Helping With a Tea Tasting..Opinions Needed
So my mom’s friend wants to host a tea tasting party and want’s me to be the “Tea Teacher”, as she calls it :P So I’ve prepared a list of teas to take and let them taste. I need opinions! I tried to pick out a nice variety of teas and companies. I want a pure version and a flavored version(excluding the rooibos) to show them how awesome tea is. Let me know if I did ok! It would also be much appreciated if you had any suggestions for the flavored version of the tea. :] Thank you so much!
White Tea-
Bai Mu Dan- Teavivre
BLANK
Green-
Dragonwell- Adagio
A Tisket A Tasket- Adagio
Oolong-
Super Fancy Formosa- Pekko Teas
BLANK
Black-
Dragon Pearls- The Tea Grotto
Glitter and Gold- DavidsTea
Rooibos
Neapolitan- 52Teas
Plus a blooming tea and a matcha from Red Leaf :]
Looks like a great list!
Have you thought about adding a pu-erh?
I’ve thought about it but they are SUPER beginners and I didn’t know what pu-erh I could try. I know people really like it at first or really hate it and have to work up to it..
I do find that the coffee lovers tend to really like a good puerh right off the bat. I tried my two older kids on all kinds of tea and they hated everything until they tried puerh!
a menghai dayi v93 2008 to 2010 would be a good pu-erh to try,ripe or cooked of course.
Wow, that sounds exciting! Hope you enjoy being the “Tea Teacher”!
I can suggest some of our bestselling teas for the blank categories:
Flavored White: Pomegranate Bai Mu Dan http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/white-tea/flavored-scented-blended/pomegranate-bai-mu-dan.html
Lemon Peach Bai Mu Dan http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/white-tea/flavored-scented-blended/lemon-peach-bai-mu-dan.html
Flavored Green: Goji-Blueberry Pomegranate http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/green-tea/flavored-scented-blended/goji-blueberry-pomegranate.html
Green Menthos http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/green-tea/flavored-scented-blended/green-menthos.html
Flavored Oolong: Plum Oolong http://www.mahamosa.com/teabar/en/oolong-tea/flavored-scented-blended/plum-oolong.html
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
Ooo the Lemon Peach Bai Mu Dan and the Plum Oolong sound awesome. I will get back to you :] I’m looking at all your wonderful teas
I don’t drink much white tea, but I have had a few from Davis that I liked (White Tiger stands out in my memory). The Tea Merchant has a delicious flavoured white too, it’s called Blueberry Passion.
As for your picks, go with what you know. I love people making tea for me, I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully and everyone will find at least one to really blow them away. Seems like you might need a lot of pots and cups though! : )
Thank you :] Haha my mom thought of the idea of using shot glasses for everyone as “tasting/aromatic cups”. I have three pots so hopefully that’ll work, if not I’ll swing by the Southeast Market and pick up a few for $5 bucks :]
Your list looks great! That is a lot of tea to try so they are bound to find something they enjoy! My youngest daughter did something similar at a neighbor’s house a while back. We call her the barista! LOL! I bet you will have lots of fun!
The Silk Dragon oolong from The Tea Merchant (theteamerchant.net) is a deliciously flavored vanilla oolong.
Also, the Mandarin Silk Oolong from Art of Tea (artoftea.com) is delicious.
And the Coconut Creme White Tea from Art of Tea is really good coconut.
I have found that citrus flavored greens are a big crowd pleaser. When I say citrus I mean like an Earl Grey Green tea. Citron Green and Canton Green (both Harney and Sons) are always asked for when family gets together.
I like this idea. I think I’m going to use A Tisket A Tasket from Adagio. It has that nice citrus flavor but it has a hint of vanilla in it.
One or 2 fruit and/or herbal ‘teas’ would be good too, I’d think. And maybe a variety of sweeteners, and you could demonstrate how sweetener can boost the tastes of tea? (IMHO they do.)
It depends on the tea, what mood I’m in and what I’ve got on hand. In order of use and favorites:
German Rock Sugar, Apriva/Splenda, Honey, Flavored Agave, Sugar. I tend to not use honey much unless it is a uncomplicated tea/plain tea, or if I am using it to help sooth my throat. The honey tends to take over the flavor. Somewhat the same thing with regular sugar. The rock sugar, is my favorite because it sweetens, boosts and does not take away the flavor of the tea.
As for Puerh, the cornfields shu toucha is a very nice intro to Puerh. It is smooth without being overpowering.
Also the laoshan black is invariably a crowd pleaser to both the uninitiated as well as seasoned drinkers.
Both are available from Verdant
As an oolong lover, I cant help but say that you should have a green oolong and a dark oolong since there’s a massive oolong spectrum. I would hate to see a potential oolong drinker turn their nose up because they never tried a dark oolong or a green oolong.
Well you already have a roasted oolong selected, and I HATE green oolong. I would definitely ask someone else or check steepster’s highest rated oolongs.
For a green oolong you can’t go wrong with Verdant’s Tieguanyin. It is a fantastic example of the type. I would also recommend Naivetea’s infused oolongs for a flavored green oolong, as they are amazing.
Hm I think I have something similar from Harny&Sons. I’m trying to keep the cost of ordering tea to a minimum so the host doesn’t hate me haha
Verdant makes my absolute favorite dark. I had a dark from harny and sons that i hated…. but I don’t know if it scales over to greens. shrug
What a great idea and good luck with the tea tasting. I think you’ve got a great list and some excellent suggestions from the group. If you want to add a full-bodied flavored tea or two (we use Assam tea for our base), below are a few great options for you, especially with the holidays coming up:
Silky Earl Grey: http://www.teajo.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=47
Cranberry Chai: http://www.teajo.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=68
Raspberry Chocolate Bark: http://www.teajo.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=67
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