I steeped this tea in one cup of 175° water. It comes in a sweet little tea sachet that I somehow managed to rip a hole in. (Good job, me.) So I’m steeping this for about three minutes and the color of the water is not changing all that much, although it is taking on a greenish yellow tint.
The tea liquid is ever so slightly viscous, with teeny tiny specks dancing in it that I can barely even see. It’s not fragrant from across the room, but I can catch a whiff if I’m bending over the tea itself. I steeped for two minutes but then decided to put the tea sachet back in for another minute or two because it wasn’t strong enough for my taste yet. The thing about green tea is that you can’t see bit too hot or it will turn bitter; however, if you have cooler water it doesn’t steep as fast. (Plus of course steeping too long can induce bitterness as well.) Also I have no recommendations for this tea so I don’t know the best way to steep it and consequently I am just basically making an educated guess. As I’m looking at the tea leaves inside this teabag, I can see that they’re all chopped up, but they’re definitely not crushed into dust. In fact, they are not nearly as quick to jump out the hole in my sachet as I anticipated they would be.
After sitting for another minute, the tea liquid does look slightly yellower. It does not have a much stronger fragrance, however. But the flavor is quite nice now, with some astringency and quite strong vegetal overtones. I may have pushed it over the edge with my slightly longer steeping though because it is almost verging on bitterness at the end of the sip now. It’s still not what I really call bitter though. It has mostly bright flavors, seaweed and vegetal, with only a hint of buttery flavor. It’s very green flavored and I’m not catching many floral notes either, although perhaps a hint here and there.
I enjoyed this tea, and although I probably wouldn’t drink it on a daily basis, I would definitely consider it for a great travel option because of the convenience of the prepackaged sachet.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Tea Can Company
Description
This pan-fired Green Tea is simply the best. Savor this clean and robust flavor while you enjoy the many health benefits. High in antioxidants. Serve hot or cold.
Ingredients: Pan-Fired Green Tea, Contains Caffeine
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Green Style Dong Ding (oolong) by Fong Mong Tea
Steeping specs: 3 grams per half cup at 175° for five minutes
While steeping this tea, I didn’t observe much color change. The leaves unfurled quite a bit, having started out as small pills or pearls, but the tea liquid didn’t seem to change color all that much. However, after I removed the tea leaves, I could see that there was a gentle peach color to the liquid. It’s very light and transparent, not dark or strong-looking at all. What is remarkable, though, is the lovely roasted smell (disproportionately strong given how light the color is) and the high-quality leaves; after the leaves unfurled I could tell that they were highly intact and well preserved. And I could smell the wonderful roasted oolong fragrance long before tasting the tea itself.
At the first sip I’m detecting plenty of roast, plenty of nose, and a flavor that’s almost heading towards bitter but just barely managing to avoid it. Of course, I did steep the leaves about five degrees hotter than recommended, because my variable temperature kettle only has so many increments, so that could have something to do with it.
This turned out to be a tasty, toasty oolong with a very enjoyable balance between buttery and nutty flavors and a somewhat astringent feel. The liquid is not viscous or dark but still has plenty of flavor. This tea is also great with just a touch of sugar, which tames down the astringent effect a bit and brings out the floral aspect that was a bit buried under the roasted flavor before the sugar was added.
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Fong Mong Tea
Description
The hand-plucked leaves of Dong Ding Oolong are grown in the Dong Ding region of Taiwan at the elevation of 740 meters. At this elevation, the leaves absorb moisture from the surrounding fog and clouds every morning and afternoon which is ideal for Oolong plants. Due to the unique geographic location and stringent selection of leaves, this is the finest Dong Ding Oolong from the Dong Ding estate.
Dong Ding is well known of producing fine tea-Dong Ding Oolong Tea. Traditional baking technique by artisans and proper fermentation and baking procedure create an unforgettable extremely perfect flavor. Firstly tasted mellow with strong fragrance and then a sweet aftertaste quickly rising from the throat makes it famous for decades to all over the world. Drinking Dong Ding Oolong Tea is definitely an enjoyable lifestyle and also the exclusive choice for all tea lovers
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Greek Mountain Tea by Sparta Natura. . . .
Steeping specs: about 3 g in about 8 ounces of water at about 212° for about four minutes
The first thing I noticed when steeping this tea or trying to rather is that it’s kind of hard to fit all of the leaves and stems into the amount of water I have available.
The tea turned out tasting pretty good though, so I don’t think I used more leaves than I’m supposed to. I guess I could be wrong about that.
It has a distinctly herbal fragrance even while steeping that’s almost a little bit like licorice or anise. The water turns yellowish while steeping, almost like a yellow tea.
After steeping, the fragrance is still licorice -like. The first sip: I noticed a pleasant flavor, not nasty tasting like some medicinal herbs, and yet a flavor that’s uniquely different than anything I’ve tried.
It’s not a whole new flavor family though. The flavor does have some sweetness and is not bitter or even astringent really, although maybe a tiny bit of citrusy just at the end of the sip. It doesn’t taste quite as licoricey as it smells, but it’s still a fairly pleasant flavor. (I know the emphasis is really on the health benefits of this tea rather than on its flavor, but still I think the flavor is important.)
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Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Sparta Natura
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Don Quixotea by Novelteas
I steeped one very heaping teaspoon of dry leaves in one cup of 210 degree water for about 4.5 minutes. (I decided to be generous with the amount of leaves I put in, probably because it just smelled so amazing and I was in the mood for something strong.) I could see whole cloves and bits of cinnamon bark in the dry leaves of this tea–lots of them.
I always enjoy trying out new chai blends and seeing which spices come to the front and how the chosen spices blend together and so on. This one seems to be heavy on the spice bits and relatively light on the black tea bits, and the spices include plenty of cinnamon and ginger.
After steeping: Cinnamon does seem to be a prominent flavor, going by the smell of the steeped tea. It’s remarkably light in color for a chai, with a sweet rich smell (not just spicy but deeper and sweeter) and has an orangey tint also.
First sip: As foreshadowed by the scent, some of the spices are sweet! The sweet smoothness is what I notice first. The spiciness isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t hit until the sip reaches the back of the mouth. I think I’m mostly tasting clove, cinnamon, and ginger. (There’s pepper in the blend too but not too much.)
With milk: as expected, this delivers a much more well-rounded cup. It’s still not very spicy though. My personal preference would be to steep this one much stronger next time as I consider it fairly mild when steeped to these specs. And I’d probably steep it in milk instead of steeping it first and then adding milk.
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Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: NovelTeas
Description
Join book-lovers and tea-lovers alike and take up your arms to a cup of our traditional organic chai spices – red cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, and the root of ginger.
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Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea by New Mexico Tea Company
I steeped 1 tsp of this tea for 5 minutes in one cup of 212 degree water.
First of all, this tea isn’t kidding when it says “hot.” (Currently I’m able to smell the cinnamon flavor through the bag even though I double-bagged it, which means it has about the same strength as lapsang souchong). You can clearly see, when measuring it out, that there’s tons of cinnamon in the tea leaves. The ingredients list says it has natural and artificial flavorings too in addition to the three types of cinnamon–I didn’t know three types of cinnamon existed, did you? But apparently they do.
I don’t expect the black tea flavor to come through much at all at this point (it’s probably mainly there for caffeination purposes.)
It smells very spicy and strong as it steeps, too. After steeping I note that it has a very dark brown, fittingly cinnamon-ish color. It’s nearly opaque and has bits of dissolved cinnamon in it. Kind of like spiced cider. It also has a faintly sweet cider-ish smell, but of coursewithout the apple factor. (It does have clove and orange peel though, so that’s probably why it’s reminding me of cider.)
First sip: yes, it’s quite sweet and quite spicy. And no, I don’t really taste the black tea at all. There is a slight bit of astringency, but I’m not sure if it’s from the black tea or from the cinnamon. There’s a depth to the cinnamon flavor, which is probably caused by the blending of several types of cinnamon and cinnamon flavorings to create a more complex cinnamon blend rather than one that hits you all in a wave. It’s very effective, too. It’s like a tour of cinnamon.
With milk (no sugar needed as it’s already sweet): it’s creamier, of course, but the milk doesn’t really bring out the tea flavor the way it usually does with spicy teas (though maybe there’s a hint). The excellently warming, invigorating cinnamon flavor isn’t quelled by the milk either, though perhaps a bit tamed.
Overall I like this tea very much both with milk and without. I’d recommend trying it both ways to see which strikes your fancy the most.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: New Mexico Tea Company
Description
.This blend brews very sweet even though no sugar is added. A cinnamon lover’s dream come true. A combination of hearty Chinese and Indian black tea and invigorating cinnamon.
Many cinnamon teas have a watery aftertaste due to the use of low grade teas. The black tea here has the stamina to last through the whole tasting process
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