Saturday, July 26, 2008

POKKA Oolong

No shit, the single best canned or bottled RTD tea I've ever had. Dr. Weil can go back to his day job. I found it at Whole Foods yesterday, and bought one with low expectations, expecting something greenish, astringent, and unremarkable.

Nuh-uh.

Yancha. Perfectly balanced yancha. Not too mild or watery and without the astringent bite that many unsweetened RTD's possess. I'd place it on par with Rishi's Wuyi Oolong. Not a lot of depth or nuance, but a very good, classic example. Great Flavor. It's Wuyi cha better than I could brew it.

No sugar, preservatives, calories, or coloring. Thanks Pokka!

16 comments:

Brandon said...

Holy hell, I need some.
I have only tried icing down yancha twice, it didn't turn out. I could use a reference point.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to order this tea for my store. This will be an easy way for me to have tea for people to drink. (Its hot here in New Mexico till november!) Thanks for the suggestion.

Mary R said...

Dang, really? I'll have to keep my eye out for it. It looks like the just have 3 variation--green, oolong, and peppermint, right? Meh, one home run is worth a thousand strike outs.

Anonymous said...

No way?!?! I think I've tried it, and it just tasted roasty, and not much more.

Maybe your Wuyi yancha brewing method needs some hauling? :p

Space Samurai said...

Phyll, I have zero doubt that my brewing skills are no match for your yancha kung fu.

Or perhaps with all the RTD's I've tried, my standards are low and I'm easy to impress.

This tea had none of the more obvious drawbacks of pre made tea (too astringent, too weak, too much sugar, funky after tastes), and it actually taste like something discernable. So it gets five stars in my book.

Anonymous said...

"Phyll, I have zero doubt that my brewing skills are no match for your yancha kung fu."

Ouch...don't be like that :) I didn't mean to be condescending with my remarks, not at all. It's a hit and miss with me, too, when brewing yancha.

It's just that I had this Pokka Oolong a few weeks ago (served in a glass full of ice) at a Japanese ramen restaurant, and to me its taste was just roasty. Nothing else. So it's hard to imagine that it's better than most loose yancha, even the regular and less expensive kind.

Space Samurai said...

Phyl, I wasn't upset, no worries. I am serious though, I think you are more experienced and khowledgeable with than I am. You and I have never interacted much, from what I have seen of your blog, I have no doubt this is true.

And sure, perhaps I lavashed more praise than this tea deserved simply because it didn't suck. Next time I am at Whole Foods, I'll try it again and see if I like it as much.

POKKA, you're on notice :(

Anonymous said...

I'll keep my eyes open for it.

vijai said...

i like your cup of tea.

---------
vijai

sreevysh

toastedtoads said...

Have you tried Ito En's Golden Oolong iced tea? I think it's pretty good. And again I was expecting light, bitter & sweetened and instead got smooth, slightly roasted...like iced Da Hong Pao.

I'll keep my eyes open for a POKKA though.

Anonymous said...

This is the best. I bought it Whole foods Thursday just to try something different. Tastes great.

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Tintin said...

I agree this is the best canned/bottled Oolong outside of Japan :) Mmmm... I'm craving for some now.

Mary said...

Alex,

I'm trying to find this tea in Boston. I called Whole Foods in Brighton, and they said they don't have it. (In fact, both they and Trader Joe's have no oolong tea.)

Could you please let me know at which Whole Foods you found the Pokka?

Many thanks! Mary

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this Oolong tea is so refreshing. It's a real shame that it haves an abusive price. So I prefer to drink water instead

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