Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Tea Smith
Tea Description:
Darjeeling had improved weather conditions this year, and the 2nd flush is a real treat this year. Fresh from the fields, Castleton again has produced a fine sweet tea. The care taken to produce this tea is evident in the beautiful leaves and complete budsets throughout.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a surprising tea! An excellent white leaf that really has stunning taste!
Notes of peach, grape, honey explode with a lovely lingering flavor.
The white tea is interesting – much more robust than your average white tea.
It does have a very nice darjeeling flavor yet a bit more buttery and vegetal than a black darjeeling. What a combination! I did not even know such things existed haha. I am glad I do now and I am glad I got a full 2 ounces of this or I would be ordering more right away!
Now this is one of The Tea Smith’s more “pricy” teas but I tell you what its still a fair price compared to other tea vendors. At a little under 7.00 per ounce, for such a high quality tea, you can’t beat it!
This is most definitely one of those teas you sit with, using your gaiwan or gong fu set up, or cherished china. It is deserving of the best you can brew it with, giving it the attention it deserves. Truly a refined tea. However I feel I could absolutely serve this up to my black tea only – bought in the grocery store – in a bottle friends and they too would love it. Perhaps they would not appreciate it for all of its elements, notes, and flavor profile, but they surely would enjoy every sip, or guzzle as they probably would prefer it iced, which would also be lovely.
Each steep, as with any high quality tea, provides new discoveries and layers of notes, some being of melon, some of berries, some more grassy, or savory, yet with each steep, now up to 4, I am getting more and more that I love about this tea. At one point it was giving over a wonderful honeysuckle note.
The leaf itself both in dry and moist form is gorgeous. Curly leaves of green with some white throughout with hints of almost lime green. I personally do not feel the photo does it justice. This is one I feel I will have to keep sampling to fully discover but it is one that is worthy of reviewing here for you and I highly recommend this tea for you to try.
Organic Morning’s Journey from Hugo Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Hugo Tea
Tea Description:
Behold friends! The pure black tea blend you’ve been seeking. Morning’s Journey is my private blend of three black teas from three countries. This loose blend holds unparalleled balance and flavor, ready to sustain your adventures—no compass or knapsack required. Keep it close and brew it often.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Okay so the description says they use three types of black leaf but if I had to place a bet on it I would swear there is puerh in this blend! Perhaps, perhaps not, but when these three black teas meld together – puerh is the resulting flavor in my opinion. This is not a bad thing at all. I happen to very much enjoy puerh but I also feel that those who have never tried a puerh or those who would like to but want to dip their toes in gently should give this tea a try! Granted there may not be even a smidgen of puerh in here and if not so be it but the resulting flavors are as such:
Sweet, earthy, deep, and woodsy.
There is a marked presence of a wood flavor here, much like sandalwood that is reminiscent of some of the incense I burn, without feeling like you just inhaled a mouthful of heavy incense smoke. Its not perfume-y, so don’t fear.
Sweet yet clear and crisp notes of berry surface on the initial sip with the woodsy flavor coming out in the after taste.
There is a nice cocoa note that is most noticeable on the tip of the tongue that blends with the earlier fruit notes bringing out almost a honeyesque flavor.
This tea has almost a creamy mouthfeel yet it is bright, not thick or full.
What may be even more interesting to you regarding this tea is not even so much in the flavor profile, but how the tea will make you feel! Before I decided to review this tea this morning, I was extremely groggy. I was no where near a place where I thought I could sit and write a review. However by the second cup, somewhere mid way through it, I found myself invigorated! My eyes were no longer heavy and my mind was firing once again on all cylinders! Now granted that is what a morning tea is usually geared for, but there is a clarity to my thoughts much earlier than normal on this day. This tea works with my energy much in the same way matcha does! I am excited to have tried this and am now going to scout out what other offerings Hugo Tea has!
Hugo Tea only has a small selection of teas however if they are all this good, that is all they really need!
Note: Hugo Tea has informed me that no pu-erh has been used in this blend, which makes it all the more interesting to me!
Concord Grape Bai Mu Dan from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White Bai Mu Dan
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
So, I’m a little extra excited about our new freeze-dried grapes. I can’t help it, they are just too much fun to blend with. I’m hoping our customers will forgive me and enjoy this deliciousness.
Here’s a blend of our naturally sweet bai mu dan white tea with freeze-dried grapes and natural flavors.
Our Tea of the Week for the week of May 7, 2012
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
My husband hates anything grape. He says unless it IS a grape it ends up just tasting fake. Not anymore! This Concord Grape tea from 52Teas is as close to eating the real thing as you can get! This is not an in your face kiddie soda pop or lollipop flavored tea. This is a pure and natural, delicious, gimme more of that tea!
There is a sweetness to it that is so fresh, so natural, yet with a light white tea base provides somewhat of a heavier mouthfeel somehow.
There is a slightly numbing sensation in the mouth but only slight.
Now keep in mind this tea is very light in flavor, its not going to rock your socks off with a kool-aid like grape flavor or aroma but if you like grape and you love tea (you do don’t you!) then this is a really nice, not too often found flavor combination you must try!
Grape Sencha from Den’s Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green, Sencha
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
Grape Sencha has a grape flavor plus a hint of dried cranberry and raspberry. These combine into the sweet-tart flavors of our Grape Sencha. Great for iced tea.
Origin: Shizuoka
Harvest: Between First and Second Harvests
Species: Yabukita
Fun fruity and sweet grape flavor. Best selling among our fruit flavored teas.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a delight! Don’t let the kool aid aroma scare you! This tea is beautifully flavored with natural grapes which you can see right in your steeping basket! Such a beautiful tea to look at and I was tempted to steal one big grape and stick it right into my mouth, but I resisted.
Den’s has never disappointed me when it comes to Japanese green teas. I began my journey with them by getting their $3.00 sampler package and I have not stopped my journey since!
This tea is excellent both hot and iced.
The grape flavor is by no means cloying in its sweetness, it is rather quite natural and juicy. It also is not like a grape juice even though it may smell as such. The grape flavor is an undertone that gently supports the excellent sencha base.
Perhaps the cranberry and raspberry ease the sweetness in their supporting roles, yet as supporters they do not take center stage or attempt to shine too brightly. There is a slight tartness to the cup but only slight.
Not to be outdone by the beautiful dry leaves the steeped color of this cup turns out to be a gorgeous sun shiny yellow/golden hue.
From the boquet-esque look of the dry leaf, to the sunny cup it provides, to the flavor of this tea, everything about it is cheery and joyful.
Happiness in a cup.
Black Tea Merlot from Vintage TeaWorks
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where To Buy: Vintage TeaWorks
Tea Description:
Inspired by Merlot, we blended natural ingredients to create a black tea blend that is velvety and robust. The hints of black currant, plums, licorice and violets make drinking this tea quite a sensual experience.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I first pried open the lid on this canister, I was amazed at how good it smells. It has a distinct wine-like aroma to it. I’m certainly not able to discern that it smells like “Merlot” … or any other specific type of wine, but it does have that certain fermented dark-colored grape scent to it. It smells sweet, fruity, and has some floral tones as well as earthiness to the fragrance as well.
Once brewed, the tea maintains much of that fermented-grape/wine-like scent, with notes of flower seeming to dance across the surface of the tea – not staying around for long, but there is just enough flower there to entice the olfactory nerves.
The flavor is really delightful. Vintage TeaWorks touts this as their “velvety and robust” tea, and it certainly is that. It has a very velvety smooth character, strong with a definite boldness to it. I imagine that this would be the ideal way to start the day for the wine enthusiast. 
But then, I’m no wine enthusiast, but I am still really enjoying this tea. It has a very pleasant refinement to it, it is strong and delicious. No signs of bitterness, and only a touch of tangy astringency toward the tail, finishing sweet. It reminds me of the finish of a glass of red wine: sweet (but not too sweet) and smooth.
The flavor is not so much like “grape” as it is very fruit-like. Like a medley of dark fruit: black (or red) grapes and currants. That doesn’t really surprise me much, as I have often noticed a currant-like taste in red wine. I even taste a hint of plum here, more like the sweetness of plum, not so much the tartness of the fruit.
Then, I noticed another taste in the background, one that I don’t normally associate with wine: Licorice. I kept tasting it to determine if that was what I was really tasting, and then I happened to glance over the ingredients and noticed that licorice is one of the ingredients (as well as currants!) Now, I suppose that there are wine connoisseurs would say that there is indeed licorice-y notes in wine, and I’m not one to debate with them because I know next to nothing about wine. I just know that I am tasting it here, and while this doesn’t taste strongly of licorice, it has a distant yet distinct background note of licorice that really harmonizes with the overall cup, and seems to enhance the wine flavors of the blend.
Overall, I find this to be a very fascinating tea blend, one of the nicest representations of wine flavors in a tea that I’ve yet to taste. This company – Vintage TeaWorks – has really impressed me!
