Tea's Tea Bergamot and Orange

The cherry blossom season is in full swing as I write this, and possibly swinging toward its end by the time this gets published. My husband and I paid a visit to Shinjuku Gyoen (Park) early in the season to see what was up with the blossoms there. During that trip, we both got incredibly hungry and I opted to buy their "sakura sembei" and to wash it down with an expensive bottle of Tea's Tea from a vending machine.

The sakura sembei was pretty interesting in that it had some intensive soy sauce flavoring coated with a sweet frosted shell. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't pay 150 yen ($1.76) for a single cracker of it again. I've had better sembei and had it cheaper. Still, it looked pretty, and it fit the season.

As for the tea, Tea's Tea seems to be what I buy when I'm out sightseeing in Japan. Readers with a good memory may recall that I picked up a bottle of their milk tea when I climbed Mt. Takao, and I loved it. I was hoping that history would repeat itself, but even the beauty of a well-manicured park and cherry blossoms couldn't influence my opinion of this drink such that I'd see it favorably. This was vile.

The main problem with this was that it tasted like orange Kool-aid with fake bergamot essence. Bergamot is what gives Earl Grey tea its luster, and this in no way reminded me of that particular tea. I'm sure part of the problem was that it was too sweet, but really it was bad because the orange part was just nasty and the "tea" part was almost absent. I drank about 1/3 of the bottle and poured out the rest. That's how bad it was.

Tea's Tea Stick Latte Ginger Chai

Thanks to a trip up a mountain, the Tea's Tea brand has hooked me as a repeat customer. If they could just get everyone to climb a mountain in winter with a vending machine offering their drinks as handy hand warmers, Ito En might sell a lot more tea. Perhaps I should offer that idea to them as a marketing solution. It's a little convoluted, but I've seen worse in Japan like a politically incorrect actor dressed up like a stereotype of a Mexican stutter-stepping his way through a "Don Tacos" commercial.

Given my enjoyment of the soy milk tea I previously reviewed, I jumped at the chance to sample this 4-pack of instant ginger chai tea when I saw it at Seiyu supermarket for 187 yen ($2.24). Most of the chai mixes you see available in Japan are supercharged with sugar, but this was only 34 calories so I figured there was a good chance that it wouldn't be quite such a blood sugar bomb.

Each packet makes a 150 ml. (3/4 cup) serving of tea. This is a relatively small portion, but very much in line with the norm in Japan for individually packaged portions of instant beverages. In a former review of Maxim's Oreo and Mont Blanc lattes, I mentioned that those packets only made 130 ml. of coffee (and at nearly double the calories of this tea). Note that this tea can be mixed either as hot or cold tea, but I only tried it hot.

My main concern with this was that the ginger element might end up overbearing and that the chai aspect masked. Fortunately, though the ginger was strong, it didn't obliterate the chai flavoring but rather competed with it. The blend is potent, but very gratifying. It contained not only good solid elements of ginger and chai, but also the slightly floral notes of good tea. The only criticism a person might have of the entire balance was that it was a bit on the sweeter side, but frankly, I prefer my tea quite sweet.

From an economic viewpoint, this isn't much of a bargain over buying bottled tea since you can generally get a 500 ml. bottle for about 100 yen. From a pure volume perspective, this is about half the tea for almost half the price. That being said, ginger chai isn't sold as a prepared tea so this is the only way to get it. It's also convenient for tossing into a desk and making on the fly at the office when you're in the mood for a flavorful tea blend. It'd be a great thing to distract you from a sugar-craving when you're starting to drag in the early afternoon and crave chocolate.

I loved this, and will definitely get it again, but it may be too sweet for some and/or too intense for others. Unless you are extremely sensitive to either of these, I'd recommend giving this a try.

Ito En Tea's Tea Manhatten Milk Tea

Usually I don't take pictures of my garbage to illustrate a review. Generally, I take a picture of a full bottle of a beverage if it is a transparent container, and a picture of the drink poured into a glass if it is opaque. So, one may ponder why I'm using a picture of an empty bottle this time.

Actually, I'm guessing that if I hadn't mentioned it, very few of my readers would even have noticed that the bottle was empty, but there is a point to be made. Of course, I take the scenic route to any point because otherwise my reviews would be little more than short descriptions about taste, texture and smell, and there's really no fun in that. Let's just start by saying this bottle didn't actually come from anywhere that even resembled Manhatten despite the product's name.

I should mention that I had no intention of purchasing any of the Tea's Tea line of products nor reviewing them. There were two reasons for this decision and neither relates to the quality of Ito En's beverages. The primary reason is that I can make damn fine tea with a teabag, milk, and some sweetener for a fraction of the price and far less waste than buying bottled tea. The secondary reason is that my husband told me that Tea's Tea is a brand that is sold back home and I try not to knowingly review products that are essentially sold in the same form in the U.S.

It turned out that this type of milk tea, which is made with a combination of cow's milk and soy milk and is calorie-reduced, isn't marketed back home. However, that wasn't enough to get me to try it. The thing that convinced me to try it was the fact that you can't brew a cup of tea while you climb a mountain, and hot tea from a vending machine (which you can find on mountains in Japan, of course) makes a great hand warmer on a chilly day.

On December 28, my husband and I climbed Mt. Takao (aka, the mountain for sissies who can't climb) and that is where I secured this 275 ml. bottle (9.3 oz.) for the inflated price of 150 yen ($1.80). Note that the vending machine prices incrementally increase the higher you go up the mountain. They start around 150 yen for 500 ml. bottles at the bottom then climb to 170 ($2.03) then finally are 200 yen ($2.40) at the top. This makes no sense at all because it's not like a sherpa is hauling cases of drinks up the mountain and charges more to go all the way to the top. The same trucks are hauling them to each progressive spot. I know because they kept driving past us while we struggled up the steepest path to the top of the mountain.

The vending machine I got this from was about 2/3 of the way to the top and near an area studded with shrines. It could also be called "the part where you stop climbing super steep inclines and start climbing about 1000 steps to get to the top". This caught my eye mainly because it has a big "zero" on the front and that generally means no sugar. Indeed, this is made with the sweeteners Sucralose and Acesulfame K. The entire bottle is 49.5 calories, but that comes entirely from the milk and soy milk.

In addition to being pleasantly warm on chilly hands, this is also very tasty tea. It is well-balanced in terms of its sweeteness and milkiness with pleasantly floral tasting black tea. In fact, I was so impressed that I have considered buying it again despite my cheapness and desire not to drink PET bottles of beverages that can be made at home. This is damn fine tea, especially if you're stupid enough to pick the hardest trail the first time you climb a mountain at 46 years of age with a bum knee and want something hot, slightly creamy, and rich in quality tea flavors. And, yes, this was the very bottle I brought back down the mountain. I hung onto it for a few weeks just for this review. ;-)