Jiaogulan

Drinking this again tonight… after reading Kristaleyns review. I dug through my entire cupboard and found it wayyyy in the back. That’s how badly I was craving! lol
but I am SO glad to have this. Ugh, I need to pick some up asap, but then if I do, I need to drink it before it gets stale! Hmmm, the life of a tea hoarder :)
The rating for this holds, I really enjoy this tea!!

Hummm maybe I should have only did 8 oz like Kittenna…..this is a little weak but I sure can tell there are yummy flavors there wanting to come through! Slightly sweet which is nice but not really getting too much of the lovely vegetal only SLIGHTLY – I may re-steep this in 8 oz and see how it comes out.

This one was just too interesting to pass up. Little balls of herbs held together with a light coating of sucrose?? Sure, why not! And at 30%, I think each ball only ended up being a bit less than $1, so that’s not too bad. I used one ball for about 8 oz. of water.

The smell is very boiled veggie-like, moreso than I usually get from green teas. The taste is similar in that sense – I wish I could tell which veggie I was tasting! It’s quite strong and distinct, and tasty with the small hit of sugary sweetness. I want to say perhaps asparagus? It’s a veggie with sulfurous notes, for sure. Almost boiled spinachy? It reminds me of asian rice snacks with seaweed that have a sugary coating, so maybe I’m getting a seaweedy sort of taste too. Either way, it’s interesting and tasty, although I think I have enough that I won’t feel the need to buy it again.

That was a fun little experiment :D

ETA: Re-steep (175F/5.5min) is very similar. So vegetal! Still sweet! I do think asparagus might be the closest I can get to what it actually tastes like.

SIPDOWN! This is a weird tea. I feel like i’m sipping on a cup of sweetened veggies, something like carrots and spinach. I think i’d actually prefer it sans sugar since it’s the sweetness that’s throwing me off.

I used about 12oz of water and steeped this a little longer than 5 mins. I don’t feel the need to buy this again ever, but i don’t dislike this. I just don’t tend to prefer green teas. Interesting to say the least.

(on a random other note…the name of this and the way it looks, totally took me off on a tangent imagining this as a little plant monster that explodes out of it’s ball state screaming it’s name JIAOGULAN!)

I’ve been drinking but not had time to log. :( I had a few teas that TeaEqualsBliss was kind enough to send me. They were tasty but I’ve forgotten why so I’ll log those when I have them again.

This tea though, I had it yesterday and I still remember it very clearly. It left an impression. :) not really a good one. To be honest, it tastes completely inoffensive. I couldn’t describe what I didn’t like about it. All I can say is that it reminds me of bitter melon even though it’s not really all that bitter. It’s slightly cooling. This cooling bitterness is much prized by the Chinese as medicinal quality in foods and drinks so I’ve had plenty of such flavors forced on me growing up. I think my dad would love this as a fan of bitter melon, but it’s not for me.
I gave the rest of this to a friend who enjoyed it. It’s was definitely an interesting experience for me as well. Thank you Kittenna!

I requested a sample of this and Kittenna generously obliged. :) These little balls of herbs and sucrose sure are interesting. They unravel into yellow-ish green leaves that look like clovers. The aroma and flavor is very light. I used one ball in about 8 oz. of water. Anything less and I think this would be a flavorless cup of warm water.

As others have said, it does kind of remind me of green tea, but only because it’s not even remotely similar to any other type of tea. It’s not vegetal to me though nor is it herbal-y. This really does have its own unique taste. It also seems to have more flavor as it cools. I’m definitely getting more sweetness now too.

Interesting! I rate it slightly above average. Overall, it’s not something I would frequently crave. But I’m glad I got to try it because I would have remained curious forever. Thanks Kittenna!!

1 cluster used for 375 ml

Quite bland in taste. Light licorice-like sweetness. Sweet note is cloying and artificial. Brothy mouth-feel. Very slight vegetal notes.

Thanks to Kittenna for sharing this with me!

This is… a great tea. Absolutely lovely. It’s got a leafy taste, but is very mild. The sucrose isn’t over-powering, and actually compliments it really well. It’s worth it for the health benefits alone.
I just wish it had caffeine…. sigh.
Also each ball can be re-steeped up to 4 times, still with a full flavour!