Alright, Green Tea #2 from Teavana’s Green Tea Essentials box set. Let’s see:
First: I used 2 tablespoons of leaves in my 32 ounce Bodum Assam teapot. After rinsing (every time!) I poured 180 degree water over the leaves and let them steep for 1 minute.
I was a little worried when I first opened the packet and saw the leaf quality. Lots of very small pieces and dust. The rinse was, well, it took a bit. The small leaves and dust immediately clogged up the holes in the tea diffuser, and I had to wait for it to drain through.
Fannings in a Teavana offering?
OK, I went with it anyway. When I finally managed to get all 32 ounces of water into the teapot and it drained through and evened out, the water color was a nice straw colored yellowish, somewhat foggy and translucent.
The smell, again much like the first sampling I had from this box set, was nice and clean, crisp, with hints of butter, wet grass, straw, and Earth. It could have had a little more presence, but it was good nonetheless.
The taste:
The initial tongue feel and taste has a bit of bitterness to it. The straw and grass taste hits you next, those two flavors being so dominant I did not sense any butter, and in the end you are left with a slightly bitter, almost tangy aftertaste.
Not a bad tea we have here. I would certainly buy this again in the future. Not the best green I have had, but certainly miles ahead of anything I have bought in a box from a grocery store.
Miles.
Ahead.
-E
Flavors: Butter, Grass, Hay, Straw