tea-adventure

This is from a sample very kindly sent by Barbara – she had said it reminded her a bit of our beloved Thé-o-dor Milky Oolong. I had misplaced the sample (I really have too many teas still to try!) but just found it so here goes.

This is rolled green oolong, bit smaller than that Milky Oolong, but not quite as tightly rolled as Ten Ren´s Sun Moon Lake. Infusing the tea, I was sure I had made a mistake in ammount or temperature, the water hardly changed color, a very clear very pale liquor – but the tea is resulting is indeed tea! Body, flavour, some sweetness, some astringency. Barbara mentioned a taste like raw chestnuts which seems spot on to me, that sort of taste quality.

I got to experiment with more steeps and as well, with a more generous ammount. This is further confirmation that after all I am a oolong person, as long as it is a really good green oolong.

The ‘little oolong tea adventure’ contains a number of oolong teas, amongst which the Golden Water Turtle, the White Cockscomb and the Big Red Robe. It may be my not so advanced palette and the fact that I haven’t been tasting these side by side, but to me they are rather similar. In all these teas the roasted mineral impression is the dominant feature. I really love it…, but won’t be reviewing the others as I can’t really pinpoint the exact differences…

I received a sample of this with my ‘little black tea adventure’.

I divided the sample in two and prepared two cups on two separate days. The information provided by tea-adventure is rather accurate. I wasn’t overly enthusiastic after my first cup and thought the tea to be a bit curious, with overly fruity tones or an excessive ‘fruity freshness’. When having my second cup I knew a bit better what to expect and that seems to have had a positive impact on the tasting experience. Rather like when you put a sandwich in you mouth, convinced that it has peanut butter on it, while actually it has jam on it…

While tasting the different samples I’ve discovered that my profile remains true. I prefer flavored black teas to unflavored black teas. Nevertheless I’ve tasted a few I’m considering to buy and this is one of them. Once I was used to the flavor I found I actually appreciate it quite a lot. A great black tea for the summer in my opinion…

The last week I’ve been tasting plain (or straight) black teas. So far this is one of my favorites, although I must confess not having tried Keemun, Golden Yunnan and Bailin Gong Fu yet… (which are supposed to be very good as well)

This is a very smooth and sweet tea. It has an earthy character with malty undertones. The sweetness precludes it from tasting too earthy.

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Today I finally received my “little” black and oolong adventures from Tea-Adventure. The “little adventures” are sampling packages with samples of all the teas of the specific category (so a little black adventure contains samples of all the black teas Tea-Adventure sells). I’m sooo happy. The only downside is that now I have such a great many samples that it’s neigh to impossible to choose :-)

With a previous order I had a sample of this tea and I really really liked it. So therefore this tea is the first on my to-try-list of today.

The taste is sweet, toasty and with a very definite mineral impression. I can’t say I recognize anything fruity floral. According to the description of Verdant Tea (I reckon it’s the same tea based on the name) there should be notes of caramel, hazelnut, elderberry, custard, honeydew and/or orchid. I can’t say I can discern those either. Sometimes I wonder if you can and should compare certain teas with the flavors of known foods. This tea definitely is something totally different from anything else I know and I love it!

It’s going on my to order list.

In the second steep the sweetness increases and becomes nearly caramelized like. I believe a detect a very slight hint of maltiness as well. Overall the mineral impression remains the most dominant feature. All in all, the second steep is just as worthwhile as the first, and I don’t say that often…

This is an excellent white tea puer cake. It shares the caracteristics of both. Beautiful big, hairy buds, you don’t need a knife to take a few, it is a very loose cake, so the buds remain integer. It allows many brews, improving gradually to a delicious sweet clear brew.

My brewing of today: 6 g. for a 15cl glass teapot, 80 C water. Rinse, and discard the second brew; don’t overbrew (even at the tenth brew don’t pass 40" otherwise a slightly grassy taste emerges). I have never succeeded in exhausting the leaves, nor to count how many brews I did.

I have the cake since one year, and either I have learned how to brew it optimally, or it is improving with age; maybe both. I might have to buy another, and forget it for a few years.

I ordered this tea shortly after my last post regarding the sample I received earlier. Last week my order finally arrived. Since then I’ve been rather committed to this tea. I’ve been drinking it at least a few times a day.

On second, third and forth taste I have to say that this tea is much sweeter and less woody than I originally though. Other than that I’m still not able to describe it accurately, unfortunately…

I received a sample of this tea with my regular order (policy of the company, which is very nice).

The company website and description has me a bit baffled. It says the taste is/should be sweet and floral. Perhaps I brewed it wrong, though I don’t really think so as the tea turned out to taste pretty good, just not sweet and floral, but rather very much like raw chestnuts. It also smells of chestnuts, olive oil and/or some kind of vegetable I can’t put my finger on. Furthermore it has a distinctly woody quality.

Perhaps the website refers to the aged Tieguanyin, while I received the non-aged or less-aged version? (The website links through to a page about the farm, where a number of varieties are mentioned, while the website itself shows pictures of a yellow/amber coloured brew and a burnt orange coloured brew).

Anyway, it has a comforting warm but at the same time strangly crisp energizing character.

I’m sorry I can’t describe it more accurately, but it just isn’t like any tea I’ve tasted before. Maybe the taste is typical for oolongs, but this is just my second – the first being a Chinese “milky oolong” of undisclosed origin.

A very interesting tea in a positive way. Probably something I’ll be ordering in the near furtur (maybe even today… :-)).

No notes yet.

I received a free sample of this with my order from Tea-adventure. This one was included as “extra” sample in addition to the two free samples of your choice you get with every order anyway. Thanks so much!

If I’d had a choice, I wouldn’t have chosen a Jasmine tea sample and I would have missed out on something worthwhile. I’m not really a big fan of Jasmine or other flowers as sole means of perfuming/flavouring tea. That doesn’t mean I can’t stomach jasmine, but in my experience flower scented teas are prone to boardering on ‘soapy’. In general I prefer fruits and spices with or even to flowers.

Anyway, as I received a sample, I felt compelled to try it. Afterall, one never knows… and as they say good deeds reap rewards. I actually really liked this jasmine tea. The white needle base has an inherent sweetness that balances the jasmine very nicely. I find this tea much more tasty than the classic green tea based jasmine.

All in all a pleasant surprise. I may just order this tea sometime in the future, maybe for the summer.

I received a free sample of this with my order. As I couldn’t find any instructions on brewing temp & time, I just stuck to my average green tea temp & time (80 C/ 3 min).

De dry leaf smells very ‘green’ with a note of seaweed. The smell is very similar, though mellower when brewed.

At first it has a very fresh, somewhat ‘peppery’, brisk taste with some astringency. The sides of my tongue tintle a little. After a few mouthfulls the taste mellows and a sweeter note presents itself. It’s as if some component of the tea coats the inside of your mouth and thus changes your perception of the taste. In the aftertaste I think I detect something mineral like, although I’m not entirely sure. It’s something I haven’t tasted in other teas before.

This is an interesting tea, though not really to my taste. Perhaps I’d review it differently during a hot summer day, when I prefer more ‘fresh’ tastes. If you like straight green teas, this tea definitely is worth trying, despite my not being overly enthousiastic. After all tastes differ and my palette may just not be mature enough to adequately appreciate this tea.

EDIT: I decided to remove my rating because I just can’t honestly rate a tea that is evidently of good quality but just isn’t to my taste.

So here I am, waiting for my first cup of White Needle tea to brew. I bought this tea in the hope that it would make a suitable alternative to the Theodor J.E. Yin Zhen b/c of it’s price. With a view to comparison I brewed both teas simultaniously.

Here’s a picture with Theodor on the left and Tea-adventure on the right before brewing: [IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2qxz0og.jpg[/IMG]
The buds of Theodor are slimmer than those of Tea-adventure. I don’t know which size is better. The ‘fatter’ buds look nicer/neater though.

Here’s a picture of both teas after brewing and before lifting the strainers out: [IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/4lhkqu.jpg[/IMG]
Theodor’s tea looks a little ‘messier’ with more small(er) particles and a few brownish buds. The left tea is Theodor and the right tea is Tea-adventure.

Let me start by stating that both teas taste great. The colour of the liquid of Theodor is a tad more saturated than that of Tea-adventure. The same goes for the smell and taste. Theodore’s buds smell more ‘hay-ish’ and have a tast that’s a bit bolder.

So which one is better? I honestly don’t know. I do know that I prefer the lighter and slightly more fresh or less ‘hay-ish’ smell of Tea-adventure’s white, but as regarding the taste, it will probably be dependant upon my mood. My boyfriend prefers the more bold taste of Theodor’s tea and is of the opinion that he doesn’t really smell either tea (which may be due to the chocolate he ate right before tasting).

Is this a good alternative to Theodor’s? YES, definately. There isn’t a great difference in smell and taste, while the price is a lot friendlier.

I’ll be resteeping to see if that ferrets out any further differences… :-)

I’m so happy!! A few minutes ago the postman deliverd my first order from tea-adventure :-).

The first impression is favourable. The teas are packaged in aluminium foil coated bags with ziplocks, the kind where you have to cut off the top part before being able to open the ziplock and these bags were placed in a cardboard box. What I especially like about this is that (a) de bags can be used for storage due to the ziplock and (b) the tea leaves can’t get crushed in transit b/c of the box.

I’m having my first cup of yellow tea ever. It is very reminiscent of Dragon Well, although – perhaps – with a somewhat different aftertaste. I’m not really sure what it is. A bit ‘peppery’? A very very slight smokey-ness? Is it the chessnut note? I’ll first have to taste both this tea and the Dragon Well to try and pinpoint the difference so I won’t be rating this tea at this point.

Anyways a very good start of the weekend :-)

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