thepuriTea

This is from a while back — I bought a few samples from them when they were going out of business. Yes, I’m just trying it now. I’m trying to get to know my tea collection better for possible teabox or sale/swap pile possibilities! It’s a pity because this oolong is really good.

Steep #1 // 2 tsps // rinse // 17 min after boiling // 2 min
Though they suggested 180 degrees, my favorite oolong in the past was steeped using just boiled water, so I didn’t want to wait too long. I think I’ve just recently started with this type of oolong and they seem to be a little like ti guan yin, but a little bit different. Flavor notes here: pineapple, sugar, something that reminds me of licorice but doesn’t make it weird. Super smooth and very tasty!

Steep #2 // few minutes after boiling // 2 min
This cup was too bitter. I think the ideal steeping was the last cup. Oolong steeping is too tough to figure out! The leaves here look exactly like the Teavivre Ti Guan Yin but it steeps so differently. This one wasn’t undrinkable but the bitterness killed it. I probably didn’t need to use two teaspoons either.

Steep #3 // 22 min after boiling // 2 min
Still a hint of bitterness, probably because I only steeped half a mug this time. I don’t have enough leaves to ruin this nice oolong! The first cup was delicious though.

Smells like toasty sweetness and the taste reminds me of the bags of honey roasted peanuts I always buy whenever I go into the city. An enjoyable cup

This has been on my ‘need to review’ list for a while and it would make a good comparison steep against my previous review which was also a Gunpowder Green.

In appearance this looks similar to a Lan Gui Ren rather than Gunpowder Green. The grainy rock style effect is not a type I have seen before with Gunpowder Green. Scent is sweet, floral and grassy. Has an earthy tone however but it’s hard to define.

For the sake of comparison I will use the same steeping parameters as my previous Gunpowder Green which was taken from Teavivre.

Water : 3oz / 85ml 203℉ / 95℃
Use 7 Grams Tea
6 steeps : rinse,10s,25s,40s,50s,70s,90s
Gaiwan
Rinsing time is around 3 seconds

First Steep – 10 seconds
Light green liquid with a a subtle sweet, floral scent. Flavour is gentle and floral with a sweet after taste.

Second Steep – 25 seconds
I can taste something sweet and refreshing…is that ginseng? Is this Gunpowder Green with ginseng? If not it is a very good imitation. Very sweet and lingering in the after taste.

Third Steep – 40 seconds
Strongly ginseng/mint like still. No astringency at all. Very sweet with hints of smoke.

Fourth Steep – 50 seconds
Toasty, honeyed, highly ginseng and sweet. My mouth is wonderfully perfumed with this sweet lingering smoky flavour.

Fifth Steep – 70 seconds
Milder but still ginseng heavy.Not mint so much now as maybe clove, same refreshing feel. Also grassy.

Sixth Steep – 90 seconds
Very light in strength of the green tea but the ginseng remains thick and heavy. Toasty and super sweet.

This was unlike any other Gunpowder Green I have ever tried, it tasted and looked exactly like Ginseng Oolong which I like but need to be in the right mood for. Now I’m just highly confused, is this a mixed blend? Or was the ginseng flavour just a coincidence? Either way it was enjoyable and my husband agrees.

Delicious. I’m pseudo gongfuing this one at work. It’s definitely been a Monday. Good tea really helps with that, but only to a point.

The weekend was long and I was barely on here. Friday night was summer beer fest, Saturday was Soundgarden/NIN, and Sunday I wound up going to a funeral in central IN. I had to drive my mom’s awful to drive car home through some storms. It was not fun.

I’m just about out of clean laundry. I was supposed to do that on Sunday but it obviously didn’t happen. Hopefully I will be able to get at least some done tonight or I’ll be coming to work naked in a couple of days.

TTBCr2

This is the first milk oolong I’ve had, and I quite like it, even though I’m guessing it’s pretty old. Too bad it’s no longer available, or I’d be getting some of this. I like it that much.

Can anyone recommend something similar?

This is quite green but creamy. It does almost taste as if it has milk in it. It’s got a really nice vegetable flavor and aroma. And I really like the aftertaste, too.

I’ve gotten two infusions from it (western style!) and I’m going to try for a third.

First day back at work after being sick for most of a week and then gone on vacation, so not really time to write more.

Back from the PT- I was really put through the wringer today and was wondering if I’d even be able to move when I got home. I know I need to do this for my long term benefit but it still hurts!

Anyway enough whining for now. I received a sample of this from thePuritea shortly before they went out of business. I had been wondering if I forgot to rinse my dishes properly because something smells slightly “chemically” when I hold my nose up to the cup.

Steeping this for 3 minutes produced a dark yellow clear tea liquor. As far as flavor is concerned it is definitely on the mild side and good for a relaxing moment. As the cup cools I am getting the woody notes along with some nutty ones and peach. The finish is a bit sweet on your tongue. I don’t know that much about white teas but this seems very soothing to me. Perhaps I should look into stocking a white peony?

Sipdown (123)! Today didn’t start off so great, so I needed a tea that I knew I could rely on! I remembered this one fondly from last time, so I steeped up the rest of what I had. It’s nice and roasty but sweet. It also leaves a bit of a rich aftertaste. Anyway, I will be resteeping the heck out of these leaves because I’m sad to see it go. Thanks again to Kat_Maria for letting me try it out!

A short tasting note this morning. First, thanks to Kat_Maria for including this in our swap! I love roasty oolongs and this tea definitely brings the roasted flavor without being too intense. Resteeps were a bit weak, but still delicious.

This was my first experience with this type of black tea, and probably won’t be my last. Smooth, sweet, honey flavor, with a bit of astringency that lingers. Loved. it.

I got a sample of this with the samples I bought for their out-of-business sale. I don’t know what trying them was going to do! Ah well. This has to be one of the best ceylons out there. It’s more like a lighter Laoshan Black! Very similar flavor profiles. A bit malty, chocolatey, sweet potatoey… not a tough black tea. Very tasty… but again, because it is like Laoshan Black and a Ceylon… it’s still not really a favorite black tea. The second cup was boring, even though the first cup was steeped at a lower temp. Not enough flavor! hmm. I’m happy Vikings is back! Adagio Rollo and Floki blends need to happen!

Thanks to Kat_Maria for a sample of this in our swap! I can’t figure out dan cong oolongs. I know they’re supposed to have some kind of fruity taste, but all I can taste is a robustness that reminds me of English Breakfast teas and some pepperiness. Well, even if my taste buds are broken, I really enjoyed this tea. I think it would be nice for mornings when I don’t want a black tea, but still want something strong.

So this is a SIPDOWN! I’ve been sipping teas down like crazy recently, and replenishing my little tins with new ones, the ones that have been sitting in a tote waiting for their turn…

Also, the weekend that was supposed to be off, the weekend I thought would be my New Teas and a Bazillion Tasting Notes weekend – and the weekend that JUST passed, was spent mostly at work instead. Oh well, that only means there will be more money next paycheck FOR TEAS, right?

I am now taking a break from spring cleaning of my clothes wardrobe & totes (daunting task!) and making a list of teas that I want to send in a swap…

And yes, the tea is really good. It resteeps nicely up to 3 times western-style. It seems to taste more flowery than vegetal this time around. And I absolutely love the leaves of this oolong, they are always almost neon green. Even more so after they are steeped.

Apparently, I have never reviewed this tea before. It’s good I caught that fact since I only have a single-serving of it left now.

Right this moment I am squeezing (metaphorically!) a third steeping out of it. It has a divine vegetal-floral aroma and tastes like some milk-textured vegetable drink. I detect a lot of oolongy sweetness that I have learned to love. But yeah, it makes me feel like a goat eating a bouquet of flowers and broccoli-asparagus-celery medley. I never would have thought I would dig such a combination but I do.

It is my first Ti Kuan Yin Oolong (at least first that I am aware of) but it is difficult for me to predict if I am going to like this kind or if it is going to be one of my favorites simply because there are SO MANY TYPES of it. The one I got from thepuriTea seems to be on a very, very green, non-roasted side. I have some other TKYs waiting for me in the queue: the sample of Yezi’s Master Grade and Life in a Teacup’s Roasted one… Perhaps more than that (I’ve kinda lost track…). I am looking forward to trying them and figuring out the convergent points that make a TKY what it is.

This is another bilochun style black it has loosely curled black nuggets with prominent golden tips. It smells of smokey cocoa. Taste wise it is closer to Teavivre’s black dragon pearls than my other bilochun style black tea from Zen Teahttp://steepster.com/yyz/posts/225415. With Teavivres tea having a slightlier creamy texture and taste. I actually prefer this one though.

I steeped this tea 4 times ( 60, 80,110,300s). I found it a little less resilient than zen’s Phoenix Pearls.

The scent is smokey, with cocoa, honey and light nutty notes. It brews to a coppery maple colour.

It tastes of light smoke with a cocoa mole sauce note with later steeps referencing a hint f the flavour of Chile. The cocoa smoke lies over citrusy malt tones and a touch of honey. Later steeps release a light nutty tone as well. Overall a nice savoury, cocoa noted tea.

It seems like the Wuyi oolongs do not excite me very much. This is definitely better than an average wuyi though. The initial note I get is roasted rice, but then some flowery sweetness kicks in. Okay for a nice afternoon but ultimately nothing to write home about.

These pearls are so fat! I love them.

Steeped 3 of them, instead of 2, per 8 oz. of boiling water. That totally did the trick. It tasted better now than I remember. Brown sugar notes seemed more disctinct and the body fuller – a great start of the day.

The liquor looked a little “dusty” but it was probably my fault since I hadn’t rinsed the leaves – I hate doing it because I feel like I waste water :( So I usually don’t.

Sweet, cute pearls! I love how they look :) The infusion I got is less ruby-red than what I’m used to with Chinese blacks, it looks more like a darjeeling. The smell makes me think of milk chocolate and molasses. It is very smooth and silky sipping experience. The flavor is extremely mild and there’s next to no bitterness. It is really odd because, while I am used to a greater complexity of the flavor in Chinese black teas, this tea has a lot of depth, or body, to it nevertheless.

Nice day-opener!

ThepuriTea, why did you leave us when we are just getting into your teas???

This is the first time I drink this and I absolutely love it. I generally prefer green oolongs, but this is fantastic! Smells just pleasant and uneventful kind of grassy but the flavor… At first I taste sweetness of ripe fruit, then the buttery milkness kicks in in order to be replaced by flowery-perfumey notes that abruptly end with a mild vegetal aftertaste. I don’t remember when I’ve had a tea this complex, even though I have had a ton of marvellous teas in the past few weeks.

I feel so bad about not having included at least 2 servings of this in the Traveling Tea Box… It was on my list but ultimately it did not make the cut. It’s plain wonderful and I can only hope that Dan Congs from other places will be able to replace this one for me.

Delicious. This tea just makes me happy drinking it. It’s almost as if you can taste the patience that went into making it.

As I went to research information on this tea for review purposes, I discovered to my dismay that thepuriTea actually closed, as of December 31, 2013. However, I already had in my possession a sample of these intriguing tea pearls, and it was decided that the review should continue – thank you, Terri HarpLady for the sample. (When have defunct tea companies ever stopped me, before?)

Instructions for steeping this pearl tea involve six pearls, eight ounces of just-boiled water, and three minutes of steeping time. Just before dropping them in my mug and dousing them with water, I inhale the aroma of the dried tea…not too strong with just a touch of maltiness, somewhat like an Assam. Into the cup goes the tea and water, and my timer is set for three minutes.

Contemplating the myriad varieties of tea, which are formed into pearls, I have often wondered how many of those are just gimmicks (due to their form). I have tried jasmine green tea in pearl-form and loose-form, yet one was only better than the other based on the quality of the tea and not the manner in which it was packed. I could make a comparison to loose versus compressed pu’erh, but the reasons for one over the other, there, are far different than for most green and black teas.

My three minutes are done and so is my tea. Decanting it from the brewing vessel into a pre-heated mug, the smell now is more reminiscent of molasses with the undertone of malt. Perhaps due to the three-minute steep time, the scent is quite light. Then I take a sip of the tea. Initially, the flavor seems small, but it explodes across the palate with a sweetness that is unexpected. The molasses and malt flavors are combined with cocoa undertones in a deliciously complex combination of tastes. I drink my way through the cup, slowly, enjoying the nuances and ways, in which this tea shows off the various facets of its flavor.

Adventurously (and for the sake of my curiosity), I decide to resteep the leaves, while I am sipping the first cup. This time, they are left in my two-cup brewing vessel with just-boiled water for an indeterminate, long time (twenty-plus minutes). The result is much darker, due to the extra time, but surprisingly low in astringency. Cocoa notes have become more dominant, but the flavor is still reminiscent of that first, tasty cup.

I am very glad that I got to try this tea, before it became unavailable. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate thepuriTea’s Red Dragon Pearl Tea an 86/100.

Nice and apparently natural. Got a few resteeps out of it too. Not available through thepuriTea anymore of course, so I guess it’s a good thing I like Joy’s and other spots’ just as well.

I finished off this sample as a cold brew this afternoon. I didn’t like it as much prepared via cold brew method, that seems to have brought out a smoky element to this green and I don’t get much lychee. I really liked it hot, but won’t be getting anymore as the PuriTea is now out of business, oh well.

I just woke up from a nap. I feel like I’ve been sleeping too much recently but for the first 3 months of my injury I didn’t sleep at all. Maybe my body is making up for lost time?

I got this sample from thepuriTea before they went out of business. I’m bummed they went out of business because I liked a lot of their offerings…

The dry leaf doesn’t smell much like lychee in the sample tin I got, but after brewing it, you can definitely taste the lychee there. It’s subtle, but a bit juicy and fresh. I agree with moraiwe that there’s something floral about this. It’s really very elegant and doesn’t taste fake in any way like a lot of flavored green teas. I’ll have to look around for another lychee green tea because I really liked this. It might be good as a cold brew as well.