Tea Type:
Green Tea
Where To Buy:
Whispering Pines Tea Company
Production Description:
Lemon Green Tea makes for a deliciously simple morning wake-up drink, and goes especially well with a drizzle of honey as a sweetener. This buttery-green tea blends three different styles of green tea with the perfect amount of lemongrass to create a blend that is delicious hot and quenching and reviving iced.
Tasters Review:
Oh! What a lovely combo of green teas this has! I totally agree with the product description saying that the green tea has a buttery texture to it, too! Very nice.
The Lemongrass is perfectly assisting the green teas, here! I wouldn’t change the ratio at all!
This is smooth and flavorful. It’s very delicious.
I’d also agree with the hint of pine needle taste – more-so – as it cools at room temp for a bit and more towards the end of the sip.
Another winner – NOT to be passed up – from Whispering Pines – YUMMO!
Sweet Potato Pie from Lupicia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Tea Description:
A black tea blend with a generous portion of creamy Japanese sweet potatoes. The buttery sweet aroma will remind you of a cozy holiday gathering.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I waited for Sweet Potato Pie from Lupicia Teas to come back out with much anticipation. They only release it around the holidays. I absolutely love sweet potatoes and eat them on a regular basis, not just around the holiday season.
I have to say I did not care for the aroma of this tea in dry form, not at all. There is an aroma of alcohol to it that was very off putting to me, and it smelled as though it would be intensely strong. However, upon brewing the tea the aroma of sweet potatoes came to life! I instantly though to myself “this is more like it!” I was excited for my first sip.
The flavor of this tea is amazing! It is spot on for a sweet potato casserole! Buttery, creamy, and even a little starchy. The black base is nicely robust but I get no astringency. The after taste lingers a while as well.
This tea is sweet in the way that a sweet potato is but not in a sugary way. I do get hints at a brown sugar note but its not too sweet either. The flavor that lingers on the palate is one of buttery sweet potato with just a slight touch of marshmallow and brown sugar. And then, out of nowhere, right before the aftertaste, right after the swallow, I get a dash of salty flavor! What a surprise! I love salt! It creates this sort of twang on the tongue and a tiny bit of tartness that quickly disappears.
I can also pick up a subtle maltiness, and a slight taste of caramel in the flavor as well.
I have only had one other Sweet Potato Pie tea previously, it was pretty good, but I was so desiring a sweet potato tea that I probably would have liked anything I could get my hands on. In comparison, this one outshines the other by far!
CNNP Yellow Mark Ripe Pu’er from Mandala Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Ripe Pu’er
Where to Buy: Mandala Tea
Tea Description:
I love this tea. Spring of 2003 CNNP Yellow Mark ripe pu’er. Brew this up in your gaiwan or favorite yixing pot and enjoy a creamy, earthy and well-aged tea. We first had this in Kunming, China in autumn of 2008 and fell in love with it, buying all we could get. Since then, it has been stored (as all of our pu’er teas) in our climate and humidity controlled vault and we have tasted some nice changes since then.
The selfish part of me wants to keep it all for myself, but this is a tea that needs to be enjoyed by as many people as I can get it out to! If you are a lover of well-kept (never wet-stored) ripe tea, this is a heavy hitter… a must try. I am drinking some right now!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
CNNP Yellow Mark Ripe Pu’er from Mandala Tea has a lovely heaviness to it in the flavor notes. So much so that I could have possibly been fooled into thinking this were a high quality coffee had I not made it myself. Now granted, a thin coffee, but then again I used to drink a very thick turkish coffee before my conversion over to tea. So for most, this probably is exactly the heaviness of a coffee.
This tea has a lovely earthiness to it without being too earthy. The mouthfeel does have a creamy texture which is quite nice. I get hints of notes of vanilla, and butter, but its not too intense on those notes. There is a nice woody taste to the cup as well.
One does not need to use much leaf to get the full effect of this tea. When steeped it has a deep red tone to it. I find the aroma of the tea to be heavier than the flavor itself.
There is a subtle sweetness to the tea which is nice, it is on the dessert end of the pu’er spectrum.
To me, this is more of an every day pu’er – and that is not an insult by any means. Usually when I take the time to sit down and enjoy pu’er it is a process, an event if you will. To me, this is one of those pu’er that is not so complicated that you can’t just make some up and enjoy it every day, on the go, or while working. While it is quite good, very good, it is not so complex that I feel I need to do nothing else but sit down with my yixing pot and dissect it.
Now of course you do get multiple steeps from this tea and you need not steep it for very long. I find that about 20 seconds on the first steep, 30 on the second, about 45 on the third and so on do just fine. This makes it even easier to make while you are working, cleaning, multitasking, and so on. The water temp you can use is also very forgiving. I have made it with water anywhere from 212 degrees to 180 and it fairs well however the recommendation is between 208 and 212. Still if you are on the go and need to use a coffee station somewhere and the boiling water they offer its perfect and you need not steep long so it truly is my favorite “on the go” pu’er, tea for that matter, as it has a real deep flavor that I tend to crave when running errands. Now I dare to say it, but I have actually enjoyed this tea iced as well!
The notes come over as direct and are unassuming. Creamy, full, robust even, woodsy, perhaps a hint of mushroom, buttery, and warm. Simple enough to enjoy every day but delicious enough to savor and appreciate in the moment without it taking too much time to figure it out. I will not say it is my all time favorite pu’er, nor even my favorite from Mandala Tea, but for what it is, it is hardy, and delicious!
Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea Flavored from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Different from our Unflavored Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea, this Flavored Jin Xuan Oolong Tea is produced by adding edible flavoring to accentuate the milk flavor. So the milk aroma of this Flavored Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong is stronger. It is better for people who like strong milk fragrance.
This Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea we selected is imported directly from Taiwan to Fujian, China. This tea meets the most strictly European low pesticide residues standard for agricultural products.
View Quality Safety Analyzing ReportThe flavor used for this Flavored Jin Xuan Milk Tea is from Mane (Shanghai), the branch company of the famous Flavours and Fragrances company “Mane”, which is founded in 1871 in the Grasse area, France.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea Flavored from Teavivre is creamy, soothing, and delicious, just what I want in a milk oolong! I really quite enjoy this tea for its creamy goodness. While I love Teavivre’s unflavored version this version provides a bit more sweetness, almost a caramel note.
I typically enjoy a darker roasted oolong as a rule however now and then I prefer something on the green side of oolongs. This is a nice departure with more vegetal notes, and buttery goodness!
Some have said this reminds them of a cream cheese frosting more than milk and I tend to agree with that assessment. There is something so intriguing about this tea flavor that it is really difficult to describe and has to be experience for yourself. Now with that said, its not too sweet, its not sappy or cloying, so don’t be afraid to give it a go if you are not one who appreciates sweeter teas. Its not even the kind of sweetness one would get from tea with honey or maple notes. The sour cream frosting flavor really isn’t all that sweet, but there is some sort of bite to the milkiness, or just a hint at a sour note that keeps me trying to dissect it. You see the more I attempt to describe this tea the worse I feel I make it sound. Its not sour like sour milk where one’s mind may naturally go to considering it is a milk flavored tea right? But its not like that either. There is nothing off putting about this tea whatsoever. Its very soothing, very mellow, very relaxing, sedating almost.
For me it brings back childhood memories of my great great grandmother’s milk toast she used to feed me when I was little especially when I had tummy aches. I still love milk toast and I love this tea.
Jade Oolong from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our Jade Oolong is a light-medium bodied tea that yields a buttery, pale-green liquor. We taste strong notes of cream and sweet corn.
Very well known among tea drinkers this semi-oxidized tea from the mountainous region of Nantou, Taiwan has a delightful flowery aroma, brisk flavor, smooth body, and fruity finish, all of which combine to make this a pantry stocker.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Ohhhh Yes!! This is one of those teas that makes me realize how far I have come as a tea drinker. I remember not too long ago I began my loose leaf journey somewhat haphazardly. I was rather lucky to start off with some really good loose leaf teas but stumbled across a few that were subpar. Along my journey I have went up a few hills and down a few hills, but at the summit of this Mountain Tea is where all good things are found! A tea like this makes me appreciate how far I have come as a tea drinker and what a truly excellent tea experience feels like. Yes, feels like, not just tastes like. A truly excellent tea will make you feel something, be it excited, or refreshed, or soothed, some emotion accompanies the tea drinking experience, and sipping this tea is an experience.
Jade, from The Mountain Tea Company, is a delight! Fresh and refreshing, yet buttery and soothing. Vegetal green notes with the essence of steamed corn on the palate are some of the flavors that just spring forward. The after taste is lingering and delicious. There is somewhat of a high or tea drunk feeling that sneaks in rather quickly with this one. Things just slow down around you. I find myself not quite so annoyed by my doggies incessant barking at the neighbor’s dog, not quite so bothered by the television blasting noise from the other room, not quite so anxious. Through all that noise I rather am picking up on the birds chirping happily outside, the sun is streaming into the house more brightly, and I just feel peaceful.
Isn’t it amazing how this little leaf, from a simple plant, can make something so delicious? I am often bewildered, astounded, that these leaves can be so different, give off such rich flavors, so many varieties to delight us. It makes me want to start steeping everything green I find! I realize that may sound strange, or make no sense, but tea just amazes me. This tea amazes me.
As the tea cools the flavors become a little stronger and there is an almost numbing sensation in the mouth from a herbaceous note. The mouthfeel is lightly creamy. There are subtle notes of peach, somewhat on the bitter side, but enjoyable. A bit like a peach that is not quite ripe enough to be eaten yet but temping nonetheless. There is a subtle sweetness as well somewhat like honey but not cloying. A nutty note plays around but disappears quickly, lingering fresh asparagus, dandelion, and fresh flower notes prevail.
This is a light roast oolong that is tightly rolled and when steeped unfurls into lovely tips with two leaves. Quite beautiful.
Tea like this is why I drink tea!