The Tao of Tea

I managed to get seven steepings of equal strength using boiling water the last couple times for four-ten minutes. I can’t believe how invigorating and relaxing the combination of pu-erh and rose is! I love this tea so much the sight of muddy liquor has become pleasant. I smile every time I see the equally ugly jar of tuocha on my bookshelf. Just to make sure I always have some close.

Huzzah! A happy and prosperous new year to you and whoever produced this tea! This was perfect companion to our “leap into the new year” ginger-orange frog cookies. I must admit, the single serving size per tuocha is part of the reason we picked this.
(^_^);

I rinsed the tuocha for 20 seconds into glazed gaiwans. Taking Jenn-cha’s experience into consideration, the third steeping was one minute and thiry seconds (I’m wary of straying from the 2-3 recommendation of Tao of Tea but also 2-3 minutes?!) and lo! Jenn-cha knows more than Tao of Tea! It came out with sweet and complex wood flavors. There’s oddly more oak than rose. But I swear peat moss and turbinado sugar were part of the tuocha! This was so good everyone went right along wtih the “weird” smelling your teacup. The leaf in the teapot smelled bizarrely like seitan, vegan bacon and rose.

The third and fourth steepings were both two mintes and yielded more mellow flavors that crept towards timothy hay and very little rose. The leaf in the pot smells more like damp hay and old straw piles. It was interesting to taste the natural sweetness of the tea and the actual sugar in the gingerbread. I prefer the sugarless tea.

Fifth steeping-At the suggestion of my rose loving mother we added some rose hips to the pot. What the hay? It says four steepings and was wrong about that.
I highly recommend this little addition towards the last couple of infusions because the fruity, strawberry sweet flavors were amazing with the hay and raisin flavors in the tea (and replaced the now undetectable rose petals). It was like drinking a summer day at the horse farm without the barnwork.
Out of curiosity I’m putting the leaf in the fridge overnight to see if it lasts for a sixth infusion tomorrow. Partially out of curiosity and partially because I need sleep.

Edit: Sixth and seventh steepings were weak but still had mellow orchard grass hay, plum, turbinado sugar and walnut tones! Maybe if I don’t wait over night I could get eight steepings with shorter times.

One, two, what is this one? Ninth steeping? These invincable littles spheres have been soothing my headache since yesterday afternoon. The earthy green base lends the right level of stoutness to thefloral comfort of jasmine. It tastes like the start of autumn.

This is just the midmorning pick-me-up I neded with the ginger shortbread from yesterday. This is the best jasmine green I’ve had. Half the new Year’s cleaning down, half to put off for an hour so I can time finishing with snack and another cup of this.

I finally got to track down an Assam with gold tips. I happened to be in SE Portland and stopped into the main shop to test out a pot of this. Some Twitter friends mentioned that it might not taste different than other Assams and that “flecks” of gold tips were added to up the premium price. I think they were wrong. What I got was a black tea with a mildly astringent foretaste, followed by straight nectar; a comparison I usually reserve for Yunnan Golds. With the malty kick added, this was more in line with a Golden Monkey – another partially tipped tea that I enjoy. I can finally notch this off my list.

It smells sour with a complex flowery undertone. The taste is mildly sour but incredibly sweet. There are hints of a rose taste with overtone of a flower that I can not identify.

More detailed notes can be found here: http://teasnobbery.com/2010/05/28/tea-review-tao-of-tea-keemun-hao-ya/

The tea tastes and smells exactly like the leaves did. It is dark and rich with intense earthy tones. It is like mixing dark hot chocolate with espresso, taking the sweet and the bitter out of both.What is left is comforting and caffeinated. This is a great morning tea because it wakes you up a lot like coffee with less caffeine and a better flavor.

For a more detailed tasting note check out my blog: http://teasnobbery.com/2010/07/09/tea-review-puer-tuocha-from-tao-of-tea/

The brew smells malty and sweet. There are sweet roasted undertones to the smell.

The tea has lightly roasted overtones. You can almost taste the ceder smoke in the tea. There are malty undertones, but not as intense as the smell initially suggested. It is also not as sweet as the smell initially suggested. The tea in fact has a little bit of a kick to it. It is not a bitter taste, but more like a hint of salt behind each sip. Sometimes it even reminds me of salted nuts because of the roasted salt flavor.

For the rest of the tasting notes, please check my blog.
http://teasnobbery.com/2010/09/10/tea-review-malty-assam-from-tao-of-tea/

The initial taste is spiced and bitter. The spiced is new, but the bitter is exactly like the dried tea only not as strong. The thing to note here is that yes, some teas get bitter when they are steeped, but this was bitter before it was steeped so it is safe to assume that the bitter is not from being steeped, but rather from the tea itself. After a little bit it starts to taste a little like dandelion, but with a splash of spice. It has the same type of bitterness of a fresh dandelion, mixed with a similar sweet aftertaste. If you don’t know what that tastes like it is light and flowery, with a rich bitter undertone.

If you would like to full tasting notes go to: http://teasnobbery.com/2010/05/21/tea-review-tao-of-tea-licorice/

This is a note for a tea I’ve tried recently, while on the subject of chais. I thought this was really rough! Not so much the spices as the tea itself, which was strong and bitter. I tried it on the stovetop and in a pot. Both ways were undrinkable, no matter what I added. This tastes just how I imagine an Indian trucker’s tea might taste.

By far one of my favorite teas. I love the golden color and the smoothness of this tea. I find myself drinking this after a long day at work mostly, and brew two or three cups when I can.

If you’ve enjoyed other “Gold Tipped” teas, my bet is you will enjoy this as well.

so light and jasmine-y. brews perfectly every time and i can get about 3 infusions out of it. Saw it at the tea bar at my local grocery store and tried to resist, but I kept coming back just to smell it. Finally caved and don’t regret it one bit.

The Final Sipdown: Day 5
Decupboarding Total: 8

I have raised my personal decupboarding total needed per day to two. Gambatte! (Sorry, reviewing Japanese in another window.) Anyhoo, this is number two for today. I really enjoyed having it yesterday so I thought I’d have it again. It’s still tasty but for some reason today I’m getting a bit more woodsy taste and a higher level of astringency. A little more fall-like and less grape-y than I was anticipating but still a tasty cup and it works well with today’s cooler temperature. A good ending to its time in my pantry.

Very tasty tea that seems to be happier at a higher water temp – it has a clearer taste. It’s very bright and grape-y and tartly sweet. It reminds me a lot of a Darjeeling but without any astringency. And makes me want grapes.

Does seem very similar to Royal Garland (as sophistre mentioned), which makes me wonder how it will be if I used 195° water, so I’m going to have to try that some time.
First steep (30s): It’s bold but soft, has a Darjeeling/muscatel note but with no brightness or astringency. Very attractive taste. I do want a little more punch to it so might up the steep time.
Second steep (1min): Very honeyed and smooth, rich Darjeeling.
Third steep (1:45): Mmm, very tasty. A bit decadent, like eating tangy dark chocolate (but, you know, without the chocolate bit).
I really need to do a side by side with Royal Garland to do a better comparison of the two. I think this one might be bolder and less complex over all, but then I’m working off of a not-so-great memory. Regardless, I really do like this one.

Geoffrey sent me a bit of this LS. I’ve fallen in love with these smoked teas. They remind me of fall where I grew up, smelling the burning of the leaves and the smoke from wood and coal fires. I get these great nostalgic moments whenever I drink them, of being small and being at my great-aunt’s house, curled in a blanket on her screen porch.

I don’t think I like this one as much as Art of Tea’s, but I did only brew this for 3 minutes as opposed to my 5 minute steep of AoT’s. I’ll have to have another pot here in a little bit. I’d call this one a LS-lite. There’s a definite sweetness to it, and something slightly cocoa-like. I’ll be interested in seeing how this translates in a longer steep.

Thanks, Geoffrey!

I love the smell of this! It’s like I’m drinking a strong English Breakfast tea whilst sitting in a gigantic rose garden. It takes me back to my days in London, when I’d take the tube to St. James Park to sit in the swings and enjoy the gardens.

Now, the tea itself is delightful. The base black is strong and smooth, with no hint of bitterness. The rose is subtle and slightly sweet; the taste is reminiscent of rosewater.

This is a great first cup this morning, but I think it would really shine as part of a true afternoon tea, paired with Ladyfingers or some shortbreads.

Thanks, Rachel, for sending me some of this! I’ll definitely be looking for it on my next trip to Jungle Jim’s (my closest Tao of Tea retailer).

The Final Sipdown: Day 6
Decupboarding Total: 11

I had the steep time of Royal Phoenix Oolong stuck in my head so I might have massively underbrewed this. Oopsies. But I did end up going a little heavy on the leaf (just so I wouldn’t have to make a 4oz cup of this later today to finish this off) and I’m sure that helped things because this tea is really fantastic. It’s sweet and mildly grapey. There’s no astringency but a lot of sweetness, almost like the sweet/tart balance in a frozen grape more than a fresh one.

Unlike before, I’m not getting woodsy or honey but I am getting nectar. Grapey nectar. It’s pretty awesome. And gorgeous. As it cools, there’s a tiny tingle of astringency on the tip of my tongue and the frozen grape flavor begins to step back and the soft nectar flavor steps up. A little solid tasting something comes in, something like sweet bread? It’s fairly faint but adds a nice base note to balance the pretty.

I’m giving this last cup (yay for decupboarding!) a little points bump because this is now officially a tea I would pick up and park in my pantry. It’s a beautiful cup.
8.2g/12oz

Apparently I need to dig deep in my tea pantry every so often because I forget what all I have. I just rediscovered this one, something sophistre sent me ages ago that I managed to hide from myself behind other teas. Which is a shame because it smells lovely – a little woody with a floral sweetness that makes me think of candied (but not super-sugary) flowers. Hopefully it will taste as good as it smells, because after accidentally dumping my meatloaf into the bottom of the oven, I need a little pick me up.

Four minutes seemed like a long steep so I went with three. The smell is gentle and woodsy and alternates between nectar-y and honeyed. There’s a little fruitiness that reminds me of Samovar’s Royal Garland, too. All signs point to happy tea-ness.

The taste is thinner, higher and sweeter than Royal Garland but it’s still really good. Very fruity on the front end, making me think of a papaya-flavored drink I had once. There’s an end taste that is cleanly woody and an aftertaste that is very fruity. Once again I’m thinking of papaya but that fruity taste is what I’m guessing the tasting notes are calling apricot, which I can totally see (though more dried apricots than fresh). The eventual aftertaste (after not sipping for several minutes) is an almost bitter/sour astringency that actually makes me think of sencha. It’s not desirable, but it’s not icky either. All in all, a very pretty tea. I’m glad I dug it out of my pantry!
4g/8oz

Quite honestly, one of the best green teas I’ve ever tried. It tastes like a bamboo forest on a foggy day, really quite extraordinary and experiential.

I sampled all of Tao of Teas Tulsi Tea’s at this years World Tea Expo and was really impressed with this unique taste. As a non-caffeinated night time hot drink I really enjoy this right before bed. There are subtle hints of clove in this tea that kind of remind me of drinking a coke.

This is the only kind of mate that I’ve ever had, given to me as a gift. It brews to a dark amber with a woody smell. I want to say bamboo, but I know that’s not quite it. The taste is, well, that same woodyness that I can’t identify. It also has a very slight sour taste, kinda like the way black coffee gets sour as it cools. Which isn’t to say it makes you pucker; it’s a very small amount of sourness that is mostly covered by a sweet chocolate flavor.

While I really enjoy this tea, the leaves are so small that they’re a pain to clean out of my teapot, and re-infusing them is never worth it, since the taste becomes watery on only the second steep. So, good on occasion, but not something that I drink very often.

sugoi fruity desu yo! The leaves and twigs do smell of fruit (possibly mango) but that lies beneath the more prominent smell hay & grass. The smell is pretty exciting leading up to actually drinking the tea.

Alright, I don’t taste any remnants of the sweet smell, and sencha of course comes to mind immediately, but with a dry aftertaste of malt. It’s a great morning tea.

I only purchased 1 oz but I will buy this tea again with the regular 3 oz tin; it’s that good.