TeaSource

I really love this tea, which was gifted to me by the friend who hooked me on find loose-leaf teas a few months ago—and this was one of the ones she committed the dirty deed with. It’s mellow, smooth without the earthiness or smokiness that my friend feels often mars Chinese Black Teas. She only likes her teas with milk, so she needs a tea that stands up to milk. I prefer almost all my teas without (Assam, which I think is really enhanced with milk, is the exception.) My aunt, who I often share these teas with liked it, but not as much as the Darjeeling or Assam. She felt that in comparison this didn’t have as much character.

A few years ago someone gave my Aunt a gift of a Chinese loose-leaf tea. We had no idea what to do with it, and it stayed in our cupboard for a year or two. Then a few months ago a friend of mine trying to convert me to loose-leaf teas gifted me with a variety of them, an infuser and instructions—and I was up and running. I tried the “mystery” tea and quite liked it, but had no idea what it could be since the writing in the wrappings was Chinese.

Then when I decided to order some teas for myself, I decided to try a couple of Oolongs and the mystery was solved. My mystery tea was Iron Goddess of Mercy. I liked that tea, and I liked the one from TeaSource, yet I doubt I’ll order it again. It’s simply that when there are teas I find I love, absolutely love, that I can steep two or three pots worth in one day and drink it with relish, this just doesn’t quite make it to the top. It’s an enjoyable tea, a bit astringent, metallic in flavor and mellow compared to blacks and thankfully not grassy like most Greens I’ve tried. But not destined to be the favorite Big Red Robe turned out to be.

I’m fairly new to loose-leaf tea, having gotten hooked a few months ago when a friend gifted me with a variety of teas, mostly blacks. She threw in a sample of this from Adagio as well as a Gunpowder Tea and a Pomegranate Green from TeaSource. Both my aunt, who I’ve been sharing the teas with, and I loved the Adagio Hojicha. My aunt called it “magnificent.” When we ran out, we ordered another Hojicha, this time from TeaSource as well as their Dragonwell and Sencha. We both disliked the Dragonwell and Sencha as too vegetal, but we both very much still like the Hojicha. Reading the reviews, particularly the negative ones of this tea I think we like it precisely for the reasons they didn’t. This isn’t typical for a Green Tea. It’s roasted, and doesn’t really taste grassy or vegetal. I’d agree with the reviewer who called it “toasty” and “nutty.” I wouldn’t describe it as “smoky” or earthy like other reviewers. Smoky makes me think of Gunpowder Tea, which I didn’t like. I do think this is earthier and maltier than the Adagio version of Hojicha. I thought I preferred the Adagio version. But I’m currently drinking the second steeping of the second time we’ve tried this tea, and it’s only growing on me. So far at least, this is my favorite Green Tea. Not the favorite the Oolongs and Blacks I’ve tried are, but up there.

I’m new to loose-leaf teas. A few months ago a friend gifted me with a variety of teas and hooked me. She is mostly a Black Tea person so couldn’t advise me what to try in Green Teas. So I chose Sencha and Dragonwell to order after reading both were popular, well-known Green Teas, the most popular teas in Japan and China respectively. Unfortunately I found both teas so undrinkable I’m considering either throwing them in the trash or mailing it to a tea-loving friend in Canada. I don’t think it’s my source at fault. I have TeaSource teas I absolutely adore—a Darjeeling, an Assam, their Hong Mao Feng and White Peony and Big Red Robe. But so far I find the only unflavored Green Tea I like is Hojicha, which is untypical in being roasted. For my tastes, the Dragonwell and especially the Sencha are far too vegetal. Drinking a tea that tastes like spinach was boiled in it doesn’t make me go “yummy.” I’m told some love vegetal teas. If you do, this might be one you really like. Not for me.

Also, my aunt who often shares the teas with me complained she found it too weak. The second time I made a pot I put more tea into the infuser and steeped it for over three minutes, and it was stronger—but neither my aunt nor I liked it more.

I find this tea so undrinkable I’m considering either throwing it in the trash or mailing it to a tea-loving friend in Canada. I don’t think it’s my source at fault. I have TeaSource teas I absolutely adore—a Darjeeling, an Assam, their Hong Mao Feng and White Peony and Big Red Robe. But I’m new to fine loose-leaf teas, and so far I find the only unflavored Green Tea I like is Hojicha, which is untypical in being roasted. For my tastes, the Dragonwell is far too vegetal. Drinking a tea that tastes like spinach was boiled in it doesn’t make me go “yummy.” I’m told some love vegetal teas. If you do, this might be one you really like. Not for me.

I liked this tea quite a bit. I’ve only been drinking fine loose-leaf teas for less than four months, after a friend gifted me with some varieties and hooked me. This was in a sample pack she gave me. I had tried a Jasmine Silver Needles from Adagio and I found it undrinkable—to me it tasted like perfume, so I was concerned when I noted this had roses. But really, the tea was quite lovely. I liked it so much, I ordered Sencha from TeaSource, which is the base for this, and was surprised to find I didn’t like it. Too vegetal in taste. But the pomegranate and roses seem to ameliorate that. If I don’t rate this higher, it’s because I don’t know that I can see this, unlike say Darjeeling, as a tea I could enjoy having just about every day. But this one is sweet and lovely.

I’m new to loose-leaf teas, and I do understand tastes change as you experience the different teas, but at this point at least, I don’t like the smokey, earthy flinty taste of this tea at all. At least unflavored. I’ve tried Gunpowder Tea paired with Mint, and did like that tea more, but at this point I don’t see this as a tea I’ll ever reach for again. At the very least, I think it’s unlikely this makes a good introduction to loose-leaf green teas.

A friend turned me on to fine loose-leaf teas a few months ago by gifting me with a variety of them. Since I’ve tried twenty-two varieties of tea, and so far Darjeelings are my favorites. And of the two Darjeelings I’ve tried, Sungma Summer from Adagio and this Selim Hill from TeaSource, the TeaSource one has a slight edge. Both are lovely teas whether with milk or alone. (I prefer without—this is too delicious to mask with milk, but this is a tea that can stand up to milk and mix well with it.) Second and third steeping still render a delicious tea and this makes a great ice tea as well. Darjeelings are described as having a fruity “muscatel” flavor and that’s true of this one. It’s sweet and smooth, with a great mouth feel. Only leaving some room at the end of the rating because with time and more experience I may find I love a tea even more than this one. But it won’t be easy.

My first Assam (from Adagio) was given to me in by a friend hoping to addict me to loose-leaf tea—and this tea was part of what hooked me. I didn’t know what to make of it on first sip. It grew on me as I drank more, seemed to have a complexity other teas lacked. I also found this is one tea that really tastes its best with milk—dairy or soy. Other teas might stand up to milk, this one I think is enhanced with it. And I usually prefer my teas without. Later my friend sent me this Assam (Gingia Estate) from TeaSource. And though I’ve found since I usually prefer TeaSource’s teas to those from Adagio, in this case I think Adagio’s Assam Melody has an edge. A very slight edge. This is one of my favorite teas.

Fancy teas make me nervous. And I guess I consider anything that isn’t black or rooibos or a teabag kinda fancy, haha. Got this from my good buddy potatowedges, who thought I would like this even though I’m not a green person. I stared at it for a while, nervous I would kill it with my roommate’s Sunbeam Hotshot water heater. The leaves are so pretty and spindly! And it smells sweet, not grass-like at all! Watching it brew. Still nervous. Leaves aren’t opening as much as I expected. Smell it…uh oh. Vegetal. Stare at the cup of liquid. Yellow, pretty, does not smell like anything. Try a sip…eh. Add some sugar, nommmm. No longer smells like green things. Smells like corn, just like the description. All nutty and toasty. Yay, teaventures!

Overall it tastes like a fine cup of black tea, I feel left out of these reviews mostly because you highlight the wonderful bergamot flave which was abscent on mine :( Just an after taste of it which quickly fades. I like my bergamot natural & well balanced, I’ll keep brewing it & see what happens.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this Keemun variety, and I have to say I was surprised by the cup I had. I was thinking more of a typical smoky Keemun character, and instead it turned out more like a first flush Darjeeling. It has a very slight astringency and it brews up markedly pale. A bit of apricot comes through and some other fruitiness I can’t quite put my finger on. Definitely a good and interesting cup!

Apparently some people like to steep this with a bit less leaf for something like 7 minutes to get a different character from the tea. I think I might try this next time.

Really interesting green tea, slightly vegetal with just a small amount of astringency. I expected more of an astringent bite since it is a darjeeling, but I really didn’t get it. Reminds me a tiny bit of a young sheng pu erh. Certainly the first green darjeeling I’ve had.

I got 2 steeps from the leaves, the second fell off a little, but still definitely worth the second steep. I used a rounded tsp in my 7 ounce cup and did around 2 and 3 minute steeps with water straight from the hot water cooler tap (175°ish).

Very fragrant green with great jasmine perfume. I was able to get 2 steeps out of the leaves – 1 rounded tsp in my 7 ounce cup. Steeped 3 minutes for my first, 4 minutes for the second with water straight out of the hot tap on the water cooler (around 175-180°). Second came out almost as strong as the first.

I used a serrated knife to cut this cube in half, which worked well. This tea is sweet in an earthy, straw-like way, and a perfect all-day sipping tea. It’s also impossible to over-steep—I left some going for maybe 15 minutes and it was still delicious and not at all bitter. I’m really excited to have this more—it’s really everything I could want…

I was looking around my cupboard for greens and, despite not really being in the mood for a toasty tea (like this or Genmaicha), this was one of the only ones I had left. I decided I should give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised! Toasty, cozy, nutty, green, tasty. I could compare the grassiness of this to, possibly…Gunpowder. Very pleasant and nice. I don’t know how often I’d be in the mood for it, because I rarely feel in the mood for things like this. But it’s really good.

This is a green that has been a very, very acquired taste. I remember my first time drinking it, when I made some up to sip while I plunked myself down in a hallway in the science building to do a perspective drawing. I took my first sip and…ugh…the astringency and grassiness really put me off. However, I wasn’t a particular fan of green tea to begin with at that point. I really needed to get into unflavored greens themselves, which I have (most enthusiastically) for several months now. Even after that, I avoided this tea for some reason, thinking I still wouldn’t like it.

Not so. I had some this morning, just after having a little piece of dark chocolate, and its grassy, earthy, somewhat astringent flavor was perfect and soothing. There is a definite depth to this tea—I feel like I’m tasting soil as well as foliage. I’m eagerly anticipating the second steep, and I’m also trying to figure out when I can make a big order of green again…I know I need to cool it for a while so my pantry doesn’t overflow.

This is fantastic. So much love.

I read the description and had to add it to my cart. Almond brittle? Yes. Vanilla? Yes. Flowers of some sort? Yes. Licorice? Yes. Lemongrass? Sure! It had so many interesting flavors that I knew it would be, if not delicious, at least memorable.

When I opened this up it smelled like…I couldn’t figure it out for a while, but…like the Tofu Lime Tarts that the deli at my hometown co-op makes sometimes. Vegan pastry crust + tofu lime creamy cheesecake-ness= best ever. I think it must be the lemongrass in this that reminds me of this fantastic dessert. There’s no licorice in tofu lime tarts! Anyway, I couldn’t wait to try this.

Morning came, and I brewed some up. As soon as the water hit the leaves, the aroma changed to a more pungently lemon one, and I got a little concerned, because sometimes my relationship with citrus is less than amicable. But I was still excited to sip it—and I did, far too early, nearly scalding my lips. But it was worth it. This is…fantastic. And unusual. The zing of the licorice plays across your palate, followed by lemongrass that tastes, somehow, creamy…maybe it’s the almond brittle and vanilla. On the back of the sip you can taste the nice Yunnan black tea that’s under it all. There are so many delightful flavors in this that it never stops being interesting…some I don’t notice, like the strawberry pieces, but I really don’t mind. I hope I can get a few steeps out of this.

Wow. This is awesome. It tastes like I added some unsweetened soymilk, it’s so creamy. (But I didn’t.) Maybe this really IS the tea incarnation of tofu lime tarts…with a little licorice.

Tried it again, this time with a freshly cleaned teakettle, basket, and mug. Still smoooooth and creamy. Definitely nutty. It almost tastes like there’s some milk in there…and it has a little note of what might be cinnamon. It’s as rich-tasting as green tea ice cream. How does this work? Regardless, I love it.

Yum yum yummity yum.

I could do without the mint, but it’s still really tasty.