Organic Green with Citrus & Gingko Iced

Not the iced version the hot version – bagged
Pretty good :)

Green Tea, lemon/citrus, Gingko…nice!

Thanks! Kristin!!!!

I like this it smells so good and it tastes so unique and relaxing.

This is the brewed green tea that my local coffee shop serves. Not sure if they make the bagged version or the loose, but it has a really smooth taste. It always strikes me as a green you could like even if you don’t like green tea.
The flavor is heavy on the lemongrass which I like but might be too much for some.
I’ve been going there for four years now and always get a lemon wedge. But today they threw in a lime wedge. I shrugged. Heck, I love the lime. Why not squeeze it? Regret! So be warned extra citrus lovers…

Not sure why I picked this one because I am not a fan of green tea with citrus. Despite that, here we are. I’m going to try to be subjective. It’s honestly not bad. The citrus is more grapefruit-forward. Whereas some citrus like Florida oranges can be sweet, grapefruit tends to be a bit more bitter and puckering. I know what ginko smells like from the few trees scattered around here in MN, it’s a gorgeous leaf! But I am not sure of the taste or if I taste it in here over the citrus. There is a sensation of something that is probably it but I’m not talking about the astringency. According to the web, it has a bitter taste so I can see why they blended it together with the citrus. The wet aroma is a bit more lemony.

My last Harney order included this sample and my curiosity got the better of me today.
Drank this about 90 minutes ago and my tummy is still gurgling. Could just be that I drank this after having 2 cups of Nina’s Grand Amour and my body is on tea over load but I was also less than impressed with the flavor.
This was my first taste of a tea containing ginkgo, so the taste maybe fine for people that like it.
Someone else mentioned that the citrus flavor was almost and after taste and I would have agree. A grassy flavor seemed to be the min note.
I used the one big bag in the sample and steeped it for 15 minutes in 2 cups of water. I added 6 cups of cold water after ward, just as the instructions …well… instructed.
I tried on its own and with some sweetener (which did bring out more of the citrus flavor) and creme (which makes everything drinkable in my world).
Still have 4 cups of tea left and I am tempted to cut my losses and dump it. The flavor is just too grassy for me.
Maybe after my tummy settles I will give another try.

GCTTB

I decided to cold brew this one. I think it’s impacting the flavour of it. It is a bit unusual. Must be gingko. I’ve never had gingko before, and I’m not sure if I’ll try it again. We’ll see. The citrus comes out in the aftertaste. It was ok. Maybe it would be different if it was hot brewed then iced.

I picked up this iced tea at my local Chapters bookstore at the end of the summer when they discount all their summer stock to make way for the incoming fall products. Unfortunately each large teabag is intended to make a gallon of tea and I only have a smaller 2 L pitcher so steeping times and quantities are at best a guesstimate. The steeping instructions on the tin said boiling water for 15 minutes – which I ignored as it was obviously just copied over from the black tea-based iced teas without taking into account the more delicate green tea base. The water I used was 80°C and I steeped the large tea bag in 2 cups of water for 4 minutes and then added iced and cold water to make up the 2 L volume. It is convenient having the iced tea in a bag which saves me having to filter the brewed tea and results in much less mess.

Despite the reduced steeping time I found the base to be a bit bitter and it took a fair bit of my homemade simple syrup to make it palatable. The flavour isn’t citrusy lemon, instead it’s pretty obviously derived from lemongrass and that adds to the strong herbal undertone which I’m not terribly fond of. It’s a refreshing tea, I’ll give it that, but it’s not to my taste.