Featured & New Tasting Notes

I’m not sure how this one has escaped tasting for so long. I was looking for something appropriate to try out my new cast-iron tetsubin and this was perfect.

The leaves were tightly curled and bright jade colored. Unfortunately, they were somewhat cramped by the pot’s steeping basket so I didn’t get the full unfurling effect.

The tea was very pale green with a vegetative, buttery and nutty fragrance. The flavor was very light and delicate; it’s possible that my sample may be aging. However, subsequent steeps were for longer periods and the flavor deepened. It’s buttery, slightly saline and finished very sweet.

I don’t drink a lot of oolongs but every time I do, I really enjoy them. I drank an entire pot of this one. (And the tetsubin is awesome. However, I need to build up calluses to use the iron cups- ouch!)

I bought a sample of this tea because of all of the hype over Xi-Zhi-Hao on Jas-eTea. I wanted to try what many others were calling the best Sheng out there. This one is younger (2007) but considering several of the highest end bricks I have are that young, I figured this one would be old enough to try.

The sample is a nice loose compression with big arbor buds and leaves. Very nice visually! I had high hopes for this brick. I am using 5 grams of leaf material and around 200 degree water on this one. There really isn’t all that much to say about this tea to be honest. What I did recognize right away is that it is not offensive. Usually with sheng pu’er of this age you will get something unbearably drying and smokey right from the start. This tea tries to steer clear of any of that. It doesn’t necessarily want to say anything however. With some sheng of even higher quality than this one you will get something that is not only non-offensive but also minutely complex and interesting.

This one is not.

By steeping 3 the classic “Sheng” flavor of smoke and a common astringency start to creep in. But overall I would actually say that this is a better sheng than probably 80% of what I’ve tried. Not really worth investing money in a brick but certainly wasn’t a bad experience.

I bought a small ammount to test at home. And I do like it better if I brew it myself, on my small teapot and just so. Better.

This tea smells incredible in every stage. The tea leaves with a thousand fruity smell, then after brewed, like strawberry jam and green apples and maybe caramel. First taste is for me strawberry with green Granny Smith apples coming later at the back of the mouth. Nobody else seems to have tasted apples, never mind green apples, so my brain might be just wrongly assigning a particularsmell to a very complex blend of flavours.

Must retest, less brewing time I think and maybe try milk. Lovely indeed, though it did not knock my socks off as much as expected.

As the holidays have mostly left us and we are welcoming significantly warmer temperatures, and longer and sunnier days here in NJ, I thought I would take a stroll back with this tea.

This is still wonderful! Brewed hot, four minutes, no additives. There is the same lovely flavor I remember – richness, almost-spice, tea flavor, smokey sweet. Absolutely delicious.

As a side note, I came on here to rate a pile of teas I got and tried this weekend. Unfortunately, it looks like none of them (or the first three I checked for) are not on here yet. I will rectify this this afternoon. Until then, enjoy!

Mmm, in the tin it smells creamy dreamy vanilla lemon pie wonderful! This smell doesn’t translate quite as strongly to the cup, but the flavour is still a lovely vanilla tinged lemon pie, not sharp, bitter or lemon peel-like at all. I haven’t had this treat in a little while, but it is great to return to on an early Monday morning. The sun has almost started getting up at the same time as me, and with a pot of lemon zest beside me, all is right in the world. Well, in my living room. The poor world is actually in much worse shape.

When dry, the large leaves not only take up a huge amount of room, but they also smell like they just fell off of a tree in October. It’s interesting, and I’m in the mood for adventure.

165/5.5 minutes… I got caught up making Nutella covered crackers for my children and forgot about my tea steeping on the counter. Turns out to be a good mistake, I think.

I was thinking this would be a very light and delicate cup, but the color is pretty intense for a white. It’s a deep golden color. The scent is slightly vegetal and toasted now. Just a touch of autumn leaf aroma. The taste is slightly spicy with a peppery/cinnamon taste and toasty, but not a hearty toasted flavor. The tea lingers for a bit, changing to an ever so sweet flavor, but not fruity as the website’s description indicates. I’m guessing that’s because I left it steeping for three minutes longer than recommended. I really like this as it’s quite unusual and I love the idea of these teas being dried by moonlight. It adds to the mystique.

This is the last of the TeaFrog samples I have that I took to work (I left all the rooibos at home, and I don’t drink tea as often there). The aroma on this one is super sweet creamy-vanilla, with just a hint of bergamot and black tea peeking in from underneath. The taste is surprisingly bitter for an Earl Grey cream. Maybe I steeped it longer than I thought, but certainly no more than 30 seconds longer. Guess I’ll make sure to go down to 3 minutes exactly next time. Anyway, the creamy vanilla flavor is also there with a good helping of astringent bergamot. I feel like they’re somehow separate, though, like they don’t meld together well. Usually I feel like cream Earl Greys are tamer than traditional Earl Greys, but in this one the cream doesn’t seem to mellow it as much. I’ll definitely adjust my steeping parameters and try again, but right now this is not my favorite as far as cream Earl Greys go.

Cups #4 and #5 in SimplyJenW’s China black palate training course, of sorts:
Today I decided to do a side by side. I wanted to see if I could taste the difference between a high cost black and a low-mid range one. Bai Yun Shan is my lo-mid range. It is about $7 for 100 grams. My high end choice was ZP99 Imperial Black Golden Needles. It runs over $20 for roughly the same amount (thank you for offering samples, Upton!) I can taste a difference, but it is oh so slight to my untrained palate. The Bai Yun Shan is a good solid black. It does taste slightly more smokey. Brews up about the same color, but maybe slightly darker. Bai Yun Shan’s leaves are stranded and golden tipped, with lots of golden tips…definitely about 50% golden. The leaves on the Golden Needles are probably about the longest I have seen, and are mostly golden colored, probably about 75% golden. The liquor on the Golden Needles is a little thicker, if that is possible, richer tasting. It is smoother and sweeter than the less expensive variety. So I can definitely taste a difference side by side, but I am not sure I would notice much of a difference if I prepared them at different times. Since the one is three times the price of the other, do I really enjoy the more expensive one three times as much? Not really. But this will be an incredibly cool exercise to repeat in a few years!

1 heaping TB for 450mL water, bare.

It’s baa-aacck!

My local tea shop, Britannia Teas and Gifts, had run out of this blend for a while, but I found it again on Tuesday. Immediately bought 100 grams. At $11.75 CAD per 100 grams, it’s not a cheap tea, but, being fair trade (yay), organic, and totally delicious, it’s well worth every penny. (Imagine, tea-pickers being paid half-decent wages. It has got to be back-breaking work. Big salute to all tea-pickers this morning! Big salute, too, to the estates which look after their workers properly.)

As I’ve said many times before: a thoroughly excellent black tea blend. Creamy, malty, a wee bit smoky. Never bitter. Cream and heft from what tastes like a really good 2nd flush Assam. (I am guessing here.) Lots of Chinese black tea smoothness, mostly likely from a goodly dose of Keemun. Tiny “bite” of what tastes to me like Ceylon, but the bite is not astringent — it sparkles. Bright and deep, this tea comforts and fortifies.

Seriously, this one is worth ordering. Britannia Teas will ship. http://www.britanniateas.ca/

(Full disclosure: no, I do not work for Britannia Teas. The owner is a friend of mine, and we’ve become even better friends over the last few years, and over many different teas, but I would not recommend her stock, and the effort of ordering it, if I did not think it exceptional.)

Being out of this tea was a loss. I am delighted to have my tin full again.

First tea log;

I got a small tin of this back from the lovely Tabby, being one of her favorite tea’s and a snowy march evening I thought I’d run at this first.

I ran the water all the way up to boiling then let it sit for a good 5 and a half minutes in a flush stainless infuser, the first thing I noticed was the sharp scent, all deliciously tangy with the heavy scent of the black tea behind it, I almost felt bad dropping in a small amount of agave sugar.

The taste of it is really hard to put into words, especially this late at night, simply put on a snowy night in what should be spring, it makes living in new england almost bearable, the sweet touch of cranberry and orange is perfect over the black tea, I LOVE black heavy mean tea’s so I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy this but it really is quite a perfect contrast, just tart enough over the lovely body of the black tea.

Highly recommended for anyone who hates snow, and or just wants a nice cup of tea.

Going to try tomorrow without the agave honey, which might of been a little too much sweetness.

So, learning from the horror that was Painfully Strong Hibiscus Raspberry from this same company, I brewed this with only a teaspoon of tea, instead of a tablespoon. When I sniffed the finished product, I hate to say this, but my immediate thought was of a cheap motel room by the pool. Kinda musty and chlorine-y, but not….I don’t know, it wasn’t a bad thing, kinda?

After I take a sip, I realize the smell reminds me of a hotel coffee, that’s what I’m associating it with. Not terrible…but not all that great, either.

My wife’s going to try this when she gets home, but I think I can safely say that if there are any coffee cherry enthusiasts out there, I’d be happy to send you some of these teas.

Maybe milk would help…
Ugh these teas confuse the heck out of me.

Finally giving this a go. As we all know by now, every pouch of this is super different, so obviously I am commenting only on my pouch. The dry smell is of tea, but faint. Not much fruitiness, just a sweet mild vegetal tea taste.

Steeped, the liquor is a relatively pale yellow, looks like a mild tea. The steeped smell is reminiscent of the dry – sweet, mild, green tea, but also has fruit notes. All sweet. Exciting. I’m a little apprehensive, but only because I’ve been having a questionable relationship with greens lately.

The beau was in charge of water temp and steep time, but he assures me that he let it cool considerably after boiling. He is actually the one who recommended this tea for our evening tea, strange since he claims to not like greens at all. I think he was just drawn in by the ingredients list (aka: YES).

First sips continue to be mild. I get fruit taste at the end of the sip, much as I do in the smell. No way to tell what fruit I am tasting, but it is slightly reminiscent of very merry berry medley and blueberry cream cheese danish, so maybe a light blueberry flavour? Looking in the pot, the tea leaves are quite large and there are chunks of something or other here and there.

I can’t say anything specific about this tea really. It’s certainly nice, and probably a good way to get me back into my flavoured greens. I’m still getting mild green tea, with little to no vegetal taste and mild fruits. Not blowing me away, but definitely a nice cup to sip absent-mindedly.

This is my default tea. Given the fact that I live above a tea shop that we own, that has to say something. I love this tea iced or hot, plain and adulterated. Brew a pot of this with a few slices of orange and pour over ice with a teaspoon of sugar (and a newer, prettier orange slice or two). Beautiful and decadent!

This tea is a very sturdy oolong, tending towards the black side. Nutty and rich, it has a wonderful toasty, smooth flavor, mild astringency, and a hint of sweetness. It is very, very good. I like this one equally as well for an eye-opener, with a late afternoon nibble, and for a relaxing evening pot. After taking a break from this one, I am always pleasantly surprised at how much I love this tea.

Happy Cupping!

Another free sample from Joy’s Teaspoon was this tisane, which I had to try because I love all thing almond. The instructions for this brew called for a lot of tea per water (2 tsp/6oz), so I ended up using the whole sample for my 12oz Kati cup. During the long steep of 10 minutes, my office started smelling like a bakerie. Wow does this tea smell mind blowingly good. Like a cinnamon bun, or a snickerdoodle, or those sugar encrusted almonds they sell at fairs, or just a bunch of sugary, cinnamony goodness. Yum. The brewed liquor is bright red, which was surprising, although I guess that’s the beetroot.

So what does it taste like? Sweet, and a little fruity-tart, like a cinnamon-covered dehydrated apple ring. Yeah, I’m getting a lot of apple out of it. It’s certainly delicious, and the aroma of roasted sugar-covered almonds is present, but it doesn’t seem like the main event for me. Would I order it? There’s a good chance of that, but as delicious sweet apple cinnamon baked good tisane, not so much as an almond tea.

After reading another tasting note that said that this gets better the longer it steeps, I tried it out again in my big glass teapot. This isn’t a very dark black tea, and similarly the taste is very light. The lime is zingy, but not overpowering. I enjoyed the hint of coconut, which was much softer than the buttered rum I had this morning.

There’s nothing bitter about this tea, so it’s nice to slowly sip at without worrying about oversteeping it. Even as it got cold it was still tasty, so I’m sure it would be lovely iced. Definitely a go-to for my long paper writing sessions!

Chi of Tea and their coupons are totally leading me astray! Was that a paypal button? Oh OOPS! :D

This is bad, because finances are a wee bit tight this month, but I’m staying within my weekly allowance, so I can justify it to myself like that. And also the fact that I could have placed a twice as large order, but decided to save some of it for later.

Clearly this calls for a cup of tea, something that feels thrifty, which means we’re delving into the Standard Panel. Smoky is good. Very smoky is very good. Hello Lapsang!

I’ve used plenty of leaf this morning. Plenty. Because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. Luckily my average steep times are so short that it doesn’t really seem to have made a difference. It’s a little smokier than average but underneath all the smoke there’s plenty of the fruity sweetness.

I’ve had a Lapsang from TeaSpring, which is otherwise a wonderful company, I think, when it comes to chinese teas, and that one didn’t really develop that fruit note until the second steep. I think that’s why I prefer the Perch’s Lapsang over that one. I like that note. And I don’t want to wait for a whole new steep to get it. And I definitely don’t want to steep twice routinely to get one cup of tea. The super-smokyness of the TeaSpring one has other wonderful qualities, of course, like it’s a good one to turn to when in the mood for something seriously smoky, but it’s just not quite enough to make up for the subdued sweet note that I would say it was a better Lapsang than this one.

This one is perfectly balanced between smoky notes and substance for me.

(It’s significantly cheaper as well, which totally doesn’t hurt!)

I am quite a fan of this tea. It’s lemon flavor is not the strongest but it combined with the other flavors is great. I believe it is the Guayusa and Lemon Grass I taste the most.

I find drinking this tea makes me feel happier throughout the day (which is important considering my job) and helps me stay awake, which is nice because I tend to start to crash at around three.

I use t-sac tea filters and today I tried using it how I seen other people use them. I put the tea in the t-sac and bent it over the side of the cup (leaving the t-sac open), I usually tie the t-sac closed and this steeped the tea much quicker. I usually leave it for about 5 mins when I tie it close but this time it took about 1 min maybe even less, it was drinkable almost right away.

I steeped this a second time later in the day and it did not take much longer to steep and it was just as flavorful. I think I might be able to steep this a fourth time. Time to experiment. :P

Overall a must have!

I recommend a ratio of 2 to 1 when it comes to leaf and water. 4g leaf, 2 oz water.

It was pretty strong—not overwhelmingly so—but overall AWESOME!

I made sure everything was pre-warmed with very hot water, to control the temps and make sure the tea was actually warm when it was ready to drink! (The teapot had boiled water sitting in it up to the moment I was ready to add the leaf and the cooled water for the tea).

This was really rather more what I was in the mood for last night. Magnolia might not be quite as bad as roses or jasmine in the lovey-dovey department, but it was quite bad enough.

I’ll have it this evening instead, after some considerable debate with myself about whether I still wanted it or whether I wanted something else entirely now (wouldn’t it have been a hilarious stroke of irony if I had found myself in a Lapsang mood?), but I decided I thought I was still inclined towards the magnolia-scented oolong.

You know, every time I have this I get surprised by the magnolia and how it isn’t jasmine-y. It’s so strong in the aroma I keep expecting to get a mouthful of perfume, but it really is very well behaved in flavour. It’s there, but it’s not overwhelming. To begin with I thought it merely enhanced the oolongness of the oolong, but now that I’ve had it a few more times I can pick it out in the flavour more.

I’m not a flower scenting fan at all when it comes to tea, but of the ones I’ve tried so far, I believe magnolia would be my favourite to scent tea with.

I ended up erring on the side of caution with my first steep and took the (awesome!)infuser out of my travel mug altogether after about ten minutes. In a stroke of brilliance, instead of dumping the tea leaves I put the infuser in my work mug, that way I can resteep without any mess. So, that’s what I’ve done!

I know that I’ve drained a lot of the flavour already, but I figure I might as well maximise what I have here at work. I think a big mug of spearmint will come after this, since I’m really enjoying just filling the travel mug with tea you don’t have to worry about. It keeps it substantially warmer than my work mug as well, so I don’t have to get up and make a new tea every 20 minutes.

This tea smells like toasty coconut. The funny thing is that it’s oolong tea with hazelnut and vanilla and I’m not a vanilla fan. Well, not usually.

I happen to love coconut, so I was hoping that the scent connected with the actual taste. 205/2 min later… The aroma is still there. That’s one hurdle down. Next to taste… Mmm. It does taste nutty, but the expected taste of coconut has morphed into what the tea claims to be… Hazelnut. Vanilla. Oolong. Nice.

Fortunately, the vanilla is not too overwhelming. The pairing of flavors here is nice. The oolong has an underlying strength. It’s not lost to the flavoring. Very nice.

2nd infusion – Today, I took a second infusion in a travel mug to work. It’s really good, even better than the first one. The flavoring is more muted and the rich oolong shines through. I’m very impressed and very happy.

So, I have actually had this before, but that was a week ago. Mainly because the taste was overwhelmed by the raspberry. So, three bags in a three cup pot (reduce the raspberry taste maybe), and the water wasn’t quite boiling (just beginning to bubble with that low roaring sound). If someone would like to comment on the water temperature and how to tell when the water is appropriate for green tea without actually using a thermometer, I would be appreciative.

So, first cup: lovely reddish brown and smells of raspberries. However, I wouldn’t really know what green tea smells like, so maybe that other smell that is kind of hiding behind it is the green tea. The taste is a little on the tart side of raspberry. BTW, I can not express how much I needed this cup of tea. Not really caring about the taste at this point. It is warm and wet and the ritual of making it comforts me.

Second cup: with the sinus dragon now defeated by Knight Tea, the taste is more tart (tarter?) than the last. But I can also taste something under the tartness that just might be green tea.

Third cup: slightly more astringent. Definitely more of a green tea taste. I really need to try this stuff without anything mixed in. Since I’m not sure exactly who bought or gave me this tea (I didn’t buy it), I’m been trying to get used to the idea of actually trying green tea, which I’ve only had iced and did not like.

Will look into acquiring actual green tea. As for this, I like it but I think next time I’ll go back to four tea bags to a pot. The tart is nice, but I prefer the sweet too, and that I got with the four bags I used previously.

This is one of the first teas I tried from Adagio, and I was in love at first sip. Disclaimer: Gunpowder green tea is one of my fave teas of all time, so I am completely biased in any and all reviews re: Gunpowder green.

The gunpowder flavor, mixed with a subtle hint of Darjeeling, offers up a smoky flavor in the aftertaste. I actually added a bit more peppermint, but I enjoy stronger, spicier teas. (And my peppermint may have been fresher…no offense, just sayin’.)

Overall, this is a great blend for beginners to loose tea and for gunpowder fans. If you prefer stronger, blacker teas with lots of fruity flavors, I’d bypass this one. :P

This is my absolute favorite tea from specialteas. I find 2:34 to be an ideal steep for water at a roaring boil. The taste of the assam, nilgiri, and ceylon leaves perfectly complement the bergamot citrus to make an excellent flavor.
This is not the best everyday tea in my opinion. After having it daily for a while, I started to lose the true taste in my mouth while drinking it. Having it periodically and sparingly definitely makes the experience special and worthwhile. Overall, an awesome tea. I hope I can still buy Fine Earl Grey after the teavana merger…