Chicago Tea Garden

This tea has a surprising amount of bite for a pu-erh of this age.

I tried brewing this tea different ways (varying the steeping time and leaf amount) and it had a similar overall character, only the strength varied, and less than one might expect.

Earthy, but with a fresh, herbaceous quality in the aroma, that I find is unusual in teas of this age.

I think this tea is very reasonably priced, given its quality and the fact that the leaves go a long way and are good for many infusions.

I got this one as a free sample from Chicago tea garden. I have been hanging on to it for awhile and boy am I glad I decided to try it this morning. First off the dry leaf look like little snails and I marvel and adore them every time I look at the bag. The are so cute!!

I didn’t get much off the dry leaf but I am a little stuffy from allergies so this may be why. I am also glad (whew) I read the steeping parameters as I usually go five minutes on black tea and the note said 212 for 1 minute!! Brewed up it is a dark amber, brownish color and the flavor is light and malty a little earthy with no hints of astringency. I really like it and would definitely order this. I appreciate the free sample as it will lead to me purchasing more Bi Lo Chun and others from Chicago Tea Garden.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 flower – 6.7g
Water: ~185°F 16 ounces (oopse, it was supposed to be a 6 ounce cup!)
Tool: Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz
Steep Time: a little over 5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: floral
Steeped Tea Smell: floral, garden green
Flavor: sweet, floral, vegetal, slightly astringent, slightly bitter
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet, slightly astringent, slightly bitter
Liquor: pale translucent yellow-green

A free sample from Chicago Tea Garden, I am more than excited to get my paws on a tea before it even gets listed on the website!

And a pretty decorative one at that.

Well I wasn’t paying attention obviously! I used too much water, and wasn’t particularly swift about retrieving the tea when the timer went off.

Luckily the tea took the abuse and rolled with it, it was nice and delicate and pretty good for an afternoon cup, definitely not bold enough to be a morning cup of tea, or sweet enough to be dessert.

Next time I want to sweeten it.

Resteep: It was supposed to be 8 ounces, 5 minutes. I forgot about the flower! Not sure how long it was in. I took a few sips and it was pretty much a slightly weaker /

more delicate version of the first steep. I stirred in a honey spoon, and the honey spoon totally hid the flavor of the tea, boo! I should have used sugar. So it was a honey water with floral notes and a vegetal after taste.

Resteep: Again, it was supposed to be 8 ounces, 5 minutes. Again I forgot about the poor flower. So after an indeterminate amount of time I got a cup of floral, vegetal bitter tea.

The first steep was enjoyable, and I messed up the second two steeps. This flower does have staying power, and yes It does remind me of a pretty peony when viewed from above after steeping.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/chicago-tea-garden-loose-leaf-green-tea.html

1st steep – just as recommended – pre-warmed the cup, rinsed the leaves with the boiling water (maybe 5 seconds?) then dumped that out and infused for 30 seconds in 6 oz boiling water.

It’s a lovely golden yellow color, with just the right amount of jasmine – the jasmine is a whiff of perfume in scent, not a gulp of it down the mouth! The pu-erh gives it a bit of earthy body – more than the other jasmine green teas I’ve had. But there’s no “off” tastes or any of the scary things I was afraid of… I would say this was probably the perfect intro pu-erh for me! I am so glad I took Chicago Tea up on their free sample offer (two touchas!) and and strongly considering ordering the wild orange pu-erh because I am SO intrigued by it!

2nd infusion – 30 sec – I think it’s actually a tad bit darker this time. Scent same. A bit more astringent. The tuocha broke apart completely on this steep.

3rd – 45 sec; used slightly cooler water – less astringent, which allowed the gentle jasmine to come through more. Almost as dark as ever, and not at all “watery” tasting.

4th infusion – 1 min – still a beautiful coppery yellow; but the astringency (though not terrible) is masking the jasmine this time (my water may have been hotter than on #3)

This was a lovely experience which greatly exceeded my expectations! (not to say they were low – more like I was very trepidatious both of pu’erh and of resteeping). Thank you Chicago Tea Garden for a wonderful tea, and such informative steeping/resteeping parameters.

Wow. Just, wow. I tasted the dark version first, then this Pure one and it completely knocked me out. Which isn’t an easy task for an oolong! The flavour is incredibly rich and full, fuller than any oolong I’ve ever tasted. Its like Tung Ting on crack. Seriously. I don’t even want to sully my mouth with Tung Ting after tasting this lush oolong. Wow. Do yourself a favour and try this tea, especially if you are a fan of oolongs. My god.

After a full week of working in NJ, I am so happy to be home and surrounded by tea again. I have a quick story regarding this tea and airport security. I’ll start off by saying that I ALWAYS get pulled for “random” searches. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that my maiden name is Syrian. (I chose to hyphenate when I got married. Perhaps not the greatest idea in hindsight.) Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah…Random search, my ass! And I look white!…mostly. So I get pulled…they go through my purse, my laptop case, etc. In my purse they find my sample of Golden Bi Lou. I recently received the sample in the mail from Chicago Tea Garden and thought it would be a great size to take on my trip. I DID think to include the slip of paper that came with the tea. (I think this is the only thing that saved me.) While the airport security folks are rubbing various cotton swab pads on the inside of my purse, another security guy dangles the bag in front of me. I told him that it was tea. “Loose. Leaf. Tea.” I guess he’d never heard of it. He thought it was a type of drug. I told him about the slip of paper in my purse that describes the types of tea, steeping times and so on. I pointed out that there was a website on the slip that could further aid the situation. I don’t know if they went to the site or not, but about 5 minutes later they let me go. And I got to keep my tea!

That being said…I really did like this tea. The malty taste comforted me once I got back to my hotel and settled. Maybe it tasted better because of the ordeal I went through to bring it with me. This isn’t the heaviest Yunnan I’ve tasted, but it was quite pleasant. I think I prefer my Yunnan with a little more punch. There was a nice earthy taste and light sweetness to the tea, but I mostly remember the malt and the cute fuzzy leaves…and the fact that it never got bitter in the slightest. I’m very happy with this sample and curious about reading the posts from those that chose the Sticky Rice Pu-erh Toucha. That was the other tea I debated getting the sample of.

Side note: I love how the Golden Bi Lou leaves look! I keep staring at the picture on Steepster like it’s one of those “Magic Eye” prints that were big back in the day. It’s so cool that some of the leaves are in focus and the others are blurry. Great tea photo!

I ordered the free sample of this tea, and it came in surprisingly quickly. The sample was just the right amount to fill a 4oz gaiwan.

It smelled very floral, like a garden of flowers. I poured it into my gaiwan (which filled it about 1/3 full) and then poured about 190F water over it for a rinse, and dumped it out. Then I filled up the gaiwan and let it steep for 30 seconds before pouring it into a cup. The color was a greenish yellow. The smell was very much like the dry leaf, floral and almost fruity. The taste reminded me of gunpowder green tea, only less harsh, and a lot smoother. After I finished the first cup, I re-infused, and found the leaves to have expanded a lot. They were all the way up to the lid of the gaiwan! The next 3 or 4 infusions were done at approximately 30 seconds. They all came out almost identical, and tasted good.

I typically drink ONLY green tea, so an oolong was a nice change. This Tie Guan Yin is pretty green, literally in between green tea and black tea, in both taste and fermentation. It’s a really nice tea if you aren’t a fan of black tea, but like something a little more…“brisk” than light green teas.

I got a sample of this and was really looking forward to it. I think I may have had my expectations set a little high, because while I liked it, it didn’t really stand out for me as amazing.

It was still really yummy.

I got this tea as a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden. I am drinking the second steeping of this tea because I gave my husband the first steeping and according to the directions I don’t have enough tea for more than 1.5 cups (I have just enough left for a tiny mug). So I used the amount suggested and made 2 steepings saving the small amount of tea left for another day.

The leaves are really pretty: golden in color and rolled up into little curly-q balls. The tea has no bitterness and very little astringency. It is nice and malty. I’m trying really hard to come up with something that makes this tea special and I am only finding the smoothness of the tea to be special. Otherwise, it tastes like a black tea.

5g to 11 oz.

This tea is like a milk oolong, but instead of milk, put in rice. And then eliminate any aftertaste whatsoever.

I’m bumping up the rating of this tea just a bit. Why? Because it’s pretty crave-able (I’ve been thinking about having the last of my sample for days), tastes just like what it should (a big bowl of fresh rice), makes my queasy stomach feel better (stupid allergies) and so tasty that every time I make another steep, I have to go surf Chicago Tea Garden’s website to see what other goodies I need to buy.

Now I just have to decide if I’m going to get 75g or 100g of this…
1tuocha/6oz

I picked this as a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden, mostly because it just seemed too different not to try. I mean, come on – sticky rice flavored tea! How can I not try it?

This is actually my very first pressed pu-erh. And my first green pu-erh, too. So a whole bunch of first all rolled into one insane smelling tea! And I do mean insane smelling. As soon as I opened the envelope, I instantly smelled freshly-made sticky rice. It’s so weird but kinda awesome.

Anyway, I did a quick rinse and then (since I’m sharing with the husband) poured steeps one and two (both at 30 seconds) into a fair cup, then into glasses. So I don’t know if there is a big difference between the first and second steeps, but it totally smells like a bowl of rice. Which is still kinda awesome.

The taste isn’t as sticky-rice as the smell (though the smell is pretty intense). I get a quick, almost mint or ginseng whooshy tingle at the very front, then a mild almost reed flavor flash, then a sticky or sweet rice fresh taste. The aftertaste is light and very rice-y. Even with the hints of the other flavors, the main taste is very much rice. But rice in a mild, gentle tea way.

I think I could really get behind green pu-erh. It doesn’t have that barnyard, sweet hay, fishy, sweet thickness that is just too much for me that I get from black pu-erh and that makes it much easier for me to drink. This tea is really quite gentle, mild, sweet and rice-y, all attributes and flavors I enjoy. I didn’t know what to think of it at first, but by the end of my cup, I determined that really like this and I would very much enjoy having it in my pantry. I don’t have to go out and get some right now but I’ll be perusing Chicago Tea Garden’s website to see what other goodies I might need to buy when I decide to pick this up.

ETA: Steeps three and four (at CTG’s suggested 45s and 1min) resulted in some light bitterness that really battled with the rice taste, almost covering it (though the bitterness was not overwhelming). It was very disappointing and made me question how much I actually wanted to buy this tea. But I tried again, backing off the steep time (or at least not increasing it like I normally would). Steeps five and six (at 45s and 1min) were much better, back to the original steeps’ sticky-rice-ness. Shorter steep times are this tea’s friend. And I’m back to planning a CTG order.

1st infusion: 2 minutes, boiling water
Despite the reviews here I was still rather surprised at the lightness/delicateness of this for a black tea. The deep red liquor was lightly malty, woodsy, and a tad fruity.

2nd infusion: 2 1/2 minutes, boiling water
The color is only slightly lighter but the flavor is much lighter and the fruity note has vanished.

A nice tea but not something I can’t live without.

My free sample from Chicago Tea Gardens like many of you seemed to have done the same.

This smells like toasty black tea…very nice!

It seems to be a medium brown in color but I’m not quite finished with the infusion just yet.

The lil swirl balled up leaves are really trying to eek their way out into a more straight and narrow looking leaf…for the most part it looks to be successful.

That taste…

It certainly toasty. NOT smokey but toasty. YUM. There is a hint of sweet at the end and a little maltiness but not full malt!

As it cools I can pick out that it is more of a toasty nut flavor. It’s interesting and pleasing – so glad I got to try it!!! It’s very good!

I’m officially spoiling myself today – spending the morning with Hawaii-Grown Black, and the afternoon with Tie Guan Yin. After a tired start to the day, these two helpers got me through in fine spirits. As usual, the Tie Guan Yin felt healthy and clearing to my senses, and it didn’t hurt that it was absolutely delicious through each steep!

It’s been a stressful and busy day, but it’s almost never too crazy for tea – especially one as good as this. The subtle flavors which emerge in this one continue to amaze me. Today I had just a very light note of anise which I had not picked up on before. This tea is most definitely a journey!

I feel like I can finally have another little bit of the small sample packet I originally ordered, now that I’ve placed a “real” order because of today’s special and know that more will be on the way.

Postscript before the note – as I made my way through multiple steepings, it still amazes me how distinct yet interrelated each one is. I will betray my roots in US pop culture of the 70’s here and say that it reminded me of the Brady Bunch, with each steeping taking on a personality of its own:

1st steep: 190 degrees, 45 seconds. Peter. Quite possibly the sweetest of the bunch, warm-hearted and ready to make you smile. Yet there are hints of hidden depths! Ah well, when it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange…

2nd steep: 190 degrees, 45 seconds. Marcia. Still sweet, but now becoming oh-so-sure of itself. Could it be too perfect for its own good?

3rd steep: 190 degrees, 45 seconds. Bobby. Now the sweetness is getting balanced with some earthiness. This one’s been skinning his knees in the grass.

4th steep: 190 degrees, 60 seconds. Cindy. Is there such a thing as too much sweetness? Probably not. It just happens to be snack time, and we’re having apple juice with Mrs. Beasley.

5th steep: 190 degrees, 60 seconds. Greg. Things are really maturing now. This one wants to go off and be in a mug on its own so it can be the rock star it knows it really is.

6th steep: 190 degrees, 90 seconds. Jan. Despite her protestations of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”, this one should drop the insecurities and simply revel in being Jan. Relax sweetheart, you’re perfect just the way you are!

I have a feeling that with future steeps I’d get around to Mike and Carol too, and probably even Alice. Wouldn’t want to take it too far though and end up at Tiger or, heaven forbid, cousin Oliver.

What a great tea.

My sample from Chicago Tea Garden just arrived – now I get to try the tea that so many have raved about here.

The smell of the dry leaves is really vegetal and fresh, which is a good start.
1st steep: 180 degrees, 60 seconds. A prominent vegetable/seaweed aroma. Now for the first taste: Wow, this is possibly the best oolong tea I’ve ever had. It’s got some amazing flavors in there, so it’s going to be hard for me to describe it adequately. And what a sweet aftertaste. Okay, I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say rice pudding. It’s creamy, silky, rich, and sweet. I want more!
2nd steep: 180 degrees, 90 seconds. Oh, the anticipation while it’s steeping – will it deliver on the promise of the first cup? More of a floral note in the aroma this time, reminiscent of jasmine. The flavor is still sweet and now juicy too – I’m really reminded of apple juice. Amazing.
3rd steep: 180 degrees, 90 seconds. I’ve never made a habit of more than two steeps but what the heck, I’m throwing caution to the wind today. Now the aroma is new-mown grass. The flavor is mellower now, but still rich. The rice is back, but more savory this time. I’m reminded of the cartoon where Wile E. Coyote pulls down a chart of the roadrunner and explains how each part of the bird has a different, delicious flavor – this tea has so many flavors it’s unbelievable.
Must. Have. More.

I’m finishing up my sample of this today. I would have already finished it but the little sample back got lost behind some of my other teas. I think I’m going to miss this tea. I’m not sure if I would purchase a full size, but if I find myself thinking about it in the future, I would consider it.

Mmm…second infusion brought more of a sweet taste and scent that I can now identify as a vanilla. This infusion is still pretty strong, so I bet it can handle at least 1-2 more infusions. More to come!

I received this very nice sample from Chicago Tea Garden last night but since it was late by the time I checked the mail, I waited until today to give it a try. The dry tea consists of brown and gold curls which were almost too cute to steep. The dry leaf smells…I don’t know…I can’t really place it but the word “malty” kept coming to me so maybe it is malty. After steeping, the tea takes on a dark red/brown shade which I found a bit odd for some reason. The brewed tea is also a medium brown shade which I suppose it to be expected. The malty scent from the dry leaf is intensified after brewing and I wasn’t sure if I was fond of the smell since it was so strong. I was standing at least 1-2 feet away and could still smell it. The taste is very smooth, earthy and malty. Honestly, it reminds me a great deal of how Dawn by the Simple Leaf tastes. It has that same sort of earthy quality…so maybe the initial scent isn’t malty but earthy…hmm.. I’m not getting the vanilla that some others and the vendor were tasting but there is a slight sweetness to the aftertaste. I wouldn’t peg that sweetness as vanilla though.
Anyway, I’m surprised I liked this tea so much because it seems most others were using really short steeps. Since I made it before getting online, I used my typical 3 minutes. It will be interesting to see how many infusions I can get out of this.

Steep #3 and #4 Information:
Amount: 1 nest ~6.7g
Water: 16 oz filtered boiling
Tool: Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz
Steep Time: 60 seconds – I counted out loud
Served: Hot

Remember the leaves were in the refrigerator overnight in the IngenuiTEA.

Steep #3 Tasting Notes:
Darker brown coloring then previous two steeps.
Medium bodied, earthy, tea. very smooth.

Steep #4 Tasting Notes:
Darker brown coloring then previous two steeps.
Medium bodied, earthy, tea. very smooth.

MilitiaJim insists it was “desalinated seaweed tea” but not in a bad way.

I got this as a free sample (it was a limited time run announced May 25 on twitter @WorldofTea) and it arrived today. It arrived with an adorable brewing card that has space for notes. As seen in my prior Company Review, the shipping, packaging, and customer service of this store is impeccable.

I of course choose this tea for it’s name. To my surprise I am enjoying it very thoroughly, I was expecting a novelty tea. A very light mild, earthy and sweet black tea.

It could have withstood more steeps, however I was going away for the weekend and had no desire to leave the leaves all weekend. I believe this would be an excellent tea to bring into work and drink throughout the entire day with lots of steeps.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/chicago-tea-garden-loose-leaf-pu-erh_06.html

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 nest
Water: 16 oz filtered boiling
Tool: Adagio IngenuiTEA 16 oz
Steep Time: 30 seconds – I counted out loud, I did a quick rinse with hot water first.
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: not much
Steeped Tea Smell: black tea
Flavor: mild black tea, smooth sweet and a little earthy
Body: Light
Aftertaste:
Liquor: translucent light brown

I got this as a free sample (it was a limited time run announced May 25 on twitter @WorldofTea) and it arrived today. It arrived with an adorable brewing card that has space for notes. As seen in my prior Company Review, the shipping, packaging, and customer service of this store is impeccable.

I of course choose this tea for it’s name. To my surprise I am enjoying it very thoroughly, I was expecting a novelty tea. A very light mild, earthy and sweet black tea.

Resteep: 16 oz filtered boiling, 30 second counted aloud
Dark brown translucent, more medium bodied, still a sweet, perhaps a bit earthy / briny tea

I am positive I can get more steeps, but it’s bed time, let’s see how the IngenuiTEA holds the leaves overnight in the fridge?

As you may be able to see it held itself together well the first time, the second time it mostly crumbled.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/chicago-tea-garden-loose-leaf-pu-erh.html