Pearl Tea’s Sencha Review

Type: Green
Origin: Japan
Price: Free Sample (regular price - $22.50 for 3oz.)
Vendor: Pearl Teas
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 167°F-185°F, steeped for 0.5 - 2 minutes
Overall Score: 4.8 out of 5

Sencha is a Japanese green tea. The dry leaves smell fresh and clean. They have a very nice sweet, grassy aroma. The leaves are small, skinny, and tightly rolled bits with light and dark green colors mixed throughout.

The aroma while the leaves are steeping is subtle and vegetal. It has a fresh scent, kind of like fresh cut grass. The liquor is a pretty yellowish-green color.





The taste is mellow, vegetal, and clean. It leaves the sweet, grassy aftertaste. I would not say that his tea is bitter, but it has a tiny bit of astringency that I noticed after about the 3rd sip. However, the pleasantly mild grassy taste is enough for me to keep drinking.

Ah, I love Sencha. It is kind of the “every day” green tea as far as comparing price to flavor. The flavor is always mild enough to enjoy, but not too subtle either. The astringency is low for being a green tea. Plus, the sweet, clean taste is almost indescribable.

Pearl Tea’s Earl Grey de la Crème Review

Type: Black
Origin: Not Specified
Price: Sample (regular price - $12.50 for 3oz.)
Vendor: Pearl Teas
Brewing Method: Per Instructed - 1 teaspoon of leaves, 1 cup of filtered water, heated to 200°F-203°F, steeped for 0.5 - 3 minutes
Overall Score: 4.0 out of 5

Earl Grey de la Crème is black tea blended with oil of Bergamot and vanilla. As soon as I opened the package I would smell the bergamot oil and vanilla. The aroma of those two ingredients was quite pungent. The black leaves are tiny, twisted, and dark in color. There seem to be some type of blue flower petals thrown into the blend. I think their only purpose is to add color to the normally dark mix of black tea leaves and not necessarily flavor.

The aroma while the leaves are steeping is filled with the citrusy bergamot. I can’t smell much of the vanilla at this point. The liquor is a dark orange color. The color of this tea is a similar color of some of the leaves outside at the moment.





The tea tastes like a typical Earl Grey except with a hint of creaminess at the end. With the bergamot and vanilla flavors, this brew is super sweet. The bergamot flavor is present but not overpowering like some Earl Grey’s I have had. I think the vanilla helps cut into that citrus-like flavor and mellows the tea out to make a sweet and creamy overall flavor.

I can’t taste the black tea side of things – it is pretty much all about the bergamot and vanilla. Because of that, there is no bitterness or astringency to this cup. Pearl Tea’s says to add cream or honey to this brew if you want… but I think that would be an overkill of sweetness. It definitely has a “dessert” kind of taste without any sweetener.