Barbara

Barbara drank Lao Tieguanyin by tea-adventure

I received a sample of this tea with my regular order (policy of the company, which is very nice).

The company website and description has me a bit baffled. It says the taste is/should be sweet and floral. Perhaps I brewed it wrong, though I don’t really think so as the tea turned out to taste pretty good, just not sweet and floral, but rather very much like raw chestnuts. It also smells of chestnuts, olive oil and/or some kind of vegetable I can’t put my finger on. Furthermore it has a distinctly woody quality.

Perhaps the website refers to the aged Tieguanyin, while I received the non-aged or less-aged version? (The website links through to a page about the farm, where a number of varieties are mentioned, while the website itself shows pictures of a yellow/amber coloured brew and a burnt orange coloured brew).

Anyway, it has a comforting warm but at the same time strangly crisp energizing character.

I’m sorry I can’t describe it more accurately, but it just isn’t like any tea I’ve tasted before. Maybe the taste is typical for oolongs, but this is just my second – the first being a Chinese “milky oolong” of undisclosed origin.

A very interesting tea in a positive way. Probably something I’ll be ordering in the near furtur (maybe even today… :-)).

2013-02-24 07:02:54 -0500

205 °F / 96 °C

5 min 0 sec

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cteresa 2013-05-07 12:47:46 -0400

I really liked this, thank you! I think I am definetely a oolong (green oolong) persona after all.

Also from a swap, I tried Ten Ren´s Sun Moon Lake, a high mountain oolong from Tai Wan which was excellent.

Barbara 2013-05-12 15:09:37 -0400

Good to hear! I really like the oolongs myself as well. Currently I’m moving a bit toward the darker oolongs, which are really good as well (Red Robe and such).

cteresa 2013-05-12 15:25:46 -0400

I am pretty interested in blacks blacks right now as well – but glad I got over thinking I did not care much for oolongs.

Barbara 2013-05-12 17:27:35 -0400

Those are not my favorite although I’ve tasted some pretty nice ones lately. Amongst which a black Tieguanyin from tea-adventure. I’ve ordered a batch. I’ll send you some sometime (shipping is some three weeks).

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Bio

What to say about myself and my tea drinking habits? I’ve been staring at the screen, reading other’s bio’s and still can’t come up with something worthwile. I’ll just stick to the basics.

I generally prefer white, green and oolong teas to black teas. As I read a scientific report that stated that black teas lower the level of stress hormones in the blood, I try to add a few cups of black tea every day.

Overall I prefer black teas to be flavoured. The white, green and oolongs may be flavoured or straight.

I brew my teas per cup, mostly in my – much loved – Kati mug with Cha Cult strainer. I’m rather a stickler for brewing time and temperature, so I use a tea timer and watercooker with temperature indication.

I also love a good cup of coffee and especially cappuchino. As far as I’m concerned, a good cappuchino requires a real milk/foam topping, not something made with skimmed milk, powder or the like. Unfortunately a lot of cafes still haven’t caught on to that one and serve low quality coffee and tea (type vending machine and bagged fannings). I hate it when, on a cold winter day, the choice is restricted to bad coffee, bagged fannings or a cold softdrink… :-(

As for rating teas, I more or less make the following distinction:

100:
Nothing is perfect. Probably won’t be using it ever.

98 – 99:
Nearly too good to be true.

90 – 97:
Exceptional.

80 – 89:
Excellent.

70 – 79:
Good. May rebuy depending on price and availability.

60 – 69:
Ok I’ll finish the cup and maybe even have a second, but probably won’t finish the entire package as I have other – (far) better teas in my cupboard.

< 60:
I feel cheated. I won’t ever be buying this again.

< 50:
This really is no good.

< 30:
I hate this. I want my money back.

1:
Beyond horrible!

PS: Recalibrated my ratings according to this index on 23 feb 2013.