Premium Green

Bagged grocery store version, returned (with apologies) to me by MIL…I forgot she can’t have green tea for dietary reasons. Nothing to sing show tunes about, but I might whistle a little about it under my breath. An OK mid-afternoon grab and go with low temp and short steep.

I have tried several times to like this tea because my mother pawned off a giant box of it on me a few months ago. Haven’t been successful yet. I think it will become a cooking tea. It moves from tasteless and dull to bitter and overpowering in a flash.

My local grocery store has Stash teas at $1.78 for 20 bags. Perhaps it’s time to revisit Stash and hope that their other teas are better than their chocolate and vanilla ones. Since I know this one is good, I grabbed a box. I’ve been told by a very trustworthy lady that the orange spice is good for sun tea, so I may try that (when there’s light again. Goodness, Washington, why do you have to have so much fog this year?).

You know you’re accumulating too many teas when you open your cabinet and find a big unopened package that was purchased almost two years ago. I can’t believe that I didn’t discover it before now, but better late than never. I’m not a big green tea drinker and prefer the blacks. That could be part of the reason why this tea was overlooked for so long.

Anyhow, I shook the cobwebs off of the package and opened the zip-locked seal. The olive green tea leaves still smelled very fresh. The aroma was sweet, grassy, and almost a little fruity.

I steeped the tea at 175 degrees for four minutes. The brewed color was a light gold with a slight greenish tint. The aroma was weak, grassy, and faintly sweet.

I don’t usually read other reviews about a tea before sampling it myself. I’m always concerned that I’ll let previous opinions influence my tasting note. I did read a few about this tea before brewing. Based on what others said, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by this green selection.

Maybe I’m just an oddball with allergy-infused sinuses and taste buds, but I really liked this tea! I found the flavor to be fresh and grassy, with a tad of sweetness. The sweet attribute was almost like distant honeysuckle. I also thought the tea was smooth and very easy to drink. I wonder if I would have liked it even more if it hadn’t been sitting unopened in my cabinet for almost two years.

This selection had enough of a positive impact on me that I am now willing to re-examine my ambivalence toward the greens in general. I will be revisiting some more green teas in the near future!

This is a classic green tea that I enjoyed for years, before branching out to trying other tea companies. Although I enjoyed this tea for so long, it really isn’t anything special. It was just an old, reliable, does the trick kind of green tea. I had to make sure I watched my water temperature with this tea, because if it was too hot, it had a tendency to get bitter, Also, I find that you do not get as many brews out of the quantity of tea that you use. However, considering how inexpensive this tea is, it’s still a great value, and a good starter tea. It just doesn’t need to be a staple in my cupboard anymore.

I have now exhausted my supply of Stash Premium Green filter bags and have resorted to one of my packages of the loose tea. This is one of the cases where the filter bags are so fool-proof that I prefer them since I don’t have to think to produce a perfect cup. I made a real effort today to follow the correct rules for brewing loose green tea: water not too hot; not too much tea in the pot; short steeping time.

The pot wasn’t perfect—there was a bit of a bitter edge to the first infusion—but it was still good. The liquor was the beautiful citron/peridot greenish yellow which I’ve come to associate with high-quality sencha. I love to gaze through it as the double-walled Bodum glass sits on my windowsill, especially on a day like today: 9F feels like -9F. NO WAY am I going anywhere!!!!

I must leave my former high rating in place, because the bags deserve it, and I am sure that I’ll get the proper proportions and temperature right eventually for the loose leaf tea as well. For now, this brew has satisfied today’s post-lunch sencha craving.

I’ll do a follow-up infusion, of course! (My reward for the extra effort required to use the loose leaves…)

A very good green tea. Sweet with a bit of floral notes but not overwhelming. While this tea claims to be a blend it comes off as a Japanese Sencha to me, so if you do not like Sencha this is not a tea for you.

Bagged, this was the best green tea within reach, when I got to the office, this morning. Mediocre, but better than nothing.

This is one where the packaging doesn’t lie — it is indeed a basic green tea that tastes somewhat nutty. This was one of my first loose teas and while it’s nothing special, it was a good introduction.

It’s not bad for a generic green! I didn’t have any problems with the bitterness, but I also tend to use a little more water than suggested (and actually to enjoy pungent aftertastes…). I agree with other reviewers—this is a solid “everyday” tea.