Wanja Tea of Kenya

This one came from CrowKettle.

Sadly the tea is really flat. There’s no life to it. I added milk and sugar to see if it would perk up at all, but it didn’t. I didn’t quite finish the cup (I was in an all day training session, and the smell of coffee was just… I gave in and had half a cup), and that is sad.

This really isn’t a tea for me, although I really liked the last Wanja tea CrowKettle shared with me.

YMMV. :/

Oh. It’s a high altitude tea. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Today this has the usual taste of fresh hay, but with the added bonus of sugar crystals. I’m not sure if that’s something that just comes out as it cools, if it is Greek yogurt cross contamination, etc., but you won’t see me complaining.

This is a very nice white tea but our relationship is still on the shallow, acquaintance side of things. I have high hopes of getting past that soon! I need to send these Wanja teas out to a few people who are long overdue for receiving packages.

Tea notes always become so much more appealing when I have deadlines and appointments to keep.

It only took a month, but my Wanja order is finally here! Yay for delayed tea!

Something in the dry leaf and liquor aroma makes me want to roll around like a cat on catnip.. except I’m not a cat so I did a lot of hopping and skipping around instead. After taking a sip, I did even more of that. Being caffeine sensitive is usually good for the spirit but bad for gaining a respectable public image.

This bright, vivid orange-brown cup is like floral silk and citrus rind. The finish is brisk but not drying. Second steep is even more floral silk, almost thick enough to be a thin cream.

I’m not sure I’d pick this over my favourite mouth shredder, the Wanja OP, but I’ve an ounce-length span to make that decision if I need to.

Yum. Black tea in the morning >>> coffee.

This is my third rewrite. That’s all you get.

(PS. I want more of this one, wow.)

This first steep is actually amazing in my travel mug with sweetened condensed milk. Omg. Rich caramel deliciousness.

I can hardly wait to get home later for more steeps of this tea. It might be one I have to have in my cupboard.

Having some of this due to an impending migraine and general lack of energy.

I’ve been sipping on it for a while, just took a mouthful and went, “OMG! Is that CHOCOLATE?!?!” So yeah, apparently there are chocolate notes in this tea.

2 tsp per 16 oz, with a little honey and soy creamer, as usual. Delicious plain, too, but I like stuff in my teas!

This is One Strong Tea.

Delicious, though. I added a little more honey than usual to bring out the floral notes, and also just because. A little soy creamer as well. It’s a little bitey on the tongue, but nothing really unexpected from a Strong Black Tea.

So good. Sadly I made a giant mug of it without thinking about resteeping, and now I have 3 teas waiting second infusions. Should be an interesting evening.

Edit: Ooh, I need to send some of this to my mom.

Also, another thanks to CrowKettle. Enough for me to share! Whee!!!

I finished my sample of this tea from Wanja Tea of Kenya today and thought it really deserved another note.

A friend stopped by this morning to pick up some tea and it so happened we both had time for a cuppa or two. I knew she was coming so youngest and I had started school extra early this morning so that I would be free.

I asked her if she had ever had a Ceylon Orange Pekoe, and she said she wasn’t sure, unless it was just the Lipton she had drunk as a child. But she was game to try! So we made two pots of tea – this one and Kenilworth Ceylon from Harney and Sons, one of my favorites.

As she lifted her cup, she exclaimed, “This smells so……RICH!” Exactly! It smells rich, and fat, and full, and thick. She was so proud of how far she has come in tea tasting, because she noticed a grain flavor. She searched for words….corn? Wheat? I said, “Malt?” And she said yes, malt was a good description!

She loved the Kenilworth Ceylon also, and it is a very good tea, but less full bodied and a little more lemony. Before she left, she had me email her a link to the website because she wants to order some, so I would have to say that it was a hit!

I received this sample for review from Wanja Tea a few days ago but saved it for tonight. Orange Pekoe is my hubby’s favorite tea, and since today is the 27th anniversary of the day we met I was making him one of his favorite dinners – pasta with home made garlic Alfredo sauce and vegetables, this time squash and zucchini. I melt a sprinkling of grated cheese on top as well.

The dry leaves are medium in size, dark, and twisty. The aroma of the dry leaf is a little sharp, like citrus, but when you steep the tea the aroma develops a beautiful round body that reminds me of golden raisins. As I drank this, I was reminded of my favorite Ceylon Orange Pekoe teas (I am not a fan of the minty or super lemony high grown ones) but with their citrus notes becoming a deeper tone (the golden raisins) and with the malty beauty of a nice Golden Monkey tea. There are other whispers of Fujian black teas in the cup as well.

This is full bodied, but not astringent. It feels…..thick! Very full and round. This was a very satisfying pot of tea and paired very nicely with the meal. The fruity aroma is very heady, and is haunting me even now, hours later. When my current stash of OP runs low, I would be happy to replace it with this!

Thank you, Wanja Tea!

This was a gift from K S – a Christmas surprise in the mail! I waited to try this one until I was drinking tea alone because A. I wanted to pay attention to it, and B. everyone is picky about their black tea, though hubby likes oolongs and such.

The trouble was that I was having brain freezes all morning. I was too lazy to look up the instructions and somehow had it in my head that Purple tea is black tea. But something was telling me not to treat it like black tea. I still set the kettle for 194F which is way higher than they recommend.

The liquor is pale for a black tea, because remember I wasn’t registering yet that it isn’t black tea. I poured it up and set it by my breakfast plate. Thanks to Ysaurella telling me about Bonne Maman preserves, I grabbed some when I saw them in the grocery last night and had the most delicious raspberry preserves on toast this morning, with a glass of milk. The tea is for afters. :)

When my meal was gone I picked up the cup. I didn’t what to expect with the liquor being an odd color and me having made it “flying blind” as to proper instructions. But I can say this…IT WAS DELICIOUS! The high temp didn’t hurt it somehow, the lackadaisical steep time (hmm, looks like it stopped getting darker I think I will pour this up) didn’t make it bitter, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable cup.

My headache is clearing, I am waking up, and it is going to be a good day!

I never drank a purple tea,
I never even sipped one.
But thanks to K S now I have
And it defies description!

Yeah, I know…groan, but that’s been toodling around my brain all afternoon.

But after two steeps, I’m stumped. It’s lightish, but not exactly greenish, but isn’t purplish, and not exactly darjeeling-y. I saw “cranberry” in one tasting note; I can understand where that vibe comes from.

Fortunately, at only 1/2 teaspoon a cup, I’ve got enough to do some more taste testing.

Another Sipdown! (316)
So, I’m digging through trades, looking for nearly tea packets, & came across this one. This is from a long ago trade with Rachel, who I haven’t seen on here of late, but just in case you’re lurking, thanks Rachel!!

This is the only Purple tea I’ve had so far. I steeped 1 tsp in my 16 oz Teapot at 160F for 4 minutes. The resulting tea is pale, with a flavor that is hard to describe. Kind of tart & fruity, in a way like slightly under-ripe fruit, if that makes sense. There is nothing bold & gutsy about this tea, it’s more of a refined kind of thing, but it does give my tongue a shiny tingle on the tip & sides, & I’m feeling some good energy as well. Time to go water my herb garden & dwarf citrus, followed by all of my house plants. I also need to pick some veggies. Communing with the plants, yeah that sounds good to me. :)

Sunday Sample Sipdown #4 (? I think this is the 4th of the day).

This is another sample from Rachel. Thanks!
Tony & I are sitting around, watching episodes of the X files, waiting for the superbowl.

I have to admit, I’m not a real fan of this tea. It does have an interesting flavor, but it kind of burns my throat a little.

Thank you to Rachel for this tea sample!

This is an interesting tea! First off, the aroma of the dry leaf is unlike any other tea I’ve smelled: tart, a little sweet, & something I just can’t quite pinpoint.

The flavor is tart, sweet, somewhat astringent, and a little bitter. It brings to mind cranberries, and reminds me of some of the grapey wine-like Darjeelings out there, in a way.

I REALLY wish the Steepster Gurus would add PURPLE Teas as an option for Tea Bases as they are becoming more and more popular now! Right now we have it just listed under ‘teas’.

Some of the purple teas I tried at first were REALLY WOODSY tasting. This one is REALLY REALLY appealing! It has a good amount of wood flavor but it also has other flavors popping in and out, too! It’s more complex than the other purple teas I have tried. It’s semi-sweet, semi-vegetal, but creamy and woodsy, too! YUM!

The post-infusion color is neat! It’s a light-brown/grey/purple color combo! Very unique!

Thank you to Wanja Tea for this lovely sample!

My friend Joe at Happy Lucky’s is the ‘tea guru’ who teaches classes on ‘Green Tea’, especially Japanese and Korean tea’s.

We were expecting snow a few days ago, so I made my last run to the store and took this tea by the tea house to share, knowing that around dinner time…the shop would be pretty empty.

Joe was a little surprised that I had a green tea from Kenya (his eyebrows went up!), but carefully read the instructions and followed them. (note: The tea was prepared in a Gaiwan, not in 8oz of water).

We both said, “OH!” and smiled when the top came off the Gaiwan and the scent began to waft up to our noses.

He poured the tea into a small pot, then placed the wet leaves in front of me so that I could smell the aroma.

The leaves smelled fruity and savory… like pear and buttered green beans (but not exactly).

Both of us were very surprised when we tasted the tea.
The flavor was smooth and refined, leading Joe to remark that he never would have guessed the tea was from Kenya. It was the as fine as any good Japanese tea he had tasted.

The flavor was very clean without being dry or harsh.
The savory taste developed into a gentle Umami with bitterness in the way that I desire in tea, and which makes the flavor linger.

The Bosc Pear in Butter scent was unusual and a delicious sensory balance.

There’s something special about this Green Tea that should not be overlooked! I’m not sure what it is, but the tea keeps drawing me back! This may be the best of ALL the Wanja Tea’s!

Sipdown! There was a week where all I drank was this tea. I’m not bored of it yet; the whole mobile flowers equipped with astringent razor blades impression never ceases to amaze me. I strive to keep an ounce of this around in my theoretical perfect tea collection.

Just to reconfirm: milk does this tea no favours.It sucks up all the floral subtlety and hides the tea’s personality, making the whole thing rather bland. If the primary bite is a bother, it doesn’t stick around much for the second and third steeps (which are delicious).

This is exactly what I want when I say bold and brisk! Wow, this gets me going.

Astringent? Yes. Bitter? hmm.. kind of like an orange peel, or as with dark chocolate with dried up fruit bits. There is something almost sweet and soft to the cup, especially in beginning to mid sip, where it goes smooth in a creamy malty way. that smoothness coexists with the briskness in an appealing manner.

I added milk the first time I tried some a few days ago; it was pleasant, but I don’t feel the broth is thick enough to call for it. Also, that aforementioned softness balances out the potential harshness of the cup for me.

I second steeped it the other day as well, and it had all the strength of a Breakfast tea on first steep. It’s a potent cup! Today I’m going to see how long it can last. Edit- second steep today is definitely floral! Yum.

Thank you, Azzrian, for pointing me towards this! I can’t wait to try the purple tea next.

Special thanks to Azzrian* for this one!

Both Azz and Bonnie did a GREAT job describing this one! Seriously, I can’t top them! :) You girls, ROCK!!!!!

In short, for me, Bold, Sturdy, Malty, Dark Coco/Chocolate, Dried Fruit hints really step forward! Very nice! Strong, bold, and terrific!