Quick Sip and Sniff: Yogi Green Tea SUPER Anti-oxidant

Here we have another case where a green tea comes labeled with prominent attention drawn to its health benefits. The first line of the text reads simply Green Tea. The second reads, in all caps, SUPER, and the third line reads Anti-Oxidant in a larger font than even the name of the type of tea! 

All of this makes sense coming from the Yogi Tea company, because they are all about health benefits and offer a wide range of products intended to ameliorate every woe known to humankind. Their priority to health-related matters is demonstrated by the very fact that they assay everything, so that the consumer knows precisely the amount of caffeine in a bag of this tea: 19mg. Most tea companies do not take the trouble to do this, because it is difficult, time-consuming, and no doubt expensive to maintain a precise and consistent caffeine level in tea. Batch variations, anyone? These are natural substances, let us not forget!

I have had mixed experiences with Yogi, probably because they are more interested in health than in tea, with the result that some of their salubrious blends strike me as a bit lopsided in terms of flavor, especially the ones in which heavy spices such as clove loom large. This particular brew is a dark golden color, veering toward brown, so it definitely is not a sencha-style tea--but Yogi never claimed that it was, and they are very good about accounting for the ingredients in their products.

In this case, it's quite clear that not only is the tea blend of a variety of green teas probably sourced from China, but some flavorings have been thrown in as well. I no longer have the box in which this bag was packaged, and the ingredients are not written on the bag, but I detect lemongrass and probably a smidgeon of jasmine in this blend. There is also a slight sweetness here. In fact, let's just find out what precisely these flavorings are! Back in a jiffy...

Here they are, straight from a fact-finding mission to the Yogi Tea website, the ingredients in Green Tea SUPER Anti-Oxidant:

• Lemongrass
• Green Tea Leaf
• Licorice Root
• Jasmine Green Tea Leaf
• Alfalfa Leaf
• Burdock Root
• Dandelion Root
• Grapeseed Extract
• Irish Moss Powder
• Amla Fruit Extract 

Well, I have to say that I would never have guessed most of those, but the jasmine and the lemongrass were unmistakeable to my nose. I am reminded by this little foray of perfume note pyramids, which often list items completely undetectable as separate substances!

All in all, this is a drinkable blend, but it does not satisfy my sencha cravings at all. (I ran out of Stash Premium Green yesterday!) Nonetheless, if I drink a cup of Yogi Green Tea SUPER Anti-Oxidant and evaluate it on its own terms, for what it truly is, among other things, NOT a sencha-style tea but an herbal-laced blend, then I find it to be a perfectly acceptable cup of medium-grade green tea embellished with a complex assortment of flavors. This is definitely better than the low-grade grocery store blends, but it has been adulterated for a reason: to smooth out the rough edges of the tea.


Teabag rating: 6/10

Quick Sip and Sniff: Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha

The subtitle of Harney & Sons Japanese Sencha (indicated on the bag envelope) is "nourishing green tea". That must be included for those who do not appreciate the taste of sencha and need some inducement to finish their cup--for this is indeed sencha, yes it is. It's also telling that they identify the tea as "Japanese" Sencha. I do not believe that they are doing this for connoisseurs (who would be aware that there is such a thing as Chinese Sencha); it seems rather to be an attempt to educate the Lipton tea-swilling masses.

One look at the color of the brewed tea, and the Japanese origin of this tea is immediately confirmed:

The scent of the bag is unmistakeably that of sencha, as is the gorgeously hued brew. Unlike "anonymous" green teas, sencha does not smell like dried grass clippings or dusty herbs; it smells like sencha, a clean and limpid vegetal scent. If you like sencha, you will in all likelihood imbibe this cup happily. 

Harney & Sons' subtle sencha brews up light, clean, and refreshing, with no bitterness whatsoever. This tea is similar to hotel-staple sencha tea bags in Japan, albeit slightly weaker and not quite as crisp. Still I found this to be a satisfying cup for the early afternoon.

Teabag Rating: 8/10

Tea Time: Magical Matcha

Americans are not generally speaking very sophisticated tea drinkers, but matcha, a finely powdered, high-quality tea from Japan, has achieved something of a small cult following as a result of its successful marketing by a number of widely franchised companies, including both Jamba Juice and Starbucks. For those unfamiliar with matcha, the best analogy to something in your experience may be this:

matcha: green tea :: expresso: coffee

Intense, concentrated, bitter, slightly medicinal in flavor, both matcha and expresso have an immediate effect on the drinker because they pack so much into such a tiny volume. I am not a regular matcha drinker, but I do appreciate matcha as a means of amping up the flavor, texture and, of course, caffeine of green tea. 

Today's brew is just such a matcha-infused tea, coming from Muzi:

Muzi is already a high-quality, organic sencha tea (not a blend), but this particular batch has been dusted with matcha as well. My first matcha-dusted tea experience came by way of Stash, perhaps unsurprisingly. For a while, their matcha-dusted Premium Green was my go-to green tea. Unfortunately, they appear to have ceased production of that splendid blend, as it is not available anywhere--not even at Amazon, where I used to buy boxes of 100 bags (which generally last me a month or two). 

The problem, I believe, is that true matcha comes always from Japan, and there have been lots of issues with products coming directly from that lovely archipelago since the tragic nuclear power plant accident at Fukushima on March 11, 2011. Many consumers have been paranoid about radiation of anything being produced in Japan since then, and I confess that I was too, which is why I called the Stash company to ask whether their Premium Green was affected. They assuaged my worries by revealing that for a while now they have been sourcing their green tea from Brazil. So that was good in one way (though we naturally prefer Japanese Japanese products!!!!), but the matcha was still being sourced from Japan, so it may be that it became prohibitively expensive or difficult. I know that companies continue to subject their products to rigorous radiation testing, and all of that has got to take a toll. Stash probably just decided that it wasn't worth it.

What to do? Well, it turns out that I happen to have a decent supply of matcha on hand:

A while ago, when I started to realize the potential for matcha--not only for dusting medium-grade tea, but also for cooking--I bought a couple of large bags of the silken peridot green powder. I store it in airtight jars (such as the one above), and it holds up well. 

Matcha has a bitter, alkaloid taste similar to cocaine or Vicodin. (Yeah, I know what they taste like.) But it makes a fantastic flavoring for ice cream (which you'll know, if you've ever experienced green tea ice cream at a Japanese restaurant), and also for baked goods. Basically, you can turn any humdrum recipe for vanilla or sugar what-not into a matcha masterpiece by simply throwing in a spoon or two of the magical powder. Major yum.

I bought two bags of matcha powder. One is "culinary grade"; the other is "drinking grade", which is more expensive and produced under very rigid conditions, because it is consumed directly, with no filtering, by "whiskers". I don't produce matcha that way, with a whisk and a bowl. I only use it to improve the taste of other teas, and I have found that the culinary grade works perfectly fine for my tea infusions. (Matcha snobs may snicker, but it's simply the truth.) 

Once again, on reflection, I realize that when I told Jalé the other day (on Facebook), that I do not mix my own blends of tea, I was wrong! In fact, I was also wrong when I claimed that I never add anything to sencha. I add matcha! I was thinking of course about "condiments" such as sugar and cream and lemon, added to brewed tea. Matcha, in contrast, I mix into the dried tea before brewing. With the following effect:

As you can see, the tea is thick and brothy as a result of the matcha. I also use a medium-grained mini-colander-type strainer, which lets the smaller particles through:

This means that the tea which I end up drinking is fairly opaque:

But it tastes delicious!!!! Maybe I am closer to the "whiskers" than I think, given that the small tea particles and matcha which pass easily through the filter ensure that my final beverage has quite a bit of oomph to it! One thing that this juice is not, however, is bitter. The intense bitterness of whisked matcha is not found in matcha-dusted sencha, in my experience. This method simply produces a good, hearty, broth-like brew. Perfect for cold winter days!!!!!

Kim mentioned in a comment on the previous (sencha) post that she starts the day with a green tea latte, and I have to say that I love that beverage, too! I accidentally began drinking green tea soy lattes when I purchased some Kikkoman green tea soy milk. It's basically indistinguishable from a prepared green tea soy latte. 

To my consternation, I recently learned that the matcha at Starbucks is a sweetened powder. I learned this the hard way, because when I ordered a green tea soy latte with half the syrup and double the matcha, it was still way too sweet for me. Upon Googling "Starbucks matcha powder", I learned that each scoop has 25 calories! Pure matcha powder has no or negligible calories, so I basically sabotaged my effort to reduce the sweetness level by doubling the matcha powder. (The issue for me was not calories, but sweetness...) Oh well, next time (if there is a next time for that drink...), I'll request ZERO syrup and a couple extra scoops of matcha and see how that goes...

Now it's your turn. Please share your matcha stories and experience!!!! As for me, I believe that it is time for another cup of matcha-dusted sencha...

Tea Time: Let's Talk Sencha!

I feel obliged to begin the Tea Talks with the brew most often imbibed by me: Stash Premium Green. This is a sencha-style blend of green teas, which the Stash company originally sourced directly from Japan. However, several years ago, they set up an outpost in Brazil, and now the tea is produced there, though to my palate it is the same tea. I have easily ingested 1000+ cups of this simple, crisp and clean green tea. The big surprise is that most of the cups which I've consumed were brewed from ... drum roll: BAGS!

People who are really into tea tend to look down on bags, and I tend to agree. However, there are a few cases where bag tea has achieved the stratum of imperial craft, and sencha is probably the best developed tea bag in the universe because in Japan sencha is consumed more avidly even than water! Seriously, they serve sencha constantly. Every meeting, every meal, every pause, every talk, every event is accompanied by a fresh pot of sencha. In the hotel rooms, there is even a tea center every bit as obligatory as the writing table and the bathroom! The Japanese do not mess around when it comes to sencha, an essential part of Japanese life! Or should I say essenchal?

Yesterday, Jalé commented on Facebook that she found it odd that the British so often prepare tea from a bag, and I agree that most tea is better produced using loose leaves. In many cases, the improved brew is worth the pain of cleaning up the mess later. With well-dosed and produced sencha bags, however, the tea produced using the bag method is PERFECT. You cannot get any better than perfect, so why even try? 

Like the Japanese, I am a purist when it comes to sencha: nothing is better than sencha alone! No cream, no sugar, no honey, just pure clean, crisp, peridot-citrine colored sencha! Sencha has a delicious, almost food-like, slightly vegetal and nutty taste which should not be masked, and I never, ever add anything to it. There is something deeply satisfying about this tea, as though it were liquid food--or manna from heaven!

I like the double-walled Bodum glasses (pictured above), because they are cool to the touch but keep the brewed tea at the perfect temperature from the first sip to the final drop. The secret is the thick cushion of air between the two layers of glass, and I applaud (and am grateful to) the designer of these ingenious vessels! I am very picky about the temperature of hot drinks, and if my coffee or tea becomes a degree or two too cool, then I have to give it a zap in the microwave. (If that is not possible, then I toss it or else (if caffeine is the issue) guzzle it with some disgruntlement.) My preference is to drink tea at its optimum temperature over a few minutes, but sometimes I get distracted by this or that.

Sencha is a superb green tea, and judging by the amount I've consumed, it has to be one of my favorites. The Stash Premium Green teabags are foolproof for me and offer nearly instant gratification and happiness. I was thinking about the perfumes to which I'd compare this composition, and it would have to be these:

Do I believe that these are the best perfumes on the planet? No, I do not. But they are dependable, and never, ever let me down. I can wear them day or night, and even to bed, which is how I managed to drain the bottles! (Yes, I am working through backups of each...)

Now it's your turn: how do you feel about sencha? Are there any perfumes analogous to your sencha experience? Which drinking vessels do you use, if you drink sencha? Do you add milk, sugar, or other adulterants (in my view)?