Bird Pick Tea & Herb

The first infusion is really incredibly creamy and sweet, not a hint of bitter at all.
The 2nd and 3rd are still good, but the distinctness of the first infusion disappears. I am trying to compare this closely to Den’s Gyokuro Suimei; so far I am more impressed by this one (Bird Pick, but again, on the 1st infusion only). Den’s seems to have a more vegetal/marine quality to it, which I like. After the 1st, both teas become very similar and hard to distinguish (but both very good). I will have to continue to try both and see if I can tell any other differences or if my tastes change.

As opposed to my first trial of this tea, this time is it awesome!
Very sweet (but not at all sickeningly like fake sweeteners), but also has elements that remind me of sencha, the tastes that made me love Japanese greens in the first instance (steamed veggies, thick, lingering aftertaste, slight bitterness, etc.)… but this has no bitterness of course. It also has that marine/seaweed flavor that to me is really delicious.

As I drink this, I finally have that moment of, ‘Aha! Now I see why gyokuro is (typically) prized over all other kinds in Japan.’
Before this (and of course the sample of the Award Winning gyokuro I had earlier this year), I wasn’t really sure why it was considered better… rather than just different.

Very good; so far, after only 2 trials each, this beats Den’s Gyokuro Suimei….we will see after a few more!

I have a sample of this, and so finally wanted to try it out. This is Bird Pick’s more expensive gyokuro (out of 2 or 3 available).

I tried cold water brewing, first using near-freezing water (steeped for 7 minutes), then 140, 160, 180 steeps. (Not sure how long I let it steep at those temps, probably between 30 seconds – 1.5 minutes).

This had a nice marine-like taste to it, but it was sickeningly sweet; I thought about what the sweetness was like and I figured it out – it tasted just like fake sweeteners (not sure which one) – sweet n’ low, equal, or splenda. I HATE the taste of diet soft drinks or coffee with fake sweeteners. They have a very sickeningly sweet taste, and unfortunately, this tea reminded me of that flavor. I’m sure a gyokuro (or diet soft drink!) lover out there would find this tea delicious, but I didn’t particularly enjoy this first trial.

I am going to hold off on rating this one, as I want to try a regular brew first. Perhaps one reason I didn’t enjoy it is because it was very intense – not only cold-brewed, but 4g of leaf to 4oz water.

I don’t have much experience with gyokuro, so hopefully as I try more I’ll get an idea if I just don’t like gyokuro, or if it was simply this one. And perhaps I’ll even enjoy it with a regular brewing. I really want to like it.

I happened to pass their store today and stopped in to check it out. They were giving away little samples of this tea (like, 5 sips or so) as their tea of the month. Lucky!

Definitely sweet and light with a fruity aroma. It cooled pretty quickly since I had so little, which made it really refreshing on a rather hot day.

Somewhat buttery, deliciously fruity. I did 4 infusions and probably could have done more.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Oolongs (especially green/non-roasted ones), but it was very good. I don’t know if I’d buy more, but only because there are so many Oolongs out there to try.

Maybe I wasn’t using enough leaf before? This evening it was really good! Upping the rating a bit.

Hard to rate this one; I think I might like it more if I tried it more often. I just have a sample of it, with probably one more multi-steep serving left.

The first steeping I haven’t liked so far (both times I’ve brewed it), being that the flavor each time was mostly pan-fried or stir-fry flavored. But with the 2nd and 3rd steepings, it really took on a nice sweet, almost umami-like flavor. I was recommended this white tea out of the others to try at the store because it is rolled up more like an oolong and therefor has more flavor that traditional white teas. I don’t have any other loose white tea experience to compare this to, so I wouldn’t know, but it does seem to have plenty of flavor.

This has some similarities to the pi lo chun and long jing that I’ve tried recently, but is definitely unique. I don’t think I’d buy a whole 1-2 oz bag of this, since there isn’t enough time to enjoy everything good in this world (ie, there are other teas I’d rather drink), but I do like it.

If I were rating teas just by name, this would get 2 thumbs up from me, as it SOUNDS like the coolest tea ever. Well no, if a tea was named “Trogdor the Dragonator Long Jing” or something like that, that would be even cooler.

This tastes like a weaker, and far less tasty version of the Shi Feng Long Jing (the only one I’ve had is by Tea Valley). It does have a faint sweetness at the end that is pleasant. But as the description states, it is smokey, and that flavor comes through, especially once the tea has cooled off some. Not a fan. I’m glad I just have a sample, and that I could satisfy my curiosity about this tea cheaply.

I went into a new store they opened in the area, and decided to get some samples. I love being able to try new teas and not pay shipping!

The brewed leaf smelled like some kind of delicious fruit aroma. It really surprised me because I was expecting a more roasted-like smell (I hadn’t read the description of the tea that they have on their website; the store just had the name and the price).
BUT, it tasted like strawberries! This could be called “Strawberry Oolong” (in my opinion) though, there are of course no flavorings. Because of this, it seemed like a really high quality tea, but that wouldn’t matter if it didn’t taste good. Well, it was very good. :-)

Deliciously sly this one is. It parades itself like any other taiwanese tea, unassuming, docile. But don’t let it fool you.

This is one of the best teas that they carry in the store. A few leaves are all you really need to start since they are so full. The flavor profiling on these have got to be a cross somewhere between butter, pumpkin, spice, and a medium body oolong. It also has a bright gold brew that looks beautiful after a 5 minute steep. Additionally, the second brew is my favorite, because that’s where the leaves begin to open and really let out the pumpkin notes.

If Lychee Black tea were a woman, she’d be intelligent and highly opinionated, gorgeous with a heart of gold…. and she’d have an afro. Of this, I am quite certain.

If you’re the type to expect bland flavors and a lot of fragrance, this is not the tea for you. The label says “Lychee Black Tea”, but what Bird Pick really means is (now this is where you envision Ms. Foxy Brown from Austin Powers) “THIS IS LYCHEE…black tea” *snap snap.

It’s a self-righteous tea that screams sweet fresh lychee without a hint of artificial flavoring. It’s got a heavy body, and the lychee is definitely the most prominent flavo r–jumping out with its unexpected sweetness. It’s also wonderful with creme, since it doesn’t need any extra sweeteners.

This tea is so good… it makes me giggle.

Rose Hips, you say? Silly person, roses don’t bear fruit. Why yes, they do and boy is it tart!

If you don’t know already, this tea is from the fruit of the rose bush and these little berries have loads of vitamins (A, C, B) essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. They also look very pretty in the wild.

This tea takes a while to steep if you’re not boiling it (again, impatience will be the death of me) and the brew color is a light golden yellow. It’s got a tarty taste that is slightly watered down (think Tang with a few drops of lemon juice and a tad too much water and you’ve got it). It opens rather suddenly on the palate and has a drying effect on the tongue in the final few notes.

Personally, I prefer to brew it with hibiscus and really get into the fruit punch realm, but that just might be me.

This tea is a little meh, there is a lot of Keemun in the blend mixed with Ceylon. It also has a sharp note on the palate that leaves the mouth high and dry. It’s upside is that it brews dark like a true breakfast tea.

ITS GOLD! Liquid gold I tell you!

This has got to be some of the purest Chrysanthemum on the market in LA, it’s organically grown and the tea is the whole flower; not just the petals. The flavor is full and surprisingly sweet and goes down smooth without drying the palate. My secret is to boil the heck out of it for a few mintes, Chinese style (they boil all herbs from what I’ve been told).

My favorite Earl Grey. Light and floral with just the right amount of bergamot. For some reason, the bagged tea tastes better than the loose leaf. I know that they all came from the same place (or so I was told) but they do taste different. The loose leaf tea is much stronger and lacks the more floral quality of the bagged tea.

I quite like this. I am partial to Jasmine tea. A few pearls right into my cup and I’m quite happy for two or three cups. It’s well balanced between the green tea flavor and the jasmine flavor.

If you’ve never had ginseng oolong from Bird Pick before, you’re pretty much missing out. It’s a heavier bodied oolong that is coated with a mixture of ginseng extract and licorice root on the outside (it doesn’t say it anywhere on the packaging, but it’s where I suspect the sweetness comes from). It tastes so full in the mouth and has a gentle menthyl effect of the mouth after every sip in addition to its sweetness. No dryness – and that’s the deal breaker for me.

Don’t get the supreme grade mixed up with the regular ginseng oolong. The difference is highly noticeable. I’ll re-review this tea when I get a fresh batch in, because I’ve had it for awhile.

Woah this packs a punch. Definitely a lot of strong bodied oolong notes with a equally strong aroma and taste. You can sure as hell smell and taste everything congruently upon drinking. The color is a amber gold and the tea is slightly overpowering at first.

Maybe I slightly over brewed it today? Possibly. I’ve got a 25 pack of it, so we’ll find out eventually.

Some teas are too perfumey with their jasmine whilst others aren’t strong enough. However this is a very balanced blend of jasmine and green tea. The leaves are definitely fuller than most and survive up to 4 brews. I’m not typically a jasmine fan, but it’s an excellent blend.

MMMM, Honeydew Sencha!

Upon smelling the dry leaves, you’re presented with an unforgettable marriage of sweet honeydew and fainter notes of strawberry. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my more traditional teas. However, when I discovered that Bird Pick only uses flowers to scent the tea, I was shocked. All of this aroma without artificial flavoring or sugar? No. Freaking. Way.

Now you might be saying, “oh yeah, well I bet it didn’t taste as good as it smelled when you brewed it”. But to you naysayers, I say, “HA!”. It’s a delicious green tea that isn’t tarnished with the fruity fragrances. It has a wonderful depth of flavor that leaves a pleasant astringency on the tongue afterwards, akin to a palette cleanser.

What I have realized is that this tea is actually better on ICE! Yes, I kid you not. Brew it double strength and ice it over. It’s overpowering olfactory nature just screams sweetness in your mouth, it’s the craziest sensation: sweet fruit without sweetener in a green tea.

Love this tea. Definitely will be rebuying.

I have nicknamed this tea Gunpowder Light. It has Gunpowder taste and aroma but is sweeter and less heavy on the smoke aspect. The dry leaf also looks like loosely rolled Gunpowder pellets. Once steeped, it fully unrolls and I can see that all the leaves are broken into small pieces.

Overall this is a very generic Chinese green tea and I’m glad I have a sample tin.

Silky Green is my absolute favorite tea from Bird Pick! It has a wonderful milky aroma and the leaves are furled similarly to oolong tea. The first brew, which isn’t my favorite has a light buttery note, and with consecutive brews, becomes more flavorful. The tea develops a creamy and almost perfect buttered-toast like flavor. It’s also very smooth on the tongue and doesn’t leave your mouth dry. Be sparing with the leaves, they unfurl quite large.

I’ve been looking for a perfect Jasmine for a long time and tried a lot of teas. Most of them left me disappointed, they were either too sweet or too heavy or too perfumy. This one is as close to perfection as it gets. I’ll refrain from giving it 100 for now because I might find a better tasting tea but I seriously doubt it.

This is how Jasmine should be done. It’s a bliss in a cup. It smells absolutely natural – fresh jasmine flowers that haven’t been picked yet and are blooming on a bush surrounded by lush green leaves. I definitely get some bitterness but it is light and blends well with the flowery aroma.

The brew is very refreshing, it feels thirst-quenching and at the same time leaves my mouth dry and I’m craving for more. The description is right to the point saying that the taste is crisp, it is very accurate. It’s green, crisp and fresh. I’m not getting much sweetness though, maybe just a tiny bit on the background which is a good thing for me because I didn’t find it to work well with jasmine flavor in other teas and discarded them for this same reason.