Great Wall Tea Company

Was over at the Great Wall yesterday; Jen was all excited because she’d been waiting for this tea. It wasn’t even on their menu or in their system yet, but she sent me off with a sample.

It smells of peaches. Lots of peaches. Brewed dark, but tastes light. Black followed by green—the peach strongly throughout. I’m glad the rose petals I saw don’t seem to be adding any taste this time around. Leaves a mangoypeachy aftertaste. I get the green on my tongue when I sip and breathe out.

Kind of wish I’d get more of the green/black out of this. But still, I like it. Maybe it’s just my tongue today, because the flavours are a bit muddled and very light, despite looking dark.

Got a sample of this, and made it in my tea libre at school. Wiry little leaves, mixed with blue cornflowers and yellow sunflowers.

Taste was very mild, but distinctly buttecream icing. Light ceylon tea base. When they got it in for St. Patrick’s Day, we all sat around sniff-comparing it to the Cream Irish Breakfast, which is a mix of CTC and orthodox, plus assam and ceylon with the heavier and bolder cream. I liken that to a breakfast sweetness, and this a desert sweetness, although I like the Cream Irish Breakfast more.

No notes yet.

If you’ve got dietary problems with milk or sugars, this isn’t a good tea choice as it quite clearly DOES have chips of caramel added.

I have no such problems, so naturally I find this delicious either way. There are sunflower petals as well, probably to carry some of the flavouring oils and to decorate with even more yellow colour.

Dry, it smells strongly of caramel, brewed it smells strongly of deep, toasty caramel and tea. I’ve already done a little entry review before, but I thought I’d type this one up as if I hadn’t, just because I’ve got much more time to sit back and savour it.

There is definitely a dark caramel sweetness. It reminds me of Tealicious’ maple tea, in the weight of it.

Slightly astringent, leaves my mouth dry (although it’s been a little dry all day so this might just be me); the base is definitely Ceylon, I can taste it coming through, and it’s all right—I don’t dislike it, it’s fairly solid.

The caramel chips seem to be the cause of the cloudyness of the tea. The caramel lingers far into the aftertaste. This’ a nice tea to have in my cupboard. I think it’d be fun to mix it with others too.

That’s the last of that. I plan to buy some next time I’m over there, and possibly some of the blueberry black as well. Both were delicious. This’ very good as a breakfast blend.

Rushing a review of this this morning. Have to leave in ten minutes…

It’s a very nice base, and a good caramel flavour. Not incredibly strong, but not weak. The flavouring includes caramel chips, and overall it rounds out to a very nice desert cup. The smell overtakes the actual taste a bit, but I am sipping it while it’s still rather hot.

Picked up Kakuzo’s The Book of Tea from my library. Surprised it had it, actually. It’s a wonderful little book about culture clashing and life. Yes, and tea. It’s a sort of rambling description comparison, which I have to admit I always enjoy reading. I think I’d like to buy this after I finish it. If I can find anyplace that sells it. It’s an old book. I need to stop checking out books and read the ones I’ve already got, though. Honestly.

Dan, watched Watchmen last night—should be able to bring the dvd back into the shop today. It was pretty good.

As it cools, the caramel becomes more prominent, but mixes with the tea very well. It’s got that caramel mouth-feel. Bet some sugar would bring this right out. I like it how it is, though.

Was gifted a sample. It’s nice. It’s not AnD’s, but it’s likeable; I might have to pick some up after I run out. There’s hints of Keemun in amongst the smoked teas—which aren’t very strong, but they mesh well.

Hot banana just smells bizarre. This was gifted as a sample during my latest visit (I was there when they carried in a new shipment, and this was one of the new teas included). I don’t know if I’m liking it. Dry, the smell was just “dried banana” (my dad used to dry fruits). Again, brewed, hot banana smell. It’s just odd.

The taste of the banana is very mild—barely there. It does come back in the aftertaste a bit, and there’s a natural sweetness that lingers. I probably won’t buy it, but I’ve got a good sized sample to play around with.

Edit: There was another, odd, drying taste that I thought might be the tea base, but no—or well, maybe it is—but it reminds me of banana peal. Definitely.

This smells delicious. Like candy—sour jubjubes or something. It makes my mouth water.

It’s giving me a craving for jelly babies.

Brewed, the smell isn’t AS strong but still there enough to make me hungry. Sniffing it more closely, I’m getting notes of Assam in there. Most of the tea descriptions for this tea note Ceylon and Assam as the base.

First sip is tart and sweet, and mixed with strong Assam notes. No bitterness yet, but Assam can tend do cause it at five minutes steep time, so I’ll probably consider reducing the time somewhat in the future.

The strawberry-lemon isn’t as strong as the smell, but it works because with the Assam-Ceylon as the base, all together it’s a very nice, “classic” taste. Screams British almost. In a good way. I think I’d like to liken it to a Lady’s Earl Grey (without it being Lady Grey).

Starting to get a bitterness from the Assam. It’s enough that the strawberry and lemon take a back-seat. Still very enjoyable, though.

As someone who rarely drinks green tea when it’s not mixed with black, I was a little obsessive today that all the parameters were perfect. So as a not-really-green-tea-drinker, I’d get the best out of it.

I got this as a sample from the Great Wall (they shower me in samples). Smells like slightly overcooked rice. Sadly, their giant tin didn’t have any rice that had managed to actually pop (I like calling it popcorn tea).

First sip… Is actually very pleasant. I can definitely get the toasted rice, and the green tea managed to turn out enjoyable and mellow. I remember trying some from Murchie’s very-cold-sample-pot. Tasted cold and slimy.

This is nice, though. Toasty. I could see me carrying this around in my tea libre.

Green’s coming out a bit more as it cools, but I’m still liking it.

I have no idea what’s in this, but she gave me the very last of the tin as a sample. There was just enough left for a cup.

I just know it’s black and green tea… And I can taste that. But there were also some huge purple-yellow flowers mixed in this (I had to pick them out to get a proper scoop, they were bigger than my teaspoon; I put them in the infuser with the tea, though—I just needed them out of the way to scoop better).

There’ll probably be information once they get their site up. There’s a sweetness, though. Maybe from the flowers. Reminds me of grenadine or whatever from Monk’s Blend.

There’s a touch of bitterness, but I didn’t very strongly take into consideration how much green tea might be in this, so it’s probably from that and the hotter temperature/longer steep time. Still, the bitterness and the stronger black tea does impart a “breakfast blend” feel. The sweet flavouring is just a nice touch.

Mmm you can smell the sweet caramel. The bergamot is very mild, but there. And when I pulled my filter out, I think I might have gotten a whiff of apple.

The bergamot’s stronger in the taste, the caramel shadowing it in the background. I still get whiffs of something that could be apple in the smell, but none of it carries over to the taste. Maybe just a touch as it cools, but I could just be mistaking the taste. It’s very mellow and pleasant, though. There’s a touch of bitterness as well, but that’s it.

Mmmm blueberries. The smell’s strong in the leaves and in the cup. There were a few freeze-dried ones in the tin as well, although I don’t know if any of them actually made it to my sample packet.

I also think I’m smelling a bit of… liquorish? How odd. Although, blueberry and liquorish doesn’t seem like too bad a combination.

First sip… Still quite hot… Oooh, blueberry. Yup, I don’t think this is going to be one of those sissy barely-there flavoured teas. Still, probably shouldn’t be eating spicy pizza at the same time. Totally going to/may already be ruining my tastebuds for the experience.

Aah, but I’m getting a sweetness and the blueberries are in your nose. There’s a bit of a tang in it, from the berries I suppose.

The tea itself is very mild, which does good with the blueberries. I will have to type out a more detailed ramble when I’m not eating pizza with this.

Have you ever heard of a cream Irish breakfast? I haven’t. I even checked out our database to see if any other places had something. Nothing! How unique.

I got this as a sample at the Great Wall during my last visit. I’m pretty much a regular there now (to the point that I’ve gotten to meet The Other Regulars, and also help out with Advertisement—when Lauren, the owner, explains “tea to go” to prospecting customers, I hold up my cup and display it like a fancily-dressed Show Lady). It’s a wonderfully social area, and I’m allowed to do my homework there. If I’m not chatting.

But more on that in Place Reviews.

Tea!

Brought the steeping temperature down to threeish minutes due to the high Assam content of Irish breakfasts. The dry leaves carry a hint of sweetness in their smell, and if you put your nose right into the brewed tea, you get a good Vanilla whiff. Sipping it, it’s definitely no Irish Cream, but it’s such a wonderful hint, and it oddly works so well—it’s like a pleasant, sweet surprise for your breakfast blend. I figure milk might bring it out a bit more—I should try some with it later. Maybe a bit of sugar, because that always coaxes along vanilla cream flavours.

The Irish Breakfast itself is solid, malty but subdued by the non-Assam teas in the blend (Ceylon, I think, is in there, but I can’t guess the others).