my love of strong puerh. No off earthy or musty tastes or bitterness in this one but that is how it should be with a good ripe puerh.
Preparation
Wow now this is a really good Dancong tea that makes me wish I would have gotten a larger size than the sample. Clearly a lightly roasted oolong but the roast is more subtile than with most Wuyi oolongs. This one has a very nice light and sweet fruity flavor to it and a REAL honey sweetness to it that I would actually naturally describe as tasting like honey might have been added when I know it wasn’t on my own without being told that it “is supposed to” taste like honey. Not to mention that this tea holds up very well to multiple gaiwan infusions for me.
Golden Flower or Huang Jin Bolero is a very interesting light green oolong. When brewed very lightly with little leaf it comes out tasting a bit like Pouchong. When brewed with more leaf it comes out as having some light floral and maybe honey notes. I can understand the honey from how it is described but quite honestly if it was not suggested I would not have noticed. The only problem that I have with this tea is that it is really hard to brew right even as one that is reasonably experienced of gaiwan gongfu brewing oolongs and it is way too hit or miss for me. I’ve brewed it several times with multiple infusions and while the few cups that turned out well were excellent the others were not so good.
Honeybush Apricot comes off to me as having a very light taste that like most herbals reminds me a bit more of juice than tea. Has a light sweet and fruity flavor to it but it is not my favorite flavor. Although my grandmother loved it so much that I gave her the rest of the sample to take home with her.
Preparation
Personally I’m not sure how to rate this tea as while it is a really good in how it tastes I know it is also a really bad for me as unlike the others on my list this one is a lot closer to soda than tea in how much sugar and artificial creamier that it has mixed in with it. Has a very sweet creamy taste and a light smooth slightly spicy taste to it. Good but one that I only see myself having once or twice a month tops and one that I am not sure if I will be buying more when I finish it.
