Teapigs- Popcorn Tea

Name: Popcorn Tea
Company: Teapigs
Type: Green Tea (Genmaicha)
Price: $9.99 for 15 Sachets (1.3 oz.)
My Amount: 1 Sachet for 8 oz. water
Caffeine: Low

First of all, let me start off by complaining about how Genmaicha is called Popcorn tea. When somethign is called a popcorn tea, I EXPECT IT TO TASTE LIKE YUMMY BUTTERY, SALTY POPCORN. For strictly scientific research purposes, I ate a whole bag of popcorn before drinking a Genmaicha tea. Let me tell you- I was let down.

ANYWAY, although I don't think Genmaicha should be called Popcorn Tea, I still am a huge fan of Genmaicha. For those of you who don't know, this tea is traditionally a green tea mixed with toasted rice. This used to be be done by the Japanese working class in order to make their tea go further. Nowadays, Genmaicha is enjoyed all.

As for Teapigs' Popcorn Tea, I could definitely see myself going for a cup of this instead of a bowl of popcorn while watching a movie on a Friday night (or more realistically while I'm watching an episode of X-Files...).

What I love most about this tea is how robust the taste of the green tea is as well as the light–yet very complimentary– nutty flavor. Like many green teas, the second steep was my favorite steeping of them all.

This tea makes me feel like I'm sitting in front of my fireplace after coming in from playing in the snow. Sorry if that's oddly specific, but thats honestly how it makes me feel. It's just an awesome comfort tea, and I would recommend it to anyone.

1st & 2nd Steep:

• Time: 2 min.
• Temp: 175°F

Ingredients:
Green Tea, Toasted Rice, Popcorn (literally less than half of one popped kernel)

Tea Liquor:

• 1st Steep: Yellow-Green
• 2nd Steep: Maintained Yellow-Green

1st Steep

2nd Steep

Flavor: Smooth, Nutty, Smokey

Rating: (4/5)

DAVIDsTEA- Sweet Almond Green Tea

Name: Sweet Almond Green
Diet: Organic and Kosher
Company: DAVIDsTEA
Price: $9.50 for 2 oz.
Suggested Amount: 1.25 tsp. per 8 oz. 
My Amount: 1.25 tsp. per 8 oz.
Caffeine: Low

This tea is a literal dessert. Honestly, I had to drag my mom away from this tea, and it took bit for me to get over the fact that I only had a sample of this one. Without doing any reading on this tea, the first thought I had about this tea after one sniff was that it smelled exactly like tho italian almond cookies (marzipan??). 

Let me just get it out of the way now– the taste totally lived up to the cookie smell.

I usually love my green tea unflavored, but this tea has completely converted me. The green tea really complemented the almond flavor, and neither overpowered the other. However, I don't really think I felt the flowers in this one. I will also say that there was a slight bitterness, but it didn't take away from the tea in any way. What really impressed me was that despite its smell the sweetness was very natural– and wasn't artificial as I had worried it might be.

The second steeping was also delicious. The almond flavor fades a bit, but the green tea really holds up.

It also doesn't hurt that this tea was super pretty. The cornflowers and almond chunks made me feel luxurious. 

I was super impressed and I will definitely be by buying this tea.

Dry Leaves

Steeped Leaves

1st Steep:

• Time: 2 min.
• Temp: 175°F

Ingredients:

Green Tea, Almonds, Marigold Flowers, Cornflower Petals, and Natural Almond Flavoring

Tea Liquor:

• 1st Steep: Honestly, it looked like white wine with a tinge of green.

Flavor: Almonds and a slight grassiness and bitterness.



Rating: (4.5/5)

Mighty Leaf- Green Tea Tropical

So I picked this tea up at the supermarket because my mom had raved about this brand and I'd heard that it was a good supermarket tea. Read my review to see why I don't think I'll be getting this tea for myself again. Maybe for my mom who's still trying to get used to the flavor of green tea- the fruit flavor might help her.

Tea Box and Sachet

Sachet w/ Dry Leaves

Name: Green Tea Tropical

Company: Mighty Leaf

Price: $7.66; Sachets

Suggested Amount: 1 Sachet for 8oz

My Amount: 2 Sachets for 16oz
Caffeine: Not very much

1st Steep: 

• Time: 3 Minutes
• Temp: 175°F

2nd Steep:

• Time: 3.5 Minutes
• Temp: 175°F

Ingredients: 
Green tea, natural tropical flavors, natural flavors, flower petals, pineapple bits

Dry: Smells wonderful, you can definitely pick out the pineapple smell. Nice full leaves and very minimal tea fannings. You can see the blue cornflowers, some red flower, but I didn't see the pineapple bits that others have talked about.

Tea Liquor:

• 1st Steep: Very nice deep golden colour.
• 2nd Steep: Dark Yellow

2nd Steeping

1st Steeping

Flavor: Fruity, Weak

Notes:
 On first taste I unfortunately found this tea to be weak and lacking in any tropical flavors. With some previous experience with teas that have artificial flavoring, I knew that a tiny bit of sugar might help bring out the tropical taste I was looking for. After a teaspoon of sugar I found that the tea did get much better, but as the tea cooled instead of getting less bitter like other teas, it actually got more bitter. I wouldn't suggest a second steeping because its just weaker.

Overall, I guess I would suggest this to someone who isn't used to Green teas and wants to slowly get into it.

Rating

Tazo- China Green Tips Full-Leaf Tea

 So I had bought a TAZO bagged tea sampler set for $25, and managed to get through the whole box in an embarrassingly short amount of time. One of my favorites was the China Green Tips, I liked it so much that I decided to go out and get myself a tin of their full leaf sachets. While it isn't exactly a gourmet tea, it's a great tea for the price.

Tin and Dry Leaves

Name: China Green Tips Full-Leaf Tea

Company: Tazo

Price: $6.95; 15 Sachets

Amount: 1 Sachet for 7 oz. (I did 2 sachets for 14 oz.)

Caffeine: 31-45 mg

1st Steep: 

• Time: 45 Seconds
• Temp: 175°F

2nd Steep:

• Time: 1 Minute
• Temp: 175°F

Ingredients: Blend of spring-harvested Mao Feng green tea leaves

Dry: The leaves were somewhat short and tightly rolled. A little less curly than other green tea leaves I've seen. While it didn't smell extremely fresh,  It did have a pretty strong vegetal smell and I could already smell the typical rice smell that comes with many green teas.

Tea Liquor:

• 1st Steep: Golden Honey, more yellow than green
• 2nd Steep: Pretty much the same as the 1st steep but this time with a heavier green tint.

Flavor: Vegetal, Not very smooth, Astringent (at first), Light-bodied, Nutty.

Notes:

 On the first steep this tea was VERY astringent, but I found that if you let this tea sit for a few minutes the astringency almost completely vanishes. It has a strong vegetal taste that I really like, with a nutty taste that sort of reminded me of Sencha. The tea itself has a weak body on the first steep,which can be taken as a good or bad thing. For me it just means that I use a little less water than usual because I like my tea to be strong, but that completely depends on the person. 

 While the first steep is just average, the second doesn't even compare. Whenever I prefer the second steeping its usually because the first was too strong, but in this case it was the opposite! I was very (happily) surprised with the second steeping. The second steeping brought out and amplified all the good aspects of this tea and had a heavier body, but had none of the astringency that the first steeping had. Maybe it's just me but if you look at the photos below, you can SEE that the second steeping is more powerful. I think what I'll do if I only have time for one steeping is do a pre-steep with the leaves first.

Steeped Leaves

The First Steep                                        The Second Steep

Rating