Shang Tea

Thanks for sending me a bit of this to try, Azzrian!

Had this not been labelled, I definitely would have assumed it was an oolong, by the appearance of the rolled up leaves. I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the smell of the leaves while this tea was steeping. It was a very vegetal, somewhat familiar aroma, and it just didn’t appeal to me. It almost smelled… fridgey? You know, that sat-too-long kind of smell? Luckily, the tea doesn’t have that same aroma, and smells more like Nestea’s green tea with lemon, or something like that.

…. oh my. This is crazy sweet. It seems I should have used about half the leaf I did! This is quite good though, but honestly WAYYYYY too sweet for me at its current level. I used the whole baggie of tea that I received (I didn’t measure it, but maybe 1-2 tsp) in a large-ish mug, and it’s very, very sweet. Almost… like golden raisins… why am I getting that association?? I’m getting a bit of that fridgey taste, but I have a feeling it’s just something in the leaves that’s causing it, not an age thing.

The flavour definitely reminds me of when I’m plumping up raisins for oatmeal raisin cookies, so raisins in water in a bowl in the microwave, making lovely raisin water that I drain out.

Anyways, I don’t think this is a tea I’d drink as tea… however I noticed that the recommendation was to add a bit to other teas to sweeten them, and I think that’s a great idea that I’ll have to try sometime… because I think I spotted an extra baggie of this in my box from Azzrian so I do have some left (that must have been an oops?? :P)

Thanks for a sample of this one, Azzrian! I’m always up for trying new, interesting things! :D

No notes yet.

What a lovely surprise from Azzrian – thanks so much!

This was a shocker because at first glance it looked like a rolled oolong! It’s actually leaves from a type of rosebush! I’m game! Bring-It-On!

While infusing the leaves DO magnify and multiply! They plump up really nice! Some of them remind me of cooked kale. The aroma is savory and vegetal.

WOW!

The post-infused liquor is CRAZY Sweet! And naturally at that!

It sort of reminds me of Stevia Powder a little bit – like from nuNaturals, for example…but not quite. Many that paired with the hydration of celery might be a better description of what I am tasting.

The more I drink this the more I actually like it. Again, I’m diggin’ it because it’s different. Because it’s sweet but naturally sweet! Because it DOESN’T leave a funky after taste. Yeah…this is unique and surprisingly tasty after you get used to it.

Thanks again Azz!

Yet another great sample provide by LiberTEAS

This tea totally caught me off guard. There is a nice creaminess, thicker body to this tea. The flavor seems toastier than other whites I’ve tried in the past. I could not find any bitterness, only a little tartness if the leaves are left to continue steeping with the pot as you drink.

There is a certain wintergreen taste, or maybe its more spruce pine needles. Whatever it is, I’m really liking it! One other note I’m picking up is a little spiciness as well. Can’t really tell exactly. Almost reminds me of some sort of chai mix. Nonetheless, this was a great tea and hope to enjoy more of this soon.

Quick Backlog … Before I went to St. Louis we took a quick day jaunt down to Kansas City home of Shang Tea. I wish I had more time there – they are SUCH lovely people but we were so hungry and both my and my daughter’s blood sugars were dropping fast so we had to go eat soon. Anyway after sampling a few teas and picking up two that I wanted – I had to grab some of this!
When we sampled it we all were so surprised! It is SWEET VERY SWEET like liquid all nature sweetener! Now I would not drink this straight myself although my daughter LOVED it straight, but it is PERFECT and let me repeat PERFECT to add only a little bit to your other teas to sweeten ALL NATURAL!
I LOVE this stuff should have got more but I do have a little to share. I am for sure sending some to Kittenna and TeaEqualsBliss in soon to come trades.
If anyone else really loves to sweeten their tea or is curious about this please let me know. Oh and I even got a discount on it when I mentioned I was going to share with fellow Steepsters! How cool is THAT for customer service??
:)
If you live anywhere near KC go into Shang and enjoy sitting and sampling all their teas and look around at all their lovely pots and also jewelry and other neat items!
Lovely place, lovely people!
I will be back when I have more time – consider yourself warned lol.

I like how the little sample pouch says ‘3+ cups’. Whoever wrote that have clearly never seen me make tea. :)

I’ve had this one for a while and it’s another one that I don’t know who sent it to me. Considering that it comes from Shang Tea, of whom I am a fan, it may be slightly odd that I’ve been sitting on it for so long. It’s because I’ve had this ‘white tea – urgh…’ phase, which has been going on for rather a long time now. It’s not that I dislike it, it’s just that I’m not at all that fond of it. My severe falling out of love with Bai Mu Dan hasn’t helped matters any either. Shang Tea have, however, in the past provided me with some rather large surprises, so I’m hoping for the best.

The aroma is not very strong and it’s difficult to pin down. It just smells white, really, in that it doesn’t smell at all like any of the other types of tea. Using the inhale-exhale-inhale trick that I learned from Bonnie the other day (thank you Bonnie! I think you’ve just helped me avoid actually dipping the tip of my nose in tea in search of aroma with this trick. (Accidental dipping, mind you)) I can pick up something that reminds me vaguely of cucumber or courgette, but isn’t really either. It’s sort of slightly sweet and it smells like that texture, but still doesn’t really allow itself to be identified. It does remind me some of Bai Mu Dan, though.

The flavour does have a fair bit of courgette to it as well, but strangely, it’s not as unappealing as I normally find it. It’s immediately followed by something very sweet and honey-ish, and I think that’s what rescues it for me, because normally I prefer my courgette flavour to be in courgettes. Bit like cinnamon really. For me, cinnamon and tea ought have nothing to do with each other at all, whether it be naturally occuring or otherwise.

Once again Shang Tea has surprised me. This is really rather nice. It’s not something I must run out and tell the world about, but it’s enjoyable to get to try. If I were fonder of white than I am, I would probably be swooning all over the place.

Finishing off the rest of the sample this morning. I thought this was a very mild and gentle green tea. Like all of Shang’s teas there seems to be something elegant and relaxing about it, I don’t know how do they do that!

Seriously contemplating an order, it’s good to have some gentle green teas on hand for those days I’m feeling oooooky.

see previous note

Another one from the sampler pack. The leaves are dark green and have a wonderful vegetal aroma similar to spinach. The wet leaves have a higher aroma with notes of butter and brussel sprouts. I brewed this one in my 12oz mug, again being too lazy to brew gaiwan style.

I happened to be starting the computer up as I started to brew this and so I had left it brew for much too long making the first infusion very bitter. I added some honey hoping to make amends, but to no avail. But through the bitterness I could taste a nice creamy, buttery, vegetal green tea with hints of corn. I could tell this would have been an awesome tea had I not royally screwed it up.

So, I poured out the first infusion and made a second. Even after having the first one sit for at least 4 minutes the second infusion still had plenty of flavor in it! Here I could taste the wonderful creamy, vegetal green tea without any bitterness. The flavor was a bit muted simply because of the long steep time in the first time around.

This tea holds up surprisingly well, I bet you could get quite a few good infusions out of it…dare I say you could get 5??? Even through my mishap this still turned out to be really good.

No notes yet.

Backlogging from Sunday.

This was the biggest reason I wanted to try the Shang sampler and I had such huge hopes for this one. Wild honeysuckle grows along the roadside where I grew up and where my parents still live. I still love to walk down the road and to pick it and taste the sweet nectar.

My dad has a convertible and puts the top down when we go out somewhere in the spring and summer and I always bug him to take the back roads so I can smell all the honeysuckle blooming. It grows everywhere, even along the highways. It is one of my favorite things about spring and early summer.

So, I opened the little sampler bag and smelled a slight sweet floral scent. The wet leaves smelled of sweet hay with a floral note. The taste was sweet hay, slightly floral with a nectar note in the aftertaste. It didn’t jump out and say “Hey! It’s me, Honeysuckle!” it was very subtle, I almost had to look for it. It was a light enough floral that had I not been told it was honeysuckle I may not have guessed it was.

I had too high of expectations for this tea to live up to. I was expecting it to be similar to jasmine teas, to be able to scent and taste the floral notes and go “Yes! That is honeysuckle!” to be blown away. Unfortunately this tea is not that for me.

Even though my expectations were way too high for this, after getting past the fact that I was not going to be blown away by honeysuckle, this was a good white tea with a soft floral note added to it. It was more like the tea picked up the floral notes by growing in close proximity than actually being added to the tea, that’s how soft the floral notes are.

Last tasting note of the day…I can’t take anymore. I feel like my eyeballs are floating and I’ve got quite the caffeine buzz going on causing a slight headache. I can’t remember the last time I drank so many different teas in one day and each tea is being brewed at least 2-3 times. Tea drunk perhaps?

This one intrigued me because it supposedly resembles jasmine. Mmm, jasmine. The dry leaves appear to be mostly curled dark green leaves with some white leaves mixed in. The dry smell took me a while to place. It smells like the black licorice candies you get for Halloween. That put me off a little because I don’t like licorice. The wet leaves smelled like that candy licorice, some sort of citrus note, floral notes and a vegetal note hiding in the corner.

Taste was floral, not jasmine, a lot softer than jasmine, definitely not soapy. There were hints of sweet citrus and grapes and a tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue in the aftertaste. The licorice taste was still there but it wasn’t that icky sticky sweetness in the back of the throat. I didn’t care for it but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

The one thing I really noticed about this tea is that it is really calming. I’ve been drinking so much tea that the caffeine is really making me twitchy and giving me a headache. This tea is calming me down even though I’m still very alert and my headache has calmed down to barely noticeable. A nice bonus.

I would rate this tea a bit higher, but that candy licorice is slightly off-putting to me. It’s the only thing I have bad to say about this tea. Other than that it is wonderful.

White tea Shang sample of the mid afternoon. Yes, I realize I’m drinking a lot of tea today and I have become close friends with the restroom because of it. My first jasmine white tea of Shang. This is a nice soft jasmine taste that isn’t overly perfumey. I’m getting a spearmint-like sensation at the tail end of the sip. The aftertaste has a slight drying effect with a hint of sweet hay note. This isn’t my favorite white jasmine tea, but it’s not bad by any means either, just doesn’t really stand out in my opinion.

Edit:
Just a quick side note that I just realized…this is my 100 tasting note!

White tea of the early afternoon. I’m having a ball with these white tea samples! This one confused me dearly because it says white tea yet is says wu-long which I know is another way of spelling oolong…mind blown. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it so I brewed it like I do any other white teas and I was very much impressed.

The dry leaves are dark brown and slightly curled with some fuzzy white curled leaves mixed in and smelled of apricot and stones. The wet leaves smell more earthy with hay notes…now I’m getting more confused. Taste…o_O sweet hay notes, sweet apricot notes, stone/mineral notes, a very smooth, creamy texture, like butter, yet it remains light. Is this a white tea or an oolong…I get notes from both types.

This tea is as confusing to me as it is delicious.

Another early morning white tea from the Shang sampler. This is divine. Beautiful white fuzzy buds brew up to have lovley cucumber notes, slight sweet fresh hay notes, a nice juicy melon dew texture. This tea is very light and crisp and subtle. The hay notes are one of the prominent notes but it doesn’t overwhelm your mouth and taste buds like other white teas can.

This tea reminds me of the beautiful early morning hours of pre-dawn right before the sun comes up when the sky is starting to lighten but is still nice shades of blue. This is the best Silver Needles I’ve had, it’s just so wonderfully light, crisp and airy.

Today is definitely a white tea day…and lots of it. Tomorrow probably will be too. I drank a sample of Shang’s yesterday and had an inner fight to not drink more samples late into the night. My will power won and I got some decent sleep and immediately started drinking this early this morning.

A lovely white peony that smells like sweet hay like most white teas do. The infusion was nice and light and had a slight sweet smell to it. Taste is what separates this. Sweet hay notes, slightly earthy and robust, and a hint of floral. Usually I get cucumber or melon notes but not a nice earthy robust flavor.

I’m preferring these Fujian white teas over Yunnan just a tad because the Yunnan whites I’ve had typically have some sort of spice/black pepper note and I am not getting any of that in any of these samples so far. Definitely a plus for me.

I finally ordered the sampler package after seeing so many good reviews on here and it arrived today, which is really fast shipping…3 days I think. Anyways, this was the first one I picked out, I want to save the ones I think I’ll like best for later, but I’m not sure how that will go since I’m already having an internal argument of whether or not I should try another sample since it’s getting into the evening and I don’t want to stay awake from caffeine, but I also have nothing to wake up early for tomorrow, and so my dilemma continues!

The actual tea now…dry and wet leaves smell very much like sweet hay. In taste is carries a very sweet note in it that is slightly creamy in texture, like honey. The hay notes are very prominent, fresh and crisp. There is a slight floral note that I cannot quite pinpoint it’s origin.

The one thing that really surprises me about this tea is the sweet, creamy honey notes. It tastes like it was added but I assure I did not add anything to this. I brewed it 175F for about 1 minute in a 12 oz vessel. A delicious sweet white tea, and a good start for the samples!

I believe this is the last of my samples from Shang Tea… I am sad to see them go! Everything I have had has been good so far.

I didn’t even dump my whole package in the cup as instructed so I was surprised to see this tea liquor a dark yellow color. I did smell the wet leaves and they remind me of sweet clover and hay.

I am not so great at picking out flavors but luckily Ang. has written a great tasting note before me. :) I don’t believe I have ever had a white oolong before this. I am surprised to find the tea has the sweet and fruitiness of the white tea but also has some of the butteriness/nuttiness of a green oolong. This is exceptionally smooth and rich but at the same time maintains a sense of relaxed lightness that I often find in white tea. Between this and the jasmine tea i had earlier I am feeling quite elegant and content.

It also resteeps well…

I just checked the price of this one – $13.50 for 2 oz. is not that pricey at all and is a luxury I could definitely afford… mmm. On the list it goes!

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I got this in a Shang Tea sampler pack. Until I can afford to actually purchase more Shang tea I am absolutely enjoying the samplers!
I LOVE Shang teas – so far there has not been one I have not loved!
This white tea is so different from most whites.
The aroma is of honey as is the initial flavor.
Its rich and deep with a full creamy mouthfeel!
It is so succulent and has this savory after taste almost of basil.
There is also this very light flavor of black pepper but it is so subtle it is easy to miss.
You will find also a slight vegetal flavor but the top note of this tea is indeed sweet honey!
A truly wonderful tea of the highest quality!
I hope to get more soon!

Wow! I’ve said that I don’t much like darker oolongs, but clearly I’ve been drinking the wrong kinds! This tastes amazing! I love that this weather allows for me to enjoy my teas both cold and hot. Had a nice cold brewed lemon green tea in my thermos for a long walk in the park with my puppies. Frozen blueberries make an awesome substitute when you are lacking ice cubes!

And now, the evening has turned chilly and I’m turning to a hot beverage to relax me and warm me up for bedtime. I had originally planned on some Neapolitan Honeybush (yummy!) but I was also in the mood for something new. Time to break into some samples form Azzrian! I know it’s late for a caffeinated tea, but what the heck.

This tea is fantastic. I can’t believe the flavors here! It’s like roasted chestnut, sweet and creamy. It’s also very floral. I suppose it’s supposed to be orchid, but to be honest, I’ve never known an orchid flower to smell like anything. Am I smelling the wrong orchids?

What a wonderful comforting tea. I hate to add another tea to my must buy list, but this is definitely permanent collection worthy. So few teas have that honor since I’m all about variety.

I just had my husband try it out. I’m trying to train his tastebuds. :) He says it tastes like caramel and vanilla. He also says it reminds him of Japanese tea only not bad (He dislikes Japanese teas). Awesome. :)

Off to try my second infusion now!

Mmm.. still good!

Took me a moment to find this here on steepster because my sample package says “Golden Needle Red Tea” not Golden Needle King – but the description is the same so I will log it here:

Well I steeped this completely wrong – forgot to let water cool one minute as package says to do. Got into a convo with hubby and just absent mindedly poured the boiling water over the leaves. Uggg I expected problems in the flavor from this.
In a panic I added a little extra cool water – I guess thinking to bring the temp down slightly. Then I realized what I had done and was just like Ugggggggg whatever – it was my only sample I had to drink it. To waste a precious tea from Shang would be a sin…a SIN I tell you!
So anyway guess what – quality tea can take a beating! This was still fabulous!
The smell was malty and of cocoa. The taste was of molasses, malt, chocolate, and hay.
The hay and molasses combination reminded me of sorghum I think. It brought back memories of when I trained hoses and had a couple of my own. That sticky sweet grain we fed the horses in fall and winter. I have not been reminded of that aroma for years and years. It brought back nice memories and made me miss those days. How I love the smell of hay and sweet grain, and horses. Okay before I turn everyone off to this tea the main flavors and aromas are that of malt, chocolate, and molasses, not horses, or hay, but there is something about this tea that makes me want to go to the country and jump on a horse!
This tea also provided a slight albeit very slight cinnamon sparkling sensation on the tongue.
I found this tea quite filling – almost like a dietary supplement may fill your tummy up except this was far more filling and far more enjoyable than those things!
Second and third steeps were also quite excellent but it was getting late and I laid the leaves out for morning – ended up not re-steeping well the next day (today) but I probably ruined a forth steep by over heating the water the first time around.
Shang has THE best teas in my opinion among maybe 5 other tea companies. Love this stuff!

Backlogging:
(some of this may be repetitive)

Shang Tea is one of the best tea companies out there in my opinion. Everything they do is of the upmost quality. I have not had one bad experience with any tea I have sampled from Shang Tea. Honeysuckle White is pure ecstasy. That is if your idea of ecstasy is a creamy mouthfeel, sweet florals, buttery light vegetal flavors, and an undertone of nuttiness.

When I was a kid there were a lot of honeysuckle bushes around my neighborhood. You could pick the blooms of the honeysuckle bush and pull out the middle section, the stamen I believe, and there would be this shiny wet dew on the stem of the stamen. This was honeysuckle sap. It was sweet and delicious just like this tea but a natural sweetness of course, no where near as sweet or sappy as honey. This tea evokes those memories for me. A time very early in my youth that followed me into my own children’s youth as they too would learn the secret of the honeysuckle bush!

This tea is soothing, calming, almost meditative. The color is so beautiful – a bright sunny golden amber. The aroma makes the eyes open brightly with the lovely smell of honeysuckle blossoms, then the eyes shut with a soothing Ahhhhhh feeling of release. Since this tea is made with the White Peony King tea base you will pick up subtle nuisances of fruity undertones in later steepings.

This tea is a forgiving tea in the sense that you can play around with brew times if you wish to have your tea a bit stronger or a bit lighter. I steep mine for a good 3 to 4 minutes on the first steep and 5 or more on the following steeps, yet you can go as little as 1 to 2 minutes and still get a lovely flavor. Note the directions to bring water to a boil, then let rest one minute before immersing leaves to steep. You will find this tea can easily be steeped 3 to 4 times and still give a high quality enjoyable flavor palate for your palate!

I love a tea that can evoke a memory. This playful tea has the quality to be snobbish yet lets everyone enjoy its bounty, at 16.00 for 2 ounces or you can grab one of Shang Teas sampler packs that include their 8 best selling teas, including this one, for only 8 dollars and 80 cents. Every time I enjoy this tea I will think of the years past, running around my neighborhood, picking honeysuckle and lapping up the sweet nectar of life and remembering times doing the same with my own little saplings!

Unfortunately I have only a sample of this.
So is it red? Is it white? Is it black? LOL the label says Red. The description says fermented white. I really do NOT care. Its amazing – that is all I need to know right now. Sure I will do some research at some point and learn what to call this tea, if it is red, or white, or who’s on first….but for now I am going to immerse myself in the simple pleasure of drinking it. Its divine. There is a jasmine aroma, or is it orange blossom water as another steepster suggested? Well I have orange blossom water and orange blossom water is a bit more orange, this is more floral and distinctly jasmine to me, when compared to my jasmine essential oil. I am on the second steep – just as delightful as the first – and plan to have this tea all evening long. I may set it aside for a bit and try something else in between but who knows – this is really speaking to me right now.
Yes there is a bit of a twang of slight bitterness in this tea, tangy like.
I have a strong feeling that tangerine is going to come out more in steep three.
Don’t ask me why I just have that feeling.
There is a subtle nutty flavor playing around in there somewhere.
The flavor left behind on the palate is almost metallic – in a way.
Have you ever eaten a nut, any kind really that has a skin, maybe some skin stayed on the nut after shelling it or maybe you are eating peanuts with skins on them. Do you know that tangy flavor from the nut skins? That is the flavor I am speaking of.
A bit drying on the back of the throat.
Yet a very very juicy tea! When you sip it not only does the tea quench you but its as if the tea makes your mouth water too. Its hard to explain and just has to be experienced.
Really enjoy this tea. Will put on my shopping list.
GAD I am starting to love floral teas!
GAD I never use the term GAD!
Hummmm
Empty cup … off to steep again! :)
YAY!