Color me unimpressed. :(
I read Auggy’s review of this, so I went into this with a bit of trepidation. My first sencha, and it’s very disappointing!
Anyway, the leaves look pretty! Very needle-like. I haven’t seen anything like this yet (no Japanese greens for me so far). It… doesn’t really smell like anything. If I breathe hot air onto it, I get somewhat of a buttery note, but other than that… nothing.
So I steeped this one up, and I was really surprised at how light the infusion was! It’s such a ridiculously pale yellow that I did a double-take. Lighter than a lot of the white tea I’ve tried.
And the taste… well, it’s a bit non-existent. It’s like hot water, with some bitterness at the end, as well as some astringency. The smell is a bit buttery and grassy, but I’m not getting anything remotely like that in the taste. At all. There’s the faintest taste of sweet, but I’m really having to search for it like crazy. It just tastes like really odd, hot water. I don’t even really feel like I’m drinking tea, which sort of makes me upset.
I didn’t have tea all day, as I was out, traipsing about in the mall. And I went to Teavana for the first time! The store was packed out, and no one bothered me… but I tried their sample tea and nearly gagged. It was Jasmine Pearl mixed with Rooibos Tropical. Not only did the tea taste awful, but it was so ridiculously over-sweetened that it was a nightmare. DISGUSTING.
A disappointing tea day! Let’s hope tomorrow will be better!
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Yes, they put lovely things together to make them nasty and dump honey in it. Not good.
Sorry this was your first sencha. :( But on the plus side, things can only get better, right?
Ew. Ditto on the condolences as to this being your first sencha. They can be awesome, so hopefully you’ll drink one soon!
I happen to own that particular tea from Teavana, and it’s never been flavorful for me. Never tried it with sugar, but I’d just be drinking sugar water, I’m pretty sure. I’m throwing out the stuff I have from them, actually. Good riddance.
That sucks! I’m sorry that that was your introduction to Japanese greens because they are an incredible group of teas.
And Teavana can be a scary place sometimes. They have some great teas there – although you can usually get the same thing for a better price somewhere else – but, based on my personal experience, the blends they come up with just aren’t executed well.
I was going to say, haven’t you realized GM’s plain tea are generally pretty bland….then I realized I actually liked this Sencha. The first time I drank Sencha (Adagios), I hated it. You should try Den’s tea sampler for $3, they give you a variety of Sencha. It’ll be a new tea year soon! Yay!
@Ricky I totally agree. I’m getting to the point that if something is available at Den’s Tea and somewhere else, I buy at Den’s. Their quality and customer service are just that good.
@Micah I would have said that their blends are insane and disturbing but you said it much nicer. Thumbs up!
@Auggy Haha! Well, I can’t say that they AREN’T insane and disturbing. I guess I’m just skilled in diplomacy…. or something. =P
I definitely have hope for the Japanese greens! I could taste somewhere, under the complete blandness of it, that there could be something potentially good from sencha. And the cup smelled really good if I sniffed at it hard enough! Interestingly enough, when this hit room temperature, it started tasting sweeter. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.
Ricky and Carolyn, I’ll definitely have to try that in the future, but right now I have too much tea to play around with!
And yeah, Teavana… so much honey/sugar/something else. UGH. There was also an Amanzi Tea in the mall as well (http://amanzitea.com/) and they had a Rooibos Cream Caramel. It was overly sugared as well, to the point of the texture changing and becoming syrupy. EW.
I think I added this to the Golden Moon order I just put in… yep. I probably wouldn’t have if I had remember that this review was of a sencha from GM but I didn’t realize that. Oh well!
There will probably be a review of this by me sometime next week and, judging from yours and Auggy’s review, I won’t be impressed. =/
Aww, you should have just bought the whole sampler :D teareviewblog promo code for free shipping. I checked and it was still working a few days ago.
Consarn it!!
I’m going to go rush off and see it I can edit the order.
… I can’t. Oh well, life goes on.
Try calling?
Micah, oh POO. I hope you can still call them or something, because the sampler box is the bees knees.
@Micah Seriously if they haven’t shipped it already try writing them or calling. Golden Moon has some of the best customer service I’ve dealt with. They’ve helped me out in the past.
I did call them and they were wonderful! The tea sampler ships on Monday and I’m super excited!
Great! I’m glad. They are really one of my favorite companies to buy from.
YAY! Awesome! Oh my, I’m seriously super-excited for you! Welcome to the GM sampler set club, hehe! It’s been fun and awesome being able to share and drink a lot of the tea everyone else is having!
WHEEEEE! That made me ridiculously happy, actually. I love good customer service stories.
And had it not been for you, Carolyn, I never would have heard of Golden Moon. I have a tin of Sinharaja sitting on my desk that’s there solely due to you!
They’re based pretty close to where I live, so I seriously want to crash their office.
Hahahahaha! I feel like we are a cult that just got a new member! Welcome Micah! :)
Aww! Well, even if this is a crazy, creepy cult, I’m glad to be here. This website/group of tea fanatics has totally reinvigorated my love for tea. I had kind of slumped into just keeping a few favorites on hand and not even drinking tea everyday. Now I’m discovering new teas and companies and it’s wonderful! So thanks everyone! Glad to be here!
Aw, yay! That’s so awesome! I wasn’t in a slump but the folks on here have introduced me to lots of great teas and vendors it makes tea exciting again!
Goat sacrifices on alternate Wednesdays. Don’t forget to contact Auggy about picking up your complimentary Snuggie.
STOP IT, you dork!
Goat sacrifice, eh? I’ll bring the pu-erh knife!
I’ve got the pu-erh cake. =( I actually do! Well what’s left of it anyways. Welcome to Steepster, where friends help to run your wallet dry. Oh the irony!
We also have a complimentary matcha mill where you can grind up an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a tea!
Yes, they put lovely things together to make them nasty and dump honey in it. Not good.
Sorry this was your first sencha. :( But on the plus side, things can only get better, right?
Ew. Ditto on the condolences as to this being your first sencha. They can be awesome, so hopefully you’ll drink one soon!
I happen to own that particular tea from Teavana, and it’s never been flavorful for me. Never tried it with sugar, but I’d just be drinking sugar water, I’m pretty sure. I’m throwing out the stuff I have from them, actually. Good riddance.
That sucks! I’m sorry that that was your introduction to Japanese greens because they are an incredible group of teas.
And Teavana can be a scary place sometimes. They have some great teas there – although you can usually get the same thing for a better price somewhere else – but, based on my personal experience, the blends they come up with just aren’t executed well.
I was going to say, haven’t you realized GM’s plain tea are generally pretty bland….then I realized I actually liked this Sencha. The first time I drank Sencha (Adagios), I hated it. You should try Den’s tea sampler for $3, they give you a variety of Sencha. It’ll be a new tea year soon! Yay!
@Ricky I totally agree. I’m getting to the point that if something is available at Den’s Tea and somewhere else, I buy at Den’s. Their quality and customer service are just that good.
@Micah I would have said that their blends are insane and disturbing but you said it much nicer. Thumbs up!
@Auggy Haha! Well, I can’t say that they AREN’T insane and disturbing. I guess I’m just skilled in diplomacy…. or something. =P
I definitely have hope for the Japanese greens! I could taste somewhere, under the complete blandness of it, that there could be something potentially good from sencha. And the cup smelled really good if I sniffed at it hard enough! Interestingly enough, when this hit room temperature, it started tasting sweeter. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY.
Ricky and Carolyn, I’ll definitely have to try that in the future, but right now I have too much tea to play around with!
And yeah, Teavana… so much honey/sugar/something else. UGH. There was also an Amanzi Tea in the mall as well (http://amanzitea.com/) and they had a Rooibos Cream Caramel. It was overly sugared as well, to the point of the texture changing and becoming syrupy. EW.
I think I added this to the Golden Moon order I just put in… yep. I probably wouldn’t have if I had remember that this review was of a sencha from GM but I didn’t realize that. Oh well!
There will probably be a review of this by me sometime next week and, judging from yours and Auggy’s review, I won’t be impressed. =/
Aww, you should have just bought the whole sampler :D teareviewblog promo code for free shipping. I checked and it was still working a few days ago.
Consarn it!!
I’m going to go rush off and see it I can edit the order.
… I can’t. Oh well, life goes on.
Try calling?
Micah, oh POO. I hope you can still call them or something, because the sampler box is the bees knees.
@Micah Seriously if they haven’t shipped it already try writing them or calling. Golden Moon has some of the best customer service I’ve dealt with. They’ve helped me out in the past.
I did call them and they were wonderful! The tea sampler ships on Monday and I’m super excited!
Great! I’m glad. They are really one of my favorite companies to buy from.
YAY! Awesome! Oh my, I’m seriously super-excited for you! Welcome to the GM sampler set club, hehe! It’s been fun and awesome being able to share and drink a lot of the tea everyone else is having!
WHEEEEE! That made me ridiculously happy, actually. I love good customer service stories.
And had it not been for you, Carolyn, I never would have heard of Golden Moon. I have a tin of Sinharaja sitting on my desk that’s there solely due to you!
They’re based pretty close to where I live, so I seriously want to crash their office.
Hahahahaha! I feel like we are a cult that just got a new member! Welcome Micah! :)
Aww! Well, even if this is a crazy, creepy cult, I’m glad to be here. This website/group of tea fanatics has totally reinvigorated my love for tea. I had kind of slumped into just keeping a few favorites on hand and not even drinking tea everyday. Now I’m discovering new teas and companies and it’s wonderful! So thanks everyone! Glad to be here!
Aw, yay! That’s so awesome! I wasn’t in a slump but the folks on here have introduced me to lots of great teas and vendors it makes tea exciting again!
Goat sacrifices on alternate Wednesdays. Don’t forget to contact Auggy about picking up your complimentary Snuggie.
STOP IT, you dork!
Goat sacrifice, eh? I’ll bring the pu-erh knife!
I’ve got the pu-erh cake. =( I actually do! Well what’s left of it anyways. Welcome to Steepster, where friends help to run your wallet dry. Oh the irony!
We also have a complimentary matcha mill where you can grind up an entire Thanksgiving dinner into a tea!