Sea Buckthorn Green Tea

Need to watch my water temp on this. I really ruined the first cup. Blech. I’m glad it was my fault but sad I ruined this tea.

I have been looking at this tea ever since I saw it in my teacher’s tea basket this morning. I finally decided to just dive in and brew myself up a cup because it would pick at me until I tried it.

When brewed, it is a very nice light golden color. When I was walking over to my art history class, I thought I would catch the scent of honey. I sniffed it after it was finished brewing (about a five minute walk from my english to my art history class) and it did indeed smell like honey.

The taste itself was interesting. It tasted sweet. The sweetness didn’t overpower the green tea at all. It reminded me of gathering up and drinking dew off of fresh cut grass. Light, sweet, and vegetal. There was a little bit of a tang with the aftertaste, but I didn’t identify it until the very last sip.

I’m not sure if i like it or not. I think it is a tea that would grow on me, but I wouldn’t have it all of the time. I wouldn’t turn it down though.

This has berries in it? Are you sure? Smells like vanilla cookies to me…tastes like cookies. Perhaps there’s a hint of apple…no, not really. Just vanilla cookie goodness.

This tea smells amazing. It smells sweet, sugary, with maybe a hint of vanilla and some sweet exotic fruit like dates. After brewing it still smells amazing.

I drink this at work where I have little control over water temperature. So, I’d have to guess that the water temp is probably around 190°F to 200°F. If I steep this for longer than two minutes it’s just too bitter. It works best if I steep for about a minute. It’s a light tasting tea with much less sweetness than I would expect from the aroma and actually has a little bite. The sweet flavor is more in the aftertaste.

Overall impression is that it’s OK, but too bitter for me.

One of my favorite greens! It’s a very sweet cup, best made in the biggest strainer you have as the tightly-rolled leaves unfurl to a pretty good size. It smells like dessert but the taste has a tart edge to it. I tend to think that the sea buckthorn makes me feel a bit better when illness threatens, but maybe I’m just a sucker for a good health claim.