I enjoy a good flavored green tea now and again and I’m noticing that I like the ones with coconut in them. When I went to order some tea for my mom for mothers day I saw this and knew I had to get this for myself…and am I glad I did. I enjoy Harney’s Bangkok green tea but this one is a bit different, in a good way.
The tea is in sachets and I can see that there are nice, mostly unbroken leaves with an occasional stem. There are also some tiny pink flowers and petals that I cannot identify and a few coconut pieces. Dry this tea smells predominantly of coconut and sweet from strawberry and some vegetal notes from the green tea base.
My initial reaction to tasting this was coconut. What I would guess is fresh coconut, at any rate it is not roasted coconut. After getting over the initial reaction I could taste the green tea. I’ve never had Bancha by itself before so I cannot compare this or say that it’s definitely what I taste in there. But I’m getting a nice grassy note with an almost woodsy note. At the tail end I get the sweetness from the strawberry.
The strawberry and vanilla show up more in the second and third steepings. I don’t really get any of the popped rice, unless that’s the woodsy note instead, but I didn’t taste anything that jumped up and said “Hey I’m popped rice, nice to meet you!” At any rate I still find this a delicious blend from Harney and Sons and I like that half the sales go to a good cause.
