Kukicha

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!

I have been drinking tea for almost 30 years and once upon a time worked at a tea shop with 200+ loose leaf selections. This is exactly what I wanted and hoped it would be. Grassy and earthy to get my day started. Would highly recommend.

Gyokuro is my go-to every morning. After trying a sample of Kukicha, I fell on love with the similar, but milder flavor. I add a teaspoon of this to my leftover Gyokuro leaves in the afternoon for a delicious second steep with less caffeine. They complement each other nicely.