Geoffrey Norman

Since I’m on such a Yunnan Gold kick lately, I felt it was time to revisit this. This time, though, I obeyed the brewing instructions on the Jasmine Pearl website. Instead of boiling water, I dialed it down to 190F (oolong-ish). The result was sheer perfection. That does it. This type is my favorite black tea ever. I have decided.

Full Review: Pending on www.teaviews.com

A couple of friends and I had just finished a happy hour run, but we still had time to kill. A tea place lay across the street. So, naturally, that was my suggestion. They went for the bubble tea (blegh), whereas I went with this. If I were to never drink another type of black tea again except one, this would be that one. And others like it. Dunno what it is about Yunnan Golds, but they take the creamy cake. My only regret is that I didn’t have the forethought to pick up an ounce to bring home.

Brought friends with to Smith HQ. While they were having their respective tasting flights, I ordered a full pot of their Yunnan. I didn’t remember trying it the last three times I’d ventured there. While not explicitly stated as being a Dian Hong, it had the earthy, and mid-astringent character of one. There was a bit of a nectarine nuance there, but not as much as a Yunnan Gold. Still, I enjoyed it quite immensely.

PS ~ It only took me ten minutes to down the (almost) 24oz pot. Make of that what you will.

This has the look and smell of a guilty pleasure tea. It had actual dark chocolate chunks in it. I know, I ate one. I knew I should’ve expected more on delivery given that it had a Ceylon for a base. This brewed up a light amber-to-brown with a tangy, tiramisu-like nose. The taste was creamy and floral on initial sip, somewhat spicy in the middle, and chocolate sort of rounded out the middle. Not sure where the hazelnut went, it probably contributed to the tang on the forefront. Lighter than most cocoa cups I’ve had, but still quite pleasurable – whatever the weather.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/02/01/review-friday-afternoon-teas-snow-day-blend-2/

I only meant to go downtown to pick up a paycheck today…but I ended up veering off course and entering The Spice and Tea Exchange. It was relatively new. I did some background digging on their teas prior. None really stood out at first, but then I went in to smell ’em. The Mystic Dragon grabbed my attention for smelling exactly like an Orange Julius smoothie. Not a sophisticated comparison, I know…but an apt one.

Taste-wise, both green teas (the Japanese and Chinese) blend quite perfectly. The berry lean showed up in the middle, but not overpoweringly so. The round-out was quite floral. Subdued, slightly subtle, but sating.

I consider myself a hibiscus apologist. I love the stuff. Whenever I make a fruit or rooibos blend – or an iced tea – I like to throw those red shells into the fray. However, even I will acknowledge when there’s just a little too much. This is one of those times. With orange and apricot also in the mix, I wanted more of a citrus presence from this. I only got a faint impression of it in the middle. The rest was quite tart and sour. That said, I still enjoyed it. Just not as much as I wanted to.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/02/03/review-tiesta-tea-grannys-garden/

A friend of mine picked this up while we were perusing a Japanese grocery store. There were no ingredients listed on the canister. All it read was, “Chinese herbs and rose petals”. Further digging later online termed up nothing as well. The blend smelled primarily of rose. There were other petal-looking “thingies” in it with a white-to-beige appearance like chrysanthemum, but I didn’t get a sense of them in there.

I was a little weary of it at first when I saw the rose petals they used. Instead of pink ones, RoT blended this with red. Thankfully, they were few and far between. Never dominating. After brewing, this had a distinctively botanical scent – not quite bathwatery, praise Buddha – and settled into an omnipresent floral scent. The taste had a similar effect – floral, slightly buttery, and relaxing. Not my favorite rose blend ever, but one I’d never turn down.

The vendor site claims this is a tea from Fujian Province, but “Bai Hao” (or White Hair) Oolong actually stems from Taiwan. And on taste, I’m more apt to believe this is a Formosan oolong. It brews a bright gold liquor with a first flush pekoe-ish nose. The taste is definitely more reminiscent of Taiwanese oolongs I’ve had, reminding me quite a bit of Superior Taifu with its grape-like notes and crisp foretaste. An enjoyable cup…wherever the heck its from.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/02/07/review-teavert-bai-hao-oolong/

It probably didn’t help that I didn’t observe a typical gongfu prep for this. It also probably didn’t help that I was eating sharp cheddar-laden chimichangas at the time. That said, I brewed this as I would an oolong (but with boiling water), and it was a perfect sheng. Muscat grape notes, shades of maple leaf, pear, and some earthiness trailing on finish. When I think of aged sheng pu-erh, I think this. Flawless.

Thanks to seykayay for this little treasure.

Wow, this was unusual. I’ve often speculated as to why other teas don’t appear in powdered form (and, no, I don’t mean “instant” teas). Sometimes, I imagined what a white matcha would taste like. Well, now I know. It’s weird…but in a good way. Unlike other matchas out there, this requires the use of boiling water to get the full effect. An attempt at the usual 160(ish)F temperature yielded an oolongy soup. If you like that sorta thing, go for it. I didn’t care for it. However, with boiling water, the true nuances of this came forth. It was a nutty liquor, beige in color, frothed up quite nicely, had a lovely texture, and was probably the first tea that had an umami character to it. Never thought I’d use that word in a sentence. Different than what I was expecting but damn good.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/25/review-green-tea-lovers-rhino-matcha-white/

I’ll confess this wasn’t a combination that sounded appetizing. I liked guayusa by itself just fine, but the only flavor I thought it could blend well with was citrus. With a lemony lean, maybe. I put this on the back-burner because I thought they used chocolate flavoring for it. Turns out I was wrong; cocoa nibs were used in place of an agent. That sounded more up my alley. While it isn’t as successful as come orange or lemon-blended guayusa fusions, it has a character that works. The normal, leafy kick the holly has on the forefront is masked by the nibs’ unsweetened chocolaty presence, which later gives way to the base’s natural sweetness. The combination works for the most part. It doesn’t quite replace a mocha, but it gives a “tea”-totaler an alternative.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/23/review-stash-tea-guayusa-and-chocolate-tea/

This is my third product hailing from Shizuoka Prefecture. Of the three, it’s probably the second best I’ve tried. First flush buds are steamed to create this lovely, sweet-smelling “behbeh” sencha. Brewing required a less-than-a-minute steep in typical green tea temp water. The result was a foggy, vibrant green liquor akin to a genmai matcha-iri…but without the “suck” factor. It was a very nutty brew, but sweetly so; and not very vegetal at all. A second infusion turned up a citrus note. All in all, a bronze-worthy sencha.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/26/review-green-tea-lovers-shincha-shizuoka/

Finishing the last of my sample of this – thanks be to Seykayyay for passing it my way again. I actually think I have to up my rating on this. I taste more of the artichoke heart-ish-ness this time. Perhaps the use of roll-boiled water worked better. I dunno. I will missed this bagged tisane. [salute]

I resisted trying a Pouchong (Baozhong…whatever) because I thought it was just another type of oolong. Turns out that in some circles – and according to the Almighty Wiki – it’s sometimes given its own classification; like yellow tea. Canton’s offering smelled like a grape-rich green tea, but tasted like a green-style oolong. The flavor was smoky, non-astringent, fruity, kelpy, and all-around decent. Quite a feat for a “gr-oolong”.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/20/review-canton-tea-co-pouchong-4/

When I got this in the mail, I was beyond excited to try it. White teas are my tea of choice. They started me down the steepy spiral of loose leafdom. Ceylon whites were still unknown territory to me. In appearance these looked like Silver Needle but more variant in size. I was reminded of Bengali white tea on sight alone. The aroma had a fruit-hint to it and a buttery/honey-ish lean. This brewed quite clear with a similar wet aroma as the dry. The taste differed greatly between the three infusions I made; sometimes leafy, creamy, honey-combed, nut-sweet, leafy, and vegetal. I was more or less impressed with the results.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/28/review-green-tea-lovers-adams-peak-white/

Had a pot of this with my mother this morning at Smith HQ. I remembered sampling it, but didn’t remember exactly what I thought about it. This gave me an opportunity to reacquaint myself with it. It was an interesting blend of Assam and two regional Ceylons. The forefront was notably astringent (likely the Assam), but settled into the Ceylon floral tone soon after. Bergamot scenting seemed a bit understated this time ’round. Not necessarily a deal-breaker, just a surprise given the moniker. Still liked it quite a bit, though.

The oolong and matcha alone weren’t cutting it. By the afternoon, I needed something to keep me sustained. I hit the coffee shop next door – aptly dubbed Boyd’s Coffee. I’ve had their Darjeeling before, liked it, but never afforded it any detailed scrutiny. I can definitely say it’s among the good Darjeelings I’ve tried. It had the spicy-floral characteristics I remembered from another Selimbong offering I tasted. The best part was the bitterness, believe it or not. The one trait I usually can’t stand in black teas actually worked well here – adding a sort of pick-me-up. Quite nice for early afternoon.

Preparing Christmas tea packages pretty much wiped me out of all my good black teas. This leaves me with some whites, a few greens, and a plethora of oolongs. So, I’m starting to dent the latter. It’s been awhile since I’ve revisited this Da Hong Pao, mainly because I have so many “red robes” at the moment. All so much red tape, really….but I digress.

I didn’t pay too much attention to temperature, but prepped it at the recommended two minutes. It came out as smokey as I remembered, but a bit higher on the fruit notes. I owe this in part to the slightly higher water temp. I actually enjoyed it better than the first time I tried it.

Initial Review Here: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/05/28/review-american-tea-room-big-red-robe-oolong-3/

Darjeeling greens are tough to beat. This one is no exception. It’s light, citrusy (mandarin-like) with echoes of “Chinese sencha” in its overall flavor impression. I just wish I knew more about it. Davidson’s website isn’t the easiest to navigate. That said, a very subtle but very tasty green without the vegetal lean of some…unless you like that sorta thing.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/21/review-davidson%E2%80%99s-tea-samabeong-monsoon-green/

It’s not often when I’m surprised by an Earl Grey, but this is one of those times. I’m not sure what black tea source they used. I’d guess Darjeeling…-ish. It’s very “orange pekoe” in appearance. The liquor that results is also very balanced. They didn’t over-flavor this with the bergamot to mask an inferior black tea base. It’s floral, malty, mildly citrus-sour – an Earl Grey by any other name wouldn’t taste as sweet.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/17/review-drink-the-leaf-earl-grey/

Rose buds work quite well with blends, especially – as I’ve found – with white teas. Rose petal whites are awesome! But I digress. By themselves, rose buds are like lemongrass, they don’t work well alone. They need others to help ‘em shine. By themselves, they still contribute to a light, subtle, festively floral cup with a very “clean” taste, but they need a pedestal on which to stand. Such was the case here. These were absolutely beautiful looking; excellent smelling, too, both as dry and in liquor form. Can’t wait to try it with a Silver Needle sometime.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/16/review-tao-tea-leaf-rose-buds/

I was never a very big Keemun fan. It took a few Hao Yas and a couple of Mao Fengs to convince me otherwise. Since then, I’ve come to extol virtues whenever they are present. This one, however, was an unusual beast altogether. Given the name, I decided to adopt a “ghetto gongfu” method of prep. I did four different infusions – ranging from a minute to three minutes – and each had a decidedly different story to tell. The first couple o’ steeps turned up a golden liquor with a smoky, malt-sweet, mildly cocoa-ish cup. Latter steeps changed to a nuttier, woodier cup with a beguiling boldness.

I confess I am now a Keemun fan.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/18/review-tao-tea-leaf-keemun-gongfu-2/

Finally dipped into my sample of this. Figured since it was Christmas, it was as good a time as any. Didn’t have it as a tea, though. I latte’d it for my brother and I. It makes a great chocolate base for such a sweet endeavor. I’d wager it makes a pretty good tea, also. But as a latte, it’s tops.

I completely forgot I had this when I was digging through – all blurry-eyed – for a good black tea this morning. This was sent to me by Jaime in a tea swap a couple of months back. I hadn’t even touched it. Not for lack of want, just lots of reviews to get outta the way. Anyway, I’m glad I did. On first (aromatic) impression, it seemed like a gentler smoked tea than others I’ve tried. It was smoky and toasty but not forest-fiery in its delivery. Flavor-wise, I had a similar impression. This tasted rather crisp, actually. It was a blunt black, but not in the “burn-your-eyebrows-off” sorta way. In short, I liked it. Quite surprised by its character.