Green Tropical

I’ve been bagging samples to send off to people all day. I really mean it, ALL DAY.
For a person (me) who has no ability to multi-task (my brain misfire issue), bagging, labeling, making notes and keeping a list of who’s been sent what tea takes triple time. The only easy part is sweeping tea debris off the wood floors.

At about 5pm, I was beginning to nod off to sleep on the couch. Garumph! That would never do! “When was the last time I had some tea today?”, I asked myself. “Too long, too long ol girl.” So I rummaged around for a lonely tea that I’d been ignoring (feeling tea guilt).

Oh yes, the Green Tropical. I almost forgot about this little plastic bag. It certainly looks like it came from a spice store all green see through as though it’s filled with Rosemary or Greek Oregano. Hum. The tea had not impressed me the first go around at all.

I was very careful to steep the leaves 3 minutes. The flavor is flat at high heat…those who drink this tea comment on how much better it is cool or chilled. So I waited.

There is a strange astringency…not like a bite at the finish that lingers, but a stinging on the whole surface of the tongue. I don’t see the point since the tea is so faintly flavored. There’s hardly any pineapple to speak of. No strawberry. Almost nothing to hang onto.
The best thing this tea has going for it is a nice floral/fruity scent when dry…like a room freshener.

As a tea, not that interesting.

Really a boring, boring tea. But the caffeine will keep me awake! ;)

I had this iced today. The first time I tried it that way, I used the cold brew method… ie dumping the leaves in cold water and then leaving it in the fridge.
Well, I was highly disappointed. That plastic taste I get in greens came popping right out.
If I hadn’t been out n about I would have ditched it, but I was thirsty and needed a drink.
This time though, I made it hot and then let it cool. Better. But I let it sit for a bit too long thinking that because it was to be iced, it might be better that way. Boy was I wrong.
Next time, I make it my normal way (90 seconds) and ice it. Hopefully that will turn out better. I might even go with icing the second steep instead.
Oh and I’m lowering the rating a few points. To me, this is pretty similar to Long Life Oolong in the fruity aspect. It goes so much deeper in the flavour. With every sip, I kept thinking… not terrible, but LLO was so much better. Yeah, they are different species and all… green vs oolong, and I’m not typically a green girl so perhaps this is my bias coming out? or maybe I just had one of those randomly “bad” cups!
Methinks I just need to steep it again with my usual method. shrugs
Who knows.

I got this one in a mail exchange recently, and so gave it another look. The first time I tried it was before I had a variable temperature kettle, so I felt it definitely deserved another look. I’m glad I did, because tonight it was an enjoyable cup to sip as I talked with friends. The flavour was dominated by pineapple, but not enough to turn me off since it is far from my favourite fruit. I definitely don’t see this becoming a favourite tea for me, or even a restock, but I’m not going to be trading it out of my collection, either.

This is a pretty decent as a flavored iced tea. Your basic “tropical” fruit flavor with a decent enough generic green base tea. I bought it because the proprietor told me it was her most popular selection. I actually preferred the Mystic Dragon! But both are fine. These flavored greens are the kind of thing I prefer iced, which is perfect for summertime! :)

TTB tea! This tastes pretty fruity, though not special. It’s refreshing cold, but not amazing.

Some tropical fruits, but mostly just green tea leaves. I like the taste, although it’s quite weak.

Disclaimer: I’m far from a tea connaisseur/enthusiast. My notes are not meant to be a review for the tea community, but rather for myself so I know what to buy or not buy again (I wish there was a way to keep notes private).

At first yours truly (J) tortured these leaves through three boiling hot steepings (2tsp/16oz). Just pleasant… nothing special. But then…

For the fourth glass I wanted to make iced tea. So these same abused 2tsp steeped in just 1 oz of boiling water for 12 minutes, then poured over ice with some sugar.

It was magic! It is so much better iced – the sugar really makes the tropical flavors pop. After 4 steeps I was impressed any flavor survived. Now I’m getting these pineapple and banana flavors that were muted when hot. Yum!

Added 1t of sugar. Pleasant, can taste the notes of pineapple. Not really sure what the “natural flavorings” are supposed to be doing.

This made for an unimpressive hot cup, but as soon as I poured it over ice I was in love. There’s unfortunately not much tea flavor to be spoken for here, but the fruit flavors come out in a perfectly mild manner with – most importantly, and the biggest downfall of iced greens in my experience – just the right amount of astringency. I haven’t purchased this again since running out of that initial bag, but I’d definitely recommend this to a friend.
-Cash