TeaGschwendner

Had a bit of difficulty translating this tea… hopefully I haven’t duplicated an entry! Anyhow, this tea came to me via visitors from Germany, a few years ago. I believe I had two sample pouches of it, but apparently didn’t write a note about the first one.

This tea is actually really tasty! It’s a nice creamy green apple sort of flavour, without being too fakey. Base is nice, too. I could actually tell what it was even before looking it up, because it’s pretty distinctive. I’d love to have this again; my sample has enough for one more cup, which I’ll have to make sure I enjoy in the near future so it doesn’t go stale! (The best before date on the tea was in 2016, haha).

I haven’t had too many (or any other?) TeeGschwendner teas, but based on this, I’m certainly intrigued!

Also, of interest – the name of this tea translates to Osnabrucker hobbyhorse, haha. Maybe someone with a German background can clarify a little (although I believe there is actually a picture of a hobbyhorse on the package!)

This tea is… Why!?

I guess putting gummy bears in your tea must be a novelty thing or meant to appeal to kids? However, it baffles me because I can’t imagine they impart a lot of flavour or melt down all that nicely; and if the amount of gummy bears isn’t JUST RIGHT in the blend then you have cups missing them (and they at least feel like a crucial ingredient based on the name) or they take over the cup given the size/weight!

I steeped this up though, and tried to keep an open mind. It tastes fine; but not particularly “gummy bear” like in terms of flavour. While it definitely get sweeter and mellowed out a little bit as the tea cooled, I found the profile to be an essentially hibiscus and orange dominant cup with a lot of tartness and general acidity. Not bad at all, but super generic and not really worth the novelty of buying a ‘gummy bear’ tea IMO.

But I guess it made for a cute photo so I suppose that’s a win!?

EDIT: Worth noting that this would probably be decent iced.

Received this as a gift and fell in love with the presentation – the tin is just so elegant and it’s a lovely tea to look at. And sniff. I swear, my habitual tea sniffing will eventually be to the detriment of my collection. :D

Anyway, about the tea…did a quick brew earlier to give me something to sip on while emailing. The cherry aroma comes across very strongly in the final amber liquid, but the actual flavour is pleasantly mild. You pick up a lot more of the grassy/woody tones of the green tea with only a gentle overlay of fruitiness.

No issues with bitterness and I’m inclined to believe it would take sweetener well.

Well, that was unexpected, and I think I may be able to guess why this replaced the White Oothu. I somehow missed the timer going off, resulting in an unintentionally long steep time of a bit over 6 minutes. But it still tasted fruity, without any bitterness. I think the White Oothu would probably have been slightly less forgiving(though still more so than a classic Chinese white tea), and since this is TG’s cheapest white tea(and therefore probably the one most often bought by people new to white tea), that complete lack of bitterness was probably considered more important than the option of getting multiple steeps out of it.

It was a pleasant surprise that it wasn’t bitter after that steep, and I think I’m more likely to either make this in my big glass pot(technically the glass body of a Bodum Assam), like I did this time, or throw it in the Mono Filio as a base for White Vanilla Chai, than to brew it gongfu in a gaiwan, so I think I probably won’t really miss the extra steeps(I have other white teas that i can use for gongfu, so …).

It’s too warm for a classic cinnamon-heavy chai, so instead I’m drinking this, with a little extra ginger.

Taste is really good. I actually drink this tea cold when I’m working out in the gym. Keeps me hydrated, especially when I’m being active.