Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Bancha, Green
Where to Buy: Harney and Sons
Tea Description:
Japan’s capital is the inspiration of this tea. Green Bancha is blended with toasted sesame seeds and caramel flavors. The delightful flavor is reminiscent of some of Tokyo’s best desserts.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I really enjoy this tea although I find it interesting that many I have shared it with and myself can’t quite seem to figure out if we all agree on its flavor. It states that it is a toasted sesame/caramel flavored tea, and I do detect both flavors. The sesame however is very light and difficult to detect. The caramel is more present to me, although others have said they can not detect it at all. What most of us agree on however, is a fruity flavor! I can only determine that somehow, this wonderful Bancha, along with the mixture of caramel and toasted sesame somehow create this wonderful fruity flavor simply by being blended together!
Regardless of wether the flavor that is the overall outcome is true to the ingredients or not, what we do have here is a tea everyone seems to agree tastes wonderful! Even though we do not all tend to agree on the flavors we pick out from the blend, everyone seems to enjoy it quite much!
I absolutely love the Bancha base tea in this blend, its a good quality that comes through marvelously! The caramel is natural tasting and not over done, and the sesame could be a bit stronger because I adore sesame! Keep in mind however when I prepare asian food my plate is so covered in sesame you can’t see any of the food underneath it! So with that said I am sure this tastes like sesame just fine, it is my personal issue that I desire so much of it!
What matters in the end however is if a tea blends into something we want to sip again and again, and this for me does! I even pick up those fruity notes in the aroma of the tea!
I think what it comes down to is simply my own lack of understanding what “some of Tokyo’s best desserts” taste like, as I have never been to Tokyo, and living in the midwest, specifically Kansas, does not really afford me some of the best Asian dining experiences! So we will chalk my confusion over this tea up to ignorance, however in this case, ignorance is bliss, as I am blissfully enjoying this Tokyo tea from Harney and Sons!
