Rishi Tea

This was the first Oolong that I have ever tried, and probably my first stone for comparison. The name sold me, and my taste buds freaked out when I first tried it. Was it a green tea? Black tea? Was I smelling a plumeria, or an orchid? And that roasted smell, that taste. What-is-this? From there on, it became one of my favorite teas.

Pretentious story line aside, this is a good clean tea with staying power. It’s lighter with a paradoxical full body, smelling and tasting like a floral forest. I’ll definitely have to try this one again, and do another review to see if the experience is different. I’d say it’s probably for some one who likes Oolongs and green teas, maybe for a newbie.

Tasting #1 – Steep Time 1 Minute
Very mild flavor, no hint of toasted rice at this point. The color of the tea is just a shade or two different from the original water.

Tasting #2 – Steep Time 4 Minutes
Good flavor from the tea, not too strong. The toasted rice is starting to permeate but the two flavors aren’t quite balanced yet.

Tasting #3 – Steep Time 6 Minutes
Finally, the tea and toasted rice is balanced in flavor. Very smooth and easy to drink.

Tasting #4 – Steep Time 8 Minutes
The tea hasn’t overwhelmed the toasted rice yet, maintaining its smooth flavor. No hint of astringency yet.

I know this tea requires a much lower boiling point, but I prefer to steep all my teas at boiling and to leave the leaves in the pot until I finish drinking. I do multiple tastings to determine my preferred time to taste.

Tasting #1 – Steep Time 1 Minute
The tea has a slightly bitter flavor that I can barely taste over the heat.

Tasting #2 – Steep Time 4 Minutes
The tea has a mild grassy flavor, still a bit over powering but the tea is also just slightly too hot at this point.

Tasting # 3 – Steep Time 8 Minutes
The tea has a light grassy flavor and the temperature is just right. There is a definite sweetness in aroma and almost one in flavor. Easily my favorite steep time for this tea.

I did continue tasting after this point, but the flavors got stronger after this point from sitting in the pot for so long.

I’ve been having this one as my make and take tea for work. I only have enough for one more cup of it after today. I wanted to see how it did against multiple steepings. I’ve been enjoying the minty-ness in the mornings and of course the caffeine to get me going. I re-read my last note and there I had mentioned that I wasn’t getting the vanilla. I’ve now decided that the vanilla is more of a subtle thing that rounds out the cup and takes away the bite of this being black tea. I have grown to like this one.

Today’s steeping was the same 2 tsp in 16 oz of boiling water for 3 minutes. The first cup was enjoyed with peanut butter & honey toast and paired better than I anticipated. For the second steep, I increased the time to 4 minutes. It tastes very similar to the first steep, maybe a bit more tea taste, if that makes sense.

I think the London Tea Room uses Rishi? Someone told me that, I cannot verify that it is true but I could not find a Vanilla MInt Pu-Erh from The London Tea room in the database so I am going with this one.

I definitely get the mint, which is appreciated. Still looking for the vanilla after a few sips. The addition of sweetener makes this even better. I still can’t really find the vanilla but my palate is not refined in the least bit! I think I am getting a little at the back of the sip. Somehow I am getting cinnamon too? I wish this had more vanilla but it is a tasty cup!

Tea Latte, kind of strange as I don’t get the vanilla but I definitely get the mint. Mint with Milk? Don’t think I’ll do that again.

Drowning myself 6-26-15 #6

I brewed this twice, which is cutting this tea short… and I found it to have multiple notes of flavor throughout my sips. An enjoyable tea, but just on the mediocre side as far as wuyi oolongs.

Drowning myself 6-26-15 #5

Being that this is a dancong, I was expecting some great dark oolong. While this oolong brews dark, and I did use water at 195f, this just did not bring out a strong taste. I drank this one during the morning at work today and it lacked flavor which was a little upsetting because I wanted something strong for the silly 11 hour shift I worked. It still had a nice flavor, just… yeah.

Maybe I need to learn to take teabags more seriously. I think I tend to go in with a casual mindset and not really pay full attention to the nuances. I couldn’t have told you what the added ingredients for this tea were without reading them on this page. I thought maybe it was pomegranate pieces from the tart and almost berry-like fruit taste. At first, it tasted alright. The fruity flavor and what seemed like a bit of spice meshed well with the earthy Puer, but the infusion was thin and I was curious to see how it would hold up with a more bold flavor so I steeped it a bit longer.

I imagine the Puer alone would have done well that way, but this made the tea way too tart from the fruit added in, so I didn’t enjoy this tea much after that point, nor did I feel like diluting it, as I felt like the fruit kind of masked the Puer flavor too much either way.

This tea was just run-of-the mill for a (hear comes the full disclosure:) snobby gongfu-style Puer tea drinker like me. Might be good for those who like western style blended teas though. It had a cozy appeal, just not the kind of flavor dynamic I enjoy.

Thank you, Rishi, for the sample, obtained at Midwest Tea Fest.

Had this in a teabag sample from Midwest Tea Fest. Thank you, Rishi.

This tea was very drying and reminded me why I don’t drink tea from teabags much anymore. I’m sort of surprised at my disappointment with it since it was whole leaf and not dust and fannings. The flavor was the typical malty, woody kind you’d get from English Breakfast, but the drying quality of this tea was something I couldn’t tolerate and I heard Anlina’s voice in my head “Life’s too short to drink bad tea”, and didn’t finish drinking it. Could have used some milk or sugar, which is a bad thing in my book if it doesn’t stand up on its own without those. It’s fine if it’s optional, but this tea needed to be masked to be drinkable for me. :\

GCTTB

These leaves are dark and curly. Nice amber color. Wow! In the first few steeps in my 5 oz gong fu pot, the aroma is so great. Intensely fruity and sweet, and I’m happy that it leans more towards peaches, as opposed to the prune flavor a get with some Dancongs. There’s also a background of something else. Lychee, maybe. Around the fourth steep, the fruit flavor starts to back a back seat to the sweet honey notes, and I notice that though the flavor is starting to weaken, the leaves haven’t unfurled much compared to a lot of other Oolong I’ve had recently. It starts out strong and tastes great while it lasts, it bust doesn’t last very long.

Thank you Rishi for the sample. I had this in a tea bag that was a free sample from Midwest Tea Fest. I won’t give a proper full review with elaborate Gongfu tasting notes (since it’s in a tea bag), but I think that when you’re looking at bagged green teas, this is a great one. The leaves are whole and the flavor is that of authentic Chinese green tea. It’s very vegetal and green tasting with some classic hints of green bean that you’ll sense in a lot of Chinese greens. I don’t typically buy bagged teas, so it’s not one I’d buy again, but It was nice and light, fresh tasting. I’d say this one veers more toward grassy and leafy than toward nutty or earthy, on the green tea flavor spectrum. It’s a good product for a person who likes tea bags… and it came in the nice pyramid shaped mesh tea bag to really give the leaves room to open and expand, which is helpful to the overall flavor. Thanks for the sample, Rishi Tea!

GCTTB
MMMMMmmmmm this is good. Dry it smells like a rou gui, there is a cinnamon scent to it. Steeped it’s more like burnt sugar and caramel with a bit of woody oolong. For me this is a well balanced, interesting, really nice dark oolong. I like dark roast, but this isn’t really roasty, just heavily oxidized with a hint of burnt. Awesome.

I really love this tea! It’s a very sweet, mellow kind of tea and the dry leaves smell so much like raisins. It’s a pretty dark oolong and the company who makes it recommends 1 Tbs per 8oz, which I think is a bit excessive, so I stick to my standard of 1 tsp per 8oz (although as the night went on I did back down on the amount of water on subsequent steepings without consequence). It’s not as complex as I generally like my teas, but I’ve only been brewing it western style. I think I’ll try a gongfu style session with this soon now that I have an idea of what it tastes like! I love this tea in the morning or in the evening especially. It’s definitely one of my favorites, it makes me feel very calm and happy.

Backlog from last night – sample from the GCTTB

I did this gong-fu last night: 6-7 steeps with near boiling water. Really short rinse, then steeps of 10s/15s/20s/30s/40s/1m.

The first two or three steeps were very intense – they had notes of grass, hay, tobacco, and something kind of skunky but also quite fresh and green in the background. The second steep also had a hint of perfume in it.

However, after the third or fourth steep the flavour thinned out dramatically. It became more watery and I tasted a mineral/stone note then. Also, I noticed that when I snifffed the leaves after the fourth steep, I got a smoky hint like brandy or whiskey.

This was an interesting tea, but I don’t think I’d get it for myself. Thanks for adding it, Ubacat!

After a long day at the Chinese consulate waiting on visa paperwork I came home and put the kettle on to give this one a go. Brewed it up with some honey and milk. I don’t know if it’s the exhaustion from finals week talking but this is one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth.

I don’t usually enjoy earl grey blends but the lavender calms down the bergamot. It has much less of a citrus bite which makes it a silky smooth tea. If you dig floral notes this is the one for you. Delicious!

I am fairly new to tea drinking, but I love this one so much! It has a beautiful rich green colour, a gorgeous earthy fresh scent, and the taste is awesome. It almost has a sweet, grassy taste to it. I picked this up because it was on sale and will definitely repurchase.

Mmm, this is nice! A very light, smooth cup with lots of sweet, juicy peach flavor and just a hint of jasmine floral in the aftertaste. I enjoyed this hot before bed last night, but I’m guessing it would also make a delicious iced tea!

I am a complete newbie when it comes to Pu-erh. I’m at a loss. It is almost intimidating to start down that road. But after having this, I think I want to start that trek.

The earthy tones that came out where fantastic. And the cinnamon added a sweetness to it. I really enjoyed this and drank it fast. I’m excited now to try some more.

Here are ramblings from my first experience. . .

http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/05/06/vanilla-mint-chai-rishi-tea/

Very pleased with this tea. It comes with an oversized wrapper that makes for a good place to set the bag between steeps. Within you’ll find a reasonable roomy satchet full of choppy bits of flavorful sencha along with a modest sprinkling of matcha.

I like it. It’s not the most complex sencha I’ve had, but it has a pleasant vegetable taste that responds very well to a little bit of sweetener, making this an extremely comfortable tea for me. On the first steep you may find this getting a bit bitter and astringent towards the bottom at the matcha sits there doing its thing long after the bag is removed, and while I’d rather say the flavor got deeper, bitter and astringent is a bit more on target.

All in all, this is an excellent bagged tea that isn’t at all overpriced. Oh, and regarding the super green, it is pretty darn attractive.