Mike Jutan

Well, that was freakin’ awesome.

I’m a major fan of Jasmine Silver Needle tea since trying Adagio’s a while back and Imperial Tea Court’s version is an epic contender. It’s a really floral and tasty aroma, and I made it in my brand new gaiwan, also from Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco.

The directions suggested re-steeping for longer periods of time and I tried that, it worked pretty well. But the first 2 steepings were definitely strongest and most flavourful – it lasted maybe for only 4 or 5 steepings (still, not bad!) I used only about 3/4 of a teaspoon for a 4oz gaiwan, so maybe I should use a little more next time. Anyway, this was amazing and tasty and epic and I loved it. Well done!

This was a lot tastier and less astringent than Lupicia’s Jasmine Special Grade, though I think that one is actually a green jasmine. This was very well balanced, great subtle undertones but strong floral, jasmine punch at the beginning. Just awesome.

Upping my rating to 90. This stuff is awesome.

Steeped for 3 min this time rather than 5 (which led to some bitterness), that was perfect. Takes milk very well and is such an awesome afternoon treat. This is really very tasty, so well balanced. The floral and fruity tastes are present but not overwhelming as with other teas. This stuff rocks.

No notes yet.

Thanks to Angel from TeaVivre for the great samples!

This was a very nice tea, similar in style to some silk oolongs I’ve tried in the past. There is a nice green tea-style “vegetal” flavour – it’s got that fresh grassy oolong taste which is very smooth and enjoyable. There is some light sweetness as well that blends nicely together for a very rounded taste – very straightforwardly good. This is a light tea which you could sip very casually and have a nice calm day. Very tasty and a great addition to the tea collection!

Finally got a chance to try this and this is the best Pu-Erh I’ve tried yet.

No gross fishy smell or taste like I got from the Numi Emporer’s Pu-Erh tea bags and a fun and enjoyable brewing method too. Had the iron tea pot with boiled water and poured that into a small yixing clay pot which was a fun brewing method. The server suggested 30 sec brewing time so I followed that generally, or brewed up to 1 min or so. Did about 12 steepings.

At first the flavour was stronger, not quite in-your-face which was very encouraging. This does remind me a bit of Lapsang in the way that it’s more like you’re drinking a fancy hard liquor (like Islay Scotch, or something) than a tea. So a very interesting and fun experience out, and definitely nice vibe to have this outdoors at the fancy Samovar Tea Shop downtown in Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Don’t know if I’d make this one for myself at home if I got some, but it’s a fun tea to have out.

The flavour was rich and inviting but not overpowering which was really surprising. I found myself really enjoying the taste and making comparisons to Samovar’s (very strong) Yerba Mate as well – in the way that it’s sort of a “unique” tea, not an every day one, but it’s fun to have once in a while as you suspect it’s so strange that it’s epically good for your health.

I had a LOT of this tea, 2 full teapots full. I hadn’t had a ton of lunch beforehand so I started to notice the caffeine hitting me pretty hard – also it was a bit harsh on the stomach too – I suspect this might be better if not on an empty stomach. It was very nice while drinking it but perhaps I had too much, this might be a better one to share with someone, or perhaps have only 1 teapot instead of 2. In any case I still liked it and despite the very present flavours and strong reaction I would have it again, prob just with food next time.

Best Pu-Erh yet, but this is making me wonder if you’re not supposed to drink Pu-Erh like you drink Black Tea – I could have 3 mugs of black tea and never feel blech afterwards. Perhaps this is a bit more acidic or something and warrants a little more caution. But in any case it was fun, and I’d try it again.

Thank you to Angel from TeaVivre for these very generous samples!

WOW. This was really fantastic. This is my first experience with TeaVivre and it
was excellent from the packaging to the tea quality. The tea is packaged twice for maintaining freshness, something I did not expect and was impressed with. I made
a large teapot with 2 of the internal packets and this tea impressed the heck out of my visitors from the very start. We did 2 infusions and it held up very well to the 2nd infusion.

The tea flavour was very unique: unlike anything I’ve tried before. This was very interesting and unusual, in a great way. My friend said, “It smells like honey.” I got notes of honey as well but the clearest image in my mind while drinking this tea was, “This is a Green Tea, gone Black!” It really reminded me of the flavour and enjoyment of a good green tea, it just happened to be a black tea! That was a surprising though, but as I drank further that thought continued. Very good! Great with milk or straight-up. A really unexpected and rich flavour, excellent.

No notes yet.

Striking, malty, heavy tones in a nice accessible way. This is a solid Assam tea – taking the malty thickness you enjoy in PG Tips every day and expanding on it more thoroughly, but never in an over-the-top way. Strong nose and quick finish. It’s nice to have an Assam straight for a change instead of as I usually have it, in a blend. Nice work again, Adagio!

Well, THAT was gross.

I keep hearing about Pu’erh tea and feel like I should give it a shot, so I tried this one. It was, as expected, pretty darn gross. People had warned me that Pu’erh can smell very fishy and this one wasn’t VERY fishy, but it definitely had some of that vibe. People say it’s “earthy”, I think it smells like a gross fish market.

It’s funny as Numi’s Chocolate Pu’erh is so mild that it’s basically like a Rooibos and it is definitely good and doesn’t have this gross smell. I gotta try some other Pu’erh’s to be safe, but so far the traditional ones are pretty gross. The taste actually was mostly ok, but the smell was pretty bad and that didn’t sell really work out well for me.

Not bad, but not insanely awesome. I’d say there are probably a lot more Jasmine Green teas from other companies that would be better than this one. It’s ok, but the green tea does not taste a high quality as others I’ve tried and the Jasmine I found lacking in the flavour, and a little in the smell too. So it’s a good tea for camping, but when you’re at your house, rock a loose-leaf version of this from another company instead and I bet it’ll be better.

Pretty good, but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary here. I tend to like flavoured teas when the underlying tea is so subtle, and this one feels like just straight Green Rooibos. It’s not bad, in fact the quality is very nice, but when you compared it to something like the Adagio flavoured Green Rooibos from Lupicia, it’s tough to beat that one. Good tea, but pretty standard vibe.

This is my 2nd venture into the crazy land of Pu’erh tea and again, it was great.
I think I am totally not doing this right though – since both Pu’erhs I have tried so far
have been Chocolate-flavoured.

This one takes it a step further and puts Rooibos and spicing in there too – it’s actually a bit like a Chocolate Chai tea I tried a while back. There is not much here not to like, it’s well-blended and the flavours are very mild and subtle compared to what I was expecting.

This one, along with the Chocolate Strawberry Pu’erh I had a couple weeks ago, seem like Pu’erh with training wheels. I should probably try one of the gross fishy-smelling Pu’erhs sometime so I can see what it’s really supposed to taste like. But in any case, this is pretty good and definitely a solid cup of tea. A bit different than the usual kind of tea I would drink, but nice to try a new category of teas!

It’s good, but I think I might be doing something wrong. :) In my past experience with white teas, the steep time is usually 1 min or so, and temperature about 175. The packaging suggests steeping for 4 minutes at 205 which seems a little high for white tea?

I have tried a couple of different temperatures and I think I need to experiment more to really get a good feeling for what works best with this one. Probably what I really need to do is steep it in a Gaiwan instead, given the specific instructions for this style.

Anyhow – it IS very good and tasty and certainly well-balanced. I don’t have much Jasmine experience but I’m comparing it in my mind to Jasmin Mandarin Special Grade from Lupicia and the Jasmine Silver Needle from Adagio.

Jasmine Silver Needle is similar in some ways, but it does have a much more punchy floral Jasmine smell and flavour. I know tons of people can’t stand that, but I find it really interesting and very enticing. I think I need to appreciate this tea for being a little more subtle than the Adagio cousin/relation of this. I’ll have to try a few different temperatures and steep times to get a better idea of what works best.

If anyone has any suggestions on steep time or temperature for this tea, I’d love to hear some comments!

Verdant Teas really knocks their black teas out of the park.

This is quite chocolately like the Laoshan Black but definitely some spicy business going on in the background. Comparing this to the glorious tea standard by which we always compare – PG Tips of course – this actually reminds me a little bit of our friend PG Tips. I don’t have my Assams and Ceylons in order in my head, but I do get some similarity to it somehow. I guess it’s because I associate PG Tips with just being a very solid, excellent, strong-willed cup of tea, and Yunnan Gold Buds arrives well in the same category. Very nice, pretty bold and “stands up to be noticed” as someone mentioned.

I like it a lot. I’ll have to try some multiple steepings to see how it changes.

All this talk of Gaiwans makes me want to try making this tea the “real” way :)

Wow. Excellent!

Bought some tea from Verdant Tea and they added in a sample of the Autumn Harvest Laoshan Black for me. It was really excellent – a solid, powerful cup of tea with a really nice broad flavour: a little malty, a little chocolatey too. Not overpowering by any means, just a really solid cup. Excellent flavours. Looks like another Black Tea win for Verdant Teas!

So glorious. The first Silk/Milk Oolong I tried was from Red Blossom and they stopped carrying it a while back. While I was sad about that, I found out that the awesome Aroma Tea Shop sells a similar style of Oolong which is even better. This one is very smooth and buttery. You can re-steep this several times, the packaging says 3 or 4 infusions should be good. It’s really excellent and very much worth spending a little extra to get some of this for yourself. Excellent!

Nice Oolong base, high quality and smooth as the Lupicia Teas tend to be. It’s very nice and interesting but I had to read the write-up about this tea to realize it was a Plum flavouring. It’s nice, certainly, but it’s not a very strong flavour – just a slight tinge to add to a good Oolong base. A very straightforward tea – a tad underwhelming maybe, but still solid.

Blllerrggggggh. Bahhhhh I really didn’t like this one. This is the first tea from Lupicia that I haven’t liked. The smells is nice and interesting and pretty fun, it seems like it would be good.

I tried it with a splash of 2% milk and I just gotta say, it tastes like melted butter – and not in a good way!! It’s very rich and kinda gross, it feels like you’re drinking butter. Not fun. I’m gonna try it again with maybe a lighter steep time or hotter water or something. But I’m pretty sure I hate this one, I’m gonna have to give it away if it’s as gross next time.

Sorry Lupicia, an epic winning streak but finally one tea of yours that I don’t actually just love. Strange! Anyway, I’ll give it another shot and report back if it’s awesome. If it’s gross, I’m totally giving this away. :)

After trying the Jasmine Silver Needles from Adagio I had to explore Jasmine tea more thoroughly. Man, this one is great. Lupicia in San Francisco has a batch of these with an expiry date in a few months, so they said it will only stay fresh for about 6 months – I think I can finish this off in a few weeks :)

This tea is very nice – the strong Jasmine smell which some people don’t like I think is damn awesome, and I’m keen to grab another cup. This one seems to re-steep well, I’m actually just about to make a 2nd cup of it.

The flavour is very nice and smooth as the Lupicia teas tend to be. It blends well with Green Tea. I tried it boiling as well as at normal green tea temperatures (175F) and it seems to hold up pretty well at both.

Lupicia had this one in-store this week when I went to buy more stuff from them. You know I was a little nervous to try Pu’erh given the “it tastes fishy” comments I’ve heard from people. But actually this one was quite nice. Someone else on here mentioned, it’s like “Pu’erh with training wheels” – which I think is a good comment. It was quite nice, the blend of chocolate and strawberries was mild and it’s holding back any sort of intense gross flavour – so I think it was a good intro :) I’m gonna try a more “true” pu’erh soon and see if I like it or if I think it’s gross. I’m nervous about it for some reason. I think because I smelled one at Lupicia and it smelled like a fish market! This one certainly didn’t and seems to be holding back the crazy well. A good intro.

Wow, holy crap that was fantastic. It’s more like a concoction of fruit/juice than a tea, and there is so much stuff (goji berries, apples, oranges etc) that it’s not really tea. I think I saw some random small leaves of white tea, somewhere in there. But it does taste fantastic. It’s a very powerful fruit smell and it’s really just awesome. I bet this would rock as an iced tea too. Tried this from a friend but I think I need to buy my own, it’s a great combo. And mostly herbal given the amount of fruit in it, so I’d say the caffeine count would be pretty low.

Really good! A pretty awesome chocolate flavour and the combo with strawberries is very good. Careful not to oversteep, it got a little bitter so next time I’ll steep it a little less. Very nice, great combination.

Not bad, but not as awesome as I was expecting. I thought it might be something like – the appropriately named – “Adagio” tea from Lupicia, very grapefruity and citrusy both in smell and taste. The smell of the leaves initially (out of water) was great. When they got into the cup the lost a lot of that pizzazz that I was expecting. The flavour as you drink it is also not as strong and powerful as I had hoped. The taste was pretty nice, but after having that Adagio or some of the other Grapefruity teas from Lupicia, I was expecting a bit more punch. Nice, but not life-changing.

Holy sweet damn this is some friggin’ epic tea.

What the?!??!?!! Jeez, I didn’t expect this kind of sweet flavour. I liked the sound of it, the idea sounded very tempting and the blend turned out to be out-of-this-world. I’ve never really had much jasmine before but maaaan what a combination. The white tea is a beautiful balance with the flavoursome and fragrant jasmine, and I could drink this all the time. It is very smooth, just fantastic. I’m gonna order a truckload more of this.