pyarkaaloo Send Message

this one is interesting. the buttery mouthfeel seems inversely proportional to the body/flavor, which is exquisitely delicate by contrast. as the tea cools down i’m getting an unsweetened honey note from the nose! directly upon steeping however, this smelled more strongly of corn. i appear to be getting that note a lot from green teas lately. interesting! this one is perhaps more of a wheatish-corn (a silhouette of corn husk)….something strawlike. i was reminded of my beloved bunny’s Timothy hay when i smelled the dry leaf. i imagine he would like this.

color of the tea liquor: a light golden hay. identical in appearance to many white teas, in fact.

the dry leaf is a very pale jade with furry white tips! (think the most desaturated color of jade you can get, like a white-grayish green…) reminds me somewhat of a Silver Needle in the way some of its tips appear to be covered by a silken peach fuzz.

speaking of jade, look at this tea set!
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Jade-Teapot_11574769/showimage.html

the overall impression is one of subtlety. Rishi’s Emerald Lily is subtle in the way Golden Moon’s White Persian Melon & Coconut Pouchong were, in terms of the liquor’s weight, taste, and color. would almost never guess this was a green! it’s what i’d call sylphlike.

i plan to resteep this one for sure, as the leaves haven’t quite fully unfurled. looking forward to that!

someone award Rishi for perfumista tea company of the year in creating masterful herbal blends. this is a burst of sunshine! the dry leaf is a delectable, invigorating and splendorific mélange of rich, golden, super lemony ginger. the aroma is outrageous, and a truly beautiful composition. as the Rishi website puts it, this tea is ‘remarkably bright’. Indeed!!

from this i definitely smell lemongrass, ginger & zesty citrus oil….you know how orange or lemon essential oils (well any essential oils, really) can be so potent your eyes widen from the experience? well, you’d be hard-pressed not to experience that here. if you love citrus as i do, you’ll appreciate the way it is masterfully incorporated into the blend. it’s difficult to stop inhaling it!

the taste is another matter. as i’ve had this before under the guise of Rishi’s Turmeric Lemon, i remember it being somewhat unpleasant with the earthy, dusty turmeric appearing to take center stage after steeping. not the yummiest thing to drink, although i certainly love it in different curries. one thing worth nothing is that the ginger hits you right at the back of the throat, with a zing! so there’s no doubting its freshness.

turmeric boasts of a number of health benefits, so that’s why i’m drinking this. my only wish is that the lemon, ginger & citrus oils could eclipse the turmeric flavor better, but i’d say Rishi did a really good job with such a fussy spice. nothing a hearty squeeze of lemon & a tablespoon of honey can’t fix!

i wanted to like this one and i thought i would, since it’s green tea with peach! i love fresh peaches & peach flavoring, and since i have a bunch of straight greens on hand i thought i’d try a fruity one. plus, i also had a great experience with Tazo’s other fruity green offering, Decaf Lotus Blossom.

this one is a letdown.

it has a somewhat ashy green tea base (not sure which one is used) that got bitter very quickly! in fact, it is so bitter now after having cooled, i’m not sure i can finish my cup. i’m not entirely sure if i’d write this one off as undrinkable as i think i should adjust my steeping parameters from 3 to 2 minutes and let it infuse in considerably cooler water next time, just to be sure.

for me, the only redeeming quality about this tea is that the aroma is definitely better when cooled & the peach opens up more, but it is soo bitter! ack.

roasty toasty yummy nutty puffed rice cereal! yum yum yum.

i keep inhaling this, it is so my thing. hojicha & genmaicha, you are my green tea loves!!

the flavor of the tea & the aroma of the liquor both match up pretty impressively.
i don’t think i’ve ever had a tea do that before!

anyway it’s delicious….and the liquor is a beautiful light peridot. it steeped up very clear & crystalline at first, with the green shyly infusing into the water. i’ve noticed with organic greens it takes a while for their color to reach its full intensity, or so it seems.
after 3+ mintues of steeping this finally became a fuller celery green that was slightly cloudy.

i can’t say i’m an expert on genmaicha, but i had Teavana’s and that was far weaker than this, seeming to lack body and a truly toasty quality. the rice in this really comes through, which i heartily appreciate.

so glad i decided to a get a box. i expect i’ll run through this one quickly!

this was a pleasant surprise that immediately brews up strong and dark, and smells enough like a standard black with the dry leaf having a lightly fresh kick. mix some of this with Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam and you could have Tazo’s Awake! the flavor is even better than the aroma lets on.

the mouthfeel is in a word: THICK!

unlike anything i’ve experienced in a tea before. and it warms you right up! i’ve had this twice already and have gotten the same revitalizing burst of energy each time.

i really enjoy the texture and strength. while not necessarily looking to be catapulted into hyperfocus at 8pm, this Kenyan CTC decided i should be. if you choose to drink this straight, i applaud your audacity! of course, i am not that brave. my additives were 2 tsps of brown sugar (was it 2 or 1?), a dash of cinnamon sugar (which i normally put in my coffee) & plenty of Silk soy milk to round out the flavor. the resultant color is a luscious, creamy caramel.

this is the tea for coffee drinkers most definitely (and i am one). even the look of it is like finely ground coffee!! which is a very comforting thing for me.

Ceylon!

at least that’s what i thought, initially….as it turns out, the base for this tea is from a plantation in my most beloved state of India: Kerala!!!! i could wax rhapsodic about why i love this place, but that would trigger a flood of positive associations and effusive ramblings which might overshadow the review of this tea. that is perhaps best left for another tasting note, or depending upon your tolerance for digression… the Cone of Silence.

my infatuation with Kerala aside, i thought the flavor of the tea in this blend was particularly nice. i don’t know precisely why. it didn’t have that ‘quasi-plastic raisin note’ i’ve been getting of late in the many different Assams i have ordered (which is totally irking me!) the best way i can describe the base here is that it has a gentleness & ‘oolong-like’ delicacy. very similar in taste to a Ceylon, but not as brisk. lightly sweet, smooth and clean, with the slightest floral tinge that surfaces every now and again.

the dry leaf is most generously scented with the fragrance of Amaretto, and the aroma of the steeped tea reminds me quite a bit of (don’t wince): Red Rose’s Cinnamon Streusel! probably more for the flavoring and not the actual tea itself. Cinnamon Streusel is delicious, by the way. in that flavoring, i also perceive Amaretto, but something decidedly more cherry. for the sake of parsing straws….

what i think more seasoned tea drinkers would appreciate about this tea are its subtle nuances, refined texture and the fact that you can tease apart the tea flavor from the flavoring. and yet, you get a sense of both. i added a tsp of brown sugar, but couldn’t bring myself to add any milk, because this tasted perfect without it.

apart from the exquisite almond and amaranth flavor, this tea is like a “Ceylon Oolong” if ever such a thing were possible.

also, i may or may not be suffering a slight panic attack from the cup of Grandpa’s Anytime Tea (a CTC, hold onto your pants!) that i just ingested. more on that later.

yaaay i’m drinking this again. as predicted, i could not resist the impulse to mix this with Stash’s Organic Premium Green (teabag format; apparently it comes in loose leaf, which i did not know!)

i’m on a new box! that’s right….living life on the edge. and i’m noticing this one smells just a tad bit fresher, brighter, and with the licorice more pronounced in the blend. the longer it steeps, the more the aniseed comes through. at first i thought fennel was playing a bigger role than it actually is. i came to such a conclusion after purchasing Numi’s Organic Fennel Spice savory tea (which is delicious!) and which is undeniably fennel in an undoubtedly non-aniseed way. i know licorice, so no guessing game there. i also know aniseed as i have it at home, so any previous notes claiming fennel is the dominant flavor in Pukka’s Detox, i now realize was much more aniseed. so there you have it!

oh, and the bready, pretzel note i keep getting, as it turns out, is actually from the Stash Organic Green tea i mix it with! will elaborate in a tasting note on that separately.

add a dash of salt—and people—you could have soup! well, broth. this could double as a non-alcoholic aperitif or palate cleanser. or just to help with digestion. what i love about this Detox blend, is that there are no suspect herbs or drugs that might impact your system unfavorably. this is detox the natural way (or relaxation or meditation, whichever you prefer..) the aroma is certainly soothing and the taste, pleasant.

also- the licorice in this is very nice and gentle. not that i mind it at higher (thicker, sweeter) doses, but i’m so impressed at how it plays nice in this medley. the initial burst i got from the aroma was refreshing, truly. all in all, this herbal blend is invigorating but ultimately calming.

so i’m a fennel/aniseed/licorice fiend. apparently.