Tochiotome Green

This tastes mostly just like green tea. It’s pleasant green tea for sure. Grassy, with the tiniest hint of strawberry. Thanks to Cameron B for this one. I’m always on the lookout for a good strawberry tea. I wish this had more strawberry, but it’s a nice green regardless.

Another one from my oldest teas box! This is from February of 2017.

This and the black version, which I already finished, might be my favorite strawberry teas. They have such a bright and tart strawberry flavor that’s really fresh and delicious. Obviously, this isn’t quite as flavorful as it once was, but it still has some of that lovely strawberry goodness. The green tea is very smooth with hay and dry grass notes, and a mellow sweetness.

I don’t remember if this is a Spring or Summer release, but I’m crossing my fingers that the Hawaii website will have some next year… :)

Hooray for boring Sundays! Nothing like a day where I do not have to work or leave the house. I can just cook myself a hangover breakfast, do laundry, listen to podcasts, and make DIY Christmas presents for the fam. Oh, and drink cup after cup of tea until my bladder and/or liver gives out. I am so glad to have these two specific days again, I don’t think I have had true weekends since I was 14. Ahh.

One of the teas I rummaged for today is this lovely green. I love the art on Lupicia’s tins. I think that is the reason I bought the tea, heh. Not usually a fan of strawberry flavored greens, I do enjoy this one from time to time. The leaves themselves are wide, and a bit more broken up than I ’d like in a sencha blend. The resulting tea has a bit of a strong and bitter grassy note than I would prefer, but the sweet and fun strawberry tackles it into submission. There is also a rounding cream note that conjures up memories of what I used to fondly call, “Pink Milk.” Which is, as (hopefully) you all know, is strawberry milk. The only way to get me to go near a glass of milk was to pour in that artificially colored strawberry syrup at a ratio of 1:1.

When a tea conjures up fond childhood memories, it is usually a winner in my book. This tea is no exception. It’s shamelessy fun, fruity, and not serious. It’s going to taste so much better in the spring time, if it lasts that long.

Strong strawberry flavor, even on this old sample teabag! A bit fussy temp-wise though — I brewed about 1-2 degrees too hot and 30-45 sec too long and it got bitter that easily.

Sipdown!! (159)

Thank you Dustin for this sweet strawberry tea but I am just not loving the base enough to warrant buying 50g as it is a touch vegetal for my tastes. I certainly enjoyed the sample though and am grateful for the chance to have tried something new.

Oh man this smells crazy good in the bag! It is this intense juicy strawberry smell with a slight tartness. The instructions say to steep it at boiling water for 1-2 minutes which seems really strange for a green tea. I’m doing a lower temp for my first cup. Once steeped the tea smells fine, but the leaves have a hint of canned cat food scent. WTH?!
Sipping now… there is a strong strawberry taste, a little tart with an almost gummi type flavor to it. I’m not crazy about it so far, but I think I’ll try steeping it the way Lupicia suggests and see if that works out any better. When I ordered, I saw that they have a couple types of strawberry flavored tea and I wonder how this variety (the Japanese variety of strawberry) differs from their others.

Just OK. I don’t think strawberry flavor goes well with green tea.

A very good tea. Not as much strawberry flavor as I thought it would have (from the smell), but very good none the less.

I made a ton of this yesterday and then iced it and added a little Christmas Berry honey from http://royalhawaiianhoney.com/ . It was pretty good but I didn’t get much of the strawberry flavor. Next time I’ll steep it hotter—I have a feeling that will help.