Shan Valley

A fairly standard CTC black tea. It’s very malty and reminds me of African black teas. Bold and full-bodied, it’s a great breakfast tea. So far I have drunk this tea without milk and sugar (if I steep it short enough it tastes fine by itself), but I imagine it would taste not unlike a bagged blended black tea such as Yorkshire Gold.

and the last time….

“I’ve debated a long time about writing this review. I got sent these teas by DCS, because they weren’t to her liking, and I then passed it on as it wasn’t to my liking. This is perhaps the best thing about Steepster. The community.

So, 10 is the grade I would rank for standard tea bag tea. I would rank this tea below that. Probably around a 11. I’m holding off on ranking as I would like to see some more reviews of this tea before I leave such a drastic mark."

And yet again…

“I’ve debated a long time about writing this review. I got sent these teas by DCS, because they weren’t to her liking, and I then passed it on as it wasn’t to my liking. This is perhaps the best thing about Steepster. The community.

So, 10 is the grade I would rank for standard tea bag tea. I would rank this tea below that. Probably around a 10. I’m holding off on ranking as I would like to see some more reviews of this tea before I leave such a drastic mark.

I’m just going to copy and paste, as pretty much my review would be the same throughout.

“I’ve debated a long time about writing this review. I got sent these teas by DCS, because they weren’t to her liking, and I then passed it on as it wasn’t to my liking. This is perhaps the best thing about Steepster. The community.”

So, 10 is the grade I would rank for standard tea bag tea. I would rank this tea below that. Probably around a 9. I’m holding off on ranking as I would like to see some more reviews of this tea before I leave such a drastic mark.

I’ve debated a long time about writing this review. I got sent these teas by DCS, because they weren’t to her liking, and I then passed it on as it wasn’t to my liking. This is perhaps the best thing about Steepster. The community.

So, 10 is the grade I would rank for standard tea bag tea. I would rank this tea below that. Probably around a 5-6. I’m holding off on ranking as I would like to see some more reviews of this tea before I leave such a drastic mark.

This is a basic green tea with vegetal notes and a woodsy aroma. It has a smokey taste, it is slightly astringent but not bitter. Plain Green is not my favorite but in has an obvious base of green tea. Nothing wrong with it but I have found that I just prefer a more flavored tea. I think it may blend well with other teas that I have to make it more to my liking but is nothing against the tea.

I did 1 1/2 tsp/10 oz for this one, and since it was already pretty dark I went with a short steep. This is…not for me, I think. The leaves are small and it brews up dark, almost like coffee. The taste is malty and strong and I can almost taste the caffeine, but the overall flavor is kind of boring. It’s not offensive at all, and it’s smooth and not bitter like I expected, but that’s about all I can say. To the swap pile the rest goes.

Thank you Shan Valley for supplying these at such a reasonable price. This a mild, thoughtful kind of tea. It is slightly vegetal with just a hint of citrus. For me, it’s the kind of tea I want to drink when I am sitting quietly, maybe reading or listening to music. I wouldn’t throw it in a mug to drink while driving or at work. It deserves a little more thought and appreciation.

This tea is making me happy today. Maybe because it’s a tea for the indecisive! It has the lightness/vegetal flavor of green with the slightest notes of toast and…is that just a hint of light sheng pu’er? It even has a touch of astringency, but just a bit. On the wheel of tea flavors, this one doesn’t go off strongly in any one direction but sits quietly in the center providing light touches of a few different tea types. I’ve never had anything like it but am enjoying it quite a bit.

2/10/14

3g/6oz/180F/3min. A western style brew. This made a lightly vegetal faintly astringent green tea. A pleasant but unremarkable cup, something I would say, ‘hey, nice tea’ about if I got it in a restaurant, and then chug and ignore through the meal.

Edits to follow for different times/temps/quantities.

Vegetal greens aren’t really my thing, but I really enjoyed the citrus notes in this. The whole flavour profile reminds me of eating lobster (or insert your preferred seafood), with a good squeezing of lemon and a dash of butter.

This isn’t the cup to win me over to Team Green, but I don’t mind drinking up two individual tea bags of it. Thanks, SFTGFOP, for sending this smoky smelling Myanmar tea my way!

While I enjoyed the Shan First Flush, this one’s a complete miss for me. It has a delicious fruity note near the finish, but I’m not a fan of the amount of “marine” this tea throws at me. Or the metal taste. I think that last one is the biggest deal breaker for me; I don’t want to feel like I’ve been rolling pennies all day when I’m drinking tea.

I’m going to try some different steeping parameters, water, and palates (lucky roommates) before I move on.. hopefully my assessment as it stands now doesn’t stick!

Thanks, SFTGFOP, for another new green tea to try!

Let me start by saying that I am not a huge fan of basic black teas. I tend to like fruity, flavored and spicy teas. The aroma is fresh and roasty. I also think I smell some vegetal maybe even asparagus. Interesting. The liquor is dark and looks like coffee. The first taste I had was strong and coffee like. Steepsterites who said that this would be good for people changing from coffee to tea are not wrong. I feel that this has similarities with coffee with out the astringent/bitter taste I associate with coffee. This tea is a bit astringent without being bitter. When I drink most teas I add a sweetener and I felt that I needed to try it with sweetener. I used Stevia which has no calories. I still smell and taste the hint of asparagus, as well as a nice roasty taste. The sweetened black is full bodied and tastes fresh. I wonder how much caffeine in this? I’m betting a lot. I would drink this in the morning but would be a little afraid to drink it later in the day. The bag doesn’t have any instructions for brewing, but it’s not tricky to figure out. It is a black tea after all :D

Smooth and pleasant, with no hint of bitterness or astringency. I really liked this green tea.

The re-steep was just as good, though with a slight astringecy.

Wow, this one packs a bit of a punch! I definitely see the comparison to coffee – the flavor is very bold, and does have a roasty taste. The leaves seemed ground, they were so small, which might account for such a strong flavor. Next time I will try using less leaf, and see if I prefer it. I like strong flavor, but this was a bit intense for me as is! Recommended for people who like a bold cup, or converted coffee drinkers.

Edit: Even using half a teaspoon, the flavor is not really for me. I do see how it could be appreciated, and I am sure coffee drinkers would LOVE this one, but it is a bit too strong for me!

I tried this tea for the first time this evening. The first thing that I noticed is that the dry leaves were very natural looking – fairly large, with some unevenness in size. They had a light oceanic scent to them as well.

I did a short steep to start, since the sample packet I had did not include brewing suggestions, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. So I went with 1 minute, with water at 175F. I think it could have taken a longer steep, maybe 2 min to start with, as the leaves did not fully unfurl and rehydrate in that amount of time.

The flavor was mellow, with a hint of ocean to it. Smooth, with no astringency or bitterness.

Re-steeped, with the same time as temperature as the first brew – similar in flavor, and still no bitterness!

This tea was earthy and sweet with nutty notes and a mild fruitiness. Smoky notes in the background rounded out the flavor profile, adding a nice balance. It had a bold astringency but did not become bitter when left to steep for too long the first time around (oops!).

http://www.teaformeplease.com/2013/10/shan-valley-black-tea.html

I was really excited to try this tea because it was grown in Mynamar, otherwise known as Burma. What can I say, I’m a sucker for unusual terroirs. Although it was fairly astringent I did not find it unpleasant at all. Sometimes life calls for an easy sipping tea and that is exactly what this one was. An unobtrusive, warming cup of tea can often be just what the doctor ordered.

http://www.teaformeplease.com/2013/09/shan-valley-valley-green-tea.html

Similarly to the Valley Green, this tea was mellow and vegetal with a mild fruitiness. The smokiness that I had detected in the Valley Green was just barely present here. No sweeteners are necessary as there was very little astringency. Although this is their reserve tea it is really quite affordable.

http://www.teaformeplease.com/2014/01/shan-valley-first-flush-green-tea.html

I’m having a cup of this tea right now. I really love the toasty notes of this tea. It has a coffee-like flavor to it. It is one of those robust, wake-you-up sort of teas and I needed it this afternoon.

A lot of complexity too: sweet, caramel, smoke, nut, and earth. A really pleasant cuppa.

Backlog:

I’m not sure if the leaves for this tea were actually roasted, but they do have a distinct roasted flavor to them. The roasted flavor reminds me a bit of coffee, but without the coffee bitterness (and the coffee side effects that I usually feel a couple of hours after drinking coffee.)

Rich, earthy, malty, and sweet. There is a slight “cocoa-ish” sort of flavor to it too that is accentuated by the roasty notes. Caramel notes, nutty tones, smoke, toast, and earth. It’s a really enjoyable, complex cuppa.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/30/black-tea-shan-valley/

This is a really lovely cup of tea. While most green teas tend to have a “buttery” sort of flavor to accent the “veggie” taste, I find that the vegetative notes here are less “buttery” and taste as though they’ve been accented with a squeeze of lemon. There is a distinct citrus-y note to these, and it lingers into the aftertaste.

The flavor develops after a few moments of cooling. I found my first two sips to be kind of delicate in taste, but, the tea was still quite hot at that point, as I had just poured the cup. But after a couple of moments, the tea began to come to life. I taste vegetative notes, citrus and nutty tones.

A really good tea – the first that I’ve tried from Shan Valley, but certainly not the last.