The tea of the future: Panda poo?

An Yashi is a man with a very unusual – and somewhat unappetizing – idea. He is a lecturer at Sichuan University in China and has been collecting panda poo to make what will be the world’s strangest and most expensive tea. He has collected over 5.5 tons of panda droppings to turn into tea. The method that he plans to use has not been revealed, but one could assume that the plant-rich droppings will be dried (and hopefully cleaned) before making into any teapots. Yashi has sampled the tea himself, of course, and says that “it has a mature, nutty taste and a very distinctive aroma while it’s brewing.”

As if the fact that it comes from the droppings of an endangered species didn’t make it sound enticing enough, Yashi also believes that the tea could have some amazing health benefits (although I have yet to see any research supporting these theories). Yashi says “Pandas have a very poor digestive system and only absorb about 30 percent of everything they eat. That means their excrement is rich in fibres and nutrients…Just like green tea, bamboo contains an element that can prevent cancer.” Personally I would wager that the 30% of the bamboo that pandas do manage to digest is probably the part containing nutrients. Perhaps Yashi would consider simply using undigested bamboo to make tea if he were only looking for health benefits, but bamboo alone would not warrant the $36,000 per pound potential price tag of the panda poo brew.

Trader Joe’s Mango Black Tea, reviewed

Lately, it seems like green and white teas are chosen to blend with fruits more often than black teas are. Green and white teas can have such a mild flavor that it is easy to bring other flavors out in a blend with them. As a result, I wasn’t sure exactly how much actual mango flavor to expect when I tried Trader Joe’s Mango Black Tea – and was very pleasantly surprised when there was a lot of fruit flavor there!

This tea is made with black tea, natural mango flavor, blackberry leaves, hibiscus and calendula petals. Mangos are a fruit with a very sweet, floral flavor to them and it was a stroke of brilliance to add these extra elements to the tea (rather than just tossing in some dried mango pieces) because they really highlight the floral flavors of the mango. If you’re already familiar with the flavor of hibiscus, you’ll be able to pick it out from the other background flavors, too (although if you aren’t, it will most like just blend in). The tea has a smooth black tea background, but is really bursting with a tropical feel and a distinct mango flavor. I typically drink tea unsweetened, although this is one that I found was even better with a little bit of honey added to it, as that also served to enhance the mango and make the tea “juicier.”

I haven’t tried this tea iced, but I suspect that a pitcher of iced tea with some actual sliced mangoes in it would be a huge hit at a brunch!

Republic of Tea Hot Apple Cider Tea, reviewed

I love hot apple cider on a cold winter night, and I couldn’t resist the chance to try the Republic of Tea Hot Apple Cider Tea. This tea is a limited edition holiday release that hit shelves in the past couple of weeks. The tea is made with typical cider spices, including cinnamon, cloves and ginger, but it also includes several more subtle elements, including rose hips, berry leaves and cardamom. Of course, the most important element of this tea is the apples, and dried apple pieces are the primary flavoring element.

The tea tastes very much like apple cider, although it is much lighter in flavor and much less sweet than straight juice would be. You can actually taste the berry, enriching the apple flavor, and all the other spices blend in nicely. It is good plain and great sweetened, especially if you use honey or a bit of caramel.

Incidentally, the Republic of Tea also puts out a jam using this tea flavor. It’s definitely an interesting use of the tea and, if I pick up a few pounds of apples in the next week or two, I might try working out a batch myself!

Cheonji Dew Tea, reviewed

It’s been too long since I reviewed a tea, but since I’ve been traveling to Seoul, South Korea this week, I’ve had a chance to try a few new ones. This one is Cheonji Dew Tea, which I bought from a shop in Insadong, although I did see it at several other stores. The name of the tea itself, according to the woman at the shop, was Iseul Cha, or Dew Green Tea. The tea is a green tea that comes from one particular mountain area. The tea doesn’t look like leaves. It actually resembles small, soft branches or sheets of bark, each piece of which can be used for several pots.

The “ah-ha!” moment here comes when you first taste the tea. It is very, very sweet – almost like someone has stirred a lot of honey into your tea without changing the consistency of it at all. And all that sweetness is completely natural! It is absolutely delicious and the tea is also caffeine free.

The woman at the shop told me that it’s very popular with children, especially children who don’t normally care much for plain tea.

Trader Joe’s Relax Organic Tea

A good cup of tea can be very soothing – but relaxing? Not for everyone. For some people, the caffeine content of their favorite tea can keep them up for hours. For others, it’s just the fact that they took a break to rest and collect their thoughts that gets the re-energized. Trader Joe’s Relax Organic Tea is a tea that is actually supposed to be relaxing. It contains no caffeine and is made with a blend of herbs designed to calm and help you to unwind. These herbs include fennel seed, licorice, rooibos, anise, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, peppermint and strawberry leaf.

With so much stuff going on inside the triangular tea bags, I expected the flavors of the tea to be a bit overwhelming. Surprisingly, it had a nice medium body and a great, smooth flavor. Plus, it seemed to live up to the promise of its name – at least, it did for me.  The fennel, licorice and peppermint seemed to come through more than the other elements, with the fennel and licorice definitely having a soothing effect, but the mint adds a nice palate-cleansing finish that left me feeling pretty refreshed.