scottjb Send Message

Appearance: broken leaf black with pieces of pear and malleable caramel chunks. Liquor: light reddish-brown, minimal sedimentation. Smell: sweet black tea. Honestly, I didn’t detect pear or caramel notes in either the dry or brewed tea. Taste: As with smell, I found this nondescript. It was smoother than a lot of black teas, which indicates that it was a good quality black tea leaf, and there was a softening element from something, but it wasn’t distinct. Sugar did help. 4/10.

Appearance: large chunks of whole spices. Liquor: brown with heavy sedimentation. Smell: very strong and spicy. Taste: I don’t actually get the chocolate taste very much with this one. It is a lovely, warm spice blend, with strong cinnamon and cardamom flavors. Standing on it’s own, this is a 5/10. What I actually like to do with this one, though, is blend it with other teas and tisanes. Blended with rooibos is really good, and it’s a nice way of bringing variety to an otherwise nondescript black. As a blending agent, I may rate this as a 7/10.

Appearance: large chunks of dried fruit and chocolate pieces. Liquor: orange hues with considerable sedimentation. I don’t like how the chocolate pieces melt, because it makes the texture of the liquor thicker than it should be. Smell: fruity and chocolate-y. Taste: More fruit than anything, with nice spice notes. The chocolate comes through. Not my standard tea, but in the right mood, this is an okay way to mix it up. 5/10.

Appearance: broken leaf black tea with dried orange zest and visible cacao nibs. Liquor: light reddish-brown (I think the orange lightens it up a little). Smell: fragrant and softly rounded. The orange smell comes through in both dry leaves and the liquor. Taste: smooth, well blended, and the orange comes through. Does not need sugar (which is part of why I like this one). I have a friend who normally drinks coffee but really likes this one when he comes over. 7/10.

I actually bought a bulk purchase of sachets for holiday gifts. Appearance: blend of rooibos and mint leaves, with cacao nibs. Pleasant loose but better in sachets (rooibos has a tendency to slip through many mesh strainers). Liquor: traditional rooibos reddish-brown. Smell: okay, not as good as the taste. Taste: very smooth and surprisingly chocolate-y. The rooibos is a nice, soft base, and the mint is soothing. When I’m in the mood for this, it’s just delicious. 7/10.

I met the proprietress of the Glenburn US distribution arm at the San Francisco International Tea Festival. I loved the Second Flush Darjeeling, and the prices were great, so I grabbed some of this green too, to try on a whim.

Appearance: very pretty dry leaves with some golden tips. The leaves are broken but still unfold nicely during the infusion. Liquor: light amber. Smell: mildly vegetal, with soft honey notes. The smell is light but pleasant. Taste: mildly vegetal with very subtle nutty notes. The flavor was consistent throughout cooling, and I was able to get 3 decent infusions. This is clearly a green tea, but it does not have a particularly assertive flavor (unlike a dragonwell or sencha, for example). This makes it well suited to general drinking throughout the day. Overall, I’m giving this a 8/10 (note – I started out giving this a 7/10, but have revised upward based on how consistent this is as a clear, nutty, afternoon tea).

Triple Leaf Tea – “Green Tea.” Bag (somewhat tenuous connection between string and bag). Appearance: small leaf pieces (fannings, if you prefer). Liquor: slightly darker brown than many green teas. Smell: vegetal. Taste: traditional Chinese-style green. This is a mild green tea that is nice, straightforward, and easy to drink. It does have a slight medicinal taste that comes on stronger as an aftertaste. The tea is not particularly astringent compared with other greens. I would recommend this for people starting green teas, and for people who want a good deal (I got it on a very nice sale at Whole Foods). Plus, the bags are convenient for leaving in a desk drawer for when you want some at work and don’t have your infuser handy. 5/10.

Sky Tea was one of the vendors at the San Francisco International Tea Festival on February 25, 2012. They had a busy table, probably because they were pouring some of the most generous samples at the festival. Despite all of the buzz at the table, Jeni was good at taking time to answer my questions about the various teas on offer. This Monkey King really struck my fancy. It is made using a unique cultivar (shi-da) that grows a really long, thin leaf. While it’s an over-generalization to say that Chinese greens are fired and Japanese greens are steamed, I was very curious about this steamed Chinese green because of the relative rarity of that method.

Appearance: beautiful long leaves. The dry leaves are pressed really thin and distinctly preserve the leaf structures as they came off the plant. They look really pretty after steeping. Liquor: pretty jade green/yellow. Smell: soft vegetal. Taste: smooth, slightly grassy, slightly astringent, well-rounded green tea. The second infusion was deeper, because the leaves had opened already, and more pleasant. Perhaps because of the processing, it reminded me of something in between a Chinese dragon well (which is fired) and a good-quality Japanese sencha (which is steamed). While I really like the tea, I’m not sure that it’s worth the price. This isn’t saying that I think Sky Tea is overcharging for it, because it’s a unique, hand-processed tea that only comes from a specific part of China, and has to be carefully maintained to keep the leaves intact. But because it reminds me of dragon well and sencha, of which good quality options of both are readily available for less, I’m not sure that the uniqueness justifies the price. 8/10.

Loose leaf. Appearance: small, needle-like green and brown rooibos leaves. Liquor: light brown infusion. The only downside is that there is more than a little sedimentation using my standard tea strainer (the leaves are small). Using a cloth sachet makes a big difference. Smell: clean and sweet. Taste: complex, warm, clean, and a little spicy. I can’t describe the taste with any degree of justice because it really is just amazing. The lack of tannins means that you can leave the leaves in for a long time and the liquor remains smooth and delicious (I left some in before leaving to go workout and even after that it was delicious). And the lack of caffeine in rooibos means that this is perfect for after your caffeine cutoff time (mine is about 5:00 pm). This tisane has a nice second infusion. This also works really well cold. I will fill a cloth sachet with the rooibos, fill a pitcher with water, and then leave it in the fridge over night. This very seriously is my new favorite thing. I don’t like the sediment, but the taste is so amazing that I’m still giving this 8/10. I got it at Enjoyingtea.com. Republic of Tea has a number of green rooibos blends that also look really nice.

Appearance: the leaves and stem pieces are rough and cut into lengths similar to many teas. Some twigs were present. Liquor: dark green (greener than a true tea will be). Smell: vegetal and earthy. Taste: as with the smell, this tisane is vegetal and earthy, with sweet grassy notes, and a slightly roasted flavor. The taste is sufficiently tea-like that it caused psychosomatic effects for a friend who had given up caffeine for health reasons. The tisane does not have tannins, so you can steep it for as long as you want without it becoming bitter. I think that it’s tastiest after about 5 minutes, but a shorter infusion can work. Handles multiple infusions. I really like this one straight or blended with mint. I have a slight preference for the green rooibos, but really like this for variety. 7/10.