Kukicha

I suppose it depends on what your style of perfect tea might be, right? Mine is Dragonwell followed by milk oolong, both of which I regularly purchase online at The Whistling Kettle (little shout out there). I like to mix in a variety of green teas and an occasional black. This is a smooth tea with an earthy taste. I'd give it a B rating as it's worth mixing in once in a while when you get tired of your favorite tea, whatever that might be.

A Mild, pleasant and refreshing Japanese green tea. TWK's Kukicha is gentle and smooth. an exceptional example of its kind. Utterly delicious and divine. 5/5, A+ Japanese tea!

Grassy and earthy, with sweet undertones like a flower garden in spring. Light, but the earthy flavors just meld into your cup and you feel like you are sitting in a garden enjoying the morning sun.

This is my favorite green style tea. It has a delicate, but rich flavor in the mouth and a very slight sweet after taste. This brand seems to have a sort of perfume whiff about it that I wasn't expecting, but still it's a delicious tea.

My previous regular supplier of Kukicha/Kuki cha ran out of stock early this year, and it's one of my favorite teas! So I went searching high and low for other providers who have an organic version. I honestly didn't expect Whistling Kettle to be one of the best, but in head to head testing of 4 brands, I found it to be really excellent and probably my top choice of what's available now.

This is a rich and "brothy" tea, with a fair amount of vegetal notes, but also a "toasted" flavor that comes from the tea twigs that are included. I find it to be one of the most enjoyable green teas, incorporating nice elements from several others, and in a good balance. You get some grassy and umami flavors typical of senchas, roasty notes reminiscent perhaps of dragonwell or even genmaicha a bit, as well as some unique and hard to describe components. Bitterness is comparatively low as well.

This will not be the tea for everyone, it's not as "bright" and crisp as some may like, or as deeply green and tasting of spring time, etc. This to me is more of a comforting and mellow flavor. And I love it. Whistling Kettle's version is very good and I'm happy to recommend it!