Tea tasting 2 - "Citron Green"
Today I experimented with a 'blend'. By that I don't mean russian caravan, or Earl Gray, or any such traditional tea blend, but rather very explicitly flavored tea.
The blend was "Citron Green" which is basically a lemon-oil flavored green tea. The leaves are largely intact, flat and bent. It reminded me of the preperation of some Dragonwells. There were some chunks of lemon peel mixed in, possibly for looks.
We had some fussing about with the electric kettle, I'm jealous of the ones that reliably heat to 180 degress.
The tea bloomed nicely as other large green leaf teas do. I poured around 2:30, as I don't like my first experience with a tea to be oversteeped.
The aroma was .. well.. bad. It smelled like skunk or rot. There was a lemon odor but that only made it worse. Just terrible.
The liquor was pale orange or deep yellow, which was surprising for an all green tea. Could they have added coloring? Initial flavor experience was similar to the aroma. There was some grassy green flavor in there, but with lemon, and a heaping of awful skunklike nastiness.
I had planned to pour it out, but while talking with other people for a few minutes about how awful it was, and general office talk, it became clear that the skunk aroma had left. Perhaps it was something more volatile that got in by mistake, or perhaps this tea is best drunk after being left in a room alone for 10 minutes after pouring. It never quite left the flavor though, always that odd nasty note hanging around.
The awful flavor aside, the grassy of green tea and the citrus flavor never interacted. Two seperate flavors in one drink, not complimenting each other at all. This makes me wonder what the "green earl gray" that people sometimes sell is like.
All in all, I think I would rate this tea a 3. A lot of unpleasantness to reach an uninteresting result.
----
Hmm, in the end, I did pour it out.
The blend was "Citron Green" which is basically a lemon-oil flavored green tea. The leaves are largely intact, flat and bent. It reminded me of the preperation of some Dragonwells. There were some chunks of lemon peel mixed in, possibly for looks.
We had some fussing about with the electric kettle, I'm jealous of the ones that reliably heat to 180 degress.
The tea bloomed nicely as other large green leaf teas do. I poured around 2:30, as I don't like my first experience with a tea to be oversteeped.
The aroma was .. well.. bad. It smelled like skunk or rot. There was a lemon odor but that only made it worse. Just terrible.
The liquor was pale orange or deep yellow, which was surprising for an all green tea. Could they have added coloring? Initial flavor experience was similar to the aroma. There was some grassy green flavor in there, but with lemon, and a heaping of awful skunklike nastiness.
I had planned to pour it out, but while talking with other people for a few minutes about how awful it was, and general office talk, it became clear that the skunk aroma had left. Perhaps it was something more volatile that got in by mistake, or perhaps this tea is best drunk after being left in a room alone for 10 minutes after pouring. It never quite left the flavor though, always that odd nasty note hanging around.
The awful flavor aside, the grassy of green tea and the citrus flavor never interacted. Two seperate flavors in one drink, not complimenting each other at all. This makes me wonder what the "green earl gray" that people sometimes sell is like.
All in all, I think I would rate this tea a 3. A lot of unpleasantness to reach an uninteresting result.
----
Hmm, in the end, I did pour it out.