Lately I’ve found myself skipping over the flavored teas and going straight to my straight teas. Flavored teas just haven’t been hitting it for me and so this am while I was setting up my tea tray with my tea for the day, I grabbed this delight- Jin Kong Que from Masters by Adagio Teas. Reading the description the mention of roasted sweet potato caught my eye and my tastebuds.
Brewed with freshly boild water and allowed to steep just for about 30 seconds or so, this tea delivers spot on flavors that keep you reaching for your cuppa. Lovely soft roasted notes with a sweetness that does remind you of a sweet potato are definetly coming through strong. In the background you are getting this beautiful malty touch that levels each sip out along with a roasted/toasted finish. Smooth, simple, yet so on point and so delicoiusly addictive. I did under steep the tea and the parameters on the site indicate 2-3 minutes but since I used a bit more leaf, I wanted to be conservative without overbrewing.
Next steeping, I did allow the tea to properly steep and I think I preferred doing a shorter steep. The light delicate flavors I was really enjoying before are still enjoyable but there is a harsher after taste of astrigency that I’m not 100% loving. I could have also over steeped by a moment or two so that harshness could be my bumbling of steeping.
Regardless, this tea shows how simply smooth, rich, and beautiful a black tea really can be. I’m quite in love with this tea and sad that I no longer have this tea to enjoy but happy the tea is still available on the site so I have a feeling this tea will be a future buy quite soon.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Masters by Adagio Teas
Description
Jin Kong Que is a remarkable tea handmade in the Yunnan Province of China. It has a rare ability to balance bold flavor without giving off bitterness. Its name, which translates to Golden Peacock, is as flashy as its namesake with fairly large, very golden leaves and leaf buds. The liquor does not disappoint as it boasts intricate notes of honey, toastiness, cocoa, and roasted sweet potato.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Mango Black Tea/Capital Teas Ltd
Anyone else feel that when they drink tea on an empty stomach that it doesn’t always feel great? Sometimes I am totally fine and others it just makes me nauseous. Yet I tend to go to my kettle first thing in the morning anyways and then stress about what to make for breakfast. Well today I decided to do something a little different with my tea and ended up adding it to a breakfast smoothie.
I made a concentrate of Mango Black Tea by Capital Tea Limited by steeping 3 teaspoons of leaf in 4 ounces of 200F water for 2 minutes. The concentrate got added to a mixture of 2 frozen bananas, 200 g of honey greek yogurt and a cup of milk. I put half the mixture into a glass and got to drinking, figuring that this would allow the other ingredients to serve as breakfast while still getting my tea fix. Two birds…one stone.
The good news is I have no nausea and I have a nice comfortable full feeling. The bad news is the mango flavor was almost entirely drowned out by the other ingredients. I taste some of the tea base which I think is playing off the tartness of the greek yogurt. In addition, it is clear there is something more than honeyed banana contributing to the sweetness but its a little difficult to discern anything specifically mango.
Since I got this tea in a tea swap and am unsure how old it is, I thought perhaps there was some flavor deterioration which could account for the lack of its flavor in my smoothie. To test out my theory, I brewed up a cup of this tea just as a plain tea and got to sipping only to find a whole lot of fresh, ripe mango juiciness atop a slightly metallic ceylon base. A really nice mango breakfast tea actually because it tastes like a mango flavored tea as opposed to just mango.
At the end of the day, both beverages were good. I believe the tea did add to the flavor of the smoothie though not as much as I hoped. Next time I will play around with the ingredients to try and coax out more tea flavor.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Capital Teas Ltd
Description
This tea does not appear to be on the website anymore but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
GOÛT RUSSE 7 AGRUMES/Palais des Thés
I recently found this tea buried in my yet-to-be-sampled-stash. I don’t know why it took me so long to try it. I probably saw ‘fruit tea’ on the label and disregarded it while wanting a black tea. But in fact, this tea does have a black tea base. It’s a flavored black tea.
Gout Russe 7 Agrumes from Le Palais des Thés hails from a delicate recipe that combines black tea with the tart flavors of 7 citrus fruits: lemon, lime, sweet and Seville oranges, grapefruit, bergamot, and mandarin.
Many of us have had orange flavored black teas but this takes it to the next level. It wasn’t an Earl Grey type flavor – just a straight up citrus of all sorts type flavor. I really enjoyed it. It’s terrific hot but delightful iced, too!
Gout Russe 7 Agrumes from Le Palais des Thés…I give it two thumbs up. If I had 3 thumbs…I would give it 3 thumbs up!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Palais des Thés
Description
An outstanding blend of black teas, evoking lemon, lime, sweet orange, bitter orange, grapefruit, bergamot and mandarin. Created by Le Palais des Thés during its first years of existence, this cocktail of 7 citrus fruits was later added to different base teas. An exclusive recipe. Can be served hot or iced.
Different of the teas produced in Georgia, Russian blends are the ones that have been drunk regularly in Russia since the 17th century. These latter teas, which in the beginning were blends of black Chinese teas, became more diversified at the end of the 19th century by the introduction of Indian teas at the Russian court, most notably Darjeeling. Since then it has been the custom to refer to all blends of Darjeeling and different Chinese black teas as Russian blends teas, whether or not they are scented with natural citrus extracts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Poobong FTGFOP 1 CH Black Tea/Tea Swan
According to Tea Swan…Poobong Black Tea is organic production (that began) several years ago and now produces characteristic, expressive teas. They also state on their website that Poobong Black Tea picking is floral and delicate and says it’s perfect for a late afternoon break. I tend to agree.
The leaves offer a sunny yellow brew and the flavor is light and refreshing, with beautiful notes of peach and legume with soft, smooth, velvety notes and a slightly sweet, citrusy finish.
If you are into tea pairings – they also say it’s an perfect accompaniment for desserts or fruit parfaits.
The tea itself hails from the Darjeeling Region and the leaf type is a hand plucked, whole leaf. The tea I’m sampling is the 2017 – First Flush. And I’m actually just finishing up my personal stash of this wonderful brew. I will surely miss it when it’s gone. It’s memorable, that’s for sure!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Swan
Description
This tea appears to no longer be available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Strawberry Black Tea/Adagio Teas
Strawberry teas are favorites with my crowd and we love how well they pair with chocolate and decadent desserts. Some of the ones we have tried have been very finicky and others forgiving. I think this one might fall in the somewhat finicky category, but I didn’t realize it at first.
This is a Ceylon base, and I usually find Ceylon tea to be still palatable at four minutes steep time, but this one says to only give it three. I do prefer low grown Ceylon to high, as the high elevation tea tends to have strong lemon notes and higher astringency.
When I first tried this tea, it was with cookies. It went very well with them and the strawberry flavor was a good strength. I was pretty shocked to see reviews ALL OVER THE PLACE. Too tart, too dry, too astringent. Not enough strawberry, not enough tea flavor. Then others said it was their perfect strawberry tea, there was plenty of tea flavor, their favorite strawberry tea, so much strawberry aroma.
So what’s up? Lots. Different people may have made it differently. People who called it too astringent may have been drinking it plain while folks saying it was perfect were adding milk and/or sugar. Some batches may have been freshly purchased and other reviews may have come from people who were sent a sample by a friend and the tea was no longer fresh. And opinions differ because people differ.
My take on it was this – it was great with food with no milk or sugar added. The strength of the base and the strawberry flavor helped it to “stand up” to the food and not disappear. When I tried it by itself, I did find it to be very drying and to have a bit of tartness. A tiny splash of milk and a sprinkle of sugar fixed that. If you don’t want to add anything, try dropping the temp just below boiling and keep your steep a little shorter. Or just do like me and eat a cookie.
While I enjoyed it with sweets very much, I would prefer to have it on a Keemun base if I were planning to drink it by itself.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Adagio Teas
Description
Strawberry black tea combines the succulent taste of sweet strawberries with bright Ceylon black tea. Fresh sweet-floral and berry flavor, smooth and sugary texture. It’s a treat you’ll want to keep for yourself!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
