Asha Tea House

This tea seems to change with each sip (let alone each steep), so I can’t really give a definitive explanation, but I can say it’s a great tea. I think a good blanket statement would be that it tastes like “candied vegetables” (after my default addition of sweetener).

Well I had to lay off the Puerhs for a bit. I cold brewed this for about 18 hours. It is totally different and much better. Now I can see why they call it caramel. I am not getting that ocean smell at all. Very enjoyable….

I also brewed this in the Gaiwan. The aroma of the brewed tea hit me as soon as I took the lid off. This is very different. Mouth coating and numbing. I cannot place the flavor. Caramel, no. There will be future experiments with this one including a cold brew. I am getting a slight seaweed ocean taste at the bottom of the cup….

I received a 10g sample in my order, and I am quite pleased with this tea! I didn’t rinse, and the first steep was around 30 sec. The wet leaves smell like a damp floral forest of loveliness. The scent somehow gave me a slight sense of deja-vu, as though somewhere in my childhood I had experienced that aroma before.

Smells like sweet veggies, tastes like buttery sweet veggies. I really can’t wait for steep 2!

I posted the wrong tea a minute ago. I was I drinking this and I guess the tea was getting to my head. This is dark and earthy with a nice purple-brown liquor. I truly heats the body. This is a very affordable aged Shu that I recommend.

This is earthy and strong. I personally like it this way. It truly is an eye opener as well. I love watching it pour out of the Yixing and the liquor is the color of the pot. A dark, dark Reddish brown. On a very cold day here at the Jersey Shore it is warming my body nicely. I have not rinsed any Pu’erhs lately. The second cup is far better than the first with a camphor, forest floor flavor. For the price, this is a very good everyday affordable and enjoyable Pu’erh….

I brewed this sample up in the Yixing with boiling water and a rinse. The first cup after a short steep was gentle with a red liquor. The second and much longer steep yielded a powerful dark red-brown liquor. This like most of the Pu-erhs I’ve had this is strong and will yield multiple steepings. Well I have to work today so I will not have the extended trip through Pu-erhville. Do I like it? Yes.

Oh boy I think I messed this one up. I can’t find a single caramel note, only…fishiness? 30 sec in a gaiwan, 250ml, 2 tsps, no rinse. Maybe I should have rinsed…

This is the remainder of yesterdays brew so it is my second steeping. I let it steep for maybe close to ten minutes. Or should I say I forgot about it. The result is perfect. I am getting that sweetness. A soft sweetness that is so smooth even after a more than adequate steeping. A very unique tea….

I brewed the rest of my sample up basket-style with more leaf than before. I expected more because lately I have been experimenting with steep times and the amount of leaf that I use with my black tea. Obviously with more leaf and a greater steep time you are going to get a greater complexity and more strength. I did not get that today. I honestly think my taste buds and my sense of smell were off today because I know what this tea is capable of.

I was very generous with the leaves and I brewed it backet-style. The brew is spicy with hints of cocoa and very earth. A nice way to begin your day….

The dry leaves are beautiful and look very fresh. I never measure anything. A bit in my palm. This looks like enough. Into the basket. I do not time either. If it smells nice and the liquor is appealing it’s done. This is an interesting brew. Very smooth. An interesting earthy aroma and flavor. It’s a nice opener today. I did brew it longer than usual. A nice buzz too. It makes the body and mind feel very nice….

There is a lingering sweetness in my mouth when I am drinking this. This is full of flavor. A thoroughly enjoyable brew. I have a generous sample that is getting low. This is definitely a tea I must have in my possession. Great price for a great tea….

When I opened the bag the aroma was mysterious. An intoxicating aroma. The 3 minute basket brew has warmed me. A dark, lovely liquor. Uplifting but not in the caffeine sense. I tried to buy it but I see Asha is out….

This is last nights late evening tea that I left to steep in the Gaiwan until I drank it tonight at 11pm. I may have steeped it 4 or 5 times yesterday before deciding enough was enough. I had been drinking Sheng all day and to be quite honest I was on overload. Tonight this Alishan was the most beautiful golden liquid with the flavor we all know and love. I could not possibly drink this fast. This was savored . Truly a tea of beauty and wonder.

This was yesterday’s late evening tea. I left the fourth steep leaves and the liquid to stew overnight. 24 hours later it is a beautiful golden hue with all of the lovely flavors one would expect with this top notch oolong. The liquid is cool, refreshing and uplifting at 9:00 EST.

I was in the mood for this. It really is a luxury. It makes me wonder what will be coming our way after the spring harvest. What new treasures in our world of tea? This tea is so aromatic and full of a flavor that tastes like sunshine and is so relaxing. What a beautiful tea….

Day 2. I had to cold brew this. After 24 hours or so the liquor is green instead of yesterdays yellow. The taste is sublime. The aroma is heavenly. It’s right up there with Verdants Handpicked.

I want to try all of the higher rated teas and especially the teas my fellow steepsterites who rave about. I am brewing this basket style with a teaspoon of leaf. I have followed the instructions from Asha. 212 for 1 minute. It is very good. For my taste I should let it go longer. I am steeping the 2nd longer than the recommended 45 seconds. This cup has opened up more. The flavor and aroma are what I expected from this tea. It is sweet. Floral. Very light even though I may have used more than a teaspoon of leaf. The infused leaf has almost filled the basket. The 3rd steep has opened up a wee bit. I feel I cannot rate it as of now. This tea requires more experimenting. The ultimate test to me is to cold brew it. Don’t laugh nor cringe. Nothing, in my humble opinion, extracts the true essence of Greens and Oolongs. I must note that this brew has lasted at least 8 western style basket brewings and has shown no sign of stopping….

So this was another sample that David sent me last week along with the King’s Tea oolong sample. The dry leaf smells sweet..and faintly honey like. I warmed my gaiwan and put a tablespoon of tea. I followed instructions and did a steep of 30 seconds. I smelled the wet leaf….HOLY CRAP!!!! Amazing, just amazing. I was so intoxicated by the smell that I forgot there was something to drink right beside it. I wish I could make a candle out of this. It was like sweet melon and honeysuckle. I went to taste the liquor and it was sweet and honey like on the top of my mouth. I waited a bit before I took the next sip. The melon hit the back of my mouth…WOW.
Asha Tea House does not disappoint. I’m so glad I have been ordering from David. He has a great selection of oolong as well as great customer service. I was happy that I did not wait too long to order again from him, since this is now sold out. Although this is the second order in two and half weeks….lol. My apartment complex thinks I’m into some shady stuff since I have boxes coming almost every week. Between Steepster select and Asha I have a nice supply. I little too much tea. My DavidsTea, Samovar, and Teavana tea has been taking a back seat.

The sample that he gave be was big enough to have 3 good tastings. I’m writing this after the second tasting. Still the same experience as the first time I had it. This would impress my mom who is a coffee person. :)

So I received this sample from David. I was so excited to try it since I loved my last order from him. The description of the tea is a spot on match.The dry leaf smells of a heavy roast and the wet smells of roasted coffee that was left a little too long in the roaster.

The first sip of the tea was strong. It tasted like a cross between roasted coffee and a bitter cacao chocolate. I was not sure how to take it at first until I swallowed and the sweetness hit the back of my mouth. WOW. I have never had that before from any tea. I took another sip and it was even sweeter. Very nice. It made my mouth water. I smelled the wet leaf in the gaiwan again and the smell was even stronger of a bittersweet cacao.

15 minutes after drinking the tea my mouth was still sweet from the tea…nice. I have already put in for an order.

I did 4 steeps the first time. The second time I followed the steeping instructions of 1 minute steeps. I did not like it as much as the first time I drank it. I guess 2 minutes for this tea is what I like. :)

Finishing off the last of my sample of this one right now. Super good! No new insights to add to my last note, but I find this tea growing on me. And I think it is excellent for the price. I just checked Asha’s website to order this one yesterday and found that it was sold out! I wrote David at Asha an email inquiring of the ETA on possible restocking of it, and he told me that ETA is unknown for now, but that there was actually one remaining 50g pack left that I could buy. Really appreciate service like that! David said this tea has apparently been a very popular one among his offerings. So glad I could acquire some. Knowing that more is on the way, I decided to brew the last of it now… to my great enjoyment. I hope Asha can get more of it in at some point.

David at Asha Tea sent me a sample of this roasted oolong with my second order of his lovely Alishan oolong. I just drank six infusions of it in the gaiwan, back to back. YUM! This is a very tasty and deeply pleasing roasted oolong. He describes it as having a flavor and fragrance reminiscent of coffee, and that is an apt characterization.

Honestly, I’m normally not all that into coffee. I love the fragrance of the roasted beans, but I’m rarely inclined to drink it. I could never steel myself to handle it black, and when I do go for it I typically tend to the fancy espresso drinks cut with plenty of milk and sweet stuff: like cappuccinos with caramel, lattes with hazelnut syrup, or a cafe miel. Stuff like that. In any case, my body has never really sit well with coffee drinks, and sometimes my lymphatic system has a bit of a fit when I drink them, so naturally I keep my distance.

The thing about this roasted oolong though… is that it has everything I like about coffee in its profile, without including anything that I don’t like about coffee. The first and second infusions surprised me with a light and delicious caramel sweetness that grew in the aftertaste. This subsided for a bit in the third and fourth infusions, then came back even better in the aftertaste of the fifth and sixth infusions when I was steeping it a little longer. I find notes of roasted hazelnut here too, which I’m very fond of. The chocolate flavor in David’s description isn’t as present for me, but that could be partly due to my using a different brewing method than what he recommends. At any rate, with or without chocolate notes, I find this tea thoroughly enjoyable, and would happily order more at some point. I’m getting the sense that David at Asha has a very good taste for Taiwanese oolongs. I hope to try more of his selections in the future.

This is an exceptional Ali Shan. Well-balanced oxidation gives it a fresh and floral aroma, yet silky and sweet flavor.