Keemun

My first yellow tea. Definitely one of the mildest teas that I ever had. Quite shallow actually. One has to be very generous with the portioning to get some flavors out of it. Water has to be quite hot. No bitterness will appear. Only a hint of grassy notes there…leaves one quite unimpressed.
Goes well with thinly sliced ginseng roots.

Strange taste…almost artificial. The cocoa tastes almost like leather…milk&honey don’t do much good either. And what are those oily spots that swim on top of my brew?Actually I start to feel kind of nauseous.
Oh God…and still a whole bag to go.

Intesting tea…tastes like a christmas stollen. The Ceylon comes across a bit rough for my taste but overall a pleasant tea to drink. I got it as a gift. Only by looking at the fancy tin I know I’de probably would have found it a bit to expensive. I am not a big fan of those flavored teas that are coming from France. They got rather popular during the last couple of years…especially in Asia. Japanese love to buy it as a present for others…cool tin and flavorwise something totally different to which they are used to.

…that’s a tricky one as it is quite a challenge to get it right. I went to a tea shop in Zuhai, China and was asking for a white tea. The shop owner pre-paired his tasting utensils and gave me the first brew to drink. Well, that was quite something. The color of the tea was a very pale yellow. Not much fragrance…mmmh, first sip. Bitter, almost unpleasant and rough. Second sip…unpleasant on the tongue but then it hit me…the aftertaste is from a intense sweetness that one gets from a ginseng Oolong. This sweetness gives plenty of warmth to the throat and left me with astonishment as I did not expect that.
As more brews were done with this single tasting portion as stronger the sweetness got.
I bought 500g…went home and failed big time. I only produced bitterness.
I took me a couple of trials until I got it right. Never on the first infusion though. This particular aftertaste that one wants to achieve only develops during the 3rd and fourth steeping…very hot water, long infusion (longer then the big master in China did it). Worth to try if one gets his hands on it.

…bought that tea in the famous food halls of Harrods during a short trip to London.
Actually my wife picked it. Well, I was quite sceptical in the beginning. I could not help but to keep thinking of the old “Queen Mother”…seeing her in one of her pink dresses. A grandma-tea. Anyways, let’s keep it professional, shall we?
The dried leafs do look very appealing and those big, colorful rose pedals in the blend look good. Although I assume that additional to the use of rose pedals some rose oil was applied.
Still…the smell is vague. Not very strong. But as soon the tea gets in touch with water its flavors start to play with one’s mind. The rose scent is of such profoundness that it feels almost like standing in the middle of the Chelsea Flower Show on a bright and very English summer day. The idea occurs that the brew not necessarily has to be drunk to get pleasure out of it. Why not just let the tea cup stand on the table and fill the room with its scent? I made it a habit to let teas cool down a bit before I take my first sip, especially if I am ‘working’ my blacks. Reasons therefore are plenty and to my big amusement all listed and agreed upon by fellow-steepsters. Well, anyways…first sip. Second sip…magical. The rose flavor is there. But in a very fragile kind of way. One has to stay focused here as the rose is fading quickly from the tongue. The Ceylon dominates at first. But in a very smooth and sort of ‘royal’ way. Actually the whole tea experience on the taste palate could be rounded up with the word ‘royal’…not to hasty, very discret, lots of dignity. The flavors are not strong. Not rough. Impressively smooth and pleasant. The Chinese teas that were used for this blend, no doubt, are for catching and balancing the aftertaste…
Great blend.

A friend brought it from her trip to London…my first Earl that I have ever tasted. If I remember properly than I added milk the first couple of times…silly me.
Winter 1992…Bergamot, something that I never smelled before, spread its wings and took me for a ride.
I remember those shiny, moist looking leafs sleeping in the tin.
I always saved that one for breakfast on the weekends…
I should soon buy another tin of this, in particular as my wife is a big Earl-fan.

Only to grap a handful of those curled leafs and smell at them is getting close to the word ‘sensational’. The leafs look very appealing.Dark green, moist…can I use the word furtile? I mean there is deffinetley something in the air…something great will happen.
…as far the brew goes…great, earthy, slight smokey tea taste. But the smokeyness is slowly fading during thoses 6-8 brews that one gets out of it. The tea is heading in a more fruity, slight sweet direction. Extremely smooth texture. Beautiful color.
Clay pot/cup only supports those magnificent flavors and aromas that try to play with your mind…

…in the beginning it seems to take a strong grip on one’s tongue and fills the body with heat.The cigar notes that go hand in hand with those subtile mandarin flavors are overwhelming…by the time one has reached its 3rd brew the roughness seems to be tamed and the whole story gets a more silky, female side. But still:
The cigar note, very masculine, clearly dominates the surprisingly shy mandarin
scent…but in a good way.
If it’s a fresh harvest it will last for 4-5 brews.
If it happens to be older then one year…2 brews max.
Damn strong tobacco that is. I recomment to stay away from it after 4.00pm.
Makes one go mental while trying to find some sleep…which most probably will not arrive sooner on your doorstep then midnight….

…expect a bag of leafs soon.

Great blend which is very common in Germany. One of my first teas/herbal infusions that I started my collection with a couple of years ago. Great in winter time.
Lovely flavors…you just have to find the right tea shop as some tend to overdo the hibiscus part a bit.
There are no big brands of the industrie involved in producing this. But is available in every German tea shop ( including Swiss & Austria)!

My favorite blend in the ‘flavored’ departmant of blacks.
The leafs look very moist and juicy. The odor of this blend is fascinating from the moment of opening the tin until putting the tea cup to one’s lips.
Obviously very warm spices were used for this fine blend. Very comforting in winter time and rather cooling during summer. Suppose one might get a excellent ice tea out of it (although I never did and probably never will).
By the way, a handful of dried plums go great with that tea.
None of the spicy chai blends I tried before got close to the excitement of drinking this BOH blend…my palate gets confused with all this ginger, sandalwood, cinnamon and endless other notes that get thrown in common chai blends nowadays. Therfore: two thumbs up for BOH.

The leafs look very appealing. The odor is very enchanting…lots of citrus, very fruity, very promising.
However after my first brew done with water on boiling point I had to hold on to myself to not spit it out immediately.
The tea takes an immense grasp on one’s tongue and as soon as the tea has reached the stormach a nauseous feeling is on approach. I went on in reducing the portion of leafs for the next brew and kept going with boiling water…same result.
Then I started to reduce the water temperature and came to the conclusion that this blend only is drinkable below 70degrees Celcius. It mildens the tea a lot and even gets a bit of sweet, charming aftertaste out of it.
Now, during writing this, I secretly hope someone from Dilmah gets to read this…lol…
Anyways, the moral of this, my dear folks is: never give up and take up with the challenge!

…favorite Oolong.
Never disappoints. Always chears me up…
And it better does because this is somehow the national drink of the province that I am in…Guangdong. Breakfast (dim-sum), lunch and dinner…one always gets accompanied with ‘the goddess of mercy’. Astonishing here is how robust its leafs are as in busy restaurants there is not much time for waiters to correct steeping time. Leafs may sit three or eight minutes in a tea pot until it gets poured out into cups. An early poured tea one feels tempted to give feminin characteristics while the later poured tea has a more rough, still pleasant masculine note.

As so often with Twinings this tea does not keep up with what it is promising. Nice tea box. Great fragrance of the leafs. But average brew…

After steeping the leafs (very hot, 3-4min) the brew is able to carry its fragrance very well. Taste seems dull. No magic is happening. All I taste is old tobacco. Aftertaste is acid…
Second brew does not carry flavor anymore which is unusual for a Chinese black tea, especially if it is coming from the Fujian province.
To me only drinkable after steeping in a highball glass on low temperature (65 degrees Celcius). It even gets a mellow, sweet aftertaste.
Had much better Lapsangs that were sold in small, independent tea shops around the globe (Germany, Thailand) without brand name…

Excellent tea that is full of magic…enchanting flavors, great color and as silky-smooth as a tea can get.
Unfortunately this tea leaf develops its great flavors only through a water temperature that is probably destroying its vitamins…therfore I do the first two brews with a water temperature under 85degrees Celcius. For the following 2 brews I go very hot and combine all 4 brews in on big tea pot. Stir it and I have the different flavors of four brews of one portion tea in one cup…fantastic
Warning: Very strong and awakening. If one drinks it after 5.00pm sleep becomes an impossible thing to find!

It is not the first tea that I purchased from this pride-filled and well established company that has left me standing in the rain with a quite average, therfore rather disappointing cup of tea.

Rough, very strong teas are used for this blend. Ceylon or Assam would be my guess.
Anyways, the fragile scent of the bergamot hardly gets a chance to break through no matter how often I alter water temperature, steeping time or amount of tea leafs.

My favorite of the ‘Earl Greys’…love the citrus note.
The base that is used for this blend does not seem as rough as most of the other Earls that are out there.

No milk, no sugar…the real deal.

A tea listed as #2 on the Chinese top 10 list.
Truly full of surprises as, after opening my first bag, I was a bit sceptical when I saw the little leafs.
Chestnut was the first thing that hit my senses.Very, very complex tea from the Jiang Su province in China that, as always with Chinese teas, is changing faces, mood and caracter between the first and the last brew of one portion.
Always a bit special and I cant help feeling that, whenever I drank a brew, that I have wasted it to the wrong occassion. This tea should be called ‘little prima donna’…

…like a cooling breeze coming from the desert….
Great tea during summer time. Very refreshing indeed.

But no doubt that the chosen tea leafs (probably from Zhejiang province, China) for the base of this blend are below second class quality. Well, which tea grower would cover his painfully nurtured harvest with mint oils and fragrances?

Still…a great tea to have if for the length of a cup you manage to forget the above.

Translated Oolong means ‘Black Dragon’. The Dragon in Chinese mythology stands for the Emperor. After the first 3 cups you may get an idea how this tea gets this honour.
One of my most favourite Oolongs in regard of flavoring…
The brews that one gets out of one portion seem to be endless.
Great color, fruity smell, profound taste, unique aftertaste which is warming one’s throat.

Very easy to handle and almost impossible to screw up.

Only thing to keep in mind is that a Chinese tea grower would rather chop his right arm off then putting a ‘foreign’ fragrance on a GOOD tea.

In the beginning you may feel a bit disturbed by the strong impression of freshly cut grass.
However…during continuous drinking the grassy touch will change to a pleasant, fruity and smooth experience.
Steeping time has an immense impact of this tea. It is one of the most fragile teas that I have ever come across…it is definetely a challenge getting a brew out of it without bitterness or falling under the idea to have just swollowed a bundle of grass.
Develops great taste if mixed with 4-5 slices of dry ginseng. This opens another door to the profound world of tea complexities.
Very cooling for your body…even if drunk hot.
If the leafs are good quality you may get 5-6 brews out of one portion. Each brew will leave you with a different impression of the (moody) dragon…

Bancha…without doubt a lower quality of tea which is drunk in Japan during meals. Therfore the aromas are kept quite simple as the tea should not overpower one’s sushi or sashimi.

It is loosing it’s flavor very quickly and never lasts more then 3 brews.

Lacking of personality but a must in a Japanese household.

Very interesting flavors. But certainly not everyones cup of tea…

Seems to me that the rice grains truly develop there aroma not earlier than during the third brew…thats why I steep it in a small tea pot and combine 4 brews in one big pot. That allows me to enjoy all aspects of this versatile blend within one cup.
I prefer Genmaicha in the afternoons…standing alone, not necessarily in combination with food.

Was a bit disappointed as I read that the Japanese growers put so much effort on the plants…

I very mild green tea. Strength of the grassy taste can be adjusted by water temperature and -quality.

I will keep trying but still prefer a strong cup of sencha if I would have to make a choice on Japanese tea.