Sea Buckthorn Green Tea

Watched the temp more on this cup and got a mildly sweet green tea with a light tartness to the aftertaste. There might be the tiniest hint of apple. Glad to have tried this tea. Thank you Jaime for sending me some.

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.

I was contemplating placing an order with RoT during their “free” shipping offer (which…let’s be honest…when the minimum order to get that free shipping is $50, the normal $3.95 shipping isn’t really making a huge difference). But, I was sad to see this particular tea listed as no longer available. I have been wanting to try it for such a long time! So, imagine my surprise when I found this tea today as I was perusing the tea aisle at Whole Foods after a St. Patrick’s Day 5k! And for the same price as on RoT’s website nonetheless! In my cart it went immediately.

Now, I never really know if I can believe the health claims made about tea ingredients, but I can still be happy knowing that the plain tea itself is a healthy thing. So, that’s a good enough reason for me to drink it, even if sea buckthorn wasn’t considered a superfruit.

So, anyway, this didn’t taste at all like I was expecting. I guess I thought it would be more tart and berry-like. Not at all! I’m getting both the flavor and scent of vanilla along with some gentle sort of fruit like apricot. My boyfriend, on the other hand, said all he could taste was the green tea, which is a very mild Chinese green that was quite pleasant. But, seriously…what does he know? :) I cold-brewed it this time but will try it hot soon. So glad this tin has 50 bags, just in case I can’t ever find it again! They were also selling all of the flavored hibiscus blends, of which the coconut-flavored one is my all-time favorite for cold-brewed iced tea. It is hands down the most refreshing and relaxing tea I know of (can those 2 feelings even be had at the same time???) That too was selling for the same price as on the RoT website.

So, all in all, I can actually say that Whole Foods saved me money for once, since I otherwise would have ordered online and had to spend $30 more than I did today (although….“had to” might not be fair since it certainly would not have been a chore to choose 3 more teas to buy…).

Wow, this definitely wasn’t something I was expecting.

The dry teabag smelled sweet and slightly tart. I’ve never had sea buckthorn before, but I think that was where the tartness came from. However, brewed up, I’m getting a sense of honey or vanilla, with only the barest hint of tartness on the back of the tongue at the end of the sip. There’s a slightly medicinal aftertaste that I’m having a hard time putting my finger on.

This is interesting, but I’ve found that I’m not a fan of vanilla in green teas. But I have only one more teabag left from darby to finish off, so at least I got to try it.