Tavalon Tea

I must say this one is a very pleasant surprise!
I thought it was pure lemon grass. Then…what else would there be to say about it, right!?

Well, eventho it looks like pure lemongrass it tastes different. Sure it’s lemony but not too hard to handle…it’s pleasant and with purpose. Oddly enough it almost has a slight minty after taste. Very Comforting. Probably one of the best-simply-put-Lemongrassy-blends I have had.

Very simple and gentle. Not bad.

This oolong tends to fall on the more refreshing side of things for me. It doesn’t have a rich, creamy or almost chewy texture some my favorite oolongs do, but I’ve discovered that, brewed a water a little hotter than my green-oolong-norm, this tea is pretty happy for me. Mostly because something in this tea makes me think of strawberries. Not so much that it tastes of actual strawberries but more that there is a sweet, hinting-of-refreshing-and-almost-tart tingle that it puts on my tongue. It feels (not tastes, feels) like that burst of flavor right as I bite into a just-barely-ripe strawberry. So every sip gives me the feeling of eating fresh strawberries on my back porch.

And now that absolutely no one knows what I’m talking about and people are starting to give me is-your-mental-break-a-new-thing looks, I will stop. But basically yeah, not my normal green oolong – not rich enough – but still pleasant, especially on a day that has hint of summer like today.

Our washer is leaking. From somewhere. Don’t know exactly what’s going on. It’s not fun. I need tea to deal. This one looks like a Jade Oolong, which I tend to enjoy, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Though my tea? Looks nothing like the picture here. What’s up with that?

Initially there is a funky almost plastic smell to it but that’s gone now that the tea is no longer quite as hot. I’m starting to think that my slightly stuffy nose is heavily (and detrimentally) impacting my tea-tasting abilities because I’m not tasting a whole lot. Sweetness in a fruity way… and that’s about it. And then a few seconds after I swallow there is a really sweet aftertaste. Almost like… strawberries? I have no clue. It’s really sweet and really there but it’s also really brief.

The body is pretty thin and light. But it’s nice, too. And seems to be getting more taste the cooler it gets. Now that I’ve said strawberry, that’s pretty much all I’m able to taste. And I taste it a lot. With a quick dash of Splenda taste at the end. Eventually a little bit of the typical Jade oolong green taste comes in, too. This tea really seems to benefit from cooling down. I’m actually kind of groovin’ on it. It’s weird, but I like it.

I’m grumpy today for a variety of reason but fortunately I brought tea with me to work today so I’m having some now as a stress reliever. This is the last I have of this one, too, which is kind of sad. I maintain what I have said previously about being a sucker for breakfast blends.

Nutty and almost a little starch-y potato smelling, for some reason smelling this tea is making me crave sweet potatoes. The taste is hearty and thick and cardboard-y and I probably should have backed off the steep time 30 seconds because there is a little hint at the end of each sip of something that will probably turn into bitter if I let the tea cool too much. It’s probably good that I only had enough leaf for one cup because this is stout enough that it would give me the jitters if I had a ton of it (not that that is always a bad thing!)

I probably won’t end up buying this tea again… mostly because I love trying new breakfast teas and while I enjoy this one, I don’t enjoy it so much that I would pass up the opportunity to find a better one. I think ultimately I like ones that are a little heavier with the Assam and a little lighter with the Darjeeling-like brightness.

3g/8oz

I am having a string of bad luck with teas this week. Or at least my morning teas. This one I didn’t brew long enough and it left it feeling thin. 5 minutes is definitely the way to go on this one. That’s what I get for not checking. Also, it doesn’t benefit at all from being in a travel tumbler. Not having the chance to smell it while sipping makes this tea flat and thin(ner) and pretty much like construction paper. Thankfully, once I got it down below sloshing-out level, I took the tumbler lid off and that improved the tea quite a lot. It was still too thin (my fault with the shorter steep though) but it was back to tasting nutty and nicely cardboard-y and a little hint of fruity. So user error on this one. Oops.

Need tea before my brain can work. Grabbed this one because I am finding I enjoy trying different breakfast blends. No clue why but I do.

Can’t really get any smell off the dry leaves. I mean, they smell like something but I can’t identify what. My nose is a bit stuffy so I’m not going to fault the tea on that one. The brewed tea smells very… tea-like. A little sweet, a little… nutty and earthy maybe?

The taste is smooth and rich but not overly distinct. A little heavy feeling, but not in a clunky way because the overall feel of the tea is smooth and silky. So more like a heavy satin than anything unpleasant. I really enjoy the feel of this, actually. Solid and hearty but not rough.

No bitterness, no real astringency (just a tiny dryness at the end maybe), the nutty flavor seems to be the most distinct. I seem to get a hint of my beloved cardboard every so often but it’s not very strong so I might be imagining it or hoping for it.

Overall, a good tea, I think. Not super-special or flavorful but I really loved the heavy feel of it, especially since it was coupled with a nice smoothness – no rough bitterness or astringency that seems to come from heavier bodied teas. I’m not sure if I’ll have to get some, but I kind of wish I had a lot more in my pantry to slowly go through. If that makes any sense. So probably not one I have to go out and buy RIGHT NOW but when I order from Tavalon, I bet I’ll get some of this.

I also made the husband a cup. He likes it quite a lot saying that it seems to give different tastes with each sip – sometimes it is like a heavy Irish breakfast and others like a smooth black. He’s finding a bit of bitterness/astringency on the very tail of the sip that he says keeps it from becoming a 5 star tea for him, but it’s a 4/5 for sure.

ETA: Had the second steep of this (@6:30) with some fairly strong, butterscotch-y cheese and crackers and it held up well. Even though it had a thinner body that the first steep, the flavor was still nice and strong enough to combat stinky cheese.

I’m doing pretty good about continuing to finish off teas – yay! Which is really good because I just might have placed two orders. Yeah. I need to make the room.

So I don’t remember this tea. At all. Oh, I know I’ve had it. I see the tasting note. But what it tastes like? I have no memory. And if I didn’t see the tasting note, I would probably totally forget I’ve tried this already. That doesn’t say a whole lot of great about this tea. Which is kind of a shame because it’s a nice tea. Not super-lemony (which is surprising based on how the dry leaf smells) but enough to be refreshing but the green tea underneath that makes it comforting and a little toasty (in a green way).

But yeah. Not a very memorable tea. Oh well. Dropping the rating just a few points for being totally forgettable.

4g/8oz

Lots of lemongrass. I’m anticipating something very lemongrass-y. But this smells nice.

I’m surprised – the taste isn’t overwhelmingly lemon/citrus. The smell certainly is but not the taste. The main flavor is sweet, fresh and light, but there is a nice, comforting mellow note running underneath the citrus-y and fresh lemongrass that has to be the green tea. It makes a light, refreshing tea have a little more depth. Quiet enjoyable.

The dry leaves smell a bit like fruit-intensive trail mix. Not like juicy, fresh fruit, but like dried/preserved fruit, but with a little bready or cookie-like back note.

Pouring the tea into cups, there seemed to be a nutty smell going on but as it cools in my cup a becomes a bit more ‘default tea’-like but with notes of dried fruit. Also, there’s a whiff of dryness that brings to mind wine. Not that this smells like wine but there is a dry feeling to the smell that seems similar.

Taste-wise, it’s… not all that special. It’s smooth with a touch of odd astringency. I say odd because it feels simultaneously dry and sweetly wet. Ultimately the dry astringency wins over the sweet and ends up as the final taste/feel left in my mouth after a swallow. Slurping seems to increase and mix the astringency and wetness, making it wetly bitter, like off nuts from the holiday nut bowl.

Ultimately that wet bitterness makes me unhappy so I’m not a big fan of this tea. It’s not horrible but it’s not good and there’s no special taste in the tea to counteract the end wet bitterness. I’ll have to try it with milk to see if that gets rid of the bitterness because I think without the bitterness, it might be okay if still plain. A ringing endorsement, I know.

Gave the husband a cup too and he thought that it wasn’t up to the standard of some of the previous Ceylons he’s had but he thought it was pretty good. When I asked for more detail, he said that he honestly didn’t remember that much about it even though he had just finished the last swallow less than two minutes before. So yeah, not an overly special tea. That’s too bad.

My first cup of contest-won tea, brewed in Joey Roth’s incredible Sorapot.

Once again, another great tea morning with Tavalon’s Lemon Green. . . . the lemon grass is so faint in this tea; just the right amount to NOT overpower the tea with tang.

If you’re a white tea lover, I would suggest this tea. . . the green tea they use in this is so light. . .it tastes like white tea to me. . .also noticed that even if you put in more tea leaves than you’re supposed to, the taste still remains the same (have had this tea on numerous occasions to happen to realize this). It’s a super light tea for its rich-golden liquor.

It’s been over a month but I’m finally courageous enough to try takgoti’s Dragonwell tea, the tea that began our tea swap. This Dragonwell is quite different. To start with, the leaves are heavy, flat spears, while Dream About Tea’s are light fluffy things.

She’s right, this Dragonwell has a slight peppery smell, like carnations. It has a stronger vegetal taste with something that makes the top of my tongue feel slightly numb. Interesting. But I like Dream About Tea’s Dragonwell better. It fascinates me that tea of the same name can be so different. I very much appreciate the chance to make the comparison. Thanks takgoti!

The Axis of Teavil does it again! Love the new update, Overlords. The tabs are wonderful, and I love the way that the little number count pops up on the notices button to let me know there’s been activity on there. I also am so incredibly appreciative that you’ve now included comments in the tea log stream! Saved me SO MUCH TABBING OVER in an effort to avoid losing my place! [Especially on this laptop, because while I love the Apple’s multi-touch, sometimes when I right-click it doesn’t register and then I end up losing my place anyway. But I digress.]

EDIT TO ADD: Jack, [I think it’s you that’s mainly responsible for this] I just want to add that I love the way that this site looks. Clean, uncluttered, minimal, pretty. It’s one of the more aesthetically pleasing sites I’ve had the pleasure of using. Not to discount your counterparts; you’re all pretty swell.

So, Formosa Oolong. After glancing at the description on here it’s clear that I’ve got some experimenting to do, because my label says 180 at five minutes but Sir Jason has copied over here that it should be 212 at three. This could be why this tasted somewhat weak to me. I was surprised to see the 180 water temp, but I usually try the companies’ suggestions first before switching things up.

I’m beginning to redefine my thoughts on formosa oolongs. I’ve now had a good number of them and two of them now [this one and the Silk Oolong Formosa that Auggy sent me] taste of tropical fruits and sunnier climates.

There wasn’t as much of that buttery taste that I’ve grown to love in most of the formosa oolongs I’ve had. The flavors also seemed more separate, like it juuuuuust wasn’t quite coming together. And it was also just a tad watery.

Okay, tea. It seems that you were doing your best impression of that awkward first slow dance – where you’re standing arms length apart and just kind of rocking back and forth. I’m hoping that changing up some stuff on you will result in more of a Viennese Waltz. We shall see.

For whatever reason I didn’t get the water as hot as I usually do for a second steeping and the result was a subtle flavor and maybe a little weak, but not unpleasant.

I’m feeling annoyed at everybody and everything today and this tea is hitting the spot.

I generally don’t care for Oolong but this one seems pretty nice. It has a smooth subtle flavor that I like.

Ah, ceylon. I didn’t grow up drinking black tea, and so this doesn’t really speak of nostalgia or anything to me. I think I might have tried one of Adagio’s ceylon teas at one point near the start of my getting into teas, but I just never bothered trying to get a baseline for this flavor.

So, I got my order from Tavalon in the other day, and I decided to pop this open.

It isn’t complex, but ceylon doesn’t strike me as a tea that is trying to be. It’s simply there. Some days, that’s what I want. I also think that if I EVER get around to playing around with adding things into my tea, this is the one that I am going to want to use.

It’s also nice to know with certainty that this is what I’ve been tasting in all of those flavored black teas I’ve since had, and I now feel like I might be able to pick it out of blends more easily.

This order also marked the arrival of my brand new tea stick, which I used to brew this. YAY. As we currently don’t have the ability to review tea ware, I’m just going to write a couple of thoughts on here.

1. It’s pretty solid. I’ll admit to thinking that the mesh sliding part would be a little flimsier, but I was pleasantly surprised to open the plastic cylinder to discover some pretty solid construction.

2. It recommends just scooping the tea out of the tin, but I’m not really sure on the logistics of this quite yet. It’s a bit unwieldy as a scoop, and if I eventually begin weighing my tea out like I think I will, I won’t be able to do that anyway.

3. The holes in the mesh are rather big, and the chamber is obviously more limited than a pot or a basket infuser, so that limits the kind of tea I’m going to be able to use it for. It’s not big enough to let, say, an oolong expand. And any teas where you notice small bits would not be ideal for this.

4. It’s rather long, so the hook at the end is currently of no use to me as it’s longer than any mugs I use are tall, but it’s not something that gets in the way or anything and it was a thoughtful thing to include.

Anyhow, I really like it. And when using it to brew this tea, it worked splendidly.

Better brewed hot than brewed cold.

I’ve said before that it has a bitterness when hot, which lessens when it cools. But, if you let it age in the cup a little it seems the bitterness disappears almost entirely. I do not drink tea by the cup actually, I drink from a thermos through out the day (during work/class/etc) and it seems the farther I am from the time of brewing the better this tea becomes.