Tea Information:
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
Production Year 2009
Production Season Spring
Production Region Fujian
Style Traditional
Also known as Sow Mee or Longevity Brew
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup is a light, juicy, white tea that has a lovely buttered vegetal after taste and an almost earthy note in the sip.
In the aroma is this very subtle essence of jasmine but that does not translate into the flavor. It has a sweet and lightly creamy mouthfeel but leaves you feeling refreshed and your thirst quenched.
There is also a light and lovely toasted marshmallow flavor that just touches your taste buds gently on the initial sip but does not stick around long.
This is a very forgiving tea! My first steep I spaced out preparing to write this review and over steeped it by far too much. I was certain I was going to have to dump the cup, but alas it tasted lovely! My second steeping – with new leaves – also provided a delicious cup as well. I noticed very little difference in the two cups. This would be an excellent tea to put in your travel thermos for many infusions throughout the day without having to take the leaf out!
I love the look of the dry leaf! Its so wild and natural looking! It appears as if someone scooped up fallen leaves from the forest floor! I love the uninhibited appearance of this leaf, so care free, so low maintenance yet so beautiful. The colors are striking from deep tones of brown to variegated shades of green, even some lighter almost white tones in my leaf.
I would not say this is a “to-die-for” cup or anything, and I’m not really that into white teas as a rule, but they do have some wonderful health benefits and this one is quite pleasing.
I would purchase this again.
As per a note on Life in Teacup’s website
Our web store is temporarily closed and we aim at re-opening it in February 2013. Meantime, please feel free to send any inquires to admin@lifeinteacup.com. Thank you and have a great holiday season!
I do hope they open back up soon as I have been eyeballing many of their teas!
Dandelion White Tea from Nature’s Tea Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Nature’s Tea Leaf
Tea Description:
Dandelion Leaf White Tea is our own blend of Dandelion leaves with select white tea leaves. White tea is well known for its significant levels of antioxidants and is becoming more popular in weight loss programs by helping to block the absorption of fat. The Dandelion has been used for food and as an herb for much of its long history. Among the many benefits of the dandelion is its ability to aid in weight loss by acting as a mild diuretic and reducing excess fluids in the body. Other valuable benefits include acting as a stabilizing agent against extreme high and low blood sugar levels, stimulating the production of digestive juices, and aiding in reducing inflammation in the liver. Dandelion leaves contain significant numbers of vitamins and minerals including vitamins A, C and K, and are also a good source of calcium, potassium and iron.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I saw Dandelion White Tea from Nature’s Tea Leaf I nearly squeed and I KNEW I HAD to have it!
I love dandelions, yes that’s right love them! I will not turn this review into the myriad of reasons why I love them but lets just say this, I love them so much I have a tattoo of one on my ankle with the dandelion roots going right onto my foot. Dandelions are wonderful gifts of nature.
With that said … This tea … it tastes just like buttery sweet simmered veggies. It reminds me of my veggies from my stir fry before I add one of the many sauces I usually add.
This tea is not bitter as one may fear or think.
It really tastes just like a succulent green tea! Buttery, savory in some ways with herbal type flavors throughout. There is also a slight taste of fenugreek as well. The lingering after taste is reminiscent of avocado. Specifically the part of the avocado that is very close to the skin, a little earthier than the heart of the avocado.
I am so happy to have found that Nature’s Tea Leaf has this tea and will even say, regardless of my love of dandelion, is one of the better white teas I have had in a very long time. I almost said “flavored” white teas but its not even flavored which makes it all the better! Its a beautiful thing what nature can capture in tea, then to add to that a wonderful, beneficial herb like dandelion which is simply not used in enough things, we have perfection!
I am fairly new to Nature’s Tea Leaf as a tea company but I have been looking over their site more since I obtained this tea along with two others from them and I have to say it is wonderful to feel this type of excitement over a tea company.
Dandelion White Tea is creamy in the mouthfeel with a velvet like feeling, more than silky, thicker than that. Its so very naturally sweet I would think adding sugar would make it just too sweet.
This tea calls for a steeping of up to five minutes and I steeped it for a good 4 minutes and got plenty of flavor. I only found one other review on this tea which is on the Nature’s Leaf Tea site and that person said it was bitter to them. While I suppose all of our taste buds are slightly different I have to say I do not detect even the slightest amount of bitterness in this tea. Perhaps this person’s experience was bitter due to over steeping or using the wrong water temp but I don’t want to assume that because this other reviewer may be quite knowledgeable about tea. The point is – remember water temp and steep times are important and I think even more so when dealing with delicate herbs like the dandelion.
So overall – being the dandelion lover that I am I am 100% approving of this lovely tea! Thank you Nature’s Tea Leaf for providing us with some very unusual and wonderful blends!
Huangshan Furry Peak from Peony Tea S.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Peony Tea S.
Tea Description:
Hanyu Pinyin: huang shan mao feng
Production area: Huangshan, Anhui
Harvest time: Spring 2012Overview:
Perpetually shrouded in cloud and mist, the beautiful Huangshan which is translated literally as ‘Yellow Mountain’ is the origin of one of the most beloved and well-known green tea in China- the Huangshan Furry Peak. Just like its place of origin, this delightful green tea is truly a work of art, simultaneously soothing and exciting the drinker. Green teas are considered in Traditional Chinese Medicine terminology as ‘cooling’ so instead of reaching for your soda, try this sugarless all natural alternative instead. The recurring sweetness will fill your throat long after your last drop.
Taste:
Thirst quenching and cooling, feel the recurring sweetness well up and linger in your throat.
Liquor:
Yellowish green liquor.
Personality:
Like a classic beauty, there is an elegance about Huangshan Furry Peak that is almost ethereal. She carries about her an air that exudes class at every turn, beguiling all that crosses her path.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Huangshan Furry Peak from Peony Tea S. was given to me by one of my SororiTea Sisters LiberTeas to try. You can see her review of this tea here.
I have decided I need to really get caught up on the samples that I have had around awhile, while they are still fresh. So Huangshan Furry Peak, its your turn!
As I lifted the cup I picked up a lovely buttery aroma, almost like butterscotch candy due to the sweet aroma being also quite strong. Such an inviting sensation!
This is not an overly vegetal green, which is a nice departure into a more dessert like flavor.
There is a wonderful silkiness to the mouthfeel which is brothy and thick.
The color of the steeped leaf is the palest hue of gold.
This tea reminds me of being young, in the summer time. Out in the yard on a weekend playing or just being lazy, sticky fingers from that lollipop from the local candy shop. Sweetness on the breath and smiling because you know you had something really good and not one bit worried about the calories or what it does to your health! The upside of course is this tea is actually good for you but evokes that same feeling, as if you have done something naughty or have something everyone else would want.
You should want this tea too. That is if you love sweet butteriness in a green that feels like silk in your mouth and leaves you refreshed and satisfied!
Oriental Beauty Cake from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
It’s no wonder this tea is also called Champagne Oolong. This Oriental Beauty in compressed cake form tastes of apricots, thick with honeyed spice. Simply break off a piece and enjoy. 3.8 oz
Other names: Champagne Oolong, Formosa Fancy Oolong, Braggart’s Tea – Peng Feng Cha – 椪風茶, White Tip Oolong – Bai Hao Oolong – 白毫乌龙, Dong Fang Mei Ren – 东方美人
Water: 85°C
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oriental Beauty Cake from The Mountain Tea Company is one of the prettiest teas I have ever seen, let alone the pretties cake I have ever seen! There is also a lovely story about this tea’s creation and discovery here.
Well to begin this is an organic tea so points for that! Furthermore it is a pressed oolong yet has a distinctive pu’er flavor profile. Perhaps the pressing of this tea into a cake is only for presentation and novelty but I swear that in doing so it has manifested itself into a more earthy tea like a pu’er. Whatever the case may be – my imagination or reality, this is such a wonderful cup.
I will confess, I am getting a bit of a tea high while sipping on it. Either that or I just need a nap but I am feeling quite laid back and cozy in this sipping moment.
The aroma is a sensory explosion! Sweetly floral, and fruity, peppery notes, and the aroma of a wooded place. The aftertaste is so very familiar – what IS that flavor? Savory, vegetal, something buttered perhaps, GAH what is it? … Squash, Zucchini perhaps. I will come back to that another time it may drive me batty. It is delicious regardless!
I am surprised at just how bold this cup is. There is only a slight touch of astringency to it, but I like it as it has this slight bite then changes into that mystery flavor I was trying to pin point above.
I do also pick out notes of fruits, honey, and spices. It is in a way reminiscent of spending a day at the farmers market or maybe something a little more extravagant like a Moroccan market perhaps.
Ah the second infusion really brings forth the fruit notes! Now I get that raisin note that another reviewer had mentioned on Steepster!
I had got distracted while doing this review and came back to a very cold cup of tea and you know what. Its really good!
This really is not what I generally gravitate toward in an oolong but when I don’t think of it as an oolong I love it. Okay I love it even when trying to see it as an oolong. I think the point I am trying to make is, is that if someone handed me a cup of this I would think it either a black tea with some excellent layers in the flavor notes or perhaps a pu’er. I would be very confused.
I am also pretty sure this is the type of oolong served at a couple of the local Asian buffets here local to me. Now granted I do not think they are near this level of quality of an Oriental Beauty Oolong but hey at least its not Liptons!
So in closing I must say I am excited, surprised, confused, intoxicated, and wooed by this tea. I look forward to many many more steepings and sessions to come with this beautiful cake!
Kudos to The Mountain Tea Company for always having some of the best teas!
Oh and if you order from The Mountain Tea Company be sure to look for the button on their item pages that says “Tweet for Discount” if you have a twitter account you can get a code for 5% off your purchase.
Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zen Tea Life
Tea Description:
The name refers to the unusual and striking shape and color of the leaves, which are rolled into tightly-curled dragon-like shapes with a silvery color.
It is a good example of the high level of hand-work. Infused, it produces a complex, sweet, and somewhat floral liquor. Entirely handmade, it is a must have for green tea lovers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a beautiful looking tea! When looking at Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea Life, the leaves are all curled and have variegated colors of light to dark green. The appearance is almost fluffy. Its a fairy tale dreamy sort of tea that makes me feel like a Princess. Yeah that was a little corny but that is what the vision of this tea evoked. If you are a guy and don’t want to feel like a Princess then just consider the curled delicate little leaves the tea you will serve your Princess.
Regardless, this tea has an equally lovely aroma of sweetly steamed veggies perhaps caramelized in a honey butter, white flowers, and summer grass. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy sniffing it.
The flavor … butter, cream, nutty, floral, grassy, toasty, it almost reminds me of a genmaicha! There is a vegetal edge to it, but just as in the the aroma, the caramelized note comes out in the taste as well. Its naturally sweet, nothing artificial about this tea.
I would consider this a very fine tea.
I really appreciate the masterful art work of this hand rolled tea.
On some levels it is complex with layers of flavor notes to discover, yet on the other hand the way this tea makes you feel when you sip it is simple. It makes you feel wonderful. Nothing better than that!