Mellow Monk

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83
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
39 tasting notes

I really enjoy green teas, and I’ve been meaning to try this for a while now. I was pleased with the light flavor of the tea. In the family of green teas, the lighter ones are definitely my favorites. I am a little curious about why the leaves from this pot seem so broken up, but it could be because I’ve had the tea for a while and it’s moved around a bit.

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74
drank Shaded Leaf by Mellow Monk
1908 tasting notes

Mmm, that’s better. I used a lot less tea and cut back the steeping time and that improved things immesurably. One thing I’ve been wondering is if this tea is a gyokuro? It doesn’t say anything about it in the tea’s description, but the I’m sure I read that the process of shading the tea (as described here) was what produced the gyokuro’s flavour.

The tea has a smooth, savoury flavour that tappers off into a mildly grassy aftertaste, not nearly as grassy as most Japanese teas tend to be, though. The savory flavour is quite strong, almost like a slightly salty broth – miso soup maybe. Okay not quite, but you get the idea.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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74
drank Shaded Leaf by Mellow Monk
1908 tasting notes

I think I may have used too much leaf for this cuppa – what seemed like an ordinary-sized scoop when dry expanded into what looked like twice the proper amount when I added the water. There’s a distinctly bitter bite in each sip that doesn’t sound anything like the ‘sweet, buttery’ flavour other people have been talking about in their reviews.

The resteep @ 45 seconds is not bitter but it’s a little bit weak and watery.

Meh, I’ll have to try this again before I actually rate it.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec
AmazonV

oh sad :(

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91
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
280 tasting notes

Thanks again to LiberTeas for sharing such a nice sample!
I tried this again with cold brew (46F water for 12 minutes) and with a regular brew (160F for 1.5 minutes) and each one of those pots I did a minimum of 3 steepings…
This is definitely a unique, enjoyable tea.
The cold brew wasn’t actually as strong as I hoped, but I may have used too much water for the leaf. The hot/regular brew was very good; with strong flavors: earthy, somewhat fruit, and even a mouth-filling mintyness!

Interestingly, the wet leaf smells very similar to the brewed leaf of gyokuro!

I’m not sure I’m sold to buy 100g, yet, it’s just down on the list somewhere… (there’s just too much to try!) :-)
However, I can see that this tea is much more suited to a typical American palate (as they say on the Mellow Monk website) and isn’t grassy or bitter at all, so it could be at the top of the list for some. Either way, I give it a thumbs up!

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 30 sec
Geoffrey Norman

Probably still my favorite sencha to date.

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91
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
280 tasting notes

Thanks to LiberTeas for sending me a sample, especially of a tea she really loves!

I’ve never had guricha (or tamaryokucha) before, so this was a new experience for me and I have been excited to try it. For this first time, I went ahead and followed the exact instructions on Mellow Monk’s website. I hope to experiment a little with the 3g – 5g left or so…

The loose leaf actually gave off an aroma like a freshly plowed garden. Yes, even like soil a little. That didn’t scare me off, because even though that isn’t an aroma that sounds edible, it reminded me of going to a nursery or walking through a garden, and those are good kinds of smells.

As for the tea itself — this is definitely different than regular sencha! There is no hint of that fresh bitterness, or grassy/vegetal flavor. Instead there is a bit of flavorful earthiness, it is definitely fruity, with a mix of mint and pine in the background. Perhaps its more like the smell of pine needles, but very muted, with mint in there somewhere.

I hope to compare it to some other gurichas, too, to see if this is a pretty unique tea, or if it’s typical of guricha. Either way, it’s delicious! There’s a good chance it could go on my shopping list in the future.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
1908 tasting notes

De-cupboarding this tea aswell. I’m making an effort to drink up all the little samples and almost-finished packages of tea.

This was a really nice Japanese green – I’ll have to check out Mellow Monk in the future.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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85
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
1908 tasting notes

The leaves of this tea are a dark, pine green and look like little bits of chopped-up needles. I’m not quite sure what to expect of this tea, I’ve never tried any of Mellow Monk’s products before – this and one other sample were gifts from TeaEqualsBliss. I’m not even sure what type of tea this is or where it’s from, though my guess from the flavour is that it’s Japanese.

It’s faintly sweet and a bit hay-like at first but then it takes on a savoury, slightly nutty-tasting tone. Then the flavour trails off into a grassy, slightly bitter aftertaste. The touch of bitterness actually seems to work with this tea providing a counterpoint to the initial sweetness that gives this tea balance. It also leaves a nice, fresh, palate-cleansing taste in my mouth.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

A very smooth tasting green tea, loved it.

Somewhat expensive, not something I could afford to drink daily.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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98
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
4843 tasting notes

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea! It’s A-MAZ-ING and I’m glad that I had this opportunity to try it.

This is so good. I love the light grapefruit notes of this tea. The flavor is something like a Gyokuro and a Sencha, but I like it better than either of them. It is so completely delightful.

And, now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone with this tea.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Geoffrey Norman

Your thoughts echo my own regarding this. It is a perfect sencha.

Shinobi_cha

Anyone interested in a swap? I’d love to try a cup of this now. Just check anything in my cupboard if you’ve got extra and would like to. Merry Christmas!

Geoffrey Norman

@Shinobicha – Alas, mine was only a small-ish sample for review, and it is long since gone.

LiberTEAS

@Shinobicha – me too! I don’t have a lot of this left, but, I can send you enough for at least a cup or two. Please feel free to shoot me a PM with your address and I’ll send it off to you. :)

Shinobi_cha

Cool! Just did.

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70
drank Crimson Grove by Mellow Monk
21 tasting notes

Taste is pretty mellow- not a ton going on- I feel like I don’t have to think about the taste much (unlike say a Yunnan black).

Good but not mind blowing. It’s $19 for 100g and worth a try just because it’s a Japanese black and it’s from Mellow Monk. I dig them.

MM recommends steeping for 2-3 minutes, then 1 minute for the next two steeps. I found the 2/3 steeps to be a bit light for my tastes at only 1 minute. But then again, this is a different kind of black so the experience is meant to be different.

I need to spend some more time with this but I probably won’t be buying it again.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Geoffrey Norman

Very curious about this one.

Brian

Go for it. I definitely don’t want to discourage others when I say I probably won’t buy it again. It is a good tea. Also, they have a 20% off coupon they posted on Reddit that’s good until January : MELLOWREDDITOR

Geoffrey Norman

Awesome, thanks! And don’t worry, I’m not discouraged. I like MMs stuff quite a bit. I’ve had the Top Leaf and powdered guricha they put out. Quite wonderful.

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81
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
596 tasting notes

Fruity, slight floral notes emerge on second infusion. A refined Japanese green.

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81
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
596 tasting notes

Interesting stuff. Hmm. Need to spend more time before rating.

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75

The white stems of the leaf are left attached and it has a unique overtone that I can’t quite describe… Perhaps ‘herbal’?

As of late November (last night, actually) this tea was renamed from “Monk’s Bliss” to “Frosty Garden.” I assumed this was done to help others differentiate between it and Mellow Monk’s “Blissful Buds.”

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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65

I can’t say I’m very fond of it’s bitter aftertaste, but from what I understand this is common with most Mecha’s.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 0 sec

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89

sencha character in a matcha powder. Walker Tea Review #286. Score=89

Cofftea

That’s quite a name when they could just say powdered sencha lol.

Geoffrey Norman

Yeah, but it tastes a lot better than the average powdered sencha, mainly because it’s powdered guricha. I cold-brew a batch everyday to take with me to work.

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91
drank Shaded Leaf by Mellow Monk
61 tasting notes

buttery sweet with a lighter but smooth broth. Walker Tea Review #282. Score= 91

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45
drank Harmony by Mellow Monk
17 tasting notes

I didn’t have any high expectations with Harmony, to be honest. I just can’t get used to the ‘nutty’ flavor, although I think that has to do more with my mature taste then anything else. It’s not bad, it’s just that it doesn’t taste like green tea (which can be a good thing for those who are not too fond of tea in general).

For best results, I suggest preparing it strong at ~1.5tsp per 8oz.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
17 tasting notes

Although only slightly more expensive then Monk’s Choice, it is drastically different in taste. It’s creamy and I can defiantly taste a fruity overtone of some sort, but it lacks full-bodied/grassy taste that I’ve become fond of. When I steeped it in my new glass infuser I was really surprised how green it actually was.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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90

As a cost-saving measure, I purchased a bag of the Matcha-Style Green Tea so I had something on hand at work. On their blog, Mellow Monk mentioned a technique on how to cold-brew the matcha in a bottle. I thought I’d give it a shot. Directions were simple: Add roughly a third of a teaspoon to the bottle of choice (I went a full teaspoon), add a splash of water, shake vigorously to remove clumps, then add full water amount, and shake vigorously again.

The result is a thick, dark liquid with some of the requisite powdered consistency. Taste-wise, it resembles a cold sencha that’s been left out. However, given that good sencha should be brewed warm, anyway, that’s not a detraction. It’s more vegetal and kale-like when cold, unlike it’s warmed version. However, that settles into a melon-like note later on aftertaste. Overall, a decent alternative than succumbing to Starbucks.

Preparation
Iced 0 min, 15 sec

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90

Powdered sencha is pretty much considered “ghetto” matcha, since real matcha uses tencha leaves that are given extra shading. This one breaks the formula a little bit for being a powdered tamaryokucha (or curly green tea); probably the only type of sencha I’ll ever drink again.

The flavor is slightly grassy, but also possesses a melon-like note similar to a white tea, and ends on a sweet (if vegetal) finish. It may not be top-o’-the-line matcha, but it’s a high grade substitute. After my review sample, I actually had to buy a batch. I think it’ll last me four months or so.

Full Review:

http://www.teaviews.com/2010/10/25/review-mellow-monk-matcha-style-powered-green-tea/

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 0 min, 30 sec
Jaime

Okay, I totally cracked up when I read the “ghetto” matcha bit.

Geoffrey Norman

You probably laughed because you know exactly what I’m talking about. Ever had powdered sencha from a salt shaker? I have…there is no greater evil on this Earth.

Jaime

I’ve only tried 52teas’ flavored matchas, actually (another Steepsterite sent me some to try). I’m not sure I like it. Texture, not taste, is the issue for me. That, and I tend to sip my tea, and the matcha tends to settle out and get grainy…or I haven’t figured out the trick yet.

Geoffrey Norman

I guess, for some, it can be an acquired taste. I’ve liked it pretty much from the get-go. Doesn’t mean I haven’t had bad ones, though.

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79
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
190 tasting notes

mmm! sipping on this while carving a pumpkin today! It is really delicious tea, that tastes vegetal and buttery smooth. I am almost out of this tea, and will most definitely have to restock after this sample is finished!

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90

This has to be the freshest green tea I have ever tried. It’s absolutely amazing, even if it’s one of Mellow Monk’s ‘cheaper’ teas. I’ll have to try Top Leaf next.

The package suggests steeping at 167F – opps.

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

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100
drank Top Leaf by Mellow Monk
348 tasting notes

While it may be intense for some on the foretaste, it settles into a grassy, berry-sweet middle ground unlike any sencha I’ve ever tried.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/08/07/review-mellow-monk-top-leaf-green-tea/

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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77
drank Frosty Garden by Mellow Monk
33 tasting notes

I’m not normally a fan of Japanese green tea, but I picked this one up on a whim. It is very mild and not too vegital, so it has been a very enjoyable tea for me. It took a few tries for me to brew it correctly, so be careful. It is easy to over steep.

Preparation
155 °F / 68 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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