Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Genmaicha green tea, also known as “poor man’s tea” is a great choice for bold flavor. This earthy infusion of organic loose-leaf sencha and toasted rice kernels pairs perfectly with savory snacks and Asian meals, and has just enough caffeine to pick you up after a long day.
Ingredients
Organic Sencha Green Loose-Leaf Tea, Roasted Rice Kernels
Characteristics
Bold, Organic
Flavors
Earthy, Grassy
Caffeine Content
Low
Steep Temperature
175˚
Steep Time
3-5 mins
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Genmaicha from the Persimmon Tree, One of my favorite teas! There are different levels of “roastiness” in genmaicha this is not one of the roastiest that I have tasted but it is well balanced and quite lovely. Genmaicha is a “go to” tea for me really anytime, but always when I can’t decide on what to steep. Genmaicha always satisfies. I love sencha, and I love the nutty toasty flavor that Genmaicha has to offer. Call it poor man’s tea if you must, I feel rather lavish when I sip on a cup!
The mouthfeel is creamy, buttery, and fresh, with that lovely sencha flavor that I can’t resist. The rice kernels are plentiful too, and I like that! This is also a very forgiving tea for a green tea, it takes to an over-steep quite well if you are prone to forgetting about your steeping tea. Not that I ever do that, (yeah right).
Today I needed something to center my mind. I have had a crazy busy week, missing one day of reviewing entirely (sorry about that), so today I just needed to get focus back, and ground myself. This tea was calling to me and it is doing just what I needed it to. I also find that Genmaicha helps curb hunger pangs and will really get you through to meal time.
I have sampled a lot of Genmaicha teas and this is one of my top three favorites due to its high roasted flavor. Yet, even with its high roasted flavor, the sencha is the star of the show! You do not lose one bit of the wonderful sencha taste. It also just fills my room with earthy, fresh aromas and is way better smelling than any room spray!
I love a tea company that does good. You can read all about the Persimmon Tree here. I personally love this excerpt:
We, at The Persimmon Tree®, contribute to the sustainability of our planet. Where possible, we use recycled and recyclable materials in our shipping supplies and printed materials. Using recycled products increases the demand for recycled material, which increases the rate of recyclability. Our passion is to instigate and experience positive change through the simple things, and we encourage our customers to do the same.
A very good Genmaicha, a very good company!
Peach Picnic Green Rooibos Blend from The Persimmon Tree
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Green Rooibos
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tisane Description:
Peach Picnic is a colorful, summer fruit-inspired blend of green rooibos tea, strawberries, peaches, and citrus flavors. This incredibly refreshing, nectar-like peach rooibos blend tastes great with a touch of honey, hot or iced.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Tasty! I generally prefer green rooibos over the oxidized, red variety of rooibos, so when I saw that this Peach Picnic Green Rooibos Blend from The Persimmon Tree was a blend of green rooibos, as well as peach, strawberry and citrus flavors, I was happy to try it.
The cup has a light, refreshing taste. The strawberry and peach notes are sweet and juicy, with just a hint of tartness from the berry. The citrus notes give the cup a tangy, vibrant flavor that brightens the cup. The green rooibos adds a light, sweet taste that is a little nutty and a little woody.
All these flavors come together in a very interesting way. It’s sweet, fruity, and enjoyable. It makes a tasty enough hot drink, but I found that I preferred it iced. It’s very juicy and thirst-quenching!
This is one of those tisanes that you’ll want for the upcoming iced tea season … especially if you’ve got kids! This is a great alternative to over-sweetened sodas! It’s a definite crowd pleaser from The Persimmon Tree. Be sure to “like” them out on Facebook!
Lotus from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
A unique combination of hand-harvested fresh lotus blossoms blended with green loose leaf tea in an ancient scenting method comprises our Lotus tea. Prepared in small batches by Vietnamese traditional artisans, the unique essence of these spring-harvested flowers is released and absorbed directly into the tea. The Lotus tea brews a pleasant, slightly sharp flavor similar to star anise, with a subtle vanilla finish; be sure to steep multiple times to fully appreciate the flavor of these sweet, aromatic lotus blossoms infused in our Lotus Flower tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
My first experience with Lotus from The Persimmon Tree was almost a year ago from a sample The Persimmon Tree sent me. I am so glad that they did because this is not a tea I would have selected for myself. The main reason is because I detest anise. Actually had I remembered that Anise was in this tea I may not have even tried the sample, but one day I grabbed the first thing from my sample drawer and steeped this up, without reading the description. I am glad that I did! It was a happy mistake. The anise in this tea comes over more as a black pepper taste on my palate, but it is like a flowery black pepper! Then at the end of the sip this lovely creamy vanilla note comes creeping over, leaving behind a lovely floral after taste. As I sat there enjoying the floral note, the pepper creeps back in! This tea makes you do a double, no, triple, then a quadruple take!
The green base is perfectly lovely. The leaf in dry form looks a lot like an oolong, but in the flavor you get that fresh green taste. Yet there is a slight mineral note like a Wuyi oolong.
This tea is spectacular, completely different from any tea I have experience before including other lotus teas. I have noticed the reviews on Steepster.com and it appears that this is a love it or hate it tea. I really suggest getting at least a sample size to try for yourself. I know how much I despise anise, yet this tea is so yummy. Every time I get ready to prepare it I brace myself to dislike it, just because I know how much I dislike anise, yet every time I sip it I sit back and smile thinking how good it is.
Get a sample for yourself when you make your next order with The Persimmon Tree! Samples only cost 1.25 each even on their most expensive and rare teas such as Jasmine Ancient Beauty which you can find here.
Also you can check out their blog here, which is updated regularly with some really valuable tea information and amazing photos!
Jasmine Ancient Beauty from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
Our Jasmine Ancient Beauty tea features fragrant jasmine blossoms permeated with pure hand-harvested oolong loose-leaf tea, giving an amber peach color with a fresh aromatic bouquet and sweet refreshing taste.
This beautiful oolong jasmine tea comes from thousand year-old trees on the Jing Mai Mountain in China. The protected forest reserve is enshrouded in mist and located approximately 5,000 feet above sea level. The best buds and leaves are hand plucked by scaling the tall trees and then oxidized using a traditional oxidation process to reach a specific maturation point. They are then crafted with traditional scenting techniques using whole jasmine blossoms. Drink the Jasmine Ancient Beauty Tea and experience a real one-of-a-kind treat.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Jasmine Ancient Beauty from The Persimmon Tree is a cup that is full of flavors. It is by no means your typical oolong!
As a lover of oolong teas I can see how some people could be disappointed in this tea if they go into with expectations of it tasting like any other oolong they have ever had before.
Or if you are one who loves jasmine teas, I could see some disappointment there as well as this is not your typical jasmine tea either.
What this tea IS however is a tea with some amazing depth to it. The flavors are heady, hearty, and full, yet there are these berry like notes that give the cup a lightness that is just so cheery.
This is not robust like a morning black tea, yet there is an earthiness to the tea that makes it very full, almost thick.
Honestly, if no one told me, or I had not read the label before hand, I would have thought this to be a puerh. The leaves do come from a tree that is over a thousand years old according to The Persimmon Tree’s description and I believe it as this tea does have an aged flavor to it for sure.
Other notes I pick up on aside from honey, berry, jasmine, and oolong, are mushroom, earth, woods, brown sugar, toasted oat bread, to name a few. You really need to discover this tea for yourself.
The other thing I love about this tea, other than the wonderful flavor, is the look and feel of the leaves. They are quite stunning!
I really respect a company that gives back. You can read more about The Persimmon Tree and how it is working toward bettering our earth here.
Bao Zhong from The Persimmon Tree
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pouchong, Oolong
Where to Buy: The Persimmon Tree
Tea Description:
The Bao Zhong tea’s hand-picked, long, twisted pouchong tea leaves are slightly oxidized, brewing a fresh, jade-colored infusion with delicate notes of lilac and pear.
IngredientsOrganic Oolong Loose-Leaf Tea, Bao Zhong Tea, Pouchong Tea
CharacteristicsRefreshing, Organic, Unblended
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love a good pouchong and Bao Zhong from The Persimmon Tree fits this craving I am having! Its even better because it is organic!
The Persimmon Tree is dedicated to providing fair trade, organic, loose leaf teas. See more information about that here.
When I was young we had white lilac bushes growing between my home and my neighbor’s home. They were so beautiful and oh so fragrant. This tea takes me back to those years.
The floral after taste is lovely, light, and lingering. It makes me feel as though I have a vase full of flowers right next to me. The pear note is really quite light and I am not sure that I detect it as well as I could but it does have a very naturally sweet note with the littlest bit of a tang from the pear note.
What I love is that there is nothing like a good pouchong. It has such a wonderfully distinct flavor and aroma. Its something between coconut, vanilla, and floral scent that just captivates me, pulls me in, and won’t let me go, leaving me craving it for days after days until finally it allows my mind to release it long enough so that I can go back to other teas and rediscover this again, at a later time, each time fully being enraptured just as I was the last time I sipped it. Every time I have this pouchong its like a totally new experience all over again.