Art of Tea

Nose: Honey… sweetness

Taste: Mild, grassy notes. Little to no aftertaste.

This tea has to be the most beautiful tea I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. On top of the aesthetic appeal of it, the taste is delicately floral and fruity. Perfectly blended. I think it would be wonderful iced too.

If I’m ever blessed to marry, I’ll want to have this as a favor on the tables.

Thank you to KeenTeaTime for sending me so much of this! WOW this was really unusual!
Here are the snippits from my review that will be up on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 19th of December

Organic Silver Needle from Art of Tea surprised me! I am not a huge fan of white teas. Well I suppose a more accurate statement would be that there are few white teas I have found that really wow me. I have found a few though! This white tea sort of wow’d me, it more so surprised me, confused me a little, and has made me want to drink a lot more of it to really understand it. Why all the confusion you may ask? Well to begin with the dry leaf is stunning, white, downey, soft, cuddly, lol yes, cuddly. It makes me wish I could buy enough to just pour all over my bed and lay upon it at night. Its so dreamy! But that is not what got me. What “got” me, is that the initial aroma of this tea is of cucumber! And that is exactly what it tastes like to me as well. Fresh, watery, cucumber! Yet, wait for it, its not watery at all! Its rather quite creamy! Creamy, fresh, mouthwatering cucumber!

I had this before bedtime, and I could not stop thinking about it as I fell asleep. I woke up this morning to my spent leaves, as I had several steepings, and just wanted to wake up enough to make another cup, have another session with this perplexing tea.

Time to make that other cup I was talking about … discovery ongoing….

SIPDOWN!

Also another from the travelling tea box if i recall correctly. While I can appreciate a great cup of coffee, this tea is just kinda blech. This brews up into a tea that’s pretty much the colour of a good thick black coffee. It’s not a pleasant cup of tea either. I tried to add a bit of milk to this to see if it improved the taste but it’s really just kind of burnt and icky. Maybe i can’t drink coffee anymore, but this…just sucks lol I supposed someone looking for a gradual switch from coffee to tea might enjoy this, but i’d rather jump to beautiful blacks that have wonderful flavours.

A very caramelly, creamy Oolong with hints of citrus and floral tones. If I didn’t know it, I’d almost think it was a coconut Oolong. It smells divine dry and steeped, and tastes as good as it smells.

This tea is so well-balanced, it’s difficult to identify any particular flavor. Sure, the mint and cacao can be noted in the dry blend, but when steeped, it’s hard to distinguish. I guess that may mean it’s not a complex cup of tea, and yet it’s delicious. Like that very drinkable wine one sips at a party while mingling, this is a nice dessert tea, and it gets tastier and more interesting with the addition of cream and/or sugar. Yum, yum… yum. I actually will probably never drink it because I don’t like the mouth feel of cream and sugar after I’ve had altered tea, but my friends and guests will adore it; I will keep it stocked for them.

This Lemon Meringue tea didn’t smell like lemon when I opened the package. It smells of orange. I steeped it anyway, and couldn’t taste lemon. So I read the ingredients and discovered that there is none. True, there is also no meringue, so while I understand these names can’t always be taken literally, I must admit that I missed there being lemon in my Lemon Meringue. I did taste something a little green, a little floral, but nothing too significant. All in all, I found this tea to be a touch indecisive. American Tea Room’s Lemoncello is also mild, but is perfectly creamy, warm and lemony, while California Tea House’s Lemon Meringue is fully fruity and zingy. Art of Tea’s lemon offering? Well, they may want to rethink this tea’s name? …or perhaps, add lemon…

We just got this tea in our tea lounge and I love, love, love it!!! The combination of the mint and apple, totally set off the cacao nibs, chocolate and vanilla for a very unique flavor.

My first cup of tea in the year 2013! I thought that this would be a special tea to try… black tea, vanilla and pretty little white tea stars. The stars are truly adorable — not too many crowding the black tea, but I manage to find a few by digging around in the blend.

I’m surprised at how creamy this tea is! The vanilla is light, but still very present. The white tea blends seamlessly with the black tea and the vanilla. It actually adds a bit of an astringent note in the background. How interesting.

Oh, this is so yummy! This tea has an airy, fluffy, creamy quality that I adore. There is a little bit of an astringent finish to the cup (beyond the white tea’s addition).. so I would be careful not to forget about this tea when steeping.

I think this tea has quickly bounced to my very favorite vanilla black tea spot. What a way to start the tea-drinking new year!

I’m sitting here with a candle burning and a nice cup of tea beside me after my Christmas dinner. I had such a nice time tonight with my family. I thought that this would be a great time to sit and write a tasting note.

This tea looks so beautiful in the bag. It’s bright and speckled with beautiful petals. It’s probably the prettiest blend I’ve seen so far! For the past few weeks, this tea has been my bedtime tea. I love the citrus flavor which turns into a bit of a sugared dessert crust. It’s not too sweet and not too tart — just right. This is my favorite lemony dessert tea.

I am excited to see the snow fall tomorrow on Christmas! I hope that it will be the perfect day to spend with family & drink lots of hot tea. Hope everyone is having a nice holiday!

I haven’t had this in ages but for some reason I was just in the mood for it this morning. Does a tea this oxidized go stale? Like a Da Hong Pao, I imagine it will be good for a long time.

I was doing shorter steeps of this in my gaiwan this morning. It gives off a very roasted aroma and flavor, which is good for coffee drinkers. Other flavors I am picking up are mushroom, cinnamon and a bit of stone fruit. This tea is not for everyone, it does have a rather strong flavor and some people don’t seem to like roasted teas. I want to try drinking more of mine while the weather is colder, seems appropriate somehow.

Just wanted to mention I did cold brew my leaves last night to make iced tea with this and I like it this way. :)

I had another purple oolong from a different vendor (Sereni-tea), but this is most likely similar, if not the very same.

The dry leaves, after steeping smell just like roasted coffee. I decided to steep this in the gaiwan this afternoon and did so for about 60 seconds. It’s definitely an interesting tea, has notes of buckwheat and cinnamon. It is a fairly unusual oolong and might be an acquired taste, I notice one of the other tasters hated it, but it reminds me a bit of a red robe.

The second steep is a bit more mellow and fruitier, has some notes of plum in it. If you’re into darker oolongs, you may want to check it out. I did get a full sized tin of it so I hope the oxidation means it will keep for a while. I may need to try cold brewing the leftovers.

I was feeling a bit bummed that I have no decent dessert teas at the office – why is it that no matter how many teas I bring with me I always want more? :)

I managed to find the sample tin of this, it satisfies my craving for something sweet and the flavoring is fairly delicate but you will pick up the clove and cinnamon here. Tasty alone or with soymilk.

Tea of the afternoon here – this is good with a splash of soymilk and nice for a dreary winter’s day.

Current beau told me I don’t need to buy any more tea for the next 5 years but it’s a good thing I don’t take orders from rational, sensible people (or anyone, really….)

yum yum
This is a mighty tasty tea, it’s been taking me a while to finish off these little tins I got from the Art of Tea. I really like this with both soymilk and sugar. It’s…. zesty!

Meditation for this afternoon: I will not accept anyone dumping their shame and contempt on me. I was not put on this Earth to feel bad about myself.

Another little tin from Art of Tea to try…

This is reminiscent of Teavana’s white chai and the white tea looks like a bai mudan to me. It’s a bit of an odd backdrop for the chai spices, which are quite strong and overpowering for the delicate white tea. I am getting a lot of star anise and clove. This is actually pretty tasty, especially if you add soymilk to make it kind of creamy and rich. It’s pretty good for the chilly and overcast weather we are having. Still, I think I prefer my chais made with black tea or rooibos.

So far I am not overly impressed with the Art of Tea, but I haven’t gotten anything horrible from them either.

I finished off the sample tin of this tea and I have enjoyed it very much!

I decided earlier today that I am not going to allow anyone in the future to dump all their toxic guilt and shame on me. I am not going to let anyone else define my reality. In the future I will detach myself from people who try and break me down with their criticism and bad attitudes.

how’s that for a plan?

Oh yeah and more tea!

Shu pu-erh of the afternoon. I am almost done with the little tin of this but probably won’t be buying anymore with all of the pu-erh I have already. Plus nothing about this really stands out to me, although it isn’t bad at all.

On another topic, has anyone noticed that a watched tea order seems to take forever to arrive??

This is a loose leaf pu-erh purchased from Art of Tea. The little sample tins are so cute!

I think this might be the base tea they use for the coconut cacao pu-erh. The aroma of the wet leaf actually reminds me of roasted coffee. It’s very earthy with not as much funky aromas as some I have had. It seems in general that loose leaf pu-erh is less prone to developing off odors. Am I right? Maybe when they get compressed into cakes they are more susceptible to mold. I am not getting anything resembling honeysuckle or floral like the ‘Art of Tea’ description claims.

Not the best loose leaf shu I’ve ever had, but it’s certainly enjoyable on this winter afternoon.

I keep looking for nice pumpkin pie teas, especially now that it’s the holidays…

This is a nice tisane, it’s a rooibos and honeybush mix and the dry leaf smells very ginger-y. This reminds me a bit more of a gingerbread spice than it does of pumpkin pie, but it’s hard to capture a pumpkin flavor in tea, I think. Overall I am pretty happy with it though. The clove element is very strong. I think this would be really good as a late and will have to try making it that way someday, or maybe just add some whipped cream on top of this… nom!

I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while so I broke down and got one of the little mini tins. If you have the coconut pouchong from Golden Moon, there are some similarities. This flavored oolong is slightly buttery, with vanilla notes from the silk flavoring. It reminds me a bit of kettle corn. I don’t love it, but I am pretty happy with it.

I am almost done with this sample sized tea from Art of Tea. This really should be called Apple Cinnamon Fig because there’s so much apple in the tea. This is kind of bitter unless you add sugar too. I definitely don’t think I steeped it for too long. I’m not that enthused about this one but it’s ok, I guess.