Pekko Teas

This is a tea sent to me for FREE as part of a FREE tea giveaway offered by Pekko Teas. I’d like to thank them for this generous offer, & for their delicious tea.

http://steepster.com/discuss/3389-pekko-teas-free-steepster-exclusive-give-away

I served this tasty tea on Monday to one of my students, & yesterday to 3 out of 4 of my children & a friend, and they all enjoyed it. Today I’m savoring a cup alone.

I closed my eyes & took a whiff of this high quality ceylon tea, & I pictured an orange, laying on a bed of rose petals. There is a very mild citrus aroma, a hint of rose, & a clean & bright tea-scent underlying it all.

I steeped a cup. The color is beautiful, an orange amber liquor. This is not a deep chocolate grogg (which, I admit, I tend to favor), but more of a sophisticated lady, where teas are concerned. The flavor is bright, with a hint of orange, and a little clove to make your tongue tingle. It’s quite nice!

Sooooo as some of you may know, I am NOT a fan of oolongs. Pekko Teas sent me this as their sample so I am nonethless trying it and will likely pop it into the travelling tea box so that others can enjoy the GENEROUS sample they provided. In that way I’ll be able to help share the wealth and give them back a little something for sending the tea my way.

I am also not rating this tea because of the fact that I generally dislike oolongs and i don’t want that reflected on Pekko teas. The leaves of this oolon are super tightly coiled. As for the taste? It’s an oolong :) There’s not an overwhelming floral taste from this, so that’s good. It’s light and those who enjoy oolongs would probably appreciate this tea. I hope that whomever gets this after me enjoys it!

Sipdown.

Meh, really not the best black tea ever. it’s a take-it or leave-it sort. I’m still not certain what characterizes a Ceylon as the others I have tried since first logging this have different characteristics. Relative to the others, this one doesn’t stand out as exceptional.

Thank you for this generous sample Meeka

I’ve never had a straight Ceylon before, only in blends. I can’t comment on the quality as I don’t know how a Ceylon is supposed to be, but I can at least say that it is tasty.

Fruity, smooth, not so bold; a comfortable cup of black tea for when one is not feeling daring :)

SIPDOWN! (244)

Figured i might as well finish this off since there was only a small regular person’s sized cup left. Thanks again for this one terri! lol

I had this earlier today and while it wasn’t a bad black, there are so very many more out there that I vastly prefer to this one. I like my black morning teas to be bold and robust and announce their presence! This one did not….but it was still a decent cup of tea. Thanks Terri!

Last sample from a swap with Sil. I figured I should get through all of the stuff she sent me in our last swap before we do our next.

This milk oolong smells very pleasant. Like a creamy oolong, I wanted to say there was a jasmine smell to it, but that must be the orchid.

The tea tastes creamy, milky, lightly oxidized oolong. There is a flowery taste to the tea which I would assume to be the orchid, but it tastes similar to jasmine, in my opinion.

The tea nuggets unfurled nicely during the steep, but looks like there could dbe many more steeps out of it.

Thanks to queenoftarts for this tea! I got this tea since I love good jasmine tea, and it is my mother’s favorite tea. When I tried it, it feels just like jasmine. Small pearls of rolled jasmine leaves looked pretty. Nice, mild floral scent you can find in jasmine was definitely there with mild, refreshing and clean taste. I liked it! I brewed in just my usual pot but I think I wanna try using gaiwan next time and see how it goes :)

Sipdown! 2/365

I’m not even sure why I didn’t bother finishing this off the last time I had it. There was barely enough for a small cup. Oh well, it’s still a sipdown! It smelled like delicious milk oolong when I steeped it, but I’m sad to say I drank the cup without realizing what it was (it was in a small cup I usually use for resteeps). My actual thoughts: “this is a nice resteep, and I’m thirsty.” So at least I enjoyed it, even if not realizing what I was having.

Another tea I brewed up at the boyfriend’s place… and therefore left my leaves on his counter. Sigh. At least it was tasty, going along with my chicken and garlic bread! :D

Mini-sipdown! 845. This one’s from Sil – I had two separate entries for it, since I received it on two different occasions, but now the one baggie is gone :D

Anyhow, not really anything new to report. It’s a milk oolong, and it’s tasty. Perhaps not my favourite, but I’m happy enough to drink it anyhow!

So I guess when you deprive yourself of tea long enough, it tastes utterly amazing when you get back to it! First cup of milk oolong in a long while, and it was absolutely heavenly. This packet resides at the boyfriend’s house for the time being, which was a great thing to have remembered last night :D

Wow, Sil, you have one heck of a memory! I had no recollection of requesting to try this, but seeing your post, I suspect I did :D Thanks!

Basically, I have to say that this is a decent milk oolong, but I have had better. In part that’s because this is tasting kind of weak to me (it’s possible that I intentionally overleaf when I usually brew milk oolong, and did not here, but I don’t think so). Flavourwise it is milky and oolong-y like most others, though!

I’ve had a lovely day and things just keep getting better. I had lunch with my parents at Bradgate Park (birthplace of Lady Jane Grey and renowned wild deer park) and a small walk. Then I visited a local aquarium centre to get some natural wood for my new fish tank and they had some amazing pieces in stock, I love natural wood. Then as I got home and got the urge to drink some Japanese tea my husband said he would treat me to Yunomi Tea Club for 12 months. :) So to treat him in return I have my new stone and ceramic tea set out and I brewed up some Fukujyu. He likes it but I feel if anything this one is lacking strength…this is a strong tea and I chickened out and brewed it a little weak. Oh well I still have enough left to drink myself into Japanese bliss and prepare the arrival of my new teas.

A Japanese tea to go with my Japanese film marathon (I’m currently watching Tokyo Gore Police).

The tea looks like dark green crisp and dry leaves that have been cut into small, thin pieces. It smells a little vegetal, like broccoli.

Once brewed the loose tea smells much stronger and very much like broccoli or cabbage. Yum Yum.

The tea colour is light yellow and it has a very subtle yet sweet smell of fresh vegetable soup. It tastes as it smells, very vegetal with sweetness and a little floralness. There is an edge of not bitterness but green harshness to it. It’s very nice :)

Perfect, now I feel like I’m in Japan watching the films. :)

1.25 tablespoons for 375 ml of water.

The brewed tea has an enchanting milky-floral aroma. These scents transfer to the flavour. I’m getting a heavy cream mouth-feel with floral notes in the background. Sweetness throughout. Hint of tangy-ness.

Second infusion at 4 minutes. Hint of banana flavour.

Third infusion at 5.3 minutes. Detecting the tangy grapefruit taste that I have found to associate with other milk oolongs in the past.

Thank you to Indigobloom and Sil for sharing this with me!

Sipdown! YAY!

Today, there’s no astringency in my cup and it’s almost fruity? sweet? I really enjoy this cup! I think i’d actually order this for myself sometime when i’m in the market for an order from Pekko teas. Thank you so much Nicole for this sample.

Thank you Nicole!

This might be the first darjeeling that I’ve tried, though I have a couple in my cupboard. :) This isn’t a deep robust black and there’s a hint of astringency. Again, i should try this with a bit of milk to see how that pulls the tea together. There’s an almost fruity taste to this as well that is interesting. I’ll be happy to try more of this later :)

mmmmm funny today that this time i’m not getting the maltiness in my cup. It’s still a delicious cup but today there’s more of a fruity undertone to this one. It’s smooth and delicious though so no complaints here.

Thank you Nicole!

This is a really nice assam. it’s not as malty as say laoshan black but it’s got some rich undertones that i really find enjoyable.

I had to phone in sick today at work as I have had virtually no sleep over the entire weekend and I feel like a zombie (not the fun BRAINS!!! type of zombie which would have been awesome). I wonder if I would still drink tea if I was an undead zombie? But anyway I digress, since I have had some time today now my schedule is wide open I decided to gaiwan my sample of this tea. Thank you to Pekko for including this as a gift with my order. :)

Gaiwan Instructions Tea:12g Water Temp: Boiling
9 steeps: rinse twice,20s,30s,40s,50s,1m10s,1m30s,2m,2m30s,3m30s

First Steep – 20 seconds – Strong and slightly astringent with robust earthiness.

Second Steep – 30 seconds – Smoothing slightly with strength and astringency. Also picking up a slight muskness yet sweetness.

Third Steep – 40 seconds – Slightly bitter but still musky. Very dark, very earthy.

Fourth Steep – 50 seconds – More mellow and musky but sweet, almost fruity or floral.

Fifth Steep – 1m10seconds – Much more palatable, not harsh or as strong and remains earthy and sweet with a hint of dryness.

Pictures and more details on my blog. http://kittylovestea.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/young-pu-erh-pekko-teas-gaiwan-style/