Russian Host Estate Green Tea

The dry tea leaves look like long thin twigs, mixed with larger leaves. They smell very vegetable, mixed with peas. The brewed tea tastes refreshing, with just a hint of sweetness. Overall a very nice green tea.

The dry leaf is long and twiggy, but somewhat broader across. Some of the dry leaf is so brightly green and wide that it makes me think of a white tea, actually. This is some pretty aesthetically pleasing leaf!

When I first opened the packet of tea, I was greeted by an intensely vegetal aroma that reminded me of Chinese tea. It was buttery and beany, but underneath there was a surprising undertone of sweetness.

I brewed it for 80°C for 2 minutes, as recommended on the package, and that resulted in a tea that was a pale straw green colour. The smell of the brewed tea was pretty similar to the taste of the dry leaf: vegetal, nutty, and buttery, like a dragonwell tea.

This held up upon the first sip, too, but that sweet undertone made comeback — underneath the vegetables and the butter, I sensed an intensely sweet note that, rather than being fruity, reminded me of the neutral, inert sort of sweetness that you get from syrup or icing sugar. Weird!

Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2016/05/russia-host-tea-estate-what-cha/

This brews up as a very light liquid. This certainly is a grassy tea but in a tasty way.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDs6RE2Jng6LTAYtOtcexkGxRVQv6lnH9jbfBI0/?taken-by=kkpeltzer

Tasty and savory, but also sweet. I enjoyed drinking this one. I actually preferred the second steep. Normally I enjoy resteeping for cost effectiveness, but I still prefer the flavor of the first steep. I think I like greens a bit more mellowed out.

Sip down on this one today. I brewed in a mug but have had this one gongfu before and it’s better gongfu. That’s because it’s such a light green tea. Very sweet with a green bean taste. It would probably be good grandpa style too.

Anyway, this was a great sample from What-cha. I wasn’t too keen on the roasted oolong and black tea samples. That’s only because I prefer the green, white , & light oolong teas over them. I have found I have way too many black tea samples to sip down which sit there for a long long time. I’ve been trying to brew some up for my husband to use them up.

Sweet and grassy as described. Definitely has a sea mist air thing going on, but not nearly as sweet as a Sencha. Super green, super vegetal. Like green peas and grass. Enjoyable and one of the green ones that I like more. I just prefer the black Russian. For any green tea lover really-it has some of the better notes of one.