The Jade Teapot

Meh. I got this free sample from Jade Teapot today. I wanted this to taste like a nice juicy pear. It doesn’t. It does have some pear flavor, but it more like an unripe pear. There is some bitter taste in the background that I couldn’t identify.

A sample from the Jade Teapot because yes, I’m still on my breakfast blend kick! I added a little milk (1tsp) and sugar (1/2 tsp) because I wanted to (though I’ll probably try the remainder of my sample straight).

It smells malty, clean, woody, fresh. The taste is a lot clearer and cleaner than I was expecting. Smooth, malty, not too heavy, stout, a little fruitiness that I can taste blending in with the added sugar…

English Breakfasts typically seem a little wussy to me but this one must have had an Irish mother or something. It’s not as bold as most Irish Breakfasts I’ve had but it really has nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s definitely more my speed than any other English Breakfast I’ve tried.

It’s nothing overly distinct or super-special but it’s a very good blend and one that I could see finding a place for in my pantry.
3.8g/10oz

My general rule of thumb is as follows:

Herbal tea – sweeten
Black tea – milk and sweetener
Green tea – no sweetener
Oolong – no sweetener

So, true to form, I tried my first cup of this without sweetener. It was a bit harsh. The green tea components were fine, but the flavorings were a bit sour and overpowering.

Second cup, I sweetened. YUM!!! For me, it made it sing. The ginger plays the low note to the lemon high note, and the whole thing blends with the green in the background. I can see this as a lovely iced tea or after dinner tea, or pretty much an “any time I want something yummy tea”

My first real cup of tea since getting back from vacation and a business trip. Not a bad way to jump back in! My pot brewed up dark – I added my entire sample to my zarafina, and I think I should have cut it back.

The flavor is smooth yet high in tannin, and has a slightly drying mouthfeel. This may be because of too much tea leaf, but I didn’t mind.

Yummy, dark, and smooth. A good morning, wake-you-up tea.

Yummy blueberries!

I felt like having something fresh and fruity and this was perfect.
The unbrewed leaves are predominantly scented of gorgeous fresh blueberries. When brewed, the freshness turns stewed and baked—like warm blueberry muffins. The green tea is subtle and adds a slight grassiness. I’m envisioning a picnic of blueberry muffins under a tree on a grassy knoll in the springtime. There is a floral note—but it’s not strong and somehow enhances the fruitiness.

Oh I see a couple round blueberries bobbing about in the water! I forgot there was actual real fruit in here. It’s almost like I dropped fresh berries in myself—they’ve definitely plumped up from their original dessicated state.

I’ve kept the leaves steeping in my travel mug—so the overall taste is strong and astringent. But I still like it!

Edited to add: On the second steeping (or, in this case, topping off my mug with more hot water), the jasmine really comes out to play! The aroma is of lovely, creamy jasmine petals floating in a blueberry compote.

This was another free sample from The Jade Teapot. I took this plain, with no sugar or milk. It brewed to the really nice yellow-orange color that is typical of a flavored white. The smell is sort of like peach, but with a little melon in there, too. It’s very strong but pleasant as well.

This is quite nice. From the smell, I was expecting a huge peach taste to smack me in the face. However, it is just a light flavor and I can still taste the white tea below everything. This could make my rating go either way, but for me, a light peachy taste is just what I wanted.

This would make a very good every day afternoon tea. It would also taste good iced. It’s beginning to be that time of the year when I need to break out the shorts, fans, and iced tea, so I need to make note of what would taste good iced. I don’t want the weather to heat up, but it’s inevitable. Sigh.

You know, if you’d come up to me this morning and said, “Cait, how would you like to try a roasted zucchini tea?” I probably would have made one of those faces from the low end of the ratings scale. And yet!

I’m really enjoying this. I’m using mini-steeps, but they’re all coming out quite consistent: thick-feeling without being heavy, very smooth, smelling and tasting of roasted veggies, and showing just a hint of sweetness (it actually makes me think of squash blossoms).

Thank you for the sample, Jade Teapot!

Edited to add: Photography!
http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad296/cait_tea/Y29udGVudDovL21lZGlhL2V4dGVybmFs-3.jpg

Smells strongly of vanilla. I’m not a fan of vanilla but this one wasn’t artificial so I didn’t mind. It was a soothing cup, just not my favorite. Those who like vanilla may want to try this.

This was a sample from Jade Teapot. A very smooth cup of tea. I’m more used to the CTC Assams I drink with milk, but I liked this straight. It was a little mild to have with my ginger cardamom scone. I wasn’t aware that it can be steeped multiple times, which is a plus. I usually don’t re-steep my tea except for oolongs, but I think I’ll try and see how I like it. Overall this was a pleasant cup of tea.

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp, entire sample
Additives: none
Water: 12 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 7 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: orange and something else I can’t identify
Steeped Tea Smell: woody honey orange
Flavor: sweet orange
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: citric tang
Liquor: translucent orange-red

This is part of the samples I got from the jade teapot. Although this tea isn’t a WOW tea, I will buy some in conjunction with other teas when purchasing there.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: weak and watery, threw out

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea_21.html

I got my sample in from the Jade Teapot and Thanks Steven for sending this to me! I am not sure about much of anything about this tea only that it come from The Jade Teapot and that he sent it to me out of the kindness of his heart. The reason I don’t know much about it is because it is a sample from China and the sample pouch it came in is written in Mandarin. While I do not read Mandarin I do know that it is Tie Guan Yin (Which I know to mean Iron Goddess of Mercy) and it’s an Oolong Tea!

It’s on the green forum of oolongs and the smell is like (and I can’t believe I am about to say this) but smells like hairspray! And not like the great smelling Salon Selectives (of the 80’s and 90’s) but sadly more like AquaNet :P ewww but surprisingly the taste is not bad!!

I love greener oolongs this one is very vegetal in flavor and leaves my palate with the slightest whisper of jasmine flavor. (Patting myself on the back for ordering that Jasmine oolong from Adagio sample) otherwise I would not have been able to place the jasmine flavor in this cup.

Thanks The Jade Teapot! Aquanet smell aside this is not a terrible cuppa! :)

BTW the packaging says “The Famous Tea of China”

For rooibos, this doesn’t taste too bad. The smell is mostly horrid – sour wood – but the taste is orangy, though this time less so than the first time I had it. I think I need to lengthen the steep time. But yeah, all in all not bad for a rooibos.

For the first time since Monday, I actually am craving tea. So I’m going to go with it, do a little celebration dance and have a brand new tea. This is one of the free samples I got from Jade Teapot so yay! I’m actually the most hesitant about this one simply because… rooibos. But Samovar has convinced me that rooibos can be done well (thank you, Ocean of Wisdom) so I’m not going to automatically exclude all rooibos as I continue to search for good nighttime decaf tea-alternatives. And this one is blood orange flavored so that’s a point in its favor. I’m a sucker for anything orange and my grocery store has had some really great blood oranges lately so perhaps the stars will align and it will be love, right?

Okay, it’s not quite love but I might be able to develop a bit of a crush if given enough time. My biggest problem is the smell. Maybe one day I’ll get used to the sour wood smell and taste of rooibos. Until then, rooibos just makes me go ick. Fortunately, this rooibos also smells strongly of blood orange. Most of the time the smell of the citrus gives a nice sweet lift to the tail of the rooibos smell but every so often I catch overwhelming whiffs of orange and that’s fun. But the main smell is still rooibos sour wood and that made me a bit hesitant to sip.

But sip I did and it actually tastes a lot less rooibos-y than it smells. The rooibos and the orange tastes blend really well. No wait, let me take that back. The taste of the orange nicely covers the taste of the rooibos. It’s sort of like someone snuck in and spiced my orange with rooibos. The rooibos taste is there but there is no sour wood taste – just a dry, woody taste that I can totally deal with especially since it is wrapped in juicy orange. And I know the ingredient list has hibiscus, but it’s insanely light. Just a wee hint of tart that helps simulate the tart bite of a sweet orange.

So yeah, not sure yet if I’d order this but fortunately the Jade Teapot gives generous samples so I have several more sessions with this beastie to see how we will get along. I do kind of feel a bit like I’m taking bubblegum-flavored medicine though. You know that you are ingesting something icky that you don’t really want, but it’s flavored so there’s a secret part of you (okay, fine, me) that actually likes it. (And considering that rooibos is supposed to be an expectorant, that comparison is pretty accurate right now).

ETA: Second steep @ 8min. More rooibos woodsy but still not sour so bonus. Has a nice fresh-fruit orange aftertaste. I might actually like the subtlety of this steep more. Maybe.
2.4g/5.5oz

So my free samples from The Jade Teapot just arrived!
They were nice enough to have sent me the samples, a 15% discount coupon, and a pen! How awesome is that?
I tried the Peach Oolong first, since I’ve never had oolong before. Once steeped, I could sense a subtle peach aroma which was nice. The tea itself was very smooth to swallow, and it had very little if any astringency while being slightly but naturally sweet.

I haven’t wanted this in a long time, but it is tasting pretty nice tonight. I don’t think I feel the need to keep it around in the long run, but it is good while I have it.

I didn’t know what I wanted this afternoon so I picked this one on a whim. I like that this is minty, but not like a piece of gum. It is a bit different from a plain minty herbal, this has a slight grassy quality that adds a bit of depth. I’m still not sure if I would purchase this, but it is nice in the afternoon. I bet it would be nice after a meal also.

I just needed something minty to help clear my congested head. This is very minty, but in a good way. I’m getting mostly mint (probably because I didn’t steep the tea for long enough). I’m going to hold off on rating this tea until I can actually smell it and actually steep it for the recommended time.

Steep Information:
Amount: entire sample, 3 heaping tsp
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 7 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: andes chocolate mints
Steeped Tea Smell: andes chocolate mints
Flavor: mint, woody
Body: Full
Aftertaste: mint with a hint of chocolate
Liquor: deep opaque black-red

This smelled similar to 52Teas Loose Leaf Black Tea ‘Chocolate Mint Flavored Black Tea’

Both were strongly mint.

This tea has two advantages (for me) – no bitter black tea flavor, and it’s rooibos (I need more caffeine free teas I love in my cupboard).

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: 7 minutes, medium bodied, still the same profile, lighter coloring

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea_2874.html

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp at first, then entire sample (approx 4 tsp)
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Mesh basket strainer in cup
Steep Time: a little over 12 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: barely a scent of caramel, and perhaps a re-heated burned caramel
Steeped Tea Smell: none
Flavor: woody rooibos
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: the burned caramel is there, like an after thought, not heavy but lightly
Liquor: dark red

After the first 7 minutes and 2 tsp of tea I found it to be a weak woody rooibos flavor, so I added the rest of the sample and steeped another 5 minutes.

I was not tasting the apple or smelling it. The cinnamon and almond surprised me as I would never have guessed they were there had they not been in the ingredient listing.

You need to like rooibos to like this tea as it is a very prominent flavor. The apple and caramel are too subtle for me.

Post-Steep Additives: 1/2 tsp German rock sugar, more caramel flavor brought out

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea_17.html

Still working my way through The Jade Teapot samples.

This tea has a nice citrus smell to it that isn’t too overpowering. But I do wish I could smell the earthy/grassy scent of the green tea a little more though.

With the name Liquid Jade, you’d think this tea would have a nice green tint to it, but it has a much more yellow color to the brew. The bergamot gives this tea a nice citrus flavor with a touch of honey, and I can taste a slight bit of grassy flavor from the green tea.

The resteeps on this tea are crazy, I’m on cup 5 and I’m just now noticing the tea being lighter in color and flavor, the green is almost non-existent and I can only taste the citrus now. I could definitely get a few more steeps out of this.

I don’t think I would drink this on a daily basis just because I like the grassy/earthy flavor from green teas. But this is definitely a nice tea and is a good change of pace. Plus, this is a great tea if you are wanting to find a nice tasting tea that will last you many many steepings.

Steep Information:
Amount: 3 tsp (entire sample)
Additives: none
Water: 26 ounces filtered boiling
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 10 minutes (7 was too weak)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: Pears, Woody, and something else I can’t quite place
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, pears, and that odd something else
Flavor: funky (marigold?)
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet
Liquor: translucent reddish-orange

I realize I should have done less water, but that was the pot that was out and it needs at least that much to cover the tea.

This was a free sample from The Jade Teapot, which I really appreciate in my quest to find good caffeine free tea.

Sadly this tea is just too weird, there is that flavor I can not place, and the pear is a very light flavor, although the sweetness was wonderful, no additives needed!

Post-Steep Additives: none

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/jade-teapot-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea.html

The 3rd sample from The Jade Teapot that I’ve tried.

The smells of this are very strong. Definitely can smell the pomegranate right off the bat, but with each time I take a whiff of this, I can smell the more subtle things like the blueberry and peony. When comparing to a bag of pomegranate white tea from Argo Tea, the white tea from Argo smells like a much sweeter pomegranate. The blueberry pomegranate tea from TJT smells like pure pomegranate juice almost.

I think this tastes quite nice, but I do agree with Erin that the fruity flavor can be a bit overpowering. But to me, that isn’t a bad thing. I would recommend steeping this at low times and temps so the pomegranate and blueberry isn’t super overpowering. I still find this to be a good, relaxing tea.