Curious Tea

This tea rambling is going to start out with an adventure, specifically the adventure the box from Curious Tea went on! A while ago on Steepster, Curious Tea offered a box for review purposes, and I offered my writing and sipping services. The first box vanished into the aether, and as soon as the proprietor and I realized this tragedy, another box was sent, this time it came from its home and London and ended up in customs in Chicago, and here is where the fun begins! According to my app that tracks packages, it went from Chicago to Japan, and then to Korea, and then to New Jersey, and finally it showed up at my door. I was so happy when it did! The tea portions are massive (a whopping 50g of each) with clear instructions and lovely packaging, all things I am very pleased about in a tea subscription box. I do want to say that the customer service was awesome, my box decided to go on an adventure, but Curious Tea was quite supportive and awesome, even sending me a new one, how cool is that? So yeah, combine that with some epic teas and you have yourself a quality subscription service! I want to be a permanent subscriber…just need more money!

Snecha Fukujyu Review and box pictures: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/curious-tea-boxes-sencha-fukujyu-tea.html

Looks like dried grass clippings. I have a lot of tiny particles in mine. The other tea in the package was undamaged, so I don’t know if this was roughed up in shipping? Others didn’t comment on this so I am believing it is just my bag. Steeping temp of 158F is hard to do but I stood guard over the kettle and got it.

I think Curious Tea nails the taste profile on their webpage by saying this “has a full vegetal and slightly toasty flavour. It strongly evokes green vegetables, such as spinach or greens with a nori undertone and a distinct dryness in the aftertaste.”

I think the only thing I would add is though the temperature is a bit of a pain to hit, it is worth the effort as the cup was nicely smooth.

I have had Snow Bud before from another company. The teas appear pretty much identical. The difference is in the brewing approach. This one calls for 175F water and a 4 minute steep. The other used 195F and 30 second steeps. The difference is day and night. This one is smooth. The other was intense with a good bitter. Here I am getting lightly sweet field grass, along with hints of nuts and floral. The aftertaste is lingering and has the good bite I expected up front but here it is lighter and not at all scary. Although I taste the fresh spring water and floral notes I associate with good white tea, it is the ending that drifts towards Chinese green tea that sells this to me. I very much enjoyed this using Curious Teas parameters.

Im so behind with my tasting notes. Rainy day is great to sip some tea.
This tea is part of my sampling set. very generous samples of 50g each.
3g 8oz 200F 3min
this tea is excellent. So sweet and malty and smooth. Practically no astringency, maybe as it cools it becomes noticeable. i find it with all indian/Ceylon teas. You should drink it while its hot. resteep was excellent @ 5min. not short of flavor at all. Sweet and smooth.
Im guessing if i would brew it longer some milk and sugar would be nice. i prefer it without any additions.

Thank you so much Curious Tea for the great opportunity to try your wonderful teas. I love the quality, taste and presentation. Highly recommended.

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I was impressed with this box from Curious Tea, they definitely paid attention to detail. My teas arrived in under ten days (UK to US) and when I opened the box I found my teas wrapped in blue art paper. I know I’ll be repurposing this at some point, it’s gorgeous! On the lid of the box were cards with steeping instructions, a brief description of the tea, as well as space for taking tasting notes. All of the information I needed was easily found, but I did have to hop online to convert the temperature from ˚C to ˚F since I never can remember the formula, even though I know it’s simple.

I never have and never will have a math-brain. That gene skipped over me and went to my little brother. I on the other hand got the good looks in the family (but don’t tell him I said that ::grins::)

As for the tea, the quality was top-notch. Both selections were teas I would consider ordering again, but unfortunately Curious Tea doesn’t currently offer an option for reordering the teas I enjoy. That is the only negative thing I found with this box, but according to the FAQ they are working to make reorders possible in the near future.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/4/14/tuesday-tea-subscription-curious-tea

I don’t even know where to begin with this tea, except to say that I could drink a lot of it. The mild flavor and light sweetness pair well with almost any meal, or can be enjoyed on its own. I managed to drink the entire 50g (1.76oz) package in under a week. It’s unusual for me to stick with the same tea for so long, I tend to get bored with it, but this seemed to fit all of my moods.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/4/14/tuesday-tea-subscription-curious-tea

The first thing I noticed about this tea is that it is very dry, with a wine-like, or muscatel flavor. When I hear Darjeeling tea referred to as the champagne of teas, this is exactly the type of tea I picture. It has many of the same characteristics of a quality champagne.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/4/14/tuesday-tea-subscription-curious-tea

Water: 8oz

Leaves: long thin, dark green w/ fuzzy

Steep: 4m,5m

Aroma: Floral

Color: pale yellow

Taste: I received this as a part of CuriousTea complementary tea box. This evening i was in the mood for something light so i decided to go with this tea. The aroma was floral not too strong. One thing i found interesting about this tea is that is it required 4 minutes to steep for it to be a white tea. I boiled water then let it cool for 7m before adding it to the leaves, hopping that wouldn’t be too cool for the steeping time. The first cup had no bitterness & light in flavor. The second steep i lowered the water cooling time to 6m and up the brewing to 5m. The result was same flavor profile just slightly warmer tea. Overall i found this to be a nice light tea.

Curious Tea has a new tea subscription box out of the UK. I was lucky enough to receive one for review! The box seemed like an adventure from the beginning, just from the stamps on the outside. Inside, the largest tea pouches I’ve ever seen. It seems like SO much tea (it’s 50 grams of each tea… the resealable envelopes are so big but flat.. I wish all of my teas were in pouches like these. I envision filing them by types of tea in a nice cold filing cabinet!) There is plenty of info located both within the package but also on the website. All the info you’ll need! The teas included in the boxes have all seemed like teas I would enjoy, so it would be tough for me to choose: the dark, light, or mixed options (the mixed option is one tea from the light, one tea from the dark). With each choice, Curious Tea will send 50grams of two teas each month. Just an idea for Curious Tea: it would also be interesting if Curious Tea would send you 25grams each of all FOUR teas, for those of us who are up for trying any tea.. those the most curious!

On to the teas….
The Assam Doomni Special Second Flush is delicious – a brisk assam, while somehow not turning into the tomato soup flavor assam has been tasting like lately. I love the hints of gold in the twisty dark leaves. A teaspoon for a 12 ounce mug is tough enough with a three minute steep. I also tried another cup with a teaspoon and a half or two and it just didn’t work (a little too astringent). But use a teaspoon and it’s great stuff! The dark cup is malty with hints of dried grass. The second cup mellow out and sweetens a bit, loosing a bit of the “rustiness” to the flavor – the only way I can describe it but it’s good! I always need a great assam in stock but hopefully the next tea is as special as I think it will be…

The Jun Chiyabari First Flush is like a light Darjeeling, very sweet and fruity. Not as complex as the other Jun Chiyabari I’ve tried, but that was setting a high bar as one of the best teas I’ve ever tried. (It also might matter that the other was a Second Flush and I seem to like those better than First Flushes.) I tried steeping this one a couple ways, these parameters being a little too astringent: 2 tsps. // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep. A two minute steep might have been fine, but the three was a little too much. Lowering the teaspoons to a teaspoon or 1 1/2 might help too. It was a very enjoyable flavor though.
Overall, the experience of this subscription box was a great one and definitely one to consider!
CuriousTea.com

One of my favourite green teas now. It has a great steamed vegetables taste…reminds me of chopped up chinese greens like ‘yu choy’. The leaves are large (supposedly this tea is only made from the second leaves rather than the bud and first leaf), dark green and appear folded when dry, and unfurl/unfold into a medium green colour when steeped. Light and refreshing, and leans savoury. I wouldn’t drink this with breakfast at all but more for lunch/dinner due to the savoury taste.

I’m not an expert on Darjeeling by any means but this was incredibly fragrant when dry, and even more so when brewed. Very light and not at all astringent or drying. This infused multiple times, I think 3-4x over the course of a day at the office. The aroma and flavour is very fruity, leaning towards ripe peaches.

Water: 8oz

Leaves: medium dark green leaves

Steep: 1m, 2m,3m

Aroma: Vegetable

Color: Light yellow

Taste: I received this as a part of CuriousTea complementary tea box. This was my first ever experience with a tea box subscription company & wow i was amazed at the size of the package i received. The aroma of the dry leaf was nice & vegetable like. I also must note I normally use 1 tsp per 8oz cup this one call for 2 tsp which is something new in terms of brewing. The clarity of the first steep was nice, clear with no cloudiness & light in flavor. Second steep gave almost the same result but with a darker color. Third steep same color & flavor. Overall I found this to be an okay cup of tea, it feels good to write a review after quite some time after getting things done.

i received this tea to sample and write a review for. I would have written one sooner but i have had family issues and had to go out of state for a while. Now i am back home and am able to review the tea as promised.

The leaves look to me just like someone took lawn clippings and chopped and roasted them. the leaves are a dark, dark green. The leaves smell just like the cheap store bought catnip that smells of mint.

I used two teaspoons for 8 oz, 170 degrees for one min.

The liquor is a green tinted gold, and smells like buttery spinach or seaweed. Kinda like an oolong. Sipping the tea reminds me of the Milk oolong i tried recently. It is buttery, light, and has a spinach taste, but also has a grassy taste too, and a sweet floral undertone. The aftertaste is lightly of buttered spinach.

Its not a bad tea. I am aware that different teas of the same type taste differently, so i would like to try some more sencha, just to see the possibilities in taste this tea can hold.
I like the tea enough, i could either drink this or the milk oolong interchangeably, i think, but i might not go out of my way to keep this stocked.

I received a box of two samples of my choice to review.
Let me tell you. i haven’t seen 50g samples. Ever. it was packed nicely.

Today i tried this tea.
my usual parameters 5g 120ml teapot
rinse/ 10/15/20/30 etc
this tea is sweet and so smooth. thankfully not much of sweet potato (im tired of sweet potatoes;)
its more caramely, malty,some floral and honey and spice. long lingering sweet aftertaste. Some slight astringency , not unpleasant but rather welcoming. to make it complex and interesting

Thank you so much Curious Tea for sending me this sample. its sure a winner !

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I understood the Darjeeling reference as soon as I saw and sniffed this tea. It’s fairly light, wooden and floral with a wonderful blend of green, silver and brown colours which span across large leaves and tips.

Steeping 2 tsp for 5 minutes (as I like strong black tea) with boiling water as recommended on the information card. Though it does also have it on the packet too.

Once steeped this tea is dark amber/brown and has a slightly dry scent with wood and floral tones. Somewhat matching it’s raw scent.

Flavour is slightly astringent though as it lightens it becomes softly sweet. Prominent wood tones with some dryness and overall a medium strength. There are floral notes similar to those of Darjeeling but I would say this has a ‘darker’ charm to it.

It’s not strong despite the long steep (though it is enough for my liking) though I may try a shorter steep and see how that comes out. This was very nice but I just haven’t found my perfect level yet. However, I do think this was a splendid Nepalese tea, usually I drink their lemongrass or Ceylon blends but not often do I buy them. It was very nice to have the opportunity to try this.

For pictures and more information please view my blog.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/03/25/curious-tea-monthly-club-review/

In raw form this consists of green and dark green leaves that are mostly, long, thin and quite large. Also has some yellow stems present though not many. It has a toasted sweet grass scent with some dry floral/perfume notes.

Steeping 2 tsp for 2 minutes with 70C water as recommended on the information card. Though it does also have it on the packet too.

Once steeped this tea is dark green and has a sweet, very grassy scent that is strong but very pleasing. Also some savoury umami in scent.

Flavour is fairly light and buttery with sweet grass tones. Some astringency though mild and more down to the umami, which is rather vegetal and resembles seaweed mixed with kale.

On my comparison scale this is not the best Sencha Fukujyu I have tried though I am aware I have expensive tastes when it comes to Japanese tea. Also on that scale it is far from the worst I have tried, so this is a more than acceptable quality. The flavour is beautiful with subtle umami which is perfect for beginners.

For pictures and more information please view my blog.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/03/25/curious-tea-monthly-club-review/

This is a light tasting Darjeeling. Has a nice smooth taste with fruity hints including peach.

I was a bit stymied on how to review this on the site, so I went out on a limb and created this posting. I figured – why not?

Curious Tea is a company based out of the UK that has started a subscription box. One thing that I like very much about the box is the ability to choose the type of tea that will arrive. I don’t drink many greens and only have two herbals in the house (out of more than 200 teas), so my tastes aren’t very broad anymore. I appreciate the ability to target my preferences closely. Here is their website: http://www.curioustea.com

Since I have tried many of the different subscriptions that are out there, I jumped at the opportunity to give theirs a try as well. The communication from the company is extremely fast and very friendly. They let me know by email when the box was sent, and asked me to let them know when it arrived, since they were trying to get a handle on how long it might take to ship the box from the UK to the US. It took less than two weeks.

The presentation of the box was lovely. Photos here:
https://instagram.com/p/0axL8lua8Y/?taken-by=marzipan_tealover
https://instagram.com/p/0axPGwOa8i/?taken-by=marzipan_tealover

Two 50g packages of tea were included. They were nestled in red tissue paper, sealed with a logo sticker, and presented side-by-side in a very wide and flat box. On the inside lid of the box there were cards describing each of the teas (including the tea name written in the original language – which was neat). Each card had a space for tasting notes. The cards were affixed with spot glue and were easy to remove.

The teas were sealed in zipper lock foil-lined kraft paper envelopes, and that’s a great way to keep them indefinitely – so I loved that feature. Many of the tea subscriptions send their teas in packaging that can’t be closed again easily, so the end user is left with having to find a solution right away. Not so here. I also really liked the stickers on the tea packages. They made it quick and easy to find the quantities of tea to use, how long to steep, and at what temperature. One small note – the cards measured the tea in grams to half liters, and the tea envelope stickers measured in teaspoons and didn’t include a water quantity, so that seemed a tiny bit inconsistent.

Since Yunnan teas are my favorite, I started with the Yunnan Golden Tip tea. It smelled lovely in the bag, perhaps a bit lighter than some others (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). No brown “fairy dust” everywhere. And in the cup, it was a medium bodied tea without the heavy sweet potato or malty notes that some varieties have. It had a very nice light malty flavor and I enjoyed the cup thoroughly. The package asserted that the flavor would be caramel, and I could see that.

I haven’t had a ton of Darjeelings, but the ones that I have had brewed more nicely at lower temperatures, so I was surprised when the package said 100C. Perhaps I should have tried it at that, but instead I went lower. Initially the tea was very hot and hard to drink, but as it cooled I thought that the flavor improved and became the lighter muscatel that I was expecting. Dry, the leaf was a mix of greenish and black, so I think it was due to the first flush that it was lighter than ones I have had in the past. The brewed tea was very light in color, as I had expected from the greener leaf. It reminded me more of a white tea than a black, and had a very light muscatel character that was pleasant.

Overall I was very happy with this box, not only in the care taken to choose the teas but in the teas themselves, the quantities provided and the presentation. I think it will be an especially good subscription for people who live in the UK, and from what I understand, there aren’t many there. The postal surcharge for sending to the US makes it a tiny bit less appealing to me, but that is not a reflection on the box itself. Thanks to Curious Teas for the chance to write up this review!

This is really good – I have been into exploring blacks lately, and received this as part of a box I will be reviewing. It is super malty and does have a sweet note in it that gives it that caramel edge. I will really enjoy drinking the rest of this, it is pretty perfect in the mornings.

This is the second tea I received from a complimentary box from Curious Tea. I opted for the mixed box: including this Jun Chiyabari from Nepal and a Sencha Fukujya from Japan.
The mixed subscription typically contains a wide variety of tea that includes anything from gree and white tea to black tea, oolongs, pu ehr and others.

This review is for the Sencha Fukujya from Japan

Thi sencha is a later harvest sencha, and enchanted dring growth by partical covering from the sun.
Appearance: Dark green needles, and a lovely spinach/seaweed smell.

Basically, I have 2 teas that you can wake me up for any time of the night. - darjeelings and Japanese greens.

Teas from Japan were my first introduction lo loose leaf tea, and has been my no. 1 ever since. I have tried to enlarge my green tea preferences, by trying Chinese greens, Nepal greens, or any other green teas on the market, spending and trying, and spendig and trying, even more,…… alas, to no avail. It mostly turned out a hit or miss…..
My taste buds seem to be quite set on Japan, and Japanese tea only.

o.k., I admit, I have some pi lo chun, and some xinyang maojian teas in my cupboard, when friends are coming over…. but soon as the door closes on them, it’s back to the ‘spinach soup’ they so dislike for some reason I cannot apprehend…
oh well, no hard feelings :) more for me…

2 tbs/500 nml. (my chatsford ’Polly put the kettle on little teapot with strainer :)) steep: 1 min, 75 C. yellowish/green liqor. Sweet & vegetal smell.

As this is a later harvest sencha, it’s not as outspoken and green as an earlier harvests can be, but it’s nice.. a wonderful every day sencha… easy, and very drinkable, esp. for newbies to sencha tea.

Complimentary box from Curious Tea. I opted for the mixed box: including this Jun Chiyabari from Nepal and a Sencha Fukujya from Japan.
The mixed subscription typically contains a wide variety of tea that includes anything from gree and white tea to black tea, oolongs, pu ehr and others.

Thank you very much Alex for this generous offer to preview and taste the box.

Received 2 teas, each 50gr., neatly wrapped and containing tea cards, so that you can keep these to remember the tea you have tasted.

Tea: Nepal Jun Chiyabari FF

fluffy leaves, with many green and white tips. Smells very sweet, with the appreance and smell of a first flush top grade Darjeeling.
(and I love, love Darjeelings…. )

1 tbsp, let it steep for 2 min. (I hate to burn my teas, and usually opt for shorter steeping times – 3 min. is adviced…)

appearance: soft golden/yelowish liquor, almost like a white tea.
Hints of apricot, flowers, honey, with a very sweet aftertaste… all very delicate, none to overpowering…

wow! appears to be green FF, but also has oolong nuances.
What a pleasant suprise.

This tea can easily compete with any top grade FF Darjeeling. No bitterness whatsoever, a wonderful and very delicate tea,with hints of honey (moving towards an oolong).

Will def. be looking out to find out/buy more of this tea!