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This year’s early harvest Laoshan green tea was superb. Lush aromas of soy, leafy greens, nori, and oats. The steeped tea is fresh and full bodied, sweeter than the later flushes with pronounced notes of anise and kettle corn. I prefer slightly cooler brewing tempertures, around 175 F, to bring out the delicate sweetness. Hotter water makes the savory, toasted notes stand out more.

Having owned and broken countless World Market tea thermoses over the years, I figured it’s time I finally did a review. These are 10oz glass bottles with removable strainers and beautiful painted designs – botanical and geometric motifs – on the outside. Being glass, they are lightweight and allow you to watch the leaves as they brew. Of course glass also makes them breakage prone and thus a disadvantage to my clumsy self. After shattering enough of them, I bought a foam sleeve which has helped to protect mine from minor bumps and drops. Good thing is they are fairly cheap – I’ve gotten them for as little as $7 on sale – so not a big deal to replace. Like any thermos, they do a good job of keeping brewed tea hot or cold. There’s no plastic in direct contact with the liquid.

Unfortunately, there is one major flaw that makes this product less functional: the cheap metal strainer gets hot and taints the flavor of the tea. It’s especially noticeable with delicate teas like greens and whites. This problem essentially makes it unusable for grandpa brewing which mostly defeats the purpose of having a strainer. For this reason, I had to buy another tea thermos with a better quality strainer for steeping tea on the go. Mine is now used only for holding brewed tea.

World Market has carried these tumblers for a while now. Every year they come out with attractive new designs, but alas they all have the same cheap-o metal strainer. It’s a shame because this is otherwise an excellent tea thermos.

Not a tea I would have picked out on my own but was seduced by its divine aroma. I ambient brewed it today blended with a mellow green tea, then poured over ice for a really delicious and refreshing iced tea. The taste reminded me of fresh baked blueberry pie. The blueberry flavoring is very well done here; light and totally natural tasting with a gentle coconut accent in the background. I’m usually not a fan of coconut flavoring and appreciated the fact they didn’t go overboard with the coconut.

Note that I have yet to try this straight or hot brewed since I find most flavored teas too overpowering on their own. All 3 of the teas I bought from Kusmi turned out to be winners. I really appreciate the subtle, true to life flavoring and after writing off flavored tea a while ago, it’s made me give them a second look.

Bought a bag of this at Mitsuwa to make Hojicha lattes. Back in the day, I used to buy Maeda-en sencha from the Asian market and it was one of the better grocery store loose tea brands. Their Hojicha is no exception and it not only made a tasty latte, but was delicious served straight. It’s sweet and earthy with caramel undertones.

To prepare the latte, I steeped 1 tbls of tea in 1/3 cup of 195 F water for 3 minutes. Sweetened with 1.5 tsp of sugar and added a 2/3 cup of frothed milk.

Spent the afternoon at Barnes & Noble yesterday while my car was in the shop. It’s funny, although I read almost exclusively on the Kindle these days, nothing beats the experience of browsing an actual bookstore. I’m aware that bookstores and libraries are an endangered species these days, and try to support them in some way whenever I visit. So I went to the cafe and ordered this unsweetened Teavana iced tea.

As soon as I took a sip, I instantly recognized it as the old Starbucks Tazo Zen Green Tea now rebranded as Teavana. A tea I used to be quite fond of but hadn’t tasted in years. The tea was light amber in color and very heavy on the mint. Not the fresh mint you taste in Moroccan mint tea but the dried variety in your spice jar. There is a bit of lemongrass and citrus but the dominant flavor is mint. When I’m drinking a blend, I like to be able to taste some of the base tea however this felt like I was drinking dried herbs steeped in water.

It’s interesting how your tastes evolve over time. Although i used to love this tea, I struggled to finish the entire cup. It’s palatable and was nostalgic for me, but wouldn’t recommend it unless you really love mint.

Not quite sure how to rate this tea. It left me a little frustrated because no matter what I just couldn’t coax much flavor out of it through gongfu brewing. However today, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the tea’s character after hastily dumping a teaspoon or so of leaves in my tumbler with hot water.

The tea itself had a nice aroma of granny smith apples and daffodils. Wet leaf aroma was even more flowery with milk, butter, and a little tropical fruitiness. Gongfu brewing produced a light brew with a little sourness and notes of melon and cucumber. When allowed to steep longer, the tea is richer and develops into a bouquet of spring flowers with a sugarcane sweetness. I should have western steeped it instead of grandpa style though because eventually some bitterness crept in however underneath it, I could still taste the nectary sweetness.

I gotta say Taiwanese greens are the most aromatic green teas I’ve come across. Yet the actual drinking experience seldom lives up to the aroma. Such was the case with this tea. It had an incredible honeyed narcissus aroma but I got only the barest hint of flavor in the brewed tea. I had a little more success today following Togo’s steeping parameters.

The dry leaves emitted sweet aromas of maple syrup and apple cider when dropped into a heated shibo. Wet leaves had an interesting smell of eucalyptus and spice. First steep had a buttery, smooth vegetable soup flavor. Second steep was similar with a hint of juniper berries. The third steep had a cooling herbaceous taste mingled with sandalwood and a floral finish.

This was a mellow tea reminiscent of mao feng green tea. It had a sweet though indistinct vegetal flavor and a little tingle of spice. After trying a number of Taiwanese green teas, I’ve come to the conclusion that while interesting, they just don’t measure up to their counterparts from China and Japan. They seem more one-dimensional and lack that depth of flavor.

This first flush green is actually processed as a Bilochun style tea. It definitely had the fruitiness of Bilochun along with the usual toastiness of Laoshan green tea. There are chrysanthemum-like florals along with notes of fennel, pine, and jujube. Overall, less grassy and more fruity than regular green tea. It tastes good but the flavor profile is just not really my thing. I prefer a grassier/greener cup.

This was a lovely tea with a light, sweet jasmine aroma and taste. No off notes or any clashing flavors. Just the pure essence of the jasmine flower comes through. I steeped it grandpa style, 1.2g to 10oz of 185 F water. It takes a while, but the jasmine flavor eventually builds up. As it steeps, a creaminess appears from the underlying Jin Xuan which I suppose is the milky aspect of its name. Even when left to steep for a while, the tea doesn’t get bitter and a clear jasmine flavor remains.

I’ve had so many jasmine teas over the years that they seldom impress me anymore unless it’s something truly exceptional. This is one of those teas. Yunnan White Jasmine from Verdant remains my preferred jasmine scented tea, but I could totally see myself getting more of this once my stash runs out.

Backlog.

I only managed one session with this tea and the rest of it was brewed in less than ideal situations while traveling. Nevertheless, I remember this being a tasty tea. Creamier and more full-bodied than regular grade Pine Needle Laoshan tea. The taste is a blend of soymilk and crisp lettuce with a little honey and rounded out with a touch of nuttiness. The description says this tea is fed by sweet mountain spring water and it really does taste like it. There’s a fresh, pure quality to it that reminds me of drinking water from a spring.