Mandarin Silk

I can’t believe I haven’t written a tasting note for this tea yet! I’ve had it many times, but I guess I haven’t been in the mood to write anything about it. Today I’m TRYING to be productive and make some progress on a paper and another assignment.. but I’d much rather read or nap instead!

It seems like every single time I drink this tea, I keep expecting there to be a stronger flavor. It could be that the scent is so strong that I’m expecting a cup that’s insanely creamy and tangy.. but each time it’s a little bit watered down. It’s not a bad cup at all, it’s just not what I expect every time I brew. It’s quite soft and smooth, but not terribly silky. The oolong remains in the background and the vanilla and the citrus are what I really taste. The citrus is quite interesting because it’s not tart, but a bit bitter… the kind of bitter that I don’t like all that much. It reminds me a little bit of unripe oranges. I think the vanilla is the redeeming flavor in this blend.

This makes a very pleasing cup. I still have a whole bunch of this tea so I need to drink this one more often! In the future, I think I’ll buy a smaller amount of tea as there are other oolongs that I like a bit more… but this one is still delicious.

Got this from Queen of Tarts:)

I woke up in the mood for a lemon tea, but the 2 that interested me didn’t have caffeine, so I thought I should save those till later. So picked this instead. I like it well enough, though this is only my 1st cup of it, I think I might be inclined to order more when it’s done. But we’ll see.
It’s light, and sweet. A little bit grassy. Last taste on my tongue is some astringency, but not a bad thing. Something tells me that this tea would not make a good iced tea. Probably wouldn’t be terrible….just uninspiring.
It is raining outside, was going to go grocery shopping, because not much food in the house, but with the weather, I’d rather stay in, drink a few cups of tea and do some writing that I keep putting off.

Meh. It’s stopped raining. I guess grocery shopping is in the cards afterall. Probably just as well…need food.

The aroma of this tea was intoxicating as soon as the hot water hit it. I love a good vanilla oolong and this certainly smelled like one. The taste was sweetly floral with heavy doses of cream and a hint of citrus in the finish. I was definitely still able to taste the greenness of the pouchong base.

Lemon Myrtle has become a favorite component of mine lately. It adds an aroma that follows through with a wonderful lemony richness without the tartness of lemon. Vanilla creme is a now a very popular flavor addition, so I think Art of Tea has been right on with their blending creations.

I enjoyed this blend very much.

Packaging: “blooming, expanding, connecting” my favourite line on the package. It’s part of their logo and I think it does a great job at explaining exactly why they are here. Tea was delivered in a resealable stand up pouch labelled with the information about the tea (description, ingredients, steep time)

First Sip Thought: “Where’d the vanilla go?”

Smell: The dried leaves have an exquisite natural vanilla scent to them. I would say I enjoy the scent of the leaves before they are steeped better than afterwards. It’s not a horrible smell, but after filling the space with a sweet aroma it’s definitely a change to have something smell complete opposite.

Taste: I call this blend a tease because it smells like it will have a really sweet taste from the overpowering smell of vanilla but it does not. I feel like the natural vanilla scent kind of disappeared, and I could no longer smell or even taste it. However, you can definitely taste a smooth, rich blend of the lemon myrtle and marigolds. I have never tried this combination in any form before and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought I would be disappointed after realizing it didn’t taste how it first smelled but it ended up being a great blend to sit and enjoy while getting my creative mind running on high speed.

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca

I ended up with this by accident. I placed an order with Amazon for Art of Tea’s Silver Needles and their Coconut Cream, and was sent this Mandarin Silk instead of the Silver Needles. Just a human error, I think – the packing label said Silver Needles. So I contacted Amazon and they said “We’re very sorry. We’ll refund your account; place another order for the Silver Needles and dispose of the Mandarin Silk in whatever way you feel fit.”
So I drank it.
And it’s good.

The leaves in the tin are very fragrant – sort of like oranges and cream. They’re rolled into very long, thin leaves. It brews a beautiful bronze color, and the light shining through it is lovely! It’s definitely a dessert tea, and it’s complimented well with a little bit of sugar – I use about a teaspoon of German rock sugar. Delicious.

I was right: to extract any flavor from this, you have to use a lot of leaves. I’m at 1 Tbsp per 12oz cup. This is sort of sensible: because the leaves are so big and fluffy and loosely packed, maybe this is actually less tea by weight than I use with other teas. I don’t know.

So the most amazing thing about this tea is still the smell of the dried leaves. It’s all vanilla-y and some citrus and wow. The tea, once brewed, tastes pretty much the same, albeit less so.

Maybe I’m still being unfair because the dried leaves smell of such promise: if someone just gave me a prepared cup of this tea, perhaps I would be more impressed, but as it is I’m still not loving this as much as some of the other folks here. Still, it’s not like it’s undrinkable or anything.

Ordered a cup of this one at a local coffee shop while meeting a friend. One of the staff was really nice and actually brought my cup to our table. He told me to wait 4 or so minutes to drink it but if I wait longer it shouldn’t get bitter. I was like yes! those are all things I want to hear. I wasn’t paying too much attention to my cup but it was a very smooth oolong, buttery even, with some citrus notes.

Another part of my group buy with Sara. Ooh, smells like vanilla, with a hint of mandarin orange.

The flavor is orange, vanilla, and orange zest, mmm. Near the end of the sip I’m getting floral notes and something almost perfumy… but not in a bad way, which is odd to me. Oh, now I’m getting a rose note.

I will drink this again. It’s a well-tended garden of flavors.

I love oolongs. This is a citrus and vanilla flavored oolong. I bought this one based on the reviews and that it won awards. I’m still on the fence about this one. I actually liked the 2nd & 3rd steep better than the first. 3rd steep I do get that hint of an orange dreamsicle at the end of my sip. Not one I’d for sure buy again but nice to try. I may rate this higher after a few more attempts.