Silk Road Teas

Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box

Malty, bready goodness. I steeped this cup all day (about 5 steeps.) Another lovely black that I am happy to have tried. :)

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #5
These “red pearls” are some of the twistiest and shiniest leaves I’ve seen yet. They seem more like snails rather than pearls though. They actually remind me of the new version of Zen’s Phoenix Pearls. Silky rather than fuzzy. The flavor is phenomenal. This brew that looks like a cup of coffee has smokey notes and the flavor profile of a keemun. Two great steeps of bittersweet chocolate here! I barely got any sleep last night, so this was a teabox winner.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// few minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Dry leaf aroma: Lychee, dusky grape, slight floral undertone.
Dry leaf appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/_RgfGBlcMe/

Wet leaf aroma: Slightly musty with suggestions of Lychee.
Wet leaf appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/_Rgo7eFcMt/

Preparation: Brewed western style in a ceramic infuser mug.

First steeping: 3 minutes at 212 degrees. 
The hot infusion smells wonderfully of lychee with a delicate undertone of grapes and roses. White hot, the liquor has a dominate essence of lychee and a suggestion of sugary rose. As the cup cools, notes of hibiscus mingle with the lychee and the floral undertone is less pronounced. This tea lingers pleasantly on the palate and I think it would be wonderful chilled.

Beorhthraefn included a sample of this in the Secret Pumpkin package. Thank you! Brewed in an infuser mug. Steeping times 1 minute, 2, 4, 8.

Steeping this Western style doesn’t yield anything complex, unfortunately. Full body, clear liquor. Sweet and vegetal. In the aromas and liquor, I discerned notes of sauteed dark green vegetables with red onion. This was a new experience, purple maocha. I wasn’t really taken with it, but at the bare minimum it is drinkable. Also, I do love eating kale with red onion or broccoli rabe.

Beorhthraefn included a sample of this in the Secret Pumpkin package. Thank you!

Brewed in an infuser mug. Steeping times 2 minutes, 4, 8.

This is a Tie Guan Yin. The light green liquor has a creamy texture and medium body, and is powerfully floral with a juicy peach aftertaste. In spite of the previous comment, it has a light, sunny feel. I feel so-so about lightly oxidized Chinese oolongs, but this one was enjoyable.

Another one from Nicole, thanks! I’m not sure if this is the correct tea to post this under. The package says Yunnan Gold but that doesn’t seem to fit any of these Silk Road Teas on Steepster correctly. These leaves are gorgeous, a nice amber gold. The cup is darker than I would expect from such light leaves (the color of the brew actually looks like coffee rather than an amber color), but sadly not as distinct as I would like in flavor. It’s just a solid black tea… not really any flavor notes that stand out. Nothing I dislike, just not unique enough when I’d like to drink a black tea.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 15 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 4 minute steep

Here’s Hoping TTB R5 #1

The Here’s Hoping TTB arrived on my door step a couple of days ago and I must admit I am completely intimidated by it, it’s GINORMOUS!!! I’ve never seen a 9 pound travelling tea box before, I mean that’s the size of a healthy new born baby not a tea box!!! Thankfully someone, I suspect flyawaybirdie, has sorted out and bagged the tea by type which makes tacking this GARGANTUAN box a little more user friendly… Thank you!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate it!!

I decided to start with the straight blacks, because, well hello, straight blacks!! Sniffing a couple of the packets this one immediately stood out to me, it smells insanely delicious, super malty with a touch of tobacco. Brewing it up, it definitely delivers, its slightly smoky but not overwhemingly, a little malty, and has a touch of sweetness at the end of the sip that makes it very enjoyable.

I may have to have another cup of this before it goes back into this BEHEMOTH TTB for the next person to enjoy.

Finally got around to trying this tea that LP gave me with an actual kettle and stove on hand. What I got: smokey, leathery, thick, and sweet. It almost stuck to the roof of my mouth. This is my first Black Gunpowder tea and I prefer this one way more than green versions of it, but I slightly prefer oolong versions. I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. A good breakfast or afternoon tea during the winter. I tasted very little astringency and brewed this over and over. Would recommend generally, not highly. Honestly best for black tea lovers, and for those who like more masculine profiles.

This is a pretty good herbal blend to have for the evening. It’s minty but I also can pick up the lemongrass along with it. I can also detect nettle. It blends nicely with the peppermint and lemongrass and if I wasn’t familiar with nettle I wouldn’t know it was there. It seems like it’s the nettle keeping the peppermint from being too sharp. I think the lemongrass should be just a tad stronger though. It seems to fade a bit in some sips.

Overall, a pleasant tea but I have everthing in my cupboard to make this tea myself.

This is another sample from Beorhthraefn. Thank you!

I love Golden Monkey, and I am pretty sure this is a golden monkey or it is very similar. My second all time favorite tea. Always a nice pleasant cup. Slightly sweet, slightly malty, smooth and golden perfection. Good cup for a stressful afternoon.

These pearls are very tiny and really dark. I brewed this western and it has a very nice copper color to it. The pearls really expand. The taste is very smokey and woody, which lingers in your mouth for a while, with a slight sweetness to it. Pretty decent black (red) tea.

Thanks for sending this along, Nicole! I was hoping this would be like Laoshan Green (my favorite) and it is a little like it, though this is a yellow tea. The leaves look more like feathery crumbles that are breaking apart than the sturdy and silky coiled Laoshan leaves. But the nutty flavor from my favorite green teas is there. It’s also fairly fruity and sweet. A teaspoon and a half might be a little too much, but it didn’t ruin the flavor with too much astringency.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 min a.b. // 2 min

great cup to start the day. A little late getting started today but who cares..it’s still a holiday! wootwoot! thanks for sharing this one with me nicole. it’s a tasty one

Thank you nicole this is another tasty black. Just reaffirms how much I find black teas enjoyable. They always seem to do right by me, even if they’re not perfect. I’m going to enjoy this one again soon, maybe once the dog is gone.

I ordered this for my partner about 2 months ago and just got on this website and now am reveiwing it.

Long story short, DRINK IT! It is very good and tastes like butter, smooth and a bit sweet. THe color is dark and I brewed it for about 2 minutes at a big pot on the stove, without letting it boil though. I ended up liking it so much I made it again with milk and agave, which was perfect for this tea.

I enjoyed this sample a lot. It is very thick, dark, and sweet. It has a lot of hay note and molasses. Definitely good for a morning cup. I did not add milk, but I imagine it could take it well.

I added a lot of leaves-perhaps 8 grams at most to an 8 ounce cup. It was very floral and again nectar like. I was able to brew it seven solid times, but that was due to the sheer amount of leaves I used. This tea was awesome with so many leaves, which is a shame. If it were stronger, I think this would have been a much better tea. Overall-too faint with ordinary steeping parameters, but good with liberal use of tea leaves.

Tasted like a Tie Guan Yin, which it is. I wanted a little bit more power, though I tasted the honey and nectar element to it. Again, the serving size was too small on my part. Overall, smooth, thick mouth feel and more honey with little bits of floral. I’ll come back to this one like with the others I’ve had recently.

So, I guess I need to figure out how to store this. This was a generous split on the Silk Road group order provided to the entire group by Liquid Proust.

I sat down tonight to try it out. I did rinse it, though I’m not sure it needed it. It has an initial scent with some smoke in it, which made me a bit nervous. But there is no smoke in the taste, whew. TBH, if I didn’t read on the site that this was a pu-erh, I’d have thought it was a green or a yellow. At 15 seconds, there is a sweet grassiness to it, clean and light. At 30 seconds, this is just more intensely grassy to me, turning to a mildly steamed grass with a bit of bitterness at the end of the sip. Others with more experience may be able to pick out more flavors. Guess I’ll put this one up and revisit it much later since it is a pu that I don’t mind so far. :)

Good as an iced tea, even if the flavor tastes a bit diluted.

Very nice. Mild, smooth, apple-y in initial steep. Second steep was a little sour but not in a bad way. The smell is very much a Fujian black though there isn’t any of the mild smoke I have gotten lately with teas from that region. Glad to have this on hand. It isn’t one I have to keep around but it will be enjoyed as an every day tea while it lasts!

Birthday tea #17

I just had to laugh when I read the description of this tea: “We hope that it will intoxicate the drinker with its sublime aroma and nuanced floral taste”

Anyways: I remember getting my portion of the group buy from Silk Roads and being disappointed because their oolong (which is what prompted me into this buy) looked pathetic. Honestly, the leaf looks puny and brittle. However, one must know that looks can mean absolutely nothing with tea; aka, pu’erh or grades of sencha. Brewing this was interesting because I’m use to high end TGY becoming some huge leaf in my teapot, but this just kind of sat there as it was; sure it opens, but it isn’t ‘large’.

Upon drinking this tea, I was happy :)
This is a TGY that has a beautiful honey nectar taste to it while providing the drinker with the floral notes that make TGY a TGY to me. Interestingly, to the best of my knowledge, is the first TGY I have drank that has a quite noticeable mouth feel. The mouth feel that come with a sweet TGY that has the floral notes… oh how wonderful a thing it is :)

This tea just goes to show that a small oolong can pack a smooth punch!

Rather special. Bold and full-bodied but not sharp.