Rishi Tea

This tea is the first organic I brought. In a word – it tasted like a flower. It tasted very refreshing without being bitter. My favorite of my collection.

SIPDOWN! thank you terriharplady for this sample. I’m kicking off the morning with this one, and will likyl be coming back to it throughout the day to ground my tastebuds. I have a number of teas i want to try from the canadian teabox so that I can get it out the door asap.

First impressions: earthy, there’s a sweetness in the background, mushroomy almost.. more to come.

Edit: Still really enjoying this over the morning and afternoon…the earthiness is sliding in to the background and the sweeter notes are coming to the front.

We made our first visit to the semi-new local Whole Foods store on Saturday. It was an interesting place with more “wholesome” food choices than your average major chain. However, if you are looking for many varieties of the good stuff, i.e., chips, cookies, and other wonderful junk food (like I ALWAYS am), Whole Foods will disappoint you.

What I liked most about Whole Foods was that they had a modest selection of loose leaf teas that I hadn’t tried yet. For this trip, I decided to purchase Rishi’s Pu-erh Classic.

My only exposure to Rishi teas up to that point was with Rishi’s Earl Grey, which is my absolute favorite Earl Grey. I was therefore quite excited to try their pu-erh selection.

When I opened the sealed freshness bag, a rich and familiar leathery aroma was released from inside. Side note: Rishi nicely provides a piece of strong tape to reseal the bag after opening.

Following Rishi’s instructions, I steeped the brown earth-colored leaves for five minutes at 212 degrees. The brewed liquor was a deep chocolate brown. There was no obvious aroma emanating from the brew.

My first sip produced an earthy, leathery, and wood-like flavor in my taste buds. The taste was smooth and defined but not strong. I did not detect any bitterness or unpleasant lingering artifacts. I also did not experience the presence of cocoa in this tea. The flavor remained at this level throughout two cups.

This is a nice pu-erh tea with good flavor. The less than robust strength of taste in my first try was my fault. I steeped my usual one TEASPOON of leaves per eight-ounce cup of water and I just noticed that Rishi’s instructions called for one TABLESPOON of leaves per eight-ounce cup of water. (I must have still been asleep at the tea maker.) I have no doubt that the flavor I experienced times three will be more than sufficient for me next time. If I remember (and that’s a HUGE if), I’ll update this tasting note after I boost the amount of leaves in my next brewing of Rishi’s Pu-erh Classic tea.

This tea is a great reason to wake up in the mornings. I started buying it without having really experienced chinese teas much, or yunnans at all. The color is beautiful, it is the perfect morning cup. I also appreciate I can steep it aa second (sometimes even a third time). This one is staying in my cupboard!

Tea #11 from Traveling Tea Box C

I went a completely different direction with this cup, because I thought I might be disappointed with another dessert tea after the Maple & Pecan Oolong.

I was admittedly nervous to dry this, though. The smell is very very strongly bergamont and lavender (The kind of strong where I could smell it brewing from across the room, with a fan blowing the opposite way strong), which I feared would make for a too-floral, kind of soapy brew.

My fear was only kind of warranted. It is definitely a potent Earl Grey. The lavender is softer and not soapy, and it balances with bergamont.

But holy man this is a strong Earl Grey. And it’s definitely a bit overpowering for my don’t-drink-much-EG tastebuds.

I ended up adding milk and an eensy bit of sugar to take things down a couple tics, and it held up astoundingly well to that. The result was a really bright, identifiably lavender-floral cup of Earl Grey that I could drink all day with the add-ins.

obviously tastes like jasmine. good tea, but it isn’t something i would drink regularly.

my first loose green tea, and i was disappointed (i think the ladies know what i’m talking about ;)). bland and doesn’t steep for many sessions.

this was a sample from ShortSorceress, thank you very much.

i have a few gaps in my tea repertoire— white teas is one of those. i have discovered as i navigate the curve that while i usually inhabit a happy grey no man’s land, that in this instance i tend to be very black or white. rather unpredictably so as well.

opening the bag the unmistakable smell of tea roses was clear. tea roses, for me, have always been the most beautiful in terms of scent. the idea of a white tea with a tea rose body was an excellent thought! and then i added water.

i really can’t put on finger on what the problem was, or why it began with the water, but i can tell you what it became…. incense. as i have mentioned in passing, for the most part, if it burns then i am allergic to it. so, recognizing a very dimly familiar scent was interesting! however, as it steeped the smell became more and more intense.

i had misgivings, but i’ve been surprised by teas before, so i forged ahead— 5 sips. guilt GUILT i can go no further! liquid incense and i do not get on!

no numbers on this one, it’s my aversion to incense.

Thank you, Short Sorceress, for giving me the opportunity to try this tea! It wasn’t quite to my tastes, but I had a wonderful time with research, reviews, and figuring out how to format the first face/off for my Battle of the Earl Greys blog project.

I’m not going to rate this one right now. I followed all the directions on the sachet’s package, but it was bitter and tasted somehow burnt. If I had more I would experiment with it a bit to dial in a better cup, but I’m not going to pay for a package to find out. It was just not inspiring enough for me to justify the expense.

You can read the full review here:
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2013/08/earl-grey-by-rishi-tea.html

And you can see how it measured up in the first Battle of the Earl Greys face/off by following the link below. I would appreciate any suggestions or comments you may have. Thank you!
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2013/08/rishis-earl-grey-vs-victorian-earl-grey.html

PLEASE NOTE: NO, YOU ARE NOT READING DOUBLE… I POSTED THIS UNDER DELLA TERRA ORIGINALLY BECAUSE I WAS EXHAUSTED. SORRY FOLKS!

this tea was very well done! my experience with peach teas have not been abundantly successful— most of them have tasted like the peaches you accidentally drop kicked at the grocery store (fermented) or like tobacco (i don’t smoke and even if i did i don’t want it in tea). i was also dubious that peach and oolong would pair well… but ShortSorceress and i have similar tastes and this was a sample she included in our mammoth swap recently, so of course i was going to try it!

what i didn’t know was that ShortSorceress has friends in high places… see she called the people at rishi and told them about our awesome exchange. rishi were very sporting.. they explained that they had a store of peaches that they stashed in sawdust in boxes that they kept on the top shelf of their most protected vault (the one with the 200 alpha-numeric access code) for just such auspicious occasions.

this tea is the perfect peach. it is precisely ripened from inside the confines of the super secret rishi vault, it is beautifully balanced with the oolong (neither overpowering the other), and it is confident in its presence with strength in subtlety… like bruce lee and his one inch punch. i never would have bought it for myself… that ShortSorceress is one savvy lady!!!

everything i have said tea-wise is absolutely true, and all the rest? you’ll have to find the rishi vault and climb up to the top shelf to prove me a story teller.

My day started when I went outside to water my plants and discovered that something had clogged the spout of my watering pot. Eventually, I managed to flush the blockage out – caterpillars. A mass of at least a dozen in different sizes combined with either mud or caterpillar goo.

I’ll admit it could be worse – I was fearing it would be a hornet or wasp (as we seem to have a problem with… one of those. I get the confused but the husband has already been stung once.) But still, a wad of caterpillars in my watering pot is not how I wanted to start my morning. Of course, the stray that we took in earlier this week is on antibiotics so her litter box time is… explosive. After cleaning that up, I would so rather go back to the caterpillars.

I need tea. Lots of tea. In a pretty little cup. So I grabbed this one, another new tea that I picked up at the store Tuesday. I needed tea so badly that I skipped the sniffing and went straight to the drinking.

I like Yunnans. They taste a bit like straw to me, but I dunno, I kind of find that groovy. Malt, too, but that’s been a newish flavor for me since I’ve never been one for malted anything so it’s not always the first thing I pick up. It is in this though. Malt then hay with a fruit sweetness that reminds me of my dad’s fig preserves. It’s exactly what it says on the tin (okay, box, it came in a box): “Malty and rich with a mellow, jammy sweetness and subtle accents of plum and raisin.” Again, I get more fig preserves, but fig, plum, preserves, jam. Whatever.

The flavors are a tad bit muddied but then I don’t find that unusual for a Yunnan (unless it is something expensive like Samovar’s Yunnan Golden Buds). There’s a starchy, textured feel to the tea that makes it feel thick and kind of cuddly. Definitely a comforting tea. Which is good for any day that starts with wads of caterpillars.

Just a (hopefully) quick note: you know how some teas taste differently when you make a big cup vs a small cup? Same g/oz, water temp, time, etc but the amount of water just seems to change how the tea tastes? This is one of them!

Previously I had made 8oz but this morning I did 12oz. Much oomphier – darkly fruity (like a black plum), a tad woody (but not a dry twig way, more of a delicately edging towards malt way), spicy (white pepper and cinnamon, perhaps?), very minty/mentholated end note and some light honey mixed in.

Really rich, really good. I liked it in a smaller cup before, but I kind of love it in a big one.

Moving is insane. Or else I am for thinking it was a good idea. It’s been two weeks since we closed on our house and a week and a half since we actively started the move. Pretty much everything is moved out of the old house (save some Christmas decorations and stuff we are going to yard sale) but the new house is in a bit of disarray. It’s now a there-are-things-on-flat-surfaces-that-don’t-go-there instead of the earlier we-are-walking-through-a-maze-of-boxes disarray, so that’s good, right?

Anyway, the big reason for this move was to get us closer to civilization (and to have more yard so we can get a pool). Of course, moving closer to things means I get (have?) to adjust the stores I go to. I still get to go to my frou-frou grocery store, just a different location of the chain. Naturally, when I was there yesterday, I had to stop by the tea section. Where I found this.

Honestly, I got this tea because I had no idea what it was. I mean, “normal” tea companies aren’t exactly the most forthcoming with what type of black tea something is. If it’s not a Darjeeling or sometimes an Assam, they just say “Chinese black” (assuming it is from China, of course). Usually you can get a clue as to what the tea is based on what they call it or the notes they say it is suppose to have. This one, though, no idea. Add to confusion, turns out it is from Taiwan. Huh.

Upon pulling the bag out of the box, I saw a little sticker that said this was Hong Yue tea. Color me still clueless. Which is actually kind of fun. Tea adventure in the midst of moving insanity. A nice distraction.

The smell of the dry leaf is musty and fruity. Not so much musty like a dirty attic, but rather a faint musky note that isn’t pungent enough to be labeled truly musky. There’s some note of fruit in there that I can’t place – not the typical plum or grape or anything. Maybe an mild plum like one of the yellow & red spotted ones with the white flesh. (I normally go for the stronger dark plums so forgive my lack of mild plum knowledge.)

The taste is very nice. Not as oomphy as I was expecting (I was mentally prepared for something like a Yunnan or Tan Yang) but once I adjusted my expectations a bit, I think this is very nice. Mild with some nice fruity notes and a good, mentholated clean note at the end that is sweet enough to go towards the wintergreen mentioned in the tasting notes but gives me the warmer feeling of camphor. There’s a sweet almost spicy note to it. Not overly strong like pepper but yeah, cloves or allspice are both viable options. Or maybe a spice mix – a clove, some mild cinnamon and a tiny hint of orange zest?

Regardless, it’s very nice. More of an afternoon sipper than the morning tea I cracked it open for, but it has made me adjust my goals for today. I no longer feel a manic, pressing need to get stuff done. I’m much more zen about the insanity of what remains now. Maybe I will ignore the mess (since a lot of it is waiting on the husband to install some shelves) and instead do some laundry and ironing.

Does it sound weird that I now what to try a different Hong Yue? I mean, when I think of Rishi, I don’t normally think of wow, super-fresh and unusual teas. Nothing against Rishi, I actually think they do a good job with quality of teas for providing tea on such a large scale. Of the brands commonly available in retail outlets, I think Rishi is one of the best (I also like LPdT, but I don’t think that’s a “typical” retail thing.) But now I want to try a Hong Yue from a smaller vendor. Anyone have suggestions?

I had been saving the last of this for a day when I wasn’t feeling well, and today is that day. I’ve had an upset stomach for the last few days and a ginger tea is just what right now. This reminds me a bit of some of the teas from Yogi that I drank all through school. I love that the lemon isn’t the prevailing flavor here since I’m not a big fan and that the licorice and ginger stand out. I’m also excited that this doesn’t have cinnamon in it like many Ayurvedic blends. I love them, but I tend to avoid them since the baby and I are both allergic to cinnamon.

didn’t enjoy this tea. bland, bitter, and loses its “flavor” after the second infusion.

This is my favorite tea of all teas! Gentle but robust. Smooth and mellow. This is the tea I recommend to all non-Green tea drinkers as the inherent sweetness makes it a delight to drink! Plus, I have the added benefit of supporting a local company. :)

I was surprised to find a place that served loose leaf tea at La Guardia airport, so of coursee I had to try the place out. Worldbean carries a small but nice variety of Rishi teas. I really liked the sceent of the liquor of this tea, which was a nice, creamy coconut. The oolong base was not the best I’ve had, but still a fairly smooth and creamy oolong with lots of fresh, light green undertones. Not bad for an airport!

This tea is amazing. I am new to Pu-erh teas, and love the earthy tones of the tea. The strong, almost coffee tones and strong mint change considerably to a light tone with a bit of cream. I’m certainly not British, but this tea was made for cream, I think. This tea makes me feel all at ease.

I was given a sample packet of this tea by my local coffee shop. This is the first puerh blend from Rishi that I’ve ever had where I could taste the puerh. What’s funny about that is what it’s blended with is quite strong. The ginger is spicy, but I can taste the leather and earth of the puerh. It even coats my tounge like a real puerh. So I’m drinking puerh and doing ginger shots, I like multi-tasking.