The Tao of Tea

This is a great balence of smoke and classic Chinese red tea. Both amicably sit in the cup trading small talk while one does their everyday business. I’ve been breezing through this laid back lapsang which is fine since it’s so cheap. The steeping smell is intoxicating; it make me want to try it for cooking…

I must admit I picked this one up for the tin as much as the theraputic benefits. This is the softest lemon verbena I’ve purchased and the leaves are much less crushed than from bulk sales or online orders. It adds a visual layer to brewing an herbal restorative. Very nice.

A very nice Oolong. Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of it.

The flavor is deep and smoky, with lovely fruit, nut and caramel notes. Smooth transition between flavors. Very little astringency. No bitterness. Wonderful!

So anyone who has started to read my cupping probably has discerned that I’m a food nerd, tea enthusiast, and a bit of a sensualist. I don’t drink many teas that are flavored or scented, have a tendency to be drawn to Camellia and away from tisanes and usually reserve the tisanes and scented tea for steeping into puddings, making simple syrups from, churning them into ice cream, or making marinades from them. What can I say, I’m in love with tasting where things come from…
So I also work in the industry….and love what I do…and cherish the chance to share experiences and push the boundaries of what that means.
Now that summer solstice is in full swing, it been time to play with iced tea and time to weave teas into sangria and sorbet. Hibiscus is a natural choice for this and I was doing a bit of research into other cultures use of hibiscus and stumbled across a recipie for ‘agua de Jamiaca’ and decided it was time to dust off the tin of Hibiscus Ginger from the Tao of Tea.
I took:
1/2 cup of hibiscus ginger tea
the zest from one organic lemon
1/3 cup organic raw cane sugar
4 cups of 210 degree H20 pour over the lot and steeped, covered for 15 minutes.
took 2 trays of ice and 4 cups cold water and put in a pitcher and then poured the hot onto the cold through a simple strainer.
Sliced the zested lemon into fine slices, deseeded it, and added about 8 oz of organic lime juice.
The brew was a beautiful scarlet, deep beet red and the lemon slices added a nice color contrast. The flavor was smooth and very well balanced, there was none of the traditional tartness that I associate with hibiscus and I think I would have added slightly less sugar to help bring that out more, but the company I shared it with loved it and it was even mixed with a red wine by the end of the night.
I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a bright, crisp, easy-drinking alternative to traditional black iced tea or punch.
Super easy to make.

★★★☆☆

Flavor Notes:
•Malty
•Sweet
•Astringent (tangy)

★★★☆☆

★★★★★

Update:
I’ve taken this Wuyi Oolong review from 4 stars to 5.

★★★★

Notes:
•Nutty (aroma + taste)
•Toasted (aroma + taste)
•Smooth (starts and finishes smooth)

Steeped Tea Liquor Color: Golden-Amber

A mild but somewhat complex Oolong tea. Extremely clean and smooth with an overall nutty/toasted flavor. No bitter or acidic flavors present. Starts with a toasted flavor, the middle is slightly nutty gradually shifting to a mild hint of fruitiness and it finishes with a fruity and slightly sweet nutty and smokey flavor. (Whew! Yeah that’s what I meant by ‘complex’.) The lingering smokey/nutty flavor left on the palate is wonderful.

My Ratings…
★ = Didn’t Hate It.
★★ = Not Bad.
★★★ = Me Likey.
★★★★ = Impressive!
★★★★★ = AwesomeSauce!

OMG! I think I found a way to use up my peppermint!! I got a big bag of it awhile back and have been adding it to some of my teas as a pick-me-up but 50g of peppermint goes a long way….
I hadn’t tried it with Rooibos because I disliked the mint chocolate rooibos, and of course I’d never considered that it was the chocolate part I disliked! ha!
This was an actual “peppermint rooibos” sample so I will have to see if my homemade version works just as well.
Peppermint on it’s own is too much for me, so this is a great way to cut it. and the rooibos adds it’s own sweetness to.
I wonder if the organic part makes that much of a difference? we shall see…
This is a mood tea so no doubt this rating is inflated a bit.
I can’t help it! This is so very soothing, and smooth. Maybe I’ll try it before bed next time instead of my chamomile.
I need to pick up some regular (roasted?) rooibos as well.

This was good!! crisp, defined flavours in the peach and white tea… grassy and fresh tasting, and not too heavy. Naturally sweet on it’s own, coming out of the peach essence, but not in a tart way at all.
Still, nothing beats DTs strawberry white!!!

Thanks LiberTEAs!!!

This is a nice medium strength green – not too bitter, not too sweet, not too buttery, not too vegetal! Lovely in every way and one of those “just right” types! YAY!

Thank you, TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

Yet another example of why I think Tao of Tea is an extraordinary tea company. This Yunnan is a very pleasant cup, indeed. It is a perfect tea for this lovely Saturday afternoon. Strong but not aggressive and a fantastic malty quality.

Very nice.

Sipdown #4 of the day!

Apparently I am one of the few steepsterities that are up and rearin’-to-go this morning! I do see a few others and those I say GOOD MORNING! :)

Because I am going a little more hardcore than usual today – I want you all to take a look at my other loggings because there is something FREE mentioned in at least one of them! Check it out!

Anyhow…This is a decent pu-erh – one of the first ones I enjoyed after fails from other companies. This mad me be more open-minded and for that I am thankful! It’s well rounded and flavorful without being too intense! A nice one!

Backlogging…smoother than most pu-erhs, NICE…see previous notes

Thanks for this LiberTEAs!

The pre-infused aroma isn’t very intense but once infused it’s a little stinky. The taste, however, is one of the more subtle stereotypical pu-erhs I have come across. I like that. It’s smooth. I like THAT. It’s woodsy but more importantly a little sweet! I LOVE that!

This tea makes a fantastic chai. This tea is really to strong for me to drink without adding milk and sugar. This is how I prepare it –
Bring to a boil 2 cups of water and 8 tsp turbinado sugar (more or less, depending on your taste).
Add 2-4 teaspoons 500 mile chai and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
Add two cups of milk and gently simmer for 5 minutes, or until the milk makes a bit of a skin.
Stir, strain and enjoy.

This tea has been my unchallenged favorite for several years. It’s the perfect blend when I need a little caffeine boost – just about every weekday morning. It’s a strong black tea mixed with wonderfully-scented rose petals. I’ve had other flower-scented teas, but they were always too floral and cloying. This one somehow manages to convey the scent of roses in foody, non-floral way. This tea is lightly sweet even without sugar, but is robust enough stand up to extra sugar and a splash of milk. It’s also wonderful on its own.

This is the perfect tea for the last week of damp, cool mornings of spring. This has great chestnut, toast, and walnut overtones. This is very smooth and savory, best brewed light, strong steeps make the flavors harsh and uunhappy. The leaves are gorgous and true to their name: the dark cracks in some of the light green leaves look like dragon scales. Hopefully I’l be able to sneak a few more cups out of this one before the family stops fighting over who gets the tin!

A beautiful green tea. Such a lovely contrast of flavors, from bitter, to roasty-toasty sweetness. Fruity taste in the foreground and a hint of a sharp, licorice-y taste in the background. A smooth tea with a fair amount of dry astringency. Really pleasant and calming to sip.

It’s hard to believe I’ve never logged this before. I must’ve gone through a pound of it this year alone!

It’s a very refreshing sencha. Light and fruity with some alfalfa notes. It changes slightly with different brewing factors and is fairly forgiving for sencha. And just as important as taste is the organic factor. It gives this tea cupboard tenure in big green canister.

Nice Tulsi – unflavored but still natural citrus notes come thru :)

Well…the color is interesting…it’s light brown with an orange hue…I guess that would be the best away to describe it. It’s not much for smell but if I had to say one thing about the aroma it would be there is a HINT of wood smell to it…but not very much. As for the taste…it’s very weak! One of the more mild – if not the most mild – black tea I have ever tasted, really. It’s not bad…it’s just quite weak.

I agree with Geoffrey’s note about it tasting like sweet seaweed or Nori type tasting…This is a nice matcha standby to have. It’s ok! I love the smoothness of it! That’s my favorite part of this one…

I had put off my first cup of tea for the day because I had planned on heading back to bed for a nap and didn’t want any caffeine, but now it looks like I’ll be up a while, and I NEED tea. So… I reached for this one.

So very good. Malty, rich and stimulating… just what I needed this “morning” (yeah, I know it isn’t morning, but, it’s morning somewhere… right?)