Dobra Tea

The most amazing smoky aroma, but what has never ceased to amaze me is the smooth and actually not smoky taste. This is really good for settling the stomach after a big meal. My friends often brew this stronger, but I like an almost gong-fu style infusion for its lightness.

Creamy and light, in a very comforting and calming way. I really sense fresh strawberries in the taste.

A comforting infusion with a characteristic taste of freshly steamed asparagus. The wet leaves really strongly represent this aroma, while the infusion itself contains it as a light touch. Also a little creamy, this cup will enliven the senses like a Japanese green, but with a very different vegetal taste.

Lightly sweet, with a comforting fruity finish and a soft, but not creamy, mouth feel. The flavor is like sweet corn. This year’s pick is starting to lose some of its staying power; the second infusion (at least at my time and temp) is drier than I would prefer and the floral aroma is mostly gone.

A great tea for a rainy afternoon. I’ve been to Pinglin, Taiwan, where this tea is grown. Aroma of sweet pear and caramel. A gentle roast if any. Light and subtle mouth-feel but there’s some real texture in there. The first infusion holds a certain sharpness and crisp green-tea taste, but then it mellows. Rich and mouth-filling if allowed to steep a bit longer on later infusions. I think that this is one of those leaves that would really benefit from a dedicated yixing pot.

A very light, almost green, oolong; which is probably what makes it one of my favorites. Still, care must be taken when infusing this tea. There are many ways to make a good cup; I prefer 85-90 degrees for a minute fifteen after quickly washing the leaves first. Sweet and a little flowery in taste, the golden infusion makes a good session oolong. Not as heady as Tung Ting or as grounding as the roasted oolongs, nor as creamy as a true green, Bao Zhong (or Pao Chung) is more of a weekly tea for me.

Kukicha will always have a special place in my heart…like a long-ago lover whom one remembers in moments of sweetness. And the taste, just as sweet.
The crisp stems stand for that special connecting place between root and leaf—they are the bright conduits between soil and sun, kundalini coils by which energy may spiral back and forth between realms. Drinking this tea, I always get a little crazy with light.
The first tea reading I had, I chose kukicha…
The reader told me that stems indicate men, admirers, or lovers…which was absolutely hilarious because there were ONLY stems, no leaves!!! At least, as I was blushing, I must have made a nice rosy contrast to the shiny chartreuse green of the liqueur!

The tightly curled, dark green leaves produce the most amazing first infusion of this tea. Its aroma is of honey, molasses, or milk chocolate. The texture is creamy and soft as silk. I even picked up the milk chocolate flavor in the flavor, despite it being a light green tea. Two infusions pretty much take all this leaf has to offer, but I can’t get enough of it.

If you’re craving a sweet tea-flavored beverage but not in the frame of mind for a bowl of Matcha, this is definitely what you should drink. The steaming mug full of a creamy rich green soy milk is, I feel, kin to one of those chai tea lattes you might find in coffee shops around the country, although certainly with a Japanese twist. Great for a cold day when you need more than hot water to warm your body.

I’ve tried a lot of Earl Greys and this one is a reasonable pick. Just the right black tea astringency and an uplifting flavor with just a little bit of sweetener and (for my taste) no milk. I’m a big fan of bergamot and so a shorter infusion allows the citrus flavors to remain apparent over the black tea. If you’re ordering this tea prepared, you may want to request a shorter infusion unless you’re more of a fan of drinking Earl Grey as a dark brew with milk and sugar.

Makes a wonderfully floral and comforting first and second infusion. The aroma of the dry and wet leaf really is like fresh flowers. Much closer to a green tea in terms of oxidation than most Oolongs and therefore will be better appreciated by those who favor greens or who are looking to move into the territory of green tea from blacks and oolongs.

This is a fairly non-traditional Tung Ting (or Dong Ding, as the variety is better known) in that it is completely unroasted. While the small size of the leaves (mostly single and often broken) and dark color of the tea suggests that it is machine-made and oxidized a bit too long, it’s still quite nice. If you like your Taiwanese oolongs unroasted & blatantly floral, this is one for you. A very strong, perfume-like aroma and powerful taste, that quickly wears off after a few infusions. Not a great long session tea, but great for a quick afternoon cup.

The tamaryokucha served at Dobra is one of the fresher and more vibrant that I’ve tried. It’s somewhere between a sencha and a gyokuro on the Japanese green scale. There’s a strong fruity flavor, reminiscent of mango, yet it has a strong vegetal quality as well, just lighter than that of the shade-grown gyokuro. This is a great introductory tea for those looking to explore the world of Japanese greens. Brew in a kyusu or houhin.

I’ve become quite a fan of brewing the finer black teas of China with zhongs and not filters. In such a small vessel, the leaves seem to fill the entire space with their burgeoning flavors, and more infusions can be gained with a quicker and more surprising succession of brews.
Late afternoon awakener, for the days when one wishes to linger in sleep. Notes of bittersweet cacao paired with the deep satin texture of this tea makes any gray day luxurious. I read somewhere that Qi Men means “Great Gate,” the energy of opening.
A Ganesha tea, obstructions and limits clear away under its influence.
3 min, if using a teapot, or by intuition via zhong ;-)

The Dobra Yamacha is one of the most unique and delicious high mountain sencha teas I have tried. It has the nutty roasted flavor of a Korean Nok Cha mixed with the vegetal qualities of a shade grown Japanese green like gyokuro or tamaryokucha. Highly recommended!

I’ve only had the Da Hong Pao from Dobra a couple times, but it’s a great tea. Definitely unique for an oolong, it has a deep red color and a complex, earthy flavor. It almost reminds me more of a puerh than an oolong in this respect. A very nice tea for late fall/early winter nights.

On this brutally humid day, I am revisiting an old favorite. The more I drink this tea, the more I pick up flavors reminiscent of Belgian beer. A whole mouthfeel with a crisp finish that lingers pleasantly. As this tea ages, the roast is becoming sweeter.

A delicious oolong that is best served gong fu style. subtle flavors hint at apricot. kind of like Magic Hat #9 but good. This is a classic tea.

after watching the leaves dance in my cup, I took my first sip to discover a slightly vegetal taste at first, followed by a buttery flavor. as I await the second Infusion, the aroma of the tea lingers in the air.

Astringent, but polite…the leaves dance vertically in the cup, whirling rods of “yellow” energy. A tribute to the inner emporer, feeds the inner majesty…

Sipping as I wait for the coming obession of the earths progression with growth and green.

This remarkable harvest does something unexplainable when you drink it. First flush is always something to look forward to.