Rift

Tea Information:

Leaf Type: Green

Tea Description:

A rare and wonderful orthodox green tea from Kenya… Now aged 111 Arthur Njuguna Komo planted his tea estate over fifty years ago on naturally fertile soils at an altitude of 6700 ft in Gatundu District, amongst the foothills of Mount Kenya, alongside the Rundu and Mukengeria rivers. Whilst continuing to play an active role in ensuring the quality of his tea and furthering the enlightened approach to employment which he pioneered, it is now run by his grandaughter, Joy. This orthodox, large leaf green tea is loosely rolled and has a sweet and fruity aroma of peaches, nectarines and mangos. In the cup the greeny gold infusion is mellow, complex and full flavoured. Brew for thirty seconds with freshly boiled water that is a minute off the boil. Up to five infusions can be made with the leaf. Truly delicious.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Oh, I’m really enjoying this!

It isn’t often that I come across a pure green tea (that is, an unflavored/unblended green tea) that possesses more fruit notes than it does vegetative notes. Usually, when I taste a green tea, I’m expecting a vegetative tone, be it a grassy note or something that tastes more of steamed or fresh leafy vegetables … sometimes, I am surprised to taste a mild bean note or something. But, usually, I expect something that could be characterized as “vegetal.”

But, this tastes more of fruit than of vegetative. Oh sure, there are some vegetative notes in the distance. But they are way off, and only really obvious when I am really focused on finding them. The more prevalent flavors here are that of nectarine and of mango, believe it or not. No, go ahead and check the description above again … this is not a tea that’s been altered with fruit flavoring. This is a green tea – pure and true – from the Gatundu District in Kenya.

The texture is somewhat brothy – smooth and rich! And as the tea cools, more of the vegetal notes become more apparent, but, those beautifully juicy and sweet fruit notes remain.

This tea is special – I’d recommend this to everyone!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Green Tea, Grey's Teas