Tea Pantheon

I have been drinking a lot of Korean teas lately. While I was disappointed with few, the teas produced by SSangkye, Jukro and Hankook far exceeded my expectations. It is true that Korean teas are difficult to brew properly and they need to be really fresh to taste the fine notes that they have to offer, but once one learns, the experience can be truly remarkable. I have obtained the tea from Good Green Tea company http://www.goodgreentea.net/goodgreentea/xe/xe/?mid=pt_gt.
The delivery was superfast and communication excellent. I will be certainly buying more from them considering that their selection of Korean teas is very large and with no shipping charges, much cheaper than from other vendors.

SSangkye Roasting Sejak is a very special tea. It is a green tea which has been roasted in a cast iron wok in white sandalwood charcoal giving it a distinct flavor and scent. Water temperature should be about 170-175F. The teapot has to be warm when placing the leaves. Two rounded teaspoons for 200 ml of water will give the best flavor. The steeps should not be longer than 25 seconds. The tea leaves should be fresh and fragrant smelling since the scent of Korean teas usually matches the taste.

After steeping the leaves for about 10 seconds, I could smell the fragrance of exotic woods and wild flowers. Sandalwood made its delicate appearance followed by a rich scent of myrrh. Another 10 seconds and the tea was ready to drink. The first tasting impression was that of sugar coated baked pears and raisins followed by malty roasted grains. Second steep was more woody, but as flavorful and sweet. The third steep was a bit chalky and bland; the tea already gave its best. While the tea ( like all good quality Korean teas) is expensive, it is well worth the price.

Just awful! You can actually taste burnt sugar and overboiled milk in it with artificial cinnamon flavor. The tea is so bad that there are no words to describe it adequately.

Another great tea from Fong Mong. The balance between the sweet and sour flavors is just amazing. In fact, drinking this tea has convinced me to add Oriental Beauty permanently to my MUST HAVE list. No wonder Queen Elisabeth fell for it.
I have tried this tea from other vendors and it was a disapointment after disapointment.
But the tea from Fong Mong finally met my expectations. It starts slighly sour, lemony then a sweet flavor of maple candy comes forth followed by roasted chestnuts. The tea keeps its flavor for at least 4 -5 steeps hardly changing in taste. Needs longer brewing time than other oolongs. Superb!

I bought this tea on Ebay. A terrible mistake. The tea was tasteless, with little woody fragrance which was gone after the first steep. It was a second Ten Ren tea I had an opportunity to try and I wish I had not. Their products are at best mediocre.

Fantastic tea. This is my latest discovery. The seller is new on EBay, but knows her teas and actually tastes them before selling. Shuangjing is everything a tea lover would want from good green tea. The taste is somewhat between Biluochun and Mao Feng. The tea leaves resemble Biluochun, but it is not just Biluochun tea, but much, much more. The taste is very subtle. You get slight smokiness at start followed by a mellow taste of roasted pecans and ending with the Crème brûlée as the base note. The trick is to use water just hot enough, but not too hot. When the first large bubble comes to the top, the water is ready. Too hot or not hot enough water and you will get entirely different impression. 35 seconds for the first steep should be just fine. The tea is good only for two steeps, but this is typical of many green teas. I am learning to be generous with myself.

Outstanding blend. I was never really interested in blended teas, but this one I got as a sample. I was waiting for a special occasion to try it and it came one rainy day.
The tea caught me by surprise. Such palate of flavors! You got there everything: a chocolate tasting red tea followed by a nutty roasted oolong and ending like a jasmine scented sencha.
Unusual tea, highly recommended for blue days..

I was so impressed with this tea that I ordered a whole bag. This tea never stops to surprise me. The sweet apple taste stays to the very end and the tea can be brewed at least 6 times. It quickly became my favorite. What I have found out though is that depending on water temperature the tea taste changes like a chameleon. To get the linden taste the best is to use water right after the little bubbles start moving around. But even if water is a hotter, it won’t make the tea bitter, only gives more character. The same goes for many other green teas, particularly teas from China. Taiwanese teas seem to be more resistant to leaf burn. I am very pleased with this seller. The quality consistency of their teas is just remarkable.

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This is the best Alishan Jin Xuan tea I have tasted to far. Flowery, with a sweet pecan taste, and milk fragrance which is not too overwhelming, but delicate and balanced. I have been drinking of lot of Taiwanase teas lately. Most differ little from each other, at best in potencies. So, to find a good Jin Xuan tea has not been easy. Most Jin Xuan teas are artificially flavored with milk perfume; very few can offer natural creamy milky flavor of their own. This Fong Mong is among them. The milk flavor is there, but it is not a taste of a cow milk, but milk coming from the plant. Vegetal milk. Very unusual sensation. The tea opens with the flowery outburst followed by the creaminess of resinous vegetal milk. The tea is also good for at least 4 steeps.

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Baked green apples with sugar and cinnamon. Very sweet tea, fruity. I was impressed considering the low price.

Another strongly chocolate black tea from Taiwan. But this tea unlike the other black teas has a distinct flavor of a chocolate truffle covered in a bitter cocoa dust, what makes it a perfect accompaniment to sweet deserts and liquors. With the consecutive brewing the tea develops gentle sweetness and additional flavor of roasted peanuts. Wonderful tea and a keeper, particularly for the special occasions!

Beautiful tea, gentle like a a spring breeze, smelling of linden flowers and magnolia buds.
The taste is quite remarkable, sweet, honey like. Not too grassy and never bitter. I suppose it would be hard to make a mistake with this tea. The seller is located in Taiwan and is extremely friendly and accommodating. His prices are very compatible and his products better than what one usually gets in USA. I have found this seller on Ebay and I am truly pleased with the service. He sells under “teabusiness0517” user name. What a find! I got 8 samples of different teas from him and the Sun-link-Sea is the first I have tried. I will be posting more reviews in the next few days.

The first impression is quite beautiful. The tea opens with the raw almonds notes, followed by a peculiar taste sensation reminding of a boiled artichoke heart. The tea is not overly fragrant, but also not too grassy but rather sweet. However, it takes more than the usual amount of tea to get the full spectrum of flavors while a second steep already shows some decline. I like this tea a lot, nevertheless it is good only for two steeps before it becomes bitter. I wish there was more consistency in taste and fragrance. I feel fooled by this tea. Starts with a bang but ends with a whisper.

It is a really nicde tea, however differs little from other San Lin Xi teas I have tried. I would prefer more individual character, but perhaps I am asking too much. Nutty and fruity. Certainly worth trying.

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Beautiful tea very much similar to Verdant’s Laoshan Green. Needs to be brewed properly or it quickly turns bitter. Will write more later.

This tea is indeed amazing. It opens with a distinct fresh pecans taste, followed by the maple coated macadamias. After few seconds comes the overwhelming flavor of the best French truffles sprinkled with a chocolate powder! Yes, the mushroom truffle! What a sensation! Yet, it never lets you forget that this is a tea. Great for daily drinking but also for a connoisseur. Certainly “must have it”. I need to order more. Shang obviously took much effort to create this masterpiece. What a beauty!

Beautiful tea with a whole rainbow of flavors. Very balanced. With each brewing the tea gives a new taste impression and fragrance.
I really enjoyed drinking it and will certainly order more.

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After some effort I have finally arrived at the optimal brewing conditions for this tea. The taste is definitely reminding of an artichoke. The full spectrum appears very fast in the first steep, that is if the temperature is right. Too hot, and the brew tastes bitter and grassy. But steeped properly it is very attractive taste. Dry leaves smell very much like green chypre perfume with the high notes of galbanum, hyacinth and magnolia leaves. Overall quite seductive.

There is nothing more amusing that a hype written about perfumes and teas which make you drool with anticipation and then rush to buy pounds or gallons in case they get sold out FOREVER. 1980 year for a tea makes it antique by American standards. And indeed, this tea tastes and smells like a very antique ginger root fermented in miso. How does such old ginger root smell and taste? Well, to know it you would need to try this tea. Use hot boiling water and wait 1 minute. The secret should be then revealed to you. As for me, I am going to store it in a ginger jar, hide in a dark place and then wait another 30 years to taste it again.

One of the finest black teas I ever drunk. And the price is so right!
It tastes powdery with strong bittersweet cacao notes and smells like iris flower in full bloom, deep and mysterious. After tasting Bai Lin fromTeavivre or Black Gongfu from Zhi, one would think that it is impossible to get any better, then Verdant appears with his Loashan tea and beats them both. I am rushing to buy more while it lasts. Bravo David!