Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
SUBTLY SWEET, AND SOFT, AIRY MOUTHFEEL: Perfumy hand-rolled jasmine tea made from the most tender tea leaves and best Fujian jasmines. When added to hot water, the pearls majestically unfurl, filling the room with sweet jasmine scent and flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Jasmine pearls! Yay! I was so happy to receive these Jasmine Dragon Pearls from Teasenz. I love jasmine teas, as I’ve professed many times, and Jasmine Pearls are among my favorite jasmine teas. They are not only “top of the line” when it comes to jasmine teas … but it’s a lot of fun to watch them “dance” in the hot water as they steep – they slowly unfurl from a tightly wound ball into a long, elegant and beautifully fragrant tea leaf – all the while, producing a very flavorful cup of tea.
This particular pearl tea from Teasenz is a real treat. It has a very delicate quality to it … something I noticed immediately when I opened the pouch of the tea. The aroma was light and almost … airy. It evoked thoughts of walking through a path lined with jasmine vines on a cool evening as the gentle breezes capture the exotic fragrance of the jasmine flowers and surround me with the essence of beautiful jasmine. So, I’ve never actually done anything like that … but I’ve imagined in on more than one occasion.
And that’s what I think of when I smell the dry leaf of these Jasmine Dragon Pearls. It’s a delicate, ethereal sort of olfactory experience. The brewed tea maintains that sort of subtle aroma, it is soft and has an almost dreamy quality to it. Really beautiful.
The flavor is also quite delicate, especially when sipped as the tea is still quite hot. Allow the tea to cool for a few moments, and the flavor begins to intensify. Not cold, the tea is still hot … but it’s cool enough to sip. For maximum flavor, slurp the sip, aerating the tea a little bit before it touches the palate. Now the flavors of the sweet jasmine can be tasted and the fresh, buttery flavor of the green tea leaves are also experienced in the sip.
This is a really delightful and beautiful jasmine pearl … soothing and relaxing to sip.
Jasmine Pearls Mo Li Hua Green Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
This exquisite organic green tea is harvested in the city of Fuzhou in the famed Fujian province of China. Mo Li Hua is sold as a mix of carefully oxidized green-tea leaves and fragrant jasmine flowers.
Jasmine is the municipal flower of Fuzhou—and for good reason. The citizens of Fuzhou know that there are fewer sensations more rejuvenating than the fragrance of jasmine flowers wafting through their windows on evenings ideal for quiet contemplation. Now you, too, can enjoy this carefully handcrafted loose-leaf green tea. Be sure to note how, as soon as the Mo Li Hua leaves come into contact with water, they expand into exquisite floral patterns, further accentuating the goodness of the brew.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love jasmine pearls! And these Jasmine Pearls Mo Li Hua Green Tea from Yezi Tea are some of the finest I’ve tried. The aroma is captivating, and the flavor … amazing. And drinking jasmine teas is always a treat for me … not just because I love jasmine, but it also means that I get to get out my Yixing mug. It’s Jasmine time!
The leaves have been carefully wound into small pellets, and these “pearls” slowly unfurl to release their flavor. It’s fun to watch them do their elegant dance in the hot water, so if you have a glass gaiwan … you should use it to brew this tea!
This is a lovely jasmine tea. The jasmine is not nearly as strong in flavor as the fragrance suggests. It is a highly aromatic tea: both the dry leaf and the brewed tea emit an outstanding bouquet. But the flavor of the jasmine is soft and smooth … not at all perfume-y. It is beautifully exotic and feminine without tasting like a bar of soap from one of those luxury bath stores in the mall.
The green tea is sweet and it has a delicate taste that is a perfect complement to the subtle taste of the jasmine flower. There is no sharpness and very little astringency here. It’s just a pleasure to sip, from start to finish.
Yet another amazing tea from Yezi Tea … I’m really impressed with this company thus far!
Gao Shan High Mountain Black Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
Bittersweet moments often make for the best memories, and there’s no reason to assume that it should be any different for tea. Yezi is proud to bring you the bitter yet sweet Gao Shan high-mountain loose-leaf tea.
Gao Shan is grown high in the Nanhu Mountain range on the outskirts of Fuqing City in the Fujian province of China. At these elevations, the near-incessant fog cover and the extreme temperature difference between night and day help make for teas with a complex and diverse flavor palette. Gao Shan is a deep red-brown tea, and its strong, satisfying flavor makes many a tea connoisseur compare it to Kung Fu black tea. A brew of Gao Shan is ideal for firing you up on a dreary day when you could do with a burst of acceleration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about! This Gao Shan High Mountain Black tea from Yezi Tea is a seriously awesome tea! I’m loving every sip of it.
The dry leaf smells earthy with notes of leather. It’s a very pale scent … I was about to say “delicate” scent, but the aroma is so masculine that I didn’t feel that delicate was the right word. The fragrance isn’t in your face, it doesn’t blow you away when you open the package because it’s so aromatic. It’s a soft masculine scent. The brewed liquid smells very much like the dry leaf, although the brewed has a stronger aroma than the dry leaf.
I think that the above description did a really good job at describing the flavor of this tea. It is a strong, satisfying black tea with plenty of gusto. There are sweet and bitter notes … but that’s not a “oops, I oversteeped the tea” kind of bitterness … rather, it’s more like the bitterness you’d experience from a dark cacao.
This is a complex black tea with caramel-y undertones and stone fruit notes, reminiscent of a ripe plum. The flavor is earthy, rich and it has that delicious fresh-baked kind of quality, like the chewy, caramelized crust of a freshly baked loaf of bread. There is a fair amount of dry astringency.
A very rewarding cuppa. This is the kind of tea that I’d turn to when I want something to help shake me to alertness. It’s invigorating and delicious. This is my first experience with this company – Yezi Tea – and it’s a very positive experience indeed! I look forward to trying the other teas that I have from them!
Golden Blend from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
A new blend of Golden Monkey from Fujian Province and Assam FTGFOP, that makes a great tea that is very solid. If one’s bent was towards milk and sugar, that would not be a problem.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Golden Blend from Harney & Sons has a lovely dry leaf with lots of golden tips amid the deep, dark black tea leaves. The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet and rich, reminiscent of a freshly baked tea cake that is studded with lots of dark raisins. After I typed that description, I checked the scent on the dry leaves again, to see if that’s what I really smelled, and yes, indeed! It smells so much like sweet, juicy raisins bursting with flavor.
The brewed tea aroma is much more subtle, but the fragrance I noticed in the dry leaf is present in the brewed liquid as well. Sweet, raisin-y, with a distinct fresh-baked aroma.
The flavor … oh! Sublime! The tea brews up dark and delicious – with notes of chocolate, caramel, malt and hints of earth and woodsy tones. Overall, it has a masculine tone to it, a ruggedness without being too aggressive. This is more like a suave, debonair gentleman. This is smooth and rich. It is savory yet sweet. The raisin-y note that I mentioned previously is there. It has that bake-y, cake-y kind of taste to it. It would make a lovely choice for that first cup of the day, but also would make a nice cuppa for that afternoon pick-me-up.
There is some dry astringency to this but I don’t get any hint of bitterness to it. I only steeped the pot for 2 1/2 minutes, so that might be why. Since this does have Assam in the blend, I wouldn’t recommend going much longer than that 2 1/2 minutes … because it could very well become bitter if left to steep too long. But as for this pot … I think it came out very close to perfect.
This is delightful!
Narcissus Oolong Tea from Culinary Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Culinary Teas
Tea Description:
Narcissus Oolong is considered one of Fujian Province’s finest exports. Light floral notes with a mild fullness reminiscent of a Pondicherry red pepper. Full bodied with an astringent finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Before I go to the tea vendor’s website and read their description of a tea (which I provide above), I like to taste the tea independent from the influence of the vendor’s thoughts of the tea, and write down my initial impressions. For this tea, I wrote: sweet, floral, with an pleasant, mild sweet-pepper kind of taste.
I found the similarities to my first impressions of this Narcissus Oolong Tea from Culinary Teas as compared to the vendor’s description to be quite interesting! (And I’m also quite glad that my taste buds aren’t playing tricks on me, because while the sweet pepper taste is quite compelling … I thought maybe my taste buds were a bit off when I tasted it! I’m glad they are working properly!)
I like the texture of this tea. It’s very soft and smooth … almost buttery, but it doesn’t stay that way. That is to say that there is enough cleansing astringency to this tea that I don’t feel like I need to wipe my palate after each sip because of “buttery” build up. It is smooth and silky as I sip, and then the palate feels clean, and ready for another sip of silken sweetness!
The flavor is slightly vegetative, with notes of flower (but I appreciate that the floral tones are not overwhelming here), and pleasantly sweet. A sweet-tangy-spicy sort of note. I like that the spicy here is mild – because I think if it were a stronger spicy note, it would overpower the tea. Here, the mellow spice tones are in keeping with the overall calm, relaxing taste of the tea.
A very pleasant Oolong – and I like that this is not your typical cup of Oolong! It is different enough to keep things appealing!