Vahdam Himalayan Green Tea Review

I brewed a generous helping of the green tea leaves for 3 minutes at about 80° C (the recommendation was 90-100 but I was wary of bitterness and decided to be cautious with the heat). By the time the tea was ready and I strained out the tea leaves, their pleasant aroma was filling my kitchen.

The prepared tea was a pale yellow in color and appropriately clear– not at all cloudy. A sign of good quality!

I'd never thought before of green tea as an autumny drink. I would normally associate spiced black teas with the harvest season, but when I put that steamy cup of green tea to my lips and took a sip it reminded me of fresh hay and gentle sunshine on a cool day.

The flavor of this tea was light, not exactly full flavored. My first impression was a very mild almost sweet grassiness, leading into a darker, straw-like flavor with strong artichoke notes and culminating in a balanced bitterness on the back of my palate. I say it was a balanced bitterness, but I am an absolute baby when it comes to bitterness and astringency so for me the very slight bitterness with each swallow was not at all pleasant. Let's just say going with a lower brewing temp was the right decision for me!

I liked the cup, and I enjoyed the soothing flavors of the tea besides that bitterness hitting my tongue. I tried stirring in a bit of honey, hoping it would balance out the sharpness for me, but I wasn't impressed. I personally felt that the honey took away from the warm, grassy green tea flavors, and clashed with the strains of artichoke. That being said, I've never been huge on adding sweetener to tea unless it's a tea that calls for milk or cream as well.

Either cream and sweetener or no sweetener at all!

Speaking of cream (and this is a bit of a ramble, so hear me out) is it looked down upon to add cream to tea? Growing up my sisters and I would play at fancy tea parties and I always thought there was meant to be a cream pitcher at the table. Was that a milk pitcher? I read in a group somewhere that you're never supposed to add cream to tea; only milk, or maybe half and half. Would somebody email me and let me know? I love a pour of cream with my earl grey.

I tried a second steep with the leaves and ended up with about double the bitterness even though it steeped at a very low temperature and for only 2 minutes. I don't recommend multiple steeps with this tea unless you can withstand some serious bitterness. It still gave a great yellow color the second time!