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Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review

Smelling the tea leaves and then liquor, nothing bad jumps out at me. Seems like typical stuff for Keemun.

Taking in the first few sips, I get that pungent malty flavour and something floral, but it’s a mellow flavour. Then I taste “tea” flavour, followed by something nutty and smoky.

Overall I feel that this is a nice Keemun without too many bold flavours. I tend to like it a bit more bold, but I can see this as a nice Keemun to get into. I’ve always enjoyed this type of tea, so it did not have to try hard to impress me. :)

Teavivre has instructions on their website for this prepared gongfu style, and I might try that. However due to the broken leaves (which are typical, not saying it is bad) I think this tea is best suited for long steeps in a teapot (western style).

200ml glass teapot (filled mostly), 1 1/2 teaspoons, 1 steep

This is a follow up to my last tasting note. Today I’m doing multiple short steeps in a gaiwan. These Dan Cong Red Tea leaves are quite long, so I expect them to be great for resteeping.

Tasting the initial steep, there is a strong zesty flavour, along with spice, “tea” flavour. The drinking sensation is kind of like biting into juicy melon, very clean and mouth watering.

The second to fourth steeps were very nice, with a bit of astringency, and stronger tea flavour that reminds me of tamarind candies.

Fifth through the eighth steeps were consistent, with not much of the flavour fading with each resteep.

At the ninth steep I began to taste the original water flavour, but it otherwise retains enough flavour to be enjoyable. I continued resteeping and stopping at the twelfth, it had a hint of flavour but it was becoming too weak.

Now that I’ve tried both methods, I prefer the shorter steeps. It’s a very consistent flavour up until about number eight. My only dislike with this tea, is that it’s very astringent. It makes my mouth feel quite dry, so after this tasting note I’ll be having plenty of water. ;)
This is still my favourite black tea from the Jing Tea Shop samples, but I’m not sure if I would purchase a big bag of it. It’s the sort of tea I’d want to drink on rare occasions as a treat. At the very least I am happy to have tried it once, since I never really see this sort of tea online often. And as a bonus, this is a terrific resteeper just like Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong Golden Tip, which I also got up to 12 steeps with.

100ml gaiwan, 5g (2tsp? I weighed this out on a scale), 12 steeps (30s +15s)

The dry leaf aroma is typical of Keemun, so I expect this to be an enjoyable session. Since this sort of tea always seems to have choppy leaves, I will just prepare it western style.

Sipping from the first steep, I’m hit by mild floral notes, then the tea base and a pungent maltyness (in a good way!). Not very smoky or bitter at all, and the aftertaste is a milder pungent maltyness from before.

My second steep had the same flavour as the first cup. Looking on the website, it mentions a sweetness and apple like characteristic. I can kinda see that, but the pungent maltyness captures my attention.

Not my favourite from the black tea samples, but I do enjoy a good cup of Keemun. This particular one is enjoyable and not disappointing at all. Keemun always has a very distinctive flavour, the sort of thing that you either love or hate. If you’re interested in Keemun but have never tried it before, I’d recommend getting a sample size.

200ml glass teapot (filled mostly), 1 1/2 tsps, 2 steeps

Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review

Scent from the dry leaves reminds me of straw (in a good way). The liquid aroma brings out some melon and cucumber notes.

Onto drinking it, I taste very subtle flavours; melon, cucumber, essence of spring, straw, something sweet, “tea” flavour. It goes down very smooth, the texture is kind of fuzzy and velvety. I’d say this is more comforting than it is refreshing.

The second steep yielded much of the same flavours. My husband liked it, but felt this was too subtle for him.

Overall this is very similar to Bai Mu Dan, but here the leaves are all buds. The buds make for a very smooth tea, with no obvious faults poking your mouth as you drink. I think trying “plain” white tea once (Bai Hao Yin Zhen or Bai Mu Dan) is a good experience. If you’ve only had the flavoured stuff before, the original tea flavour can be lost.
Personally, I enjoy white tea because it’s not too heavy on the flavour and doesn’t become too grassy like some green teas.

Next time I brew this, I’ll try multiple short steeps in the gaiwan. The Teavivre website lists 5-6 steeps, so I will aim to get the same results.

200ml glass teapot (filled to the brim), 1 packet (5g? 2 tsp?), 2 steeps

Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review

This is from my newest batch of samples from Teavivire. I always love getting packages in the mail, except when it’s at 7am. ;) Anyway, I have a yixing pot for oolong, so that’s what I’ll use for this first tasting session.

The shrink wrapped foil package has a picture of a cute bird on a flower. It’s about 5g, so I can see this as being a nice gift by itself. When I cut open the pack, the aroma of flowers hit my nose right away. It wasn’t too much, just enough to captivate me.

Onto brewing and drinking the tea, the floral notes hit my tongue first, followed by notes of mint/menthol, fresh greens (like asparagus?), and pepper. After the last sip, I noticed how refreshing this tea was. Not heavy or too sweet at all.

The second to fourth steeps had the same flavour, with each steep becoming more intense but consistent.

Fifth through eighth steeps started to lose flavour, but retained enough of it to stay interesting.

Overall, an enjoyable oolong with good consistent flavour. I don’t have much experience with Tie Guan Yin to say if it is a very good one or not. On the package, it says to brew this at boiling which didn’t seem right, but the end result was delicious and not bitter at all. (However I used a yixing pot so that may have negated the bitterness). My husband only has access to boiling water at work, so he may like to buy this and brew it there. It has a very economical price, so we may use this as our “everyday” oolong that I can brew in the yixing and hubby can take to work.

Next time I’ll try this the western way in a teapot and steep it for much longer.

125ml yixing teapot, 1 tea pouch (5g? 2tsp?), 8 steeps (rinse, 30s, +15s resteeps)

Maybe my tastes have changed, but when I made a cup of this today I was very disappointed. All I could taste was jasmine! The green tea was mild, uninteresting and dull. I realize that this is jasmine green tea, but the words GREEN TEA are also there. So I guess if you are crazy about jasmine this isn’t such a bad tea. But maybe you should just brew a cup of jasmine by itself.

I don’t like this tea anymore, but the good news is that I have friends with less discerning paletes that will enjoy some free Dragon Pearls. ;)

200ml glass teapot, 1 1/2 generous teaspoons, 2 steeps

I have not had much of this since I originally bought the sample set, so I made a cup to start off my afternoon. The first cup made me remember why I enjoy this tea so much. It’s a very unique flavour I only experience with dan cong type teas, and made even more special because it’s a black tea. I highly recommend this tea if you enjoy the honey orchid flavour dan cong tea, or want a very different black tea experience.

If I have enough time, I’ll probably try this with a few short steeps later today.

200ml glass teapot (mostly filled up), 2 tsp? (long leaves are hard to scoop in!), 2 steeps

Tried this again with several short steeps, and one long steep. Last time I logged this, the water I used for the short steeps was too high.

Starting with the short steeps, I can taste a sweet honey caramel flavour right away, with a bit of something zesty. The flavours were fairly consistent with the first 5 steeps, but the tea body is mild.

It started winding down at the 6th steep, and I started to taste the original water flavour on the 8th steep. I had a bit of hot water left so I made a 9th steep, which wasn’t very flavourful but not bad at all, just weak. The change in water temperature, really helped turn this from a “meh” experience, to a good one.

Then I used the rest of my tea leaves for a long steep. Which is always a bit hard with this tea, I always have a hard time using a teaspoon to measure it out. So I had to use a scale.

I think it’s kinda funny how different the two methods turned out to be. Here the tea liquor is much darker, with much of the flavour from the other method but with stronger black tea base. I realize a longer steep makes stronger tea, but here it made a big difference for me.

Overall, I like Bai Lin black tea but it’s usually a bit too sweet for me. Even with my bias, I love the flavours these leaves have to offer. This particular one has a lot of golden buds, which lends itself to a beautiful short steeping experience. Looking forward to trying my other Jing Tea Shop samples.

100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp?, 9 steeps (30s +10s resteep)
&
200ml glass teapot (filled most of the way), 2tsp?, 1 steep (but prob more after I upload this)

Lately this has been my go to tea in the morning. It’s a bit rough and harsh, but I like that sort of thing when I wake up. ;)

Usually I just do 2 steeps, starting with 1 min and then either 2 or 3 minutes for the resteep. The suggested 3-4 minutes for the first infusion is way too strong for me. If I were the sort of person that puts milk or sugar into tea, this one would be a candidate. Unfortunately I usually hate added sugar and I am lactose intolerant. So I adjust steep times to my liking.

I’m about 2/3’s the way through this bag, and I still pretty much feel the same as when I drank my first cup. It’s a nice tea, but I primarily bought it to try something new and develop my palate.

See previous tasting note for more comments on the tea flavour.

200ml glass teapot, 1 generous tsp, 2 steeps

Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review

Yesterday I prepared this with one long steep, and now I’ll try out multiple short steeps. I think this approach to tasting tea gives you a good understand of what the tea leaves have to offer.

With the initial steep, I picked up on notes of pumpkin spice, grains, sweet honey (not too sweet though), other spices. The liquid had a very silky smooth feel to it.

The flavour continued to strengthen over the second and fourth steeps. It never became too powerful or overwhelming. The black tea base has a nice flavour to it, it was a bit sweet, floral, and earthy.

After those, the flavour started winding down. The fifth had some notes of chocolate, cinnamon, with a slightly weaker flavour than the previous steep. Sixth steep was soft, light and still a bit floral.

Finishing off with the last two steeps, I could begin to taste my original water flavour. But it still had enjoyable qualities from the previous steeps (sweet, earthy).

At the end of all this, I took a moment to look at the leaves in my gaiwan. They were a nice brown colour, and although mostly comprised of broken leaf, there is no “tea dust”. This one turned out to be a fairly good resteeper considering the leaves are not whole.

Now that I’ve tried the two steeping styles, I think I prefer the longer western style. It has a richer, deeper tea flavour and takes advantage of the broken tea leaf, because that type infuses flavour quickly (more so than whole leaf).

This is one of the Teavivre samples I’ve considered purchasing because the price and flavour makes it an excellent every day black tea. I’ve certainly had much worse black tea and for more money.

100ml gaiwan, 1 sample pack (2 tsp? 5g?), 8 steeps (rinse, 45s, +15s resteeps)