Curious Tea

Brewed this tea both gongfu and western style. Both styles did not result in a nice tasting cup of tea. The tea was bitter, and quickly lost its taste.

first Dian Hong for me, sweet taste smooth, malty, sweet, cocoa which marries well, slight bitterness present but not disturbing, very minute astringency

Gongfucha 180 ml 5.50 Gr 25/35/45 seconds

fleuri, mielleux, cuit, tonifié

Miel d’acacia , miel de foret , caramel,

45s/60s/1m15/2min

Thé désaltérant

origine :Taiwan

gung fu cha 20s 20s 30s 45s

Cremeux moelleux fleurie (lys)

Origine: Chiayi, Taiwan
Élévation: Alishan, 1.200m
cultivar: Jin Xuan ‘Golden Daylily’ (金 萱) # 12 TRES
Moment de la récolte: avril 2017
Sourcing: De l’agriculteur par l’intermédiaire taïwanais de thé

Sororitea Sisters TTB

Since the upcoming week is a busy one for me, I am trying to power through the Sororitea Sisters TTB. That means I have had probably 15 cups of tea by now and that is a lot. So I think this will be my last for a few hours at least. Most of the ones I had, I have been reviewing for the blog but I don’t have much to say about this one other than it is okay. A touch malty. A touch astringent. Nothing that stands out as either good or bad. Ultimately, it is rather forgettable.

This was an interesting tea. Dragon well to me was something I tried first almost 10 years ago & I have always known it to be on the savoury side, while this one had a really good incense-like-aroma, I first thought it had been perfumed somehow I was so surprised at the different taste.

I think the balance between the slightly-nutty green flavour & this roasty-almost-(cinnamon? i’m adding this a day after the fact)-incense was well done. Its rich & good, asparagus, and while I wouldnt say its really zesty zesty, there is some in there (citrus zest?)

I havent got much experience with dragonwell, or green teas in general, but I liked this for its incensed aroma which permeated into the taste experience (i like teas that dont cheat me by smelling amazing but then not tasting good to back that up), or maybe it is just well balanced/good processing.

Thanks to Chelsea/Tastethetea for a lovely bag of goodies :)

62 is a very low rating for this tea, so I’m bumping it up. I must have been in a bad mood that day. This is a really nice, soothing tea for me. I love jasmine, and the blend of green and white teas makes for a lovely mellow, smooth backbone for it with very little astringency, which I appreciate. The jasmine is sweet and natural tasting, not overly floral or perfumey, and it doesn’t remotely overpower the natural notes of the base teas, I think possibly because it comes from jasmine flowers instead of flavouring. It blends really well with the grapey and hay-like notes I’m getting from the base, which doesn’t sound like it would, but it does! Overall though it’s not exactly the most ‘exciting’ blend of flavours, it’s a really good iteration of a classic combination, and it it doing the trick to relax me and make me happy, which is what tea is for, right?

Aw rats, apparently I never added this to my cupboard so that’s almost another 2oz of tea to get through! I bet I never added the Golden Monkey King either…

I chose this tea because I wanted to do a cold brew and none of the teas in my current rotation spoke to me for it. I used a 600ml filter water bottle which I’m now repurposing for cold brews only, 3tsp of leaf, and left it in the fridge for around 36 hours. This is potent. The jasmine flavour is very strong, but not chemically tasting, or at least not to me – I told my mam to try it (I took it with us while we went grocery shopping) and after taking a sip she squealed and said “that was a nasty trick to play!” so I don’t think she liked it very much! She seemed genuinely surprised when I told her I wasn’t playing a trick and really did just want her to try a tea that I liked. I guess if you’re not used to it the jasmine could come off as overpowering, but I think a lot of that is to do with my long brew time. The green and white tea base is mostly smooth but starting to get a little bit astringent, so I think that if I cold-brewed this again I would try it for 24 hours and maybe use slightly less leaf. The pearls are really tightly balled up so that even though I only used 3 tsps, by the end of the steep the leaf took up almost half of the water bottle. It was really beautiful to watch, though.

A light green tea with what seems to be an all-round toasted flavour. The base note is rich, followed by a great combination of sweet vegetal notes and a smooth zesty lime finish.

Fore more on Curious Tea: https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2016/10/29/curioustea/

For full Curious Tea review: https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2016/10/29/curioustea/

The teas in this subscription pack are unquestionably good quality, with their array of complex and multi layered flavours. Both are available for singular purchase on the Curious Tea site, however the same quantity of teas actually costs £18.50, making the subscription a well worth it price, with a saving of £3.50. If you want to be a little more adventurous, Curious Tea also have a “Discovery” box which costs £9.50 per month for a selection of 4 10g packets of teas. Overall, this is a subscription that will appeal massively to lovers of tea, being one of few UK tea subscriptions that offers true quality tea.

For full review see: https://www.tastethetea.co.uk/2016/10/29/curioustea/

I’m not 100% sure that this is the 2014 one but possibly as this was purchased from someone on here within a year or two. I do apologize that I cannot remember who this one is from, everything ends up in a ever growing bin labeled “try me!”.

This brewed up a light green-yellow. I did add sweetener which ended up bringing out almost a juicy texture/feel. This has a touch of grassy-ness to it and it’s dry. It makes for quite the enjoyable cup!

this one came to me via cavocorax and isn’t half bad. I don’t generally enjoy darjeelings…they’re like fake black teas to me that taste like greens and oolongs – not my favourite. however, since i’ve had a few in my time that i have liked, i’m always willing to try new ones. This one isn’t half bad. It’s got that green taste to it, but it’s not drying or bitter and i drank all of it! thanks cavo!

I love a good Darjeeling, for I crave that muscatel flavor. I saw this and the main flavor notes were “muscatel”, so I knew that I needed to try it. The dry leaf are small dark green and silver curls and strands. They have a light white grape scent and some vegetal scents. I brewed these up western in my teapot. The liquor comes out a pale opaque bronze. The aroma from my cup is pure bliss. Then, I actually tasted it. I think this tea may have been idle too long, for the main flavors seem to be diminished. This brew had a spice and astringent background, and at the forefront, a light wood with almost sugarcane flavor. I did not catch any muscatel flavors. The brew was not airy and light. actually, it was quite firm for a first flush. This was a fairly decent tea, but it was not what I was expecting or looking for. I enjoyed what I had, but I will continue my search for the “champagne” I crave.

https://instagram.com/p/7u1f7qTGYK/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I’m the first to review again :D!

I took my time with this tea. It sounded very special to me, so I treated it as such. The leaves are beautiful. The dry leaf consists of a gorgeous bouquet of greens, golds, silvers, and ambers. This assortment of colors carries a floral tone with a light wood scent. I brewed these treasures up in my tetsubin western style. My pot yielded a tarnished gold liquor. The flavor reminds me of a darjeeling. It has the smooth wood flavor along with a sweet floral aftertaste. This brew is full bodied and goes down soft. The aroma from my brewing vessel is like that of wildflowers in full bloom. I really enjoyed this brew, and the sheer amount of this tea that I have. This was an amazing experience, and I will make this my morning black. It’s always good to start the day off with some great tea.

https://instagram.com/p/26u5PuTGdB/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I still needed some waking up, so I went for a bold tea. I havent had a good Assam in while, and this is a very good Assam! The leaves are small black and gold shards with small hairs. The aroma of the brewed leaves is alike a gold yunnan; it carries that baked bread and potato scent. The flavor is savory and delicious. The initial sip is of malt and dark maple wood. The aftertaste is a strong crystal sugar flavor. The vibrant crimson liquor carries a burnt sugar and bakery scent. This was delicious, and it was exactly what I needed to satisfy my tea craving.

The pearls smells strongly floral in the dry leaf, which is a much gentler floral presence when brewed. It has an amazingly smooth mouthfeel and flavor. The jasmine is floral without feeling too soapy or perfume-like. The green and white tea blended base behind the jasmine is green and herbal, slightly nutty, without being grassy at all. White teas are not always my favorite for the almost mineral muskiness in their aftertaste, but the white in this blend is not too strong, and is adds a smooth balance to the green. While this first brew is slightly brothy or buttery, the floral, almost fruity tones, come out in the sweeter second steepings. I also did a cold brew of the jasmine pearls in my favorite Takeya pitcher. I let them steep in cold water for 24 hours. The brew was lighter in color, and more flowery than the hot brews, the green and white teas much lighter and smoother in the cold brew. Classy, gentle, and soothing in all its brews.

Many of my fellow tea bloggers have been covering teas from Nepal this past week as a way to bring attention to the recent tragedy that struck the region on April 25th. The rising death toll, the complications with bringing in aide, and the many aftershocks which are making people terrified to sleep in their houses is, for lack of a better way to put it, staggering. I learned about it when I checked my phone that morning and saw that my friends in that region were checking in safe, half asleep I had no idea what was going on, and when I found out my heart broke, I knew it was going to get a lot worse before it was going to get better. The one positive thing about any disaster is the rallying together of people to lend aide to those suffering, and this is no exception, one of those restoring faith in humanity things

So, it is with a heavy heart that I review today’s tea. First a bit of info about Jun Chiyabari First Flush from Curious Tea, grown on the Jun Chiyabari Tea Estate at an altitude of 1,800 meters, this tea is classified as a SFTGFOP1 (or Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe top grade, quite the mouthful.) This tea is similar to its cousin Darjeeling grown right across the border, though like all the other teas from Nepal I have tried, it has its own distinct quality that makes it different, my theory is the proximity to the Himalayas which makes them special. I will not lie, if you took this tea and a first flush Darjeeling and put them next to each other, on looks alone I doubt I could tell the difference, until I sniff it. The aroma is both sweet and green, like fresh golden grapes and honey, with a note of orange blossom, and a distinct lettuce and celery note. At the finish there is a gentle note of sage and a hint of spring rain.

Into my fancy steeping apparatus the leaves go, ok maybe I can tell a difference (I totally did do a side by side comparison) and these leaves are smaller than the first flush Darjeeling of the same grade that I have. The aroma of the now steeped and soggy leaves is quite fragrant, with distinct floral notes of orange blossom and a bit of a pansy note. Alongside these floral notes are notes of celery, celery seeds, and a finish of grapes. The liquid, freed from its leafy creator, is very sweet, with strong notes of honey, orange blossom, clover flower, and an almost heady note of scuppernongs at the finish.

Tasting time! Finally decided to break out the new (to me) vintage German cup I found at the thrift store a week ago. The taste is a bit brisk while also being pleasantly mild, not a kick you in the face briskness that you can get with black teas, it is a gentle briskness not unlike biting into a crisp vegetable. The first note that pops up is orange blossom, this moves into golden raisins and honey, lastly into a unique blend of celery and thyme. That herbaceous note at the finish is quite enjoyable, it lingers into the aftertaste, which I rather like, it is not everyday you run into thyme as a note in tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/curious-tea-jun-chiyabari-first-flush.html

So, now that the adventure of the traveling tea has come to a close, it is on to one of the teas in the box: Sencha Fukujyu, hmm, maybe that is why the box went to Japan, it wanted to return to its roots! A bit about Sencha Fukijyu, it has one of the best names ever, it translates to Green Spider Legs, which makes me happy because I adore spiders! Why it is called that, I have no idea, it might not actually be a translation, information on this tea seems to be a bit sparse, but I do have some tasty facts. This tea comes from Shizouka Prefecture and is one of the later harvests, but it has some similarities to Gyokuro since it gets covered in the last part of its growing. The aroma of this Sencha is quite delightfully toasty, with notes of sesame and toasted nori and a distinct note of pine needles. Along with those notes are faint notes of spinach, a touch of broken grass, and a very unique note of mint, but without the menthol aspect, really it smells like broken mint leaves with all the cooling, sharp, menthol notes. It is very peculiar and quite fun!

Into my new and annoyingly chipped Kyusu the leaves go, ah beautiful Kyusu, you would be so perfect if not for that chip you took in the mail due to terrible packaging. Sigh. Anyway, the aroma of the now very soggy leaves (that do not resemble spider legs at all, but do look a lot like chopped up grass) is still very wonderfully toasty, I am such a sucker for toasty teas, add a bit of honey and sesame seeds with a pinch of fresh green pine needs and what you get is a very pleasant pile of leaves. The liquid is mild and sweet with notes of sweet toasted sesame seeds, pine needles, and a pleasant finish of bamboo shoots.

This Sencha is full of surprises! It starts mild and very sweet with notes of honey and sesame, much like those delicious sesame honey candies I rave on about. This immediately moves on toasted nori and those pine needles again. The finish is a blend of sunwarmed hay with an afteraste of grass. I say this Sencha is surprising, I have had toasty tasting Sencha before, but never one with pine needle notes before, it gives it a very clean taste which I am very fond of.

So much so that I went in for another steeping! The aroma of this steep is much nuttier, with a tiny bit of cashews with notes of toasted sesame seeds and a bit of crushed grass. The taste is also a bit grassier this time around, still strong notes of toasted nori and sesame seeds, but now there is the taste of crushed vegetation and broken blades of grass, it has taken on a very green taste. Overall, this would be a great everyday Sencha, and conveniently I have enough to have some everyday…for at least a few days anyway!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/curious-tea-boxes-sencha-fukujyu-tea.html