Rishi Tea

Backlog:

A yummy, invigorating chai, although I disagree with the word ‘chai’ for this particular tea, because even though I know that ‘chai’ means ‘tea’ … to me, ‘chai’ means a spiced tea, and usually one with at least three of the four usual suspects: ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. This only has cardamom.

OK, so it also has other spices/herbs: dandelion root, long pepper, and vanilla. Plus it has cacao nibs. So, even though this isn’t a chai in my own definition of the word chai, I will not be angry with this tea as it has cacao nibs. This is one of those ingredients that when added to a tea, I’m likely to forgive many things. What can I say, I’m a hopeless chocoholic.

I like the way the earthiness of the pu-erh and yerba mate accentuates the earthy qualities of the chocolate here.

A very enjoyable blend. I like the way the coconut, vanilla and chocolate play together here, it’s really yummy.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/28/organic-chocolate-chai-tea-blend-rishi-tea/

-Preface
I’m still getting to know Pu-Erh, shu and sheng, I have only tried about half a dozen different teas over the last few months .
-Review
The dry leaf smells sweet and inviting, nothing like the first Pu erh I tried by adagio which smelled fishy. I rinse twice and Gongfu style I get rich smooth oily chocolately notes and Western brew I get earthy, bold, coffesque richness. As with other pue erhs I get a really unique buzz and of course the stomach gurgles.
-Soapbox
Overall my favorite shu to date( rishi’s tuo cha are actually second) and at $8/50g a price you cant beat not to mention it’s organic(not that organic means its better quality but it certainly isn’t a bad thing) since Im just starting in pu erh and learning about how its made until I familiarize myself and can afford to drink the good stuff(which will certainly not be"certified oragnic") I like the reassurance of knowing an inspector has at least walked through the production line once.

I really like Rishi teas because their teas are always perfectly described on the box and you know for sure that you will be getting those tasting notes. This one is malty and rich with accents of plum and raisin just as the box says and it is delicious!! It doesn’t have any astringency or bitterness either.
I am really enjoying this tea and love its creamy, sweet scent too. The liquor is so dark like coffee. This is really yummy black tea!!!!

This is a delicious classic green tea. Enjoyed every cup.

This tea has a red grape peel acidity & tartness to it, followed by a lingering cacao after taste. I’ve never had a cabernet, so I can’t say if it tastes like one. It’s not a tea that appeals to me.

I’m so confused by this tea. On my box, it’s called Pu-erh Vanilla, yet has the same ingredients as Pu-erh Vanilla Mint. To make things even more bizarre, when I bought this, I almost bought Pu-erh Chocolate Chai (also Rishi), thinking it too sounded yummy, yet it ALSO had the same ingredients. Color me confused.

I do however love this tea, and have had several large cups of this the past few days. I find I’m underleafing most days though (1tb is what’s recommended), and it’s still yummy. It smells strongly of mint, only tastes faintly of it, and the chocolate is more apparent when I leaf it according to the instructions and let it sit for a while.

1st infusion 1 minute, 2nd infusion 20 seconds, 3rd infusion 50 seconds, subsequent infusions about 2 minutes

Sipdown no. 19 of 2023 (no. 677 total).

I should have reread my earlier notes before making this my take it to work tea because for the last little bit of this, I reverted to my old ways and steeped as I would any other green tea. Because I had totally forgotten this one needed to be treated differently to bring out its best.

My prior notes say that even with the special treatment it is a subtle tea, but I could have treated it better.

Oh well.

In revisiting this, I must first point out that I misread the package, which clearly states that you should use one TABLESPOON of tea to 8 oz of water. I used a teaspoon, but one of those ones from David’s that is really bigger than a regular teaspoon but still not as big as a tablespoon.

So I’m starting from the right amount of tea, or perhaps a bit more, this time.

Second, I’m steeping hotter. I bumped the temp to the recommended 180, only a 5 degree difference, but Rishi’s instructions are very adamant that while one is free to vary the time, one should never vary the temperature. Apparently I was a bad girl on two counts the first time.

Third, I’m steeping a minute longer. Four minutes didn’t turn the tea into a wretched mess of bitterness, and so I’m going to be brave and try the minimum recommended steeping time, 5 minutes.

I spend so much of my time telling my kids to follow directions, you’d think I would have it down myself by now.

Directions are meant to be followed in this case. I get what the other notes mean when they say corn. There’s a hint of corn in the aroma and in the flavor. I get a lot less sweet and a lot less butter steeped at this temperature and time but it’s not bitter. I get the pine nut flavor, too.

It’s still a fairly light, subtle flavor even when steeped according to directions, but it’s got much more character this way.

It’s definitely different among green teas, many of which have lately been very tasty but very much the same to me—either cooked buttery vegetable or cut hay-grass variations.

This one isn’t either of those. It’s in a category by itself, which makes it somewhat hard to rate. I think I still need to do some work to get the best flavor out of it, but I could definitely see drinking this regularly. I give it a solid excellent mark in its own little category. It’s not to the crack level for me, but it has attributes that I admire in teas and particularly green teas, namely that I don’t think it’s something I would get sick of easily.

I don’t think I’ve ever steeped a green tea for this long since my first really awful attempts to steep green tea before I started reading about teas and their various needs. But every single tasting note about this tea indicates at least a 4 minute steep time and Rishi recommends even longer. So I’m giving it a try at 4, figuring the worst that can happen is I get a really bitter, undrinkable mess and I just try again. I’m keeping the temp low, though Rishi recommends 185.

And miracle of miracles, it’s not bitter at all. But I’m not getting as much flavor as I’d hoped for reading others’ notes. I’m not worried, though. I figure I can try a higher temp and/or use gram weight rather than a spoon as I may have underleafed. Then again, it could just be that this is old. It was in a sealed packet, but even so.

I get grass/hay scent from the packet, a butter-vegetal aroma, and a sweet, vaguely floral green flavor. There’s some nuttiness in the after sip, though not very strong,

Not rating for now. I think I can do better with this.

I absolutely love the taste of lavender and yet it is a surprisingly rare flavor to come by in foods and drinks. Short of buying a bottle of lavender bitters or using dried lavender itself to flavor other foods, there aren’t many options out there for lavender lovers. This tea from Rishi is exactly what I wanted, and, not to discredit other people’s reviews, but unless you think lavender just tastes soapy in general, there is nothing soapy about this tea. The lavender scent is strong, but the flavor is delicate. It pairs wonderfully with the bergamot and both are equally pronounced.

There is no bitterness to this tea, though I specifically bought this to use as an iced tea and I sweeten it with simple syrup, so that may make a difference as opposed to preparing it hot. I used the suggestions on the package of 1 tablespoon of tea per 8 oz of water, steeping for 4 minutes and it was perfect. Since I made it iced though, I actually used half the amount of hot water and the same amount of leaf, that way when I iced it down immediately after brewing some of the ice melted and diluted it to the right consistency.

At the time of writing this review, this tea is also certified organic, so that’s a plus.

I’m normally not a huge fan of green tea, but this is one of the few teas we have at work so I thought I’d give it a try this morning. To my surprise, it’s pretty good. I only steeped the tea for about 2 minutes and I found that was the perfect amount. It’s slightly sweet and orangy (I know that’s not a word but bear with me) with a floral aftertaste and no bitterness! This isn’t my favorite tea but it’s the best available at my work!

Finally a straight green tea that does not taste grassy. At all. Tastes almost exactly like silver needle or Phoenix dan cong

I grabbed a bit of this from the bulk section in Whole Foods and it has been kicking around for a while until today. My sinuses are a bit stuffy, so I’m not tasting as well as normal, but I got ZERO matcha flavor from this. When they say sweet, they mean it and sweet is about all I got from this. It seems more like a matcha with training wheels or arm floaties to get you to step into the matcha water. It just doesn’t do it for me.

-Preface
I unfortunately reserved this “Reserve Tea” for a few years so I may not have the freshest notes. I kept it in the shipping box for a few years and the final few months sealed in my refrigerator
-Review
Scissor harvested vibrant green because is was slow grinded(pale/yellow color indicates “cooking” of matcha do to heat from friction of high speed grinding) on a mill is quoted at only grinding 3-5 kg/day. Sweet enough to make thin style usucha (2g to 2.5 oz water) matcha. A great matcha if you can afford it. L-theanine to boot (usually I fell hyped after matcha this knocked me on my butt, my world literally slowed down) but relatively low caffeine which was shocking I am used to other matchas being super high in energy, a possible reasoning may be first flush quality japanese tea are lower in caffeine (bitter) but high in amino acids leading to a sweeter taste.

Roasty Toasty Graham crackers come to mind with a hint of caramel, less mineral taste(what wuyi are known for) than other wuyi’s but still a great toasty oolong. Short and simple Im a fan of this one and at less than $5/oz I think its a great staple to keep in mind as a daily wuyi, but no means is this a home only reserve but for the price I think its got everything one could want in a wuyi.

Still can not get over this tea I had it again this morning in an effort to deplete my stash so I can open my recent Eco Cha order(Purchased some of their version as well). Western brew does not do it justice, it completely changes over multiple infusions and when I say changes I mean first it is brisk with a hint of warming cinnamon spiciness, then next it’s sweet up front like a date, after it transforms into a winter green/menthol/camphor cooling experience.

The quality of the leaf is impeccable as well, the infusibility is through the roof, a benchmark for what hong cha can and should be. I did not take black tea as seriously as oolongs or pu ers until now.

THE most complex and unique black tea I have tasted to date. Perfecting my steeping time and dry leaf ratio, still can not believe what difference in opinion I have have from the first time I tried this one. I highly recommend Gongfu steeping this guy as I mentioned it is even more complex than most oolongs I have had and that is quite a feat.

7g dry leaf 100mL gaiwan

Boiled 500 ml of water and just used the same water without reheating for all brews
Quick rinse (as long as it takes me to scoop out impurity bubbles)

1st (<60 sec)
sweet raisin, slight dry spicy cinnamon bite and menthol after taste

2nd(100 sec)
sweet spice is the dominant taste with the cooling menthol also becoming more noticeable

3rd(120 sec)
Wintergreen coming through into the foreground strong, spice fades out and sweetness of a dried date lingers in the background

4th(2 min)
Playful minty brisk bite with a smooth finish

Tai Cha #18 is quite an experience I am excited to try other garden’s Red Ruby and hats off to the Taiwan Tea Institute for this varietal.

The most complex black tea I have ever tasted(not to mention super high quality deep ruby red purple whole un broken leaves), it develops almost like an oolong over multiple fast gongfu steepings. First a whisper of cinnamon spice then fruity like a date or raison then the winter green/minty taste creeps in and has a cooling effect.

The first time I brewed it western style in my gaiwan for 2 mins and it tasted of super strong camphor in a bad way. This is my second tasting/review and this time around I brewed it differently but also the dry leaf didn’t smell as strong either. The taiwanese pack their teas for extreme freshness, in a completely air free sealed foil(all my jade and high mt oolong came in these rock hard foil bags) and I maybe crazy but every taiwanese tea has tasted the strongest (whether for good or bad) upon that first opening. This review comes the day after I opened and im glad I gave this a second chance. Also excited to log more once ive experimented with steeping times.

So far I can recommend 4g dry leaf to 100 ml 195 degree water in a gaiwan 1 min steeping increasing by 30 seconds after 2-3 steepings (this flavor profile is way to unique for a yixing unless you plan on dedicating it to this tea).

Camphor and Menthol are definitely the notes I get in a big way and I am not sure if I like that in my tea. Don’t get me wrong this is one of the highest quality leaf I’ve seen and the buzz I got off this one was epic. I will try to mess around with steeping times or maybe let it grow on me. Im bound to make myself like it which is why I’m holding off on a numerical rating until I get it right. Hate to say it but at the moment it reminds me of Vicks Vapo rub or a Ricola throat lozenge.

Back log, finally tasted the cold brew by accident because I did not want to discard leaves after only two steepings. Strangely enough the real flavor came through a little more, usually I am burning my tongue because the water is to water from short steepings so I do not always taste the actual subtitles of the tea so it was nice to be able to take a big swig. This is my favorite gao shan so far flavor profile wise, it is not as floral as a jade or a TGY and not as sweet as an ali shan so it seems to be somewhere in the middle which is nice because too much in either direction is one dimensional

Upped the gram used this time around getting to the bottom of my bag at this point in an effort to use up all my green(oolong) tea before this year harvest. Using about 7g in my 100 mL gaiwan and this time around it got even more intense. Before when I was following the steeping time rishi suggested it was always a bit light and vicious, now when I quit being so frugal I really got what this tea is all about. The body is heavy still on the lighter side but it was super watery before, also the subtle nuances before more pronounced. It is smooth like a jade and super floral but sweet floral instead of bitter floral like rose petals or jasmine can get.

I only got about two steepings in before I had to stop I am super tea drunk lol, calm and floating type feeling even though I woke up fairly stressed due to personal things. Who needs prozac when we have Gao Shan Cha, I can’t drink anymore at the moment especially since I have a busy day but it’s too good to toss….. Maybe cold brew the rest? lets see what happens.