I was pleasantly surprised by this tea from the moment I broke the seal on the package.  The combination of green and black teas from all over the globe combine to create an incredible aroma.  It’s the smell I would expect to find at a tea processing plant.  It’s just a rich, sweet, and pure tea scent. Zhi’s Monk’s Blend is made of the following: Darjeeling (green), Keemun (black), Assam (black), and Nilgiri (green) organic loose tea leaves.

I have to say the black tea flavor dominates the cup, but that’s ok in this blend.  The green tea gives a welcomed accent of freshness.  Monk’s Blend has a very pure black tea flavor. It’s a refreshing tea that can be enjoyed almost anytime of the day (it does contain caffeine).  The tea has a very smooth mouthfeel and a pleasant aftertaste.  What can I say, it’s easy to drink and I’m almost out. If you want a simply pure and delicious organic tea to drink, this is for you.  Black tea lovers will enjoy this.

• Visit Zhi Tea

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I’ve been highly anticipating this moment…I’m drinking Genmaicha Chai from Yogic Chai. First of all, Genmaicha is one of my favorite Japanese green teas. It’s an obvious classic and a regular at almost every tea store. The roasted brown rice adds depth and character to a delicious Japanese green tea. Yogic Chai incorporates all organic ingredients in their Chais. This green chai is no exception. It consists of (organic): Genmaicha, cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, and ginger. Basically, it’s a clone of their Original Chai with the subtraction of the Assam black tea and the addition of Genmaicha.

Just like the original chai, you will be greeted with a powerfully pleasant aroma from all the organic ingredients.  This time around your nose will detect a hint of roasted brown rice. Once the water started to boil, the roasted brown rice really started to reveal itself.  The combination of the organic ingredients makes this chai special.  Substituting the Assam for Genmaicha is as noticeable as you would imagine, but it goes to show with quality ingredients you can mix it up and have fun.  I really enjoyed this chai.  The Genmaicha is present throughout the chai.  You can taste the toasted brown rice and Japanese green tea with every sip. I applaud Yogic Chai for offering something unique.

Preparation: I tried to deploy a traditional method of preparing the tea.  I used a range burner, small pot (usually making two large cups), and a strainer.  I used one teaspoon of Masala Chai per cup (approximately 6-10 ounces).  So, you start by filling your favorite cup with water (as a measuring tool), than you pour the water into your pot.  If you’re making two or more cups, repeat the process as necessary.  Now, set your burner high enough to start heating the water to a boil.  I put the dry tea, spices, and herbs in the water almost immediately and let the water come to a boil.  Once the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to avoid a mess.  Let the chai simmer for about 1-3 minutes.  I didn’t add milk to this chai.  After the tea simmers, you can strain the tea into a serving pot.  It can be messy and challenging to pour the chai directly into your cup from a pot while holding a strainer.  Lastly, pour the chai into your cup and sweeten the beverage using your favorite sweetener.  Again, you may like it without sweetener – I know I do.  Having said that, I also like to load a cup with sweetener (syrup, brown sugar,etc.) when I’m in the mood for something really sweet.  If you want to use your favorite tea maker with a built-in strainer, that’s fine.

Visit Yogic Chai – Traditional Spiced Chai

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I’ve been drinking Choice Organic teas for a couple of years.  The Whole Leaf Organics line clearly shows an evolution with the tea selections offered by Choice Organic.  I was very fortunate to try several of the new selections.

Reasons to enjoy Whole Leaf Organics (WLO):

• Choice Organic Teas offers the largest selection of exclusively organic and Fair Trade tea pyramids, keeping in line with its long-time commitment to manufacturing organic and Fair Trade teas.
• Whole Leaf Organics (WLO) tea pyramids are fully biodegradable.
• Choice Organic Teas does not use any PVdC in their packaging.
• The 100% recycled box is printed with soy ink and features a unique cover with a die-cut pyramid window, offering a peek at the tea garden-inspired painting commissioned by Seattle artist Maija Fiebig.

Black Tea: Estate Blend Darjeeling: This tea exceeded my expectations by having a lot more flavor and character than I anticipated.  Darjeeling’s muscatel flavor is always inviting, but this one had a welcomed grape-like flavor that added a special element to the tea. Choice Organic described the tea as having a floral, nutty taste.  Either way, it was really good. The leaves expand in the tea pyramid during the steeping process to remind the consumer that they are drinking tea from real organic Darjeeling tea leaves rather than dust and fannings.  This is a great choice for tea drinkers looking for a solid/flavorful organic black tea in a convenient tea bag.

Green Tea: Jasmine Green: I haven’t always enjoyed Choice Organic’s green teas, but this one was very refreshing.  It was definitely my favorite green tea offered by Choice Organic.  The pan-fired organic Chinese green tea was very pronounced with an oceanic and slight smoke flavor.  The jasmine flavors balanced perfectly with the green tea to create an enjoyable cup.  Choice Organic described the tea as having a lightly floral, almost sweet taste to it. I have to agree with their description, but I want to add that the green tea flavor shines through the jasmine.  For me, that is a definite plus. The split personality of the green tea and sweet-jasmine flavors combine to create one delicious cup of green tea.  It was gone too fast.

Herbal (Caffeine-free): Chamomile Citrus: If you enjoy Chamomile, you’ll love this one.  The chamomile dominates the cup, but your taste buds are hit with orange peel, hibiscus, and lemon myrtle (all organic).  The zesty citrus flavors mixed with chamomile were very interesting.  I think this one would be perfect with honey and a tad bit of your favorite sweetener.  Again, the key to this herbal is you have to enjoy chamomile.  Choice Organic describes this herbal as: citrusy blend brings out the best of mild-mannered chamomile. Its sweet, floral taste comes from whole yellow chamomile flowers harvested on a Fair Trade farm in Egypt. Orange peel and pink hibiscus add a light, fruity essence.

That completes a long list of Choice Organic teas that I’ve been fortunate to recently drink.  It’s exciting to see the direction the company has taken with this line.  The quality of “bagged” teas continues to be raised by companies like Choice Organic.  This is welcomed change for all of us.

• Visit Choice Organic

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I recently had the opportunity to try drinktheleaf.com’s Kawane Sencha.  Japanese green tea is an absolute treasure to drink, and Drink the Leaf’s Kawane Sencha is no exception.  In fact, this is one of the best Senchas I’ve tried.  It has a sweet vegetal flavor to it that immediately demands your attention.  This is the kind of tea that you sip and then just smile.  The dry tea leaves have a distinct needle-like shape (common characteristic of Sencha) with a dark green color, and they are longer than other Senchas offered by many other tea brands.  This tea is an absolute pleasure from start to finish.  The scent throughout the steeping process is mesmerizing.  The fresh green aroma helps to build the excitement as you wait to taste the tea.  Kawane Sencha is the kind of tea I want to share with someone special. Sharing a tea of this caliber shows that you are a true giver because it’s really easy to want to drink it all yourself.

Drink the Leaf describes the tea as: A beautiful dark forest green liqueur, vibrant aromas of fresh cut grass, delicate clean flavors that are rich and smooth. Hints of nuts, grass, and seaweed take you to a bright finish. Kawane is located on the upper Oi River in Japan; ideal conditions for growing tea.

Visit Drink the Leaf

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Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea is an organic green tea selection from Numi.  It offers the tea consumer a lightly floral flavored cup of green tea.  The package does not indicate an origin for the green tea.  I enjoy jasmine flavored teas.  With any flavoring, balance is the key.  Tea companies can’t blend and flavor their teas for everyone.  They must have standards in place to produce a cup of tea that consistently satisfies their quality control as well as the consumer (ultimately we decide with our spending).  Just as important, the quality of tea must meet or exceed the expectation of the consumer.  A bitter, flat, flavored tea cannot be saved by coating it with jasmine flavoring.  Tea consumers have more choices than ever these days.  If a tea brand is not satisfying our taste buds, we’ll move on to one that does.

Numi strives to meet many standards to satisfy a diverse group of tea drinkers.  Label readers will be happy to see many icons on Numi products indicating the product is: Organic, Kosher, Halal, and Fair Trade Certified.  The green tea I’m drinking today, comes in a standard tea bag (sachet) form.  The tea in the bag will not overwhelm you with its shape or size.  Having said that, after letting the boiled water cool below 200 degrees and soaking the sachet for 2-3 minutes, it does create a decent cup of green tea.  I detect a bit of smokiness to the green tea. I do like how the jasmine flower flavors balance with the smoky notes of the green tea.  The jasmine flavoring is not overpowering. I think it’s balanced well.  If I’m drinking green tea, I like to taste the green tea.

Visit Numi

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Well, I like green tea and I like mint…so, let’s give this a shot.  The package indicates 100% natural ingredients: Maltodextrin, and 100% pure powdered Japanese green tea and natural peppermint flavor. The powder looks similar to Matcha – it’s very fine with a dark shade of green.  The package opens easily and it mixed with a few seconds of shaking my 16 ounce bottle of water.  The taste is very balanced.  Each drink has a splash of Sencha with a welcomed hint of mint.  I have to say for a powdered mix, I like it.  The beverage is only a tad sweet.  You will not feel like you are drinking sugar water.

Visit Stash

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English Breakfast Tea: Let me start by saying English Breakfast tea is quite confusing for new tea drinkers. If you are an experienced tea drinker, you know what I’m talking about. You’ve probably established your favorite English Breakfast teas by now. Anyway, almost every account of its origin that I’ve read did relate the tea as a breakfast compliment. That said, this is an anytime of the day tea. Keep in mind it does have caffeine, but almost all black teas have caffeine. Choice Organic’s english breakfast tea is a blend of teas from Ceylon, Assam, and East Africa.  The tea is organically grown and certified fair trade.  This blend comes in a pyramid tea infuser.  All-in-all, I felt the tea was on par with other bagged teas.  The tea was very smooth, but it did require milk and sugar to bring out the flavor.  With Assam tea in the blend, I expected it to have more of a kick.  This tea is perfect for the casual tea drinker.  If you require more of a bold flavor, this is not the tea for you.

Jade Green: I was looking forward to trying this one.  I let the water cool to about 180 degrees and steeped the tea for about 3 minutes.  Like the other Choice Organic teas, the tea comes in a pyramid biodegradable tea infuser, and it’s organic and fair trade certified.  The tea has an interesting almost fruity flavor to it.  The vegetal flavor was slightly bitter for my taste, but the faint almost floral flavor helped me through the cup.  I’ve had bad luck with Choice Organic’s green teas.  The bitterness is just too much for me to truly enjoy the cup.  Choice Organic describes the tea as: A healthful blend that brews up a mellow yet lively cup. It’s an artful combination of fine green teas grown in the lush jungles of China and the sweeping hills of India — offering a light, almost fruity taste with a gentle finish.

Sweet Liquorice Mint: I don’t often take the time to drink an herbal tea (tisane), but when I do, I prefer something minty.  This was a great herbal tea.  It was sweet and minty.  The flavor lingers leaving your mouth with a fresh minty taste.  I highly recommend this tisane to anyone that likes peppermint, spearmint, or liquorice root.  The tea is absolutely delicious.  This would be a great tea after a meal.  Not only will it leave a smile on your face and cleanse your palate, it will help you digest your meal.  One of the ingredients is organic cornflowers.  I cannot honestly say I detect the flavor, but I applaud Choice Organic for adding something unique and interesting to the herbal blend.  Sweet Liquorice Mint is a caffeine free beverage because it does not contain tea.  So, feel free to drink this one all day long.  I can’t say enough about the flavor of this blend – awesome.

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This is an excellent, everyday, Chinese green tea.  The dried scent is oceanic with a slight sweetness and vegetal accent to it.  Wuyuan Ruikang Green is fun to drink.  It’s affordable, easy to make, and full of flavor.  To add to the quality of the product, it’s certified organic.  After steeping the tea in a water temperature of around 180 degrees for a couple of minutes, you’re left with a dark yellow infusion that is full of character.  I detect flavors of floral sweetness, a slightly salty bite, and a delicious vegetal (green) finish.  This is a green tea that most people will find enjoyable.  It has a lot of properties sometimes found in Chinese black tea and certain Oolongs.  I typically steeped the tea in a Gaiwan.  Typically, I made three infusions of the tea at a time.  The great thing about this tea is the fact that you can experiment and steep the tea to your flavor preference.  It’s difficult to mess up.

Upton describes the tea as: A full-flavored green tea with a sweet floral note and mild tartness. Overall, a very satisfying tea, priced for everyday consumption.

Visit Upton Tea Imports

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