Michelle Butler Hallett

1.5 tsp for 350mL water @ 100C. Steeped 2 minutes.

Two minutes is a very short steep on a black tea for me. I sipped this at the 2-minute mark and thought Whoa, even better! There is not even a hint of bitterness, and much more, well, floral creaminess. Longer steeps will introduce oak notes.

Ye gods, I love a good Yunnan.

1 bag for 250mL water @98C, steeped 4 minutes.

Sipdown.

A good Darjeeling, especially for a bagged tea. I’ve said before it forgives a long steep, but it can get bitter if left too long. Coddled with water just off the boil, it rewards you with lots of Muscatel, a bit of spice and a pleasant atringency. No woody notes. Dependable and not expensive.

1.5 tsp for 350mL water @ 80C. Steeped 3 minutes. Drunk bare.

An old favourite. I drank this blend a lot while in university. The individual bags came wrapped in purple foil, and it was the purple foil that got my attention.

Jasmine green with orange peel, cassia, and natural cardamom and clove flavouring — it sounds like a circus. It is. This is an old-school Stash fusion, strong and assertive and a bit strange, but I find the spices and the jasmine are reasonably well-balanced. Steep much beyond three minutes and the spices will dominate, which is also okay, if you like orange peel and cardamom. Not a brilliant jasmine tea base. This one’s a love it or hate it blend, I expect. It can get bitter and soapy of the water’s too hot. Stash only sells it loose these days, and in a 100g bag at that.

1.5 tsp for 350mL water @ 100C. Steeped 5 minutes. Drunk bare.

Sipdown.

Layers. Each layer tastes slightly different, until you’ve gone from oak to honey. Some Yunnan notes. Some faint bergamot sharpness. Some Darjeeling-y taste, too, but Nepal Black is a distinct tea. These leaves come from Yunnan cuttings planted in Nepalese soil, if I understand correctly, and the result is quite pleasant. Light in colour and body. No malt. Very easy to drink.

1.5 tsp for 325mL water @85C. First steep 4 minutes. Second steep 7 minutes.

Yes, I am steeping these leaves to death. I am making tea by the cup and not by the pot today, and I keep getting distracted.

The second steep really interests me today. Most of the Quangzhou creaminess is gone, soaking out in the first steep. I am left with a liquor almost as sweet and delicate as a Dung Ti but with the creamy scent of a Quangzhou: a lovely surprise after cheating on the first steep and getting extra creaminess.

Much longer a steep and I’d get that bitter leafiness an abused oolong gives up. Second steep liquor is greenish gold. I shouldn’t play like this with such a precious and expensive oolong, but how else do you find out things?

2tsp for 325 mL water @ 98C. Steeped 5 minutes.

I need strong tea today. Chronic illness and a thoroughly unproductive writing session last night shoved me into a dim little cave. I slept poorly, and then overslept. Weh weh weh.

And what will improve my outlook? Tea will definitely help.

This Monkey Picked Golden Hunan lives up to the packet copy. I should point out that I made it strong and steeped it long, yet it’s not bitter. Oddly, the scent does have bitter notes: oak and a very faint smoke. It’s nowhere near as smoky as a Keemun. The flavour is assertive, but the body is light. The liquor is a murky brown. The leaves remind me of a tippy Yunnan, being long and needle-shaped, a bit fluffy, and morphing from brown to bronze. It’s got more of a caffeine punch than I’ve come to expect from Chinese black tea, and the finish is sweet. Some agreeable leathery notes with a cup this strong. Make me long for some good Yunnan, which I haven’t had in several months.

This tea is on the more expensive side — $13.50 for 50 grams — but is worth it, if you like Chinese black tea.

Scant 1 tsp for 250mL water @93C, with 1/2 tsp Dung Ti Oolong added. Steeped 4 minutes. Drunk bare.

Perils of the sipdown. I didn’t have enough of this left to make a cup, so I made up the slack with some Dung Ti Oolong.

I find David’s Organic Breakfast to be very batch specific. I had some last winter that was brilliantly complex, while the next packet was bitter and harsh. This batch was quite acceptable, though not as interesting as the first one I ever tried — less good Yunnan, I think.

I thought last night of adding a small bit of Quangzhou Milk Oolong to some Assam Gingia, which I’ll try this evening. At work I only (hahaha) had Dung Ti. The sweetness took the edge off the David’s Organic Breakfast and made it richer. I will totally try this again.

Backlogging …

Mde for me at a DavidsTea location. Steeped 4 minutes. Some agave nectar added, because I’d never tried agave,

I love guayusa and how sweet it is — sweet without getting sickly. That said, Jungle Ju Ju can develop an earthy, herbal bitterness, so I thought I’d try to offset that with agave nectar. The agave blends really well with Jungle Ju Ju; I forgot I’d sweetened the tisane. It’s easy to forget this blend is a stimulant as you enjoy the fruitiness. Good and potent, but I do find mate better when I need a boost.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water @ 98 C. Loooooong steep; I left the bag in while drinking. Mate can do that. Drunk bare.

Sipdown, and some air got into the packet, so this blend is neither as fresh-tasting nor as fragrnt as it was .. but manohmanohman, is ever potent. Lots of roasted mate notes but very little chocolate or raspberry when this gets stale. However, I feel like I am ready to take off — without the edgy jitters that can come from coffee. Remembering now why I liked mate so much; gonna get me some Jumpy Monkey later today. Vroom vroom.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ 100C. Steeped 8 minutes. Sweetened with 2tsp white sugar.

I really, really like this tisane with a bit of sweetening. Make no mistake: chicory is bitt-errrr, but it’s not sour. Bitterness can be dealt with. Even with 2tsp of sugar, there’s some bitterness in the aftertaste, but I find that adds to the overall richness of the drink. It’s an herbal, earthy bitterness. Sweetened, the liquor develops a heavy body and a winey taste. In appearance, it’s a dead ringer for black coffee. Not something I drink every day, but I always enjoy it when I do.

1.25 tsp for 250mL water @ 98C. Steeped 5 minutes. Drunk bare.

Sipdown.

A very acceptable Assam. Tippy leaves. A leathery note if steeped too long. Some distant rose and bread notes. Not as malty as some. A sweet finish, something cheaper Assams lack. (I avoid Twinings Assam for that reason.) Liquor is reddish brown and a bit murky. No real depth or complexity, though. I won’t be buying this one again, not when I can have Kopili or Gingia instead.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ 98C. (Slightly obsessed with making black tea just off the boil lately.) Steeped four minutes. Drunk bare.

I love a good Assam. I also love a good Darjeeling and a good milk oolong and a good caravan and a good jasmine green … because these teas are unmistakable.

I’ve said before that I favour the Kopili and Gingia estates for Assams. Damn Fine’s Captain Assam also blissed me out, and I am dying to try their new Tiger Assam. George Orwell in his famous essay ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ talks about Indian black tea in particular making you feel stronger and braver. He must have meant Assam.

Gingia doesn’t have the raisin notes that some Assams do, but it does remind me a bit of bread and roses, as I’ve nattered about before. The liquor is dark but clear. Agreeably malty — could get assertively so is steeped over 5 minutes — with some molasses notes in the aroma. It finishes sweet, with a bit of Assam pucker. Medium to heavy body, with a creaminess in the mouthfeel that makes for a pretty damn sumptuous cup of tea. I rarely add milk to tea, but this Assam would handily stand up to milk. Dependable and superb.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @93C. Steeped five minutes.

Because this blend contains green tea and jasmine, I decided to go a little gentler with the water than the recommended 98C.

Not sure what the “artificial flavouring” is, but this blend has a definite peachy taste to it. I don’t catch much jasmine, but I can smell roses, especially at the tea cools. Tea liquor looks like one from a dark green tea. A bitterness lurks at the edges; I think this one might get soapy is steeped too long. The blend of black and green teas in the base gives a slightly creamy mouthfeel. I’d hoped for more jasmine — and less peach — but this blend is quite agreeable

Made for me at a DavidsTea store. 3-minute steep.

I really need to stop trying flavoured teas. The older and grumpier I get, the more I want straight tea. And yet, I tell myself, somewhere that perfect blend awaits …

Well, this one’s fine and dandy, as flavoured teas dominated by their flavours go. Pleasant apple taste without being too sour. But, as usual with many of DavidsTea flavoured teas, I don’t taste any tea. Not enough white tea, at least. You can taste white tea in the DT Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble, for example. Really, there’s nothing wrong with Big Apple, except that I want to taste tea when I drink tea.

1 bag for 250mL water @ 95C. Steeped 4 minutes.

From the moment the water hit the leaves,I knew i had a better (to me) Darjeeling on the way than th DavidsTea Darjeeling I just callously tossed down the drain. The first scent is a high but earthy spiciness. Even in the bag, the leaves look tippy, with lots og green bits. This is a second flush, so the liquor and body are medium rather than light. No woodiness. No bitterness. LOTS of muscatel, and a sweet finish. An excellent Darjeeling, especially for a bagged tea.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ 95C. Steeped 4 minutes. Drunk bare.

A bit dark for a Darjeeling, which tells me there’s likely second and even third flush leaves in this blend. Earthy, though not pu-ehr earthy. Not as much muscatel as I like. Threatens bitterness at a 4-minute steep. Not my favourite Darjeeling. I’d take Stash’s Darjeeling Summer over this one.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @ 95C. Steeped 4 minutes. Drunk bare.

My travel mug got ignored this morning as I picked up a (gasp) cappuccino on the way to work and drank that while it was still warm. My tea has cooled to almost room temperature – and that brings out more creaminess from the oolong and a more potent and penetrating taste of peaches. I wonder what this one would be like iced.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water. 95C, 4-minute steep. Drunk bare.

Russian Caravan was the first ‘fancy’ tea I fell in love with, but my torrid affair with Darjeelings soon eclipsed that. Stash used to carry a very, very good Darjeeling, especially good for a bagged tea, just called ‘Darjeeling.’ It’s long been discontinued. Wah. Good muscatel and a sweet finish; I could drink 5 or 6 cups of it in rapid succession.

I could do that with Seeyok, too. I don’t know if it’s first or second flush, or a blend of both — I generally prefer second flush Darjeeling — but it’s got an agreeable astringency that never threatens to go sour, some earthiness from good soil (though certainly not pu-ehr earthiness), and that addictive muscatel note that makes me a bit weak in the knees, and in the head. I’ve made this cup strong on purpose to test for bitterness, but no: what develops in a strong cup is a wineyness. Nutty notes in the scent. The usual ratio of 1 tsp to the cup would better show off Seeyok’s charms.

I used 95C water (205/96 is closest I can get on the drag bar below) because I’ve found Darjeelings to be a bit delicate; too-hot water can bring out sharp bitterness.

1 sachet for 250 mL water, steeped 8 minutes, drunk bare.

Serious mint. Some sharpness that remind me of spearmint, but the only ingredient is organic nana mint. Well, Nana is welcome to come visit anytime. While, like man herbals, this needs a goodly long steep, it’s bold like peppermint, though not as dominating, with a slighly sharp, slightly herbal and mineral finish that positively sparkles. I find this one refreshing, and especially good after eating a lot.

1 rounded tsp per 250mL cup, steeped 5 minutes.

I got this as a gift, a great big half-pound box of it, and man, am I happy about that. A bright Ceylon, tasting of sunshine. No copper notes, as you’d get from the Lover’s Leap estate, but then this is a blend. A really, really good blend. Light in body but complex in flavour. Some heft, some classic Ceylon tea taste, a a very slight mineral note in the finish, that ‘clean’ taste. Refreshing.

Made for me at a DavidsTea location.

Reasonably well-balanced, but steep it too long (a very subjective measurement) and the mint will dominate. The ooloing undertones are lovely, but I’m not crazy about the lemongrass and mint together.

Rating: 70

1 bag for 250mL boiling water. Bare. Sampled at 5 minutes and then at 8 minutes.

Every now and then I still buy bagged tea at the supermarket. It’s usually a disappointment, but the Just Us tea intrigued me. Just Us is a small coffee roaster and tea importing co-operative in Nova Scotia. The Just Us coffees are pretty good, and I was low on a basic black tea blend, and, after some time outside in the fog, right in the mood for a proper cup of TEA. Just Us Maritime Breakfast one says it’s all India black tea — yay — from TPI. I like Kenya and China and Ceylon blacks, but sometimes only Indian black tea will do.

The Maritime Breakfast is a fairly small teabag filled with fannings. I felt a letdown when I saw that. But the scent — there’s a nice pinch of Darjeeling in this blend, the muscatel sharpness unmistakable.

So I steeped it, one little teabag to strictly 250mL/8oz of boiling water, for 5 minutes.

Maritime Breakfast brews up dark and fast, like Tetley, but the comparison ends there. The Just Us blend smells earthy (Assam?) and a bit sharp (Darjeeling?). There’s some maltiness and heft and an astringent finish that, if you steep it to 8 minutes (like i did when I got distacted) is really pronounced. The finish is mineral and sweet — oh, that’s gottabe Darjeeling, even if a low quality — with some wood notes. At 8 minutes, the liquor is very dark, almost coffee-like, and opaque. Strong without being bitter. For a black tea blend in general, quite nice if you like India tea. For a supermarket baggie blend stuffed with fannings, it’s great. It’s also fairly cheap. It also reminds me a lot of what ‘regular tea’ tasted like when I was a kid, before many manufacturers seemed to switch more to Kenya and Ceylon in their blends. Or maybe I’m just imagining that.

If you like a strong cuppa, I wouldn’t steep a bag in a big mug; it really is a fairly stingy serving of tea.

Rating: 85.

1.5 tsp for 400mL water @ 82C, steeped two minues.

This blend smelled so seductive.

And it’s not fair that I am trying this one after a really good gyokuro.

I want to like this one. It sounds so damn healthy.

But sweet adorable citrus pith, this is BITTER. Bitter, bitter, pill-dissolved-in-your-mouth bitter. And unpredicatably so: some sips are just slightly bitter, others make me scowl. I rarely sweeten teas or tisanes, but I’m gonna have to here.

I am guessing the dandelion root and orange peel are riding roughshod.

Can’t rate this fairly til I try it sweetened.

Made for me at a DavidsTea store.

Swoon.

Normally after I swoon, I write ‘THUD’, but you can’t thud into layers of buttery greens. Exquisitely good. I’ve only had oolongs so buttery. And the green tasting notes: like brussells sprouts before you pick up the bitterness. I was expecting it to be good, but it was fabulous. And best of all, the water wasn’t too hot (which has been a problem at my local DT).

Rating: 100.