Single Origin Teas

Sample from kimquat I have to confess that i’ve been meaning to order from single origin teas since Nicole introduced them to me, but haven’t yet found the time in my tea ordering line up. I’ve had some amazing teas from them since, and a few less wonderful. This particular one for me, falls somewhere in the middle. There’s nothing here to really knock my socks off taste wise, but it is a smooth sort of cup that i’d welcome as an every day sort of tea. There’s a little drying to this one, but it’s not overwhelming so i don’t mind it. A good solid cup of tea to start the day earlier today.

Dry leaves smell of plum and grass. Brewed tea smells of roasted grain and tastes citrusy with slight astringency

Oh my, this is a lovely tea. It taste has a light cantaloupe flavor and is also creamy. I drank the first steep far too quickly because I was enjoying it so much. The second steep wasn’t quite as sweet and had more of a hay flavor. Both steeps were delicious, but I have to say the first was my favorite.

Another really nice tea from Single Origins Tea.

This sample came from Veronica and I’m definitely enjoying it this morning. It has a lovely aroma wafting up from the cup straight to my nose!

This is a fairly hefty tea that has a fair amount of malt. I’m also getting the dried fruit note others picked up on, it has a raisin element. And some cinnamon too. Interesting, unique flavor profile. It seems a bit peppery in the finish. When I first tried it I was reminded of red wine. This is not a wimpy tea like the yunnan fancy that I had earlier today. It packs a wallop! It’s good plain but I also liked it with soymilk.

I think the only other Vietnam tea I’ve had is from Tea Geschwender and I liked that too. Thanks again, Veronica. I would add this to my next SOT order.

Now off to go be productive, wish me luck :)

This is such a unique tea. It’s broth-y but sweet. There are vegetal notes followed by citrus notes which is a lovely combination. The vegetal notes leaned more toward green bean for me, but at times there was an artichoke flavor. There’s an over all clean feeling to the tea with no aftertaste, and no bitterness.

Another one to add to my shopping list!

This is the other tea that Veronica sent in our swap. I’ve only tasted a couple of Vietnamese black teas, so it’s not a category I have much experience with. The leaves themselves are very dark and quite small. They look somewhat broken, but I have a feeling they were small leaves to begin with. Dry scent is very mildly sweet.

The steeped tea smells very Assam-like to me – there’s strong malt along with mild molasses and dried fruit notes. It definitely tastes Assam-like to me as well, though there’s no astringency here. There’s a strong malt flavor along with some soft hay. I can also taste a little bit of dark molasses richness, which adds a nice base note and some dimension. There’s perhaps a touch of dried fruit and a very light honey-like aftertaste. Overall, it’s a very smooth and somewhat mellow tea with a classic malty character.

This one is from Veronica, who was kind enough to send me a couple of samples from*Single Origin Teas*. I don’t know much about Nepalese teas, I think I’ve had one before this, but it seems like they’re usually described as being similar to Darjeeling. The leaves certainly have that sort of look – there’s a variety of colors including some silvery tips. Dry scent is sweet and soft with hay notes.

The steeped tea has a very mild and soft aroma, similar to the dry leaf. Wow, I’m quite surprised by how mild this tea is (I guess I shouldn’t be given the aroma). Perhaps I underleafed? There’s a definite grape note (not winey, just fresh grape), perhaps that’s what people mean when they say muscatel? Otherwise, I’m finding this more similar to a white tea than black. It has mild hay notes along with honey. There’s a touch of deeper, almost malty flavor that makes the whole black tea thing believable for me. Happily, the astringency here is very light and only present at the end of the sip. This one is really interesting and tasty!

This is such a lovely tea from Nepal. I definitely enjoy it hot, but thought I’d try cold brewing it last night and am drinking the results this morning. It’s really, really tasty! Tastes oakey, with sweet honey flavor and notes of tropical fruit. I still prefer it hot but it’s nice to know I can cold brew it too. :)

Tea of the morning here. I’ve actually had this a couple of times but haven’t reviewed it until now. I think Nepal teas are great and so is the Jun Chiyabari estate…

Anyway I steeped this for 3 minutes in my tetsubin. Yes I do brew tea in this thing, I don’t just use it for hot water. This is just such a wonderful tea. It has a lot of the qualities of a darjeeling but no astringency in sight. The thing I am getting the most strongly in the aroma and the flavor is a deep honey flavor that is almost bordering on maple. It’s difficult to believe there is no sugar in here! It leaves a nice sweet and thick aftertaste in your mouth. I am also getting roses and a bit of a grainy flavor, like dark pumpernickel bread. This is a seriously delicious tea, one that is made for sipping on plain. Any sugar or milk/cream would ruin it, I think.

Very happy with this one…

I have just now gotten around to trying this sample that James sent with my most recent order, several months ago now! The scent in the cup as it sat on my desk kept reminding me of black licorice. It was a tasty cup that I had no idea what to except from. I added some half and half for the last part of the cup and that turned it into a creamy delight. I don’t especially care for the scent but the taste is good!

This tea made me stop, sip, and just enjoy all of the flavors it has to offer. There is a fruity – almost candy like – cherry note as well as a bright, clean eucalyptus flavor. It might seem like these two flavors shouldn’t work together, but trust me, they do. The eucalyptus note is light enough that it doesn’t overpower the tea. Instead, it heightens the tea’s fruity cherry note and natural sweetness, and it leaves a clean feeling on the tongue. There is also an orange note that is most apparent at the end of the sip and as the tea cools. I find the citrus note both surprising and pleasant, and I think it brings a fullness and bit of sparkle to the cup. I thoroughly enjoy the mix of flavors and am so impressed by this truly lovely Ceylon.

You can see the rest of my review here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/05/03/amba-tea-flower-tea-single-origin-teas/

Also, this is my first tea review as a SororiTea Sister. I’m super excited!

I received this from Nicole as part of the Christmas Card Swap. I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while now, so I was excited she sent it my way. Thank you!

This is good. Really good. It’s a sweet, bright Ceylon that’s incredibly smooth. There’s no doubt in my mind that this would make a knockout iced tea, and at some point I’ll have to try that. I’ll pick up more of this for sure. It’s one of the better Ceylons I’ve tried.

This is the last new tea to try that I took from MzPriss’ Unflavored teabox the last go around. Not sure how I should be steeping this one. The teaspoon wasn’t a full one, so I didn’t want to fill the mug all the way to the top. I think it turned out perfectly each steep anyway. This has a lovely flavor from the first cup and really stays delicious with each steep, even though there are subtle changes. That’s what I love about oolong: even though each cup has differences, it always seems like the perfect cup anyway. This one reminds me most of kettle corn! I thought it was the sticky rice flavor left in the infuser from the last tea but the kettle corn flavor is still there on the third steep, so I’m pretty sure it’s this tea. It’s smooth, sweet, buttery. I know kettle corn has hints of sweet and savory (and butter), just like this oolong, but it ACTUALLY tastes like kettle corn. The second steep also seems to have hints of pineapple. A huge amount of flavor is in one teaspoon. Easily, everything I’ve tried from Single Origin has been delicious and it’s very tempting not to buy everything I’ve tried.
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // 5 min a.b. // 2 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 2 min

I love oolongs and this is no exception. The dry tea is more like pellets than leaves and look to be coated in some kind of dust. The brewed tea doesn’t have a strong smell, but when sipping has great flavor. It opens with the taste of juicy plums and hibiscus, then blends into the earthiness and warmth of ginseng. It is very well balanced and naturally sweet. The cup is smooth with no astringency.

At first I tried 1 teaspoon of tea to a cup, but then I upped it to 2 teaspoons with multiple re-steeps. This tea holds up well to re-steeping.

I really like Harney’s Amba Ceylon but when I went to order some I found it to be out of stock. I checked with a number of other vendors, with the same result. A google search turned up Single Origen Teas in Texas and they had some in stock. I ordered 2 – 2 oz packets and it is as good as the Harney’s Amba Ceylon.

It is a very wonderful tea with a really deep smell and flavor. It is light enough to be drunk without cream or sugar, my normal way of drinking it. But often I’ll add some sugar if I drink it in the afternoon. It is an excellent and very unique tea.

Another tea from Nicole and man.. this IS delicious! on to my wishlist goes this one because it’s a great tea. this is just a deliciously sweet, smooth ceylon. I don’t know what else to say…this was just a great cup of to this early morning (or is that laaaaaate night for me) haha. Thanks for this Nicole! love it :)

This tea is a sample that MzPriss passed along. Thank you!

This was the afternoon tea. This was a really good tea. Light, slightly floral, slightly muscatel. I actually thought this was a darjeeling. I hope we meet again Jun Chiyabari.

This is another sample from TeaSipper, Thank you!

This is a tasty assam! It is malty, slightly fruity and on the bright side of the flavor spectrum. It isn’t as strong as the assam I had from Butiki yesterday. It is a bit more of a lighter cup and the fruit notes shine a bit more than the malt. It is a more mellow assam, which for me is a good thing. I could easily see myself purchasing this one.

Edit: As this cooled it was still so smooth and almost creamy. I really want to try my last tsp with milk and sugar. I don’t usually add stuff to tea, but I think this tea would be really tasty with some additions because it is really good on its own.

From the unflavored TTB

Mmm, this is good! I had a hard time reading the handwriting on Single Origin Tea packages, so I thought this was an milgiri oolong, then whatever coonoon is.. a raccoon? Turns out Coonoor is the tea estate!

Anyways, pretty tasty tea! Sweet, little light for a black, bready, fruity grapey, dry, and a little caramelly. I’m not a fan of the dryness, but the flavor is pretty good.

This is a great green tea. It has a bit of a dry mouthfeel, but to be fair, the one I tried was from a little sample my friend gave me and has been in a tiny plastic ziplock for quite some time, so it hasn’t been exactly stored in the most optimal conditions.

The flavor of this green tea is very creamy and soft. There are some light vegetal and nutty tones. The smell is lightly sweet. It’s got a bit of a pecan praline vibe to it and as the tea cools it becomes even more enjoyably sweet. The second steep is even more sweet and mellow than the first, with possibly a hint of unsweetened coconut flavor. This is quite a soft tea and offers some unique qualities from my other experiences with green tea.

Teeny Tiny Traveling Tea Box

Mmmm a lovely roasted oolong to start off my morning! I haven’t had an oolong like this in a while :)
Nice tightly rolled leaves that expand like lovely, pale/light yellowy/green liquor after the first steeping.
Just a really great tea!

Such a forgiving tea. Easy to drink. Just the right amount of everything I wanted tonight.