Tao Tea Leaf

Sample sipdown!

The second steep this time wasn’t as sweet as I remembered it. In any event, I have one fewer variety of tea in my cupboard, and considering the number of teas I should be receiving soon in swaps, that’s a good thing. A nice simple tea to round out my Sunday evening, after watching a few Shakespearean BBC productions.

Ok, I steeped it 3 times today! 1st steep at 80°C for 3 minutes, then the 2 following steeps for 4 minutes apiece.

1st steep: buttery, vegetal, and slightly astringent, with a hint of sweetness.

2nd steep: amber liquor, slightly astringent, but surprisingly sweet with very little butter/vegetable taste.

3rd steep: halfway in between the first 2: sweeter than the first steep, but more astringent than the second.

Of the three, I prefer the 2nd steep the best. It was like honey!

It’s Monday, and I’ve got a cupboard bursting with untasted teas! I’m going to try comparing some milk oolongs later this week, but for now, this seemed like a nice way to start.

I got this as a sample from Tao Tea Leaf when I met up with Indigobloom last week – just a little paper pouch.

Dry leaf: Long, dark, and quite spindly. It smelled faintly sweet, but I couldn’t quite compare it to anything. They were a bit hard to measure, but I tried to get 3 tsp of leaf as closely as I could. There should be at least as much leaf left in the sample.

Steeping parameters: The sample didn’t come with any instructions, so I fell back on the default green steeping parameters that I’ve seen others use: 1 tsp for 8 oz of water, 80°C for 3 minutes.

Liquor: The wet leaves smelled very heavily of salt, butter, and vegetables. After steeping, they were a nice olive/jade green, and I hope to get at least one more steep out of them. The liquor is a pale golden colour that shades down to a deeper amber as it sits in the pot. The taste is similar to the wet leaf aroma: buttered vegetables (I’m getting asparagus) with a slight taste of honey at the beginning of the sip. There’s also a bit of astringency as the sip progresses, leading to a bit of dry throat.

Verdict: I quite like this! It’s smooth and slightly sweet, while still retaining a lot of the crisp flavours I associate with green tea. I hope that this tea turns out to be characteristic of Bi Luo Chuns in general. I’ll edit the note once I get a second steep out of the pot.

My initial couple of cups of this Assam were mild and gentle. This morning, distracted as usual, overleafed and oversteeped….whew! At least I’m awake now! Metallic with a bite—like squeezing your tongue with a pair of pliers.

Still, no good tea need be wasted: diluted and iced in a tumbler, ought to be fine later on.

My initial review of this one mentioned its lightness and brightness, and we’ll stick with that, but if you leaf it a little heavier…the lights intensify to those nasty, wicked LED headlights that other drivers insist on shining in my eyes before they are entirely open on my morning commute.

(Leaf it. The rest of the world would scratch their heads at that verb, but I am secure that you know exactly what I am talking about. Think we need to compile a Steepster glossary?)

Second experience with this one confirms that it stays on the light side of the Assam spectrum—but as weather attempts to mellow out some, I tend to gravitate that direction with morning teas anyway.

Been one of those weeks where I’ve had to gulp without tasting, so a slow-down cup this morning before long day of elder care errands is very welcome. Thanks again to scribbles!

Malty is the general go-to descriptor for Assam teas, but in my vernacular, toasty fits much better. Not burnt toast, mind you; lightly toasted. A “3” setting on my well-used and crumby Oster.

This Assam from Tao Tea Leaf is just that with a little sweetness on the tip of the tongue. Enough black tea kick to noodge me awake (I hate daylight savings time. Sorry, night people. I want my extra light in the morning!)

Thanks to scribbles for this morning’s cuppa.

Not exactly a leisurely Saturday, but after a week of work insanity, elder care runs, and a phone…that…never…seems….to…stop…ringing… I can at least back off from full throttle to a gentle chug-chug. And while doing so, I’m really digging this tea scribbles sent me. With milk, it turns rich and caramelly. Very, very nice.

(Updated tea info with the description currently on Tao Tea Leaf’s website)

Scribbles is my tea hero this week, sending some treats I definitely couldn’t find in these parts and might not think to seek out. I am absolutely reveling in this one. The tea description says this contains the same leaves that grow up to be pu-erh. You totally get that.

But the first thing this cup made me think of this morning was this: melt butter in skillet. Stir in about a tablespoon of brown sugar. Grab a slice of dark wheat or rye bread and brown both sides until nearly burned. Lick the crust. That’s it.

Steeped plain ol’ western style, about 3 minutes, no milk or sugar. This is gooooood.

Still exploring Dexter3657 ’s samples. Thank you so much for all these samples !
This one really earthy and roasty and has a strong burnt taste,. It even has almost a smocky taste when you have it very hot, not at all when it cools.
It is medium bodied. I think I would have prefered it a little stronger bodied due to the notes it reveals : earth,roast requier to my opinion and to my tastes a robust body.

Whatever, it is really a very good tea as it is.
Thanks again for sharing Dexter3657

Well boo. Apparently I had more than one sample of this kickin around. I think this was one I had intended for trading. Oops :/
No matter. It tasted off anyhow. Partially because last time I used the whole packet and this time I went with half… so apparently you need to pack 2-3 tsp into your steeper to make it worthwhile!

Also… I need a new job. I just got this one less than a month ago and already it is driving me nuts.
First, now that I am used to the duties, it is kinda mind numbingly boring! and we aren’t permitted to have a radio on.
Second, I sit at reception, even though it has nothing at all to do with my actual job other than manning the phones. They just want someone there to greet candidates.
That isn’t the bad part- what makes me cringe is that every single time I want to leave the desk to grab some water, hit the washroom, and of course for lunch, someone has to cover me. They have to leave their desk, interrupt their work, and sit at mine. This just started two days ago. Previously, I would simply transfer the phones to whoever was covering me. Not SO bad. Right?
But now… I have to raise my hand (ie send an email), ingratiating myself to whomever’s turn it is, to let me take care of my bursting bladder. Not only that, but this way my habits are on display for the whole office (eight people). So now I feel like asking if they can ALSO sit in my seat while I boil water and then two minutes later go back to fill my cup, is too much. In fact, I know it is, because I was actually asked if I could drink less water. Or if maybe I could go on my lunch hour, which was then amended to say maybe we should schedule a midmorning or afternoon break. Oy!!! Maybe next they will start timing me. Ha! I dunno, I think that is a bit too invasive. Or is it just me?

I love how these leaves look when steeped! So soft and fluffy.
The taste follows suit, with a light airy sortof long jing profile. A hint of grass, leading into a rather sweet and nutty finish. I went for a second steep as well, which was more or less the same, only the sweetness took on a mild sort of mallow flavour.
Overall, quite enjoyable!

For me, this is what oolong should be. It’s nice and dark, but not over roasted, it’s nutty and a little metallic, but everything is nicely balance.
If I ever say – you know that classic oolong taste – this is what I’m talking about. This is awesome. I really, really like it.
Thank you so much scribbles for sending some of this my way. Always enjoy trying Tao Tea Leaf – and this is a great example of why I love them. :))

Mucked this one up yesterday latteing it too—if I’d seen ahead of time online (or just assumed based on TTL’s tendencies, which by the way often jive with my preferences) that the tea base was a starring player I’d have though twice about diluting that with milk. Alas, I know a lot of the charms of this tea were lost in a sea of foam, and I don’t have any of my sample left to give this its proper tasting. Even mishandled though, this was ok. Not remarkable, but fine. Whoops.

It’s been a crazy couple of days, and I finally got a chance to just sit and relax, and let some if the stress go. This sweet honey tea is certainly helping to ease the tension.

This is a sad sipdown, but i am sure it will be back in my cupboard.

Thanks to Indigobloom for picking up a sample of this tea for me. I LOVE ginger so I was pretty excited to try it. I think I may have underleafed this tea because it came out very light in color, not what I’d be expecting for a sencha. The flavor is pretty light, mildly vegetal with an almost floral note. I get the ginger in the background but when I make ginger herbal tea, I usully steep it for 5 minutes or more.

I wish I had more of this to play with, I bet it would be perfect cold steeped which would really allow the ginger to come through without oversteeping the green. I feel like I can’t really give this a proper rating dur to user error… :-)

Sipdown #45.
I’m sorry to report that I really blew it with this tea :(
I got sidetracked while it was steeping, forgot to set my timer, & it must have steeped for 10 minutes. This is especially disappointing because Sil bought this for me so I could sample it (she’s awesome that way). So I drank a few sips of it, & although it was bitter & kind of sharp, I know I would have enjoyed it if I hadn’t screwed up. It has that awesome Fujian character that I love about Jin Jun Mei & others. I can’t really describe it, but I love it.

Had this last night while starting Elementary (which BTW I’m immediately fond of—it’s like a breath of fresh air antidote to a lot of the problems I have with Sherlock). It was lovely and I’m going to enjoy drinking my little pouch down for sure (I love bilochuns!), but Verdant’s still takes the cake (definitely no slight on this though—I’m hardpressed to think of more than maybe 5 teas I’ve had as or more delicious). Resteeped a couple times, but not endlessly potent like Verdant’s either.

Keemun + maple syrup time as I settle in to start Hannibal! It’s been a gloriously cozy, snuggly, mellow Sunday.

Kinda relieved this isn’t as perfect or honestly even much at all like Golden Moon’s mysterious Honey Orchid—on the one hand it’d be another resource for it (I’m mad for GM’s) but on the other I’d feel a little chumpy for getting sooooo excited about GM’s (one of the first teas I really fell in love with when I joined Steepster) only to discover it was just like everyone else’s what-I-learned-is-known-as dancong (if that’s even what it is…hard to tell, vague copy over at GM!). This doesn’t give me the insta-aaahh sigh of fragrant honey pleasure GM’s does. Honestly, it tastes a bit weak to me…but maybe I need to play around with the steeping paramters or do it gongfu sometime.

This was good but doesn’t give me the immediate pleasure-pang satisfaction it seems to for most. Part of it is that inescapable sweet potato thing so many popular Chinese black teas have that I’m just bored to tears by personally. And I don’t know, for some reason that note always signals a wateriness to my brain even when I don’t think it’s actually there, hard to explain and I don’t know why. It was certainly not bad but all the wonderful notes others are mentioning I don’t get at all, just sweet starch and a little smoke. It seems I can only appreciate/detect longan when it’s waaaay overpoweringly flavored like in Lupicia’s Earl Grey Grand Classic. I’m such a subtaster. I did this gongfu but I think next time I will try it Western style and overleaf a bit.

This is a really nice Fujian tea that had a great mix of bright fruit and sweet cocoa notes. It is very similar in flavour to a tea I love and may not be able to replace, so I am grateful to Dexter3657 for this sample as I’ve been curious about it for some time.

Below are my observations. I steeped it 5 times.

This tea brewed into a medium amber brown.

Scent longan, cocoa, honey, malt. Both bright and rich smelling.

1.5 TSP/200 ml/95°C/1 min

Nice balance of bright citrusy longan, honey,with cocoa in the finish. Slight hint of dark bread crust, cherry and spice.
1 min scent similar to above but stronger sweet cocoa note.
Long an, stronger cocoa with honey underrneath

1:30. Longan honey, cocoa in back again but still quite present.
2:10 longan dominant other flavours present underneath. Becomes sweeter as it cools

4 min slightly tart sweet potato with cocoa honey note

Altogether this is really a nice tea that I will purchase in the future. Thanks!

I was prepared for this one to be subtle; I’ve seen enough copy from various tea vendors disclaiming their rou gui oolongs as being subtly cinnamon-y, the kind of thing that might disappoint someone used to flavored tea. But actually this was more on the nose than I expected. The dry leaf smells deliciously of cinnamon, and I like that it’s not cinnamon sugar, more like the Vietnamese kind I use to bake with. Warm but not candy powdery. Steeped it’s less sharp and clear, but you still get that soft warmth of baking cinnamon as well as the rocky element I’m used to from Wuyi oolongs. I really enjoyed this one and am glad I know now when I want that kind of thing rou guis are a good, maybe best option (my mishaps with hot cinnamon flavored black teas made me wary!). A lot of tea shops I like offer a rou gui oolong and now I feel confident sampling them when I make future orders. Bet this is a good specimen in particular; I’ve been pleased with the quality of just about everything from TTL I’ve tried.

Just as the tea description says, as soon as I opened the bag the creamy, milky aroma was immediately apparent. I was sure I was in for a treat.

So far I’ve had 2 cups and about to go for a third. As the tea aroma suggested, the brews were sweet and creamy. But, I didn’t find this any more special than another milk oolong I had tried a while ago (which was far less expensive). It was good, but not outstanding.