SimpliciTEA

_{Preliminary (and perhaps only) review}

I got this as a courtesy sample from Life in Teacup with one of my orders from them this spring (thank you Gingko!). I have lots going on tonight, and I wasn’t thinking at all of doing a review, but this tea was so good I told myself to set aside the perfectionist, and simply take about 10 minutes to write and post a short-if even terse-review (OK, I think it ended up taking about 25 minutes, but that’s not bad for me!).

I feel I am coming to know what to look for in a quality spring Chinese green tea having tried many dozens of them (not to include all of the flavor-added varieties) from almost as many different tea retailers. I am very particular about what I want to experience in the best Chinese spring green teas in that I expect them to be appealing in every way, most notably in appearance, aroma, and taste (a clear-colored tea liquor is good, as well). For example, I want the dry leaves to look and smell fresh, and I want them to look the way that that particular type is tea is supposed to look (if I happen to know what that is). I want it to be comprised mainly—if not entirely—of whole leaves and buds. I would like it to look beautiful while steeping in my glass teapot. I want the tea liquor to have a fresh and preferably mild, aroma. And finally I want it to taste fresh, without any odd or off flavors (preferably when at room temperature as well as when hot).

So, all that to say, this tea meets just about every one of the above criteria (the leaf just hung out on the bottom of my glass 14 OZ mini-teapot for the first two steepings, and I prefer that it hangs from the top so I can ‘see’ or appreciate the leaves in their fullness). The dry tea is comprised of tiny curls with a nice variance in light and dark green colored leaves, all of which are beautiful and remind me of Bi Lo Chun (a quality spring Chinese green). It smells fresh. The wet leaf looks whole, with a mixture of and light dark green colored leaves, and smells fresh. How re-fresh-ing! And, on taste, although I still struggle with the best way to describe the exact flavors, it seems to be vegetal, nutty, fresh. Nonetheless, it clearly has a flavor that I have come to expect in only the finest grades of Chinese spring green tea.

I also wanted to post this because after trying a number of green tea samples from Life in Teacup (some from her blog sale), it has become apparent to me that she truly knows quality Chinese tea, and it seems that she knows where to get it. I am grateful for what Gingko has to offer to us ‘tea enthusiasts’, and I am grateful for Steepster, as that is how I discovered Life in Teacup, Gingko, and her wonderful teas!

_{It has been many months since my last review, and I hope to start writing (and posting) reviews for teas again, although probably not as often as I had previously.}

Preliminary review

The leaf is stated as being harvested on March 25, 2012. I received 15 grams of this tea as one of many tea samples provided by Teavivre during the summer (thank you Angel and Teavivre!) and as the wife is out for the evening, I decided to brewed it up for the first time (she likes jasmine even less than I do, and she’s very particular about not wanting to drink a ‘type’ or ‘flavor’ of tea she previously disliked).

This tea looks like any standard silver needle tea I have seen (having had a few), and on the first inhale it smells strongly of jasmine, but not in a overpowering way. After taking a little more time to really take in all that the dry leaf aroma has to offer I could smell what I believe was the fresh white tea underneath the Jasmine scent.

I brewed about 2 full teaspoons of this tea using my standard parameters for my white teas by starting at 170F (I was actually shooting for ~165F) for 2 minutes in my new 14 OZ Glass Victorian Trading Company teapot (I absolutely love this little teapot), adding a bit of Stevia. I did three steeping sessions.

The tea liquor was a light straw color—possibly a little more yellow than what I am used to seeing in the liquor of a silver needle style white tea, with a mild jasmine scent.

It tasted light and refreshing, as any quality, fresh white tea seems to me to taste, such that the jasmine was not overpowering (as it seems to be in just about any other jasmine scented tea I have had).

The tea buds stood straight up and down—as silver needles are suppose to—while brewing; the buds smell about the same wet as dry, with a jasmine scent; interestingly enough, the buds are greener-looking than any other white tea I have seen. There are a few brownish looking buds and bud-ends, and a few stems, but otherwise the wet tea was comprised of nice-looking greenish-colored buds.

For the record, I want to emphasize that I am not a fan of jasmine flavored teas. I’ve only had a few (one or two green and one black) and I didn’t even remotely like them. So, I was leery about even agreeing to try this one (it is my first jasmine silver needle white tea). Still, after doing three steepings with it, although it’s not a tea I would choose to buy and drink, I will admit it has its appeal: it’s light and fresh, reminding me of the simple pleasure of spending a quiet sunny Sunday afternoon in a spacious garden or some high-ceiling-ed glass-walled atrium where floral scents abound. It held up well through three steepings (when I brew up the remainder of the sample at a later date I hope to push for 4, possibly 5). I am starting to think this may actually be the tea to change the way I view jasmine scented tea. Teavivre claims this tea is “the absolute highest quality scented white tea available,” and having tried many teas from them to date, and from what I have experienced here, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is indeed true.

As it’s my first type of this tea (and a preliminary review), I am leaving off the numerical rating.

Experience buying from Teavivre http://steepster.com/places/2857-teavivre-online—

Note: this review is based on the 2012 harvest.

I received 15 grams of this tea as one of many tea samples provided by Teavivre. Thank you Angel and Teavivre!

This Long Jing Green Tea is advertized as being harvested on March 3, 2012. I brewed this up roughly a week after I received this tea.

Everything about this Dragon Well speaks of its quality: the characteristic appearance and fresh aroma of the both the dry and wet leaf, the movement of the leaves while steeping (more below), and it’s seemingly well-known sweet nutty flavor. As it seems most Long Jings do, this one yielded a mildly green colored liquor.

I started with my standard green tea times and temperatures when steeping (starting at 180F and one minute), and increased the time and temperature up through five steepings. While steeping, the leaves were all on top for 1st and 2nd, half and half on 3rd, such that they were up and active all the way to the 5th; I found the steeping of the leaves enjoyable to watch (with some teas the leaves simply sit on the bottom during the later steepings with little to no activity). I don’t know what all that activity means, but my guess is that movement is an indicator that there is life in the leaves.

I found that the wet leaf had the tell-tale signs of being a quality Long Jing: whole leaves interspersed with plenty of buds and bud sets, all of a uniform army green color. Although it is not the quality of Life in Teacups’s Da Fo Long Jing (the highest quality Long Jing I’ve yet had), this is clearly from a quality pluck.

The flavor was strong, and my wife and I both liked it. Still, as much as I like the taste of a quality Long Jing—and after having a number of them—I am finding that they all have a flavor profile that is not at the top of my list of favorite green teas. It had good flavor up to three steepings and on the forth it had a slight change in flavor that seems to be characteristic of Long Jings, something I don’t quite care for; I don’t know how to describe it, but it may be that it’s too nutty for me. Still, the fifth had an impressive amount of good flavor. With one exception, this is probably the best tasting true Long Jing green tea I have ever had. The price ($20 / 100g) is probably not too bad for an organic Long Jing of this quality, but it’s still too expensive for my tastes; personally, I would rather purchase a less expensive Long Jing. Price aside, this is a Long Jing I would be willing to drink on a regular basis.

_{Preliminary review}

Experience buying from Life in Teacup http://steepster.com/places/2861-life-in-a-teacup-online-easthampton-massachusetts

I bought an ounce of this from Life in Teacup in the spring of 2012 and brewed it up days later on 6/22/2012.

Nothing stands out about the appearance of the leaf: to me the dry leaf looks like Chun Mee, and while brewing it (no in-depth analysis yet) I can see that the wet leaf has a number of torn pieces in it; still it’s relatively uniform-looking with an army green color and a number of whole leaves (looking at it while sitting in my strainer/sieve after I did the third). The aroma while steeping on the third was kind of sour (I did the third steeping pretty short after ‘sniffing’ a sour aroma), and not really very pleasant (at least to me it’s wasn’t).

Still, after having three steepings of this tea this morning, my wife and I both like the flavor of it: no smokiness, no astringency or bittterness, with a mild but good, vegetal flavor (and solid flavor even on the third). Tentatively speaking (based on this initial steeping session), this one is a possible re-buy the next time I buy tea from Life in Teacup (at $4 / OZ).

I hope to update this (and assign a numerical rating) the next time I do another steepings session on it.

Experience buying from Teavivre http://steepster.com/places/2857-teavivre-online—

UPDATE on 12-1-12: I just finished the last 2-3 grams of this tea in my 14 OZ mini glass teapot, brewed following my standard green tea steeping times and temperatures. I don’t have much to report over what I wrote previously. Still, I am posting this because multiple steeping sessions creates more data from which to make a judgement about how I feel about a tea. Briefly, this tea tastes a lot like many Huang Shan Mao Feng type green teas I have had in that this tea has a slightly smoky flavor; it is decent tasting and as I haven’t had a smoky green tea in awhile the flavor was a nice change from the standard green tea flavor profile I usually enjoy. If you like Huang Shan Mao Feng you may like this tea, but as I am personally not a huge fan of smoky green teas this tea is not something I feel I need to have on hand.

Note: this review is based on the 2012 harvest.

After Angel sent me a PM requesting I review a group of selected tea samples she was willing to send me, I requested this particular spring green tea to try out as well (along with one other), and she willingly sent it along with the rest. Thank you Angel and Teavivre!

This Xin Yang Mao Jian green tea is advertized as being harvested on April 19, 2012. I brewed this up days after I received this tea.

I was happy all around with the Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng (OTMMF) green tea I tried of theirs just days ago, so I was looking forward to trying this one as well. This one smelled as fresh as the OTMMF, but with a hint of roasted smokiness to it. The tea was a little more standard looking: small, wire-y, dark-green looking leaves. as with the OTMMF I held a little back to give me the option of brewing it up in my gaiwan at a later time.

The temperature on the first steeping—185F—ended up being a little hotter than I was aiming for—180F (although I am now much more proficient with using my thermometer, using it to determine the actual temperature in the teapot while pouring is very tedious and often troublesome). I noticed that the leaves seemed to love sitting on the bottom of my glass Bodum for every steeping. The color of the liquor was a cloudy greenish, and there was something in the aroma that I have not found in four different green teas I had brewed up on previous days; it was interesting, and may have been sweet and/or nutty (possibly like a Dragon Well). I brewed it on the first steeping for 1.5 minutes.

The wet leaf smelled OK, but not as fresh as the other fresh green teas I have been brewing up. I also noticed after the first steeping that it looked worn—some of the leaves looked torn and as-a-whole they had an uneven look about them. It’s funny that it just dawned on me that I composted the leaves after the forth steeping, so no ‘wet leaf analysis’; ooops! I may do one when I brew up the remaining amount of the dry leaf. The coloring, however, was clearly fresh: it was a vibrant green color (I feel I have looked at enough green teas to be able to spot the difference between a fresh one and an old one).

It had a good, strong vegetal flavor (possibly stronger than the OTMMF), with a somewhat smoke-y note (my wife didn’t get a chance to smell the dry leaf on this one, yet she noticed the smokiness when drinking it before I said anything). When it cooled to room temperature the smokiness was even more prominent (it reminded me somewhat of a good tasting Huang Shan Mao Feng). The smokiness wasn’t too strong though; as a rule, my wife DOES NOT LIKE SMOKY FLAVORS IN TEA, but for some reason, she still liked the taste of this one (I was watching her while she took her first sip, wondering if she was going to make a face that meant she didn’t like it, but thankfully ‘that look’ never made an appearance).

I did a total of four steepings, and there was considerable difference in the flavor on even the second steeping. I brewed the second at 185F for two minutes, and the flavor was weaker and not as fresh as the first; it was definitely lacking something that all of the other fresh teas had been gifting me with all week, and there was nothing ‘quality’ about it. This lack of freshness in the later steepings was disappointing to me, as I felt this was a possible ‘buy’ until then. The third and forth weren’t any better (with hotter temperatures and longer steeping times): it was as if the flavor was flat. I do consider the possibility that 185F was too hot for the first steeping, and so it scorched the leaves; but if it’s truly that delicate, or finicky, or whatever I want to call it, I don’t want to mess with it (I always figure there may be a five degree variance between the temperature I am shooting for and what it actually is in the pot).

It’s a decent tasting, fresh green tea, but its actually more expensive ($11.50 / 100g) that the OTMMF ($10.90 / 100g), so I think I’ll be putting my money on the OTMMF.

_{Backlogging and based on a few notes and on memory}

Experience buying from Den’s Tea http://steepster.com/places/2923-dens-tea-online-torrance-california

I bought two ounces of this at the end-of-2011/beginning-of-2012 and brewed it up at least once not long after I bought it.

I have very scant notes, but here they are: “Love the leaves/stems (I think because of how green they looked). 1st: 180F Bright lime-green, frothy! Smells vegetal, roasted,& coconut? Taste: OK. Decent. vegetal, somewhat mild.” I remember not being very impressed with the flavor, but I bought this because it is supposed to have lots of theanine, so I think of it as a tea to brew up if I feel I need an extra dose of tea to help with mindful relaxation.

My first Green Kukicha, so no rating.

_{Backlogging and based on memory}

Experience buying from London Tea Room Positive.

My wife loves mango flavored tea (she drinks Trader Joe’s Mango black tea iced EVERY SINGE DAY), so we bought two ounces some of this last summer (at the time I was trying to break her of her ‘tea bag’ habit). We brewed it up both on it’s own and as a blend with another tea (I think a green tea) and both were tasty. I LOVE smelling this one. We tried it iced, and it was good, but not as good as Trader Joe’s black tea version, so it never did replace the Trader Joe’s Black Mango as her everyday tea. Still, this is a tea I would consider buying again (and I’m not a big ‘fruit tea’ guy).

_{Backlogging and based on memory}

Experience buying from Harney & Sons http://steepster.com/places/2779-harney-and-sons-on-line-millerton-new-york

I bought this in the hopes of using it to flavor the later steepings on our mid-to-lower quality green teas. It didn’t seem to blend well with one green tea I tried it with, and it’s not that great on its own, either. It looks colorful, but it smells artificial, not really like mango at all, and it has an ‘off’ taste to it. It’s surprising, as I have found all of H&S’s ‘real’ Teas to be of a good quality. I might try one of Teavivre’s fruit blends instead, as theirs are very inexpensive (~$5.50 / 100g). I have found London Tea Room’s Mango ’n Friends to be MUCH better.

I think this was my first fruit tea, so I’ll leave off the rating.

_Backlogging

Experience buying from Teavana Online http://steepster.com/places/2822-teavana-online-atlanta-georgia

I bought 2 OZ of this in their year-end Heavenly Tea Sale at 75% off.

It looks almost as good as the picture: lots of colorful goodies mixed in with huge reddish-purplish yum-berries and a few rolled oolong tea leaves. It smells about like any Tie Guan Yin accompanied by weaker notes of berries. I brewed this up as I do any oolong.

Tea liquor smelled about like any TGY: floral, and with the barest hint of berries, and it had a very light strawberry color.

It tasted basically like a TGY in the first steep (there may have been some berry notes in there; admittedly I didn’t ‘look’ too hard). The second steeping had the strongest (and best) flavor, like a decent TGY (no fruit or berry flavor at all), with mild flavor on the fifth. “No flavor any different than a (standard) TGY.” It is a beautiful looking tea, but in every other respect it’s like a decent Tie Guan Yin. In my judgement, it’s not anywhere near worth it all full price ($12 / 2 OZ), or even at 50% off, but I’m glad I got to try it for a few bucks.

_{Backlogging and based mostly on memory}

Experience buying from Village Tea Company Positive.

I ordered from Village Tea Company in the fall of 2011 (they had a special going on that they advertized on Steepster, something like $10 off $20), and along with the awesome tasting vanilla rooibos, we got these. We brewed these pouches up a number of times that fall/winter.

I think we were able to get three decent steepings out of each pouch. The pouches are nice-looking, seem to have plenty of room for the leaf to breath, and seem well-designed.

It looks like there are nice-sized tea leaves in the pouches, and it all smells great.

I really like their cardboard containers: they are stylish and the lid fits very tightly.

It’s a quality chai, and so we have enjoyed these each time we brewed them up (with soy milk). I like the convenience of the pouches as my wife can brew these up on her own.

I think this was my/our first whole-leaf chai—not counting standard type tea bags (it’s hard to remember now) so I’m leaving off the rating.

_{Backlogging and based on memory}

Experience buying from Sanctuary T http://steepster.com/places/2940-sanctuary-t-online-new-york-new-york?visit=1642

I bought two ounces of this at the end of 2011. I brewed it up not long after (it may have only been once).

I liked everything about this tea: the dry leaf, the aroma, the flavor.

I’m not certain, but I think I brewed this up as I do any green tea.

The only other thing I have to say about this tea at the moment is that they advertize it as a “Korean” green tea, but the leaves look like green tea leaves intermingled with black ones (I can somewhat see it when its dry, but it was obvious when I did my wet leaf analysis). They don’t mention anything in their description of this tea about black tea leaves (unless calling it FOP means it contains black tea leaves, and I don’t think that’s the case). I really can’t believe that the dark brown leaves that stand in stark contrast against the dark green leaves are non-oxidized leaves as well. It just ain’t so. I have a green tea blend from Teavana (Golden Jade) and this “Korean” tea looks a lot like it (that’s not bad, mind you, as the Golden Jade is a quality green/black blended tea). All of those “observations” (along with other things I mention in my company review of SanctuaryT) makes me question whether or not this is truly a Korean green tea. It’s good, but it’s got oxidized leaves mixed in with the green ones, or I’m a rhino. So, although they advertize it as Korean, I don’t know that it really is. AND, if it’s a blend then tell me it’s a blend. There, I’ve said my peace.

My first “Korean” green tea, so no rating.

_{Backlogging and based partially on memory but mostly on my notes}

Experience buying from Jing Tea Shop http://steepster.com/places/2780-jing-tea-shop-on-line—

I bought a sample of this with an order from them during the late spring of 2011. I brewed it up a couple of times since then.

It looked like any quality Tie Guan Yin I had ever seen pictures of in that it had dark green leaves rolled in tight balls; it smelled fresh and vegetal.

I did six steepings starting out at 187F and 30" and used slightly hotter water and added 15" for each successive one.

Flavor: my notes say it was good through the fifth steeping, but no notes on the sixth (except that I did one).

I believe this was my first TGY (so no rating), thus watching the leaves slowly unfurl through each steeping was quite an experience for me.

The only notes about the wet leaf: “Almost no pieces; nice, full, large, army-green colored leaves with serrated edges”. That’s all I have for now. I still have some, so I hope to update this at some later time.One a final note, I am very slowly starting to appreciate the wonder that is Oolong Tea!

_{Backlogging and based entirely on my notes}

Experience buying from Life in Teacup http://steepster.com/places/2861-life-in-a-teacup-online-easthampton-massachusetts

I got this as a free sample from Life in Teacup in the fall of 2011 and brewed it up on 12/14/2011.

This tea had long, dark-brown twisted leaves that reminded me of a darker roasted oolong; it had a gunpowder-y aroma similar to the Wuyi oolongs I have had, but more uplifting, rather than earthy.

I used my standard oolong steeping times and temperatures (I found this to be surprising, but I think I treated this as an oolong). There were seven grams of dry tea to three cups of water. The the liquor had a light caramel color, with a mild aroma (malty?). The flavor was good, similar to a Wuyi oolong. It had some mild flavor on the forth steeping. The wet leaf looked like any quality oolong I have seen: large, whole leaves ranging in color from dark green to dark brown.

Overall, my understanding is that this is technically a red tea (so fully oxidized), and yet it was best Wuyi-like tea I have ever tasted: it was sweeter and not as roasted as most Wuyi oolongs tend to be. I enjoyed watching the leaves slowly unfurl with each steeping. Although I stopped at four steepings, it may have had more to give. I enjoyed everything about this tea (although I’m not a big Wuyi oolong fan this one was sweeter).

_{Backlogging and based solely on memory}

Experience buying from Art of Tea http://steepster.com/places/3023-art-of-tea-online-santa-cruz-california

Date of Purchase/Amount of Leaf/Date of Steeping: Bought in late 2011, sample of roughly a little over an ounce, steeped up sometime in March 2012.

I liked this tea the most out of the four teas in Art of Tea’s White Tea sampler. It reminded me (and my wife) somewhat of a quality green tea, in that it was somewhat vegetal in its flavor profile with the standard white tea ‘sweet hay’ notes mixed in. I would happily drink this tea often, but it’s somewhat pricy by my standards ($20 /4 OZ), especially given their shipping is $7 USD (I believe), but this is the tea I like the most from them after having tried four whites and two greens.

_Backlogging

Experience buying from Sanctuary T http://steepster.com/places/2940-sanctuary-t-online-new-york-new-york?visit=1642

I got some of this at the end of 2011. I don’t like it as much as Village Tea Co.’s Sweet Grace Vanilla Rooibos (I love the vanilla in that one), but as I like red rooibos, I like this tea: the rich aroma, the deep red color, the tobacco-y taste.

I find the pricing structure of this tea at SanctuaryT to be interesting. It’s $10 / 2 OZ, and $24 / 8 OZ. So it drops from being $5 / OZ when you buy 2 OZ, to $3 / OZ when you buy 8 OZ? I haven’t seen that big a spread on the price for buying only six ounces more anywhere that I can remember (SpecialTeas had a reasonable discount for buying two pounds over buying four ounces—I think it was 25%, but that makes more sense to me, because I’m buying a lot more). Don’t get me wrong, I like that we get a discount for buying more, something just doesn’t smell right to me about that pricing structure. And the prices on all of herbal teas I checked (at least seven across different herbal types) are all exactly the same price; that seems odd to me, too.

Even at $3 / OZ it’s not a very good price for an straight herbal rooibos tea (I think you can get it for about $2 / OZ elsewhere: I just checked and Culinary’s is $5 / 4 OZ). I don’t get it; unless we are being charged a premium because they are based in NYC. … When I went to post this I realized it’s organic (It’s not a part of it’s name on their website, but now I see the Organic trademark at the bottom of the description). Can it being organic make THAT big a difference in the price? I just checked again, and it looks like most of their herbal tea are organic, but not all. The Chocolate Honeybush is not organic (at least its not labeled as so), and it has the same price structure as the rest. What’s up with that!?

Pricing aside, I have determined that I like red rooibos; so the question now is, will I like green rooibos?

_Backlogging

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought eight ounces of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off.

This was my first pu-erh, and with the exception of a blended pu-erh from Teavana, my only one to date. I don’t have much to say about it, except that I did only one steeping with one Tuo Cha in my teapot and three to four cups of boiling water for five minutes, almost a year ago (my notes show that I rinsed it), and I remember thinking the flavor was earthy, and the liquor was black (I have never before or since seen ‘black’ tea). I am simply stating this here for my records before I forget. I am deliberately staying away from pu-erh, because I have plenty already to keep the tea enthusiast in me happy concentrating on green and oolong teas (at the moment). But, some day, some day …

_{Backlogging and based almost entirely on a few notes}

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

I got this as a free sample with an order from Tea Trekker in the spring of 2011.

This was a bud-only fresh spring green tea. The leaf was “dark green” while the wet leaf was “bright green!” I started a little cooler and shorter than my standard green tea steeping parameters, and I got four ‘good tasting’ steepings, and one more ‘decent tasting’ steeping out of it (for a total of five). “Tasty, vegetal.” That’s all the notes I have. I do remember being impressed with the freshness of the flavor and leaf (it was one of the first spring green teas I have ever tried), and at the vibrancy of the leaf.

It was originally $20 / 4 OZ, but now it’s one sale for $12 / 4 OZ either way, that seems to be a good price for a bud-only green tea.

Since I remember very little about it (and as it was one of my first spring green teas), I’m leaving off the rating.

_{Backlogging and based on my memory and a few notes}

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

I bought four ounces of this back in the spring of 2011, and I have been brewing it off-and-on since then with temperatures a little lower than the ones I normally use for any other black tea.

I have had at least four Darjeelings to date. Here are my notes (almost verbatim): “Good flavor, not too brisk; good color. (My wife) and I really liked it. Muscatel → distinctive – floral? Beautiful clear amber color. Not bitter or astringent. Uplifting finish.” I started my first steep at 190F, otherwise I used my standard black tea parameters while steeping; my notes show that I got two good steepings and a third that was noted as, “mild, but still tasty”; I must have stopped at three.

I have noticed that Darjeelings do not seem to do very well with multiple steepings, beyond say two or three, and as cost conscience as I am, I prefer to get lots of steepings out of a tea that goes for $5 or more (I have been able to get five good steepings out of a number of quality Chinese red teas). I am intrigued by the various subtleties in the first and second flush Darjeelings, but still don’t feel I have to have a FF Darjeeling in my cupboard.

This is my first FF Darjeeling, so I’m leaving off the rating.

(I still have some of this, so I may update this review at a later time).

Experience buying from Life in Teacup http://steepster.com/places/2861-life-in-a-teacup-online-easthampton-massachusetts

_{I wasn’t originally going to do a review for this until I brewed it up next, but, why not do a preliminary review now?}

I bought an ounce this tea and received it just last weekend from Life in Teacup, brewing it up this this morning. I tried a sample of the 2011 harvest last fall, and found it good enough to warrant buying and trying an ounce of the fresh stuff this year. It looks, smells and tastes a lot like Verdant Tea’s Early Summer Laoshan green tea, except that this one doesn’t hold up on the flavor through multiple steepings as well, and the wet leaf has lots of broken leaves (making me realize this is an exception to a note I made in a review of Teavivre’s tea, stating that LiT’s green Teas never have broken pieces in them. Ooops!).

I brewed it as I do the Early Summer Laoshan, starting at 180F for two minutes. It has pretty good flavor, but not quite as good as Teavivre’s Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng we had yesterday, and not as good as I remember the Early Summer Laoshan tasting (I hope to brew that one up tomorrow to compare). It had decent flavor up through three steepings and a bit of flavor on the forth. For a decent tasting fresh green tea it’s a good value ($2.50 / OZ).

Experience buying from Teavivre http://steepster.com/places/2857-teavivre-online—

After Angel sent me a PM requesting I review a group of selected tea samples she was willing to send me, I requested this particular spring green tea to try out as well (along with one other), and she willingly sent it along with the rest. Thank you Angel and Teavivre!

Just this weekend I received a package with all ten samples of the teas she said she would send (yay!), each weighing roughly 15 grams. This particular spring green tea is advertized as being harvested on March 6, 2012. I brewed this up the morning after I received the package, and I am excited to try the other green teas soon (there are two others). I am writing this review from my notes and from my very recent memory of drinking it just yesterday (I don’t post reviews on Sundays).

Right away the appearance and aroma of the dry leaf blew me away, as it was a dark vibrant-green color, with a unbelievably strong vegetal aroma that seems to be characteristic of any fresh green tea. It was composed of very thin, wire-y looking leaves the shape of which reminded my somewhat of the roots of a tiny tree; it was unusual in appearance and I really liked that. So, we both got off to a great start. I used all but a tablespoon or so of the sample, estimating I had at least 10 grams of tea waiting patiently in my pot (and likely more like 12), and so I used only about five cups of water rather than my standard six cups in my glass Bodum teapot, such that the leaf was free to roam, and I added my standard amount of Stevia. I held a few grams back in case I feel the need to brew it up later in my new gaiwan.

Wet the leaf smelled like what I imagine fresh cut spinach would smell like: a fresh, strong, vegetal aroma. I believe the color of the tea liquor was light green. The leaves were mostly on the bottom for most steepings, but on the second I remember some of the leaf moving to the top while steeping. It has a good smelling, fresh aroma (although I was sniffing it while steeping, I basically went by the timer). I decided to start the first steeping at a little higher temperature than I normally do (180F), and a little longer (1.5 minutes), rather than my standard 170F, one minute, because I am finding hotter and longer tends to be better for most of the green tea I have been brewing up lately.

Now to the flavor. Overall, although it was on the mild side, my wife and I both enjoyed drinking it (and she can be a hard one to please when it comes to green tea, in my judgement, anyway). It had good flavor through three steepings and mild flavor on the forth. I used near-boiling water for a fifth (I like to push limits the first time I brew up a tea) and it was definitely flat tasting (my guess is I scorched the leaves). Still, three good steepings and a decent forth is more than I expect out of a tea at this price range ($10.90 / 3.5 OZ = a little over $3 / OZ). Very generally, the number of good steepings I expect to get out of a green tea is relative to its price: I expect at least one good steeping for $1 /OZ, two for $2 / OZ, etc. Maybe a little silly, but I am very cost conscious, and that’s an easy ‘value scale’ for me to remember and use.

Finally, the wet leaf. Again, the first time I brew up a whole-leaf Tea (not necessarily flavor-added ones), I like to do what I call a ‘leaf analysis’. I spread out the leaf on the counter, preferably where there is good light, give it a little time to dry, then pick through it, looking for patterns and oddities. I literally used to sort the parts into piles (by whole leaves, buds, bud-sets, stems, broken pieces, etc.); I know, talk about anal! But I found that was taking just a bit more time that I though was really necessary (it was sometimes taking more than fifteen minutes, and I even started taking photos of the sorted piles), so now I simply take a few minutes at most to sift through the wet leaf and look at the big picture: are there lots of torn/shriveled-looking pieces? Is the color and size of the leaves/buds generally uniform? Are there many stems? What really stands out the most?

So, in this particular tea I noticed right away that there were a surprising number of stems, and I mean long stems, some were even thick (not many), and there were a number of torn leaves, with few buds (or bud-sets). It reminded me of a lower-grade HSMF from an e-bay seller (China Cha Dao). I consider this leaf to be of a lower grade than most green teas I seen (practically none of Seven Cups, Jing Tea Shop, Verdant Tea, Life in Teacup or Tea Trekker Teas have had this many stems and torn pieces). Interesting and all (to me, anyway), but when it comes down to it flavor still matters the most. The wet leaf was at least uniform in color, and vibrant looking (which to me is a verification that it was indeed fresh), and still not unreasonable considering its price.

I liked just about everything about this tea, and I hope to purchase some later on this year. This is easily a tea I could drink everyday, and it turns out I can afford to drink it often at it’s very reasonable price. This is one of the best values for a fresh spring green tea I have ever come across (having looked at many dozens of green teas). I have been looking for an affordable, quality, fresh spring green tea from Teavivre, and as it turns out, this one fits the bill.

_{Backlogging and based on my memory and a few notes}

Experience buying from Tea Trekker http://steepster.com/places/2820-tea-trekker-online-northampton-massachusetts

I bought four ounces of this back in the spring of 2011, and I have been brewing it off-and-on since then with temperatures a little lower than the ones I normally use for any other black tea.

I have had at least four Darjeelings to date. The first time I had this I thought it was harsh, but since then I have some to appreciate that distinctive muscatel flavor that seems to be characteristic of Darjeelings. Here is an interesting note about this tea: “I liked it better at room temperature.” I think the last time I brewed this one up I noticed a degradation in it’s flavor, so I hope to finish it up soon. It’s hard to say if I will buy any of these from Tea Trekker again; I may instead try a few samples from Upton or order a Darjeeling from H&S that my wife and I both enjoyed a sample of.

At this point I don’t feel I have to have a SF Darjeeling in my cupboard (I hope your not reading this, Excelsior) for a number of reasons (one being that I would rather stick to Chinese red teas). I have noticed that Darjeelings do not seem to do very well with multiple steepings, beyond say, two or three (I have been able to get five good steepings out of a number of quality Chinese red teas). This is my first SF Darjeeling, so I’m leaving off the rating.

(I still have some of this, so I may update this review at a later time).

_Backlogging

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought eight ounces of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off.
This was my first Honeybush. The rich red color in the pot blew me away. Although initially I found it so different than anything else I had ever had, over time I came to appreciate the tobacco-like flavor and aroma of it (my wife, sadly, has not). I have had red rooiboss since then, and I seem to prefer it over this honeybush. I will leave off the rating (this being my first honeybush, and since I have yet to try any other ‘unflavored’ ones).

_Backlogging

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought two pounds of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off (I think we paid roughly $6 for it; yeah, that makes it less than $0.20 /OZ; I don’t think we’ll ever get a tea for less than that).

I think I only brewed it once on it’s own. It was decent tasting. It was also my first loose-leaf black tea. From then on out I have been ‘blending’ it with the flavor-added black teas we have, usually in a ratio of 2 parts flavor-added tea to 1 part Java OP (I have also blended it as 1-1); it seems to blend very well with every tea I’ve tried, such that I can’t tell the difference between not using it and using it ( I always brew up any flavor-added tea w/o the Java the first time). That helps to ‘stretch’ our flavor-added black teas. For that, I am really glad we found this tea! We still have plenty of it (it takes a long time to go through 32 ounces a few teaspoons at a time), and I think it will be around for quite awhile longer. I am leaving off the rating (my first black tea).

_{Backlogging and based entirely on my memory}

Experience buying from SpecialTeas http://steepster.com/places/2931-specialteas-online-stratford-connecticut

I bought two pounds of this during SpecialTeas’ going-out-of-business sale at the beginning of 2011 for 75 % off (I think we paid roughly $12 for it).

This was a flavor-added gunpowder green tea (although they don’t mention ‘gunpowder’ in the description). As with The Blanc de Cassis initially my wife and I liked it, but over time it lost it’s appeal (although it took much longer to lose it). It was still enjoyable after it lost it’s initial appeal, but just not as good as the other green teas we began drinking. Still, I more-or-less enjoyed the last pot I made of it (about a month ago). I tried slipping this one past my wife with the last pot, and right away she remembered not liking it (foiled again!).

I bought two pounds of it of it because it was inexpensive, and I was looking for a flavor-added green tea. It was a visually appealing tea with all of the colorful goodies in it. Overall I was satisfied with it (I think my wife was mixed). It did have a couple of pleasant spicy notes in both the aroma and the flavor which complimented what the gunpowder had to offer fairly well. The amazing thing about gunpowder is that it seems it has better longevity than most other green teas because of its shape: the leaves are wrapped into tiny pellets thus exposing very little surface area to the elements that often work to quickly degrade a green teas fresh flavor. Although some of the tea from SpecialTeas (and Teavana that we bought at the same time) were starting to taste flat, this one never did. Overall, this was a reasonably good flavor-added gunpowder.