Touch Organic

My wife and I were browsing through the local Home Goods store recently when we spotted a huge 35.27-ounce cardboard “barrel” of Touch Organic loose leaf black organic tea for under $20. I was not familiar with Touch Organic’s products but the frugal part of my brain began to kick in and send me alerts. I thought, if this tea is even half-decent, I’ll have some emergency utility black tea to reach for whenever I run out of the “good stuff.” If the tea is terrible, I haven’t lost a lot of money and I can use it to fertilize my garden.

After purchase, I waited a week to try this tea. That is very unusual for me. Normally I can’t wait to try newly acquired items and do so no later than the next day. You can see that my expectations were not very high.

I finally opened the huge cardboard container, slit open the plastic inner bag, and pushed my nose inside to investigate the unbrewed aroma of the dark black tea leaves. The substantial smell was similar to that of the Keemun teas from the Yunnan province of China which I LOVE. The tell-tale leather quality was definitely there. After closer inspection of the very plain barrel label, I noticed that it also identified this product as Keemun English Breakfast tea, in small hard-to-read letters.

I steeped the dark leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees. The brewed color was a reddish amber. The odor was semi-powerful and slightly floral.

At first sip, I still was only hoping for a taste that I could live with when I had no better tea at my disposal. But…WOW…the flavor of this tea was (as Tony The Tiger used to say)…GREAT!!! I was blown away by the melodious effect of Yunnan taste partnered with subtle fruity and floral attributes. The balance of all flavors was exquisite. The sum of the parts was an extremely smooth, tasty, and satisfying tea. The aftertaste was light and airy. I encountered no astringency at any time.

I learned two valuable lessons with this tea:

1. You do not have to spend a fortune to enjoy a superior blend.
2. Good teas do come in plain wrappers.

This selection was immediately promoted from my emergency-when-nothing-good-is-available standby product to one of my favorite teas in my arsenal!

If you are lucky enough to stumble upon this tea at a Home Goods store or elsewhere, GRAB IT!!! You will be glad you did!

A sample from KittyLovesTea

I’m making an effort to sip down all of my remaining samples before Christmas, so that next year can be a fresh start. This one appealed to me most this morning, so into a cup it went! It’s a bagged green, so I let the water cool to around 175 degrees, and gave it about 2.5 minutes.

My previous experiences with bagged green teas haven’t been amazingly positive, but this one is a pleasant change. The green tea base is smooth and mildly vegetal, and pairs well with the mild, peppery mango flavouring. The flavour here is making me think mostly of a slightly underripe mango – perhaps one that’s still a little green, and a touch on the hard side. I can’t taste as much of the fruit as I’d have liked, and there’s none of the sweetness I typically associate with mango. In any case, this is a decent bagged flavoured green. I can taste mango, albeit mild, and the green base is pleasant. A refreshing cup!

This tea has a mild white tea flavour with a nice berry kick. It smells berrylicious when steeped and the berry flavour comes through nicely without being too overpowering. I have to be careful with berry heavy teas as the acidity tends to bother my acid reflux now and then. That has happened with this tea but not every time I drink it. I love that it’s organic and also doesn’t break the bank. Overall, I find that Touch Organic tea offerings are reliable for taste and price point.

This is a good white tea. Not too strong and goes down smooth. You can’t beat the price either. I bought a box of 100 teabags for around 7 dollars. Bargain! Sometimes I don’t want a cup of tea with all the bells and whistles. Sometimes I’m only in the mood for something plain and simple. This fills the bill perfectly on those such occasions.

Mild, and smells a lot more like mango than it tastes. Nice and delicate.

Bagged oolong? I’m game – Grabbed a box of 25 at Big Lots for 2 bucks. Initially I was skeptical and mostly uninterested in this, but thought I’ll try it what’s the worst that’ll happen? The dry, bagged “leaves” were unimpressive in every aspect; unattractive, un-aromatic, and unappealing, but I quickly got over these downfalls as I poured the hot water over the bag….

A wonderful woodsy, roasted, campfire, outdoorsy aroma filled my cup. The aroma is truly amazing and exciting to me. The taste left a lot of room for improvement, but wasn’t horrible. I’ll not say it was great, but it was more than expected; a little stale mixed with some potential.

Teas like this are tricky to grade, you have to account for many variables that boil down to personal preference and also remember that this was just 2 bucks… I’d buy it again if not just to fill my house with the amazing aroma, but I dont mind drinking it either. Unimpressive bit completely acceptable for my house.

Found a box of this for 3 bucks whilst out shopping with the missus at big lots. Figured for 3 bucks “don’t expect much, just enjoy a bagged white tea on a hot day”.. I actually really like this. It’s got great flavour, not too bitter or sweet; I’d say mild but that doesn’t do it either as the taste is very present.
All in all its a steal and I’ll probably go back for the rest of their supply just to fill up a tin and enjoy every now and then, especially on hot days, which seem to be every day here in San Diego.

“Delicate aroma” may be something of an understatement in the case of Touch Organic Organic Jasmine Green Tea. I taste nearly no jasmine! It’s true that I have been drinking some heavily scented haute jasmines teas of late, but this is a stretch. I am not calling the folks at Touch Organic liars, but one possibility is that the flimsy paper envelopes (à la Lipton, Salada, et al.) do not preserve the precious scent of jasmine.

It’s also possible that my can is old, but I have ruled that out since the expiration date is far in the future, indicating that the package was only recently produced. That does not prove that the tea is new, of course, since these filter bags are filled with sub-fannings dust, which may well have sat on the floor of tea rooms for ages before being swept up into large receptacles for the purpose of filling mass-market filter bags.

This tea reminds me somewhat of the Touch Organic Green but perhaps closer to chun mee than that blend. It’s a middle-of-the road green tea: better than some grocery store greens, but nowhere near the quality available in loose leaf far from the tea aisle. Not bad in a pinch, for a quick hot beverage fix, but not a great tea, and definitely nothing I would identify as jasmine without coaching. I might use the remaining bags for iced tea this summer.

(Blazing New Rating #39)

Bought this on my most recent trip to Winner’s because…tea.

I was hesitant to try this one because it’s a plain white tea; right now I’ve been on a flavoured tea kick over a plain tea kick. But…for $5.99 for 100 bags? Why the heck not.

Glad I took a chance. This tea is yummy. A bit sweet on its own, light-tasting, and actually almost refreshing. I’d be interested in trying this one iced. I don’t usually ice straight teas, but…there’s a first for everything. And I’ve got 99 more bags and stuff. So it’s not like I’m short on supply… :)

Verdict: would re-buy if there was another box to buy when this one is almost gone.

Saw a box of 100 of this and the organic White tea bags at Winner’s; bought 1 of each. Figured: how bad can it be?

Well, it could have been terrible. Thankfully, I don’t have 100 bags of terrible mango green tea to drink. Thankfully.

The smell is much more mango-y than the taste. That shouldn’t be all that surprising; we are talking about bagged green tea after all. I do wish more of the flavour had come through. That being said, it was a fruity green tea. No bitterness, not very grassy. Overall, pretty good. I don’t know if I would buy another box of 100 if given the opportunity (I rarely drink tea fast enough to be able to buy the same thing at Winner’s twice), but it’s not terrible. A good tea for meetings and conferences when loose leaf isn’t practical.

Verdict: probably wouldn’t re-buy, only because it’s Winner’s and when was the last time you saw the same thing in that store 6 months apart?!

I found this tea at Marshalls (sister store to TJ Maxx), at the low price of $5.99 for 100 bags, what a deal! I picked up a box of the Organic Oolong, as well as the Organic Green and brought them both to share with the office.

I’m happy that the tea is certified USDA Organic, and comes in an unbleached teabag. That is more or less the extent of the plusses column.

The flavor is stale tasting, but I am able to detect hints of wheat, roasted barley, malt, and earth.

Similar to the TO green tea, there’s a high level of bitterness and tannin in this tea that make my tongue feel like it’s growing fur.

This is an unoffensive but unremarkable bagged oolong tea. I guess I got what I paid for.

I found this tea at Marshalls (sister store to TJ Maxx), at the low price of $5.99 for 100 bags, what a deal! I picked up a box of the Organic Green, as well as the Organic Oolong and brought them both to share with the office.

I’m happy that the tea is certified USDA Organic, and comes in an unbleached teabag. My happiness ended once I brewed up a cup.

The brewed tea looks more brown than green, the color of a fish-tank that somebody forgot to clean.

It doesn’t really smell or taste like much of anything. Hot water? The inside of my ceramic mug? I get a little bit of bitter and tannins, but that’s it.

The box is stamped “Consume before Dec 6, 2016”, which is nearly 3 years away, but it tastes old. The flavor lacks all honey or fruit notes that I expect from green tea.

I used 2 tea bags the first time, I’ll try 3 bags next time, to see if I can tease out more flavor, but my expectations are fairly low.

This is an unoffensive but unremarkable bagged green tea. I guess I got what I paid for.

I imagine I’m getting the antioxidant benefits of green tea, and probably the caffeine, but I certainly won’t drink this one for the taste of it.

Update: I tried brewing 3 bags, plus 2 more from the first steeping, for a total of 5 tea bags in my mug. I got more bitter and more tannins, but still no flavor. I still have 95 bags left, so I might try using cooler water next time, but my expectations are pretty low.

See my review of the TO Organic Ooling: http://steepster.com/teas/touch-organic/17976-organic-oolong?post=227544

For folks who enjoy jasmine that’s not so in-your-face as many jasmine teas. This is a pleasant jasmine with solid but soft notes of orchid-Juicy Fruit, as opposed to being a frank, perfumey one-note jasmine. It also has slight roasty undertones. Smooth but moderately astringent on the long finish. Good for a bagged tea.

Matcha white chocolate latte woooo!!!

I keep nodding off, so I thought I’d try some matcha.

Yes. Ok. This is good.

160F water, whisked with matcha and white chocolate. Added some heated milk.

Yum.

I made cookies WOO!!!!
http://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/green-tea-white-chocolate-cookies/

Only sad thing? They are SO FREAKING SWEET, what with the icing sugar and the white chocolate. :/ Delicious, but way too sweet for me. Even with the bitter of the matcha coming through.

Oh well, I’m sure they’ll get eaten anyways!

WHOO I used a bit much for the amount of mango I had left.

Still. It’s so good. A little green and bitter with sweetness from the mango and richness from a couple tbsp of cream (the rest of the liquid was almond milk).

Smoothies FTW.

White chocolate MATCHA latte woooo!!!!

Caffeine! AHHH!

Maybe 1 tbsp matcha was a mistake? Or maybe I will feel energized ALL DAY LONG. Who knows? Certainly not me.

WOO MATCHA!

(umm, about 1 tbsp matcha, 3 tbsp white chocolate, 2 cups almond milk, a pinch of vanilla powder)

I had this in hot chocolate. It was good. Recommend.

(I used Cocoa Camino drinking chocolate and almond milk. Maybe next time I’ll do a white hot chocolate with some of that Callebaut brick I have hiding in my baking supplies.)

I picked this up at Winners last night (I know) since the plain matcha I have is getting kinda old and nasty. I only have a couple tsp of that one left, so I’ll dump it and start fresh.

This is not a Japanese matcha. It’s not made from tea grown in Japan, and it does not taste the same as even an inexpensive grocery store Japanese matcha.

It’s green, cut grass. No marine notes. It’ll be perfect for making lemonades and lattes, but I wouldn’t drink this on its own. It did froth up pretty decently, but not as well as the Red Leaf flavoured stuff usually does for me.

Which brings me to this morning. Mmmmm, matcha lemonade. I possibly overdid it on the matcha, but this is delightful. 1 tsp sifted matcha whisked with a little hot water (160F/70C), added to juice from half a lime, ice, maple syrup (to taste) and cool water to fill the glass.

Oh. This would be SO GOOD with Red Leaf’s pineapple matcha. Hmm.

I don’t have a huge amount of experience with oolong, and I recall having encountered some in the past which did not agree with me. Out of curiosity, I decided to gamble on the Touch Organic Oolong at TJMAXX because I was pleasantly surprised by their generic China green filter bags.

This light golden brown brew smells remarkably like genmaicha to me. There is a seriously cereal-esque flavor here—popped brown rice, to be more precise! The brew wafts vaguely also of barley tea, which I never really understood and have never been able to drink. But this taste is a lot closer to genmaicha than to barley. Does it taste like oolong? That is the question.

I finished the cup, so clearly this is potable. I’ll probably drink this now and then—whenever I am craving genmaicha but have none on hand. Perhaps I’ll use some of these highly economic bags (five cents each) to take an oolong bath…

update: okay, now I’m getting the weird headache-y feeling which I recall having experienced in the past with some oolong and jasmine teas. Having second thoughts. Not quite to the point of gag reflex, but something has gone wrong here… Probably won’t drink this tea after all.

Is it possible to be allergic to some treatments of oolong????

Best white tea I ever had from a tea bag

Mmmm, I’m having this as I write and review comments for my students. It’s amazingly drinkable, with a nice light taste. I am really happy that I have a whole kg of this tea. I don’t resteep because I have so much, but I do see this has having that potential.

Nice and light. A bit floral and not at all bitter. The best black tea I’ve ever had. I have the loose-leaf version of this. Quite a beautiful tea, and comforting on a chilly day.