teasenz

There is nothing really exciting going on in my life at the moment, so instead of my usual introduction, I shall skip right along to the tea.

By tea, I mean herbal tea, since this tea is in fact tea-less, Teasenz’s Himalayan Black Tartary Buckwheat Tea- Soba Tea From Daliangshan! If you are not familiar with Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) do not feel too bad, unlike its more well traveled cousin Common Buckwheat, this plant is pretty much not eaten this side of the world. So, hailing from the Hunagduan Mountains’ cold climate, here is some roasted seed tea! I am such a sucker for roasted and grainy smelling/tasting things, so this is going to be right up my alley. The aroma is is like a big bowl of cereal without the milk, like sweet roasted grain, baking bread, and honey. In fact, it honestly reminds me of Honey Nut Cheerios, a grain heavy aroma, but with a distinct honey sweetness.

So, writing about this made me think about it, so I am also drinking this tea while writing about it! Usually I do not do that, but it does happen sometimes. It doesn’t help that I am super sleepy and the idea of a toasty herbal tea just sounds perfect right now. So while my tea is steeping I shall write about the soggy buckwheats, their aroma is delicious. Seriously, it is like a blend of grain and nut butters, baking bread, and warmed honey being drizzled over said bread. You know those commercials that have someone sensually drizzling honey over baked bread and the image is so delicious you can practically smell it through the TV? It is one of those moments. The liquid is pretty sweetly fantastic too, not as strongly nutty, still some intense notes of cashews along with cereal and honey. Still reminds me of Honey Nut Cheerios, and I am totally ok with that.

I actually have been drinking this tea quite a bit since I got the samples, I am notoriously fond of having my last cup of tea be either roasted corn tea (Oksusucha) or Sobacha (roasted regular ol’ buckwheat tea) so I am actually drinking my last cup now, sad. One thing that really surprised me was how incredibly smooth it is, and thick, with an almost creamy mouthfeel. Someone drizzled honey over buttered bread it seems! I can’t stop comparing this to baked really heavily grainy bread (like the kinds that make the outrageous 20 different grains claim on their packaging, come on, at least 10 of those are different kinds of wheat) that I have been known to eat copious amounts of. Freshly baked and drizzled with honey, Tartary is sweeter and buttery-er, than common buckwheat, especially as it cools, which really brings out the sweetness. Also if you are feeling adventurous, taking a bit of honey and drizzling it over the now thoroughly cooked tartary makes for a tasty snack!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/teasenz-himalayan-black-tartary.html

It is a sad day today, last day of the Dropzone Commander Tournament, and yours truly will not be in it because I lost. Ben (who is the Best General, he got an award for it and everything) is still in, and I would not be at all surprised if he wins, even though I was so hoping to go against him in the finals. Honestly it was not even because I wanted to win the tournament, I just really want a rematch against Ben and his stupid Shaltari! So tonight I will bring my tea and equipment and make people tea if they want it, and maybe pick up a game with one of the other people, and if that does not pan out I can always paint my golden Prowlers to go with my crazy looking golden Annihilator!

Let it be known, when I opened my box of samples from Teasenz and saw they had included their Red Robe Da Hong Pao I did a little squee of joy. I had run out of the good stuff and only had some really low grade (really I think I paid $2 for it at my local International Market, and it is…interesting) and Teasenz has never disappointed me with their teas, so I had high hopes for this one. You all know me, I have a serious weakness for Wuyi Yancha (Rock Oolongs) their rich mineral and char notes ground me, I am not sure if it lines up with Traditional Chinese Medicine, but they seem to have a strong Earth and Wood Cha Qi (why yes, I have been brushing up on my studies lately) to me. Metaphysics aside, this tea smells really good, in fact I will go out on a limb and say this is the sweetest Da Hong Pao I have ever sniffed! There are strong notes of rich cocoa, hovering between dark and milk chocolate, toss in the notes of baking biscuits, moderate notes of slightly fruity pipe tobacco and autumn leaves, and finish off with a blend of char and myrrh. This finish reminds me of the charcoal incense burner and resins I used to use a lifetime ago (ok, it was only 15 years ago, so half of a lifetime!)

Into my Yancha pot the substantial amount of leaves go, I think it was the incredibly valuable resource of TeaDB where I learned the fine art of brewing Yancha traditionally. Lots of leaves, almost boiling water, and super short steeps! I can safely say that brewing Yancha that way was an eye opener, so much so that it was the second tea I dedicated a Yixing pot to. The aroma of the wet leaves is super strong in the cocoa department, leaning toward cocoa butter with its creamy sweetness. There are also floral notes of spicebush (or, I was just recently reminded, the flower Dianthus, they smell almost identical) and orchid. At the finish there is a hint of char and mineral, like wet stone. The liquid is very creamy sweet with notes of honey and cocoa, there is a gentle lingering floral, along with a nice kick of char and mineral at the finish giving the tea a bit of depth.

Yep, this is the sweetest Da Hong Pao I have ever had, there is a dance of honey, milk chocolate, cocoa butter creaminess, and flowers on my tongue at the beginning. That lasts until the midtaste, at the end of the midtaste, but before the finish, a very distinct orchid note for lack of better word blooms in my mouth before moving right along to a robust finish of char and wet rock. The aftertaste is a blend of loam and myrrh, this first steep was a powerhouse of sweetness and those familiar rock notes.

The adventure continues with the second steep, the aroma is still really sweet, though the cocoa and honey notes have a stronger accompaniment of spicebush, char, and wet slate (if you were curious which specific wet rock it is) along with a gentle finish of tobacco and myrrh. This steep is quite intense, though not as sweet as the first. Starting off with strong notes of mineral and char, then moving into a fruity tobacco. After that there is a pleasant explosion of spicebush and honey, the spicebush notes lingering into the aftertaste to be joined by notes of cocoa at the finish.

For the final steep, the aroma is a bit mellowed out, notes of char and mineral with a sweet gentle floral note and a honey finish. This steep really lets the rock part of the name Rock Oolong shine, with notes of wet slate and even a bit of fresh spring water mixing in with rich char and a finish of cocoa. Not a very complex final steep, but a very mineral heavy one, which I enjoy.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/05/teasenz-red-robe-da-hong-pao-tea-review.html

ooh, how i have been WAITING for this day… especially since i have been about… a month without a Chinese black, since my black dragon pearls from another company were a bust. literally. opened the bag to find crumbled pearls, while the whole pearls, and the replacement package, were bland.

ANYWHOO. The leaves are a lovely black and gold, my bag is more black than the pic on here. The scent is of honey, straw, and cocoa. Mouth watering.

I use 1.5 tsp for 10 oz of water, 200 degrees for 3 min.

The liquor is a lovely, dark brown-red, and smells of honey and chocolate. The initial sips while still extremely hot are of Sweet potato and honey. Cooled enough to actually drink, the sweet potato takes a step back and shares the show with honey, chocolate and light notes of straw. There is a lovely honey aftertaste that builds with every sip, encouraging you to forget about whatever it was you were doing before you picked up the cup and started sipping, and focus entirely on the amazing tea in your hands. I love the taste of this tea, but to me, the aftertaste is even better! There is no astringency, this beauty is silky smooth in anticipation of your time together :)

This is everything i remembered about this tea, and im quite happy with it, and i cannot believe how inexpensive this company offers this tea for. If you like blacks, and like/dont mind a sweet potato taste in your tea, you cannot afford to pass this tea by.

Wow, this is a great and interesting tea. It smells of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, tobacco and moist earth. The taste is malty, funky, earthy with a little hint of mushroom. There is a smooth astringency at the beginning but it finishes smooth. This is a very flavorful and fun tea that stands out from the pack. I used 4 pearls for 12 ounces of tea and it brewed up nice and strong with a slightly mellower re-steep.

Backlog:

A seriously AWESOME Milky Oolong. So sweet and creamy and luscious. I appreciate that this is a natural milk Oolong (no additional flavoring added). I enjoy both the ‘milk’ flavoring added and the natural Milk Oolong, but I think I especially appreciate the non-flavored Milk Oolong because I like that pure flavor.

Soft, creamy … lovely! Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/25/alishan-milky-oolong-tea-from-teasenz/

First of all, these Red Dragon Pearls are gorgeous when dry! They’re a deep black-brown with streaks of toffee brown. And with the size and roundness of marbles, they’re noticeably bigger than pea-drop Jasmine Dragon Pearls (which are lovely in their own right). I read somewhere that these pearls can contain between 20 and 30 leaves. It sounds like a lot, but it looks shockingly accurate once you see the huge pile of wet leaves in the strainer. I actually counted the leaves one time after they had cooled – and three Red Dragon Pearls contained over 70 leaves!

Despite having no additives, Red Dragon Pearls has a bolder, more complex aroma than other black teas. Along the usual tannins, I smell woods, cocoa, earth, even a hint of smoke. Ohhhhhh, I love it already! It makes me want to curl up by the fire and sip the night away. (Small problem, though: No fireplace in my condo!) The aroma subdues once the tea’s been brewed, but it still exudes a comforting warmth that’s perfect to offset a cold morning in autumn or winter.

Since I’m not a fan of strong black tea, I make my first brew by steeping two Red Dragon Pearls for 3 minutes. Out comes a beautiful, rich chestnut brown liquid that suits its fragrance. Each sip blooms with the flavors of cocoa, earth, and autumn leaves, with a hint of malt and a slightly sweet aftertaste. This reminds me of the fall-ish / outdoorsy taste of Dong Ding Ming Xiang Oolong, except deeper and fuller. Something tells me this isn’t the tea’s full potential, though. Maybe it’s the medium, slightly watered-down body. Well, I did use only two tea pearls for this first cup….

Let’s kick the next brew up a notch with three fresh Red Dragon Pearls. WOW! Now this is what I was looking for. A fuller body, with more flavor and a thick smoothness that blankets your mouth. The additional pearl enhances the tea’s maltiness without adding much bitterness. In fact, this tea isn’t bitter at all (possibly because of the short brew time). It’s scrumptious down to the last drop, even after it cools. This would be a wonderful way of warming my insides after shoveling snow – or, returning to my earlier metaphor, the perfect fireside companion.

Teasenz doesn’t offer resteeping options for Red Dragon Pearls, but I was curious to see how it would come out. So, I let the previously used three pearls worth of tea sit in newly boiled water for 5 minutes. Not bad! It’s weaker than the two-pearl cup, but still yummy. There’s also a touch of astringency that leaves a slight dryness on my tongue, and a headiness from having two consecutive cups of black tea. Or, maybe the latter is giddiness from finding what could be my new favorite black tea.

Read my full review here: http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2014/12/03/teasenzs-red-dragon-pearls/

Okay, last one of night before I take another pain killer. Pain getting wayy too bad to focus anyway. So guess it’s worked out that most of these teas have sucked tonight for me :P
This one tastes like a candy. I don’t really know what lychee is really, but it’s really sweet, and I feel like I’ve had a candy that tastes a lot like this before.
When I drink this it’s super sweet, and it feels like I’m drinking candy, in liquid form. xD Which is weird. I kinda like this one actually.
The only problem I have with it is that the initial flavor is sweet and good, but then it has this sharp, tart bite to it at the end of the sip. It’s so sudden too. Not entirely expected.
But I can see this tea growing on me…I think I will enjoy the rest of this sample. It’s definitely interesting. And like nothing I’ve had before. It’s just so weird…
One day I will figure out which candy it reminds me of! :P
Tons of thanks to Christina for this sample! :D
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Backlog:

I wasn’t exactly sure how to categorize this – are rose buds an herb? This is pure rose buds, so it doesn’t really qualify as a tea, and I don’t think of them as “flowering” … so I just put them down as herb.

Anyway, obviously, the dry leaf is GORGEOUS. Beautiful, whole, dried rosebuds. Beautiful. Not crushed rosebuds, not just the petals, but the whole dried buds.

An amber cup of yummy floral tastes. Sweet and flowery without tasting perfume-ish. Light, soothing, aromatic, a joy to sip.

Please check out my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/08/15/forever-young-rose-flower-tea-from-teasenz/

Backlog:

In my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/07/28/first-flush-long-jing-green-tea-from-teasenz/ – I stated that it was an exceptionally fresh tasting Long Jing. I am very pleased with all of the offerings that I’ve tried from Teasenz.

This DragonWell is sweet, lightly vegetal, buttery and nutty. The butter and nut flavors are more dominate than the vegetal/grassy notes. Hints of fruit and flower are in the distance.

The combination of nutty and buttery tastes give the overall flavor something reminiscent of browned butter. Lightly toasty tasting. Very slight astringency.

A really beautiful tea.

Thank you Teasenz for the samples! This is a pu-erh sampler containing four different types of pu-erh mini tuochas, so I’ll be reviewing each of the four types. They are only distinct to me because the color of the writing on each tuocha wrapper is different, so that is how I will tell them apart.

+ RED wrapper: This is such a tightly compacted tuocha! I went for a longer rinse than usual because even after the rinse, it still wasn’t unraveled very much. The tuocha reminds me of a chocolate truffle, but it has a fragrance of hay. This is certainly a ripe pu-erh but rather than be one of those dark muddy coffee brews, the color of the cup is copper. The flavor is lighter than I’m used to as well, actually sweet and fruity without many hints that this is pu-erh in flavor. The second steep is much darker and deeper like I usually expect. Pu-erh can only be PU-ERH but it seems to have so many flavors wisping throughout: earth, pine, maple syrup. The third steep is still going strong. I’m shocked that such a tiny truffle of a tuocha can have so many long pu-erh leaves.
25 sec rinse // just boiled // 3 min steep // 3 min // 4 min

+ BROWN wrapper (disc shaped): Even though the steeped leaves looked the same size as the leaves in the last tuocha, the cup got dark very fast, so I shortened the first steep to two minutes. Maybe this tuocha had more leaves or was less compact. The flavor is delicious – very deep unsweetened dark chocolate. The last tuocha had many flavors, but this just has the one. None of the “typical” pu-erh flavors are found in this cup.. it kind of tastes more like coffee. This would be a good pu-erh for newbies. My first cup was sipped too quick! The third steep was a bit weaker than the other two, but the other two cups were delicious.
Just boiled // rinse // 2 min // 3 min // 4-5 min

+BLUE wrapper: This one seems to be rice scented! Love those! It was tough for me to tell at first that it was rice scented. I’d say it’s more in the dry leaf aroma and the mug scenting up the room rather than in the flavor. There were also quite a bit of things floating in the infuser. I’m not sure if they are what imparts the rice flavor (tiny little sticks and one leaf I’ve never seen in any tea) or there by accident. The actual pu-erh leaves are surprisingly big for such a small tuocha, steeped almost the length of the tuocha itself (bigger leaves mean higher quality!) The flavor is deep, dark, sweet. Very tasty. The second steep is even deeper and even better. No complaints here, but I’d like to know if the pieces are supposed to be in the tuocha or not. I’ve just started noticing these pu-erhs really help my appetite, which probably isn’t a good thing for me!
Just boiled // rinse // 2 min // 3 min // 4 min

+BROWN wrapper (rounder shaped) – Another surprisingly big-leafed tea for a mini tuocha. It seems like I’ve had this type of tuocha before – a solid tuocha with none of the qualities of pu-erh that might scare anyone away. Smooth and sweet flavor, the kind of mellow dark flavor that could only be pu-erh! The first two cups were very dark but the one I left accidentally steeping for ten minutes wasn’t that strong. But that’s another lovely thing about pu-erh – they never get bitter!
Just boiled // rinse // 2 min // 3 min // 10 min (accidentally)

+OVERALL: This is a delicious pu-erh collection! I enjoyed all four tuochas. All of them seem slightly different, with very big leaves for a tuocha. I could definitely buy this when I’m looking for tuochas to stock up on. Everything I’ve tried from Teasenz has been delicious!
http://www.teasenz.com/mini-yunnan-tuocha-mix

Thank you Teasenz for the generous samples! This one was calling me this morning. My first Jinjunmei! I’m not sure what the difference between this one and a Golden Monkey is. They look very similar: golden and black, thin and twisted leaves. Even the dry leaves are intoxicating. The fragrance of the mug of tea itself is one of my favorites: honey sweet potato. Even the color of the mug is perfect — a coppery red. This Jinjunmei is perfect on many levels… and so so comforting. The taste is very tasty: hints of honey, sweet potato, tiny amount of chocolate. In flavor, I’d say the difference between a Jinjunmei and a Golden Monkey is that the Monkey has more chocolate flavor. The Jinjunmei is more sweet potato. I think every tea enthusiast needs a chocolate and sweet potato tea in the cupboard! The few samples I’ve tried from Teasenz are AMAZING. They have very nice variety.. they are a good shop to order from if you want to try out certain types of tea, but the quality is there if you are a tea drinker who has tried these types of teas before. This will not be my last Jinjunmei!
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // 5 min after boiling // 5 min

I tried some this morning and managed to get 3 solid 1-cup steeps out of about 1-1.5 tsp of leaf.

This stuff is beautiful when it unfurls, and the liquor is a delicate pale yellow.

However, it’s got some of that same smoky, bitter – almost chemical – quality I noticed in Teasenz’s Yunnan Bi Luo Chun. I bet this would be quite interesting as a black tea, as I find smoky goes better with black than it does with green.

Kind of undecided on this one.

Okay So, I am catching up a tad because I have no data on my phone and not wireless at home. According to my notes, i drank this on 10/16, so…

Sip Down!!!

First things first, Thank you to Ost (don’t know how to bold) for this wonderful sample. She took wondrous care of me in our swap, which her kindness left me feeling inspired because of her amazing generosity yet painfully downtrodden because i had no idea she would be sending me so much, and didn’t match her appropriately, but anyway…

I am in love with Oolong. It, Thus far, is my all time favorite straight tea. Having said that though, I am still developing my pallet and am still a little green as far as reviews go. I loved this tea, and its the first really Tie Guan Yin that i have tried by that name. It was special to me because i had heard so much about how amazing this tea was, how it would change me forever about oolong.

And it did… kinda

The dry leaves were very aromatic, smelling of fresh flowers (lilac, maybe… of honeysuckle). I love opening the little baggy and being taken to another place. Steeping the leaves were a breeze, because of my new Yixing so my steepings were as follows:

1st- 45 Seconds. Beautiful aroma and light colour liquor. Very light flavor.
2nd- 1min15sec. Bolder coloured cup, a lot more flavor. still floral.
3rd- 1min45sec. Began to taste a buttery warmth, like that of a smokey or roasted tea (which would make sense)
4th- 2min15sec. Became very…light. Lost a lot of the aroma and flavor.

I did like this tea and it did spark my interest about what else there might be out there, but i must admit, i was expecting something a little more bold, i think… something more roasted and smoky… But certainly not upset. Thank you Ost :)

From the Lewis & CLark TTB

This was a small sample, so I had to prepare it Western-style.

This is only my second Dan Cong; I really enjoyed the first so was looking forward to this one. It has a dark, spicy flavor, and long rich finish. Behind the spice, I can detect a sweet fruitiness, but also some bitterness in the finish.

Backlog:

I love Teasenz! They have some of the best teas that I’ve tried.

This tea is fun to watch as it unfurls. The dry leaf is really beautiful. Soft, fluffy leaves that have been scrolled into little rings. So meticulous. Each one is a work of art.

Sweet and delicately fragrant. Light vegetal notes, notes of butter and nut and flower. No bitterness, no grassy taste, and there’s very little astringency. A really, really enjoyable tea.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/07/11/daughters-ring-early-spring-green-tea-ming-qian-nuer-huan-from-teasenz/

Eh…not much flavor at all with this one.
Steeped it for like 5 minutes too, and still nothing. Kinda a weird one :/

Ok so I tasted this one again at home brewed better in a glass gaiwan for 1 minute starting, I did not use a fine strainer to keep the hairs out cuz i don’t mind the hairs and I did not allow the tea to cool very much this time:)

Steep 1- 1min
MMMMM, very nice reminds me of a Dragonwell in some ways.
It is a lot less bitter this time actually just a slight bitter now, still quite vegetal with a little herbaceous, grassy notes. The smokiness is more up front this time and kinda reminds me of the smokiness in a Raw Puerh. It also has some slight nutty notes and the finish is a bit sweeter.

Steep 2- 1min 30 sec
A little stronger on this steep, vegetal still about the same, few differences the Smokiness is a little I dunno woodsy or earthy this time maybe, much more like the smokey notes of a sheng, and the finish is a bit sweeter still with some bitter twang.

Steep 3- 2min
Nah,I don’t think it was very good for a 3rd steep was good but surely faded.
It still has flavor mainly just the smokey note still with some vegetal, too weak now to even be bitter with a faint sweet aftertaste that was as lingering as before. Even tho this is the last fading steep and was faint on flavor it was still quite enjoyable.

So yeah It was much better to me this time and I think I surely effed it up with the microwaved water and clumsy brewing earlier BUT
even tho I ruined it last time it was still quite tasty to me and I still enjoyed it too.
I think it will be still tasty with an even shorter steeps than starting at 1 minute, I’ll try starting it 30secs next time around.

Oh and this tea is Very Fuzzy, more fuzzy that it looks,
You can see some of the little hairs on the dry leafe of this tea yet it don’t appear really fuzzy or anything to me, more like just a little hairy BUT oh my! you can really see lots of fuzzy hairs in the liquid (if you don’t strain it well).
The first time the fuzzies eventually sank to the bottom and formed a hairy glob and this time they just floated all around in the liquid and made it appear a bit murky.

Brew it right and it won’t be bitter or astringent,
Very Nice Tea Either way :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/69157653@N04/15305033667/

This one is pretty damn good, I’ve had it a while i think but it tastes very fresh still.
I can’t wait to get home so I can have it prepared a little better. I prepared this one all wrong because i’m at the dialysis clinic, brewed up with microwaved water eeww with a cheap strainer in a cheap cup its the best i could do because i wasnt prepared.
I let the water cool a good it before steeping the tea because i figured it was too hot then by the time i actually steeped it i figured it was too cool but i steeped it anyways.
i actually expected a bad cup of tea due to the steeping but i was surprised that it was still really really good. I totally hate microwaved water but this time i honestly
couldnt tell it was microwaved because the tea was so good.

The tea leafe aroma is oh so good to me, it smells sweet and savory and vegetal and a little floral and something else i can’t place, very comforting too smells like some unknown something from the past, something mt granny use to cook maybe i dunno lol I know it smells really good.

The tea leafe juice is really awesome! even tho the water may have been crap the tea was wonderful. I got lots of differents notes and taste from this one and it changed a good bit when cooled.
This one was BITTER and a bit Smokey but also Juicy and not astringent at all,Sweet(almost fruity sweet)and Savory, very green and Vegetal and a little Herbacious. I got 2 steepings of it this first time and those 2 steepings was soo different.
The first steeping is awesome and intense, with all the notes listed above, most of these notes were subtle and faint at the start of the cup while the tea was warm and seem to just grow more intense as i allowed the tea to cool, It was almost as if i had the leafe still in the cup that how much it changed just with the cooling of the first cup. At first when warm i got faint vegetal taste with a little sweetness and no bitter or astringency at all very nice also for some reason it seemed light or thin at first, as it cooled those notes became a bit more intense and bitter, it seemed to changed from delecate or thin to bold and full bodied if that make sense and it developed an interesting thick mostly bitter slightly sweet lingering after taste. This one was a bit different than some Mao Jian that i have had in the past and it I like it alot.
The second steep fell a bit short and was alot weaker than the first, it was more like how the first steep started with out ever growing much bolder or getting that pleasant bitter as it cooled, It did grow a bit bitter but just like before.

I do want to talk about the bitter of this one,First Bitter is NOT a bad thing in fact I really like the bitter in this one,it is NOT an eww bitter but a very nice yummy bitter(some folks do like that).
I’m not sure why but Bitter and Astringent seems to sometimes show up together in teas and I notice that some folks are easily confused by the two(like this lady up here who tasted my tea lol).
So this chic tasted my tea(cooled) and she was like "omg, that’s astringent!
I think not it is quite juicy and NOT astringent at all, it is BITTER but in a good way.

I’m not sure if i got the bold bitter because it was steeped using bad water or if thats just the way this tea is but i really enjoyed it still. A nice tea steeped wrongso it must be even better steeped right, i’m looking forward to having this the proper way very soon.

oh yeah I advise using a nice gongfu strainer for this one cuz it is a fuzzy one, i used a shitty strainer so it let all the fuz in my cup which i don’t really mind, at first the fuzzies were floating on the surface but as it cooled the fuzzies that didnt get drank up fell to the bottom of the cup and congregated in the middle looking kinda nasty like a hairy blob lol
So use a good strainer if you don’t like fuzzies in your cup :)

Also i got a happy feeling from this one now too, like a slight tea buzz, thats always a good thing in my book :)

Oh man, this is the first tea I’ve ever drank that had me making faces. I looked like a dog that just licked something spicy.

There were definitely notes of dill, so I’m glad others picked up on that. My friend mentioned coriander and I think that is accurate too, though I wouldn’t have been able to place that myself… The smell and taste of these reminds me of a fresh box of Crayola Crayons. Ugg, is that weird? It’s really what it reminds me of.

The brew was a really pretty deep red though. The flavor is not bad but I feel like it is an acquired taste for a Westerner. I don’t know how to describe this tea and do it justice. This is not exactly for me!

Part of the appeal of Jasmine Dragon Pearls is the dry leaf. The olive green, silver-streaked pearls are so neatly rounded that it’s hard not to be impressed by the deftness of their harvester’s skills. When brewed, the rolled leaves uncurl and open slowly, like fingers beckoning you to watch. Then, of course, there’s the jasmine fragrance. Teasenz’s is already present before brewing; the exotic scent floats out of the package each time I open it. Not too strong, nor too subtle, creating the perfect balance for both long-time jasmine lovers and newbies to jasmine tea.

Following Teasenz’s instructions, I use about 1 teaspoon of Jasmine Dragon Pearls and steep it in just-under-boiling water for 1 minute. It doesn’t sound like much time, but the results douse all skepticism. The pale gold cup gives off a jasmine bouquet that’s richer than the dry leaf yet sweet and calming. What I smell is also what I taste. Each sip blossoms with the right amount of jasmine flavor, an enticing smoothness, and a pleasantly grassy finish.

At 90 seconds, the second steep (about 90 seconds) of Jasmine Dragon Pearls is just as excellent as the first one. The signature floral perfume and flavor still tantalize my senses. Steep #3 (2 minutes) takes on a bolder yellow color, and the green tea’s vegetal undertones mingle more evenly with the slightly weaker jasmine essence that’s still delicious. Even as this tea evolves cup after cup, balance continues to the key.

By the fifth steep (about 3 minutes), the tea offers a more grassy taste with a light and pleasant bitterness. The jasmine fragrance is gone by now, which I had expected. What I didn’t expect, though, was that hints of jasmine’s distinctive sweetness would still peek through when I roll the liquid around on my tongue. I prefer the earlier brews of Jasmine Dragon Pearls, but for a final brew this is a nice surprise.

Read the full review here: http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2014/09/24/tea-time-at-reverie-teasenzs-jasmine-dragon-pearls/

Sipdown!

This is a backlog from a few days ago, but I had just enough leaf left for a big 2-cup serving of this before starting work. It was a bit malty, but otherwise pretty non-descript. A good sturdy choice for the morning. However, as the sample aged, that dark chocolate note I noticed when I first opened the bag became less and less prominent.

Backlog from a few days ago.

Not much to say here. This time I didn’t notice the dark chocolate notes as much when I was steeping it. Instead, it was more muted and malty, and I got more sweet potato notes.

I sipped on this a few days ago, and while the flavour was nice and tea-y, it really does change from dry leaf to liquor. I just can’t get over how chocolate-y the leaf smells! Glad I still have a good chunk of this left – I will have to find some more jin jun mei to have in the cupboard.

Oh my god. Oh. My. God.

Cameron B had such good things to say about this tea a few months ago that based on the strength of that recommendation, I requested 5 free samples from Teasenz. This baby was one of those. And oh boy, Cameron was spot-on.

You should have been there when I opened up the package and inhaled the first wafts of this stuff. “Oh my god. It smells like chocolate. Oh my god! It smells like cocoa powder!” I tried shoving the bag in my husband’s face so he could get a good whiff (and thus hopefully convert to Tea-ism) but he wasn’t game.

I can’t get over how good the dry leaf of this tea smells. I took about 2 tsp, brewed it Western-style in my lovely tiny Brown Betty pot, and poured it all out into a large mug.

Considering I only steeped the first steep for 3.5 minutes, the liquor was astonishingly dark and rich-looking. A lovely dark amber colour, like beer bottles. And the smell was good too! Slightly tart, but dark and sweet like prunes or honey.

The taste isn’t quite as good, but it’s still satisfying. Malty, rich, slightly sweet, no astringency, but it doesn’t quite slap me silly with flavour the way I hoped it would.

Now I’m off to have a second steep!

By the way, I woke up this morning with a bit of a sore throat, and I’m worried this may be the first sign of a cold. I better enjoy awesome tea like this now; I’ll save the crappy-tasting tea for when I can’t actually taste it.