Steaz Raspberry Green Tea Soda

Today Jason and I went to Whole Foods to pick up lunch and dinner. While grabbing my drink of choice other than tea, Poland Spring Raspberry-Lime Sparkling Water, I bumped into a sample table full of Steaz Green Tea Sodas. I was intrigued by the concept, so I decided to give one a try. There were three options to choose from: root beer, raspberry, and orange. Upon careful consideration, I thought raspberry would match well with a green tea flavor, so that is what I opted for. According to a review site of beverages, I think I chose poorly. I could not taste any hint of green tea, but this did not make the beverage any less pleasurable. I did enjoy the drink, despite it taking like cough medicine (think Robitussin). The carbonation added to my enjoyment. And it’s organic.

A description of the sodas offered by Steaz:
One sip of Steaz Green Tea Soda (formerly Steap), and it will be obvious that this revolutionary beverage is going to change the way you feel about soda forever. Each bottle is micro-brewed fresh from the finest Ceylon green tea, grown high in the fog-shrouded, mystical mountains of Sri Lanka. We have miraculously blended the smooth, mellow taste of green tea with the highest quality organic sugar on Earth — the result is tantalizing.

Sencha

Lunch tea on 4.11.08:

sencha from Dado Tea (50 Church Street, Cambridge)

Not much to add on this tea. I have had it iced several times before trying it for the second time hot yesterday. It comes as part of Dado’s lunch special, or you can choose a black tea or coffee. I might start branching out into the world of black tea insofar as I have pretty much exhausted the selections of green tea at Tealuxe.

Traditional Gyokuro

Lunch tea on 4.10.08:

traditional gyokuro from Tealuxe (0 Brattle Street, Cambridge)

Description from Tealuxe:
A must try for green tea enthusiasts. Literally translated “Jewel Dew,” this full body tea offers unparalleled sweetness.

I did not really experience the “unparalleled sweetness” or any sweetness whatsoever. Again I find this to be a vegetal-tasting green tea with little distinctive characteristics from other green teas I have tried. Perhaps there is a subtle difference between the teas I have been blogging about, or perhaps it’s the quality of the tea. I spoke to the tea seller at Tealuxe about the problem I am having with tea leaves not being filtered by my infuser and thus causing me to drink the leaves, which I am not too thrilled about. She suggested I try tea bags for loose tea. I would much rather go a more pure route, such as a better infuser. If you have any gadgets you recommend, please comment here.

Sencha

Lunch tea:

sencha from Peet’s Coffee & Tea

This tea came from tea bags. It was not the strongest sencha I have had, but then again, my experience with this type of tea is one of mildness. The vegetal taste that Peet’s web site touts is not very pronounced.

Fellow tea drinkers, perhaps you can explain to me why other people including tea sellers compare green tea to grass. I personally do not find this to be a favorable review, and I certainly would not use this description to attempt to sell a product that people drink. Am I missing something?

Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy)

Pre-dinner and dinner tea:

Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy) from Dado Tea (50 Church Street, Cambridge)

I didn’t find this tea to be very aromatic. It was certainly hard to make out the flavor from smelling it. The leaves were black and fine, but the flavor was bold and smooth. It had a lasting aftertaste that was a mix of sweet, as in fruity, and nutty. I will definitely try other oolongs after this experience. It left me wanting more.

There was a SNAFU at Tealuxe today. I asked for traditional gyokuro and walked away with genmaicha, which I love, but was really hoping to try something different today for lunch. The worker was apologetic, and I said that no harm was done, but I just wanted to make sure that, being a new tea drinker, I knew the difference between gyokuro and genmaicha. Maybe I came off sounding like a jerk, when in reality, I just wanted to educate myself.