Two Leaves Tea Company, Organic Orange Sencha

Two Leaves Tea Company Description:
We take these big green tea leaves and blend them delicately with Italian red orange flavor for a memorable yet not overpowering citrus flavor. It'll perk up your tastebuds and your mind.

Price: $7.95 for 15 sachets. Steep twice for $0.26 per cup.

Two Leaves Tea Company as part of their Complete Sampler pack provided this tea.

My Review:

I have never seen an orange Sencha before. I tore open the clear outer wrap and caught the first hints of orange. The scent was really nice at first, but quickly seemed overly soapy. Knowing that dry scent often does not translate into the brew I continued on. The water was at a light boil and the steep was around 4 minutes. The instructions are on the outer wrap, but I found them to be a little difficult to see as they are printed very faintly in green. The brew started light green and turned amber as the steep time ended.

As I suspected, the orange flavor is subdued in the sip. This is a light, balanced, cup. It starts kind of earthy, which is a bit of a non-descript term but I can’t think of a better way to say it. Then I notice the orange that gently slides into the grassy textures of the Sencha green tea aftertaste. It is slightly astringent but not bitter. The delicate nature of the cup has almost a milky quality about it.

I appreciate the orange being restrained as it is not a flavor, on its own, that I find appealing in tea. Blended with other citrus flavors, I would want it bolder. Here, it is the perfect intensity for me. The Sencha, to my tastes though, is too light. A couple years ago I would have disagreed, as I did not ‘get’ Sencha. Just read my trashing of Stash Green Tea to see what I mean. Although I posted the review on this blog just last year, it was actually taken from notes originally written a couple years earlier. Today, I want my Sencha to stand up and be noticed.

This is a perfectly acceptable cup of tea. There is nothing really wrong with it, except it does not appeal to my tastes. Maybe I would feel differently had I sampled this tea on a bright sunny afternoon. With its low caffeine and light body, this doesn’t work for me on a dark dreary rain-soaked December morning. I will add, once the cup reached room temperature, I did find this tea to be more to my liking.

Visit Two Leaves at http://www.twoleavestea.com/