Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Crimson Lotus Tea
Tea Description:
This is a very special puerh prepared by the Yunnan Changtai Tea Industry Group. The blenders who work for Changtai are true masters of their craft. The leaves in this puerh are a blend of 15 mountains, Spring picked in 2005. The name for this cake “Yun Pu Zhi Dian” means “Top of the Clouds”. Since Yunnan means “Southern Clouds” this name has a double meaning. It refers to the heavenly experience and also that this puerh contains the best from Yunnan.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve often thought of pu-erh as a cooler weather type of tea because it’s a tea that I prefer to be served hot. As the tea cools, I find that the flavors begin to mute and become lost.
And yes, I do drink hot tea even in the summer months, in fact, I drink more hot tea than I do iced tea in the summer months, but, I don’t drink as much hot tea in the summer as I do in the cooler months.
So when I drink a pu-erh, I’m often reminded of the cooler days of autumn and winter, but as I sip this 2005 Changtai Yun Pu Zhi Dian “Top of the Clouds” Sheng Pu-erh from Crimson Lotus Tea, the tea seems to be evoking thoughts of late spring and early summer.
Perhaps it’s the lovely notes of fruit that develop throughout the infusions, starting off with a soft hint of apricot and in later infusions, I notice that the sweet apricot notes are accentuated with a contrasting sour note of tart apple.
Perhaps it’s the lovely background note of flower that seems to bring to mind thoughts of floral aromas filling the air in the spring. Or maybe it’s the delicate woodsy notes and hints of vegetative earthy tones that remind me of the trees as signs of their springtime foliage begin to grow.
This tea is beautifully smooth and sweet with notes of fruit and honey. In the earliest infusions, the fruit notes are strongest, but as I continue to steep, the honey develops and the fruit begins to wane somewhat.
Meanwhile, the woodsy notes are developing. These aren’t musty wood notes, but clean, vibrant woodsy tones. The tea has a sweetness to it that is balanced with the aforementioned notes of sour apple.
I’ve only just been introduced to this company – Crimson Lotus – but I am quite impressed with this tea. They specialize in Pu-erh teas. Those new to Pu-erh will find this a fantastic resource of teas that are good ‘starting out’ Pu-erh (and since they specialize in Pu-erh, they’ll be a great resource of knowledge for you too!) And for those of you who are more experienced with Pu-erh, I think you’ll find that Crimson Lotus has an amazing selection of intriguing teas.
As for me, I highly recommend this Top of the Clouds Sheng! It’s delightful!
Premium Dian Hong Gong Fu Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: M&K’s Tea Company on Etsy
Tea Description:
A young tea (first crafted in 1938), Dianhong Gong Fu tea is a fantastic, full-bodied tea of Yunnan. For a black tea, it is distinctly mellow with subtle fruity notes and a slight maltiness. In the context of tea making, “Gong Fu” can roughly be translated to mean “great skill”, or the skill required to craft the tea, while “Dian Hong” (or Dianhong) means “Yunnan Red” (Dian being short for Yunnan and hong meaning red (as in red tea)).
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Mmm! This Premium Dian Hong Gong Fu Black Tea from M&K’s Tea Company is wonderful!
It’s a smooth, flavorful tea with a note of tangy astringency toward the finish. I notice that the astringency starts out rather faint but as I continue to sip, the astringency builds. It doesn’t become really strong or anything, but, it is definitely stronger now than when I first started sipping on this cup. It’s a drier finish now than when I first started drinking this tea.
It’s a full-flavored tea but it’s not an overly aggressive tea, as the description above implies, it has a mellowness to it that I quite like. This would be a great tea to serve in the afternoon as a pick-me-up, but not a tea that I’d reach for in the morning when I want that boost of gusto.
Nice fruity notes – I taste plum! There are notes of malt but not a strong ‘sweetness’ to this tea. There is a balance between sweet and savory.
Overall, a really enjoyable cup of tea. I don’t know that this is the best Dian Hong black tea that I’ve tried, but it’s a mighty fine one.
Caravan Triad Tea from Brooklyn Tea Blends Co.
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Brooklyn Tea Blends Co.
Tea Description:
BROOKLYN TEA BLENDS CARAVAN TRIAD is a perfect marriage of three black teas. Blended together to achieve a memorizing complex but smooth taste. Richly and malty yet with great harmony of spices, fruits and wealth of smolderingly smoky aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was excited when I heard about Caravan Triad Tea from Brooklyn Tea Blends Co. Not necessarily because it’s a caravan tea which to me means ‘smoky’ and I’ve mentioned more than once that I’m not a huge fan of smoky teas, but because it was a new to me tea crafted by a new to me tea company!
So I contacted them immediately and they sent me a sample. You can also get a sample (a very generous sized sample!) of this tea for a limited time (the website says that the samples will be available through May 2015).
And while this is indeed a smoky tea that is composed of 60% Lapsang Souchong, I like that when I opened the pouch, I wasn’t overwhelmed with smoke. And now that I sit here with a cup of the brewed tea in front of me, I’m not being overwhelmed with a smoky aroma wafting out of the cup. There are some smoky notes, yes, but they don’t overpower the cup. I also smell some really lovely fruit notes to this cup and I like the way those notes mingle with the smoke.
I’m loving the flavor of this tea! Yes, the smoke is a dominant flavor profile, but, there are so many lovely layers to this Caravan Triad! It doesn’t impart a heavy smoky taste on the palate and I don’t experience a residual smoky aftertaste, which I really like.
I am picking up on a strong fruity essence to this. Notes of plum! And just as I enjoyed how the aroma of smoke and fruit mingled, I am also enjoying how the smoky flavor mingles with the plum notes. It evokes thoughts of a plum that’s been smoked over a plank of pine wood.
Unlike some other ‘smoky’ teas, I appreciate that the pine notes don’t taste ‘burnt’ or ‘charcoal-y.’ The pine adds a certain crispness that is similar to a minty crispness but without the mint overtones. This is nicely round with sweet and savory notes.
This is a tea I’d recommend for late morning or afternoon sipping. This isn’t the kind of tea that I’d want to reach for first thing in the morning. It doesn’t have that same ‘gusto’ that I want for my first cup. This is more of a contemplative type of tea, something that you want to take a moment and sit back and take the time to explore the dimensions of flavor. There are so many delicate nuances to this tea that are just waiting to be discovered!
This is definitely one of the nicer smoky blends that I’ve tried, mostly because the smoke is gentle and unassuming here. It doesn’t aggressively assert itself into my tea drinking experience the way Lapsang Souchong can do. It allows me to sit back and enjoy subtle notes of smoke as well as the many other delicious layers of flavor. I highly recommend this tea to anyone who would typically shy away from a ‘smoky’ tea because they find it too overbearing. This tea will surprise you in a very good way!
Nonpareil Yunnan Dian Hong Ancient Wild Tree Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Ancient Wild Tree black tea comes from Fengqing, Yunnan. The tea garden is at 2000 meters high, is renowned as a good place of growing good tea.
The local tea tree is Fengqing large leaf species, can produce thick tea leaf. Our Ancient Wild Tree black tea then has large, strong leaves. The dry tea is glossy and dark, covered with thin pekoes. Its full aroma and bold taste can be revealed when brewed, as well as the particular strong taste which brings a characteristic of raw pu-erh to this black tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m always happy to try a tea from Teavivre, because I know that the tea is going to be good. Not just good, but excellent! I can’t recall ever having tried a tea from Teavivre that I’ve been disappointed by, and this Nonpareil Yunnan Dian Hong Ancient Wild Tree Black Tea is no exception. This is lovely.
The flavor is rich and smooth. There is a delightful honeyed flavor to the cup and this honey-like flavor is further highlighted by the thick texture of the tea.
There is no bitterness to this tea and it’s very smooth with very little astringency. By mid-cup, I started to notice a slight dryness to the finish. So there is some astringency and it does develop but even by the end of the cup, the astringency is very slight.
It’s earthy with notes of leather and hints of mushroom. This is a wild tree tea and I can almost taste the ‘wild’ in the tea. It’s beautifully complex, with the sweet notes of raisin and plum, hints of flower in the distance and of course, the aforementioned honey notes. I like the balance between the savory notes – earth, spice notes that develop as I sip and leather – and the sweetness.
Yet another tea from Teavivre that I can enthusiastically recommend to any tea drinker. This is marvelous.
Fengqing Ripened Tribute Pu-erh Cake Tea (2013) from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Ripe Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea. The tea leaves used to make this Ripened Tribute Pu-erh Cake Tea are all pure leaves hand-picked from 50 to 100 years old Large-leaf Arbor Tea Trees.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Fengqing Ripened Tribute Pu-erh Cake Tea from Teavivre is a really lovely pu-erh. It’s a delightfully mild tea – very smooth and sweet!
To brew this tea, I grabbed my gaiwan. I broke pieces of the cake off into my gaiwan with a knife and eyeballed the measurement until it looked like about a bamboo scoop of tea. Then I poured enough hot water (180°F) to cover the leaves and let it steep for 15 seconds and then I strained off the liquid and discarded it. (The rinse!) Then I filled the gaiwan with more water and let it steep for 45 seconds.
The aroma is a little loam-y but I’m not getting a strong earthy flavor, which I’m very happy about. What little earthiness I taste is more like a mushroom than it is like ‘earth.’ Yay! The flavor is sweet, like dates and honey. I’m also getting an interesting contrast to the sweetness, it almost tastes ‘salty’ but without tasting briny or fish-like, it’s almost as if someone might have sprinkled a couple of grains of salt into my cup.
It’s a remarkably smooth tea with no indication of astringency or bitterness. As I continue to sip, I pick up on notes of leather.
Before I knew it, that first cup was gone!
The second cup was a bit more earthy in flavor than the first, tasting a bit more like the loam notes that I smell. Still pleasantly sweet, I notice the notes of leather starting to develop, and I’m also picking up on notes of raw bittersweet cacao. I’m not getting any of that contrasting salt note that I noticed in the first cup. The flavor has deepened and intensified from the first – it’s as if they’re two totally different teas!
Later infusions were less earthy, it seemed like that second cup was the earthiest of the bunch and then after that cup, the earthy notes began to wane. I think the third and fourth cups were my favorite, the flavors were deep yet mellow with notes of dark chocolate, dates, and honey. I picked up on a mid-note of leather with an undertone of mushroom.
A very pleasant cup … oh-so-smooth!