Rishi Tea

This is a well balanced spiced chai. Some chais have too much of a certain spice that I don’t care for and I’m not sure what it is. I personally like it but my Chai loving husband was not impressed. I would get it again next time I’m at a Whole Foods that has it in a bulk bin in order to experiment more with it.

I’ve had this tea in my cabinet for about 8 or 9 months now. On my first review of it I gave it a pretty low rating. Then I tried to swap it. Nobody wanted it. So it sat in my cabinet. So I’ve been thinking of just throwing it out but thought I’d give it another try. I’ve been using multiple pre-steeps on my pu-erh teas that has been working out quite nicely. Usually 10, 10, 15, 20 & 25 sec before I even drink a cup. With this I did 10,10 & 15 and threw it away. I figured too many steeps beforehand would wash away the bordeax flavour. So I brewed the 4th steep at 20s. It is actually quite good. The grape/red wine taste is very subtle , a light earthiness, sweet fig notes. Okay, back in the cupboard it goes. Lesson learned. You don’t like a tea- Try ALL different brewing methods before throwing away.

I can’t believe I didn’t even taste the red wine flavour in my other review! This cup is delicious!

I bought this tea in January and have had it before but just leaving a review now. This shows tea in teabags but my tea is loose. It smells just like Bordeaux wine in the bag. Brewed up , I only taste Pu-erh. It’s okay. Not a bad pu-erh but I was disappointed, no wine flavour.

I don’t know if this is the same as the Rishi Pu-erh Vanilla Mint as this does have peppermint. The package calls it Pu-erh Vanilla. I haven’t had pu-erh before much less with added flavors so I can’t tell much about the pu-erh flavor. It isn’t in a pressed cake so again I couldn’t judge the quality at all. The only time I smelled a pu-erh , it was rather musty and and unappealing to me. I decided to be bold and brave and try this one. (All of the above are disclaimers to let you know that I know nothing about this tea.)
It came loose leaf in a foil pack inside a box. Smelled good with the additional flavors added. Strongly vanilla in the first sniff. After brewing the liquor was very dark, almost like coffee. Drinking it I definitely sense the vanilla, with a nice light mint after taste. There might be a bit of licorice flavor but it seems well balanced with the mint so it is very unobtrusive. Very enjoyable tea. Energizing, but not like my beloved chocolate yerba mate. I will drink this tea easily and keep it in-stock. BTW, Is this supposed to be kept refrigerated?

I like sencha but I love bancha. I didn’t think much of this one until a particularly hot summer day inspired me to cold-brew it. With no expectations, I took my first sip.

Wow. At low temperatures (8°C / 45°F), this tea is a totally different experience.

No astringency, no bitterness— just the aromas of toasted rice, dried grass and sugarcane, followed by a delayed but pronounced mouth-smacking sweetness that lingers on my gums and tongue for several minutes. Someday I’ll include formal tasting notes but at the moment I’m sipping on a tall glass of this tea and enjoying it too much to bother.

Mixing this with chamomile tonight. Getting Gramma into tea! This is her second cup of the night too!

Good ol’ standby to start off the night.

Great standby – chocolate and peppermint :)

Peppermint, chocolate, a book, and my dog at my feet. I couldn’t ask for much more!

This with chocolate and a book makes for a good night.

Not much to say, a wonderful standby to share with the boyfriend (steeped a little longer and more of it because he likes his mint strong) while we split a cupcake and watch X-Files :)

Mixed this with Chamomile Citron by Tea Forte (trying to use up as I am finding things I like more). This is a very good and enjoyable peppermint. The boyfriend and I often have this at night when we watch our shows. I can for sure say that this is something that will always have a place in my cupboard, it may vary by company which one I have but there will always be peppermint on hand!

this matcha’s really good. yes, there is some grassiness present but it is yummy & creamy thanks to the added sugarcane :D

the powder is a bright verdant green, bright like Red Leaf’s matcha, much brighter than Republic of Tea’s. the only thing is, it produces a much thinner liquor than normal for a matcha (and less froth!), so i used less water and needed only a touch of soy milk in order to enjoy it like i normally do.

with Republic of tea’s matcha, i use a lot more sugar & need plenty of milk to get it to a shade of ‘sage latte’ as the liquor is a thick dark green producing a lot of froth. it’s also a lot more chalky and bitter.

in contrast, this Sweet Matcha by Rishi is very pleasant and smooth, and i would recommend it to any matcha newcomer! i myself love it and find it to be very similar to the Starbucks green tea latte.

This is definitely one of my favorites. Rishi has outdone themselves with this new line of tea. http://onthebean.com/shop/tea-bags/pu-erh/rishi-tea-pu-erh-bordeaux-tea-bag-organic-fair-trade-tea-blend-15-ct.html

This is delicious. The first thing I noticed was the amazing aroma. It smells just like a piña colada. The coconut and other flavors are noticeable without being overwhelming or leaving an aftertaste. I purchased this at http://onthebean.com/ and look forward to trying the other flavors.

somehow steepster ate and buried this? grrr.

nope. wrong mix for me…. actually i thing chico chai might have ruined me for others, to be honest. i had high hopes….. but it was completely out of balance and so strong after a really moderate 5 minute steep that it went right down the sink.

damn.

the semester’s almost over. i spent the weekend working my butt off analyzing data on global theory that is outside my specialty only to have it ACTUALLY HAPPEN…..!!!!!!!!! and then i got marked down because i wasn’t focused enough. …. ……. ………… are you sure i wasn’t focused enough? because i’m pretty sure i was. do you feel like reading it again maybe?

however, at least i loved the project. and at least my ‘lower mark’ was an A-. and at least that was tying together SO many different disciplines that regardless of the mark i am very bloody proud.

this chai. hum. if you would like to have random patches of body hair forcibly burned off by spice via tea containing milk and agave…. then steep this for 5 and have at her. this will be going in the traveling tea box for my part. arrivederci!

Meh
That is how I feel about this tea long story short
-Soapbox
Rishi was my first loose leaf tea company so I will always have a special place in my heart for them. I have never had a bad tea by them and I believe the retail box packages are the best possible way to start tea and getting a footing for loose leaf tea not to mention to date some of the best I have ever had were purchased from their small lot batches on their website. Consistency is hard for tea companies let alone one that offer literally every type of tea available from yellow to pu er. SO with that said Im going to give this tea a “C” that not an insult but rather an indication that a tea of this high of quality does not excite me anymore considering I was the typical american who thought tea was the thing in bag you threw into styrofoam cups on an airplane or when you had a cold.

-Review
I remember there other crop a few years back being “better” a heavier body and more bold taste so I was a little disappointed. But I think it is was my blue collar tea taste because I can tell these leaves are of a higher quality plucking (1/2 leaves ATTACHED to a bud) and a lot brighter in color(usually indicating not from a high output factory" over cooking". Just as I prefer summer harvest over spring Darjeeling’s higher quality/price is not always “tastier”. Still this tea is a great example and high quality once again, I am just spoiled at this point with access to sites that sell teas I can’t afford and should not but do purchase from.

Found out that my Vitamin Shoppe has a suprisingly good selection of teas. They had a bunch a rishi and pukka teas which I am a fan of both. They even had some from the Tea Spot. Who knew a vitamin shop would be a source to get loose leaf teas. This one caught my eye since I am into all things chai. It seemed like an interesting blend so I picked it up. The smell out of the bag was minty with a hint of chai spice to it. Steeped the mint mellowed out a lot which was nice. The chai flavoring is very mild, This is a delicious chai but my only gripe is that the chai flavors be stronger.

As with all the Rishi teas I’ve tried, I enjoyed this one. I hadn’t had white tea before, but this certainly isn’t what I had expected. I followed the instructions and used 2 tablespoons for an 8-ounce serving. The infusion was indeed “amber-orange,” as the description says; I suppose I had expected it to look more like a green tea. The taste was interesting as well—much less delicate and much more rich than I had expected (although it definitely was mild, subtle, and delicate—just less so than I expected). I’m not sure I could yet identify what flavors there are yet; I’d have to give it a few more tries. My wife tried some; she finds green teas too subtle for her liking, but enjoyed this. Make of that what you will.

Green, round, dark to the back of the throat, light in the front sides and tip of the tongue.

It’s a medium strength tea. A bit astringent. A slight sweettart (plant, not candy) touch to it at the end.

Finish is comfortable but has a bit of an edge. Yes, as I drink it’s definitely drying my mouth.

Not a fan.