Silk Road Teas

Very light. Very floral, but not overpowering. Leaves are a combination of bright and dark greens, and silver buds. I used two full teaspoons. Next time, I think I’ll use three. Try to boost the flavors a bit.

Tried more tea than usual. Improved the flavor. Delicious when cooled, but still warmer than room temperature.

This time, I let the tea cool to a little more than room temperature before tasting. The body was smooth and sweet. Floral aromas and taste dominate, but are not too strong.
The tea takes a least a couple of steeps for the leaves to unroll. The are small (around 1cm) pieces rather than entire leaves.

Vary delicate aroma, and stronger floral taste. Maybe jasmine, not sure. Next steep will be interesting.
Another great oolong variety.

Something new for the first cup of the day. Another good oolong. Flavors are more subtle, slightly sweeter than others. The aftertaste is slightly fruity but not enough to say it is definitely pear.

As the tea cools, hints of pear become more pronounced.

Tried it with boiling water, and a short steep, and it is much more tastier. Actually, I didn’t choose to do that. My utiliTea thermostat is flaky again. But it did bring out a more malty flavor.

This ones almost gone. One more serving perhaps.
Flavor was a little more woody this time, less malty. I prefer the malty taste, so I might need to order a different brand next time.

With my cup size tea strainer broken, I have reverted to my larger teapot. Problem is, the position of the strainer requires me to make more than one cup at a time, using more tea.
But maybe thats a good thing, because this particular brew tasted as lot better than I remember. It was very smooth with no bitterness. A delicious malty favor and delicate slightly woody aroma.

A very smooth fine body. Nice malty aroma and taste. Very slight astringency.

First steep was as expected, but the second steep was very flavorful. Then thinking back I realized something. The noise during preparation wasn’t quite right. My kettle, an Adagio utiliTEA kettle with an analog temperature knob, didn’t stop at the selected temperature and the water actually boiled. So, a new, and better, and more reliable kettle goes onto my gift list.

The result was a less delicate, more earthy, more roasted taste. Quite pleasant. I may need to experiment more with hotter water with these darker Oolongs.

Also, unrelated, I need to figure out how to link my notes to my Facebook page. The ‘link’ icon is missing.

After the second steep completed, I (accidently) let the tea sit for a bit, cooling. I have found that on many teas, I can taste more of the flavor after it cools. Not as cold as ice tea, but closer to room temperature.

This tea also improves. Much more flavorful when cool. A smoother texture as well.

Nice straw colored brew, slightly floral aroma, and a slight grain in the taste, maybe rice.

The dragon ball slowly unfurls, but not as elegantly as a flowering tea. Further steeps will reveal how well it holds together, or not. It does need plenty of room. (teapot size rather than glass size)

Sweet melon taste and a complexity that is beautiful.

Certainly one of the best teas I have ever had to pleasure of drinking.

Huge project at work – I made the first steep of this just-so, but the second – fourth? Craziness! This tea could handle it, though. Can you believe that even my poor forgotten third steep for 15 minutes was delicious!!??! Nut buttery and smooth even though it was steeping for half of forever. No bitterness.

This tea is a-mazing! ♥

Goodness gracious I love this tea!!!

If some Imaginary Person said, “JacquelineM! You must choose one black tea to have every single morning at work, and only one! Which would you choose!!???!!”

I would say, “Imaginary Person! I would definitely choose Imperial Red (Da Hong Pao) by Silk Road Teas!”

So smooth and roasty. Three delicious steeps – none of them weak or uninteresting. I love the nut butter quality.

Thank you so much Soccer Mom for introducing me to one of my all time faves :) This is where the Steepster Magic comes in – I wouldn’t have had the inkling to even try this one if it wasn’t for Steepster. Chinese teas of this nature were TOTALLY off my radar before now! Warm Fuzzies!!!

Many thanks to SoccerMom for this tea!!!!

Big Red Robe! Hello Robert Fortune!!! :)

I was very excited to try this one because this type of tea was talked about in For All the Tea in China, plus one of my little pet projects within my little pet tea obsession is trying and learning about more and more classic Chinese teas.

I’m discovering that I’m a huge fan of the roasty. This one reminds me of a less roasty version of Samovar’s Wuyi oolong. The first steep (2 min) of this tea had a raw, earthy, roasty edge to it, but the second one (3 min) that I’m enjoying right now has more of that nut butter roasty quality. The Wuyi oolong was a health food store peanut butter – but this is an almond butter or cashew butter. Really exquisite and smooth.

I am now working on the third infusion (4 min) – lighter than the second, but it retains the same nut butter qualities.

I love this tea!!! Maybe it’s because I’m a coffee drinker or maybe because I’m the type of person who loves chicory, bitter greens, olives, etc. but boy, the roasty is my big, big love :)

3rd Infusion.

I think I may have found out what I did. I think I used too much loose leaf for a milder type black and that may be the center of all of this confusion. Perhaps it’s a finicky tea!? Not sure. Of course…I remember having a Red Robe Tea a few months ago (can’t remember which brand) that several sites have noted it being a WORLD CHAMP…when I drank it I thought it was “ok” but was confused as to why it was a WORLD CHAMP. Perhaps it’s the same story with this one…maybe I had a different sort of taste in my mind and it was something completely different once I drank it!? Not sure…

Anyhow…3rd infusion is still pretty dark but slowly paling. I’m still getting a toasty type aroma but again paler. The taste is VERY pale but I must say if you can get 2 good or almost 3 infusions out of a black tea I think that is a plus! The 3rd time around the taste has morphed into a more woodsy taste with more toasted and nutty flavors. I don’t like the 3rd infusion as well as the 2nd…or even the 1st. I would have to say that the 2nd infusion is my favorite by quite a bit.

All-in-All I guess I am just challenged by this tea. It’s not bad but it’s trying to stump me. I guess it’s one of those teas for me to have on hand when I want to over analyze stuff and ponder the wonders of the world and the meaning of life.

:)

2nd infusion.

Still a little confused by this one. I understand the idea and in the 2nd infusion I am ‘getting’ the earthy cocoa comparison but it’s still a little bitter…and this time a little musky. I will say I like the 2nd infusion better than the first. It’s still very dark in color. I think I am going to try for another infusion since there was a major difference in the 1st and 2nd infusions. Based on this difference I am going to say there is a 5 to 10 point increase with my rating. So…I am going to officially rate it at 75 but no higher at this time. However, I am going to continue to try and figure this diddy out.

Yes, I am giving it a few points for being tricky and messing with my head…lol…it’s MY review and I can do that if I want! LOL teahee…the FUN of Steepster folks! It’s all what you make it! I love a challenging tea (good, bad, or indifferent – great conversation pieces!)

I want to thank SoccerMom for this lovely sample!

This is a strange one…and for some reason can’t put it into words as to why. At first I didn’t think I liked it much…not that I couldn’t drink it…it just tasted a little ODD to me. It was trying to be “cakey” but wasn’t quite getting there. It was on the verge of bitter – which shocked me.

I seemed to like it a bit more as it cooled. Not COLD but cooler than JUST-POURED.

I’m going to do a 2nd infusion on this. I won’t rate it officially on the slider but just want to note I would give it about a 60-65 based on this rather odd experience. I do have higher hopes for this tea so I am going to tinker with what I have and the officially rate later. Right now I am chalking it up to human error…lol…

With a name like Dragon Balls, it’s got to be good (or something like that). I have been intrigued ever since I saw the first post on this. Doulton kindly provided me with a sample ball in my Dammann Freres shipment. I had, as it happened, placed an order with Silk Roads that crossed with the generous sample. So now I’m balled up for at least a while. This is my first attempt, and I can’t wait to be amused.

The ball looks like a fig to me. Or a somewhat worse for wear Hershey’s kiss. It’s round, in an uneven, testicular sort of way, yes. But it’s sort of twisted into a point at what I’m going to call it’s “top.” I’m envisioning it being molded into this shape while damp. I’m thinking tea as papier mache.

Here’s something I never thought I’d say: I’m sniffing a Dragon Ball. Dry, it doesn’t give off a lot of fragrance. Maybe a small amount of oolongy toastiness.

Adding water to Dragon Ball. It’s floating! Little bubbles are forming on its outside and floating upward. And it’s gradually puffing up, so that now it looks like one of those gourd-like seed pods that falls off a tree. By the end of the first steep, it’s starting to look like one of the following (1) a bird’s nest, or (2) me on a bad hair day.

After a two minute first steep, it is still at the bird’s nest stage. It has generated a clear, golden yellow liquor, that smells toasty, a little buttery and a tiny bit green, oddly enough. The taste is mild, gentle, and sweet. There is some butter and an unexpected smoke-like note in the aftertaste. But it is not nearly as strong as darker oolongs I have had in the past, and I am wondering whether I used too much water first steep. Will rectify on second steep.

Second steep: 2:30 First, it expanded so much that it knocked up against the sides of my smaller finum filter, so I put it in a bigger one. Then I gave up and just dumped it straight into the cup. It has taken on the look of a Swedish meatball that has been overcooked. I.e., a little ragged, and almost falling apart. A few of the leaves have in fact abandoned ship and floated to the bottom of the cup. Less water does translate into more concentrated aroma. It’s reminding me of the GM Orchid Temple’s aroma, which isn’t a terrific sign as I found that one pretty florally soapy. The taste, however, is not at all soapy and has deepened some. There’s more of that oxidized oolong taste now, some nuttiness, some fruitiness.

Third steep: 3:00 Go Dragon Ball, go! I am stubbornly refusing to prod my Dragon Ball into unfurling before its time. It has, by now, become something that reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil caught in mid-spin. It’s doing a sort of leisurely scarf dance in the cup, taking its sweet time. But aroma and taste wise, this is the best steep yet. The soapiness isn’t there in the aroma anymore and the flavor seems to have intensified and deepened still more as more surface area gets exposed to the water. If I’d stopped after the first or second steep, I would have said this is an interesting novelty but without a great deal of flavor. That’s changing now. I’m now starting to get a dark fruit note that sometimes seems like apricot and sometimes like peach.

Fourth steep: 3:30 Morgie vs. Dragon Ball. We are locked in a battle of wills. It still refuses to deball, however, it is now looking more like an Impressionist rendering of a ball. One more steep and I’m pretty sure I’ll win. And the flavor just gets fruitier, nuttier and more toasty. There are some floral tones, too. The early butter has tapered off in favor of roastiness.

Fifth steep: 4:00 Really more like 5. I forgot to set the timer while I was writing about steep 4. The Dragon Ball is turning out to be a more formidable adversary than I’d thought. It is still not completely unfurled. It is maintaining its flavor, though. It’s just now starting to get that sharp, water as solvent infusion taste that seems to happen in late oolong steeps.

Sixth steep: 5:00 I’m ashamed to admit, I let the Dragon Ball win. I was certain it had become stuck, so I stuck a fork in it and gave it a little shake. It obligingly unfurled completely. Good for six steeps, though, without becoming too weak. The last steep is surprisingly just as dark as the previous one, which is significantly darker than the first. The depth of flavor has lightened and become more floral, but it’s still quite tasty. There is power in them Dragon Balls!

Now I must decide how to rate this and I’m torn. Truly, I think its taste is above average as oxidized oolongs go, but it isn’t bowling me over as astonishingly better than others I’ve had. That said, it does offer a great deal of entertainment value, and it does have an admirable longevity.

I believe the first words out of my mouth were, “Woah, now THAT’S a big ball!” We only thought the Black Dragon Pearls were big. These puppies are HUGE!

I immensely enjoyed watching the ball unfurl. Although to be honest, there wasn’t too much unfurling going on during the first and second infusions. The bugger is solid. The second infusion opened it up a little more…but the ball is relatively intact. The taste is that of a solid, middle of the road oolong. It’s a little nutty…a little earthy. Nothing vegetal, not too roasted…just a tasty, slightly sweet oolong. On taste alone I would rate this tea around 80-85. Now, add in the entertainment factor and BAM it becomes an easy 90!

This tea would pair well with several dishes. It has that multi-functional ability. Chinese takeout for dinner…Dragon Balls. Need to impress some friends…Dragon Balls. Quiet night curled up with a blanket and a cat or two…Dragon Balls. Delicious!

I’m having visions of Dragon Balls in Sorapots dancing in my head!!!

Thanks Doulton! You rock…balls.

I love this tea. Very Robust, but still has all the subtlety i like in an oolong. Definitely a mainstay in my tea collection.