Purchased as an organic replacement to Teavana’s gyokuro. Though it seems irredeemably mainstream to say anything nice about Teavana, their gyokuro has a full, bright, grassy flavor that is proving difficult to match.
I had high hopes for this tea based on the consistently high reviews that Hibiki-an teas receive. This, apparently is not one of their better offerings. The flavor, initially, is more subtle than that of Teavana’s gyokuro but it finishes with a robustly icky flavor reminiscent of a neglected flower vase. The bright grassiness is not there – at all. It’s been replaced with some green veggie you bought, oh, a while ago, on a health kick and avoided until it became a slimy, mushy thing that could be thrown away without remorse.
