Madame Butterfly Flavored Green Tea from Gurman’s Tea & Coffee

madame-butterflyTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

About this tea:

Green Japanese tea Sencha with peach bits, sunflower petals and flavour.

Learn more about Gurman’s Tea and Coffee here.

This tea can be purchased here.

Taster’s Review:

It’s a cold winter’s day here in the Pacific Northwest, but the tea that’s in my teacup right now reminds me of warm summer days when I can find fresh, ripe, juicy peaches at my local produce market.  This Madame Butterfly Flavored Green Tea from Gurman’s Tea & Coffee tastes (and smells!) just like summer!

What I like best about this particular peach flavored green tea is that it’s not overdone.  Occasionally, I’ll come across a peach flavored tea that has been flavored with a heavy hand and the peach notes completely overwhelm the flavor of the green tea, and what’s worse, because the peach is such a prominent flavor, it often tastes artificial and chemical-y.  But that isn’t the case with this tea from Gurman’s.

Here, the flavor is just right.  It tastes delicately of peaches, and the green tea is the prominent flavor in the cup.  I taste the lush flavor of the Sencha green tea:  sweet with contrasting savory tones, and a backdrop of buttered vegetable flavor.  Then the flavor of sweet peaches comes through, and the peach notes taste true to the fruit.  Sweet and juicy, tasting as though someone pureed a fresh, ripe peach and strained the juices into my teacup.

A really wonderful peach flavored green tea, this Madame Butterfly from Gurman’s.  It’s a nice way to celebrate the splendor of summer even when the weather is chilly outside.

Madame Butterfly Jasmine from Capital Teas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Capital Teas

Tea Description:

This connoisseur’s green tea has a stunning jasmine character with a full flavored cup and an incomparable aromatic nose; simply the absolute finest quality that there is! First flush peony silver needles are delicately hand-tied to form the shape of butterfly wings then infused multiple evenings with lightly scented jasmine flowers are laid atop the tea leaves to produce a tea as delicate as lace and elegant as Madam Butterfly herself.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

These little “butterfly” knots are so beautiful, they smell divine and they product the most incredible tasting jasmine tea!  They unfurl very slowly – it took five infusions before the leaves began to look more like Silver Needles than butterfly knots.  But that’s OK, because it means five very delicious infusions of tea!

The jasmine is strong, but, it doesn’t overpower the gentle flavor of the sweet Silver Needle tea.  It has a fresh flavor that is buttery smooth and slightly grassy.  There is no astringency to the cup, just soft, sweet flavor from start to finish.

What I like best about this particular tea is that the jasmine flavor is so abundant but it never tastes sharp or artificial.  It has a silky, luxurious flavor to it – a perfect match for the natural qualities of the Silver Needle.

If you’ve tried jasmine before but weren’t too sure jasmine tea was for you, I strongly recommend trying this Madame Butterfly Jasmine.  It’s exquisite!

Editor’s Note:  I originally called this tea a “white” tea in the leaf type, because it is a Silver Needle and it tastes very much the way a white Silver Needle tastes.  However, because the company categorizes it as a green tea, I changed the leaf type to green tea to avoid confusion.  Yeah… I know, I’m still confused.  Sorry about that.