Elderberry Green Tea

Thanks, Frank & 52teas for shipping so quickly. I received this tea two days after I ordered it! Amazing! I just haven’t been able to review it until today.

The dry leaves are quite large and long sencha leaves. The scent of the dry leaves is a bit tart and quite blueberry like. Once brewed the aroma is more mellow, berry and almost a little floral with a light tartness. The liquor is quite darker than I imagined. It’s almost as if a blue/purple food coloring was added lightly to the green tea. I haven’t brewed a sencha before, so I’m not sure if this is the leaves or something to do with the flavoring. I’m loving the smell of this!

I have no words to describe elderberry with, but the flavor reminds me a bit of the brightness of fresh, ripe blueberries. The elderberries really compliment the flavor of the sencha. The sencha is very strong, but the flavors blend, the mesh so well, it is a wonderful dance on my tongue. I’m really enjoying this.

I did brew it on the higher end of the temperature range, 180F, for 2:30 minutes. I think I will try this at 170F and 160F to see how it compares. I think the length of the steep is just right, as I’m not tasting any astringency.

Nice work 52teas! I’m loving this blend.

At first sniff this reminded me of when I was little…in Buffalo…my mom would always buy “Loganberry Soda” (Loganberry Pop). I haven’t had it in YEARS and don’t even think they sell it anymore…maybe in rare places in Western NY, not sure!

After infusion I smell the green tea accompanying the berries – ready to drink!

It tastes a lot like a green tea would…but more of a celery tasting green than a grassy green and the elderberries buddy-up nicely! Looking forward to trying this iced but hot is good for now!

This tea was not one that I immediately ordered when it was announced… I’ve never really tried an elderberry, but after reading the comparison of “something between a sour grape and a blueberry” – I wasn’t really that intrigued… I like blueberries ok, but generally, grape is just not my favorite flavor, especially sour grapes.

So, I figured, Hey, I could resist ordering this particular tea (a good thing, because I order MOST of Frank’s teas the day that they are announced, and I probably have more of his tea than he does)

But, then I read Meghann’s tasting notes of this tea, and I decided that I needed to try it.

And I’m really glad I did! I’m surprised at how much I really like this tea… although I really shouldn’t be surprised because I can’t think of a time when I’ve been disappointed in a tea that I’ve tried from 52Teas. (I still won’t try the peanut butter teas though, just won’t do it, and you can’t make me. I like peanut butter ok, but, it doesn’t belong in my tea.)

The flavor is nothing like a sour grape to me. I can taste the blueberry-ish note to it though. It’s like a slightly more tart blueberry… not a sour-tart… but, kind of a tingly tart that hits your tongue after you’ve eaten a fresh berry tart. It’s a very light, delicate kind of taste, and I like it.

The green tea base is perfect for this particular fruit, because it is not too aggressive so it allows the delicate berry flavors to come out a bit more. If this were a black tea, I think that some of the subtleties of the berry would be lost.

Very good!

Thank you Meghann for sending me this tea, I am very glad to have tried this.

I am not sure if I really like this as much as I hoped. I feel like I was reaching to taste the elderberry and I did, or at least I think I did but only a little. I plan on trying this again and playing with the leaf and steep times. I bet I can get to like it better.

Stay tuned…

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 plastic lunch spoons
Water: 12oz ~150°F hot spigot water
Tool: kati loose tea system (my Review here.)
Steep Time: 2-3 minutes (started Steep.it timer late, didn’t pull mesh basket when it completed)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: mildly sweet unidentifiable fruit
Steeped Tea Smell: vegetal with an after sweet hint
Flavor: smooth veegtal with hints of fruit and bitterness
Body: Light
Aftertaste: bitter, astringent
Liquor: dark translucent green-brown

I really am enjoying this tea, I think under better conditions it would do better. I also think it will be fabulous iced!

Post-Steep Additives: honey, brings out the fruity sweetness

After adding sweetener I highly recommend you do the same. This is a very soothing cup.

Notes: Since writing this review, and before posting this, we’ve made this tea many times at home in the Breville One Touch. I have reduced the bitterness and astringency, but not gotten rid of them. It really is a delicious tea.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/09/52teas-loose-leaf-green-tea-elderberry.html

Meghann sent me a sample of this. We can totally blame her for my 52teas addiction. Or should we blame Frank for making these teas? ;-)

I love the sencha base in these green teas. It’s perfect. The slight tartness of the elderberries is very nice against it. It’s balanced perfectly: not too fruity, not too tart, not too sweet. Light, refreshing, yummy.

In my experience, flavoured greens tend to use a heavy dose of flavouring to hide the fact you are drinking a green tea, making for a rather pointless cup. In this blend the elderberries are more complimentary, letting the sencha base skip along beside it hand in hand.
I can definitely see how fantastic this would be iced, but I think I will save that for a day that doesn’t require one to be wrapped head-to-toe in wool…