Unknown

This is actually a lot better than I expected it to be! After all, it is an unbranded, stringless tea bag amidst an assortment of candies and crackers from a gift basket.

The black tea base is recognizable as Ceylon and confirmed on the box. It’s only a tiny bit bitter, but not uncomfortably so. It’s the hint of bitterness I almost always get when I drink black tea.

I added a little bit of sweetener, and it really brought out the cranberry and apple flavors. I’m thoroughly enjoying this afternoon cup at work, while trying to plow through some of the duller assignments. I can’t wait for Christmas vacation!!!

A crisp, sweet black. Flavors of pineapple and rose petals with an aftertaste of brown sugar that names it an Anhui tea. The liquor is brown-gold with a medium body. This is the last of my batch.

The second and third infusions held up quite well for the age of this tea. The third may have been the best at around 3.5 minutes. A rich chocolate flavor on the front of the tongue appeared out of nowhere to light up the finish.

Brewed in a small gaiwan.

This was a gift from a friend. She bought me several loose teas at a shop in Ocean City, NJ as a thank you for babysitting her cat and garden. I wish I had more information about the teas, but the lack of information has not kept me from enjoying them.

This tisane is good. The cranberry is strong with the orange taking the edge off the tartness. It’s a lovely evening drink when I want to relax with a warm cup of tea and a good book.

I got this as a gift from a friend who recently visited China. She doesn’t remember where she got this from though. I ADORE lychee, so I loved this tea. The lychee aspect was sweet, soft and totally not overdone, which I am glad of. It pairs really well with the black tea base, which is smooth and not bitter at all.

Not bad! But not a repurchase either, I don’t think.
Dry, this tea is highly fragrant, with green/white spots of coconut (I didn’t know it could be green)
Steeeped, well I think maybe I added too much leaf? it was really heavy on the tongue. The black tea is almost entirely hidden, coming out only in the finish and astringency. Coconut is there in the first, middle and last part of the sip. Also, the tea is rather sweet, as expected, without any sugar added at all.
I made a second steep for Dad and only managed to sneak a sip but it was much lighter, I think… I couldn’t tell much else about it.
It doesn’t help that I’ve had a headache since yesterday afternoon and have to be at a family lunch in less than an hour. oh joy. (normally would be more excited without the headache, I swear!)
The one Advil I took isn’t helping so it’s time for another now. bleh.

I don’t know that my unknown Dong Ding is related to the one described above, but it’s a sample from a teaSwap, and if I recall correctly, the swapper didn’t know much about it. But this is a lovely grand tea, a marvelous blend of the roasted, toasted, traditional style, but still full of the deep spicy flavor I associate with Alishan oolongs.

Nice stuff. I’d mostly dismissed Dong Ding, but this convinces me I need to keep exploring.

Can’t pu the time/temp slider on the phone: brewed to fill gaiwan about 2/3 full when hydrated, water 195 degrees, infusions 45 seconds to several minutes by the time i am ready to stop, perhaps 6 or 8 infusions into the session.

I had hoped this would be slightly sweet on it’s own, and I guess it was somewhat, but not enough… even after I added a few swirls of agave.
The tea itself may have been a yunnan base, as it was a touch earthy, underneath the distinct cran essence.
Next time I’ll try it with milk. Still, unless it surprises me with a sudden turnaround I doubt this one will ever make the repurchase list. Too bad, I had lofty dreams for it

Had a matcha latte at Wegman’s tonight – I’ve had it before but can;t find it on here…not sure who they go thru for their matcha…I’m thinking it might be RIshi. Regardless it was quite FAB…frothy, creamy, with a hint of natural sugary goodness!

This is an unknown treasure! I spent three years living in the shadow of Laoshan (Mt. Lao) where this tea is produced. The yearly picking is tiny in comparison to export-driven tea growing areas. Most people in China have not heard of this tea. I am pretty suprised to even see an entry here. If you managed to get your hands on some Laoshan and it was not mind-blowing, please don’t judge all Laoshan tea from that one. As with any area, there is a huge range of quality. The farmers I had a chance to work with still hand process each batch. The best Laoshan tea can hold its own against anything, from Dragonwell to Gyokuro. The fields are fertilized with soybeans to give the tea a more rich and creamy taste. Very interesting tea. I am importing the spring 2011 batch from some farmer friends to introduce it to America properly.

This makes one heavenly cup of tea. It is from Taiwan, and as I got it as a gift and I can’t read kanji I have no idea of the company or any other info than the only English printed text there is on the canister: High land Uolong Tea.

This tea is really unbelievable – it is definitely the best oolong and the best tea I’ve ever had. There’s not a single sign of any astringency, the taste is very soft and flavourful and also somewhat sweet. The scent of this tea – both dry and liquid – is to die for. I sometimes just open the canister to smell this tea – my own personal tea heaven :D

I’ve been drinking this tea for at least 6 months now I think, and I don’t think it has lost almost anything in taste or scent during that time. I still continue to enjoy this very much, this tea always restores my fascination and love for tea if I ever accidentally have been drinking bad teas! :)

A chance buy, and I am really looking for the name of the company which blended this, because it was a tremendous hit with me and some friends. The sencha is there and delicate, the champagne flavour ( it must be artificial but it works) and strawberries just make it so much more lively. A lovely lovely special tea.

Very large whole leaves, expands a lot.

On searching for the blender:
it might be https://www.dethlefsen-balk.de/ENU/27659/22443_flavored%20Sencha%20tea.html?FromNo=10550 , this one.

This tea had such potential to be a delicious dessert tea. I could hardly smell the peach or the vanilla, mostly only the black tea. This was a smooth cup, but I would have loved to taste the peaches and the cream. I didn’t taste either in the cup. I was able to get a few hints of the peach in the smell, but it was very faint.

My boss and I went to ‘our’ cafe this afternoon after work. We discovered it at some sort of tea-introduction event thing a couple of years ago (where I learned exactly nothing and violently disagreed with other things, although I kept my misgivings to myself). They have a fair few things to choose from, although there is a shocking lack of oolong of any sort. Seriously. Not a one.

But anyway, today my boss opted for coffee, so I took a small pot for myself and I chose a sencha with apple and lemon.

It was… lemon-y. Not very sencha-y and not even slightly apple-y, but definitely lemon-y. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail, because it’s several hours later now and I wasn’t paying that much attention, but it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting when I chose it.

Drinkable, nice even if you’re looking for a straight lemon tea, but ultimately disappointing when led to believe there would be more to it.

This is my 100th tasting note!!! Yay for steepster and great tea! I picked this one up in my local loose tea shop (which I am headed to tomorrow with some friends who are tea newbies). It is surprisingly good and is a decaf. It has a definite creamy taste and feel to it. Also has almost a caramel note to it. Very nice for a relaxing evening!

I picked this up at a local tea shop (I will have to find out which company) a few weeks ago. It is a full bodied black tea, with a great pumpkin taste with hints of spice and vanilla. Since I was painting pumpkins with my daughter I thought it was an appropriate afternoon cuppa. Enjoyable!

This is my mellow green tea standby.

… Only one thing comes to mind.

Popcorn soup.

I know I said I was going to write about Bai Hao and Darjeeling, but I’ve got to slip this one in there just for kicks…
This was a piece of Da Hong Pao brick that James brought back from China. I had been holding on to it (as I do with all my aged oolongs), hoarding it for a special occasion…Then I got over it and decided that the tea itself WAS the special occasion…

Nicotine. Dry sandy soil. Bitter, with only a suggestion of roundness. Both aroma and taste reminded me so strongly of tobacco—not smoked, but the dry leaves…although one could say there’s a hint of ash thrown in there. Feels earthy in quality and not so much head-y as heart-y…although I felt it in my 3rd chakra, too! An ancient hearth, charred bits of old sacred manuscripts…the royal secret safe.

My first genmaicha!

I just ordered a green tea at my favorite sushi place, having no idea what kind of green tea it was.
I noticed immediately the toasty rice flavour and had my suspicions it was genmaicha, so I asked the server. She didn’t know the name of it, but did know it was toasted rice green tea.

It was very good! Not too grassy, but definitely green. It was a beautiful colour green. The rice flavour was the predominant one, which was really nice.

At the bottom of the cup there was about half a teaspoon of very fine green powder. It looked like matcha powder it was so fine. No rice, though.

Regardless, I will definitely be getting some genmaicha!

Good batch of leaves (had a cup of it before here at Atlas in Boulder CO) but I let this cup steep too long.

2nd steeping tastes pretty much exactly like the first. There is a tiny bit of peachy flavor in the background.

Update – I forgot to mention this. Last night I learned that I should not drink this at 8pm. Barely slept last night.

When I tried this tea last night at bookgroup, it was brewed with some flowering tea so I wasn’t exactly sure of its flavors. Today I am brewing it all alone. The brewed smell is kind of like a buttery sauteed spinach. Maybe there is a slight bite to it from Ginseng. Maybe if I try hard enough to find it. The flavor is light and not grassy. There is a slight vegetal flavor, perhaps artichoke? I think I added enough tea leaves. It’s very hard to describe but I am really digging it.

Washed the leaves with boiling water for 10 seconds. Brewed 3g to my little 8 oz celadon brewing mug for 2 min. This is the first steeping. The leaves didn’t entirely open on the first brewing.

One of my bookgroup cohorts went to China recently and the only thing she brought back was tea. She brought a bag of Oolong to share with the group. And, she sent me home with a bunch of it in a ziploc bag (woot!). Sadly, I don’t know much else about this tea. It was in a white vacuum sealed bag with Chinese writing. My friend said it was a medium grade Oolong. The leaves were all balled up tight and were shaped like chocolate chips. I don’t think it was a Ginsing Oolong, but it definitely looks like one. Here is a pic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowboardbunny/4624434242/sizes/o/

Does anyone know if the tea could be a regular oolong and look like that?

Anyway, it has a slightly vegetal taste (but not overwhelming) and has a light peachy flavor in the background. We did 2 steepings and both were great.