Wow, I’m not sure if I got a bad one but this is pretty awful. It still has about a year left until expiration, so I don’t think that’s the issue.
It doesn’t taste like green tea. It certainly isn’t a #1 green tea. In fact, it tastes closer to a Lapsang Souchong than anything. I’m getting a ton of smoke, lots of bitterness, and it generally tastes kinda dirty. It doesn’t taste like it was sweetened, so that part of the label was correct (that’s about all it has going for it). Really awkward after taste too; tastes slightly of vinegar and brine. Can’t finish the bottle.
I’m assuming I just got a bad bottle because I’ve had other bottled Ito En teas that were good. I’d try this again (hesitantly) just for the sake of seeing if this was a fluke bottle. Maybe this was mislabeled…
