Monday, December 5, 2011

Bamboo Leaf Tea

Last month I purchased one ounce of Organic Bamboo Leaf Tea from Bamboo Leaf Tea in Florida. This company, which produces the product completely by hand, makes the following statements about the health benefits of drinking Bamboo leaf tea:

1. Bamboo shoots and tea are high in antioxidants as well as other vitamins and minerals that help maintain a healthy lifestyle.
2. Bamboo Leaf Tea quickly rehydrates the body making it a great after workout drink.
3. The tea aids digestion and may help in detoxifying the body. Because of these properties it is widely used in Asia as a tea for weight loss.

I find this interesting even though real tea and some other herbal beverages also have these same benefits. The producers also promote the content of silica and a tiny amount of fiber in each cup. Bamboo leaves do not contain caffeine which makes it a nice late evening sipper for me. For any readers interested in learning more about bamboo's use as a medicine please check out this great link that was recently shared with me by my acupuncturist friend Seth P. http://www.itmonline.org/arts/bamboo.htm.

The real reason I purchased these leaves is because I wanted to know what they would taste like. So here is my review:

It looks like dried grass and has a sweet, nutty, grassy aroma.



I've found that it's very hard to oversteep these leaves. A five minute, boiling hot, one quarter full gaiwan will pour a pale moon yellow and have a clean, bright aroma.



"Grassy in a good way" is probably the best way I can describe it. It reminds me a lot of Japanese Bancha green tea. It has light to medium body and brothiness depending on how long you steep it. The subtle nutty notes are more present in the aroma than in the mouth. I enjoy the flavor of Bamboo leaf tea.

It can be steeped twice to good effect but three times is "pushing it too far" in my experience.


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi,Konnichiwa,Brett.
In the mountain,after I cut leaves of low bamboo bushes/熊笹,I
roasted lightly and the leaves boiled in the kettle.
The taste is little sweet.

Steph said...

I've never tasted this, so I will have to try it out!

Alex Zorach said...

This looks intriguing; I had heard of bamboo leaf tea but never read in-depth about someone's experience with it before reading this post of yours, so thanks!

I'd be skeptical of these health claims. A red flag for me was the phrase "may help in detoxifying the body". From what I know of science and medicine and the body, "detox" is a rather bogus concept that is used primarily as a marketing fad. Maybe I can write more about this soon.

Ms. Ainee C. Beland said...

I purchased the Lemongrass bamboo wellness blend and they sent me some other tea bag samples as well. A nice touch. I like this tea right away; although I have had it sitting here still unpack and today decided to open some packages from last year. I find this tea to be refreshingly light and the aroma is mildly of grass with no after taste. I feel a slight tingle when drinking this tea. And the color is lightest brown with a yellow base and as I leave the tea bag in the tea longer than the coloring is like honey. I did notice someone making a mentioning of sencha in that it is similar and I can see this as well. I think those who have tasted bamboo tea is happy with their finding. I would purchase this tea again and keep stock of it.
Thank you everyone in tea community; happy tea as there is nothing as precious as to have a cup of very hot tea alone or other wise.