Great Wall Tea Company

I have no idea what’s in this, but she gave me the very last of the tin as a sample. There was just enough left for a cup.

I just know it’s black and green tea… And I can taste that. But there were also some huge purple-yellow flowers mixed in this (I had to pick them out to get a proper scoop, they were bigger than my teaspoon; I put them in the infuser with the tea, though—I just needed them out of the way to scoop better).

There’ll probably be information once they get their site up. There’s a sweetness, though. Maybe from the flowers. Reminds me of grenadine or whatever from Monk’s Blend.

There’s a touch of bitterness, but I didn’t very strongly take into consideration how much green tea might be in this, so it’s probably from that and the hotter temperature/longer steep time. Still, the bitterness and the stronger black tea does impart a “breakfast blend” feel. The sweet flavouring is just a nice touch.

Mmmm blueberries. The smell’s strong in the leaves and in the cup. There were a few freeze-dried ones in the tin as well, although I don’t know if any of them actually made it to my sample packet.

I also think I’m smelling a bit of… liquorish? How odd. Although, blueberry and liquorish doesn’t seem like too bad a combination.

First sip… Still quite hot… Oooh, blueberry. Yup, I don’t think this is going to be one of those sissy barely-there flavoured teas. Still, probably shouldn’t be eating spicy pizza at the same time. Totally going to/may already be ruining my tastebuds for the experience.

Aah, but I’m getting a sweetness and the blueberries are in your nose. There’s a bit of a tang in it, from the berries I suppose.

The tea itself is very mild, which does good with the blueberries. I will have to type out a more detailed ramble when I’m not eating pizza with this.

Made this in a mug. As always, very strongly floral, not strongly vegetal. It’s gone cold now, but it’s even great cold (I should ice it). There’s an almost cream essence when cold—mouthcoating, maybe. One of the few greener oolongs that I’m finding I quite like.

Made this in a gaiwan. It’s powerfully floral this way. Very distinct sensation of sticking your face in a bouquet.

Continues all through the sip, with hints of savoryness and faint minerals.

Tasty, caramel comes through a bit, but definitely not as good as Tealicious’. Though, that one had giant chunks of actual caramel in it, so.

Still. Might buy more. I want to start a collection of rooibos’ to drink at night. For now, this one’s finished.

Got this as a free sample. It’s got red peppercorns in it.

The smell is delicious dry, but unfortunately, it’s never as strong in the cup as I wish it were. Once steeped it smells mostly of rooibos, though I pick up a bit of banana as I sip.

I picked it up in my hunt for caffeine free teas to sip at night. I want to like it, and I think if I got a bit more, maybe I could play around with the amount used, but.

I pulled this one out of my decaf/rooibos tin without checking what it is. Ohai, Licorice!

This is a nice soft licorice blend. Maybe the orange is smoothing it over? It gives me that nice cooling mouthfeel that is present in most licorice teas (and which is why I swear by them when I have a sore throat), but without the added kick that DavidsTea Licorice Twist has. It also has 1/3 the ingredients,and I’m okay with that. I think I prefer this one! I used to love Stash’s Licorice Tea, and this is a pleasant upgrade.

Thanks ozli!

This is my FAAAVOURITE of the Great Wall teas that I have. It sounds like it should be disgusting (every other chocolate-in-a-tea I’ve tried has been) but it is amazing. This was my LAST CUP OF IT.

Having for dessert with pumpkin pie tartlets and vanilla ice cream. Tea is not health choice in my world. :D :D :D

I don’t really like the smell of this tea because I hate cloves, but when you get up close it smells really really good. Something soft in there. It’s the best tea with licorice that I’ve tried. (And I love licorice? But not yet in any teas.)

Anyway, now that I’m timing my steeps for this site, I think I’m steeping way less (I probably am a chronic over-steeper because I wander off and forget constantly).. idk if this is good or bad yet.

Is it just me or is this site missing a “What tea are you drinking?” box for the tealog? It’s a pain searching the tea and going from there. There should be a LOG YOUR TEA! button or something.

My cousin sent me these 4 tins of tea from the Great Wall Tea Co and it took me a long time to try this one because I’m not usually a fan of green teas. Anyway, this is leagues better than the Yogi Tea one that I tried. Rarely drink it, but it was nice today.

And that’s the last of this.

A good Keemun, I think. Might have made it a little strong. No astringency, smooth and nutty, slightly smoky. Salty smoke.

Some days I’ll blend it with lapsang. But it’s also good and smoky on its own.

Mmm. Lemony hug.

Still tasty.

I went on a search for a replacement for my beloved Kalahari… and this is pretty damn close! Doesn’t quite have the lemony kick I was looking for (possibly because it lacks lemon peel) but there’s an inherent smoothness to this tea that I quite like. Likely when I run out of Kalahari, I’ll keep myself stocked up with this one instead.

Can I just say that I LOVE the flavour of Assam?

I’m a bit of a “straight up” person when it comes to tea, but this one I’ll add about half a pack of cane sugar to (I know, living on the edge here). The flavours come together with the perfect amount of sweetness and the creaminess is definitely there. I love this tea in the morning because of the wake-me-up factor. And I really appreciate the simplicity of this tea in that it doesn’t have a lot of things added to it and yet it is so delicious.

Was over at the Great Wall yesterday; Jen was all excited because she’d been waiting for this tea. It wasn’t even on their menu or in their system yet, but she sent me off with a sample.

It smells of peaches. Lots of peaches. Brewed dark, but tastes light. Black followed by green—the peach strongly throughout. I’m glad the rose petals I saw don’t seem to be adding any taste this time around. Leaves a mangoypeachy aftertaste. I get the green on my tongue when I sip and breathe out.

Kind of wish I’d get more of the green/black out of this. But still, I like it. Maybe it’s just my tongue today, because the flavours are a bit muddled and very light, despite looking dark.

Got a sample of this, and made it in my tea libre at school. Wiry little leaves, mixed with blue cornflowers and yellow sunflowers.

Taste was very mild, but distinctly buttecream icing. Light ceylon tea base. When they got it in for St. Patrick’s Day, we all sat around sniff-comparing it to the Cream Irish Breakfast, which is a mix of CTC and orthodox, plus assam and ceylon with the heavier and bolder cream. I liken that to a breakfast sweetness, and this a desert sweetness, although I like the Cream Irish Breakfast more.

Finished this off too.

If you’ve got dietary problems with milk or sugars, this isn’t a good tea choice as it quite clearly DOES have chips of caramel added.

I have no such problems, so naturally I find this delicious either way. There are sunflower petals as well, probably to carry some of the flavouring oils and to decorate with even more yellow colour.

Dry, it smells strongly of caramel, brewed it smells strongly of deep, toasty caramel and tea. I’ve already done a little entry review before, but I thought I’d type this one up as if I hadn’t, just because I’ve got much more time to sit back and savour it.

There is definitely a dark caramel sweetness. It reminds me of Tealicious’ maple tea, in the weight of it.

Slightly astringent, leaves my mouth dry (although it’s been a little dry all day so this might just be me); the base is definitely Ceylon, I can taste it coming through, and it’s all right—I don’t dislike it, it’s fairly solid.

The caramel chips seem to be the cause of the cloudyness of the tea. The caramel lingers far into the aftertaste. This’ a nice tea to have in my cupboard. I think it’d be fun to mix it with others too.

Rushing a review of this this morning. Have to leave in ten minutes…

It’s a very nice base, and a good caramel flavour. Not incredibly strong, but not weak. The flavouring includes caramel chips, and overall it rounds out to a very nice desert cup. The smell overtakes the actual taste a bit, but I am sipping it while it’s still rather hot.

Picked up Kakuzo’s The Book of Tea from my library. Surprised it had it, actually. It’s a wonderful little book about culture clashing and life. Yes, and tea. It’s a sort of rambling description comparison, which I have to admit I always enjoy reading. I think I’d like to buy this after I finish it. If I can find anyplace that sells it. It’s an old book. I need to stop checking out books and read the ones I’ve already got, though. Honestly.

Dan, watched Watchmen last night—should be able to bring the dvd back into the shop today. It was pretty good.

As it cools, the caramel becomes more prominent, but mixes with the tea very well. It’s got that caramel mouth-feel. Bet some sugar would bring this right out. I like it how it is, though.