Radiance Tea House and Books

this song goes out to Sam and Dean.
cuz this tea is pretty romantic.
“please just save me from this darkness”

Snow Patrol – Make This Go On Forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4giE9QhJ48

mock me if you want, but if this song gets stuck in your head you’ll be sorry.

I picked this up because I was interested in the “spice” the taste notes promised. I did not really get that, although, I may have not made it strong enough (rookie mistake). Overall a decent flavor…nothing astringent or sharp…very smooth in my opinion. I just don’t get any major flavors with it. I like a really strong black tea, so I will try again with more leaves next time.

A few friends gave me a lovely gift of assorted teabags from Radiance. Oriental Beauty was included in the box. The aroma is wonderful- honey and floral.

Just like the previous poster, I am surprised that it has such a sweet flavor! Honey is the predominant flavor, and I also taste some apricot. This tea is very soothing, and gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling! I’m not getting much ‘oolong’ flavor though, since the honey is so strong. I will try another infusion to see if that changes. Still a lovely tea.

I usually don’t do herbal teas, especially floral ones, but I was at Radiance with a friend in the evening, and didn’t want any caffiene. I have to say, it was quite tasty. Mostly fruity, I didn’t taste any flower notes. It was juicy and tangy, with the strong taste of juniper berry, and refreshing. I had a second infusion, and it was just as juicy and bright. It tastes like it looks- a lovely bright red/pinkish color.

Steep Information:
Prepared after the official tasting, during the Steepster meetup and tea tasting

Tasting Notes:
Smell: Sweet pineapple, apricot
Medium body
Taste: Smooth, fruit juice
After taste: mint/menthol

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but we were having fun chatting it up. (Thanks again to everyone from Steepster for hosting this.)

Rating: I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf_22.html

Steep Information: Prepared after the official tasting, during the Steepster meetup and tea tasting

Tasting Notes: From Japan, medium body, taste-vegetal, rough (gritty?), slightly astringent and bitter

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but we were having fun chatting it up. (Thanks again to everyone from Steepster for hosting this.)

Rating: I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf_6294.html

Steep Information: Prepared after the official tasting, during the Steepster meetup and tea tasting

Tasting Notes: From China, medium body, flavor-nutty, woody, maybe a little smoky?

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but we were having fun chatting it up. (Thanks again to everyone from Steepster for hosting this.)

Rating: I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf_11.html

Steep Information: Prepared as part of the Steepster meetup and tea tasting

Tasting Notes:
From China

If the origin is Fujin it’s great, it has the most sweet flavor, use only local pine wood

Second brew is known for a dragonfruit or lychee flavor

The tea was prepared in a purple clay Yixing teapot seasoned for Lapsang Souchong – and so was sweeter for it

Smell: Campfire
Liquor: Translucent brown
Taste: smooth black tea, smoky, sweet
After-taste: smoky

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but it was a whirlwind tasting of so much information and flavor!

Rating: I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf_3715.html

Steep Information: Prepared as part of the Steepster meetup and tea tasting

Tasting Notes:
Medium Roast from Taiwan
Huge full leaves
Oolongs should always be full leaves with twigs and chunks as they are harvested in chunks (grab the steam and leaves and bud)

Milky smell
Nutty, not floral, sweet
Light body
Slightly vegetal
The tea is smooth, then rough

Fake milkyness could come from soaking in milk or adding milk powder but this is natural flavor – part of the leaf

There are machines that roll the tea inside canvas bags into the tight balls in Taiwan, people need to swap out the bags but they can do more at a time. Some are still done by hand, specifically China, and can take many tying, ballings, twists and turns and much time. This is where cost comes in.

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but it was a whirlwind tasting of so much information and flavor!

Rating: I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf_06.html

Prepared as part of the Steepster meetup and tea tasting
There was a rinsing steep, about 2 seconds
Then it was steeped approximately 2 minutes

It smelled vegetal, it has a light body, the flavor was milky

We learned that higher temperatures (and shorter steeps) lead to sweeter flavor with this brew.

Over all we reviewed that you can come up with whatever method works for you to do temperatures, just be consistent so it’s repeatable (boil the water but pour from arm height if this bring it down to 195 for example)

With a good silver needle there is supposed to be buds, and the leaves should not turn black after brewing. If they turn black then it is old or poor quality / not first pick

We did a second steep that was sweet and milky

For the larger pot we had we could have gotten away with about 3 quality steeps

You should be using 2-3grams per 6-8 ounces

Milky teas should never have been soaked in milk, or contain condensed milk, as this is a mark of fake or low quality.

Sorry my notes are so short and cryptic but it was a whirlwind tasting of so much information and flavor!

I am intentionally not rating these teas as I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and sip on them and think whether I would by them again, like to play with them more, although none were awful (1 leaf) or fabulous (4 leaves)

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/radiance-tea-house-and-books-loose-leaf.html

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Radiance Tea House and Books in NYC! This is the tea we chose to have there. No preparation details as it was lovingly prepared in house.

1st infusion:

Amazing golden apricot color and the fragrance was so sweet. Honey, honey, honey! I couldn’t believe the rich honey notes I was getting from this tea. Each sip was heavenly. I’ve never had a tea, yet alone an oolong tea, with so much sweet flavor. I feel like I’m doing an extraordinarily poor job of describing this tea – I think it must be experienced!! It went so well with the buttery tea crackers with black sesame seeds that were served with it. This was my husband’s favorite infusion.

2nd infusion:

This one was heavy on apricot. Slight honey notes and some of what I associate with “oolong” flavor coming out – and a fine oolong flavor it was. I’ve never had anything so fine. We had this pot with our dumplings and entree (me: Teriyaki Salmon rice bowl with mushrooms and bok choy, Husband: Rice bowl with shrimp and avocado) This was my favorite one and it was PERFECT for food.

3rd infusion:

More fantastic tea flavor, slightly floral, not as sweet, not as fruity. Still delightful. We had it with more tea crackers. It was a great finish to the meal and perfect for digestion.

Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/steepster/pool/

and a couple more of my day here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jackiemania/sets/72157623565672780/

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 teaspoons
Additives: none
Water: 170 filtered, boiled
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Smell: vegital, smoky, reminded me of a garden
Flavor: grassy, vegetal
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet and tangy
Liquor: light, nearly clear, green

As I’ve said before I don’t really love the grassy vegital taste of greens, but I keep trying them anyway. I was worried the leaves didn’t unfurl enough – was the water too cool? too hot? Did I not steep long enough? I tried a little at 2 minutes and it was still too weak, then decided at 3 it was enough as I didn’t want it to get bitter. I think adding anything would overpower this tea.

Resteep:
I tried 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes. All were too weak and by 7 it was too bitter.

No notes yet.

Served: Hot in a glass teapot
Smell: Mint, Roses, garden
Flavor: Lemongrass and Mint, sweet and smooth, medium bodied
Aftertaste: none

Served: Hot
Smell: smelled like black tea
Flavor: much like the house tea at many Chinese restaurants we’ve ever been to, full bodied. We thought it tasted green.
Aftertaste: bitter