Organic Dehydrated Camellia

New Samples from TeaVivre! Woot! Not going to rate this until I get to fix it without the microwave. I quickly looked at the picture and thought what came out of the bag would be hard like nuts. Nope. It’s real soft. I steeped with below boiling water for maybe three minutes. The resulting brew is pretty clear. It has a little bit of honey color but not much. I’m wondering will this have any flavor? But of course. The website says it has a persimmon aftertaste. I was expecting closer to chamomile. It does not taste like our persimmons and definitely not chamomile. What I got is something very similar to white tea. Subtle but deep. Even prepared poorly I like this. If I were to rate it I would say mid to high 80’s. Don’t fear the Herbal. Need more cowbell?

Backlog:

I really enjoyed this offering from Teavivre. I loved the pollen-y quality to it. I find myself wondering how drinking something like this will help reduce seasonal allergies … but probably not so much unless one happens to be surrounded by tea plants since it is camellia sinensis. This time of year is hell on me with my allergies. Fortunately, they have gotten considerably better after a couple of years of consuming quite a bit of locally harvested raw honey. Still have the allergies, but they aren’t nearly as severe.

Anyway, back to the tea. Or tisane. I enjoyed this. I brewed it a bit strong but I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed it the way it was brewed. Sweet, honey-esque and floral. Pleasant. I like!

My full-length review is here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/01/organic-dehydrated-camellia-from-teavivre/

What is a Camellia? Camellia, the camellias, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. – Thank you Wikipedia. :)

I ordered this tea thinking Camellia may be similar to Chamomile even though I am not a fan of Chamomile but wanted the chance to try something new. The flowers look similar, they are mostly small whole yellow flowers with virtually no fragrance. The quality looks very nice and fresh.

Brewed with the given instructions this tea forms a honeyed yellow colour that has a slight toasty and floral scent.

I’m completely surprised by the flavour…I thought it would be overpoweringly floral and perfumey but it’s nothing of the sort. Instead this tea tastes toasty and sweet, similar to an Oolong but not as strong. It does pick up in flavour the more you drink and starts to remind me of genmaicha but less thick and ricey.

Overall I am finding myself liking it more and more. I can’t believe this doesn’t have any reviews yet! A wonderful in-between tea drink that will cleanse the pallet nicely.

Honestly, I thought this was chamomile when I asked for this sample. So I didn’t quite know what to expect once I realized it wasn’t. The dry pieces smell like sweet, toasted rice. There’s something else, too, that I can’t quite describe. I assume it’s the persimmon identified in the Teavivre description, since I’ve never actually had persimmon.

This tisane brews up a nice, lemony yellow. And the taste is fantastic! Nothing at all like chamomile, for sure. Closer to sencha. Toasted rice, sweetness, a touch of corn… and again that something else that I can’t articulate. I think the lesson here is that I need to hit my local Chinese market and try some persimmon!

This is a nice sleepy-time tea.

Water: I boiled 8oz water & let it cool slightly

Leaves: mini yellow-ish brown flower buds

Steep: 3 minutes

Aroma: floral

Color: pale yellow almost clear

Taste: I made this tea the same day as the blooming tea,I had no luck with this one either it was tasteless as well. Maybe I should have let it brew longer time I’m going to give it another go. I’ve been having difficulty writing reviews b/c I haven’t been getting much taste from my teas.

Hmm. Maybe I brewed this incorrectly but it was so, so flowery and flat for me. I will try it again, but I’m really sad because this is the only tea I haven’t liked so far from Tea Vivre.