Jasmine Citrus Blossom

I still really like this! Lovely! Tangerine is AWESOME :) See previous notes…just finishing a cup before I call it quits for the day!

Sending the rest of my stash to Hesper June :)

Steepster has been giving me a really hard time tonight. It’s up, it’s down, it’s up, it’s down. Ugh. But it looks like it’s finally working again. After an underwhelming first experience, I decided to give this tea another shot. So, I bought a 2 oz. package from Ovation and here we are!

The dry leaf aroma is very strongly citrus. Have you ever had Airborne, the orange-flavored vitamin C supplement you drop in a glass of water? That’s what this smells like. It’s heavy on the orange and tangerine with something else detectable, but not discernible, underneath. I really hope the jasmine pops through once it’s steeped.

Following the recommended steeping parameters on the package, I brewed this for 4 minutes at 185 degrees. I did use a little more than 2 tsp because of my Green Tea Fruit Smoothie experience. That tea has an intoxicating dry aroma but brews up very subtle tasting. I had a feeling this might act the same. Ah yes, I can tell freshness is paramount with this tea because the brewed aroma is awesome! There’s that jasmine I was missing earlier!

The flavor is, again, mostly citrus. The jasmine comes out in the aftertaste. It seems to me like the jasmine is taking a backseat to the citrus, and I wish it were the other way around. I’ve never ever ever ever had the urge to add sugar to a green tea before. Well, I not only had the urge but I indulged it too! This really needed the extra bit of sweetness. The citrus was just too much for me.

Overall, this was much better than the first time I tried it. I raised the rating from 50 to 59. But it’s still not a favorite for my palate. Of course, you never know till you try! It’s good, but not great.

As I mentioned last night, I hot-brewed a gallon of this tea to put in the fridge for drinking iced today. So delicious. Refreshing. The jasmine is but a whisper of flavor, as is the citrus tones, the flavor is so light and delicious. Sweet. Beautifully floral. The fruit tastes juicy and sweet with just the right tangy note.

Lovely sample from TeaEqualsBliss.
Weirdly, I am getting more of a fresh cut cedar scent and taste.
Which, obviously is quite odd since there in no Cedar in this tea.
But, it really is making me think of a walk through the woods.
When I was a child, the only source of heat we had was a wood stove to keep us warm through the winter.
So, about this time of year we would be out in the woods cutting wood for all those long cold winter days.
This tea smells like those days to me.
Anyway, this tea is not anything like I was expecting but I really like it and the memories that stirred up with it:)

The dry leaves are a lovely combination of texture and color. I love the cute little downy balls contrasting with the more mature straight leaves. There’s strands of some yellow petal (marigold?) and little nuggets of orange rind. And for accent, jasmine buds are scattered about. It’s art, people!
It also smells wonderful, there’s the perfume-y fragrance of jasmine with the more lively spark of citrus, all mingled with the sweet grassy scent of a quality green tea.

The brewed liquor is an amber yellow. The taste is light and smooth but also surprising and pleasantly familiar. At first, the citrus and jasmine green flavors don’t seem to blend well together, but they really do. The flavors go back and forth on the tongue and stays interesting all the way to the bottom of the cup.

I think I probably didn’t use enough leaf, but that will be remedied with the 2nd steep by using less water.