Keemun Hao-Ya from T-Ching

I see that the T-Ching tasting notes are up, so I'm free to post my reviews here as well now. Since my nose is still rather stuffy & my taste "off", I'll post these reviews this week, and get back to "fresh" reviews next Monday. Enjoy!

Scent in package: lightly fruity/malty
Brewed in: Tea for one pot w/metal infuser
Steeped: 5 min. @ 212 degrees w/spring water
Cup: ceramic café mug

This tea is one of three in T-Ching’s latest online tasting event, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate in the reviews.

The dried leaves are small and uniform, tipped lightly throughout. I didn’t detect much of a fragrance from the dried leaves, but the tea smells heavenly as it brews, sweet and rich, with notes of chocolate and pepper along with a fruity note which carries right into the taste.

Like most Keemuns, the brew is contradictory, which is what makes it so interesting and appealing. The actual tea seems dark and thick in the cup, but as it flows over the tongue, it feels smooth and thin. The taste truly is “thick” however, and an array of flavors are present in the soup. It is fruity and muscatel at first, with notes of chocolate and pepper coming on later. Each sip finishes with an almost smoky astringency that stays in the mouth long after the tea itself is gone.

I’m a sipper, which means that the later half of any cup is inevitably cold before I get around to finishing it off. That also makes for some interesting tasting observations with certain teas, this being one of them. As it cools to room temperature, the smoky aftertaste disappears into sweetness, though the drying quality is still quite evident. The muscatel flavors come to the front, and the taste thins out, less complex with a sort of bittersweet quality coming through. Still very interesting, and very enjoyable, in my opinion.

It’s a good tea, interesting, many flavor notes, and quite enjoyable, especially as a morning wake-up cup.

Reviews Postponed

I apologize, but I'm going to have to postpone today's review of Organic Qi Lan until Monday. I caught a particularly nasty bug this week (got it Monday - wonderful timing, eh?), and as of today, I can't smell or taste much of anything, so there's little point in attempting to review anything (the Hot Cinnamon Sunset I'm drinking now tastes very mild, unlike the very hot sensation I got from it last weekend, if that tells you anything).

So with any luck, I'll be recovered and ready for more reviewing come Monday (Dec. 31st). Have a great weekend...and be well!

Tea Gift Reports

Did you get any good tea or teaware gifts this year?

I received a large tin of Hot Cinnamon Sunset sachets from Harney & Sons, and a “tag-along” tin of African Autumn rooibos tisane (also H&S). A friend made a chai mix that she sent me, and while it’s good, it’s more sugar and creamer than actual tea (which is okay, since the “tea” is probably powdered tea, and not too tasty anyways).

That’s all the tea I got – I’ll be posting reviews on the Harney & Son’s teas later. No teaware, sadly. I did, however, get a gift certificate to JC Penny's. I have a hard time with gift certs, since I don't like to actually go shop, so I spent it online, in the housewares section (to get free shipping). One of the items I bought was a Back to Basics Iced Tea Maker, with variable steeping times for loose or bagged tea. It's backordered (possibly due to a product recall I failed to read about until *after* I ordered it), but when it gets here, I'll put it through it's paces, and post a review.

Anyone else care to report tea/teaware gifts this year?

Wishing you all a bright and happy holiday, along with

wonderful gifts of tea and teaware.

Happy brewing,

Jamie

Golden Mudan from Harney & Sons

Scent in package: not much
Brewed in: tea-for-one/metal infuser
Steeped: 5 min. @ boiling
Cup: Café mug

I either missed an illustration when ordering this tea, or something, but you can imagine my surprise when I opened the sample pack, and instead of loose tippy black tea, I found several tea “wreaths” tied together (comprised of long black & golden leaves…beautiful). This means I should probably pay more attention to what I’ve ordered, if only so I know to have a camera at the ready when doing a review. Since I’m at work, I don’t, and we’ll have to live without pictures, but it is a very nice presentation of this particular tea – you’ll just have to take my word(s) for it.

There’s no real scent to the tea in the package, and it actually looks a bit unappetizing just out of the bag. But it brews up into a lovely light brown ball of leaf tips floating in the pot, and the liquor is very light golden, like the water from boiling raisins. It’s very clear, with a thicker viscosity, and has sort of a “baked goods” fragrance, like raisin bread or the like (guess I’m on a raisin kick today).

Oh, Wow!

Those were my first words upon tasting this tea. It’s phenomenal. It’s thick on the tongue and very sweet, like liquid honey. It reminds me of hot fresh biscuits with butter and honey, or bread dough – sweet with a slight yeasty tang (that you wouldn’t peg as such unless you really thought about it). It’s very smooth and mellow, perfect for a lazy afternoon, or even a snowy winter mid-morning treat.

I really don’t know what else to say about this amazing tea – except “get some”! It’s left me nearly speechless, for whatever that’s worth. It’s not even an expensive tea – a sample is $2, or you can get a 2oz. tin for $6. Treat yourself – you won’t regret it.

Books with My Tea

Today, a special post featuring a book meme that Tea Party Girl recently tagged me for. Normally I don't participate in such things, but being a book lover, I decided to give this one a "go". It was much harder than I thought, especially narrowing down which five books were most meaningful to me. Five? Seriously? When you've been reading forever, that seems like such a paltry number to pare down to...but I managed.

Many tea drinkers seem to be book lovers as well, and one of my favorite ways to wind down before bed is with a book and a cup of tea. Join me?

1. How many books do I own? Lots. Around 1000 last time I counted. Nine largish book cases full, plus a shelf of cookbooks, and various others lying around. I love to read, and have since I was very young. My tastes are very, very eclectic, and I have some of every genre on my shelves.

2. What was the last book I read? I recently finished Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie, one of my favorite romance novelists. I’m currently reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown, as well as short stories from Harlequin that I read on the treadmill (ebooks on my PDA).

3.What was the last book I purchased? As a gift: Nothing by Jon Agee – a children’s book we bought for my husband’s father for Christmas when he insisted he wanted “nothing”. For myself, a bundle of Harlequin ebooks. I buy an occasional book at the grocery store, but have to stay out of bookstores for the most part (to spare my budget the pain). I get a lot of books passed on to me by my mom and sister, also readers.

4.What five books are the most meaningful to me?

1. In His Steps by Charles Sheldon
2. Trixie Belden Mysteries by Julie Campbell/Kathryn Kenny
3. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
4. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
5. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein

5. What is my most obscure favorite book? A very old etiquette book I have…it’s falling apart, but has an answer for literally any situation you might find yourself in, ever. I love it to pieces, along with my old McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers which is what we used when we first started home schooling, before we had a curriculum. We used them throughout our home school years for practice reading aloud, and getting comfortable with different types of literature.

So there you have it. What are you reading with your tea this holiday season?

White Rose from Teas, Etc

Scent in package: lovely “wild roses”
Brewed in: glass teapot/glass infuser
Steeped: 5 min. @ 185 or so
Cup: Porcelain teacup

I got this sample in my recent order from Teas, Etc., and couldn’t wait to try it. I love black rose tea, or any tea scented with roses, so I figured this one had to be good as well. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

The dry leaves and rose buds are simply beautiful together, the tea clearly being of high quality with some full leaves present. The scent made my mouth water, and I couldn’t wait for the water to heat up. I poured, and that lovely sweet floral fragrance just intensified, filling the whole kitchen. This tea brews up darker than many white teas, to a lovely golden yellow color as you can see.
The taste is wonderful. The tea taste is very light, of course, and easily missed if you’re not thinking about it. The rose flavor is what really shines, sweet and decadent. It made me think of garden parties, ladies in lacy hats and gloves, and coolness on a hot summer day when the scent of a wild rose bush can waft through the yard on a light breeze. It was slightly drying, as many white teas are, but not unpleasantly so, and I was quite disappointed when the cup was empty.

Unfortunately, it was time for bed then…and the tea was so relaxing that I had no trouble laying down and falling right to sleep. I put the extra half-glass of tea in the fridge, and plan on drinking it cold this evening, and I think it will be quite lovely and refreshing over ice, possibly even sweeter.

The wet leaves were beautiful and vibrant, the rose buds open and very beautiful against the pale green spent leaves of the tea.
I’ve now tried black, green and white teas scented with roses, and honestly, I’ve loved every one of them. This one is definitely a keeper – if you like floral teas, try this one. You won’t regret it.

Black Grapefruit from Teas, Etc

Scent in package: very grapefruit-y- like the oolong version from last week.
Brewed in: small porcelain teapot
Steeped: 6 min. @ 212 degrees (got sidetracked)
Cup: big ceramic mug

I was home yesterday trying to convince my body that it really didn’t *want* to get the cold my husband has had for the past several weeks. It seems to be working, and I think the tea helps…I planned on posting this review yesterday, but just never quite got around to it.

In any case, you can imagine my delight when this free sample showed up in an order I got last week from Teas, Etc. Honestly, I didn’t eve know they had Black Grapefruit until I got the sample. Naturally, I was more than ready to try it after my really great experience with the Grapefruit Oolong from Adagio. The dry leaves of this flavored black were nice – smaller as expected, but in good shape as I’d also expect from this company. The tea smelled great as it steeped, wafting a lovely citrus scent throughout the kitchen.

I got back 6 minutes after I’d set it to steep, and was really worried that it would be over brewed. Since I used the whole sample for a pot, which did not really make me happy. And if the base tea had been the dreaded Ceylon, it would most certainly have been bitter and tannic. But the base tea for this is listed as “Chinese Black Tea”, and it withstood the over steeping well, without a hint of bitterness or extra astringency. Whew! I’m guessing it was a lower grade Yunnan tea, since I tasted a bit of maltiness (I actually thought it was an Assam until I visited the web site).

Either way, the base tea was delicious, which provided the perfect backdrop for the grapefruit flavoring. The flavor is light, and not really as strong as it could be, but it showcases the tea itself well, which is the whole idea anyways. It’s refreshing, but still a bold, dark tea with good viscosity and “presence” in the mouth.

I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Adagio’s Grapefruit Oolong, because I would have liked a little more of that citrus flavor to come through. But overall, as a flavored black tea, it was very good, and very satisfying too. I’d certainly recommend it – a great morning tea to wake up with (which is what I used it for).

Almond Oolong from Adagio

Scent in tin: vanilla nut, sweet – yummy.
Brewed in: Glass teapot
Steeped: 5 minutes @ near boiling
Cup: porcelain teacup

After my experience with Adagio’s Grapefruit Oolong earlier this week, I was pretty excited to try this one as well. I love the smell of almonds, but in the tin, this tea almost smelled more like vanilla than anything else. It’s a very dark oolong with bits of real almonds blended in & Adagio instructs that it should be brewed at 212 degrees, but I was still a bit too apprehensive to brew it at a full boil, so I poured the water just before it hit the boiling point.

And then I was very afraid.

Anyone who’s been brewing tea for awhile knows that smell – the one that you get when the water is just too hot for the tea and the leaves seem to be burning in the cup. I sighed, but decided to wait and see, reserving judgment for the tasting. There was still time to brew another pot, if I had to. The tea does look absolutely lovely while brewing – rich, golden, but still very clear, like topaz.

I poured it into my cup, still disappointed that I’d apparently ruined the tea. It appears as a lighter black brew in the cup, which struck me as interesting and lovely since it was still very clear in the cup, just dark. I went and sat down, waited until it had cooled a bit more, and then took a tiny taste, just to see how badly I’d burned it.

Then a larger sip, and another one after that. I discovered that the tea was not burnt at all – it was just the particular scent of this tea steeping, the almond scent overwhelming all else! Whew!

Needless to say, it was wonderful. The oolong base was smooth and silky as it rolled over my tongue, leaving behind a wonderfully sweet almond and vanilla taste. As it cooled, the worrisome scent resolved itself into a relaxing sweet vanilla fragrance that I quite enjoyed. Neither the taste nor scent were too strong…just pleasantly noticeable and very well blended with the dark roasted oolong. Not only was it the perfect tea to relax with, but the flavor was very warming on a cold winter night. Excellent for this time of year.

So this one gets another hearty thumbs up from me – try it…just don’t judge it by the smell while it’s steeping!

Opus Pouchong from Adagio

Scent in tin: A very light, sweet floral scent.
Brewed in: small ceramic teapot/unbleached filter bag
Steeped: 5 min. @ steaming
Cup: porcelain teacup/ceramic travel mug

I had pictures of this tasting, I swear. And now I can’t seem to find them. So if I come across the files, I’ll post them later, but I guess my descriptions will just have to suffice for now. I’m sipping this tea from my travel mug as I type, having made a fresh cup here at the office this afternoon for a break.

I like pouchong teas as a rule. The floral sweetness on a smooth, silky base is just very relaxing and decadent for me. This one is the third I’ve tasted, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed in it.

The dry leaves are a mixture of regular “thick” tea leaves dried and twisted, and broken bits of leaves, as if someone didn’t handle the tea carefully enough. That’s pretty odd for Adagio, since they go to the lengths of packaging their teas in tins and all. I can only surmise then that this is a lower grade of pouchong than I’ve been drinking.

The scent is very light – much lighter than either of the two I have at home. It’s almost imperceptible, and I find myself having a hard time even coming up with much of a description. What I can sniff out smells good, it’s just not really as fragrant as I’d like it to be. The scent of the brewed tea is stronger, and there I can easily make out notes of vanilla among the floral, and the fragrance really is quite lovely to the nose wafting from the cup.

It’s kind of an odd tea in terms of taste. Brewed at a lower steaming temperature, it’s quite light, and though the brew is bright yellow, the taste is just sort of flat, with a hint of floral on the palate. When brewed at a higher steaming temperature, there’s more flavor, but it’s also much harsher on the tongue, with notes of cinnamon actually standing out amongst the vanilla. I’d like to say it’s interesting, but honestly, to my palate it’s just odd.

Regardless of brewing methods, both times the one thing that has stuck out wildly about this tea is the overall “flatness” of taste. It has a thin viscosity, and the flavors come one after the other, not really blending well together and not really playing well together either. There is no real discernable aftertaste, and I find myself unsatisfied after a sip, with the feeling that something is missing.

I guess this tea is okay – if I had to choose, the lower temperature water brings out the best flavor for my personal tastes. Then again, I would probably pick a different pouchong – this one just isn’t really “robust” enough for me, I guess.

Grapefruit Oolong from Adagio

Scent in tin: citrus-y, rather like fresh grapefruit
Brewed in: glass teapot
Steeped: 4 min. @ barely boiling
Cup: porcelain teacup

Why did I order this tea? Uh…it sounded interesting, different, and…well…interesting. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I can leave most of Adagio’s flavored teas (aside from chestnut and gingerbread, both of which I’ve gotten out again in this cold weather). But aside from my fascination with a tea that is flavored with something completely different, I was also intrigued with oolong as a background for the flavoring. The base tea is normally my biggest problem with flavored teas – if I don’t like them, it’s normally the base tea used. But I’d never tried a flavored oolong, and when I stumbled across these while buying tea filters for a gift, I had to take a chance.

Looking at the dry leaf, you can see clearly that it is a dark oolong, which explains the somewhat harsh brewing instructions of 5 minutes at 212 degrees. Scaredy cat that I am, I couldn’t do that to an oolong right away, no matter how dark, so I shaved off a minute and caught the water just as it started to boil. The dry leaves smell deliciously grapefruit-y, and there are pieces of rind mixed into the leaves, which are good sized and healthy looking. It actually made me hungry for grapefruit – a few slices on the side would have made me very happy.
Alas, I had no grapefruit, so I had to count on the tea to assuage the hunger. The scent of the brewed liquor was very nice – not just citrus, but rather good oolong tea with a citrus note. The texture was very smooth and rich as one might expect from an oolong, but the taste was somewhat unexpected.
Rather than simply tasting like grapefruit, the tea tasted like…well…tea. Good oolong tea, rich in flavor as well as texture. The citrus was more like the taste that comes *after* you’ve eaten the fruit…the remaining sweet tangy-ness that lingers on your tongue, with no hint of any astringency at all. The taste is almost delicate in a way, complementing the richness of texture in the mouth.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this tea very much. So much, in fact, that I plan on ordering a larger size when my sample runs out. I think it will be a wonderful tea to serve to guests, and I am considering trying it as an iced tea this summer (I’ve never tried iced oolong). It’s very reasonable at $2 a sample, or $6 for 3oz. I’d highly recommend at least a taste!

Black Strawberry from Dragonwater

Scent in package: yummy, like fresh strawberries
Brewed in: unbleached filter bag
Steeped: 4 min@212 degrees
Cup: Café Mug

I know, odd to be drinking strawberry flavored anything in December, isn’t it? But it sounded good, and the smell reminds me of strawberry shortcake – which makes my mouth water! The dry blend really looks quite good too, comprised of black tea leaves, strawberry leaves, and bits of real strawberries. Very enticing, to me at least.

The brew itself is a golden brown, with a reddish cast that nods to the strawberry bits. The scent is lovely, sweet strawberry with an unassuming but strong tea scent in the background. Going on scent alone, I have the urge to reduce the liquor down to a syrup, and pour it over ice cream.

The flavor is surprisingly balanced and mellow. I half expected sort of a “fake flavoring” aftertaste, and was pleasantly surprised when I tasted none. Good black tea is the predominant flavor, with strawberry on the side, and a hint of pepper and smoke which make this cup very interesting to the palate, yet smooth and well blended.

It is slightly drying, but not unpleasantly so. All in all, a very nice flavored tea, and one that just might make a very promising summer iced tea as well.

Golden Breakfast from Archer Farms (Target)

Scent in tin: Somewhat malty
Brewed in: Tea for one/metal infuser
Steeped: 4 min@212 degrees
Cup: Café mug

I was shopping with my sister at Target last weekend, finishing up some gift purchases. We wandered through the grocery section, even though I still haven’t quite gotten used to the fact that Target sells food now. My sister was extolling the virtues of Archer Farms cookies, and I suddenly thought I had read somewhere that Adagio teas were sold at Target now. So I headed for the tea section, and found no Adagio, but your basic selection of tea bag boxes and a very limited selection of Archer Farms loose tea in tins – one green, one earl grey, and this one – Golden Breakfast. It was around $6.49 for the 3.4oz tin, so I thought I’d try it.

I opened the tin expecting small black torn leaf bits. I was surprised to find a bunch of gold tipped Yunnan leaves, dried and long, as the “whole black tea leaves” on the outside of the tin suggested. It smelled fresh, and a bit malty as I’d expect from any Yunnan tea, and I measured some out to try, far more eager to taste it after seeing that it was, in fact, “real tea”.

The leaves brewed up nicely, unfurling and looking much like…well…like my other Yunnan teas do. I actually thought it looked like Adagio’s Yunnan jig, until I compared the leaves side by side. The Archer Farms has more stems in it and is slightly lighter in color.

The taste is malty/fruity…by fruity, I don’t mean berry-ish, but rather a hint of a “raisin” aftertaste. It’s quite thin, but dark when brewed up, and really just as good as most Yunnan’s I’ve had (excluding, of course, Yunnan Gold – which is a whole ‘nuther class of tea). It is slightly more astringent than I’d like, but overall, very drinkable, especially as a morning “wake-up” cup.

So I did some research, thinking that perhaps Adagio was sourcing Archer Farms. I couldn’t find anything one way or the other on that – if they are, it’s well-hidden. I did however find two product recalls (not tea) for Archer Farms products, and some controversy over the labeling on AF milk (whether “organic” was misleading or not). This tea is labeled organic as well, though I don’t generally put much stock in labeling, or organic products, for that matter.

In any case, I probably won’t be purchasing this tea again, simply because I rarely ever shop at Target, and I can get good tippy Yunnan from online suppliers for less without worrying about where Target is getting its tea (and other things). But it is surprisingly good for an off-the-shelf loose tea from a “supermarket”…

Feeling Foofy

Among tea drinkers, there are a great many who are tea purists – those who believe that the leaf is sacred, and should not be adulterated with any additives or flavorings, but taken on its own merit, enjoyed simply for what it is in the here and now.

Obviously, I am not one of those tea drinkers. I enjoy tea on it's own merit most of the time, but I fully admit to enjoying "playing" with my drinks...what can I say, I get bored easily.

I’ve been enjoying a bowl of Matcha almost every day at lunch, and enjoying far greater productivity at work in the afternoons (I know, weird and wild stuff!). This past weekend, I made what amounts to a Matcha Latte – in essence, strongly brewed matcha, milk, and sweetener (honey or sugar – I tried both). And seriously, both cups were completely yummy, the honey cup being slightly more subtle than the sugared cup.

Now I want a milk steamer. To make tea lattes with. Because hey, if Matcha is good “latte-d”, why wouldn’t chai be? Or Keemun, or even my Sichuan Gungfu? Perhaps a smoky Lapsong, for cold, rainy days. Only as a once or twice a week treat, mind you – but I’d really love to have them occasionally, and I’d dearly enjoy having a milk steamer/frother to make them with, rather than just heating up the milk in a saucepan. All the pictures online looked much “frothier” than mine, so I have a hankering to recreate that for myself.

But then today, while I was searching online for milk steamers/frothers, and trying to reconcile myself to the fact that an electric wand would probably work just as well as a steamer (even though I love the “gadget factor” of a steamer), I came across something new. Well, new to me. And fascinating, because it could just possibly become my justification for buying an espresso machine.

Yes, you read that right. An espresso machine, for a tea drinker.

Apparently, South Africa is now exporting Rooibos that has been ground up specifically to use in espresso machines, just like ground coffee. And supposedly, it creates a creamy layer on top of the brew just like a coffee espresso would. From what I’ve read, this is really amplifies the taste of the rooibos, and is quite “tasty” too, creating the basis for rooibos lattes, cappuccinos, and other coffee-style drinks.

I realize that rooibos is a tisane, but I still enjoy it quite a lot, and a decaffeinated, super-healthy tisane-based espresso really appeals to both my gadget-lover side and my rebels-against-the-coffee-world side. And buying an espresso machine would solve my milk steamer desire too…so I could have my weekly tea lattes without lusting after the frothy pictures I see splashed across the ‘net (tea lattes in tea shops here consist of a liquid concentrate to start…not really tea, and while they’re good, it’s all flavoring, no tea taste at all, and not worth the $3.50 for a small cup that they charge).

So yeah – I’ll have to think on that. But I’m definitely interested…anyone out there tried one of these “Red Espressos”?