Kitchen Sink Green Tea

BAARRGGGG Steepster ate my tasting note the ONE time I forget to copy and paste before posting (insert cruse words all over the place) OMGMFINARRRRRRGGGG
Anyway – THANK YOU to the dear AlphaKitty for sharing this never to be made again one of a kind rare blend! Your a doll!
Pineapple, mango, passion fruit, guava, – TROPICAL with a spicy aroma and slight flavor.
Pretty decent stuff!
My other note was long but BAH forget it – its not like we can order it so it won’t help anyone and this is a gratuitous post OTHER THAN thanking ALPHAKITTY for sharing with me!

Sooooo my trusty meat thermometer that I use for measuring water temperature requires a new battery. Sigh. It was only a matter of time. Of course, as I type this, it occurs to me that I have a second thermometer somewhere, that was also working recently… Either way, this one was steeped at some temperature below boiling, but I haven’t the faintest idea what it might have been. Kept the infusion time low to hopefully counteract a possible temperature misjudgment.

I was kind of excited to get this tea in my grab bag, as it’s something I was interested in trying, but wouldn’t have purchased myself. The smell of the dry tea is vaguely fruity, and I think I saw a piece of marshmallow root??

I’m happy to say that I’m experiencing zero bitterness, and zero astringency, so I didn’t mess up the infusion! Initially, I’m not tasting too much beyond the green tea (a bit seaweedy, yum) and a vague fruitiness, but I swear there’s an aftertaste of what seems to initially be peach, then more strongly apricot. Yup, this is confirmed with sip #2. Definitely apricot. In fact, the most strong apricot I have ever tasted in a tea blend! Frank – make another apricot blend, because this flavouring is seriously yummy! I will admit that it’s only in the aftertaste, and not particularly strong, but it tastes like yummy dried apricot (I don’t remember seeing a chunk in my infuser, but there could be one). I will cherish my one delicious apricotty cup, since I know the rest are unlikely to be the same. SIGH.

Also, I used a generous 1.5tsp of tea for an 8oz. cup, as I usually find 1 tsp not to be enough.

Anyways, this kitchen sink thing is a super cool idea. I’d be down for trying a kitchen sink black or white too… Giving this a high rating because a) it’s good (one of the better flavoured greens I’ve tried!), and b) it’s a novel idea!

This is one of those teas I’d never buy for myself but I really wanted to try. I mean, it’s a bit risky to buy a pouch when you can’t know precisely what the flavor is going to be! However, I was super excited to see this in my grab bag because fruity greens are so good for summer and this seems like the perfect blend to experiment with.

Since each cup is going to be different in terms of flavor profile, I’m not going to give this a number rating. I’ve only cold brewed it once, but I got a wonderful cherry berry flavor, really bright and juicy and fruity. There was a hint of strawberry and blueberry, maybe currant going on in the background. Cherry was definitely predominant, and it reminded me a bit of a green-based version of DAVIDs Cherry Blossom. However, I think the “tea” part is more prominent here, which is surprising given how heavily flavored I assumed it would be. There’s a lovely butteriness going on, hints of grassy green poking through all the fruity goodness. This is really fantastic cold, super refreshing! I’m looking forward to making this a lot in the next few weeks, I want to see what other kinds of flavor blends I get!

Also from my most recent 52teas order.

This was my freebie surprise pouch from the latest special offer, and the source of some suspicion about the selection of these so-called random surprises. See, when I ordered I considered leaving a note with my order that I’m not a chai fan, don’t like rooibos and haven’t had all that good experiences with peanut butter. Not that it was really my place to request anything at all when the offer said ‘random’ but just in case Frank might pay attention to it.

But then I decided that would be cheating, and if I got something that I didn’t like, I could always find a hapless victim to foist it upon. So I said nothing.

And then I got this. A green tea with fruit in it. As mentioned earlier, something I’ve had some really good experiences with from 52teas as well as fruit flavoured whites. Who doesn’t remember the white black currant, for example? Or the razzleberry green? (I miss that one) Or the Tropical Explosion white!

Frank sent me something I hadn’t tried before but was in the same category as things I’ve consistently liked a lot.

Then I saw LiberTeas had received a supposedly-random picked bonus pouch as well, and AGAIN it was one that had completely missed all her dislikes and was one she had planned on trying at some point later on.

Coincidence? I think not. I think Frank has been paying attention to our likes and dislikes where he could, and done his homework before selecting these random ones. (And he can protest all he likes, I won’t believe him) It makes me feel all special and listened to. :)

When this one was first introduced, I was a little scared of it. The sheer amount of ingredients! But it’s here now and I discovered in myself a genuine curiosity about trying it. Funny how sometimes you don’t know these things until you’ve got it in your hands.

The aroma of the dry leaves actually reminded me a lot of the Tropical Explosion. That was a good sign! It’s very very fruity but still sencha coming through loud and clear. Very nice!

I took too long to write the theory up there and I also got distracted by other stuff, so the cups gone luke-warm. Hrm. No comments on the steeped aroma then. The flavour may have gone a bit off too, not being warm anymore, but it’s definitely green tea with fruit. I can’t pick out any particular fruits, but it’s definitely fruit-y.

I like it. Good choice, Frank. Even if it was COMPLETELY RANDOM! (As if! ;) )

So you know I had to try this one…

Definitely very fruity. Because of the many flavors that there are, it is difficult to discern one from another… that being said, this is REALLY GOOD. The flavors are intense and I almost want to say “congested” but in a good way… sort of like a huge fruit salad consisting of the largest assortment of fruit ever.

And… I can taste the green tea too! Buttery fresh notes… just slightly vegetative. This isn’t a “fruit punch” – it is absolutely, positively a tea… with a whole lot going on!

I did take advantage of the Steepster Select offer and I will be giving the second pouch away on the SororiTEA Sisters Blog (http://sororiteasisters.com) – so watch for your chance to win it!

Thanks, silvermage2000!

Since this is an older 52teas offering that I always wanted, I figured I should probably use a bit more leaf than normal. I made it iced too because, well even at 9am today it felt too hot.

I think I may have slightly oversteeped it, or its age isn’t working to its advantage, or I am just getting a lot of lemongrass. It oddly tastes like genmaicha on some sips, followed by lemongrass, so I’m leaning towards it just being heavy on the lemongrass here. (I am kind of weird, if lemongrass is strong I get grain flavors from it, especially Fruit Loops. I’ve got these chicken lemongrass rolls from Trader Joe’s that seriously taste like the cereal!) Sometimes a sip is berry with a little citrus. This is a lot of fun and I’m glad I’ve got some to try!

Hmmmm, this tea smells buttery and fruity. I cold brewed it for 6 hours. This is really weird, I might have gotten a teaspoon without any fruit flavour because I am just getting a bitter, and kinda tasteless mess. I will definitely have to try this again, maybe shake up the bag a little.

Not rating at this time, because I am sure this is just my user error.

Woot! Got this tea in the mail today and immediately opened it,steeped and iced it! Wowowow! I am not usually a fan of flavored teas, but what a great tea. You know when you have a fruit salad that has been sitting together for a while and all the flavors mesh together into one super fruit flavor? That is what this tastes like! But, I can also taste the green tea base, which is awesome!

Thanks so much to the Sororitea Sisters for hosting the giveaway! You guys, as well as 52 teas rock!

Received this as a sample from either kittena or indigobloom. Overall not a bad tea though I’m not really sure what I should have been expecting haha. Would have been inreating to have a whole bag f this as I suspect most cups would taste different :)

Made this iced tonight. Sweet and fruity with a nice sencha base. I seem to enjoy these teas more iced as of late. Very delicious with a little bit of sweetner. Yum!

1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml of water.

Fruity flavours balanced with buttery green undertone. I can pick out apricot, cherry and berry flavours. Something in here reminds me of 52teas Black Currant Bai Mu Dan .

Thanks to Kittenna for sharing this with me!

Sooo I decided to get this from Rachel and 52 teas at iheartteas when she brought this back. I made it, using my Mr. Ice tea coffee maker and wow did that work out great!
I have to say that the tea smells much more floral than I thought it would. The taste was a light floral with hints of fruityness, I think I can taste the green tea base( I don’t drink much green tea) and overall I liked this tea. I would like to try it hot sometime! It was very refreshing cold. The color was a great pale amber! Yumm!

Thanks Meghann for this sample to try!!! I am not sure what I am tasting it seems as if every sip I get a different fruity flavor. It is good! So glad I got to try it. I don’t think it would be an everyday kind of tea for me… that of course is the one pound of chocolate peanut butter cup that Frank is blending for me :) But this was an enjoyable fruity green sample!

Okay so I finally mustered the courage to try this and was so curious on how I would like it based on the rave reviews. So here goes…

First time I made this it tasted like mildly fruity hot water with a touch of butter, but basically flavorless. I tried to steep it longer but no dice. However, I decided not to give up on this one figured it must have been my error in preparation. So I tried again despite knowing I haven’t had too much luck with fruity teas especially those that are green.

So I started from scratch with a little more tea and longer steep time, and BAM there was flavor. Now it was alright as fruity teas go for me but considering all the flavors that went into this I am surprised it wasn’t the train wreck I thought it might have been. (Sorry, Frank!) Although, the fruit base was doable I must say the sencha really made this one come to life for me. In the end it was that buttery taste I loved the most.

End Result: Ya did alright kid…ya did alright!

Its too bad that this is a “one of a kind”. Its actually very good. The smell, both of the dry leaves and the resulting tea reminds me of a candle shop. Yep, you know them, you can smell them within a hundred feet in all directions when walking at the shopping mall or your favorite midwestern (USA) tourist trap. Despite that ;-) its a very good, fruity, floral tea.

mmm I like this! thanks so much for the sample Kittenna!
This is good. Now, I accidentally steeped it at near boiling so there is a good chance I burnt the leaves… but it tasted great. Like… fruit! but not your average fruity green. No it went much deeper than that. and yet it didn’t entirely cover up the tea.
Need to try this again with proper conditions. oh and a kettle that is NOT brand new. It’s possible that some of the new plastic scent got into my cuppa, even though I boiled it out atleast four times.
Oh and it did require a teensy bit of agave to bring out flavour
Rating: 86

Another tea that I got in my box from Emilie :)

I don’t know if it is because this tea is from 2010, or what, but the flavors just didn’t shine through for me… and there were a lot of them that could have shined through!!! I iced this tea, and all that I could taste was the green tea base. I could SEE some fruit chunks in the tea itself, so that’s why I’m thinking it might have just not been completely fresh. For this reason, I’m not going to rate it since I don’t know the cause of it’s flavorlessness!

Edit: Perhaps this tea came from last year’s reblend… not so certain!

This was my mystery pouch from the most recent 52teas order! I had originally wanted to get this one but ended up not ordering it due to just ordering 2 green oolongs from Golden Moon – rationalizing that I needed to order more of a variety (even though this isn’t an oolong and oolongs are much different from sencha). However, I did want to try it so I was pretty happy when I saw that this was my free pouch!!

On to the tea! This smells and tastes fairly fruity, which is to be expected. I really like that the buttery sencha is very noticeable and not overpowered by the sheer number of other ingredients present. I am not able to distinguish particular flavors, but it is just very nicely sweet and fruity. This is great hot, but I am seeing iced tea in this pouch’s future!

My curiosity led me to purchase this tea – and this was my first purchase from 52teas. I am a definite fan! I’m sure everybody’s will taste differently, but mine was wonderful – very fruity and sweet. I could taste apricot, berry, lemongrass and a hint of ginger in my first cup. My second cup was much more fruity – apricot, cherry and berry. The green tea is high quality, too. Overall, this is a very refreshing and unique blend. Yummy!

Kitchen Sink really packs a one-two punch. When I first sip the tea, it tasted quite green and vegetal. It was quite nice, pleasant and mild. Then I swallowed, and seemingly out of nowhere a wave of fruitiness hit me. I couldn’t begin to tell you something specific from it. It was a citrusy berry-like sweet tangy extravaganza of flavor.

As I drank more of the tea, the initial green tea taste and the fruitiness blended in my mouth until it was just a symphony of fresh, fun flavors. It was just fantastic :D