Chicago Tea Garden

Before you read this review, you should know that I have only tried a few puerhs and I don’t feel fully qualified to give all the tasting complexities and details.

That being said, this puerh is AWESOME! I mean it smells and tastes like sticky rice. The whole experience is amazing. The taste is just perfect and every sip comes with the initial sticky rice flavor, followed by a very earthy and dirty puerh taste but in a good way, if that makes any sense.

It is hard to describe but I think this may be one of my favorite puerhs for a while and I see it being very hard to beat.
You must try this tea purely for the interesting flavor. But you better hurry! Chicago tea garden is closing and only have a few 500g bags of this left.

Fantastic! I was lucky enough to get a hold of this when Tony was closing up his shop. I am so glad I did! This has some serious flavor. My first cup was straight up pu-erh. But so far infusions two and three have had a hint of the orange flavoring from the bit of peel I added in while steeping. So good!

I wrote a longer post about it here: http://wifeywoman.teatra.de/2012/06/11/say-goodbye/ :)

A wonderfully roasted green oolong. The roasted flavor is light enough so that it never tastes ashy but instead slowly creeps up on you. You can taste both the light sweetness of the oolong mixing with the roasted flavor and they balance each other nicely. I really like CTG and I’m very sad that they are closing up shop. I am especially sad because I’m from chicago and I wanted to go to one of their tastings or classes on tea. Oh well maybe he will still do some in the future.

So I, like many, have received the recent newsletter about the closing sale of Chicago tea garden, something that saddened me a little. While I had only purchased two teas from them (this one and the Tie Guan Yin), I did see myself purchasing more from them in the future thanks to their amazing presentation (Tea info cards with free quality tins?). I was waiting on their 2012 teas to make my next round of purchases but seems that will never happen. So while I’ve had this for a while, I never bothered to write a note of it (like so many of my other teas, sigh I just have so many right now). So anyways here it is, before it quickly becomes irrelevant.

>Dry Leaf Appearance/Aroma
Small fuzzy golden curls, very uniform in shape. Like little golden nuggets. Aroma is that of a typical yunnan black, spicy and peppery but this one is milder and with maybe a touch of vanilla.

>Brewing Method
Following CTG’s intructions, boiling water, 1 min. 1 infusion.

>Liquid Appearance
Dark amber.

>Taste/Aroma
Not as aromatic as other yunnans, but taste-wise it is mildly peppery, sweet, and with subtle hints of vanilla. I sometimes pick up a little fruitiness similar to that of a Keemum. It is smooth and has absolutely no bitterness.

>Wet Leaf Appearance
The tight curls unfurl into long thin needle buds, dark clay like in color.

>Overall
As a fan of Yunnan blacks, I have enjoyed this tea a lot. It is milder in taste than others and notes of vanilla are more apparent in this one than the other I have. These subtle differences make it unique enough to differentiate it from other Yunnans. I will certainly miss it once I run out of it.

Aroma: Peat, cedar, jasmine.

Taste: Jasmine compliments pu-erh very well, it seems. It doesn’t mask the “barnyard” taste that some complain of with pu-erhs (including myself on occasion), but it’s more like it adds an earthy complexity and depth to the flavor of jasmine. Jasmine has a very clean taste, so I think that’s part of the reason that they balance each other well.

Texture: Both smooth and astringent.

Leaves: This tea comes in an tuocha. After a couple of steepings, the leaves detach and unfurl. They are olive in color and appear to be coarsely chopped.

Evaluation: This is my favorite pu-erh. I think that the amount of jasmine scent is right on–neither overpowering nor too subtle. The bronze-colored liquor is very nice.

I forgot I even had this when I was digging around for new teas to try. I thought I had passed on all my golden teas to my brother. Oh, glorious morning! This tastes just like a Yunnan gold-tipped Dian Hong only with a lighter mouthfeel. It’s sweet, earthy, partially creamy, medium-malty…and quite the waker-upper.

Full Review: Pending on www.teaviews.com

This is a simple nice oolong with a wonderful roasted nut flavor at the end of every sip. It almost tastes like roasted corn at a summer picnic. It doesn’t have the sweetness or vegetal taste of lighter greener oolongs and is perfect when you want a little more bite to your oolong. I love trying teas from places other then china and india and this tea can definitely stand on its own when compared to chinese oolongs. After seeing lord of the rings I’m sure New Zealand has many perfect places to grow and process tea. Very nice.

First steeping is sweet and vegetal with a slight nutty taste. 2nd steeping has a lot more floral flavors and has a lot more crispness. Its a very reliable tie guan yin and has both the lightness of a green tea and the richness of an oolong. Its also in my shelf next to my bag of verdant tea tieguanyin, which couldn’t be more different. Both are fantastic teas but CTG is lighter while Verdant had a richer spicier taste. I love both and plan to buy both in the future when I run out.

This is unlike any pu-erh I have ever tasted. Very LIGHT and mellow. A nice rice flavor that is cleansing and enjoyable – especially with a homemade stir fry!
I did a quick 30 second rinse – then a 30 second steep which was a bit weak for me so on the next steep I did a good minute. This for me was perfect. The tea does have a stronger smell than flavor but it is so enjoyable to sit there allowing it to clear your sinus and sniffing the wonderful aroma! The flavor is light and yummy but not intense by any means. I do want to order some of this and a couple of other things from this tea company at some point in the near future.

Tea of the afternoon. I tried this out in my new yixing pot and really should have known better to not try a new sample this way and that this particular yixing pot isn’t well suited to gongfu brewing. Too big, too bulky and it has a loose lid due to the strainer and that it is likely mass produced.

I bought the pot and it’s matching cups for their color and design (sage green with a dragon and phoenix) but it seemed a shame not to use them. I decided Dan Congs in general would be a safe bet to season it with, as I would likely always have one in the house, but like I said this pot is just not meant for it. So new oolong, I’m sorry, it’s not you it’s my pot. Luckily I still have half a sample left.

In all honesty the tea was still pretty good, not ruined by any means. The first few steeps were the best and they reminded me a bit of the oolongs I tried this weekend (my first Rou Gui and Tung Ting, both lovely, both brewed much better, because of proper tea ware at Essencha) in that there was a cassia note and some unami, but I also got pretty distinct orchid, honey and peach notes with mineral sweetness throughout. Must get gaiwan ASAP, followed by a tiny yixing pot or two.

Update sipdown: this smells so delicious, leaves a fantastic taste in my mouth once swallowed, but the taste before that? A bit disappointing, it’s green and slightly astringent and just doesn’t deliver on the promise of the smell which is so complex and roasted. Ah well.

I did take a camel ride in the middle east once but I’m not sure I could tell you what their breath smelled like. This tea with its shitake mushroom and peat smell might come pretty close. I did a 30 second first steep. First steep is light and soupy with a hint of caviar at the end. 2nd infusion 45 seconds and much darker, thicker and soupier with a sharper aftertaste.

This is my first “sheng” or “green” pu erh and it’s very nice. Light and minty (due to extra herb) this tea tastes exactly like sticky rice. The color and mouthfeel reminds me of green tea but the taste is completely different, there is a lot more bite. First steep was very light green and the tuocha did not fall completely apart, second steep however the entire thing melted and the tea color is a light amber. The second steeping is much richer with a hint of basil almost.

A truly magical tea and my new favorite. For those of us who love rice as a culinary ingredient in its own right, rather than just a bland starch, this evokes some of the best heritage rice varieties and hand-crafted mochi. I don’t know how, but the puerh doesn’t overpower this at all, but blends seamlessly to make a soothing and evocative cup of tea.

I needed something special tonight, and was thirsty so instead of grabbing a glass of orange juice and a cup of rice pudding I grabbed this gem out of the sample drawer. I had opened it before to smell it and tempted to make in last week after Thai food and mango sticky rice, but I thought it was best to let this stand on its own.

The smell is spot on and do is the well I don’t want to say aftertaste as it changes just as you are swallowing. The first taste on the tongue is familiar and spa like and I’m thinking may be my water so I’ll try it next time with spring water, but this can be very easily overlooked as the second taste is the longest and most prominent. Love it! Will reinfuses but for now relaxing with this cup and enjoying the Doctor.

Edit: argh second steep is bitter due to the fine slits on the glass infuser straining ridiculously slow from tiny leaf particles. Will have to use a different strainer.

I’ve had four or five sessions with this tea, two at tastings, and still haven’t sat down and written detailed notes of this, but thankfully there is plenty in my tin. Still it needs logging, so here we go. This is nice and light and bright and so very spring. I never thought to steep an oolong for 30 secs but it brings forth some interesting results (I tried it with Teavana’s Monkey Picked Tie Kuan Yin and it brings out a perfumeyness that seems almost artificial, though that fades after a three minute steep). It is greener both in leaf and cup than Teavana’s as well. There is a creaminess and a sweetness and it is very enjoyable. In later and longer steepings it doesn’t shine as much, it translates sure, but it just tastes like oolong. I will have to experiment with steep time more though. It wouldn’t really be fair to compare this to Verdant’s autumn harvest, though it is the freshest, due to being well, literally the freshest (more recently picked) and there are so many other weather, soil and growing factors. But yes very enjoyable.

A lovely tea, thank you so much Indigobloom! I did three steeps out of the leaves and the third was definitely my favourite. The first was lovely, with just a hint of vegetal notes and something else I still can’t identify. The second wasn’t quite as flavourful, despite me letting the leaves sit, but the third? delicious. The third is everything you could wish in an oolong. Slightly milky, slightly buttery, and just oh so perfect.

I got my (ginormous) order from Chicago Tea Garden today! Yay!!!

I was really looking forward to trying this tea. I really wanted something dark in the oolong spectrum and nothing was quite hitting the spot. They were all turning out a bit too sweet to fulfill my ravenous need for roast. I love ALL oolongs, but sometimes a girl craves roasted tea, you know? I must say, the sticky rice tuochas very nearly turned my head, though.

The aroma of roasted nuts hit me as soon as I opened the tin. I’m smelling walnuts and pecans at Christmas. The tea leaves are really tightly rolled up. I had to give it two boiling water rinses before they started to loosen up. The delicious nuttiness was just enormous in the wet leaves. Oh yeah, this was definitely what I was looking for.

So, I went for 1.5 tsp for threeish ounces of water. I kinda faked the gong-fu with a small mug and the tea strainer (to keep the leaves in the mug when I poured, they were under the strainer!). My order for a couple of gaiwans has yet to arrive, and I kinda wanted to try this tea on porcelain before futzing with different clays. I’ve done it before, it’s not that hard. I gave the tea a few seconds at a time and increased the steeps from there – near the tenth steep I was doing a minute and a half. Only issue today is that I pulled a dumb blonde moment and poured the hot water from the kettle on my fingers. Derp. Lucky it wasn’t boiling, huh? :)

The liquor comes out a nice golden tone, with a delicious roasty smell that just made me want to hurry up even more. It tastes like it smells – roasted nuts, a bit like my mother’s walnut and pecan pie, without the sugar. It does have a mellow sweet finish to it, but it’s understated. Just the way I like it. My sister noted a chestnut flavour at the very end of it, which I agree with, though my experience with chestnuts is limited. The roastiness fades as the cup cools, the result being a very odd (though pleasant) nutty mellow quality.

As the steeps progress, there’s a very odd toasted…chamomile?! taste that emerges. I don’t mind chamomile, but I prefer the earlier steeps by far. Or maybe I didn’t steep them enough at the end of it? I was very confused to pick up on it, anyway. It’s the only reason I didn’t rate the tea higher. Maybe I did something wrong. Weird.

Anyway – final judgement on the tea? SO GOOD. Do try. And do drink it hot. The tea really shines.

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have said that I didn’t like Chinese greens pretty much as a general rule. To me, Chinese greens remind me of that time in college that I wondered about the little mineral stones I’d give my hamster and so I licked one of them. (It was a new one, if you were concerned. No hamster bits on it.) Salty, mineralish, briny, drying… I mean, I was glad my hamster liked it but it wasn’t something I wanted to include in my regular diet. Which, yeah, was pretty much my thought on Chinese greens (in both taste and dietary inclusion).

But stupid Chicago Tea Garden. Making me reevaluate my entire policy towards Chinese greens! How dare they?! I mean, first I had good success with their Lu Mu Dan Flowers. Then, more recently, I fell in love with their Wu Yu Jade Mist (which I just ordered 50g of, by the way). And now this sample. Dang it. I like it! I still like the Wu Yu more – it’s more nuanced and exciting to me – but this is a really tasty tea.

I think the main thing I like about this is the zero astringency bit. Sure, some tea descriptions will say that, but this tea actually delivers. Instead of having an astringent (or briny) endnote, this one is all smooth and sweet. The whole tea actually is smooth and sweet. And maybe a little bready – like a very light rye bread or something. So light (very pale) honey and a non-dark rye bread. That’s what this tea makes me think of. Yum!

And now my cup is empty. And I have to go refill it. And find a new stance for my Chinese green related tea thoughts.

Mmmm… I got a nice sized sample of this from MadelineAlyce and it’s so unique and tasty!
I totally oversteeped the first steep. I wasn’t paying attention. It was still good, but it had a strong herbal bitter flavor. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant once I diluted it. And it definitely tastes like rice. I don’t know if it tastes like sticky rice in particular, but definitely rice. Maybe a good quality jasmine rice. It reminds me of that smell of rice cooking at the stage before it absorbs all the water. MIght be a good drink when you’re craving carbs but don’t want to overload on them. There’s also something corn cob like. Very satisfying.

The second steep is a bit thinner but still ricey. Still a little bitter, but not as much. I like this a lot. I think my dad would enjoy it since he has a thing for bitter flavors. The after taste is so starchy! I keep feeling like I just swallowed a mouthful of rice. Amazing!

This strikes me as a cold weather tea, and if this weather trend continues, the time for cold weather teas will soon be behind us. :( Enjoy them now while you still can! I’m having some chai soon!

This is my first green pu-erh and I think I might like them more than the non-green sort. I need to do more pu-erh research. This category of tea is still a bit mysterious to me.

I had this last night and it had a little bitterness at the end. The bitterness wasn’t bad, actually – it balanced out the super-creaminess – but I still wanted to give it a shot with a shorter steep time to see what would happen.

Apparently, angles sing.

Seriously, y’all, this is so good. Creamy, milky, rich, vibrant, chlorophyl-y, a little citrusy towards the end. SO. GOOD. I thought it was tasty last night? It has nothing on how it is tonight.

It was probably the noisiest cup of tea I’ve had in quite a while, what with all the ‘oooh’ and ‘wow’ that was going on. The husband was staring at me with a confused look for a while until I offered him a sip. Then his eyes widened and suddenly he understood. Fantastic.
7.2g/7oz/155°/1min

I’ve been on a bit of green tea kick lately, mostly because I have a fair amount of it that I want to make sure is gone before shincha preorder time rolls around. This one isn’t next in the rotation for what one to open – there are others that I’ve had around longer that are probably getting kind of old – but I just couldn’t resist anymore.

Is it just me or does all sencha smell delicious when you open it up? I just adore that smell. Anyone know if they make sencha scented candles? Because it has to be one of my favorite smells ever. This one is grass and butter, or maybe cream. Sniffing again post-steeping, I get chlorophyl and pumpkin.

The taste is smooth, creamy, mild but thick, full of chlorophyl and milk. There’s a sharp bit of bitterness on the end but pleasantly no astringency (which usually seems to go hand in hand with bitterness in green tea but also something I’m not a fan of). Maybe the bitterness comes is from too much leaf? Though in some ways it is a nice contract to the heavy silky smoothness of the rest of the sip and it isn’t overly strong or too overwhelming. Actually, the more I sip it, the more I kind of like that brief flash of bitterness. It gives the tea a nice balance and keeps it from being too rich.

This actually reminds me a bit of Samovar’s Ryokucha but only in that I so love Ryokucha’s milky note – it’s what made me fall in love with it – and this has a stronger, creamier milky note. It’s not something I often get in green tea but it’s totally there in this one.

Uhm, I accidentally kind of chugged my cup. I kept meaning to put it down and sip, but I just couldn’t make the cup leave my hand. And I think this one officially goes down as one of the fastest I’ve rushed to the teapot for a resteep.

The second steep (instant pour) has a bit more “normal” taste to it. There’s still some creamy but it is more in the aftertaste (and more in line with the amount I get from Samovar’s Ryokucha). The bitterness is still there, lasting for a little hint longer but not quite as punchy. There’s also a stronger pumpkin (or maybe acorn squash?) note to it.

And suddenly my cup is empty yet again. Sigh. I’m not sure if I need a third steep of a strong sencha at almost 10pm at night…. But this is a truly tasty tea. It’s not the most nuanced sencha I’ve come across, but it ranks up there. And it’s got the milky taste, which I find really pleasing and unique. Right now I can say that I am a bit infatuated with this tea. And if it keeps giving me what it has given me tonight, I think that’s going to develop into a case of full blow love. ♥
6g/6oz/155°/1:30

So Janefan is awesome since she sent this in a swap because she saw it was on my shopping list. So when I got this I was incredibly excited because I’ve been wanting to try it. I was a little worried when I saw it was green Pu-Erh. Only because the last time I had green pu-erh I thought it was nasty and tasted like drinking latex. I’ve come to the conclusion however that may have been operator error since when you over steep greens they turn orange. I like the aroma of the dry tuocha it’s nice. I’ve never had sticky rice but it does remind me of cooked brown rice. Started off with a 30 second rinse and progressive one minute steeps. I’m on my tenth round and I have to say I am enjoying this a lot. Each steep brings out a different character. Some reminded me of steamed rice, but as it has progressed I’m getting more of a cornish flavor. One buttered corn. Another creamed corn or corn caserole. That still happens to be one of my favorite holiday side dishes. I’m impressed with how well this is holding up. These last steeps have reminded me of a corn sock. Either a sock or like I have fabric that is filled with corn and thrown in the microwave for sore muscles. I like to heat it up when I have sinus pressure that could take down a water buffalo. I’m definitely finding this one very comforting especially when everyone else around me is dropping like flies due to sickness. I would buy this and enjoy again.

I got a few of these in a swap, i like this one it’s really good, thanks Madeline.

After checking the top rated Ti Kuan Yin’s in Steepster, I decided to give this one a try. I ordered the tea from the website and received it just a few days later packed in a nice airtight tin.

The dry leaves were tightly curled into big dark jade “balls.” The leaves felt slightly oily to the touch and had a very flowery smell to them.

I prepared the tea using a gaiwan following the suggested brewing guidelines of 30 sec steep time and using 195F water.

The resulting brew gave me a light yellow-green cup with a seaweed-floral aroma. The taste was very light during the first 3 cups with a clean fresh green taste, subtle floral flavor, and a hint of creaminess. I increased the steep time from 30 secs to 2-5 mins for each subsequent steep, this gave me a more flavorful cup and a darker green-yellow brew. The taste remained almost the same but just more pronounced and slightly creamier.

Overall, you can tell this Ti Kuan Yin is of very high quality; the wet leaves are mostly complete with few signs of damage (I would guess about 90% of the leaves are almost intact, while the rest are either broken or contain stems) and the tea gave me many consecutive steepings without losing any flavor (I steeped it 7 times then discarded the leaves, but I’m sure this tea can be infused even more than that). Flavor-wise I wasn’t very convinced with this tea as it was too “green” for my own taste. I also felt this tea was pretty straight forward and could not find any of the complexities others have raved about. On a positive note, I was impressed on how many cups I made with a single teaspoon of leaves and even after all those steepings, the flavor was still there without any signs of fading. I’d recommend steeping this tea longer than the recommended 30 seconds for a more flavorful cup. While not my favorite of the TKY’s I have, it is quite unique and I will give it another chance using longer steep times.