The Teaguy

Received this with some free samples from The Tea Guy, thanks. As to the name of this tea, it conjures up what should in my imagination be the best puerh I have ever tasted. I cannot say that it was. It was also certainly not the worst. This was over the course of twelve steeps fairly nice. I did start off with a note of wet storage. Surprising for a tea from December of 2016 but it was there. It was not overly strong but it did persist for about six steeps. So did the fermentation flavor too. I think this tea actually had a little less fermentation taste than I was expecting. A nice sweet note did develop, at first masked by the wet storage taste, then very noticeable. Even in the end there was a little bit left of the wet storage taste so it is hard to pin down the sweet note. I have decided not to give this tea a numerical rating because I don’t want to be unfair and give one too low or do the opposite and give one higher than it deserves because I got the sample for free. I did really enjoy the tea. That is the truth. Once the wet storage was gone it was quite nice. I should also note that there was no bitterness to this tea.

I brewed this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec,10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

So, I was really excited when The Teaguy offered to send me a few samples to review. It’s one more option for me, here in Canada, besides David’s and Camellia Sinensis (and sometimes Teavana), plus they have a very large selection of organic teas which is a major advantage for me (my boyfriend told me about this show where they tested for pesticides in the teas and most of them were above the safe limits, so I always try to pick organic teas whenever I can from now on…)

The package arrived yesterday, right on time for my finals revision week… (bleh) It’s so hard to stay inside and study when it’s finally getting warm and sunny outside…

The tea smelled slightly different than other breakfast blends I tried. I checked the ingredients list, and I think it’s because of the Keemun: it smells a bit peppery which intrigued me. I had the first cup plain and it’s already very good like this: there is no bitterness.
But then I had to add some cream and sugar because this is how I prefer to drink my breakfast blends!

I wasn’t sure if I’d like the Keemun but it’s actually a really nice addition, the smokiness/pepperiness gives it a distinctive taste without being too overpowering and it blends well with the honey notes and maltiness from the Assam.

All in all, it’s a very easy drinking cup, very smooth, the whole teapot disappeared in less than 20 min… I’m pretty sure I will repurchase once I’ve finished my sample.

So now back to more revisions… and more tea drinking!

Sipdown. The last of the last in my (very generous) sample bag.

So yummy. Got out a fancy cup and saucer, the good teapot, and the fancy mini pitcher for the milk. Drank the entire pot by myself.
Added milk and sugar to it in the cup.
Sweet, creamy, smooth.

I ran this tasting in 4 parts of the same brew.

Packaged in a solid black foil, resealable bag. Smells amazing, like cookies or a cake baking. Large, mostly unbroken black tea leaves.

1). No add ins: Smells like the stuff in the bag. Tastes pretty ok without anything added in. Slight sweetness already. Looks like black tea.

2). Sugar : 1 small spoonful: Enhanced the sweetness, still smells awesome, like vanilla extract used as perfume on a WWII re-enactor.

4). Whole Milk: just enough until the tea looks like He-Man’s plasti-skin: HOLY CATS! The vanilla popped right back out, the tannic feel went away (like its supposed to do when you add milk). Tasted like the toffee butterscotch in the gold wrapper, or the inside of a Skor bar. Fantastic!

I had received a generous sample of this from The TeaGuy last night (thank you again).

I had a dull night at work last night since there wasn’t a whole lot to be done due to the holiday. So, coming home and finding tea mail on the kitchen table was a great way to end the night. I had opened the box and each sample within, just to give them a quick smell; however, the Blood Orange sample had stuck out much more than the others (which they too had smelled wonderful). Therefore, I boiled water, threw some of this into an infuser, steeped for 5 minutes, and sipped.

Notes: Aroma: smells like a sweet freshly picked orange, vanilla, and rooibos (uh oh). Taste: The citrus hides the rooibos well (thank goodness) and there is a touch of vanilla (?) in the aftertaste; reminds me of a type of citrus dessert.

I noted that this would make a refreshing iced tea, so I’ll make sure to try it this weekend via cold brew.

Thank you to the Teaguy for providing this sample. Okay today we have organic white peony, this is being brewed at 200 for about 10 seconds in a zhu-ni pot. Im already pretty impressed as Im hitting this with some pretty high heat and the flavors are just popping out of it. Honey, sweetness, a bit of grass, and a light floral aroma.

The liquor is a very clear golden honey color, and the aroma is magnificent, especially the aroma coming from the pot.There is not even the slightest hint of astrigency in this tea even though there is a slight grassy scent and aroma. The mouthfeel is thick and quite nice as well, and it has a pleasant aftertaste.

Second infusion is slightly darker with a richer taste, more honey with a bit of stronger floral aromas and flavors as well. There is one other flavor here I can quite put my finger on in the second infusion and a slight tingle on the back on the tongue.

Third infusion was very similar to the second indicating that its going to brew out many many infusions. This is an excellent peony and is giving me a very slight tea buzz.

I highly recommend this tea to people who enjoy mild honey flavor white tea.

coldbrew – 1 tsp, cold water + ice, 10 minutes
In 10 minutes, it steeps deep amber and smells of vanilla and rooibos

Wow, this really does well coldbrewed. The sweet rooibos and flavourful vanilla & bourbon are perfectly balanced. The rooibos isn’t minerally like hot rooibos sometimes is, but it is a little bit fruity with highlights of nectar/honey. Just all around delicious.

Thank you to The Teaguy for sending me generous free samples. I look forward to trying them all. :)

Coldbrew, 2 tsp leaf in 500 mL water for 2 hours
The vanilla really comes through well. It tastes how good vanilla extract smells in the container. There’s that distinctive vanilla scent and also the smell of the alcohol it is infused into. This rooibos blend perfectly captures the alcohol aspect of vanilla which I LOVE. So often vanilla smells really good, but if you taste vanilla extract it isn’t nearly as good as you hoped. This is the perfect vanilla blend. I’m not sure there is a ton of bourbon, but it’s there enough to live up to its name. I think this could be made as a latte if steeped strong enough. It does well as a cold brew, but I can imagine it would be equally enjoyable hot.

I’m actually extremely impressed with this rooibos. I was expressing generic vanilla + rooibos and got something that stands out as being well crafted and accurate to its name.

The highlight of the teas I tried from the Tea Guy, this is a really nice earl grey. Strong, real bergamont flavor, no “natural flavorings” b.s., and a good quality tea base that takes the background. Fruity and citrusy with a bit of malt, good with or without milk.

Thanks for the samples Tea Guy, I enjoyed trying them!

I have to say that I was a little apprehensive going into this, as my experience with pu’erh from vendors who aren’t specialized in Chinese tea has been… bad. It’s also loose leaf, and while I know there can be good loose pu’erh, my first and worst experience with pu’erh was loose leaf, and I still haven’t completely recovered from the horror.

Medium sized brown leaves, aroma of fresh beet root. I did a quick rinse with boiling water and then let it steep to a nice burgundy red color. Tastes of beet root and wet earth. Very smooth, and no fishy or moldy flavors. I’ve certainly had worse, but to be honest it isn’t very good. Tastes like the old, generic tin of ripe pu’erh that my grandma had on her shelf. It’s drinkable, but not something I’d really want to drink.

Sorry Tea Guy

This is an interesting one for me as I’ve only tried one Darjeeling (a 2nd flush) other than teabags. The leaves are small pieces of green and brown with some silver tips. They have an aroma of hay and dried herbs.

It brews a light orange-yellow. Tastes of dry grass, basil , and white grapes with a floral aroma. Slightly medicinal and astringent. I’m not sure I really like it, but I can see someone else enjoying it more than me.

This definitely sounds like the Darjeeling teas I’ve heard about that “tread the line” between being a black tea and green or oolong. It’s definitely nowhere near as oxidized as more standard black teas. It’s interesting to try, if nothing else as a learning experience.

Holy ginger, Batman. That’s primarily what I taste here with an afterthought of cinnamon. I shook up the bag before measuring out the tea but I must have gotten a lot of ginger in my measure. The black tea base seems well suited to the spices, though. All in all, if you like ginger, this is a pretty good chai! Thanks for the chance to try, The Teaguy!

I tried this straight first, but I’m just one of those people who thinks spiced tea is meant for sugar and milk. So I added a couple teaspoons of sugar which did even out the spice somewhat and a couple tablespoons of cream.

Mild and with a slightly creamy mouthfeel, light florals and grass notes. It’s a nice green oolong. Thanks for the chance to try, The Teaguy!

I liked this one. It’s got a strong and sweet vanilla to it with creamy notes. The beragamot is a strong companion to the strong vanilla. Thanks for the chance to try, The Teaguy!

This EG is strong in the bergamot. Not a subtle blend but pretty tasty! I like my berg on the strong side though, so be wary if you don’t. ;) Thanks for the chance to try, The Teaguy!

Thank you to the teaguy for providing this sample. This one took a while to get a tasting note of because I struggled with it a little. I have never had a first flush darjeeling before and I brewed it wrong… twice… This is a bit of an unusual tea, its a very early spring picked tea and its less oxidized than most blacks, leaving alot of green leaf, but it’s not a green or an oolong, its a black tea. So of course I brewed it at close to boiling.. got very bitter and astringent, then I used a bit less leaf and took it down to 200, same problem… I looked up about first flush and found out 190 is the best brewing temperature to bring out the floral and fruity tones this tea is revered for. So here we are on take 3 of the tea…..

So first infusion using a yixing to make it a little easier to brew this as you can brew a bit harder in a yixing without getting astringency. Okay now this is what Ive heard about this tea. 15 second steep, 4 grams, 80 grams water at 190…. and now we got something nice, floral, fruity, grassy, and just a slight hint of that creaminess that you get in blacks. Very nice.

Second infusion a bit of honey comes out now, and it tastes a bit more like a black tea, the first infusion was very much a green tea almost , now the subtler dark notes are starting to come in. I like the way the flavor changes as it gets infused more, its also losing some of the astringency.

Third infusion oh wow… creamy golden liquor, creamy honey floral flavors. This is excellent… smooth, easy to drink. Its like a black tea but with the light notes of floral and fruit mixed in. Im now wondering if I should have rinsed the tea first to get rid of some of that early astringency because this infusion is wonderful!

Fourth infusion and I got many of the same flavors and notes and for a black tea this is steeping out really well over time. Im seriously impressed now. It got slightly darker at this point as well, dark golden but still not into the redish gold liqour of a black tea.

Im sure this will steep out for a few more infusions at least. Probably about 8 total.

This tea is wonderful, but its a bit finicky on the steeping, it has many properties of a green tea and that requires a bit of experimentation and testing to work through it, but that third and fourth steepings were absolute magic and made the wait and the work worth it.

I recommend this tea for anyone who likes first flush darjeelings and for those who dont mind putting in the work to get those wonderful flavors to come out.

Thank you to the tea guy for this sample. Starting off with a 80 ml yixing, I started with nearly boiling water and let it steep for just 15 seconds in the yixing. I usually dont rinse black teas as they really dont need it.

First infusion I got a clear red liquor, with aroma of cocoa, malt and nuttyness. It also has a very intense black tea aroma, and you all know what Im talking about. Tasting I got many of the same flavors as well as smooth sweetness. This is a very easy drinking tea, that is actually just right for breakfast, when you need something smooth and easy to drink.

Second infusion produced much of the same, with the color getting just slightly darker. It also had a bit of creaminess this infusion, and for a black tea its holding up surprisingly well over infusions. I have a feeling the blended tea is releasing it’s flavor as each tea hits its release point.

The third infusion is a bit weaker, but still has good flavor and aroma, black tea’s generally dont get too many infusions even when done gong fu style, but this one seems to be holding up reasonably well.

I figure this has another few infusions to brew out, the flavor isnt overly complex, but in this case its a good thing, its a breakfast tea, which is something that should be smooth and easy to drink. I had this without milk and sugar, but Im sure it would go well with both. I might post another review later with adding both of those.

I recommend this tea for someone looking for a smooth, easy drinking tea to relax with. This makes me think of a winter tea, something you might drink to get warm on a cold winters night.

I’m not the biggest fan of highly green Tie Guan Yin, or greener oolongs in general, so I was slightly worried when I saw this among the samples sent to me by The Teaguy. However, I found that I enjoyed this one much more than I expected too.

Instead of harshly floral and grassy and green, this one is mild, nutty, and “warm”. It is somewhat grassy, and has a floral note that I’d compare to gardenias, but neither of these aspects are overpowering. It has a nice aroma that lingers in the mouth long after sipping. It’s a very mellow and enjoyable brew with a light honey-like sweetness.

I would not say that this is a top tier TGY, but it’s quite nice and priced very reasonably.

Thank you to the teaguy for supplying this sample. I started by measuring out 5 grams of leaf and getting my glass teapot for this one as I want to bleed off that heat as fast as possible. Since I want the jasmine to come out and then not the astringent flavors. With green teas, I dont wash the leaves, they open up just fine on their own, and green has less staying power than oolong or puerh, you wind up loosing too much of the flavor.

First infusion I got a very strong jasmine aroma and slight floral and grassy notes which is pretty common for green teas, it was a little overshadowed by the jasmine but not overly so. The flavor was sweet, balanced, slight tanginess, and grass and floral. There was a bit of astringency on the tail end which is fine, a little astringency with greens is normal and expected.

Second infusion brought out more of the grassy sweetness, there was still a teeny bit of astringency on the back end but it was slightly reduced, the tanginess was gone for this infusion, but I still got floral and sweet notes. The Jasmine was still pretty predominant but the other flavors are coming out more in this infusion.

Third infusion the jasmine flavor came down a little more, and more of the sweetness is coming out now as the green tea flavor takes over a bit more prominence. Maybe even a bit of honey flavor, the astringency is also almost gone at this point. Grass, floral and sweetness are the main flavors and aroma.

I figure this will steep out maybe two or three more times 4-7 infusions is about normal for a green tea. Keep your steeps short on this tea, otherwise some of that bitterness could get intense.

I highly recommend this tea for fans of jasmine, and for fans of light balanced green tea. It has a very good balance between green tea flavors and jasmine.

Thank you to the Teaguy for providing this sample. Today we have 10 year aged shou pu’erh tea. I started by examining the leaves this time, as the leaves looked really good for unpressed shou, reading the description I found out this is a lighter fermented shou. Starting with rinsing the yixing and then giving the tea a quick rinse, once was enough as the leaves were very clean and being unpressed opened quickly. I got a clear red liqour with just a hint of darkness, pretty much what you would expect from a lighter fermented shou.

Getting to the good part now I brewed the first one for about 5 seconds with a 6 second pour. I got a slightly darker liquor this time with nice earthy, caramel nutty aroma. Though it was earthy it was lightly so, not at all any damp or swampy notes. Sipping it, it was sweet, lighter, creamy. Very smooth, and maybe a bit of honey and raisins.

Second infusion got a bit darker still which is fairly normal for a ripe, the flavors also got a little more intense. Though the notes were still the same, nutty, raisins, caramel. Rather on the sweet side as well. Though the liquor is still very clear with almost no particulate breakup that you sometimes see in ripes.

Third infusion got darker still, more earthy and nutty notes coming out now, though still a bit sweet. And its still quite smooth, it actually isnt as intense as I would have expected at the third steep. Usually an aged ripe is practically pounding you with the flavors at this point.

Fourth infusion im starting to see a bit of a drop off in color as the leaves fully open now and start giving up their flavor and color to the tea. Still very flavorful, with nutty and earth still predominant.

Im expecting this to steep out quite a few more times, it seems to be a bit of a slower steeper because of the lighter ripening. Less intense over more time.

I highly recommend this tea for those that like a lighter ripe, something smoother and easier. Not so intense and especially if swampy or wet tastes of shou have turned you off in the past, this has absolutely none of them.

I started this off by rinsing my duanni yixing with hot water, then putting the leaves in and taking the aroma, I got a wonderful floral and fruity aroma that is often associated with Tie Kuan Yin, after giving it a quick rinse to get the leaves to open up. I noticed there was almost no dust or particulate which is usually a sign of a higher grade oolong.

First infusion gave me a very pale light honey colored liquor, and a bright floral aroma. The leaves havent fully opened up yet at this point, so the liquor was very light, with a nice refreshing mouthfeel. I usually dont second rinse Tie Kuan Yin even though you can to get to the good infusions quicker, I find that is just throwing away very drinkable tea.

The second infusion was slightly darker, with a creamier feel, a stronger fruity and floral aroma and taste. A slight nutty and grass flavor also peeks in at this point, there is also a very tiny tingle on the tongue. It was still very clear honey color and had a nice clean finish.

The third infusion was slightly darker still but still very clear. Also the aromas and flavors intensified a little as well as having just a slight lingering taste on the tongue. The third infusion is usually considered the best for Oolongs as the leaves have fully opened at this point and the most water is in contact with the tea and it still has a lot of flavor to give at this point.

At this point I opened the yixing and took a few of the leaves out for examination and it was good medium sized leaves with just that slight darkening at the edges which is what should be there with light oolongs as the only oxidation is from the rolling. Whole leaves with very few stems.

Fourth infusion was just slightly weaker than the first, and was still producing a nice colored liqour with good mouthfeel, I think this will steep out very nicely for 4 or 5 more infusions.

I highly recommend this tea for people who like light refreshing clean oolongs with that lightly fruity and floral aroma and flavor.

My second tea from The Teaguy, this one sounds interesting as they say it’s a blend of Assam, Keemun, Ceylon, and Vietnamese grown tea. Small-ish dark leaves with a few silvery buds. The aroma is light and citrusy with a hint of dry oats.

I tried following their recommended brewing, 2 tsp, 90C for 3-4 minutes, but while I probably added a bit too much water, it came out very weak, so I let it keep brewing, and after about six more minutes it was closer to the proper strength.

The resulting brew is still a little on the weak side, but it’s tasty. Slightly sweet with little to no bitterness, the flavor is light but malty with slight oat, citrus, and cocoa notes.

This was fairly good, but I think I’ll try it again at a higher temperature with a bit more leaf.

Hello Steepster, it’s been a while! I was recently contacted by The Teaguy and asked if I’d like to review some of their teas. Who would say no to that? Anyways hello, and sorry it’s been so long since I last posted.

The samples arrived today, St. Patrick’s Day, and with an Irish Breakfast among the samples. So of course that’s the first tea I’ll try.

It appears to be a blend of CTC and other broken leaf; not unusual for an Irish Breakfast. The dry aroma is sweet with notes of honey and barley.

I followed their brewing instructions: 2tsp for 3-4 minutes at 90C. 90C is lower than I normally brew blacks, but that makes sense to balance out the strength and bitterness of the CTC and broken leaf leaves.

The result is quite good! Mildly sweet with honey, malt, and barley notes and a slightly floral background. It’s bold and slightly bitter, but not overly so in comparison to how Irish Breakfasts can be, and none of the metallic quality they sometimes have. It reminds me of Grape Nuts cereal in beverage form. Very drinkable with or without milk, this would make a great first cup in the morning.

*Editing to say that this tea definitely has a lot of caffeine! I felt a coffee-like punch after drinking it, so I wouldn’t recommend drinking it late in the day.