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As I think I’ve mentioned on here before, I don’t like my green tea flavored…I like it straight, strong, earthy, and in its natural unflavored form. The exception for me has always been Tazo’s Zen tea, which has a hint of spearmint and tastes almost as good as plain ol’ green tea. For the most part though, adding flavor to green tea makes it taste almost medicinal, which is just wrong.
Today, however, I met one other delicious exception to my rule: Canton Green Tea by Harney & Sons. I was in a Barnes & Noble Starbucks, and as usual, I ordered a tall hot green tea. The male barista (is he even called a barista, or is there another masculine form?) replied, “Which kind? We have two.” Instantly, excitement shot through me, immediately followed by caution…what kind of trickery was afoot? Why not my regular green tea? He went on to refer to one option as “citrus-y”, and the other option as “something-something-coconut”. I wasn’t feeling jazzy enough to mix coconuts and various other fruits with my green tea, so I slowly asked, “What was the first option again?” He looked a little scared by my lengthy and somber eye contact (I take my tea seriously, sir) and meekly said, “Canton – it has a citrus taste to it.” I nodded like I was making a VERY serious decision (wasn’t I?) and said, “I’ll take that one”. He looked relieved…no meltdowns from crazy chicks today!
After letting my tea steep for about 5-7 minutes (I’ve burned my tongue on hot tea way too many times to even count), I tasted this new unknown tea…and discovered that it was positively delicious. Delicious. The citrus flavor wasn’t overwhelming, just sort of there. It tasted clean and crisp and goooood. The Harney website says that the tea is infused with “orange oil” and “sprinkled with marigold petals”. Oh, heck yes.
This is one seriously good tea. If I gave starred reviews (which I don’t, because really, how pretentious is that?), but IF I did, this would definitely be a five-star tea. As it is, I’ll stick with two thumbs up…or a really big appreciative smile. Thanks, Harney & Sons!
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