Hampstead Tea, Lime Green

Hampstead description:

The tropical floral zest of lime is a sophisticated compliment to our green tea. This mellow, fresh blend is invigorating and reminiscent of beachside evenings.

Price: $5.19 for 25 bags on Amazon.com or about $0.20 per serving.

My Review:

This is my first Hampstead tea. This is a bagged tea. I want to comment on the bag, or rather the string. There is no staple on the bag. The string is looped and knotted in such a way it holds the bag shut. Maybe I have seen this before and not noticed. More important to me personally, is the fact the string is long enough that pouring the water over the bag does not cause the tag to get sucked in. I hate that. The sealed outer wrap reminds me of a Stash tea envelope.

The dry bag does not have a lot of scent. I steeped this about 2 ½ minutes with steaming water. I could smell the lime and green tea when I removed the bag. It plumped up nicely, Ok here’s the thing. I don’t know how old this is. It was given to me. I tasted this and it tastes like nothing. So back in the water goes the bag.

Another minute steeping brings out the light flavor of what I believe is Sencha green tea. I also catch light notes of the lime. Sadly this bag may be way past its prime. What I am mostly getting is the taste of paper. Based on the way the leaf swelled when brewed and that I can see actual lime zest through the bag, I believe this could have been quite a nice cup.

A fellow Steepster reviewer commented they had a similar experience with this tea. If you have experience with Hampstead tea, I would be interested in hearing what you thought.

Visit Hampstead Tea at http://www.hampsteadtea.com/