Lisa (harmony_bites) Send Message

I liked this one, but not so much I think I’d order again. It’s really unusual looking and textured—like green straw. Whiffing the bag the smell reminds me of mulch. The liquor is very light, pale green, and even steeping at 3 minutes—one minute over the minimum—with a generous amount it’s a pretty light, subtle tea. Not vegetal, but for the life of me I’m having a hard time distinguishing it from the other green teas tried from my recent order such as Anji Baicha, High Mountain Green and Iccha Kariban. Slightly sweet, very mellow.

This is also known as Anji Baicha—a very popular green tea. It’s lightly sweet, not to vegetal—and very, very light. Almost like white tea in that respect. We did like it, and it’s very drinkable, but we didn’t like it as much as the other new green teas we got in. Not destined to be a favorite we’d order again.

The description on the label calls this “slightly sweet… without the characteristic grassiness of Chinese teas.” I’d say that’s accurate. This is a smooth tea, not vegetal or seaweedy. Very nice—although I think just a tiny little bit less appealing than the Icca Kariban we had for the first time yesterday.

The description on the label describes this as a “soft, floral, Japanese tea.” The one Japanese tea I had before this was Senja, and I hated it. It tasted to me like water vegetables had been boiled in—much too vegetal, too seaweedy for me tastes. I like this one much, much more. It’s comparable to the two green teas I’ve tried I do like—Cloud & Mists and Pi Lo Chun. A little softer, more delicate than either—not vegetatal nor unpleasantly grassy. My aunt said she like it a little more than either.

I received this as a sample with my TeaSource order. It’s a green oolong flavored with licorice and ginseng, not something I would have chosen, which may account for why I’m not raving about it they way other reviewers have. The tea itself looks rather strange—like kibble or pellets. To me it tastes a lot like a Ti Kuan Yin with a hint of toastiness. There is a fairly mint-like bit in the aftertaste that’s probably due to the ginseng. It’s enjoyable, but it’s fairly down my list of favorite oolongs, at least on first steeping.

Smooooooooth. That’s how this tastes. Even my aunt I-only-heart-black-tea said she liked this one. This one is more on the green side of oolong. It steeps up a dark amber, has an almost creamy mouth feel and sweet, fruity, honeyed in taste. It reminds me of the Sweet Silk Oolong I had bought from TeaSource. I’ll have to brew that one up again tomorrow since I still have some to compare—decide which one is the go to light Oolong for me to stock. But this is definitely a contender.

So, verdict, I rather like it, although mildly, my aunt does not. Not because she disliked the taste, but because there’s not enough of it—she complains it’s like having hot water. Admittedly, this is a common complaint for her with Green and White teas, but she did like the Darjeeling Green a bit more, and the Clouds & Mist a lot more. This doesn’t have the vegetal taste that puts me off so many Green teas. It’s mild and sweet and refreshing with almost an almondish and minty note.

Edit: I tried brewing this longer, three and a half minutes rather than the 2 minutes suggested minimum, and my aunt then found she liked it a lot more, especially since I alternated this with only a black tea until it ran out and we both had a better chance to get used to it. So this turned out a tea we quite liked and I’m raising the rating from 41 (would not order again) to 77 (would consider.)

This was—Okay. And believe me, after trying the Chun Mee tea yesterday and having my aunt compare it to sewage, not a bad thing. But this is a very light tea—a kind of uber green. Not vegetal, which I dislike, and one we can tolerate enough to get through the two ounces we bought, but not one I’d order again. I found it rather bland. So far, of the five new green teas we recently purchased, the Cloud & Mist is the one we liked best. Tomorrow we’ll see if Pi Lo Chun can beat it.

I share these teas with my aunt, so I try to buy ones we’ll both like. Her reaction was this reminded her of “sewage.” Hardly how I’d describe it. Trying to tease out why she reacted that way, well it is slightly vegetal. I don’t detect the plum-like taste in the description on the packet. There’s an aftertaste that’s a bit metallic and smoky, a sour bite that makes it rather astringent. It’s … well my aunt called it “tolerable” but I think I’m probably going to give this away to my tea-drinking friend and give it another chance to be loved. Definitely not one we’ll order again.

I enjoyed this. I should say, that by and large I’m not a fan of green teas. I’ve ordered a bunch, thinking my tastes in tea might have been refined a bit after a year of drinking fine loose leaf teas. I do like Hojicha, but that’s an atypical green tea, being roasted. I hated the Sencha and Dragonwell I’d tried, which I thought tasted like water in which spinach had been boiled. This particular Clouds and Mist, there is a slightly grassy note, but it’s subtle. It’s a light, refreshing tea, if one perhaps with a little less character than I’d like. My aunt did like this one far more than the Anhui Yellow Flower we had yesterday. For that matter, so do I. (And having now tried the other Green Teas in our order this beat Pi Lo Chun, a Darjeeling Green and Chun Mee.)