Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our Winter LiShan coats the palate with orchid, pineapple, and vanilla bean. “LiShan” means Pear Mountain and in the past, the most sought after pears came from this place. This highland climate with an altitude of more than 6600 feet above sea level produces especially superior teas. LiShan oolongs are the most fragrant, smoothest, butteriest oolongs, incredibly sweet with a taste of toasted fruit.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have only recently discovered tea from The Mountain Tea Company but I am so very glad that I have.
I have enjoyed every tea I have tried from them so far.
The aroma of this tea in dry form is amazing. Such a strong delicious scent yet so difficult to explain. There is something quite roasty and toasty about this tea yet it is a green oolong. There is a smokey aroma but that does not convey in the steeped cup.
Steeped it is fresh, grassy, vegetal, and crisp. Refreshingly delightful and just simply splendrous cold brewed!
There is such a sweet honey like flavor with a bright clear finish. The sweetness does not linger in a cloying manner but rather leaves behind the flavor of fresh cut grass.
There is a lightly floral note of orchid and some fruity notes mixed throughout the flavors on the palate and a lovely lilting vanilla note that drifts over the taste buds but dissipates quickly making me want more.
While the cup is fresh and bright there is a deep creamy mouthfeel before hand – so the initial taste is that of deeply creamy and buttery followed with the clear cleansing finish.
I know I am just not doing this tea any justice in my review but I am just so very excited to be sipping on this tea right now. I want to sit back and enjoy it yet my excitement to share information about this tea with everyone can’t wait. I just want to get it all out and written down right as the flavors and notes come dancing forward for me so that you can experience in its truest form – outside of having it for yourself. I want you to be in the moment with me while I have this spectacular tea!
I do hope to get more of this before I drink it all, and it won’t be difficult to justify as it is one of the more exquisite teas I could invest in.
As a reviewer I can drink upwards of 10 cups of tea a day, some days more, some less, and I don’t review them all. I only review those teas I would suggest to others. Be it a solid beginner tea, a tea for those who are looking only for the best, or something in the middle. Even though I may not particularly like every tea personally, due to simply perhaps not enjoying a flavor element for example, I try to be quite fair in my reviews. Regardless, this is a tea I would recommend to everyone. Beginners should use this tea as a baseline for all other teas, specifically Oolongs if you are finding you love Oolongs. For those who have been drinking tea for some time you won’t be disappointed in this tea, or The Mountain Tea Company. I certainly am not as experienced as some but thus far I have to say this is one of the most enjoyable oolongs I have had the honor of sipping.
Sometimes we just get so excited about a tea – after drinking one after another – one simply stands out above the others. As for Oolongs, I would stand behind this one hands down as supreme.
Chinese Flower from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green, Flower
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
Green Tea with Flowers and Lemon A reinvigoration of the senses. Chinese Flower, flawlessly blended of hand plucked Chinese green tea, three types of flowers, and citrus flavors, yields the most high-caliber tea experience. A synergy between tea, flower, and fruit, every part gorgeously synchronized – crisp citrus aroma that bursts and floral notes that woo, Chinese Flower grasps the sensations. It is a rare jewel in the teascape, its bold vitality spellbinding.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What an absolutely stunning tea! So many pretty petals in this cup my first thought was it looked like potpourri! It smells divine as well and one could actually place this out on a table in a bowl and enjoy the aroma and colors of it.
The tea has a lovely lemon flavor which is tart but not sour. The floral notes seem to meld nicely enough but I do seem to feel at times – in some sips – that the floral notes are arguing about which is prettiest and going to get the most attention. Yet, somewhere between the floral chaos, and the lemon’s tart little attitude there is a sweetness that shyly peeks through and politely says a meek hello. This is the note that is worth waiting for! Then in the after taste this delightful and refreshing grassy green pokes through from the base!
This tea makes you pay attention, the more I found myself wondering if I even liked this tea at all the more I found myself taking another sip and smiling because I did enjoy it.
This tea is a lady indeed, complex, beautiful, aromatic, confusing, profound, sweet, sassy, and delightful.
I applaud Harney & Sons for using such a wonderful base for this tea as it could have easily been hidden behind all these other notes but it was not lost at all. I find that if you wait long enough between sips that the flowers dance on the grassy green flavors of the base making me feel like I am sipping this cup in a field of wildflower.
Thanks to a Steepster friend I have a pretty healthy sample of this tea here but I already want to buy a tin of it just because I want to have it in my permeant stash in its own lovely home, as this tea is deserving of it.
Its not often a floral tea catches my eye, or the favor of my taste buds, but this tea has so much more going on than just a flowery bouquet.
The after taste is what gets me the most. Absolutely not to make you think this tea is remotely perfume-y because it is not, but it does remind me of an expensive French perfume. Even if this is a Chinese floral tea. Fresh, rich, romantically floral, beautiful, sweet, tart, sexy and expensive, except Harney & Sons, in my opinion, is reasonably priced tea.
If my tea breath smells half as good as this tea tastes lingering around in my mouth then people should be oohing and aahing over me, following me around wanting to kiss me, yes I can be my own romance heroine if only in my own mind!
Oh La La!
Green Tea Sauvignon from Vintage Tea Works
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Vintage Tea Works
Tea Description:
Inspired by Sauvignon Blanc, we blended natural
ingredients to create a green tea blend that is medium bodied, with a
burst of fresh grapefruit offering a racy hit of crisp acidity. (2.0oz. / 56.7g – about 20 cups)About Sauvignon Blanc – Sauvignon Blanc is high acid, medium bodied, white wine that makes a wonderful food pairing wine. Sauvignon Blanc’s aromas and flavors are often compared to fruits like grapefruit, gooseberries and green apples combined with an undertone of a grassy, vegetal nature.
Tea and Food Pairings – Pair our Green Tea Sauvignon with Asian inspired cuisine, cheeses or salads. Try it on ice for refreshment anytime.
Ingredients – Green tea, organic grapefruit peel, calendula marigold flower petals, natural flavorings..
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have recently ordered three teas from Vintage Tea Works, but this was not one of them. I was drawn to three of their other teas but this will go on my list for future orders! I am lucky to be able to sample this selection due to the generosity of my SororiTea Sister Anne.
I used to be quite the wine drinker before health concerns capped off my more indulgent days. I suppose some would have considered me a wine snob. Yet this, this is a tea, and a very fine tea at that!
Vintage Tea Works has found the perfect unison of wine and tea in this blend. They have made it noticeable that this is not a wine yet wine like enough that those who appreciate a good wine will be able to pick up the notes, the flavors, the balance, and nuances of what a fine wine would offer. What I am trying to say is that you do not have to be wine lover to love this tea, yet if you are, you will love it all the more!
The first thing I notice upon sipping is that there is a marked floral and fruity flavor which is well balanced and well blended. The sweetness of the tea is noticeable as well yet becomes more pronounced as the tea cools slightly. So if comparing to a wine this would be on the side of the more tropical Sauvignon types. Comparing to a tea it is also quite tropical in its flavor with notes of grassy flavors in the aftertaste followed by a slight buttery note but that note is very subtle. Granted there is not much, if any difference between wine tasting and tea tasting.
When I was selecting the three teas from Vintage Tea Works that I wanted to try I of course went with my favorite wine types and I grabbed the pu-erh because I love pu-erh and really wanted to see what they did with that blend. The main reason, however, that I did not select this particular tea was due to the grapefruit element. At the time that I placed my order I was not feeling that I wanted a grapefruit flavor. Now that I am drinking this tea though I have to say I am not picking up much if any of an actual grapefruit flavor. I feel that the grapefruit in this blend adds more to the palate cleansing effect more than the flavor itself. Like a wine however, or a masterfully blended tea, you really can’t judge the final outcome by the ingredients as stand alone elements. I guess I just needed Vintage Tea Works to come around to remind me of that.
I love the use of Calendula in this tea. Calendula is one of my favorite herbs. Granted it is also a flower but it is technically an herbaceous plant. I have used this herb in my home remedy blends for decades. Calendula lends an interesting floral yet savory note to the tea.
This tea also is quite excellent chilled which makes it versatile for summer or winter enjoyment.
When you swish the tea around in your mouth you pick up the fruit notes, then the sweetness, but as you swallow you get this green clean taste that is reminiscent of summer fields and marigolds which the Calendula plant is in the family of. The grapefruit notes as I said are barely noticeable but I get those mostly long after the swallow, about 30 seconds to 1 minute later, which serves almost as a drying effect and reminder to take another sip.
I do wish I had grabbed this tea as well in my order but now I have something to save up for and look forward to.
Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting from Mark T. Wendell
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yellow
Where to Buy: Mark T. Wendell
Product Description:
This rare yellow tea from China’s Anhui province is comprised of beautiful hand-crafted leaves and downy silver buds. This tea is notable for its rich, full and smooth tasting floral infusion. When brewed, our Yellow Sprouting produces a naturally sweet and refreshingly clean tasting cup of tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was very lucky to be introduced to yellow tea early in my loose leaf tea drinking experience! It was the first time I had ever stepped foot into a real tea house, in St. Louis, Missouri. The London Tea Room. At that time they had a lovely yellow tea which was not on their regular tea menu as it was a special tea not normally sold in the store. They told me about yellow tea and gave me a good education on it. I was sold and bought it on the spot not even really knowing just how precious yellow tea was. So that was my introduction and how I fell in love with Yellow teas. Even still yellow teas seem to be quite rare, and while they can be found online and in tea shops, I find people are still not quite as aware of them as they could be. I was thrilled when I received a sample of this from my SororiTea Sister LiberTEAS.
I am finding this cup to be every bit as delightful as my first experience with yellow tea. As I do not currently have many yellow teas, perhaps one or two, in my own stash, having a new one to try is a lovely gift!
This tea, from Mark T. Wendell, is captivating! Its creamy and buttery, but also there is this really nice savory element to it as well and many know how much I love a savory tea! The mouthfeel is heavier than the color of the cup may indicate. Don’t let the beautiful, delicate, golden tone fool you, its quite rich. There is a natural sweetness just as the product description says, but the fresh floral and grassy notes make it pleasing and healthy tasting. I get a note that speaks towards wheat grass flavors.
It is not as buttery as many oolong or green teas, which of course it is a yellow tea and has its own voice. Yet, these elements are present. There is a juiciness and freshness to the cup making it quite bright, a “happy” tea. To me, this is not a tea you choose when wanting to sit down and get absorbed into a great novel, but more of a tea for when you want to have loose fun conversations, or enjoy a sunny day, or brighten up a dreary one. And again, being in a category of its own, you won’t find this tea as vegetal as some greens, yet in the under layer of this tea – toward the base of the flavor levels, does exist a slightly vegetal flavor, which learns more toward a salty seaweed like note.
Also, if you allow this tea to cool quite a while you will find a light candy like note, sort of like a meringue cookie flavor or perhaps the curst on a creme brulee although its not going to jump out at you that flavor is in there.
Yellow tea is such an interesting thing to me. I always love trying any yellow tea I can get my hands on and I hope that more people become aware of how wonderful yellow teas are. Why not start with this one? I am finding it to be my favorite so far.
Bi Luo Chun Spring 2012 from Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Taiwan Green Tea
Where to Buy: Stone Leaf Teahouse
Tea Description:
Bi Luo Chun
Spring 2012
碧螺春茶
Taiwan. San Hsia Township.
Fresh is the operative word for this tea. Fresh, vibrant and green with notes of bamboo sprouts. Perfectly balanced with subtle nutty aromas, lively vegetal flavors, lingering grassyness, and a touch of ocean mist. This sparkling green infusion is perfect for a sunny day, or if you’d just like it to .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I opened the bag the buttery sweet aroma was so intoxicating! Then a sweet vegetal aroma lifted up toward my nostrils and I was in love. I just melt when I sip on buttery, sweet, vegetal, grassy, creamy, nutty teas and if I had to list adjectives to describe a perfect green those are the adjectives I would list, and this tea captures every single one of them perfectly.
It is such a very pretty leaf! All curly and springy! I love the shades of green and would describe this leaf as “playful”. The steeped leaf is so soft and silky – what I describe as “angel hair” feeling. It feels so plush I wish I could sleep on a bed that feels like this!
I keep re-steeping in order to do a proper review but I just can’t keep my cup full long enough to savor these amazing flavors, and while I do like to respect the tea, and appreciate it, savoring each and every sip I can’t seem to contain myself to do so with this one. Look out folks…its a guzzler!
Now I assume that in the description they say “a touch of ocean mist” to mean there is a slightly seaweed like flavor in it. I have to say that I get very subtle notes here and there of that, more of a salty like note, however it is slight and I do love salt! Ironically even though I am a total saltaholic my sodium levels always run low! Go figure, I could put a salt block in my living room and be quite happy. So for that reason I am very happy to have that “touch of ocean mist” flavor in my cup. As for a seaweed note, to me that is more in the aroma than in the flavor but it is there, that salty seaweed bamboo like flavor just screams tropical rain forest to me more than ocean side sea spray.
The flavor is so very buttery, so creamy and silky in the mouthfeel, yet I can’t quite decide which vegetable it tastes like, corn came to mind, but so did green beans, and peas, but its more like a medley of vegetables. Yet there is this nutty almost wood like flavor perhaps from the bamboo sprouts. The after taste lingers so nicely making me just want to keep sipping away without a care. Which in and of itself is making it more difficult to really give a detailed review of exactly what this tea taste like other than AMAZING!
I clicked on the blog link on Stone Leaf Teahouse website and found this tidbit of information about Bi Luo Chun that I wanted to share with you because I found it so romantic:
Yet another legend claims that this tea was named after a girl, Bi Luo, who watered a tea tree with the tears she had shed for her slain dragon lover. She then died under this tree, and the next spring, the tree produced a fragrant green tea which we now call Bi Luo Chun.
This is only a small excerpt however as there is an entire article about the name of this tea and the man legends associated with it. Here is the link to their blog if you would like to read more for yourself.