Khongea Golden Tips Second Flush Assam TGFOP1 from KTeas

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  KTeas

Product Description:

picked 10 June 2011

Direct from the Glenburn Tea Estate in Khongea, Assam, India!

10 June 2011 harvest pouches contain 8oz (227g). At Glenburn’s recommended 2.5g in 200ml (7 fl-oz) water, each pouch yields about 90 teacups at 26¢ per teacup.

2010 harvest tins contain 3.5oz (100g). At Glenburn’s recommended 2.5g in 200ml (7 fl-oz) water, each tin yields about 40 teacups at 43¢ per teacup.

Taster’s Review:

This is OH-SO-GOOD!  Like fabulously fantastically good.

The picture above does not deceive, there really are a bunch of golden tips in this tea.  I know that sometimes with “tip” teas, there are relatively few tips.  Not so here.  This tea is loaded with golden tips.  It’s beautiful!

This tea produces such a rich, delicious cup of tea.  It is robust and possesses a beautiful malty tone.  I can really taste the freshness with this tea, and it makes all the difference!

There is a very pleasing undercurrent of sweetness to this tea, it is caramel-y in flavor with a subtle burnt-sugar taste.  That subtle burnt-sugar flavor emits a very delicate bitter note.  This is a savory bitterness, not the “Oh no!  I over-steeped the Assam” bitterness, and it lends a delightful depth of flavor to the cup.

It is a smooth Assam with a moderate amount of cleansing astringency at the tail.  I don’t find this astringency to be particularly drying in nature, but, it imparts a clean feeling allowing this taster to enjoy the sweet aftertaste.

Tea connoisseurs take note:  this Assam is exquisite.  You really must try it!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea

Yunnan Golden Bud from Life in Teacup

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Life in Teacup

Product Description:

Production Year – 2010

Production Season – Spring

Production Region – Yunnan

Taster’s Review:

What a beautiful tea.  The dry leaf is gorgeous!  It does not possess a strong aroma, but the color is lovely.  Once brewed, the liquor has a lightly spiced fragrance with hints of cocoa and leather.

This is deliciously full-flavored.  It has a sweet note to it that is somewhere between honey and burnt sugar.  It is malty with chocolate-y notes in the background.  There is a pleasant set of spice notes to this that meld beautifully with the dark cocoa flavor.  It isn’t as spicy as some Yunnan teas that I’ve encountered – this has a stronger sweet presence with hints of the spice.

It is a very smooth tea with a light astringency.  There is no bitterness to the cup.  It’s just perfectly delicious.  An absolutely fabulous cup of tea!

I love it!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea

Golden Monkey from WhiteAugust Tea Company

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  WhiteAugust Tea Company

Product Description:

This stunning Chinese black tea is among the finest in the world.  Each spring the tea leaves are carefully plucked of only one leaf and one bud, resembling a monkey claw.  The beautiful twisted golden leaves yield a full bodied tea with a soft apricot finish.

Taster’s Review:

I have to agree with WhiteAugust Tea’s assessment – this tea is definitely stunning!  It is incredibly smooth and rich and oh-so-good!

The aroma of the brewed tea is pleasant with hints of honey and spice as well as a deep earthy quality.  There is also a hint of fruit and freshly baked bread within its fragrance.  It’s one of those warm, comforting scents that begs to be tasted.

The flavor is incredibly rewarding.  It is a complex tea, with layers of sweetness that reflect tones of both caramel and honey.  There is a raisin-y sweetness to it too.  A very pleasant malty tone to this tea.  There are layers of earth, spice and smoke, as well as a woodsy taste.  All of these flavors meld into a warm, smooth taste (I get no bitterness from this cup at all), finishing with a light, drying astringency and imparting a wine-like aftertaste that is sweet with notes of fruit with a whisper of smoke.  A very pleasurable tea experience, this Golden Monkey.

Because of the warmth of this tea (almost what I would call an autumnal tea), I prefer it served hot.  It has a very agreeable level of sweetness to it, so I suggest tasting it before you sweeten it – you may find that it is plenty sweet without the addition.

Another tea LOVE from WhiteAugust Tea!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea

Organic Golden Yunnan from Rishi Tea

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Rishi Tea

Product Description:

This certified organic black tea is harvested from Yunnan’s ancient tea trees. Its deeply flavored infusion has notes of peppery spice, chocolate, sweet raisin, and a malty finish. Golden Yunnan has expertly fermented, even graded leaves and big, golden buds. Its wonderfully full-flavored and rich body is a treat for black tea lovers.

Taster’s Review:

When I first started sipping this tea this morning, I could really get a taste of the raisin-like taste.  As the tea cooled slightly, more of the other flavors began to present themselves.

The sip starts with the aforementioned sweetness, contrasted with a warm note of spice.  By mid-sip, a bittersweet cocoa has arrived to add more depth to the flavors.  The sip finishes with hints of fruit and a cleansing astringency.  The malty tone, while lightly present throughout the sip, is especially pronounced at the tail, giving this tea a very well-rounded presentation.  The aftertaste is sweet and malty.

This tea is perfect for the start of the day – when you want that sense of wakefulness – this tea will deliver.  It is hearty and robust enough to clear the cobwebs from the mind but also has a very agreeable level of sweetness to it that will enchant the senses.  Another excellent tea from Rishi!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea

Golden Yunnan from Adagio Teas

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Adagio Teas

Product Description:

Black tea from the Yunnan province of China, the birthplace of tea itself. Yunnan black tea is easily identified by its abundance of soft golden tips, and savory cocoa and black pepper flavors. It is a very forgiving tea; will not taste bitter when over-steeped. Our ‘Yunnan Gold’ is milk chocolate creamy and sweet, with pleasant pepper notes. The flavor becomes earthier and more layered as it cools. Soft, rounded cup, silky and perfect. Allowed to take only one tea to a desert island, ‘Yunnan Gold’ would be our clear choice.

Taster’s Review:

I do love a good Yunnan, and this one certainly qualifies as good.  Even though it is a “bagged” tea (these are those silky pyramid-shaped pouches), I clearly see that the leaves are whole and beautifully golden.  There is plenty of room in these pouches for the tea leaves to expand; allowing the tea to express itself fully and give you a full-flavored cup.

The flavor has a somewhat rustic appeal to it, with earthy notes and it’s peppery tone, and yet it is also remarkably smooth.  It has a well-rounded flavor, appealing to the sweet with a honey-like sweetness.  As the above description suggests, I can taste hints of cocoa, and there is a certain creaminess associated with it.  There is even a note of fruity-sour that hits about mid-sip.  Such a pleasant complexity.

A very enjoyable Yunnan, especially nice now that I can have it on-the-go!

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea