Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

I’ve had some doubts on CBD for sometime, but my doctor told me it was good for sleep. I wasn’t sure on the best way to ingest it, and gummy bears cost a fortune (if it didn’t work). As I was on Tealyra’s site, I stumbled upon Calm CBD. Quite inexpensive, too! I snagged 50g, sipped it an hour before bed, started reading a book, and woke up a few hours later on the couch. I thought that maybe I was already tired, so it couldn’t have been the 16oz mug of this stuff.

I tried it a second night (fell asleep after 45 mins, slept a solid 7 hours before the dogs woke me up).
And a third night (about the same time, but woke up at 5 hours to let the dogs out).
And a fourth night (slept like a baby for 7+ hours).
And now I’m on night five (TBD).

I’m only a few sips in, but I figured while I wind down after work, I might as well catch up on reviews. I may not make it too far.

Anyway, the blend is really lovely. I taste strawberries, chamomile, and the rose petals offer a hint of perfume sweetness. I really find the tea quite lovely, and I’m considering getting 200g for the nightly sleep aid. I hardly sleep a full night, but with a cup prior to bed the past four nights, I’ve managed more deep sleep than usual.

Edit: Night five 7+ hours. This tea is magic!

Backlog 1/21/22

Aroma: Reminds me of a dry rub that would go into a pie mix or maybe those that like to use something sweeter with pork or something.

Flavor: Have you ever tasted the pie mix before it was cooked? There’s the brush of cinnamon on the tongue and the idea of pumpkin pie before it’s fully mixed and baked. I noted ‘pumpkin from the can and cinnamon topping.’ I have a video in the works that’ll have a whole different set of notes, but these were from my notebook whilst working…I get distracted, so everything is vague.

Smells like machine bubble gum. I’m not sure how to explain that exactly, however, bubble gum from a ball machine typically has a sweet spice (?) on the nose. Maybe my nose isn’t the most trusting thing in the world, but that’s how they always smell to me. Anyway, the flavor is very pleasant and fruity. The hibiscus makes the tea a little tart, which reminds me of sour cherry. That cherry + spices + pear is very nice. I definitely want to give this a try as an iced tea.

Edit—It tastes like Juicy Fruit. Roswell Strange narrowed the type of gum down. I haven’t had it in so long, that I almost lost touch with one of my favorite childhood flavors.

This is the second cup of tea tonight. I’ve been quite busy with work since a lot of places were closed yesterday with the large amounts of snow that gathered within various cities/states.

I found that this tea smells like a Girl Scout Mint Patty, but the flavor profile has more of a York Peppermint Patty taste. This was surprisingly creamy and dessert-y. The rooibos base didn’t really scream in this tea, despite the obvious amounts of rooibos leaf in the blend itself. The peppermint and chocolate took the show, and I LOVED it.

Sipdown 9/24-2022

Mixed 80% pearls with 20% milk oolong- so good! I would probably do a bit less milk oolong next time, because the milk flavor still overpowers the jasmine more than I would like. Still really tasty, and not sure why I didn’t mix the two sooner.

Cold-brewed (3 hours) some of this with honey and made boba. Surprisingly nice jasmine flavor, especially for the price.

No notes on Steepster for this one yet! Apparently it’s a Tealyra exclusive. I keep trying to write a note for this one, but the smoky teas are so difficult to get through that smoke to distinguish the other flavors!  It’s certainly supposed to be a quality option from Tealyra.   And it’s certainly delicious as a smoky tea.  It’s a Japanese take on Lapsang Souchong, that Tealyra says has a “truly Japanese taste” but not really going into further detail on what it tastes like.  This is smoked with sakura/ cherry wood, so that is interesting.  Every time I steep it up I really am trying to find a difference between this and Chinese Lapsang Souchong but my tastebuds are hard pressed to find a difference.  It tastes like a smoky tea to me… nothing really bad or especially great about this tea… I’m not really selling this one to any of you, am I?
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Made this tea mizudashi style. Sweet, vegetal, grassy as expected. Slightly lacking in depth of flavor, but overall nice.

A delicious floral Oolong that has a scent reminiscent to blooming lilacs on a warm spring day. It has a sweet and delicate floral flavour with a hint of warm honey and a smidgen of spice that makes for a great treat.

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #209 overall / Tea #33 for May
Thursday 5/20 - made M tea for his kombucha, used up Tea Lyra Key Lime Coconut (black tea). This tea was very old, pretty sure the coconut was bad, but eh. Kombucha knows no bounds!
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown

additional notes: Just steeping this one up a lot lately, more than any tea! It’s so complex – so sweet but lemon pithy. Hard to describe! but I’m addicted to this.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Sunday, May 2nd: National Lemonade Day Tea #3

I drank the first cup on Lemonade day and the second steep the next day, so getting around to posting this now.  Ever have a wacky complicated tea blend turn out EXACTLY like how you wanted it to be?!  That is this blend for me.  I blind bought 50grams…it’s the perfect amount of lavender flavor, lemon flavor, sweetness from the one white chocolate chip in the teabag, and even the perfect amount of tartness from the hibiscus.  Lovely.  So so good.  It reminds me a bit of Bird & Blend’s Moondrop Dreams or like a very elaborate French dessert cookie.   It has the tartness of a lemon rind type of flavor, but also sweet lemon,  but then also sweetness from the white chocolate chip and a bit of floral from the lavender.  It’s balanced quite amazingly.  Very glad I bought it, would buy it again and Tealyra better not discontinue it! 
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for big mug // 15 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

I finished a favorite Jin Jun Mei a couple months ago and then immediately found a couple on Tealyra and then immediately ordered them. (Shakes head.)  But I don’t have any other Jin Jun Mei right now!  (Excuses.)  Anyway, the leaf here is very twisty and tangled, long, silky with plenty gold.  Steeped up, the leaves have a tomato soup fragrance.  Also very dominating in the flavor while I try to swim through all that tomato soup to notice any other flavors.  The creamiest of tomato soup.  I don’t mind the tomato soup flavor, but I also don’t really want Jin Jun Mei to taste like that.   None of the (admittedly limited) Jin Jun Mei that I have tried has really tasted like this in the past. I like the depth of the black tea here though – not too light, while also being sweet enough.  Second steep: exactly the same.   I wish I could pick this one apart more, but I have plenty more to enjoy later on.  I have had it a few times now and the results are always the same. 
Steep #1  // 1  1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 3 minutes after boiling //  4 minute steep

2023 An Ode to Tea – L

Nothing new to say here, and now it’s gone.
2023 sipdowns: 26

An Ode to Tea challenge – L

 I haven’t written a tasting note for this yet, though I received it quite a while ago from SkySamurai.  Thank you!  (This alphabet challenge is forcing me to write a few notes for teas I haven’t yet, so that is getting something accomplished!)   This is quite the flavor punch!  A green tea with big jasmine flowers and plenty of lychee flavor.  I think the lychee and the jasmine are at war with each other and I’m not sure which wins.  But it’s quite tasty on the silky smooth green.  Really really good.  It would be phenomenal in the summer months.  I have a couple cups left to enjoy then!   Tealyra still has this one available!  It’s a good one to try if you’re looking for lychee.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for full mug //  34 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 40 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep

I haven’t written a note for this.  I think I received it as a sample a while ago directly from Tealyra.  It’s a lovely one.  It’s all sweet sweet orange, almost reminding me of some sort of orange sauce you’d eat on chicken or something.  I miss Chinese buffets. We don’t have any in the vicinity here anyway.   There are only hints of mint in the flavor, which is fine with me as I like the sweet orange being the highlight of the cup.  The second steep is also fantastic.  Sadly they don’t have this for sale anymore.  I would have bought more.  That’s the problem with Tealyra… they once kept my favorites in stock but not so much anymore.  But it looks like ‘Tea Desire’ has it in stock as Blood Orange Loves Mint.
Steep #1 // 15 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 10 minute steep
2021 sipdowns: 36 (oldest sample of Adagio – Fujian Baroque) 

Rediscovering these delicious TRES cultivars grown in Taiwan. This time I brewed 2.5g of Brandy Oolong / Ruby 18 / Red Jade in 8oz 90°C spring water. Ditto everything I wrote on it 4 yr ago. Still rates as 100 and is my #1 favorite tea. Worth every penny. ’Nuff said.

I believe a big part of this tea’s excellence comes from the terroir as well as the skill of the teamasters involved. Because another very similar tea (also sold by Tealyra) is called Black Beauty #8, which also comes from the Sun Moon Lake region. But Teapedia describes TTES #8 as “a assamica varietal from Jaipur (India, Assam)”. So a completely different cultivar, with very similar flavors. It is my second-favorite. The TTES is a formal research station, so their pedigree designations are authoritative.

So, yes, Brandy Oolong Ruby 18 is, in my estimation, outstanding. Please also find other tea notes listed for this tea under the company’s prior name, Tealux. This is also among the more expensive tea I’ve had, at $8/25g since I get only one pleasing steeping out of it, thus it rivals good pu’ers, on a per-cup basis. But it handily beats all of them in flavor and aroma! YMMV.

I bought this in mid-2018 and while the harvest year was not provided by Tealyra, the manufacturers box was dated as 2016, so I’m assuming that is when the tea was made. The logo and name of Maosheng Tea Co. is also printed on the box.

While Tealyra classified and sold this in their pu’erh tea section, it isn’t clear to me that it is properly called pu’erh. Certainly it has been subjected to post-fermentation, as the yellow spores are visible once I pried open the huge brick (2.1 lbs!). I’ve posted a photo of the 4g portion that I steeped today. No appreciable change in the tea aroma or flavor in the past 3 years. I gong fu’ed the 4g in 6oz boiling tap water for about 8 steepings, after a brief rinse in boiling water. No change in aroma or flavor with successive steepings, either, except gradual weakening of the liquor to the point on cup #8 that it was no longer very palatable.

The tea does NOT taste like any other ripe pu’erh I’ve sipped, and it is devoid of any compost or fishy notes. Further, I cannot discern any characteristic Assam flavors, or even a “tea” flavor strong enough to reveal what leaves were used. However, this tea DOES have a very pungent and distinctive scent and taste, which might be a result of the golden flower fungus itself. Sort of a non-floral powdery impression, reminiscent of… something. Others have mentioned dry Chinese red dates, but since I’ve never tasted those, I can’t say. I didn’t like it when first I tried this tea, but now it seems more interesting and inoffensive. I must find a way to describe the aroma and flavor(s). The spent leaves were large pieces (2-3 cm) and dark brown. I’ll keep drinking this (there’s so darn much of it) and post more notes if I have any epiphanies or revelations. I won’t rate it because heck, I can’t even describe it adequately. Recommended for those who dabble or feel adventurous.

Tealyra has removed it from their site, so I have no official description to post that could lend clues to tasting or alternative sources. It only set me back $55 for the 960g brick, so no buyer’s remorse!

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challengeSaturday, February 27th: National Strawberry Day Tea #2

Started this one yesterday with a third steep today. I bought this recently.  Couldn’t resist.  Sounded dreamy.  (I DO miss Tealyra’s sample sizes though.  I loved those things.  I could try so many different teas with sample sizes.)  Upon opening the pouch, yowzas there is a strong scent to this tea and I wouldn’t really say it smells like strawberry or pear.  It looks like a fairly decent bao zhong base. There is a good deal of fruit here. So now I’m wondering why the flavoring is necessary at all.   I also noticed a large piece of hibiscus that turned the mug a pale pink.  I might just pick out any hibiscus I see from the infuser in the future but it doesn’t do much harm in any of the steeps.  Overall, not so much a flavoring “kiss” as a “punch” (and that isn’t even the hibiscus!) but maybe it will mellow out with time.  The flavor of the oolong does come across though!  By the third steep, the weird flavor has been faded, but I don’t want faded weird flavor.  I just wanted a nice delicate pear and strawberry flavoring to go with it.  I should have listened to the majority of Steepster on this one.  Annnnddddd…. this is another reason I miss samples.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons //  28 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min