Name: Organic Green Tea with Citrus and Ginkgo

Brand: Harney & Sons

Type: Green tea, Chinese

Form: Silken pyramid tea bags, also available in paper tea bags, as a loose leaf tea, and in large “brew bags” for iced tea.

Review: Organic tea lovers unite! Harney & Sons is working hard, it seems, to source more and more USDA certified organic teas. Their organic line includes traditional Keemun and Assam blacks, as well as several flavored green and black flavored teas, including Earl Grey, mint flavored green tea, and a range of organic teas specially packaged for making iced tea.

Harney & Sons Organic Green Tea with Citrus and Ginkgo makes an excellent, and elegant, “summer” green tea. The dry leaf smells, not unexpectedly, of citrus, and infuses to a pale green liquor. Once infused, the crisp citrus dominates the light bodied tea, though without tasting fake or overly sweet. The ginkgo is less obvious, though I can detect a bit of its sweetness in the finish, and suspect that it gives the tea some structure. There is a refined quality to this tea that I like very much, and suspect that it may go well with summery foods such as hummus and pita or cucumber sandwiches.

Please resist the urge to sweeten this tea: While it may not taste particularly sweet at first sip, its sweetness emerges in the finish. If it really isn’t sweet enough for you, and you are drinking it as a hot tea, let it cool for a few minutes. The cooler this tea gets, the sweeter it tastes.

Preparation Tips: Keep the water temperature down to about 170F, and don’t infuse this tea for a very long time (a minute worked well for me). Excellent as an iced tea: Again, keep the steep time short, and just double up on the tea bags, tea leave,  or use the special iced tea “brew bags”.

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