Rishi | Organic Green Needles

It has been a while since I’ve had a pure green tea.  It was a perfect time to get back to the basics.  Rishi’s Organic Green Needles (roasted) is an excellent pure green tea option.  I’ve made several cups now and each cup has been enjoyable.  The green tea flavor really pops in this variety.  Much of the flavor and aroma has to be contributed to the attention to detail with the processing of the tea.  I get a wide range of flavors from this tea.  It’s buttery sweet with a very smooth vegetal flavor.  The aroma of the tea rivals the flavor.  So you get this blast of fresh green tea with every sip.  I often find myself just enjoying the steam rising from the cup before taking a sip.  From my previous blogs, you may know that I’m a huge fan of roasted teas.  This one was actually a lot less roasted than I anticipated.  It’s a very subtle roasting.  You are not going to be overwhelmed with a smoky flavor by this tea.  The subtle roasting is an excellent accent to an already flavorful organic and fair trade certified green tea.  I didn’t find the green tea to be bitter, but the roasted accents are noticeable (as I mentioned they are subtle).  I stuck with a traditional steeping method of 180°F water for a few minutes – great every time.

One compliment I want to give Rishi is their description of their teas.  Those of us that love tea and are always looking for information to expand our tea knowledge really appreciate Rishi’s descriptions.

Rishi describes the tea as : “Green Needles, known as “Lu Zhen,” is the most famous green tea from the Xuan En Yulu Organic Fair Trade Tea Association in Hubei, China. This grade of Organic Green Needles was made in early April of 2009 during the Qing Ming harvest season. Green Needles is noted for its brisk, energizing character and artisanal hand-shaped appearance. Composed of one leaf and a bud, this tea has a superb balance of freshness and brisk bittersweetness. This tea is made by roasting after withering and the final drying temperature is a bit higher than for the steamed type of Green Needle.”

I recommend this tea as an excellent every day green tea.  If you are a new tea drinker and you are ready to experience a true green tea that isn’t overpowering – this is an excellent option.

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Rishi | Organic Yi Congou Special

I am enjoying many new teas from Rishi.  My wife was very kind to buy a lot of teas for me for Christmas.  Rishi’s Organic Yi Congou Special was very enjoyable.  With Yi Congou Special being both organic and fair trade certified, it makes this tea even more special.

Let’s start with Rishi’s description of the tea: “Yi Congou is the traditional black tea from Xuan En County that evolved from the rise of Keemun black tea’s popularity in Western tea markets during the mid-19th century. Often mistaken for Keemun and exported falsely as such, Yi Congou has a smooth, sweet flavor with a light chocolate note and sweet finish.”

Most of us that drink a wide variety of teas appreciate the vast differences between the many types of black, green, white, and oolong teas.  The range of flavors and extremes is endless with the many choices that tea vendors offer.  Yi Congou Special is just a simple pleasure.  It has a strong, yet smooth, black tea flavor that reminds me more of a Ceylon than a Keemun.  As Rishi mentioned, it’s not to be mistaken for a Keemun.  The dry tea also displays nicely for your guests.  The deep-dark color of the tea leaves are accented by copper leaves evenly scattered throughout the tea.  This tea shouldn’t be viewed as boring by any stretch.  It is an every day kind of black tea.  It’s an excellent morning and afternoon tea and it pairs well with many foods due to the fact that it doesn’t have dominating characteristics.  It’s a pure and true high-quality black tea.  The sweet finish makes it very enjoyable to me in the morning.  If you are looking for something slightly stronger than a Ceylon, but not as dominating or defining as a Keemun, I highly recommend Yi Congou Special.

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Sweet Leaf | Mango

My local grocery store has been well stocked with Sweet Leaf products.  My last Sweet Leaf adventure was with their Mango Green Tea.  As usual, Sweet Leaf did not disappoint my taste buds.  Lately, my first test is to try a ready-to-drink tea regardless of the flavor compliment and see if I can actually taste the tea that is advertised on the bottle (if it’s on the bottle, I want to taste it in the bottle).  In the case of Sweet Leaf’s Mango Green Tea, I could easily detect the green tea in both scent and flavor.  Sweet Leaf put just the right amount of organic cane sugar in the bottle to sweeten the green tea to a level that would appeal to most sweet(er) tea drinkers (26g sugar/120 calories/ per 16 fl oz).  The mango fruit flavor is perfectly balanced in this mix.  I truly expected this product to taste like mango fruit juice.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The mango flavor shines through without being overpowering, and it is well supported by the green tea.  This might now be my number two favorite Sweet Leaf tea (Mint and Honey Green Tea is my favorite).  If you are interested in a deliciously sweet green tea with many organic ingredients – give this a try.  You will not be disappointed by the lush mango flavor and perfectly sweetened green tea.

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Drink the Leaf | Golden Monkey

It’s great to be back after a long break from marTEA.com.  I’m starting back with Drink the Leaf’s Organic Golden Monkey.   First of all, I’m a huge fan of most teas from the Yunnan Province.  The classic copper colored lush tea leaves are always something I look forward to.  To me, Organic Golden Monkey (Panyong Wang) is a hearty tea.  It’s a filling/satisfying tea.  I enjoy an almost earthy/sweet flavor coming from the tea.  Drink the Leaf describes the tea as having a cocoa flavor to it. I do detect the cocoa vibe, but I’m more intrigued by the balance of flavors.  This tea has something for everyone.  If you have a sweet tooth, sure you’ll pick-up on the cocoa notes of the tea.  I pick-up on the scent and flavor of a sweet smelling forest. The taste and scent reminds me of a solid mix of fresh air, flourishing vegetation, and fresh spring water.  At times, I can taste a faint pepper-like flavor.  I guess that is the beauty of a tea like this, it’s flavors are subject to interpretation.

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Drink the Leaf | Organic Hong Tao Mao Feng

I started sampling tea from Drink the Leaf this week, and I have to say I started out with a winner.  This organic black tea has a wiry and long shape to its dried tea leaf.  There is a natural sweetness to the dried product that makes it very enticing.  I steeped the tea according to the recommended directions of 1.5 tsp/200°F/3 min.  The tea retains its sweet scent that rises from the steam after it is steeped.  The flavor had a rustic component to it that made it enjoyable for me.  It had a very warming nature to it.  You get a slight earthiness mixed with a natural sweetness in every drink.  At times, I could detect a nutty flavor when the tea was at its hottest temperature.  As the tea cools, the rustic flavors mellow and the sweet notes shine through with just a delightful and lasting classic black tea flavor.  I really enjoyed this tea.  It has a good mix of character, but it really is a relaxing black tea.  The flavors are mellow enough to calm yet pronounced enough to keep it interesting  The combination of the nose and flavor makes for a very pleasant tea drinking experience.

Drink the Leaf describes the tea as: “Keemun grown in the Anhui Province, near a high mountain lake. The dry leaf is black and golden. The color of this tea is one of my favorites in our selection- like a “red peach” but with a darker amber hue. The aroma is great, but the flavor is the key to this tea. Medium to full, with caramel and honey notes,and a long finish. Enjoy this tea- a new discovery for us.”

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Anteadote Black Tea

I’m glad I finally had the time to try all of the Anteadote selections from Adagio.  Ending with the Black Tea was definitely a good choice for me.  I wasn’t very impressed with the green and white Anteadote options, but the black tea was a hit with my taste buds.  It had an authentic China black tea flavor to it (reminiscent of a Yunnan vibe).  It’s not too strong or too weak and that’s what makes this organic and unsweetened black tea a hit.  Each drink had a satisfying black tea flavor to it and the vitamin c flavor was not nearly as present as it was with the green and white Anteadote options.  Organic ready-to-drink beverages are a great way for people to conveniently enjoy organic tea.  If you brew your own iced tea, there’s no need to bother with RTDs.  Fortunately for the bottled tea distributors of the world, ready-to-drink teas are in high demand.  Anteadote is a great option for those that want to grab a bottle and drink organic iced tea on-the-go.  All Anteadote organic teas have zero calories.  The heavy-duty plastic bottles contain 16.9 FL OZ of delicious tea.  I can’t stress enough how refreshing an unsweetened tea can be to enjoy on a hot day.  I enjoyed most of Adagio’s Anteadote selections.  The two that didn’t impress me (white and green) had an odd vitamin flavor to them, which overpowered the natural tea flavor.  However, I thoroughly enjoyed this black tea option as well as the oolong and jasmine tea.  I definitely recommend that you try one of the selections and judge for yourself.

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Anteadote White Tea

Moving on to an unsweetened RTD from Adagio – Anteadote Organic White Tea…

I wasn’t anticipating wonderful things from the Anteadote White Tea.  The Jasmine and Oolong have easily been my favorites in this product line.  They were packed with natural flavor and freshness.  The white tea fell short for me in the flavor department.  I can barely detect the white tea flavor.  The beverage starts with a quick crisp sweetness, but the bitter finish washes the faint white tea flavor away.  It tasted very similar to the green tea.  The white tea had a noticeable vitamin flavor to it, which I noticed in the green tea (Vitamin C is an ingredient).  Although I appreciate the addition of Vitamin C, I don’t necessarily want a beverage that tastes like a vitamin.  The good news, this is a refreshing beverage.  Even though I think there is a lot of room for improvement, I enjoyed the fact that it was a healthy/unsweetened beverage that I could drink after working out or coming in from the hot weather.  The plastic 16.9 FL OZ bottle makes white tea more convenient for those that aren’t comfortable steeping loose leaf teas.  If Adagio can get the white tea to shine a little brighter, I’ll give it another shot.

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Keemun Golden Buds (Organic/Fair Trade)

Rishi Keemun Golden Buds

I just noticed that according to my blog counter that this is my 100th black tea blog.  Rishi’s Organic and Fair Trade Keemun Golden Buds from the Xuan En Yulu Fair Trade project in southwestern Hubei, China definitely makes for an excellent 100th black tea blog.  The Keemun Golden Buds experience starts with its presentation.  The small golden and dark colored leaves present well.  The scent of the Keemun is fantastic.  The scent is a harmonious blend of a bold and malty black tea mixed with a sweet grape-like aroma.  After steeping the tea in a water temp of 200°F for about 5 minutes, you are left with a dark liquor.  The flavor of the tea is perfect for me in the morning.  It has a way of waking me up with each sip.  It has a strong flavor mixed with a natural sweetness; which makes for a perfect combination early in the morning.  I have to say, this tea reminds me of an Assam.  It’s very bold, but yet with a mild astringency it’s very easy to sip.  Although the color of the liquor is very dark, this tea is very smooth in texture.  The natural sweetness in the flavor will make this more appealing to those that don’t like their black tea over-the-top strong.  All-in-all I really had fun drinking this tea.  Another awesome selection by Rishi.

Rishi describes the tea as: “Our Keemun Golden Buds is a very unique Gong Fu tea, which is hand harvested according to a one leaf and one bud standard. This tightly rolled, well-fermented tea is super tippy with a very unique leaf style. Its deep red infusion is full flavored with rich notes of caramelized sugar and fresh pine. This is one of our premier black teas from the Xuan En Yulu Fair Trade project in southwestern Hubei, China.”

My only disagreement with their description is that I’m not picking up on the pine flavor.  I’ve spent a couple of weeks trying to find it – to no avail.  I can’t say I miss it.

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