Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

After eight months of waiting for Yuuki Cha to sell more Japanese White, I kind of decided that I may not get to try any for a long time. White tea produced in Japan is not easy to acquire, but Tealyra has some exclusively. A must try for me. It’s almost a dollar a gram which is high for tea, but is still less than a special drink while out and about.

Upon looking at the leaf I was happy to just hold it. It’s incredibly fresh looking, as if nothing has been done to it. Now, the taste is rather hard to explain. Japanese green teas take on a grassy taste which this has none of. This tea is more of a leaf taste; imagine the taste between tree on a wood and branches on a bush… this tea is like the difference between the two, yet it is a variation of leaf taste. That’s kind of confusing for me to reread or think about. Honestly, it’s more of an experience in regards to the aroma and changing taste from steeps.

A wonderful experience for sure. I probably will end up paying $15 a year to try the new harvest if I see more Japanese white teas. Now I want some of the white sencha from Tealyra…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAVP8zjxYPZ/

Dry leaf aroma: Sweet and grassy.
Dry leaf appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/_FSdi5lcHZ/?taken-by=blodeuyn

Wet leaf aroma: Vegetal with hints of spinach and sweetness.
Wet leaf appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/_FShs5lcHg/?taken-by=blodeuyn

Preparation: Brewed western style in a ceramic infuser mug.

First steeping: 2 minutes at 175 degrees.
This Mao Feng is delightfully mellow with a buttery and delicate vegetal taste. I detect undertones of chestnut at the end of the sip, and as the cup cools there are notes of creamy water chestnut.

Second steeping: 3 minutes at 175 degrees.
The second steeping has deleveloped a lovely creaminess and has taken on more of a water chestnut undertone. There is a very slight vegetal tang at the end of the sip.

You may also read this review and see images on my blog, My Tea Life, at:
http://mytea.life/2015-fujian-mao-feng-supreme-by-tealyra-review/

Wonderful tasting and feels great. It was quite expensive, but by far the best tea I’ve had, although I’ve only tried a limited amount of teas. It feels high quality.

Sipdown. This is a good, reliable oolong that I wasn’t expecting to like nearly as much as I do. It’s more earthy and chocolatey than I normally look for in an oolong (or any tea, actually!) but as with my favorite greens it goes with almost any food and has a complex flavor that’s always interesting. It reminds me of a mixture of Yunnan and Da Hong Pao. Mom loves this one too and I would gladly get it again.

Had a cup of this earlier. I’ve never been a huge fan of dark oolongs, but either my tastes have changed or this is different from what I’ve had before. It’s very earthy and woody, with a roasty quality that reminds me of good black coffee. This cup was a little watery, so I may adjust next time, but I will be reaching for this a lot as the weather gets colder.

Upon opening the packet I am met with a large leaf and floral blend, which was not quite as I imagined it somehow. I was expecting pieces of butterscotch in the blend to create the flavour, instead we have ‘natural flavours’ in their place to create a synthetic version. With that in mind I give it a sniff, and while it’s sweet (and again floral) it just is not butterscotch like. It does smell creamy and well it’s still a pleasant scent but not quite right.

This will be interesting! I put two teaspoons of leaf (as it’s large leaf) into my steeping mug with 90C water for roughly 3-4 minutes.

The resulting tea liquid is golden brown in colour and bares a sweet scent that actually does resemble butterscotch rather well. Less floral than it’s raw blend form but not as creamy or thick as actual butterscotch.

In terms of flavour this is very pleasant, a dark, toffee and treacle mix (without a lot of sweetness) with some creamy, floral undertones that linger in the after taste. It’s not bitter but I think the flavours would be enhanced a bit better with some sugar or honey, just to make it more butterscotch like. Even without anything extra it still does have a butterscotch essence and though it may not be perfect it’s still very well created.

As it cools it becomes creamier and a little thicker in the after taste, particularly the floral tones. At this point I can taste the white tea a little better and it’s also becoming increasingly dry.

For more information please view the SororiTEA Sisters post.
http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/10/03/butterscotch-potion-white-tea-blend-tealyra/

From the EU TTB

I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while now, but I’ve not placed an order with Tealux in a while so it’s not happened. Thanks to the EU TTB, I now finally have the chance! The leaf here is rolled, and does have a dark black/purple appearance. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a medium golden brown, the scent rather charcoal-like.

To taste, I can immediately tell this one’s not for me. It’s very roasty, with that underlying metallic tang that I honestly can’t stand in oolongs. It reminds me of some of my early experiences with oolong, which almost put me off for good. I had hoped I’d get some of the cinnamon/plum notes this one reputedly has, but sadly not.

Still – another one crossed off the “to try” list.

Imagine that toads were related to clams and also had pearls that were within them. This tea tasted like a toad that fell into a volcano and its pearl shot into the air and got stuck in a cloud and dried out over two weeks. Once it fell down it transformed into an oolong and Tealyra had no idea what it really was so they decided to sell it as organic tea…

A perfectly light and refreshing jade oolong. The dry smell is fresh and sweet, with hints of fruit. After rinsing for several seconds to stir open the rolled leaves, the tea says hello with a candied floral aroma, a hint of toasty fruit, and the sweet squashy scent that is typical for greener, medium leaf Chinese teas. I use gentler heat with the water because this is low-fired Ti Guan Yin, and I enjoy the subtler flavors the most in this tea.

Color is very, very bright yellow, with a warm golden hue and a tinge of green, which looks beautiful in white.

The early steeps are soft, but have a very alluring fruity scent, with plenty of hairs. The honeyed taste is very smooth, with gently increasing vegetal notes, and a floral overtone. The aftertaste is mellow with hints of cucumber or squash flavors.

Into the fuller steeps, the floral taste becomes very pronounced, with a sweet and tangy nectar flavor. The toasty taste presents itself in these full flavor steeps, while opening up to the melon undertone, accentuated with a light, fruity finish. The mouth-feel is sticky and creamy, displaying strong notes of honey. The aftertaste is delicate but very pleasantly rich, and puckering.

Later steeps bring out more vegetal flavor, with hints of grass, and a buttery smooth finish. The astringency is very clean and pleasant, complimented with sweet ripe fruity notes. The lingering aftertaste becomes prevalent, with a delectable roasted greens flavor.

To put simply, another satisfying, quality tea from Tealyra (formerly, Tealux). This is a delicious, calming, sweet and mellow Ti Guan Yin that doesn’t disappoint with it’s complex floral and honeyed flavor, and will yield the best results and many infusions with more leaf in the bowl.

This was on my wishlist, and LiquidProust sent me the perfect sized sample of it! This is thank you #2.

The leaves themselves aren’t purple, but for whatever reason, it comes to mind smelling and tasting it though the color is brown. It’s a lot like polish, or stained wood. I’d maybe guess that the wood would be a cherry wood, because that’s the best guess as to the hidden sweetness. There some creaminess to it, but more in texture than actual taste. This goes for the first steep. To liven it up, I added a little bit of raw sugar, and for me, the cherry and almost coffee berry note were disinterred from the earthy, smoke, woodsy body. Probably wouldn’t be bad with cream, but I’m going for purity right now.

On steep two after four minutes, the tea is significantly smoother, and it’s cherry wood to the fullest. Reminds me of a Halloween fog machine.

Steep three is a lighter version of steep two, but smoother. A little bit smokier to me than the other two, but I tasted some of it earlier in those steeps as well.

In summary, this is a very unusual roasted tea to me. It’s got the same wood and earth character of darker oolongs, but with a cherry polish-the kind you would smell in an old ornate home or hotel.I think the taste should perhaps be close to a 80 in terms of quality, but I had a slightly biased expectation for coffee and sweetness. I expected the fishiness: I had a purple tea before and it tasted exactly like crab. I am really glad that I got to try it, and it is definitely worth trying. Not something I’d ever recommend to a newbie though; more for an adventurous taster.

I will have to admit that having Art of Tea’s purple 99% oolong has pretty much set the standard for what I look for in this type of oolong.
This doesn’t seem to be as potent and therefore is not as fun to steep or drink. The leaf is a bit smaller than I would want and doesn’t expand much, which is a look aspect but it does translate to the somewhat flavor flavor beyond the roasty’ness.

I tried this one gong fu today and it brought out deeper chestnut notes and a bit of smoke. Delicious! (See my previous review for Western style)

I’ve had this tea 2 or 3 times and have neglected to leave a review but it is delicious!

Dry , it smells so fresh with an amazing chestnut aroma. I like to just breathe in the smell from the bag.

I’ve just been brewing this Western style. Nothing fancy but it has a good nutty flavor with a strong buttery feel/taste to it. Very smooth and non astringent.

Great tea! I bought this from Tealux via Amazon. When I opened the bag the smell was a little… Off putting to say the least! It smells like a leaf pile and trees, like the smell when you walk up to an Oak tree and smell it, not cut wood but living tree wood. I brewed this in a Yixing clay pot after rinsing once. At first the flavour surprised me, still pretty leaf pile, grassy, but smooth! A nice creamy aftertaste and not astringent at all. I infused one more time, and this time the flavours were much more subdued but the aftertaste was still quite astringent. Would definitely reccomend you to try!

OH HELL YEAH!
My best friend came over last night and we picked out five pretty high end teas to drink with this included. We only ended up drinking three because we resteeped this tea four different times. This is one sneaky tea,who would of known it was a black tea by tasting it?
Water at 205f poured right over these guys. The lychee is strong and last throughout the steeps.
Now I want to know where I can find me some black pearls without jasmine in them so I can start to play with them.

This tea is really strange. I brewed 1 tsp at 190 for 1 min. I think that might be too much tea since the rolled amounts say to use only one or two sticks. It’s hard to tell with the loose leaf. It has a real bite with lots of bitterness that hits the tip of the tongue and as it rolls to the back there’s a sweetness. It’s also a bit astringent like a green tea.
I just have a hard time getting past the bitterness. As the tea sits it seems to become even more bitter.

Creamy. A lot like the same from DAVID’s tea.

Nice, easy and yummy! This is a simple flavored tea, and I like how easy it is to brew! I usually use like 6-ish pearls tossed in a pint glass at work. Everyone thinks I’m crazy, but daymn it is good! The lychee note is spot on, not artificial to me at all. The black tea takes a back seat, but it does compliment the lychee really well. Like chocolate covered lychees, yasss!

Full review here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/04/23/dragon-lychee-pearls-black-tea-tealyra/

So last week I showed up on Anlina’s doorstep and was like, “hello, I am a random stranger from the internet, can I come in for tea?”. And then, amazingly, I was invited in for tea! It was awesome. :) Browsing Anlina’s tea stash was really fun, and also made me feel better about the size of my own tea stash (I think my local friends think I have lost my mind, lol). And I came home with samples! And now I have a super-cool real-life tea friend, who unfortunately lives 6hrs away from me. In conclusion, tea friends are great and geography sucks.

We shared a pot of this interesting oolong, which was quite good but totally not what I would have expected. With “99% oxidized” in the name, I was expecting one of those dark oolongs that’s practically a black tea. But it tasted more like a roasted green-ish oolong? Like, lots of toasty flavours but the base seemed kinda vegetal to me, in fact it sort of reminded me of genmaicha? Anyway, it was tasty. :)

Thank you so much, cookies! this is not what I would pick for myself as a lover of the lighter side of oolong, but I am happy to have received it!
This tea is so glossy and deep, dark purple. The miniscule rolled leaves are lovely to look at and sniff at. They look like little round eggplants. They kinda smell like roasted eggplant as well. Breaded and broiled in an oven.
The liquor is unmistakably from the purple varietal. It’s a grey-gold thin liquor. I detected some fishy aromas from the cup, but I couldn’t place it in my sip. Ah, but the usual dry, burning prairie grass is there once again.
Next two steeps I used hotter water. From 95C to 100C. I’m getting scalded milk and a deeper roasted flavor. Coffee note abound!! The fishiness intensifies ever so slightly. I am getting faint notes of dark chocolate and caramel. I’m talking 86% dark chocolate. And caramel that is almost burned on the stove. This tea is merciless. It dares me to like it, or to spit it out. I can’t say that I like it, and I am on my 6th steep, and I have finished each sip.
Still. I am glad to have tried it, even though it was definitely not for me.

This is my first Keemun, but oh, full-bodied! I will save the rest of this for a dark rainy early spring day. Very nice.

Today’s new start. I’m glad I finally broke in to my stash of Tealux teas, because they’re actually pretty good (in other words, a lot better than I was expecting). Sometimes I think I might actually have flavoured tea fatigue. Anyway, today is almost a Spring day, so I decided a white might finally be appropriate. I used 1.5tsp of leaf, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a pale yellow-green, and smells remarkably accurately of butterscotch!

To taste, this is a slightly odder story. What I’m picking up on initially actually tastes more like coconut than butterscotch. It’s also really creamy and a little vanilla-like, and reminds me of buttercream cake frosting. I’m reminded more of butterscotch towards the end of the sip, once the coconutty flavour has faded a bit, and what’s left is sweet, smooth and buttery. It’s not butterscotch from the word go, though.

Based on this impression, I had another look at the bag. Apparently, this contains cinnamon, but I wouldn’t know it. It also contains peppercorns, but they do make themselves known in the aftertaste, after a couple of sips. A spicy warmth is building up at the back of my throat, and it’s not entirely pleasant or suited to my image of “butterscotch”. Hmm. Somehow, now I’ve detected the pepper, it’s suddenly all I can taste. Bad that.

My first couple of sips were really encouraging, but I think over the course of one cup, my enthusiasm for this tea has waned. It’s pleasant initially, but it’s not really butterscotch, and the pepper is just plain odd. Not a favourite for me.

I wanted to try these after having the Black Dragon Pearls from Teavana. I got them in my first Tealux order and I like them; the lychee isn’t overly prominent but it’s there and the base tea is good. What I’m wondering though is what people’s experiences have been with resteeping this tea. I usually steep the other Black Dragon Pearls three times but I’m not sure yet how these will hold up. I’m on my second steep right now, so we’ll see I guess! But I’d love to hear others’ experience with resteeping this one.

Edit: Second and third steeps were good!