Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

Sipdown (209)

Thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing. I am finishing this up and all the chocolate bits from the bottom of the package ended up in this mug so while it is fudgey, it is also a bit flat.

I brewed up a small cup of this and it smelled amazingly chocolatey. Unfortunately, I got caught up with a bunch of things and this was left to cool completely. Cold, it is a bit like dirt tbh so I will definitely be waiting to rate this for when I try it hot. Thank you Evol Ving Ness for the share though and I look forward to trying this properly because if the smell is any indication, it has potential.

Sipdown (372)

Thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing this. I drank it Saturday with lemon honey. It tasted a little bit like ginger, a little bit like chamomile, and a little lemony. Mostly I felt like death and my tastebuds were shot but the warmth was soothing.

When I steeped this up, I expected exactly the same thing as what DTs delivers, or used to deliver. And nope. I don’t know how much of this is due to whatever is going on with my tastebuds and this flu-like thing that I have developed. I am not getting that beautiful tart berry thing accompanied by a bit of creaminess, but rather a kind of generic red herbal. It’s ok, but very whatever.

Strawberry oolong. Sort of berry. Sort of floral. And ultimately just not a whole lot of anything. It tastes nice enough but it’s nothing special. Nonetheless it was fun to try so thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing :)

Predictable and delightful, if you like the combination of pure hibiscus and rosehips, which I do.

I’m been falling back alot on these lately, just because I have a bag at hand, and really, it’s a staple, I should just move it to a tin next time I restock. I usually don’t feel the need to review jasmine teas, they’re so normal, and this one is just about as run of the mill as most of the others. I like watching these unfurl in my steeper, and I usually resteep these a minimum of three times, for me that’s just about when they open up fully.

Today I did 1.5 tsp/16oz rather than my normal 1 tsp/16oz because I was feeling generous. The addition makes it more green tea tasting, rather than letting the floral jasmine carry the tea. It’s nice on the occasion, but the jasmine tealyra uses is nice. Its floral, but more on the sweet side of floral rather than perfume-y.

It amuses me that the package says 1tsp/8oz, the effect of that much tea/water is a bit too much for the depth of this tea, I would rather underleaf this than overleaf.

Yes, very similar to the DTs one, but this seems to me to have more vanilla cream going on, almost that of a good milk oolong. Here, the bergamot is toned down too, which is another plus. I truly dislike bergamot screeching harshly in my cup. I may prefer this over the DTs version .

And as the cup cools, I can see this blend growing on me.

Suspect that it will be over the top delicious with milk or cream.

When I moved here, this was a residential neighbourhood with low rise small businesses and familiar faces. Condo world has moved in and land is being bought up and buildings gutted. I hear fresh construction and new excavation equipment hammering away at the ground next door. Now what, now what. Ugh.

Need tea.

Thank you Evol Ving Ness for the share! I tried this iced and though it was enjoyable enough and had a nice dessert vibe to it, I don’t know if I got pie and I definitely got far less tartness than I expected from a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie tea.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/10/12/strawberry-rhubarb-pie-from-tealyra/

When it comes to Taiwanese oolongs, I sometimes get the impression that unflavored Jin Xuan oolongs may get a little overlooked. I just don’t see them as frequently as I see their flavored counterparts. Of the four Jin Xuan oolongs I have tried from Tealyra in the last year, this is the only one that was unflavored. I found it to be a light, approachable oolong that would work well as an introduction to unflavored Jin Xuan.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 12 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced mild aromas of spinach, grass, seaweed, and cream. After the rinse, I found new aromas of butter, vanilla, and sugarcane backed by a hint of orchid. The first infusion introduced a hint of citrus on the nose. In the mouth, the liquor offered mild notes of seaweed, cream, butter, spinach, and grass underscored by ghostly impressions of vanilla and orchid. Subsequent infusions brought out stronger vanilla and orchid notes as well as impressions of Asian pear, lettuce, daylily blossoms, orange zest, daylily shoots, and minerals. The sugarcane also showed up in the mouth around this time. The later infusions were heavy on mineral and cream notes, though traces of daylily, lettuce, seaweed, spinach, and butter were still detectable.

Overall, this tea was not bad. It was more vegetal than expected, but honestly, there was not much of anything that struck me as being off or out-of-place. I would not call this the best unflavored Jin Xuan in the world, but one could do far worse than reaching for this when one is in the mood for such a tea. I wouldn’t make it a regular or anything like that, but I wouldn’t caution others to avoid it either. Try this tea if you are looking for an accessible and affordable unflavored Jin Xuan.

Really tasty white tea. If you have had a good moonlight white tea before, you know what you are going to be getting with this tea. A little earthy, a little sweetness. Solid overall.

Sipdown (335)

Chocolate on chocolate. This did not need to be made as a chocolate milk latte since there is clearly a great deal of chocolate here. Alas there is also licorice root here and it is quite cloying. Still this was fun to try so thank you Evol Ving Ness for the share!

Sipdown

Thank you for sharing Evol Ving Ness but it seems I was not destined to enjoy this tea. I iced it twice and the first time it got left in the fridge and forgotten until someone dumped it and the second time I chugged it while drowning in work and deadlines. I remember hibiscus and not much else. Sorry this sample was wasted on me.

I’m still plowing through some of the oolongs I acquired earlier in the year and toward the end of last year. This was one of them and I have to say that to this point in my life, this was the absolute worst oolong of this type I have tried. Normally, Four Season oolongs are very floral, sweet, smooth, and pleasant, but this one was thin and watery with an uneven mix of flavors and little staying power.

I gongfued this tea. After a flash rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 12 additional infusions that I had to more or less force myself to get through. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced subtle aromas of sugarcane, violet, and orchid. After the rinse, new aromas of cream, butter, vanilla, and grass were revealed. The first proper infusion more fully brought out the floral character on the nose. In the mouth, the liquor offered hints of grass and spinach on the entry before giving way to subtler hints of cream, butter, vanilla, sugarcane, and orchid. Subsequent infusions brought out vanilla and spinach on the nose and violet in the mouth. I also discovered notes of green apple, Asian pear, lettuce, lily, lilac, seaweed, and minerals. There was a slight graininess to these middle infusions as well. It seemed more than a bit out of place in a tea like this. I noted that the floral aromas had a tendency of turning pungent before suddenly fading, leaving me with a thin, uneven, and unpleasant mix of savory, fruity, and vegetal characteristics coupled with something of a gritty graininess. The later infusions were buttery, though mineral, grass, seaweed, and lettuce notes remained in play. I could detect no lingering fruity or floral sweetness.

I may be being a bit harsh here, but I found this tea to be nothing short of a disaster. I kind of think this was a bad tea to begin with, but I also think it had started to fade by the time I got to it. I even noticed that the leaves looked a bit weird when I first opened the pouch, as the dry leaves were an unusually bright, dusty green. In terms of aroma and flavor, there was surprising complexity, but none of it ever came together and there was little depth. A horribly uneven drinking experience and also a flat-out bad one, I would recommend that curious drinkers pass on this tea. There are plenty of better Four Season oolongs on the market. In my opinion, What-Cha, Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company, Taiwan Tea Crafts, and Floating Leaves Tea all offer much better examples of this type of tea.

I have to start cleaning out the backlog again. Fortunately, it’s not nearly as bad as it was in September and the first part of the month. I was starting to make good progress on it, but being out of state and also not having consistent internet access for a couple days put me a little behind schedule. Anyway, I purchased this tea shortly before Tealyra discontinued it. I know virtually nothing about it. I don’t know what the leaf grade was supposed to be and I have no clue what the date of harvest was. I went into this one not knowing what to expect. I found it to be oddly mild for an Assam. I could not determine whether it was due to the tea being a bit stale or it just being naturally mild.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped one teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves emitted mild aromas of prunes, figs, red apples, and spices. After infusion, I picked up on stronger red apple and prune scents as well as emerging aromas of malt and wood. On the palate, I noted somewhat muted flavors of cream, malt, oatmeal, wood, toast, caramel, anise, nutmeg, prune, fig, clove, red apple, and molasses. The finish was short, smooth, creamy, and malty. There were some lingering red apple and spice flavors once the cream and malt notes began to recede.

I’m not certain this tea was all that stale. I figure that it was a bit on the old side, but it seemed to have a little too much life left in it to be all that stale. Maybe this was a very mild Assam. I’m still not entirely sure. I enjoyed the aromas and flavors the tea offered, but they just came across as being weak and somewhat flat. Overall, I suppose this was not really a bad tea, just a somewhat boring, overly timid one that was not representative of most Assam black teas.

Picked this up from a Steepster stash sale and it turned out to be a good one. Being a flavored milk oolong, the milkiness is definitely assertive but not cloying or fake. The tea has a pleasant aroma of cream and dairy. Taste matches the aroma exactly. A soothing, creamy milk flavor that lasts through many steeps. Eventually the milkiness fades into the background and the tea becomes fruity and sweet.

The milk flavor is natural and doesn’t clash with tea’s own flavor. Not much else left to say except this a simple yet incredibly smooth and delicious tea.

The brewed fragrance is a strong orange oil (maybe even tangerine oil) scent. The brewed tea is a rich orange brown – a pretty color I don’t usually see. The very hot brew is kind of a one-note, but as it cools a bit, I pick up more flavors and they are better balanced. Slightly bitter but not astringent; definitely more of an orange peel than a juicy orange taste; jasmine is definitely present, and there is a nice underlying tea flavor. IIt leaves a very clean taste in my mouth, too. think I like this one, although it won’t be a repurchase. (I think it’s probably a very good tea, I just tend to like other ones better.)

This sounded so good! Chai and oolong, two of my favorite flavors! And my favorite chai “flavor” is usually cardamom, which is listed 3rd in the ingredients, so I should be happy, right? Nope. This has a light chai scent, and it tastes like boiled water. There is a faint, faint cinnamon taste if I try to find it, and an almost green tea flavor (equally faint). I brewed according to directions, and used twice as much tea than it called for, but nope.

Sometimes I buy a tea just because I think there is something up with the way it is marketed. When I saw this tea on Tealyra’s website, I was immediately confused and intrigued. Huang Shan is located in China’s Anhui Province, but this oolong was marketed as being produced in Taiwan. I figured I was either missing something or that something did not quite add up, so I bought the tea and set about doing a little research. It turns out that there is an area in Taitung County, Taiwan popularly referred to as “Little Huang Shan,” or more properly as Xiao Huang Shan, just outside of Beinan Township. Further exploration revealed the presence of the Jia Fang Tea Plantation nearby. Apparently, it is pretty popular with tourists to the area and is mostly known for a lightly oxidized strip style oolong similar to the more familiar Wenshan Baozhong. If you search for images of Jia Fang products, you will most likely immediately stumble upon the same image I found-a very green loose leaf oolong packaged in a green box with a cartoonish smiling person on the side. I would be surprised if this were not the same tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was chased by 12 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves offered gentle aromas of cream, custard, honeysuckle, and hyacinth. After the rinse, I found new aromas of gardenia, butter, vanilla, violet, and lilac. The first proper infusion offered slightly stronger butter and cream aromas coupled with an emerging sugarcane presence. In the mouth, I found barely perceptible notes of wood and grass which quickly gave way to cream, butter, vanilla, and floral notes. Subsequent infusions brought out the grass and wood on the nose. I also began to pick up stronger floral flavors and emerging magnolia, pear, green apple, mineral, spinach, leaf lettuce, and honeydew impressions. Notes of sugarcane also showed up on the palate. The later infusions were heavy on mineral notes, though I could also detect touches of grass, spinach, cream, and butter, sometimes with distant background notes of green apple and flowers.

This was a very light, delicate oolong with a nice mix of savory, vegetal, floral, and fruity characteristics in the mouth. It did a reasonably good job of approximating the character of a traditional Wenshan Baozhong, though it was missing a little of the depth I tend to get from really good examples of that type of tea. Fans of lighter, greener oolongs would undoubtedly be satisfied with this tea, especially considering that the cost is more than reasonable. All in all, this was a very solid, enjoyable drinking experience. I doubt I would turn to this over a respectable Wenshan Baozhong, but it was a nice tea nonetheless.

Until I tried this tea, this was a type of green tea on which I had slept. Hailing from the Emei Shan region of Sichuan Province, Zhu Ye Qing is a Chinese high mountain green tea known for its sweet, nutty, vegetal, and often bamboo-like aromas and flavors. Zhu Ye Qing is also produced elsewhere in China, often in Yunnan Province. This particular Zhu Ye Qing is from Emei Shan in Sichuan Province. Having never tried this type of tea before, I was impressed by the strength of its aromas and flavors as well as its versatility.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry tea leaves produced aromas of malt, wood, hay, and bamboo. Aromas of grilled corn and roasted chestnuts emerged after infusion. Mild, subtle flavors of malt, roasted chestnut, wood, grass, hay, and bamboo were present in the mouth. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas and flavors of minerals, grilled lemon, honey, smoke, and straw with hints of hazelnut, leaf lettuce, and seaweed in the background. I also noted the emergence of grilled corn notes on the palate. The later infusions mostly offered impressions of minerals, grass, lettuce, malt, and nuts.

This was a very nice green tea that made for a wonderful introduction to Zhu Ye Qing. At another point in time, I prepared this as an iced tea and it was fantastic. I would definitely recommend this tea to anyone looking for a flavorful, refreshing green tea.

I tried this one for the first time last night. Delicious! But the dry leaf is so so heavy. It is one of those that likely I have to think and rethink several times when it comes to reordering because of the weight of it. The weight + the cost = insufficient cups of tea for the price. But we’ll see, we’ll see.

Here is yet another sipdown. I have been quite busy polishing off some of the black teas I purchased last year. I think I have also come to the conclusion that I am not much of a Nilgiri person. I tend to like Nilgiri teas relatively well iced, but they do not often do all that much for me when served hot. As Nilgiris go, I found this one to be quite nice, but I also did not find it to hold my attention all that much either.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted malty, woody aromas with hints of fruit, sorghum molasses, and flowers. After infusion, I detected more intense fruity and floral aromas underscored by a hint of what I can only describe as leafiness. In the mouth, I picked up a nice mix of toast, sweet potato, sorghum molasses, brown sugar, malt, wood, autumn leaves, roasted nuts (chestnut and walnut or something like that), red apple, sweet orange, fruit leather, and fresh flowers. I kept trying to come up with which flowers I was reminded of, but the closest I could get was a combination of rose, violet, and tea flower. Tealyra also insisted that there was a blackberry note to this tea, and while I did get some fleeting berry-like impressions, I found them to be more reminiscent of black raspberry than blackberry. The finish was smooth, offering lingering traces of sweet potato, toast, malt, nuts, sorghum, orange, and flowers.

Overall, this was a smooth, flavorful Nilgiri. There was nothing really wrong with it, it’s just that I have finally come to realize that Nilgiri teas are not my favorites. Nilgiri teas are often used in commercial tea blends, the sorts of blends I have had easy access to my entire life. When I drink Nilgiri teas, I almost always think of generic restaurant tea blends. That might not be entirely fair, but that’s what I think of when I drink Nilgiri teas. Again, as Nilgiri teas go, this one was far from bad. The problem is these sorts of teas just don’t excite me much.

And here we have yet another blast from the past. I think this tea has been discontinued by Tealyra because I could not find any information about it anywhere on their website. I apparently bought this tea sometime last year (probably summer or early fall), stored it in one of my tea cabinets, and forgot about it. I discovered it the same day I discovered the Tarry Lapsang Souchong Superior and started working my way through both around the same time. I finished the last of this one yesterday evening. I found it to be a decent second flush Darjeeling, but was not impressed enough to really recommend that anyone go out of their way to track it down.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. As usual, no additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the loose tea leaves emitted mild aromas of malt, straw, flowers, and Muscatel. I did not find the aroma to change all that much after infusion, though I did start to get some hints of golden raisin and roasted almond. In the mouth, I picked up on subtle notes of malt, roasted almond, straw, toast, wood, Muscatel, plum, golden raisin, dandelion, rose, and violet underscored by a somewhat unexpected minerality. The finish retained a slight mineral edge, mostly offering lingering notes of flowers, raisin, plum, roasted almond, and malt.

Honestly, I have never been wowed by Tealyra’s second flush Darjeelings. I have not had many, but I cannot recall a single one that excited me. They always seem to taste kind of stale. I guess I should have expected that given this tea’s age, but at the same time, it was only about a year old and was stored carefully. I have had Darjeelings of a similar age or older that were much more enjoyable. While this one was drinkable, it was not all that flavorful or unique.