Dorothy

Picked this up a while ago when I was in Toronto. The Tao Tea Leaf store is quite nice, they carry a lot of beautiful tea ware. There are a lot of places to buy tea in Toronto.. I’m sure there are a lot of stores I don’t even know about, but this particular place caught my eye because they mainly sell premium teas (not mainly just flavoured ones).

Now onto my tasting note:

I’ve short steeped this tea a few times now, and in general it reminds me of a few other black teas with similar profiles (Zhao Bai Jian, Laoshan Black Tea). Earthy, floral, malty, hint of chocolate and sweetness. Sophisticated and easy on the palate. I really enjoy how the floral notes never get too bold, there is just a nice hint of it. And out of the other teas with similar profiles, I prefer this one because of that mild floral aroma.

_{See previous tasting notes for my thoughts on this tea’s flavour profile}

Hmm, I take back what I said about this not being a good resteeper. I just had to scale down the short steeps by A LOT. When I short steep black tea I usually start at 30s or 45s, but these leaves infuse very quickly. Hime Fuki is also quite potent, I only needed 1tsp for short steeping in a 100ml tea vessel. I’ve tried adding more leaves previously and it was too bitter.

Overall not one of my favourite black teas, but still an enjoyable purchase. It shares a lot in common with Qimen black tea, but I prefer the flavour of Hime Fuki over that type. Generally I’m not a big fan of Qimen types though, and that is probably why this tea is not one of my top favourites.

100ml purion teapot, 1tsp, 6 steeps (3s, +3s resteeps)
_{(The built in filter the purion teapot had was very useful here. If you use a gaiwan you’ll need a strainer because the Hime Fuki leaves are small and broken)}

Still my favourite “cheap” ($5/50g) LS.

Had a good experience short steeping this today, got up to 9 steeps. I was a bit surprised because the tea is comprised of broken leaves and I don’t always get performance out of those. It tasted very smooth, smoky, woody, and buttery throughout all the steeps.

On a final note I’d just like to mention that I usually love LS, so I’m not sure I would recommend this to those that dislike smoky teas. It is definitely not nasty and tarry, but I’ve also tried better (and more expensive) “authentic” LS.

100ml purion teapot, 2 tsp, 9 steeps (3s, +3s resteeps)
_{edit: if anyone’s curious, the smoky flavour didn’t stay in the purion after a quick rinse for my next tea}

I bought this just to see what’s so special about Da Hong Pao. There are a lot of sources for this type of tea, but I chose Camellia Sinensis because they never disappoint me and I like supporting Canadian businesses (plus the tea arrives quickly). Now onto the tasting note:

First steep: Roasted, floral, very smooth, kinda sweet.

Second steep: Sweeter, roasted flavour is nice and not too strong, has a soft floral aroma.

Third steep: More balanced, the liquor leaves a pleasant sweet and roasted flavour at the back of my throat.

Taking a break to sniff the gaiwan, the wet leaves have a very charming scent. I like how the roasted characteristics never become too overpowering.

Fourth steep: Much of the same characteristics are present, still quite smooth/creamy with a soft floral/fruity aroma.

Fifth steep: Seems a bit lighter and zesty. This cup made me think of mango and honey dew melon.

Sixth steep: More sweetness and fruit than roasted flavour.

Next time I’ll try with a longer initial steep and more leaves.

Sometimes I see that other teas are compared to Da Hong Pao, and I can kinda see why now, but I don’t find those comparisons very helpful. I’d rather people mentioned specific characteristics or flavour, like “sweet and roasted”. Overall a wonderful tea, but some of the hype around it tainted my experience. I’ll have to try some more Da Hong Pao teas in the future.

100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp, 6 steeps (10s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 1min, 1m20s)

I’ve never tried “gaba” teas before, so I was quite happy to see this tea sample included in my order of Zealong Black tea.

In the first steep I’m tasting candied fruit, roasted oolong, and a green veg-like flavour. Quite smooth and soft on my palate. The liquor is a somewhat dark amber colour.

Subsequent steeps became bolder in flavour but still maintained a good balance. I like how the later steeps tasted of candied golden raisins and cantaloupe melon. The seventh steep even brought out some cinnamon notes. There is some astringency but just enough to keep the body from seeming too dull.

Very happy I had a chance to try this once. Not sure if I’d buy this for the health benefits, but the flavour is unique and memorable. Getting the impression this vendor has great taste in tea. :)

200ml glass teapot, 2 tsp, 8 steeps (rinse, 40s, +10s resteeps)

Last time I brewed this western style once at 3 minutes, now I’m going to short steep it.

The liquor of the first steep felt really silky in my mouth. This short steep brought out some new flavours: floral, cinnamon, and the now familiar malt and barley flavours from my first tea session.

Second cup is very similar to the first, except the grape flavour really starts to come out here. Nothing really tastes out of place, and the floral notes are not strong enough to rub me the wrong way. The tea body and liquor colour are very light, with still no trace of bitterness or much astringency (much like my first experience with this tea).

Third cup left a nice sweetness at the back of my throat, but the flavours seem to be weakening.

Drinking on from the fourth to sixth steeps, the tea flavour continued to fade but the grape notes still built up in my mouth.

I tried extending the steep times a bit on the last two cups, but it was still really to light for my tastes. If I try this again I’ll probably do 3tsp of leaves, since 2tsp didn’t really fill up the gaiwan too much anyway.

Overall it reminds me of a few other black teas I’ve tried, but the grape flavour (reminds me of grape jam) makes this tea very unique and memorable. It didn’t turn out to be a great resteeper for me, so I’ll probably be drinking this western style in the future.

100ml gaiwan, 2tsp, (45s, 1min, 1m15s, 1m30s, 1m50s, 2m10s)

Recently there was a post on Steepster/Teatra.de about a special offer to buy a pre-release pack of Zealong black tea. It seemed a bit pricey but I love trying new stuff so I put in an order for 50g. (Although to be fair, the price is on-par with other high end black teas I buy)
My package came in the mail today, and along with the tea I ordered there were a few goodies: a photo of a Zealong picker in a tea field, photo of a tea cup in snow, and 2 tea samples (gaba oolong and FF ruby darjeeling).

For my first tea session I will be brewing it “western style” once at 3mins. Next time I’ll do multiple short steeps in a 100ml tea vessel.

Dry leaf appearance: big broad leaves

Liquor scent: malty, grainy

Flavour: Starts off very light, grainy, malty, with a sweet after taste. As I kept drinking, I started picking up on a unique flavour, not sure how to describe it other than “grapey”. It’s not a muscatel or concord grape kinda flavour. The tea body wasn’t bitter or had much astringency. Reminds me a bit of the “oolong-black” tea I tried from Yuuki-Cha.

Next time I brew this western style, I’ll try it at 5 minutes. The tea body is very light, so I think it could benefit from a longer steep time. This is my second experience with a tea from New Zealand. Before this I tried the Zealong Pure oolong, which I thought was pretty good. They all seem to be quite smooth and lack a sharp astringency.

Overall I found this to be an interesting black tea, but I won’t rate it until I do a short steep session.

I was really disappointed the first time I prepared a cup of this, so I decided to have another go today.

Drinking in the liquor, it tasted too tarry and smoky. Lapsang Souchong is one of my favourite types of black tea, but I cannot find anything here to love. It’s like someone dissected a smoker’s lung and then steeped it.
The lingering aftertaste is not pleasant, the tarry and smoky characteristics stay with me even when I move onto drinking water. Blech

I’ve heard that some people keep new LS for aging to let the smoky characteristics mellow, but I don’t think you could salvage this one.

This one got dumped in the trash but I’m not entirely disappointed with my purchase. I was genuinely curious what the heck this tasted like! If you have a deep love for Lapsang Souchong/Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong don’t touch this one. There are much better options out there.
I’m not sure who this tea appeals to… perhaps people with very little LS experience or those that are heavy smokers (no offense, this is just a very smoky and tarry tea).

My husband and I are not too enthusiastic about drinking green tea, but this one has certainly charmed us. It’s not that we don’t like green tea, but we’d usually rather drink oolong or black teas. That being said, I like brewing up a pot of this a few days out of the week. It’s also a very easy tea to brew, it never turns out bad even when I let it steep too long (oops!). Based on the flavour and price, this is our favourite green tea and we will probably buy more in the future.

Tried some of this at a local tea room and wasn’t very impressed. I like rooibos but this one just tasted too much like medicine. Somehow I thought I’d love this cup of tea because I’m a big fan of those craisins w/ pomegranate juice.

I received this as a bonus in my tea swap with Meeka. A nice gesture on her part, but now I wish I’d included something else too! ;) haha

The one she sent me looks a bit different from the Steepster picture but I’m pretty sure it’s close enough. Mine just says 糯香 instead of the Steepster one 糯米香, but from what I understand this sticky rice or glutinous rice flavour puerh (please correct me if I’m wrong). I’ve tried the raw variety before but not ripe. Now I don’t know if all these sticky rice puerh are made in the same way, but from the two raw ones I had the flavouring was the same. Now onto drinking this gift;

The first steep starts off with a nice creamy texture, and the familiar flavours of earthy ripe puerh and sticky rice.

After the tuo broke apart, it had a consistent flavour from my second steep to the sixth. I could have kept resteeping but these six were satisfying enough.

I quite like this type of flavoured puerh. If I didn’t already have a a big bag of the raw type I wouldn’t mind getting some of these. About the puerh itself, I think it’s pretty good for a ripe mini tuo cha. I’ve had much worse and this one did not offend my senses.

100ml gaiwan, 1 tuo, 6 steeps (rinse, rinse, 10s, 10s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s)
_{Note: I recommend using a strainer if you prepare this in a gaiwan. It is easy to get bits of puerh in your cup}

Backlogging

I used the rest of the tea leaves that Meeka sent me, to make a nice big pot of this for my husband to enjoy. He said it tasted like a very manly tea… _{I don’t really get that but ok. ;)}
The topic of similar teas came up and he mentioned a few that he could remember. I am more of a black tea fanatic than him, so understandably it is hard for him to remember all the black teas he has tried and their names. Usually he will say stuff like “that Taiwanese one I love” or “the one with chocolate flavour”.

Overall it was a positive experience and he was happy to have tried it once, but did not feel too attached to this. (In all fairness he is much more of an oolong guy.)

Final thoughts: My experience with this tea was mixed due to the hype. So I think I’ll make it a point to tone down my future reviews, award less high ratings, and hesitate to highly recommend anything. I don’t want to come across as snooty or elitist, this is my personal view and I know everyone here rates tea differently (and there is nothing wrong with that).

500ml of water, 2ish tsp, 1 steep
_{See previous note}

Strong cinnamon flavour, reminded me of those Hot Tamales candies.

100ml purion teapot, 1 tsp, 1 steep

_{See previous tasting notes}

I cold steeped some of this (3tsp?) in a big glass jug (1ltr?) for about 24hrs. It tastes pretty good, I’ll have to make some again during the summer. Still preferring a hot cup during these colder months. :)

Tea Swap with @Meeka

This particular tea caught my attention because so many people on Steepster have tried it and loved it. Over the past year I’ve tried a lot of different black teas so I couldn’t wait to get my hands onto this one. Okay and now onto the tasting notes:

Sniffing the tea liquor, I’m picking up on scents of honey, spices, raisin. It reminds me of a few other black teas I’ve tried.

The first steep tastes much like the tea liquor scents suggested, with the addition of chocolate, malt, and floral rose aroma. (Personal bias: I have a low tolerance for rose flavour)

Subsequent resteeps had the same consistent flavours. At the fourth steep I picked up on more roasted notes, but the rose aroma is really starting to rub me the wrong way.

Overall I didn’t notice too much weakening until the ninth steep, which while weak was still flavourful.

I kept resteeping, and even though most of the tea body is gone there still remains nice hints of sweet honey, raisin and cinnamon which slowly fade away as I reached the fifteenth steep.

This tea was enjoyable, but fell far below my expectations. The high scores and hype on Steepster made me believe this was going to be an amazing, mind blowing experience. But I’ve had other teas like this and I wasn’t especially crazy about them either. I do not want to sound unappreciative because this is indeed a very good tea, but it is not a personal favourite.

On the plus side, I am glad that so many people here are being exposed to such a well made black tea. It is a wonderful example of how beautiful and complex black tea can be.

100ml purion teapot, 2tsp, 15 steeps (based on Verdant Tea gongfu instructions: rinse, 3s, 3s, 3s, +3s resteeps)
_{I liked this resteeping method, I’ll have to try it out again on some of my other black teas.}

_{Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review}

This was actually the first time I tried green tea in my purion teapot and it worked out really well. It had the same amount of water as my gaiwan, but tasted much better. I even doubled the steep time of the third cup and still wasn’t bitter at all. I know purion is more for (roasted) oolong and black tea, but I’m quite impressed with what it did to this tea.

The three steeps tasted: vegetal, buttery, with a hint of cocoa, a bit of astringency but no bitterness. Aroma made me think of wet moss and asparagus.
I don’t always brew this tea right, and the bitterness can be too overwhelming. So this experiment was nice.

Liking this tea more, but I still prefer the Premium Dragonwell (which I have purchased)
_{See previous tasting notes on this tea for more of my thoughts}

100ml purion teapot (took lid off for steeping), 1 tsp, 3 steeps (30s, 30s, 1min)
_{I’m not encouraging anyone to buy a purion teapot… these notes are mostly for myself :)}

Could have sworn I made a second tasting note for this tea, but I guess I didn’t. Oh well, here is tonight’s experience;

First steep was lovely, with the flavours of spices, honey and light bodied black tea. The aftertaste had a sensation of sugar syrup on my throat.

Second cup tasted much earthier and had a hint of cocoa. Mmmmm…

Third cup shifted, bringing out more cinnamon and grains.

Fourth cup was very light, and together with the previous flavours it made me think of white tea or Oriental Beauty.

Fifth through six were pretty light, but not bad. I stopped because it satisfied me enough.

Not my favourite resteeper, but a very flavourful tea. Next time I make this I’ll add more time to the resteeps.

100ml purion teapot, 2 tsp, 6 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)

There was some mix-up with Teavivre’s manufacturer because the sample I received was “flavoured” when Teavivre’s intention was to sell the unflavoured stuff. (Old notes have been deleted because they don’t apply to the same tea) Anyway, I ordered it and received the proper natural Jin Xuan tea. So it’s like I am getting to know this tea for the first time now! ;)

First steep is slightly floral, fruity (apricot), sweet, and vegetal. There is also a slight creamy aftertaste. Seems like a nice balanced tea, nothing seems out of place.

Third to third steeps were consistent, with the third being a bit sweeter and fruity.

Taking a break and sniffing inside the teapot, the leaves do smell sweet and almost creamy. But it’s not a heavy cream scent. It also made me think of apricots

Four to fifth were more vegetal and less fruity. I kept resteeping but eventually stopped on the ninth when I could hardly taste any tea.

If you are looking for a flavoured Milk Oolong with heavy cream and fruit flavour, try somewhere else. Apparently that stuff is not natural and is flavoured to achieve that result. However this Jin Xuan Milk Oolong tastes very natural, and for me is a lovely tea with a good price. Sometimes less expensive oolongs do not satisfy my palate, but this one is tasty and cheap enough that I can drink it very often in my yixing teapot.

The leaves are quite big, and the 1 1/2 tsp I put in looks about right.
125ml yixing teapot, 1 1/2 tsp, (rinse, 10s, 15s, +10s resteeps)

First steep tasted amazing with notes of cinnamon, raisins, apple, spices and a deep, smooth black tea body.

Second steep was also nice with a much stronger black tea flavour.

And then like with Hime Hikari, the flavours get much weaker with the subsequent resteeps. The 5th hardly tasted like tea, and the 6th was just water with a hint of spice. Normally when it tastes that weak I begin to recognize the original water flavour, but not so this time. It might be due to the purion teapot, which would be nice since I use a brita filter with hard water and it doesn’t always taste great. ;)

I have to say that I wasn’t so crazy about this tea the first time I tried it, but the first short steep here was wonderful. When I long steep this one, it reminds me too much of Qimen black tea, which is a tea I’m not always interested in drinking. Anyway, this is quite an interesting tea and I’m happy to have tried it.

100ml purion teapot, 1 1/2 tsp, 6 steeps (30s, 30s, +15s)

edit: Please see my newer tasting note regarding short steeping this tea.

Tonight I’m trying one of my Japanese black teas (Hime Hikari), short steeped. Out of the two I purchased I like this one better, but perhaps when I short steep both I may change my mind.

First steep is quite nice and very flavourful with a strong black tea body. There were floral notes, cocoa, malty, juicy apple, spices, and a hint of grains.

The second steep was much stronger, to the point where it almost becomes bitter. I don’t normally like that but it went pretty well with the cocoa notes. (I’m sure it wouldn’t have become bitter if I didn’t put so many leaves in)

I continued steeping it four more times, but most of the flavour peaked on the 2nd steep. The strong tea body weakened, but they were still flavourful cups. So after the 2nd steep it’s quite a different experience.

If you prefer a strong flavoured tea I’d recommend western style or the suggested brewing directions.

100ml purion teapot, 2 tsp, 6 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)

I received this in the mail today and promptly brewed up some in a teapot to share with my husband. I didn’t order much, but Da Yu Lin is something I’ve been meaning to try, so I couldn’t resist just purchasing a little.

The very first cup of tea left a good impression on us. Its flavours hint at vegetal, butter, fruit/spice but never get to the point where it is obnoxious, just peaceful and satisfying. I especially enjoyed the tea body, it is deep and mellow. It stayed fairly consistent throughout the 9 total steeps I did today.

This is our first Da Yu Lin so I can’t comment on how good it is compared to other Da Yu Lin teas. That being said, we loved it and are looking forward to trying more in the future.

My teapot wasn’t too crowded, so I think I’ll add more leaves next time.

125ml yixing teapot, 1 tsp, 9 steeps (rinse, 30s, +15s resteeps for 2nd-6th, +30s for 7th-9th)

Steeped this 12 times, all while chilling out and listening to Drone Zone from somafm.com

A very enjoyable tea and quite a unique experience that I’ve savoured over the months.
Next time I brew this it will probably be a “sipdown”.
_{See previous tasting notes for more of my thoughts on this tea}

100ml purion teapot, 2 tsp, 12 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)

To celebrate our 5th anniversary married together, I prepared one of my husband’s (and mine) favourite teas: Jin Die.

Drinking from the first steep, I’m greeted with the familiar flavours of Jin Die: deep rich, earthy tea body, cinnamon, spices, tomato (not like SML), the liquor ends on a smooth-velvety feeling. An odd characteristic also makes it’s appearance here, the flavour of ripe puerh. It’s not something I expect from black tea, but I quite like it!

The second steep is much the same with some chocolate and pepper showing up.

As I keep drinking through the steeps, the flavour just keeps intensifying. Fifth steep brought out some caramel flavour, and was our favourite steep.

In each resteep the flavour started to weaken very gradually. I could taste the puerh flavour up until about the 9th, and much of the spice notes stayed up until the 15th.

I ended on the 16th steep because I really couldn’t drink anymore tea. It didn’t even have the taste of my water, just really weak, earthy, fuzzy, slightly sweet tea. The liquor had a yellow-amber colour, which is still pretty dark for so many resteeps I think.

Overall, I have always found Jin Die to be an amazing black tea, but this short steeping experience has heightened my enjoyment of it. As of writing this review, it’s my best black tea resteeper (Ying De Hong Cha from Jing Tea Shop had 14, Yunnan Dian Hong golden tips from Teavivre had 12). My husband isn’t obsessed with tea like I am, and he doesn’t always remember the flavour or names of our teas (especially if they are foreign), but Jin Die has left a powerful impression on him and it quickly became one of our favourites.

_{See previous tasting notes for more of my thoughts on this tea}

100ml gaiwan, 2tsp, 16 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)
Up’d rating slightly

Tonight I’m brewing SML in a gaiwan, because I’ve yet to short steep it until now. Anyway,

First steep starts off tasting very mild and friendly, then after a few seconds a rush of flavour comes out. I’m getting a hint of the unique SML flavours here, malt, zesty tomato, vanilla, grains, cinnamon

Second steep it obviously much stronger, with the typical powerful SML flavours showing up.

Sniffing gaiwan lid, the scents made me think of soy sauce and tomato.

Moving onto the third steep, it keeps getting more and more intense. Now there is a minty/menthol flavour coming out. It mixes really well with the existing flavours into something that makes me think of licorice.

At the fourth steep the tea leaves have completely unfurled. Tasting the liquor, the mint is more powerful, along with the existing flavours. I think this fourth cup really tests your tolerance for STRONG flavours.

The fifth steep tasted like the tea flavour was weakening, but it’s otherwise pretty strong.

Sixth to twelfth steeps continued to get progressively weaker, but otherwise I enjoyed the typical SML flavours.

I go into more depth with my earlier tasting note, but in summary: I love SML because it is such a unique tea.

This short steeping experiment worked out nicely, I think I prefer it to the traditional one steep western style. For one thing, I think the menthol/mint comes out better here. As a bonus, the long, twisted dark leaves are a delight to watch in a gaiwan, and the large open mouth of this tea vessel makes it great to sniff the wet leaves.

100ml gaiwan, 2 tsp, 12 steeps (30s, +15s resteeps)