Seven Cups
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This is my favorite green tea from Seven Cups. The sweet flavor is rich and hearty. It’s got a vegetal taste, but it’s not grassy. That’s always important for me because teas with a grassy flavor bother me.
I find that unlike some of the high quality green teas, Sweet Dew doesn’t leave me with a tummy ache if I don’t have something to eat while I’m drinking it.
Plus, it’s fun when I brew it in an office using my glass jar because the lovely fuzzy floaters combined with the small buds at the bottom of the jar make people ask why I’m drinking swamp water.
Preparation
I have the 2010 Premium Rou Gui, and it’s my standard rock oolong. I am pleased with the flavor, it’s rich and strong. It’s roasted over charcoal, and I love the flavor that adds to the tea!
Preparation
I do not think that this tea is the best choice for multiple infusions. The second steep looses too much flavor. However, I love the first one. This is going to be expensive tea since it may be good only for two infusions. I have for some time already a problem with this tea. Many vendors have it, yet a good one is very hard to find. I will be posting my review shortly.
I tasted the 2011 as soon as it came in, and I was so impressed that I immediately purchased a bag. I do not drink it very often because the flavor is so light and delicate that I’m not often in the mood for it. However, when I’m in the mood for this tea, it’s just right.
The descriptions of this tea say that it’s got fruity undertones, but I don’t notice those. I notice more of a floral undertone. The color is beautiful.
Preparation
I think of this as campfire tea. If I’m sitting at the back of Seven Cups and someone orders it, I can smell it as soon as they start brewing it. It smells like a campfire.
I’m not into very smokey teas, and this is not a favorite tea for me. However, I have had it and enjoyed it (it’s a friend’s favorite tea). I am always surprised by the complex flavors under the smoke since the smoke is so overwhelming that I often forget they are there.
While I’m not into smokey teas, I am always impressed by this tea. Plus, I get a good giggle whenever I smell it being brewed.
This is one of my “always in stock” teas. It’s the same tea as Seven Cups Monkey Picked but it’s been roasted longer… it’s still a light roast to me, though ;-). I brew this one regularly and have found that it’s even quite tasty when brewed in my cast iron pot. Usually the lighter teas can’t stand up to that pot.
Anyway, I drink this tea on its own or I sprinkle some osmanthus in when I brew it. I don’t use as much osmanthus as they use when you sit down at Seven Cups, but I like that addition. I often only finish about 3 pots in a day, so I brew the remaining infusion(s) and put them in the fridge. This makes a delightful iced tea. I drink it on its own or with Trader Joe’s Peach Medley juice. I’ve also used it to make a cocktail with sake, peach medley, and the tea.
Preparation
Backlogging, and based almost entirely on my memory, as I have almost no notes on it
Experience buying from Seven Cups http://steepster.com/places/2824-seven-cups-online-tucson-arizona
Date of Purchase/Age of Leaf: harvest date: spring 2007; bought Spring 2011; first brewed up not long after getting it.
Appearance and aroma of dry leaf: like any standard Chinese red tea; very aromatic, almost smoky, and kinda like leather.
Brewing guidelines: Ceramic six-cup teapot, tea in large metallic tea-ball; stevia added.
I brewed this as I do any black tea (see my profile for details).
Color and aroma of tea liquor: < I can’t remember, I may update this the next time I brew this up, if I remember to, that is. >
Flavor of tea liquor: Like leather, but in a positive way (I wish I could better explain that). It has a smokiness similar to Seven Cups Lapsang, but it’s flavors are more subtle, and more complex.
Appearance of wet leaf: I remember being very impressed at the quality of the ‘leaf’, being comprised of mostly full, small-looking buds, with very few stems or broken pieces.
Value: Very pricy at full price (about $13/25grams) but I got it at 70% off (it is no longer available). Although I could not personally justify paying full price, depending on what you want in a tea—and given the fact that you could probably coax at least 5 good steepings out of it—it may even be worth it at full price (esp. as it’s organic).
Overall: This is, hands down, one the the most amazing black/red teas I have ever had (after trying at least a dozen different loose-leaf unflavored black/red teas by now). It may be the very first loose-leaf unflavored black/red teas I ever had, and it still has a special place in my black tea repertoire. The first time I steeped it I believe I steeped it seven times, and it was on the seventh that it finally gave out. I don’t have much of it but I have brewed it up here and there since I bought it. I brewed it up just last week, not long after trying Verdant’s Laoshan Northern Black, and I remember thinking, “This tea gives Verdant’s a good run for the money.” It has staying power, and it’s complex, aromatic, and unique; it’s simply amazing. It doesn’t look like they carry a keemun with this name anymore (with ‘Spring Dawn’ in the name) so this may be the last of this crop. So I’m holding on tightly to what I have.
Preparation
wow that certainly is expensive!! but it’s complex which in my books is the mark of a fantastic tea. So maybe it is worth it!
I just looked at the back of the tin I keep this tea in (where I have the price) and it says, $6.28/1.75oz. That’s the price at 70% off. That’s about $12/oz. at full price. Still, try looking at it like this: a bag of tea from my local grocery store (not on sale, not including tax) costs about $3.30/20 bags per box = 16.5 cents a bag. And if you only use it once, then six bags = six cups of tea = ~$1.00. For one tsp (2 grams of tea) of Spring Dawn at $12/oz (assuming you get 14 servings per ounce (or 2 grams per serving) $12 oz/14 tsp = less than a $1.00 a tsp. Now, assuming you you can get six good steepings out of that 1 tsp (this may be pushing it, but I was able to do it) then you can get as much out of the Keemun Spring Dawn for about the same price as the six tea bags. And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have six good cups of this tea then some store bought tea (even if the flavor on this Keemun decreases slightly with each steeping). It amazes me, but I assure you the the math is correct. It really demonstrates for me how a quality product can still be affordable. : – )
hehe good point. The only downfall is that while resteeps provide excellent value, I’m not always able to use the leaves before they should be thrown out. I consume most of it at work, so sometimes I am only able to get through one or two steeps, due to circumstances that arise… but if I were able to drink at my leisure (as I did today!!) or perhaps share resteeps with a fellow tea drinker, then I think maybe that’d be more worth it. One day I’ll have my own business and will make time for tea at all hours :)
I agree with you in the that downfall of choosing to go with loose-leaf tea is the labor and time involved to fully take advantage of its flavor potential. The way I see it (as I think my example illustrates), the choice to drink loose-leaf (even an expensive one like this Keemun) is more about how much time and effort we are willing to put into a good cup of tea, rather than price.
I hear you when you state that your work environment limits you. For me, it takes almost an entire day to really get the full flavor out of a quality tea (and lots of effort, too), as it did for me today with the six steepings I did on the Hunan Yellow Sprouting I just wrote the review for. Ah, the gift of Time. There certainly is only so much of it. Tea helps to remind me of how precious Time is, and tea reminds me to spend it wisely!
Wisely yes… but you know what, when I have a few spare minutes there is nothing I’d rather do than make a cup! I don’t mind the time in takes up, rather I wish I had some (time or tea, interchangeable in this case!) when there isn’t any.
Making it to five or six infusions is always such a pleasure. Like a journey where you simply meander and gaze at the scenery. (ok now I am babbling haha)
It has been taking me entirely too long to do my reviews, so from now on I plan to only mention those things that are noteworthy; why did it take me this long to finally come to this decision?! I don’t know! I admit I judge I’m sometimes a little slow on the uptake. : – }
Experience buying from Seven Cups http://steepster.com/places/2824-seven-cups-online-tucson-arizona
Date of Purchase/Frequency of drinking: I bought this in spring 2011 and have been drinking it off-and-on since then.
Aroma of dry leaf: unbelievably strong smell of smoke!
Brewing guidelines: Ceramic six-cup teapot, with large metallic tea-ball; stevia added; I always use my standard black tea guidelines with this tea.
Aroma of tea liquor: unbelievable smell: I absolutely love that smoky aroma!
Flavor of tea liquor: Incredible! It makes me think of times when I have sat around a campfire on a cold evening while enjoying a warm beverage with friends!
Aroma of wet leaf: Smoky, wonderful!
Blends well with: I would think it wouldn’t take much of this to add a little smoky flavor to any tea.
Value: $4.31 / 50 grams (I think it was 25% off). Not a bad price for the quality (considering it wasn’t a ‘fresh’ tea).
Overall: When I read in Heiss and Heiss’s Tea Enthusiast’s handbook that Lapsang Souchong is a ‘love it or hate it tea ’ I just had to try it. And, fitting with what they said, this tea absolutely blew me away when I first tried it (astonishingly enough, even my wife liked it initially, but she has sense changed her mind). I will never forget that drinking this tea gives me a sense of sitting around a campfire, which still amazes me, as I truly enjoy recalling that image every time I drink it. I have been drinking this tea here-and-there since I bought it, and I spontaneously decided to brew up the last of it today (which inspired me to finally write this review). I am sad that it’s gone (but the reality is it’s time to make room for new teas, although this one’s going to be hard to replace). A minor note: when drinking the first steeping after it sat and cooled quite a bit I noticed that I don’t like the taste as much as when it hot (unlike some teas which can be just as good). Still, I really enjoy both the taste and the aroma of this tea. I recently purchased a Lapsang from Culinary Teas, so I’ll have to see how good that one is. I think Lapsang Souchong is a tea I have to have in my cupboard at all times (it may even have to be Seven Cups Strong Smoke version, we’ll see). I can believe that this is a love it or hate it tea, and I am definitely in the ‘love it’ camp (of course, with the ones sitting around that campfire!). I think of the legend many years ago when some oppressive overlord decided to pay a visit to a tea plantation in China. This visit forced the tea farmers to inadvertently hide their unprocessed tea leaf stash in a place where the leaves took on a smoky flavor. That unusual happenstance allows me to reap the benefits! Thank you to all of the people and the unusual circumstances who/which made this wonderful smokey tea possible!
Preparation
Backlogging and based entirely on memory.
I’m trying a different format for my reviews with this one, in the hopes of making it easier to read. I am open to any feedback about this format (or my standard one).
Experience buying from Seven Cups http://steepster.com/places/2824-seven-cups-online-tucson-arizona
I bought 100 grams of this tea in April of 2011 and finished drinking it by the end of that year. I used standard times and temperatures for my Chinese greens steeping this wonderful tea in a glass Bodum pot with metal the infuser/plunger; stevia was always added.
The leaf looked similar to Teavana’s Three Kingdoms Mao Feng (T-TKMF), but I believe it was lighter in color: light and dark green, medium-sized curly leaves and buds, with a somewhat fresher aroma than T-TKMF. I remember that this tea was comprised mostly of whole leaves, buds and bud-sets, and that it looked fresher than the T-TKMF. The flavor was standard for a quality green tea, being vegetal and sweet (tasted slightly better than the T-TKMF). Teavana’s T-TKMF produced a somewhat cloudy liquor, while this teas liquor was clear. This tea blended well with T-TKMF. Since it was well beyond it’s harvest date, this tea went for 70% OFF of its original price (at something like $5 / OZ), and I remember it came to about $1.50 / OZ (I just found the discounted price: $5.43/100g).
Overall, I was very happy with everything about this tea. T-TKMF was my second quality, loose-leaf green Tea, and this was my third (a dragon well from a local Asian store was my first). This tea was better than T-TKMF in every respect, which amazed me, as I wouldn’t think T-TKMF was from an earlier harvest date than this one (I bought the T-TKMF during Teavana’s year-end-sale just months before at the end of 2010, so I would think it was probably from the 2009 harvest at the earliest). Since I was enjoying the flavor of this tea about four years after it’s harvest date (I just checked to verify it was indeed 2007, and not, say, 2009), I learned that not all green teas are created equal. This is also a reason why I have much respect for Seven Cups. I would probably buy this at full price if they offered it again, but I have yet to see them offer it from a new harvest (even at $5 /OZ it would be one of Seven Cup’s least expensive teas, as many of their green teas are over $10 / OZ).
I like the comparison of the two different teas in this review. I think both your older format and this one are equally easy to read. I miss the steeping parameters and how many steepings you have gotten. The addition of your tea history is pretty awesome. It helps me get an idea of your tea preferences.
Thank you, Missy, for that wonderful feedback!
Although I primarily include what I do in my reviews for my own records, I often don’t know if anyone else gets any value out of what I include. So, if I know there is value in some of those particulars to others (like including the current price of the tea, or the price I paid, or how it’s price compares to other similar teas) then I am much more likely to make an effort to provide it (even if I am mixed about whether or not to include it for my own possible use at a later date).
I didn’t include the parameters here because it’s been many months since I last brewed it up (a BIG downside to backlogging without notes, of course). For this particular tea, I vaguely remember getting at least three good steepings out of it using my standard green tea times and temps (those are in my bio). Still, I’m glad you find value that kind of information.
And yes, the tea history gives a kind of context from which I can review its merits (or downsides).
I think I’m going stick with this format for awhile, anyway (this way seems not so quantitative or data driven as my standard way seems to be).
Again, thanks!
You are quite welcome. I consider steepster my personal tea diary so if your new format makes it easier to get out, I say by all means, carry on! That’s why my notes tend to be on the shorter side. I really just want to access them quickly while making a decision on new teas to buy or finding the perfect brewing parameters.
I imagine backlogging does make it hard to remember exactly what you’ve done. The number of good steepings indicates what sort of quality. I keep an eye out when people do mention these things.
Any who, you have always had informative reviews. I enjoy reading them. :D
I agree that the number of flavorful steeping I can coax out of a tea is an important indicator of quality.
Thank you for all of your comments and encouragement Missy!
Your welcome :D
Thanks LauraR! (And sorry it has taken me so long to get around to it!)
I’ve not actually had many Yunnans before, so I am quite excited about this. The leaves look lovely, with plenty of gold tips. Their scent is quite faint, but I am getting quite a sweet hay, spicy sort of scent.
The tea is somewhat fruity. I didn’t expect this, really. I mean, it isn’t really fruity, but has slight fruit hints. Otherwise, I can taste sweet hay, like in the scent, and also a peppery kick at the back end of the sip.
One of a group of 4-5 rock oolongs I received in a sample pack from Seven Cups. Actually, this one was quite flavorful considering it was only about $6.00 an ounce or so on the website. Very strong roasted, yet aromatic bouquet, and a stronger flavor than the other rock oolongs I have tried so far. It really tastes like a Darjeeling almost. One of the few so far I might consider repurchasing since it is inexpensive and fairly tasty. Good for more than one steep too. Long finish with buttery notes.
