Mellow Monk

Edit Company

Recent Tasting Notes

94
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
174 tasting notes

Another awesomely awesome tea from Mellow Monk. This tea is sweet, grassy, tangy, citrusy, earthy, buttery, smooth, creamy, and yummy. The taste of this tea depends on the amount of yuzu peel to tea ratio I steep. Sometimes, it tastes more sencha-like, where it’s more sweet, grass, earthy, smooth. Other times, I get more citrus and tanginess and it tastes almost like a creamsicle. I really like it.

I typically make a flavored tea for my thermos when I go to school, and this one holds up really well in it. Again, my only gripe about this is the amount you get for the price, but I’m really enjoying Mellow Monks teas! I also would like to apologize for the sudden surge of notes and that they are so short. As I’m sure most of you know, sometimes life gets in the way of what you would like to do…in this case too much school prevents me from visiting you awesome people. But, there’s always some really awesome teas that you just have to share with everyone, and I had a slight break to let you all know about some of these awesome teas I’ve been drinking!

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 0 min, 45 sec
TheTeaFairy

Nice review, sounds great! Mellow Monk has been on my list of merchant to try, I think I’m about to give in!

Invader Zim

Thank you! Mellow Monk has some pretty good teas that are worth trying. I’ve only tried three so far, but have three more in the mail to try because the first three were really good!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

97
drank Shaded Leaf by Mellow Monk
174 tasting notes

After having had Top Leaf, someone suggested I try this one. I’m glad I did. This tea is fantastic. It’s predominately grassy and seaweedy, it’s brothy, and has that wonderful umami taste. Yum! I’ve been drinking this almost every morning for about two weeks now. I can also get it to resteep very well at least four times before the flavor starts to diminish. I love this tea so much, my only gripe is that it’s not all that cheap for the amount you get, but I do love it, and I do like their eco practices.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 0 min, 30 sec
Miss Starfish

Sounds lovely

Invader Zim

It is lovely. I’ve been drinking it almost every day and I ran out of the 50g fairly quick. I plan on getting 100g some time in the near future.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

For some reason my allergies have been going haywire today. I removed gluten for a while and then ate something with wheat in it yesterday. I’m not sure what the connection is but I guess I’m leaving the wheat alone for the time bring. I picked this tea for the afternoon because green tea always helps with my allergies and this is fresh and bright tasting. I also got a very nice second steep out of it.

MissB

Oh no. Feel better soon! I went gluten free about four months ago myself, and then switched to completely grain-free recently. Have yet to have an issue since… much easier for me to manage.

JustJames

i’m low grains and sugar free but for xylitol. must agree with MissB…. i feel a whole lot better. alot LIGHTER too!

TeaBrat

Hey thanks guys. I don’t think I will eliminate all grains, rice and corn don’t seem to bother me much and I already have a laundry list of things I can’t or won’t eat including meat and dairy so it’s getting hard to know what’s left. :)

JustJames

i’m fine with rice, i’m staying away from yeast, sugar and simple carbs. life seems a lot better!

Bonnie

I’m glad I can have dairy (no aged cheese) because I’m allergic to nightshade foods, beans (green, peas, soy, lentils…all of them) and tomato, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, licorice,rooibos etc. Keep the wheat and sugar low, no beef and lots of veggies!

TeaBrat

Bonnie, that stinks! I have problems eating anything from the allium family (onions and garlic) although nightshades don’t bother me from what I can tell.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

I do have a lot of this so I tried cold brewing it yesterday and am drinking it today. I’m pretty happy with the results though it does remind me a lot of spinach. Cold spinach soup? Anyway, I like it!

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more
CHAroma

For some reason, top leaf makes me think of top shelf. Is this a high quality variety of tea?

TeaBrat

it is… very good quality and very pricey. :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

Green tea of the mid morning here. This is another sensational, fresh & beautiful tea from Mellow Monk. I took this to work with me to concentrate on finishing it off (so I can justify buying more stuff from Mellow Monk!)

Some teas just seem to lift your spirit and this is one for me. I was also reflecting this morning on how much happier I am than I was almost a year ago. I’ve been doing a lot of work on myself through spiritual practice and opening the heart and it seems to be working. Sending out lots of love to the Steepster universe! :))

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 30 sec
tea-sipper

It’s good to hear you are doing better!

Fjellrev

I’m glad to hear it too!

TeaBrat

thanks… :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

The weather is beautiful today but I think my allergies are going haywire, after 2 cups of tea and a coffee this morning I am still tired. Just popped a Sudafed and thought I’d drink some of this delicious green tea.

I have been very impressed by the quality of Mellow Monk and highly recommend their products!

Bonnie

Hope you feel better!

TheTeaFairy

I’ve been eying Mellow Monk for a little while now, might cave in really soon… hope you feel better now!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

I decided I was going to try cold brewing some of this last night as an experiment; I always have problems waking up in the morning so figured one less thing to do in the a.m. would be a good idea.

The experiment was a success, it tastes pretty good this way. I don’t know how thrilled I am about drinking cold plain sencha, but it was nice warmed up in the microwave for 60 seconds. I hope I have not offended any tea purists with that statement!

I thought I had rated this before but I guess not… I will do a proper tea brewing and tasting of it soon. For now I can say it is very clean and vegetal tasting.

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90
drank Shaded Leaf by Mellow Monk
95 tasting notes

This is a first-rate fuka: clear and clean in the cup, crisp and fresh on the tongue. It has the usual taste elements of a good-quality fuka as well. Excellent, but pricey.

First infusion – 3 g. per 8 oz water, 65 deg., 3:00 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 8 oz. water, 65 deg., 10:00+ min.

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
892 tasting notes

Thank you for the lovely sample Alphakitty! The leaves have a beautiful deep green color. The aroma is slightly vegetal and sweet with hints of butter. It’s sweet and has a bit of a buttery\vegetal taste to it. I want to say that there is a bit of a light(and I mean LIGHT) citrus flavor in the background. I reeeaalllllyyy enjoyed this tea. It’s been a minute or two since I’ve had a nice green :]
Thanks again!

Kittenna

A minute or two? :P

KallieBoo!

Yeah… It was a really long minute though :]

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
174 tasting notes

Finally decided to take the plunge and buy this tea. I’m glad I did. I figured it was more or less a sencha and it pretty much is. It’s a little different in that the grassy-spinach taste is a little subdued compared to the in-your-face senchas I’ve had. I was a little disappointing to have found absolutely no umami factor in it though.

Even with that, it is very creamy with a hint of some juicy quality. And I think there was a slight note of pistachio. I got some sort of nut note and while trying to figure it out I kept thinking pistachio. It may not be pistachio but the color of the tea kept making me think of the green nut! Either way…pistachio!

Speaking of color, the dry leaves are a nice dark emerald, wet they become this bright, vivid, vibrant emerald green. It was very pretty. Even the infusion had a greenish cast to it, very cool, kind of like a sencha or genmaicha infused with matcha powder. This is why I think I was coming up with pistachios and not some other nut…so much green!

I found a slight hint of astringency, but it wasn’t the typically blech bitter-astringency I always taste. This was a silky-astringency. It was actually quite pleasant. I never thought I would say astringency in tea being pleasant…I abhor astringency. But this was just a slight drying of the mouth with a bit of a silky mouthfeel. Very pleasant, what I always thought astringency could be but never actually found it to be, at least not in green teas.

This is such a pretty and good tasting tea, definitely worth trying out.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 0 sec
Spoonvonstup

Have you tried the Shaded Leaf? I had the chance to try this one, Shaded Leaf, and the Blissful Buds, and Shaded Leaf came out ahead. It’s also nutty as you describe, but it’s sweetness made me think of only one thing: Honey Nut Cheerios!

Invader Zim

This is the only one I bought from them so far. I wanted to try out a little to see how their teas match up to their descriptions and how much I would enjoy them. I do intend to try the others eventually.

Invader Zim

I missed the comment about Honey Nut Cherrios! How’d I miss that?! Now I will have to get some!

Ysaurella

does the liquor looks really like the picture ?

Invader Zim

Yes, it does! It’s really pretty!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
6768 tasting notes

I had this yesterday and it was delightful! I would like to pair it with or use it in soups soon! I’m thinking about Cauliflower…what do you think?
What about tweaking this one to incorporate?
http://blissfulyogajourney.blogspot.com/2013/02/cauliflower-soup-blomkalsuppe-mail-call.html
It was part of my Norwegian Foods Week last week!

Kasumi no Chajin

so looking forward to trying this one!

TeaBrat

this stuff is the BOMB

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
6768 tasting notes

Oh my! This aroma – DRY – is AMAZING! You have your wonderfully fresh and crisp and clean Mellow Monk Green Tea with Sweet-Juicy-Citrus-Yuzu! WowZA! The dry aroma – alone – is enough to put me in a trance!

BUT…then…

I added the water!

The infused aroma is unbelievable, too! It’s somewhat the same but with a few minor additions! I can now pick up on a Creamy-Vanilla-HONEY type aroma…somewhat like a Creamsicle! Then there are hints of blossoms/floral notes! What surprise! What WONDER!

The infused liquor is a yellow-green with a slight grey-ness trying to hide throughout! I can now smell a bit of lima bean and/or spinach as well!

I’m totally LOVING the aroma both dry and wet!

YUM! The flavor…is…totally dreamy! Completely creamy! Slightly Green-buttered-veggies! Citrusy and honey-esque! OMG! This is better and better the more I drink it!

Unbelievable! I can’t compare it to others! The green tea base is perfect! The Yuzu is perfect! The texture, aroma, everything…honestly, I can’t imagine this ratio and recipe being changed or tweaked!

My goodness! I’m glad I have a lot of this! I will be sharing with LiberTeas and Azzrian – my awesome Sororitea Sisters…FOR SURE!

WOW!

100.

Azzrian

Oh thank you SO much! I have yet to try anything from Mellow Monk!! This sounds dreamy!! :) Yay!

TeaEqualsBliss

I’m so sad that I have run out of at least 2 of the other Mellow Monks before ‘meeting’ you! If I come across the other…I will send you some of that too! :) I LOVE THIS COMPANY!

Terri HarpLady

hmmm….I’ll have to go check out Mellow Monks, haven’t visited their website yet…

Babble

I want to try mellow monk too. Have heard good things but wish you could buy sample sizes. Tried contacting the company but they have been unresponsive (although world tea east is also this week)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

57
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
2 tasting notes

Never tried this but it sounds very interesting to taste.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

75
drank Crimson Grove by Mellow Monk
109 tasting notes

Mellow Monk really wasn’t high on my list of tea companies to order from until I looked at their web site. I liked the idea of all their teas being grown by small, family-owned farms, imported directly from Japan. All of their teas are first flush. I also like it that all their tea comes from the southern island of Kyushu, which never had high levels of radiation last year. I’m impressed that MM only chooses teas that are popular locally and not primarily produced for export. They shipped really fast. My tea arrived safe and sound but I’d appreciate a little sturdier packaging than a plain, brown kraft envelope.

So, a black tea from Japan seemed like such an anomaly that I had to try it. Upon opening the pouch, I am hit with a slightly smoky scent that reminds me a bit of a Formosa Keemun and/or Dark Roasted Oolong. The dry leaves are short and mostly chocolate brown with a smattering of chestnut colored tips or bits of twig in the mix.

The brewed leaves smelled a bit like a Taiwanese Ruby Red-slightly malty and minty. The liquor is fairly light-darker than a FF Darjeeling, but not much else. It has hues of burnt orange, amber, and chestnut brown.

The flavor is very smooth, zero bitterness or astringency, and about as mellow as you can get with a black tea. As for specific notes, I am having a hard time gleaning those. I can’t say that my cupping mimics what MM describes. To me, it tastes mostly similar to a Formosa Keemun (not exactly like) but I feel like I am still figuring this out. I think my rating number may change the more I drink this.

Brewing based on MM’s instructions, I got two cups of tea. I think maybe I can get a third if brew a little longer.

I wouldn’t recommend this based on the smoke alone, because I don’t think there’s enough of it for those who really enjoy smoky notes. However, if you like milder black teas or just enjoy the idea of a black tea from Japan made with green tea varietals, you may like this tea.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92
drank Harmony by Mellow Monk
79 tasting notes

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92
drank Harmony by Mellow Monk
79 tasting notes

This is the first of the teas I’ve ordered from Mellow Monk, and I’m extremely pleased! :) The tea base itself is great and smooth, and the nuttiness of the toasted rice make this a nice tea suitable for any time of day! Can’t wait to try more teas by them.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

98
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

It’s a sipdown!

Finished off a pouch of this today. I will miss it but am going to try and drink some of my other green teas before I buy anymore. My skeptical bf thinks I buy way more tea than I can drink. Of course he is right… lol

see previous notes for more info on this tea

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

98
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

hmm. not much more to say about this one aside from the fact that it is sooo delicious and one of my favorite Japanese green teas. see previous notes for more details.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

98
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

This is one of my favorite Japanese green teas and I will be getting some more when it runs out… see previous notes for more info. I am really enjoying it today, it’s so fresh and sweet tasting for a sencha.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Scatterbrain

Mmm, sencha.

TeaBrat

Indeed!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

98
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

Green tea of the morning – yeah I brought this one to work and I sure do like it. :) It’s a bit pricey but you can get 2-3 steeps out of it. Come on theanine! Do your job. ;-)

CupofTree

I’m curious, do you often find a significant change in your mood or something else from the theanine?

TeaBrat

yes, it’s sort of a relaxed alertness

CupofTree

hm good to know, maybe I should switch to green tea in the morning instead of black, I’m feeling nothing from black tea

TeaBrat

Japanese green tea has the most theanine, esp. gyokuro

CupofTree

thank you, must try gyokuro then. especially since just learning its a “shade” tea. I do love shade over direct sunlight lol and found I haven’t enjoyed sencha much.. maybe I’ll like this better.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

98
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

This came in my recent order with Mellow Monk so I thought I’d try it out today…

This was steeped for around 90 seconds at approx. 170F (I was guesstimating)

Ooooh, I really like this! A light green sencha with white stems. My tea liquor is a light chartreuse color. This is exceedingly mild and mellow, perhaps because of the white stems? It ha a definite brothy, vegetal tone with slight notes of seaweed and a sweet finish with a tad bit of astringency, a slight grapefruit element here.

I’m a big fan of Japanese green teas and this one is really nice! Mellow Monk describes it as luscious and I would agree. It just kind of rolls around on your tongue in a delightful manner. One of my favorite senchas to date.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec
TeaEqualsBliss

Oh! I haven’t tried this one! Sounds awesome tho!!!

ScottTeaMan

I thought this might be a blended Sencha, but doesn’t appear to be. Sounds awesome!! Glad you enjoy it Amy. :))

Scatterbrain

On my list! There’s something about drinking sencha that makes you feel fantastic, you know?

TeaBrat

@Kwinter – YES!

Scatterbrain

Don’t get me wrong, I love Chinese green tea, but Japanese tea is just so FRESH and full of life!

TeaBrat

I do not like Chinese green tea nearly as much as Japanese green tea.

Scatterbrain

Same here now that I think about it haha. The only Chinese greens I’ve had that I really loved are jasmine pearls and dragonwell, and I have to be in the right mood for them.

Garret

Well, then, we might have to have you try the cloud and mist or the valley peak. I visited both these farms when in China. Pretty dang great! When you two come for tea tomorrow afternoon, we’ll make some :)

TeaBrat

Garret – I do like your Valley Peak quite a lot!

Garret

That’s right! I remember that now. You’re still invited for tea tomorrow, though :) We will drink some of the new mandala raw cakes that are just arriving. I have them up on the site. 3 new 100grammers. Time for bed here in MN! My early morning run comes a lot earlier when I get to bed this late! Have a great night, my friend!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

96
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

Sipdpwn today! How sad…
I have loved this tea and the snowy garden, I think I will end up buying more of both eventually. So delicious. Today I iced this and put in one sugar packet.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

96
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

It’s been a while since I’ve had this one but I still LOVE it!

I think Mellow Monk will soon be the only Japanese Green tea in my cupboard (once I drink everything else, lol)

It’s so creamy and fruity, just amazing. I bumped the rating up a bit today.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

96
drank Yuzu Dream by Mellow Monk
2816 tasting notes

I decided to switch over to green tea and I’m enjoying this yuzu green tea by Mellow Monk… it is delightful. I have to say I have been very impressed with all of their teas but I am partial to this and the fnow garden, both so delicious. I can see I will need to try the others soon! See previous notes for more details.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.