Pekko Teas

A great darjeeling. Kind of fruity. Full bodied. Not my all time favorite darjeeling, but one I enjoy drinking and buy infrequently.

Steepster! It’s been far too long! I seem to have come across a great deal of bad luck recently. First my favorite glass kettle broke, then a stomach virus, then some common cold. Needless to say, tea has been a bit out of reach for me recently. :( But I’m back! And with a new Utilitea kettle to boot! I have a lot of catching up to do, and this sample was the first I tried when I well enough to taste “real” tea.

I thank Pekko Teas for this sample, and I must say I’m impressed. This is a tea with an awesome name and a taste to match. The jasmine flavoring is just that: it isn’t overbearing and allows the tea leaves to exert their influence wonderfully. I’m constantly sickened by jasmine “scented” teas that give me a headache and make me feel like I’m drinking perfume. This certainly isn’t one of those.

I use about 18-20 pearls in a 100mL gaiwan with very short steeps at ~175 degrees F. (5", 5", 4", 5", 5", 6", 8", 10", 14", 22", ~35") —> That’s usually the pattern I use, sometimes performing a bit longer steep for the first one to allow the leaves to unroll further.

The liquor has a medium body and a smooth and buttery mouthfeel. Prominent tastes include vegetal, steamed greens (a rotation of asparagus, green beans, and spinach throughout steeps), and honey in addition to a humble jasmine tone. In further steeps, a parsley spiciness and cool minty effect come into play. Only the fifth steep has ever been bitter to me, and it’s hardly noticeable. Throughout the ten steeps I can usually get out of these pearls, the flavor never reaches that astringent and earthy taste that I’ve noticed some jasmine greens revert to midsteep. Instead, an deep earthiness climbs out of the aromas. But with the sweet, waxy floral scents, the lid of my gaiwan smelled like planting flowers after removing them fresh from the pot. Smells of sweet, moist earth and intense florals.

The aroma of the wet leaves is top notch. It has that brilliant mixture of deep vegetal greens, sweet honey, and penetrating florals. It’s a particular scent that is essential for jasmine teas to have for me to love it. The leaves themselves are somewhat questionable to me, however. They appear a bit faded and drab, like the color was leeched out of them. The are, however, very clean: very few particles and broken leaves or stems.

Overall, a tea that is quickly becoming a favorite of mine!

From pineapple Oolong to Orange Blossom Oolong (Ghee I wonder what sort of mood I’m in). This is my second Oolong tea from Pekko (my first being Blue Spring which I remember was very toasty).

Colour – Dark Brown with a touch of gold.
Smell – Earthy and light

My first sip in and I can tell I’m going to enjoy this. It’s a sweet and floral Jasmine tasting Oolong with only a touch of toastedness. The jasmine picks up in flavour the more you drink and starts become perfumey but in a nice way (in other words strong but not overpowering). It’s still citrus sweet (which tastes natural and more orange rind than pulp ie a little waxy) and very refreshing. There is a sort of ‘dark horse’ behind all of the flavours going on and that must be the Ceylon, it gives the blend more depth and strength.

This is so yummy, I’m glad I have roughly 47g more of this to enjoy. :)

Having what I had left of this sample iced! The dry leaves still smell very fragrant, but it’s about eight months old now and I think I should finish it off.

The toastiness is still nice and robust, the orange/fruitiness is less pronounced than I remember (probably due to age), but it’s still a very decent oolong and still has the crispness I noticed in my earlier note. Moderate astringency that dries out the mouth afterwards, but not unpleasantly.

I’ve been drinking out of the huuge sample of this that Pekko Teas sent for a while!

I’ve noticed that there’s starting to be more of the toasty scent on the leaves than the orange scent that was there when I first got it (hopefully not a sign that’s it going bad?), though I never really did notice the jasmine all that much. I might be looking for too much jasmine though, since the only other jasmine-scented tea I’ve had was /really/ strong (in the words of my boyfriend: like drinking the liquid from a Glade plug-in).

I love this one a daily kind of oolong! It’s a really cozy tea – a little floral, a little fruitish, but mostly a warm and crisp oolong with a perfect amount of aftertaste and a natural sweetness. I haven’t noticed any astringency in any of the cups I’ve had so far. Haven’t tried it iced yet, but I bet it’s going to be just as good.

Thank you so much for this very generous sample, Pekko Teas!

Reaching into the box that I received from my SororiTea Sister Azzrian (thanks!) I grabbed a random tea, which turned out to be THIS Darjeeling Mim.

And it’s excellent!

I love Darjeeling as it is, and Mim is one of the very best available. It has a lovely muscat grape note, sweet, almost wine-like, slightly astringent but not overly so. Everything that I expect from a high quality Darjeeling, I’m pleased to say!

Thanks again, Azzrian. This is lovely!

Another stomach cramp :( I’m starting to think I may be coming down with something. A little tidying up is all it took for me to crave another cup of tea. On the bright side my husband fixed the net curtains that fell down months ago when my kittens realised they can climb.

I opened my cupboard and remembered my notes stating this tea tastes like mulled wine so it’s perfect for the holiday season. Brewed a cup for my husband too and he said it smells like it has whisky in it….it sort of does. Very alcohol and mulled and spicy in a marvellous hot tea way.

Yummy.

I keep looking at this tea on my shelf with interest as the ingredients sound very delicious and interesting, today is the day I give in to temptation and try it.

The mixture is very fragrant with a sweet and spicy finish, there is so much going on that it’s hard to pin point each different smell separately. I like that the apple chunks are fairly large as are the rest of the ingredients and it does look the same as the picture. I just worked out what the smell reminds me of…..mulled wine. Also the colour once brewed is dark peach.

Unfortunately there were no brewing instructions so I just brewed this one as a standard herbal tea, 3 minutes (since it smells strong) and fresh boiling water. I also used one and a half tea spoons of tea for this cup.

First few sips are very flavourful with apple, cinnamon, clove and cardamom being very predominant. I just keep thinking about mulled wine, it smells and tastes like it….perhaps this is a perfect Christmas blend.

I find the strength is about right for me so the standard brew was a success. Half way down the cup and the blend gets a little sweeter and the clove becomes refreshingly stronger. I’m not a fan of clove or cardamom but this blend is very nice, it’s fresh and there are other flavours going on (apple, cinnamon, ginger) so I can focus on one that I do like.

Wow this has made me feel the Christmas spirit in a tasty way. Very glad I took a chance with this one and I will be saving the rest of my blend for December.

You will like this tea if you like mulled wine, like anything that tastes christmasy or are a fan of strong herbal teas.

And this reminds me of why 2nd flushes are my favorite. Full of flavor and distinctively darjeeling. This was my tea of Halloween night. Smooth and luxurious, with several steeps for this cup. A hint of astringency, which I do associate with darjeelings, which is all good.

I have had tea previously which was labeled as darjeeling mim. I’m now no longer sure if it really was. I didn’t care much for it and I love this.

Though I couldn’t drink it with my makeup on from the day:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25072757@N04/8146183259/in/photostream

Lovely, lovely tea. Malty indeed. Not a bit of bitter. A hint of astringency at the end, but it does seem to build over the cup and about halfway through, the astringency makes my mouth a bit dry.

I can see that this would stand up to milk and sugar very nicely. I also suspect it makes a nice cold tea.

Thanks Pekko Teas for the sample! It felt more like getting a gift than a tea sample with the tissue paper and gold packaging :P

Loved this tea – this is the third time I’ve made it. The second time I steeped it a bit too long and it got bitter — I think the sweet spot is definitely closer to the 3 1/2 min mark. It has a bit of the floral-y sweetness of a Darjeeling (I could call it muscatel but I would be lying if I said I knew exactly what that meant for the flavor). Definitely an afternoon tea for me – not quite as heavy as my Assams or Yunnan blacks – which today is a good thing.

I enjoyed this while working outside on my laptop and listening to variations on one of my favorite songs, Canon in D. Yay Friday!

A review of Darjeeling Mim by Pekko Teas

Date: 11/01/2012
Company: Pekko Teas
Tea Name: Darjeeling Mim
Tea Type/Varietal: Black
Region: Nothern India
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: reddish brown/ liquor red
Leaf Characteristics:

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 3 minutes

Note: After a night with not much sleeping for me, I decided this morning to have a cup of this Darjeeling Mim Tea since I think I need to wake up and feel energetic and black teas are to do this. I surmise.

I take one teaspoon of the tea leaves and add this in my cup and pour the already boiled water over the leaves, and leave it to steep for five minutes. I remove the tea leaves from my cup and take small sips of the tea which is very flavorful of grapes with a slight drying effect when swallowed. I say slight since I think white wine is dryer than say red or darker reds wine. So the dryness here is mildly, tongue/back of throat kind of dryness.

I have enjoyed sipping this tea throughout the morning. Once again I must thank Pekko Teas for sending this to me.

Overall, this is a tea I have enjoyed. It has a lovely bright red coloring which is very clear and not clouded in the cup. I did not need to hold the tea directly under the light is what I mean. This is a light and flavorful cup of tea, at times complex since tasting of grapes making for a vintage cup of tea.

I mean this is quality tea.

A review of Darjeeling Mim by Pekko Teas

Date: 10/26/2012
Company: Pekko Teas
Tea Name: Darjeeling Mim
Tea Type/Varietal: Black
Region: Nothern India
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ loose leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: red wine
Leaf Characteristics: I like the gold brick like pouch that this tea is placed in. And for me the pouch makes me think of coffee. When I open the pouch, the aroma is semi-sweet roast and the leaves are finely and darken green in color not black.

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 190 Fahrenheit
Time: 3 minutes

Note: They say presentation is everything and Pekko Teas have certainly outdone themselves in that category. Their tea arrived in regular small box but once opened you are met with a lovely green tissue wrapping with their Pekko Tea logo labeled on tissue. It is like a small gift. Then when I remove the tissue wrapping, I find this bar of gold but it is a tea pouch/bag of their Darjeeling Mim tea. Truly, I am touched since this is a sample. I did not purchase this tea.

I am pleased with having received such a lovely treasure.

This tea is aromatically sweet and I took 1 teaspoon of the leaves and place them in my tea mug and I already had the water boiled; so I simply add the boiling water into my cup and leave it to steep for 3 minutes.

This is not a strong smelling Darjeeling, even though on the package it said “full-bodied”. From smelling the tea bag leaves which smells very sweet, mildly roasted. I mean not a smoky scent.

I remove the cover from my cup and begin to strain out the leaves and pour the tea into another cup. Tea’s color is a lovely red, when held directly under the light it is bright and light in color; it is not a deep red. I take a sip of the tea and it is smooth tasting and fruity like and when swallowing there is that drying effect, mildly noticeable and the aroma is that of “Muscat”…I associate with grapes (sweet and tart) at times.

2nd Steeping:
Water temperature: 195 Fahrenheit
Time: 4 minutes

Note: I am using the same tea leaves and poured the newly boiled water into my cup over the tea leaves and let it steep a bit longer. That reddish color is there to meet me, tea is the color of red wine with a fruity aroma. It is mildly fruity and not at all bold, in your face over powering of fruits.

The tea’s liquor is sweet with a lovely reddish coloring and this tea has not astringency. It is said to be a full-bodied tea; there is weight to this tea as I swish it around my mouth and that drying effect from when swallowed.

Overall, this Darjeeling Mim has a lovely fragrance; the liquor is sweet and tart with a bright coloring of red. It is smooth with a fine muscatel as a lasting effect which I associate with having a dry palette, that lip smacking kind of dryness.

Thank you Pekko Teas for sending this tea for me to sample, it really is an amazing cup of tea.

My first Pekko tea order arrived today (YAY!) and the first tea I shall be trying is this oolong. I remember the picture looking amazingly delicious with the dots of blue colour and wonderful light green and brown thick leafy twists.

The colour once brewed is somewhat pale honey coloured and it has a roasted aroma (freshly baked bread was mentioned and is a fairly accurate description) with a twinge of astringency.

I have Ti Kuan Yin (unflavoured) on my tea shelf and have I found it to be buttery and slightly sweet.

After a few mouthfuls I can say that it tastes exactly as it smells. A lovely roasted oolong with some character of strength and edging towards being sweet. The flowers manifest a subtle freshness and floralness that blend nicely with the warm, toasty oolong. This is quite strong so next time I would reduce the steeping time by 30seconds and see if that relaxes the strength.

This reminds me very much of popcorn tea (hannoki) but with a stronger toastedness. Not quite the buttery oolong that I remember.

Overall it’s a nice blend and I will update my notes again when I do a shorter steep.

I’m working on blog stuff woot! I’m moving Oolong Owl from wordpress.com (freebie blogging site) to my own website with tons more control, space and freedom.

I made a pot of this black, as it’s a pretty good black (in my limited experience in unflavored blacks) and I was expecting I’d need a boost in caffeine in case of explosions. There was a few explosions – pictures went missing, then lost posts. Then I got it all back. Then I discovered I need to download plugins because everything looks like crap. Then weeding through plugins that won’t work, are too crazy, or want money.
The NECL was good, crisp, earthy and got cold fast – I also mostly mindlessly sipped away all the tea while I worked.

More fun was my host providered called me to say hello and upsell crap. He asked, “so, what is your website?” I’m “Lots of tea. And crocheted owls trying to steal my tea.” Kind of blew his mind there.

edit: I think I drank too much (plus I don’t often drink this much black tea) I’m freaking jittering all over the place! OOOh yeah!

Hey Pekko Teas, TY for a generous sample of this tea! My dad stole the stamps off the package btw. Pretty cool this came all the way from London!

DRY: Fruity? Smells familiar to me though. After awhile sniffing, I realized this tea smells just like my favorite blueberry jam! Hmmm.. weird.

STEEPED: Peachy coppery brown tea – I love this colour! Still smells like blueberries. Annoying to me, I could not find steeping instructions. I did a 200f for 3 minutes, hopefully that is good enough.

TASTE: Bright and light black tea, bit of citrus tossed in. Very clean taste. The aroma of fruityness is lovely. At the end of my sip, a light astringency lightly sweeps in and quickly passes as the tea is gone.

WHO SHOULD TRY IT: Someone looking for a light black tea.

COMMENTS: Very nice ceylon tea, I haven’t had this kind of tea in awhile – probably the last time was in a coffee shop. This tea has a very sophisticated experience of good smells, pretty colour and nice light flavor. The astringency isn’t bad here as it’s a quick experience.

Maybe blueberry jam smells like black tea? I dunno.

Thank you to Pekko Teas for this super generous sample.

I admit that I don’t have much experience with Formosa Oolongs, but I wanted to give it a try. This definitely smells like toast, as other reviewers have mentioned, and there is definitely a toast taste when drinking, too, almost like a REALLY crispy toast.

This tea is also very fun to watch while steeping because the leaves are so entertaining to watch. I want to call it “flowy” since I can’t really think of a better word here.

Second infusion at the same time is a bit more astrigent.

A huge thank you to Pekko Teas!!
The color of the liquor is a beautiful rust red. The aroma is slightly earthy with a little bit of a toasty note to it. I most certainly can catch the jam and toast notes. It’s slightly dry with a warm wheat note and a sweet ending.

Many thanks to Pekko Teas for the sample. I have to say I am not a huge fan of hibiscus (and it seems I am not alone here on Steepster) in general. So I had been putting off trying this tea because of the dreaded ‘H’! But I broke down tonight because it’s cold and rainy here and I’m starting to feel under the weather (joy).

The dry leaf smells super fruity. Which I think were the apple pieces. So I fired up the kettle and waited. The moment I put water to the tea the liquid went right to red…which had to be the ‘H’. But I waited about 5 minutes as there was no time given on the packaging to prepare this with. The smell and taste are both VERY tart. I like tart, but not when I’m trying to relax and calm down for the evening. I think this one would be better suited to being served cold and over ice with a little bit of sweetener.

Hello, Dear Steepster Folks.
I have missed you.
I found myself with a small bit of time and wanted to touch base with friends and drink tea, so here I am.
This is only the second Milk Oolong that I have ever tried.
This tea smells rather delicate and a little baked good-ish.
It is a lovely pale yellow in color.
I can taste the orchid notes and something that almost reminds me of sweet rice pudding.
I am not really sure what a Milk Oolong is supposed to taste like, but I do really like this tea.
Thank you, Pekko Teas, for sending me a generous sample.

These are the sweetest looking pearls. So adorable and delicate! I haven’t had much experience with pearls before but I was thrilled to give these ones a try. I’m even more impressed that they were not crushed on their long journey across the sea. They arrived in perfect condition in a lovely little pouch.

The scent of the dry pearls is calming & sparkling all at once. Soft, beautiful jasmine. I wasn’t sure how many pearls to use so I started with about 7 & then added about 7 more… didn’t seem like too many for my 8 oz cup.

Sipping this tea.. I realize that it’s just perfect for what I need this evening. I didn’t want my usual bedtime rooibos and even though I avoid teas with caffeine at night this tea called to me. There is such a nice floral taste that quickly morphs into a sweetness that truly lingers. It’s a bit like cotton candy — light, twirly sugar faintly on the tongue. There isn’t a hint of astringency or that sharp note some floral teas can have.

I’m so glad to have these pearls in my tea collection. As they are quite pricey, I think that they would be great for special occasions. Thank you to Pekko Teas for this lovely sample. It’s been such a nice cup of tea!

The leaves smell wonderful – my first impression is high sweet sugary notes of cream and sugar cane. Delicious.
The liquor is much lighter than I expected and has a wonderful creamy milky oolong scent.
The taste of this is different from the other milky oolongs I have tried. It has a really really nice creaminess and a wonderful, exquisit aftertaste. The main flavor profile has a funny kind of bite along with it, almost along the lines of something fermented (which I guess milk oolongs are?) I had never gotten that from any of the other milk oolongs I have tried. It’s an element I’m not sure if I care for entirely, but I like it enough that I’m proceeding to the second steep, so that says something!
The second steep was a little mellower. I upped the steep time to three minutes. The milky flavor was still there and there was less of the bite I had been getting.
I think this is my favorite milk oolong so far!

BIG Thank you to Pekko tea for this very generous sample. The dry leaf smells beautiful, very rich. When I added water to the leaves it was such a lovely thing to watch. The tiny leaves are a very deep green and as they settled the water appeared to be a light mint green. It’s steeping now and turning a mild golden colour. The tiny leaves expanded quite a bit.
Cleary this is a delicate tea. Steeped 2 minutes at 80 degrees it has come out slightly bitter. But the vegetal taste is still very rich. Very nice tea!

Okay – so after receiving my KaiMatcha and tasting that amazing flavour – I was craving more of it!
Just one sniff of the dry leaf of this great quality Gyokuro was enough to know that this would cure my umami craving.

I made a huge 40oz pot of it (huge because I was all by myself lol) and starting drinking it like it was going out of style. Oh my – so savoury. It tasted like fresh green grass, but it wasn’t at all bitter. There was a slight astringency at the end of the sip – but oh so slight (I brewed at 175 for 2 mins!)

The scent was so fresh and summery – this is a very special tea. I can’t wait to try the method of brewing with just the tea leaves and icecubes. That concentrated flavour is exactly what I’m craving!