Chicago Tea Garden

So I’ve been holding onto this for a while, but being such a coveted tea, I wanted to make sure the conditions were perfect: I was feeling fine, I gave myself ample time to enjoy the tea, and most importantly, I brewed it correctly.

I tried to follow the Chicago Tea Garden’s direction for brewing (video number 2: http://www.chicagoteagarden.com/zealong-new-zealand-oolong), but wound up making some minor modifications.

I warmed the pot, using boiling water, drained it, covered the bottom of my pot in the leaves, then added enough water to cover them. Of course, they floated, so let’s say it was about a half cup of boiling water. Let the leaves steep for one minute like this. Drained the water, then filled the pot with boiling water. Allowed to steep for one full minute. Poured all the tea out and enjoyed.

The aroma of this is incredible; it is crisp, clean, sweet and actually smells mouthwatering, it is everything you would hope it to smell like and nothing that you would hope it doesn’t. In one word: pure. The liquor is a pale, golden yellow, not amber, yellow. The experience is cultivated in the drinking vessel, I used a matcha bowl because I wanted to get the full bouquet while drinking it. The flavor matches the aroma, clean, crisp, sweet, yet not overpowering, it tastes like the best of the best oolongs, it really just might be. I know I have had an oolong similar, though I am not sure where, it really doesn’t matter, because this is what I have now.

That was the first infusion. I did not repeat the whole tea ceremony for each infusion, just filled the pot with more water, steeped and drank. I got three full infusions out of the one sample and each was as good as the first.

All brewed hot, no additives:
Infusion 1: one minute
Infusion 2: one minute, 30 seconds
Infusion 3: two minutes

If you get a chance to try this, I highly recommend you do. I still have the other two (aromatic and dark) to give a go. Enjoy everyone!

Fun presentation, but was a bit disappointed that there was little to no citrus flavoring. The first time I prepared it I made several steepings (with a little bit of the rind) and found each one to be a bit lighter than I usually like pu-ehr. The second time I prepared it, I just threw all the tea and about half the rind into my tea pot, rinsed it, then poured boiling water and let it sit for about 4 – 5 minutes and got a really pleasant, deeper flavored pu-ehr (though not necessarily rich or complex). My partner is not a huge pu-ehr fan but he enjoyed the tea brewed this way, and this is definitely my preference. We got two good brewings of the tea done this way.

A very delicious tea with a dark and woody, slightly fruity (not vegetative), flavor. I have found that dark-golden whites and greens are often attended by a slightly acrid or rancid aftertaste, and this tea evades that shortcoming completely, even with high steeping times. Above all, both dark and delicate—a very enjoyable combination.

One thing I like about this tea, I confess, is that it’s a great bargain. The leaves are enormous but lightweight, so when you order 50 grams of this tea, you get what seems to be a very good quantity. It brews up with a medium yellow liquor that is mild and slightly roasty, slightly sweet — kind of similar to a Pai Mu Dan type of white tea, but not as robust and grassy. The flavor profile is subtle, but not delicate, and the aftertaste is clean and refreshing. Overall, a very good white tea, one that I’ve now purchased twice.

Can you tell I recently received a Chicago Tea Garden order? Cause I did! And I got samples! This is another sample I picked up. I’m not typically a fan of white tea but if CTG offers it, I’m probably going to try it. After all, the one strong exception to my general un-fanish stance towards white tea is CTG Silver Needle so why not, right?

I feel a bit like I’m raking leaves in the fall as I weight out the tea to put in my pot. The leaves are big, chunky, light, crispy and fairly unruly. They keep trying to jump off of the scale. For some reason, these leaves (and the leaves of bai mu dan) kind of freak me out. They look a little too unintentional for a food or beverage. Instead I want to pile them up and jump in them, like I did when I lived where fall actually existed.

These leaves don’t really smell of fall-chore leaves to me, though. Mostly the leaves are just faintly musty with perhaps a little tinge of sweet. The sweetness comes out more while I am steeping the leaves, but once the tea is poured into the cup, the smell (any smell) is very faint. It’s perhaps vegetal, grain-ish, sweet and musty… though it’s hard to tell due to the faintness.

The taste is very delicate but my reaction to the first sip was surprise and delight. Normally white teas are a bit too boiled-vegetable-water for me. This, however, is predominately a cross between floral nectar and honey. It’s delicate and light, yes, but there seems to be a richness to the sweet flavor of it, a darkness or heaviness that belies typical (sweet & light) floral thoughts, perhaps even a caramelization? Caramelized gardenia, perhaps? (Gardenias always strike me as a sweet but non-floral-ish type of flower.) Underneath that is a slight vegetal note that is more steamed edamame than boiled green beans and an end note of warmth that brings to mind the feel of ginger, if not quite the taste.

As it cools, the vegetal note pokes out more, but again, it isn’t boiled-until-they-are-olive-green-and-soggy vegetable water but something a hint fresher and more vibrant. Slurping still brings out the sweet gardenia nectar notes and I like that. The spicy warmth is still there but milder, hitting mostly in the middle of my tongue and the back of my throat. Perhaps it is now more of a cinnamon warmth than a ginger warmth.

This is not a fast-sipping tea. It’s delicate and light, but there’s a lot of nuances so I feel the need to slowly and almost meditatively sip. Drinking quickly feels a bit sacrilegious. Which is weird since I don’t really like white tea, but there you go.

I can’t help but wonder how this tea would be if I increased the leaves significantly, steeping it more in line with what I do for Japanese greens with five or even six grams per six ounce cup. I have a feeling it would be kind of amazing…

With that thought in mind, I did the second steep with only four ounces of water (160°/1:30). The smell is stronger – more warm rye bread with butter; sweet, grain-ish, silky. The taste is the same, but different. It’s a bit stronger and more intense and somehow that seems to make the notes combine together to create a fuller taste but also become more distinctive and easier to identify separately.

It’s still sweet but instead of a heavy, dark sweetness, it’s more of a butter-cream sweet. The previous heavy darkness has strengthened and turned into a more separate grain-like note (like a not super-dark rye). Slurping brings out sweet nectar (slightly lighter tasting than the first steep) and each sip still ends with a chaser of spice-like warmth. There is virtually zero vegetal taste in this cup, at least not that I can pick out. Perhaps it has joined with the grain note for added depth?

This steep makes me think less of caramelized gardenia nectar with edamame and more of… cinnamon sugar toast with sweet cream butter. This cup feels less meditative and more nom. And poof, it is gone.

The third steep (4oz/160°/2min), made significantly after the first two, seems radically different. The flavor is predominately green now, with an almost-bite to it (that I think comes from the leafy greens flavor combined with the ginger-ish warmth) that makes me think of collard greens. Slurping still brings out sweetness, but now it is more of a normal clover honey than anything nectary. I don’t pick up any grain notes though that darker note could be coupling with the green note (and spice feel) to give me collard greens as they are a rather dark and heavy green. There’s also a sticky dryness at the end of the sip now – not astringency in the way that leads to bitterness but rather something that makes all the saliva in my mouth disappear for a few seconds. Honestly, this steep is kind of weird and I don’t think I’d go for this tea if this were the consistent taste, but as weird as it is, I still find it pretty interesting. And this is long enough and dinner is nigh so I think I’m going to stop there.

Bottom line: I don’t love this as much as CTG’s Silver Needles, but I do think I will be ordering this at least once, at the very least because it’s so interesting. A sample is simple not enough to allow me to play with it like I want to.

(Once again, sorry about the massive tasting note. Brevity and I don’t get along. If you read this far, you have earned my admiration for your fortitude. And a cookie.)

I love CTG. I don’t know specifically why I adore them so, but I have a special place in my heart for them. Perhaps because Tony is so nice. Maybe because they have my favorite daily tea (their Keemun). Maybe it is because the hubby loves their sticky rice pu-erh so much that I know I can always get him to support a CTG order if I say we are running low on that tea. Or maybe it’s because, while they might not have a ton of teas, what they do offer is always quality and often quirky (oolong from New Zealand, anyone?) and that matches my tea personality well. Or perhaps it is because they have the only Silver Needle that I love enough to buy more than a sample of. For whatever the reason, I love CTG. So if they offer a tea that seems even remotely interesting to me, I’ll pick up a sample.

This is one of those teas that isn’t in my normal tea profile (not a big fan of Chinese greens) but since CTG offered it, I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m so happy I did. First off, the smell is delightful. I don’t know if I would have automatically said unripened mango, but after reading it on the tea card, yes, totally, that is what I smell. Because this smells sweet – a mild, sweet but not overly strong, fruit. There’s also a little note of chlorophyll to the smell while steeping, as well as a hint of not-quite-oceanic water during the pour. But the overwhelming notes are sweetness and something reminding me of chestnuts, which is weird because I’m not overly familiar with chestnuts, but that’s what pops in my head.

Sipping and wow. It’s nutty. A very clean, slightly sweet nut. I tend to like pecans when I go for nuts; this is sweet like a pecan but the taste is cleaner and smoother – again I want to say chestnut but am not familiar enough with that type of nut to say for sure that it is chestnut-y or just what my mind thinks chestnut should taste like.

The aftertaste is sweet. It does remind me of the unripened mango I used to get from Costco, but perhaps I am thinking that again because I read the tea description before drinking this. But it is sweet in a soft, thin, fruity way. If pushed to describe it as something other than firm mango, I’d probably go for a very thin orange blossom honey. I say thin because it doesn’t really coat the mouth in that thick, sugary way honey does.

Gosh, the more this cools the sweeter it gets. It’s pretty awesome. I almost feel like I’ve put sugar in this, that’s how sweet it is. There’s a tiny prickle on my tongue now, kind of that mineral/salt-ish aftertaste I tend to aways associate with Chinese greens (and is the reason I can’t really get behind Chinese greens), but this one doesn’t come across as too much or too strong. Instead, it’s just a little drying prickle that keeps the tea from being too sweet and cloying. Underneath the sweetness is a nice vegetal base note. Sweet, but in a swiss chard kind of way. It’s really nice.

Oh, and look at that: my cup is empty. When did that happen? I never enjoy Chinese greens that much. Or find them that sweet! Nutty, sure, but usually in a bitter nut kind of way, like those dark pecans that you know you shouldn’t eat but do anyway and then have to eat something else to clean that overly strong taste out of your mouth? But this is clean nutty, transitioning to sweet vegetal with a nutty chaser. It’s really good.

If this is considered an “everyday” Chinese green, I’ve sooooo been picking the wrong teas. Because if this is an everyday one, I can’t imagine how awesome a special one is.

A second steep (1 minute) results in a very similar cup with perhaps a bit more prickle. Or maybe that’s just because I couldn’t wait for it to cool any before sipping. As it cools, the prickle backs off to just a little tingle on my tongue post-swallow and the dominate notes are once again sweet and nutty. There seems to be a little nori or perhaps chlorophyll hanging out underneath, too. The sweet and nutty tastes are probably more balanced this time, compared to the first steep that was more on the sweet end.

And wow, now that cup is gone, too. How did that happen? How can I like a Chinese green this much? Darn you, CTG, for making me crave things that I never expected to want in my pantry!

(And holy monkeys, why can I not write a short tasting note????)

Last one. Sad face.

Not bad!

Kanyabashi’s sencha is a wonderful green brew with a light liquor and deep green leaves.

The loose aroma is grassy with just a touch of vegetal sweetness bordering on spinach.

Once brewed the aroma turns heavy of roasted leeks and this is refracted throughout the flavor. There’s a medium length tail of vegetal power, but nothing off-putting.

A very comforting brew.

My first pu-erh. Yes, it tastes and smells exactly like sticky rice, at least on the first infusion. A fun novelty experience, but I wouldn’t buy more (only got a sample).

1st infusion (45 sec): Tastes just like sweet sticky rice, with a touch of greenness at the end.

2nd infusion (45 sec): Oops, slightly bitter — the pu-erh cake had a chance to loosen up more, and is infusing faster. The rice flavor is still there, but it’s much more grassy and earthy now.

3rd infusion (40 sec): Too earthy for me. Tastes like the smell of fresh, clean dirt. Guess pu-erh isn’t my thing.

Unfortunately, I don’t like grassy teas…not sure why I decided to sample this. Not my thing.

1st infusion: Sweet, vegetal, extremely buttery (though not smooth like CTG’s amazing TGY), and a little reminiscent of…soup? There’s an extremely clean, bright, sort of filtered-water quality to it that seems to go up your nose like pool water.

2nd infusion: A roasty, nutty flavor came out in this steep.

You know how teas never live up to their smell? This one exceeds it. Imagine drinking the smell of your favorite perfume. (Not your grandmother’s.)

1st infusion: OMG. The mouthfeel is ridiculously, unbelievably silky smooth. Floral, sweetly vegetal, buttery, maybe with a hint of jasmine? The flavor is somehow both delicate and strong. I don’t usually notice color, but it’s a gorgeous sort of yellowy jade hue.

2nd infusion: The vegetal flavor is pushing back the perfumey florals a bit. Still sweet and buttery smooth.

3rd infusion: Getting more vegetal than I’d like, and starting to weaken. It’s rich and buttery enough, not sencha-grassy, that I don’t really care.

Brew with extreme love and care. The second time I made it, I didn’t jump through all the extra hoops that CTG suggests, and it came out disappointing. Seriously though, best tea experience I’ve ever had. Love CTG’s sample program.

The first time I brewed this tea, I was incredibly careful with temperatures, preheating, etc, and it was unlike any tea I’ve ever had. The next time, I didn’t bother as much, and it still came out good, but lacking a lot of the complexity. So this review is for the first time. You’ll want to set aside a good chunk of time to enjoy this tea properly. I think ‘scrumptious’ gets at the whole experience the best.

1st infusion (75 sec): Tasty, creamy, vanilla and malt notes, but not overpoweringly malty like many black teas can be. It reminds me a bit of sweet potato baked with marshmellows, but more savory. Incredibly smooth mouthfeel, even though it’s paradoxically a bit astringent.

2nd infusion (2 min): Slightly sweeter than the 1st, otherwise the same.

3rd infusion (3 min): Oops, may have oversteeped. This infusion is too astringent. It’s starting to get weak.

4th infusion (lost track; 3-5 min): Distinctly reminds me of gyokuro for some reason, but with mellow and savory substituted for grassy.

I received a sample of this yesterday. It’s good enough that I’ll keep some on hand from now on.

I used boiling water with a 15s rinse and a 30 second infusion (about 6oz water).

The taste is good. Earthy, slightly salty, and quite smooth. Unlike some other tuocha I’ve tried, this one doesn’t leave my throat feeling dry. It’s definitely more mild than the aroma indicates, which isn’t a bad thing. I am quite pleased with it.

I usually throw away the first wash of teas and start drinking from the second steeping, but I didn’t do that with Zealong Aromatic and it was a good move: I love its aroma and taste, which include almond and some other fruits I can’t distinguish exactly, maybe green apple (without being sour though), but I think a lot of the taste goes away after the third brew :( I tried until the 5th wash, increasing the steeping time up to a little more than 2 minutes and I still got a nice taste but quite a watery tea.

With the last of this sample I decided to experiment with a lower steeping temperature which I don’t often do with a black tea. The result is a smoother, more gentle tea which still retains its malty qualities.

I got three good steepings out of this tea at 1 min, 2 min, and 3 min respectively. It was really neat how those little, tightly curled-up dry leaves unfurl into whole, good-sized leaves once they’re in the water.

It’s a malty tea but it also has a hint of bitterness to it, though not the sort of bitterness you’d get from cheap tea or oversteeping, it’s more an inherent characteristic of the tea.

This tea looks so neat with its little gold and black coils – I’m used to only seeing green teas rolled like that (the usual Bi Luo Chun) so this is an interesting change. The first steep was only for 1:30 minutes but still yielded plenty of flavour – if the strength of the tea was any indication I wouldn’t do the initial steeping for any longer. It has what I’d call a typical Yunnan flavour, a mix of malty and smokey flavours with a hint of bitterness. It’s got quite a punch to it, so subtle this tea most definitely is not.

The second steeping at 3:00 minutes was more mild but still very flavourful. I imagine I could get at least two more steepings out of these leaves if I had the time – unfortunately that experiment will have to wait for another day as I have to run off to work right now. :(

I have received this tea yesterday straight from Zealong Company in NZ, so it is not the “Chicago Tea Garden” one but I thought there was no point to add another tea to Steepster as we are talking about exactly the same product.

I have waited the special time to enjoy it as I have been so much enthusiastic to get it and finally this afternoon the great time has come!

I have followed the instructions on the package and infused 5 gr. in 150ml of water for 1 minute … nice!!! I steeped it in the Zealong white ceramic cup with strainer and the colour was a light yet bright yellow, so inviting. This tea has a nice aroma and a full-bodied and multi-layered taste: grassy, with hints of chestnut to start with and then sweeter: the after taste in my mouth while I was waiting for the second steep clearly reminded me of apple, green apple. The second and third wash have been good as well, also the fourth even though the latter, still giving a bright yellow colour, has lost a little of the flavour. The package says you can steep this tea up to 6-7 times, I am not sure considering the fourth but when I will have some time I will definitely try to do that.

The first approach with this tea from New Zealand has been extremely positive, I am looking forward to trying the other 2 types I have received: “Aromatic” and “Dark”.

This is the first of my sample order from Chicago Tea Garden. How could I resist a black tea that looks yellow and is curled up like snails? It’s a dark, rainy morning, I’ve got the whole day at home ahead of me, and my IngenuiTEA is longing to be broken in. Let’s try a nice malty tea that I can keep infusing all day long.

Thanks to SoccerMom for pointing out the recommended brewing time of 1 minute with boiling water.

The first infusion is a nice orange color. There are light floral notes in the nose; this tea might be a waste if you have a cold. The nose also carries a subtle vanilla, giving the tea a rich and creamy character, balanced by a delicate taste—not at all bitter or astringent. The mouthfeel itself is quite balanced: substantial, but not heavy. Overall, the perfect complement to my wet, dark day.

For the second infusion, I extended the time to 2 minutes. Now the floral wisps have disappeared as a full, malty character emerges. This is a complex and adventuresome tea, and I’m glad that I took the day to explore it. Next time, I’d extend the first infusion to at least 1:30.

The third infusion at another 2 minutes is less spectacular, but no less satisfactory. Everything has quieted down a bit, but the floral malt still lingers.

A good tea, and a good day.