Andrew Jesaitis

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This is a great tea to introduce someone to pu-erh. It is pretty tame compared to many other pu-erhs. It is slightly earthy and slightly smokey and never bitter.

This is a quite mild green tea. More sweet than vegetal. There is nothing offensive about this tea and that is why it is so unexciting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good. But, it simply doesn’t take any risks that might make it exceptional. It’s super forgiving to brew — almost impossible to make bitter from oversteeping.

This is a really nice dark oolong. A really round nutty flavor. It lasted 3-4 steepings and is cheap. A great everyday tea!

Delicious.

There isn’t much else to say. It’s great hot or cold. It is difficult to oversteep and holds up well to multiple brews.

It fast became my favorite tea in my cupboard. Don’t waste any more time any go order some and see for yourself!

I’ve been drinking this tea the last few nights. It’s good, but a little underwhelming. I’ve experimented with different steep times and think that it is impossible to oversteep. In fact, I’ve started to leave my tea strainer in for the whole time I drink the tea. Even so, the cup is still a bit watery. One last point, it’s key to use a really fine strainer. The tea is nearly a powder. Even with my finest strainer, the dregs are pretty thick.

I grabbed the sample that Harney sent me as I ran out the door this morning. Naturally, I got pulled into a meeting while I was brewing this up and over-steeped it. But, it held up amazingly well — it didn’t develop much bitterness. The citrus was very apparent and I picked up some of the ginko. I’d like to try it again with a shorter steep time because I think this tea could really shine.

Billed as a tea to help you kick the coffee habit, I thought I better give it a try. And it didn’t disappoint, but the lack of coffee intake on my part might have more to do with the fact that my coffee press broke and I never replaced it.

Anyway, on to the tea. This tea tastes like a black tea and chocolate blend. In fact, I can’t even tell that there is any puerh in the blend. On the one hand, this disappoints me since I am a big fan of puerh tea. On the other hand, I’m not all that sure how an earthy puerh would blend with chocolate.

Overall, The Tea Spot has done a nice job on this one. It’s a well balanced blend with a think mouth feel. There is a slight bitter undertone that cuts what otherwise would be a tremendously smooth tea. I couldn’t resolve this with shorter steep times and any steeps beyond number 2 generally yielded a pretty watery cup.

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I rarely drink darjeeling, but I got this tea as a Christmas present and it is making me rethink that choice. I think my lack of interest in darjeeling because I usually don’t like black teas that much and was under the impression that darjeeling was a black tea. Marketing failure (to me at least)! The other part of the reason was that my dad used to drink Earl Grey and as a kid I, of course, didn’t like it. Then again, I HATED the first shot of Espresso I tasted when I was 9 or 10 and we all know what happened…people used to joke that I was powered by coffee in my old office, seriously. In any case, in time things change!

Wikipedia actually says that darjeeling is technically more of an oolong than a black tea because “almost all of them have incomplete oxidation.” This makes sense to me from the taste as it reminds me much more of a oxidized oolong, than a traditional black tea.

On to the tea…

It steeps up to a nice cherry-wood color with a nice (but weak) floral aroma. It has a really rich taste, but doesn’t have that Muscat wine taste and isn’t astringent at all. Instead, it’s much more like a darker oolong—nutty and velvety with very little in terms of floral notes.

Now this is the kind of pu-erh I love.

The taste of this tea is composed of a really complex web of earthy flavors. It reminds me of being in the forest after is rains. It’s always tough to unravel the flavors, but I get a peat-iness, a weakly smokiness, and a underlying thread of umami.

It brews up to this rich maroon color. I’ve basically been tossing the first infusion that I steep for maybe 30 seconds. Then I usually have 3 good steeps left that I do for 2 min, 4 min, and 6 min respectively.

I’ve been drinking this tea a lot lately, but haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it. I think that this (lack of) action pretty much sums up the tea.

It’s good, not mindblowing. It’s highly drinkable and doesn’t really distract or add anything to what you are doing or eating. In fact, I think that is it’s biggest strength. And for that reason alone I’ll keep it in my cabinet.

Remedy Teas description is spot on. Lightly oxidized? Uh huh, it’s ever so slightly oxidized and actually has a taste more akin to a green tea. Lilac notes? Yep, but very slight. They are in balance with the lightness of the tea.

It’s a very forgiving tea as well. I have forgotten that I was steeping a cup and come back 20-30 mins later and it is still drinkable and pretty good at that. But, at it’s recommended steep time of 4 mins, there is no hint of bitterness—just a nice well balanced tea.

This tea has interested me since I saw it on Remedy Teas list over a year ago. I finally got a chance to drink some today.

It was worth the wait. A really interesting flavor profile. First, we have the usual oolong thing going on and despite being heavily oxidized, the tea retains a vegetal note—the first word that came to my mind was bean-sprouts. At the same time the tea contains a good bit of musky, nuttiness that I think most tea drinkers will appreciate. All these flavors are in balance with a slightly sweet overtone.

I easily got 3 steeps out of it. Get some if you can. The color alone is worth it.

This tea is a great tea to always have in your cup. It is a sweet tea that gives you that nice green tea buzz. It has a nice, full body, but isn’t overly complex. Although there is a slight bitterness, it is pretty controlled and in balance with the rest of the tea.

2 steeping was even better—less bitter. 3rd steeping was still good, just getting a little weaker.

And did I mention that it is CHEAP! Like $3.50/oz. Definitely one of the better values I’ve found out there.

I got this tea for Christmas from a friend in the UK.

The aroma (even just in the bag) is a very strong smokiness. It is probably about as close as a vegan will get to tasting beef jerky. But in all seriousness, I dried my gloves over a campfire on New Years Eve and the next day my gloves still didn’t smell as smoky as this tea. Even though I love sitting around the campfire as much as the next guy, I was a little worried that the tea would be overwhelming and one note.

But, I was wrong! Amazingly, steeping yields a well-balanced cup of tea. There is certainly a smokiness to the tea, but there is a certain sweetness to the tea as well. The background to these flavors is a very clean tasting black tea.

Pretty great stuff.

Wow! This white tea has some life to it. Usually I think of white teas as bland and unexciting-you know that kind of tea that is used as a base in fruit blends; not bad, but not interesting. This tea has a nice nutty quality to it. It tastes almost like a lighter version of an oxidized oolong. Good stuff.

Brewed a couple cups of this tea this afternoon. Wasn’t expecting much, but was delighted to find a delicious oxidized oolong. A little earthy, a little nutty, a little sweet, and perfect for a winter day up here in Montana.

Another tea from Adagio’s Masters collection. Smooth, buttery, slightly sweet, slightly floral, well-balanced. It’s all true. But, it isn’t an overly bold tea, so other flavors from what you’re eating, etc, can easily over power it. But, a really nice oolong to enjoy this morning.

Well, I hardly ever have rooibos (like the last time was probably 5 years ago when I was rummaging through my mom’s tea cabinet and found some random redbush tea), but this tea came as a surprise sample the last time I ordered from Adagio. Although it is different, I think I like it. It is pretty nutty and while the vanilla smell is overpowering while steeping, it mellows out nicely in the cup. I might look into these a little more to find some nice late night drinks.

I’ve had this tea about 3 or 4 times now and can honestly say this is an excellent tea. It is certainly one of the best Ti Kuan Yin (aka Iron Goddess of Mercy) teas I’ve had. And hands down the best tea I’ve gotten from Adagio.

It is very smooth and I can’t detect any bitterness. It has a nice blend of sweetness and vegetal flavors. I’m having a hard time put my finger on the sweetness—maybe a slight lychee taste, but the flavor is faint so I’m not too sure. Not that ID’ing the flavor matters. What matters is that the balance is spot on.

The two words that fit it best are: clean and balanced. Both adjectives are high on my list of descriptors I want for tea. It is ever so slightly oxidized taking away the vegetal, green tea taste that sometimes overpowers oolongs. The sweetness counterbalances the remaining bitterness. Floral notes add a little complexity and are (thankfully) very natural and slight.

This tea is part of Adagio’s “Masters” series. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by these teas. Although, I haven’t found one that has astounded me, they easily compete with teas from more boutiquey tea houses.

A good, but pretty standard oolong. It does brew quite a dark cup of tea. It tastes more nutty than fruity and had a musty overtone. Decent, but nothing to write home about.

In the tin it has a distinctly grassy smell about it. That isn’t too surprising and I ventured on to steep this tea.

First, I steeped according to Adagio’s guidelines for 3min @ 180. Not bad, but a bit one note. I definitely get the vegetal/grass taste and it wasn’t bitter. That’s about it.

Second, I steeped for a much shorter time— 1min @ 180. Pretty much the same, but weaker.

The tea is by no means bad, but it just doesn’t do much for me.

White teas perplex me for two reasons; one mental and one practical.

First, I always think that white teas will be either boring or overflavored. I don’t know where I picked up this notion because I usually really like white teas. This one is no exception. Rishi’s silver needle is really delicate. It has a bit of a sweet aroma. The taste is a bit more on the vegetal side, but really nice. I’d describe it as a mild green tea with any bitterness absent.

The second reason white tea perplexes me is steep times. More than any other tea, white teas have an enormous range of steep times. I’ve seen recommendations ranging from 30 secs to 8 mins. I think 30 secs-2 mins yields a pretty watery cup. It seems like 5 mins is a pretty popular time to use for this tea. Personally, I went with a longer steep time (7 mins) on this tea and have not tasted any of the bitterness I associate with oversteeping.

In any case, this tea is a solid white tea.