Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Rooibos (Red)
Where to Buy: Mariage Freres
Tea Description:
Autumn, which turns maple leaves fiery red, is a good time to indulge in a delicious treat that erases the bitterness of rainy days. That is why Mariage Frères has employed an almost forbidden fruit – marrons glacés, a famous French indulgence ever since the days of Louis XIV – to create its new “Autumnal Red” tea.
A red rooibos from South Africa, mild in taste with very little tannin, has been combined with the flavour of fine candied chestnuts and Bourbon vanilla, yielding a most striking yet smooth cup, warm and festive, with fruity and slightly spicy harmonies that precede a final note of honey and dried fruit.
PREPARATION ADVICE FOR 1 CUP :
Amount of tea leaves: 2.5g
Best water temperature: 95 °C
Infusion time: 3-5 min
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of this tea in dry form is delicious! It has a roast-y, nutty, and vanilla scent that made me instantly think of amaretto yet there was this cinnamon essence in there as well. It didn’t take me long to decide to steep this up for a review.
Now most of you know I do not care for red rooibos, however there is little of it in here, and in addition, I feel the rooibos flavor truly does add to this blend.
This tea is quite sweet. Honey like sweetness. I could see how for some it may be a little too sweet.
The lingering after taste of vanilla, honey, and spiced, candied, nuts is quite nice and I notice absolutely no astringency.
There is also a lighter note within this tea which seems to peek out every now and then, although I do not detect it on each sip, and that is of a plum-like flavor. This note reminds me of the poem “Twas The Night Before Christmas” for some reason, the line about sugarplums dancing in people’s heads. Anyway when this note presents, its much brighter, which is a nice change from the heavier sweeter taste I was getting most of the time. The more the tea cooled the more I noticed the fruity lift.
I loved both the depth of this tea, the sweet heavier notes and the light fruity note that came out now and then. It seems to me to be perfect for this time of the year but certainly one I would enjoy year round!
Zhen Qu from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Zhen Qu originates from Yunnan, China and has downy black and gold curly leaves. This lightly malty tea has wonderful honey notes that linger and mingle with floral, chocolate, and pecan notes. Our recommended steep time produces a well-balanced tea and is less dry but we also recommend trying this tea at longer steep times for a more intense flavor.
Ingredients: Chinese Black Tea
Recommended Brew Time: 3 minutes
Recommended Amount: 1 level teaspoon of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 212 F (boiling)
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As soon as I added water to my cup I could smell sweet honey notes and a malty, almost smoky aroma. I knew this was going to be an amazing cup! The water had not even settled into the cup yet and these aromas were so instantly present.
Once steeped I got a better whiff of something I had thought I noticed when I first poured the water onto the dry leaf. It was in there with that initial aroma I already described but I had held back on stating it as I thought maybe my mind was playing games with me. Hey that happens a lot! It is this wonderful wine like aroma! Yes like a delicious merlot! The flavor does not disappoint! While I do not get a wine like flavor – no alcohol flavor – there are some elements in this tea that have wine like notes. Sweet, and yet somehow savory, just lightly smoky but not like a lapsang souchong smoke at all, nutty, and a light grape note. This is not an ordinary tea!
While I do taste the chocolate note within this tea which is so nicely balanced by the floral note what stands out more to me personally is how this tea is like a very fine wine with deeply earthy notes. Not earthy like a pu-erh however, but earthy as in the way the tea plays with the nuisances of the soil it was grown in, again, like a very fine wine.
As the tea cools some the floral note becomes more pronounced but it is so delicate to begin with that it is nice when it peeks out more.
This is truly one of those teas I could have many times before I discover all it has to offer! I am so thankful that I have got to sample this tea and it will go directly onto my shopping list!
Darjeeling 2nd Flush Castleton Moonlight from The Tea Smith
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.
LiShan Oolong, Winter from The Mountain Tea Company
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.
Royal Golden Safari from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black Orthodox Tippy Kenyan Tea
Where to Buy: Butiki
Tea Description:
Our truly exceptional Royal Golden Safari originates from a small scale farm in Kenya and has long golden leaves that mingle with milk chocolate and cacao colored leaves. Toasted walnut and oaky notes are prominent with a light pear undertone. Cocoa notes are also present. This orthodox tea does not contain any pesticides.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was making breakfast when I decided to brew this tea today. I had just got an order in from Stacy and this was one of the samples I requested. I was really not even thinking of doing a review on this one as I was simply wanting to wake up and just enjoy a new tea but I decided not only does this tea deserve a review, Stacy deserves my review, but there is also a review contest going haha. So I decided what the heck. Now again, when I took my initial sips I was not thinking about the tea so much in order to review it – as just wanted to get some tea into my system. Yet what hit me was an intense and lovely flavor of Sweet Potato and Brown Sugar! I instantly thought of another very fine tea that I love that is highly prized and difficult to get ahold of! How lovely to have another option for this flavor profile!
When a tea is so easy to pick flavor notes out of its a real pleasure because it makes it so much easier to review, to enjoy, and to feel joy from. The tea surprised me with flavor note after flavor note!
This tea has a nice sweet aroma and flavor with a creamy texture in the mouthfeel. It gave up notes of honey, nuts and chocolate, and as I have already mentioned, sweet potato, and brown sugar! Just YUM! No wonder it is called Royal Golden “Safari” it felt like being on a safari and discovering one new surprise after another!
There is a malty element to this tea yet its not as malty as one may expect – it is rather mellow and soothing. In a manner more like a Darjeeling in its lighter feel and flavors yet very much the flavor profile of Assam without the heaviness.
The second steep was a bit light in the flavors but steep three brought them back out. It was also in steep three that cinnamon and pear began to peek through.
I forgot to mention that I just love the way the leaves look in dry form. They are truly quite beautiful! The cup itself is pretty as well ranging from steep one a deep crimson color to later steepings being a lighter amber.
I of course love that this tea is pesticide free!
Unfortunately I did not get a fourth steeping from the leaves but I was very pleased with the three I did get! No need to be greedy with such a fine tea.
Overall I really quite like this one. Royal Garden Safari offers delicious flavors and while I don’t know if I would say it could hold up well to milk, being on the lighter spectrum, it would hold up well to sweetener but I would not muddle such a lovely naturally sweet cup with additives.