Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Ito-en Oolong-cha(Oolong Tea Drink)

About
Ito-en's Oolong Tea was first born in 1980, and sold soon after in March 1981 as a canned Oolong Tea drink. It was claimed by Ito-en to be the world's first Oolong tea drink. In 1986, the PET bottle version of the drink was sold, also a world first.

Taste
The taste is surprisingly good and makes for a good refreshment.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Jurokucha - Taste & Review


About
Jurokucha is a tea blend that was originally developed by Chanson Cosmetics in 1985 and was sold Japanese brewer and soft drinks company, Asahi as a bottled beverage in 1993. According to Chanson Cosmetics, the idea of Jurokucha is based on the philosophy of Kampo(Traditional Chinese medicine in Japan) and is marketed as a healthy drink.
In Japanese, "Juuroku" literally means "16" while "cha" means, "tea". The naming derives from the fact that the drink is brewed using 16 ingredients. The blend of ingredients change from time to time, and the ingredients inside the newest version(2015) are as follows:
Job's tears(hato mugi)
Barley
Habu
Brown rice
Germinated barley
Loquat leaves(biwa leaves)
Corn
Black Soybeans(Kuromame)
Chamecrista nomame
Germinated Brown Rice
Kelp
Shiitake mushrooms
Guava leaves
Mulberry leaves
Jujube
Young balrley leaves

Coca Cola Japan's "Sokenbicha", a blended tea drink similar to Jurokucha, was released following the success of Jurokucha.

Taste
The taste of the drink is much like barley tea but the added ingredients give the drink a distinct and sophisticated flavor. It is non-caffeinated and makes for a good drink on hot summers.

Reference
http://www.chanson.co.jp/product/16/16cha.html

Saturday, June 27, 2015

KIRIN World Kitchen - Harecha

About
Kirin Harecha is an unsweetened tea drink sold by KIRIN under their "World Kitchen" brand. Inside Harecha are four herbs, lemongrass, mint, rosemary, and geranium, mixed with green tea.
On the label is a passage about how housewives in Greece include lots of herbs inside their cooking. This is supposedly where the inspiration of this drink came from.

Taste
The taste is slightly bitter and you can definitely taste the herbs that are inside the drink. I could clearly taste the mint and rosemary, while the lemongrass was quite subtle. I could not distinguish the taste of geranium since I do not know what it tastes like.
Although very unique as it is unsweet, the taste wasn't unexpected at all. It tastes like what you would expect an herbal green tea to taste like.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Teas' Tea Bergamot & Orange Tea

Teas' Tea is a brand of tea drinks sold by Ito-en, a Japanese company specializing in tea and soft drinks.
This is "Teas' Tea Bergamot & Orange Tea" and contains both bergamot orange and plain orange juice. It also claims to contain orange flower, to give it an accent. The drink is also 90% decaffeinated.

Taste
The drink is considerably sweet and the taste is basically tea with orange juice and sugar mixed in. You can also taste the bergamot orange in there but only slightly. Despite the tea-like appearance of the liquid, I would say the drink is not "tea" but more like orange juice with a little tea flavor added in.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Gogo No Koucha(午後の紅茶) Straight Tea

Gogo No Koucha, which literally means "Tea in the Afternoon", is a line of tea drinks sold by KIRIN in Japan, mainland China, and Taiwan.
The "Straight Tea(ストレートティー)" is one of their main products in their lineup and has been sold in Japan since 1984, the year Gogo No Koucha was first introduced into the market.

Ingredients & Taste
Gogo No Koucha Straight Tea uses 100% Ceylon tea leaves from the Dimbula region in Sri Lanka. It also contains a hefty amount of sugar so it's quite sweet. KIRIN claims that the Dimbula tea has a rose-like flavor, and I must admit, the product actually does have flowery and rose-like taste.
Overall, it's a well-made drink, and the flowery taste goes well with the sweetness from the sugars. For those who don't like sweetened tea, there is also Gogo No Koucha Oishi Mutou, which is unsweetened.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Iyemon Green ESPRESSO(伊右衛門グリーン・エスプレッソ)

 When I first saw this product in a convenience store, I thought, "Green tea and espresso!?!? disgusting!". Out of curiosity, I bought it, expecting to have a can of green tea mixed with espresso coffee. However, upon looking at the ingredients, I found out that there was no coffee at all in this. What I found was some very nice green tea.

Description:
This product is marketed by the Suntory company which is based in Japan. On the label it says"伊右衛門"(pronounced Iyemon) which is a brand of teas by Suntory. According to Wikipedia Japan, Iyemon was the name of the founder of an old(traditional) tea company that dates back to 1790. Also on the label it says in English, ""Green ESPRESSO, A New Experience in Tea" Made to comfort, with its rich aroma and pleasant aftertaste." hmmm that sounds nice, by the way, why is espresso capitalized?? The only reason I can think of is that they wanted to emphasize that the tea is as strong as espresso...idk.
On the cap, it says, "Shake 5 times before opening"(in Japanese). They probably tell you to do this because there's some tea powder settled at the bottom of the can.

Taste:
The taste of this is that of freshly brewed green tea. I cannot believe that they we're able to recreate this taste in a compact can(that is shaped like a bottle). Phenomenal.
The aroma of this is very nice too. The one thing that's probably not good about this product is the color(non-transparent green).....but who cares? It tastes great.