Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Tea Description:
A happy tea for celebrating happy moments. Sip, smile, & share. $7/oz. $1 of every sale goes to our charity partner, The Joy Team.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love my purple packages each month. Those are the ones from Plum Deluxe and those are the ones that make me drool.
I have learned from just the few months that I have been a member of Plum Deluxe that how they descrie their tea is exactly how their tea tastes. If they say it is a grapefruit black tea, that is what it will taste like, making Plum Deluxe a tried and true tea shop to order from in my book.
This little gem was in this month’s package. I have been eyeing it for a while.
The smell of the dry leaves was a sweet jasmine citrus aroma. So delicious smelling.
I prepped this up using my handy dandy Breville One Touch on the white tea setting. Poured the sweet jasmine tea into my tea cup and instantly tasted it.
Jasmine, check. White delicate base with sweet notes, check. Hints of a citrus like tangerine flavor, check. Yep, check on all the flavors that were described. But does it taste good?
Oh yes it does. This is a sweet white jasmine tangerine tea that delivers a delicate sweet slightly floral taste. Exactly the flavor I was hoping would actually come thru.
I’ve been able to get another steeping out of these quality leaves and ingredients. Another winning tea from Plum Deluxe. Awesome job guys!
Da Hong Pao from Cha Ceremony
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Cha Ceremony
Tea Description:
This tea is medium roasted with a subtle earthy, mineral taste, it possesses fruity notes along with a distinct crispness that is unique to rock grown tea such as this offering.
Depending on how you prepare it the tea will take on different notes, we urge you to experiment and take your time enjoying each infusion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Cha Ceremony is a new company founded by one of our Steepster friends, Marcus Reed. Cha Ceremony specializes in rock grown oolong, also known as yancha. Marcus’s vision for Cha Ceremony is full what he calls a niche market by providing quality tea with great customer service. I think he is on the right track. .
My first tea I am trying from Cha Ceremony is a Da Hong Pao. This tea is beautiful to look at. The long leaves really give this tea a gorgeous presentation. I steeped this up in my teapot and sat down at the table to get to “business”.
This tea was fabulous and so giving. My first infusion was sweet with a mineral like finish. Very smooth and slightly roasted. Very rich and full bodied. I could have drank this tea all night if the flavors would have stayed in this vein. I really really liked it. The different flavor profiles contrasted with each other providing this gorgeous balanced flavor that I just can’t get over. I haven’t had a tea like this in a long time.
My second infusion so still just as gorgeous but there was more of an earthly flavor and -the roasted flavor a bit less. The contrasting flavors still there, all just a bit more subtle.
Third infusion, so fantastic. Earthly roasted goodness. Just heaven. Hints of sweetness creeping back in and this time there are more fruity notes instead of just being sweet.
After the third infusion, I decided to try this as a cold brew so we will see what I am greeted with in the morning. I’m sure this tea would have given more, but it was bedtime and I had my herbal tea still to drink for the night to help relax me.
For my first foray into the world of Cha Ceremony, I’m a happy camper. I want to dive more into what Marcus has to offer and really spend time with his teas.
Yunnan Dragon Pearl from What-cha
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: What-Cha
Tea Description:
A unique black tea rolled into huge marble sized balls. With a sweet aroma and taste, and an incredibly thick texture.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
When I saw this tea was in my last package I squealed. What-Cha teas are all the rage on Steepster. I have been wanting to try their teas for a while because of how people ooohh and awe over them. And now it is my turn.
While I was formatting this review, I was sad to find out this tea is no longer available from What-Cha. It seems I am late to this party. But alas, I was able in the end to try this phenomenal tea.
This tea gave me everything I was looking for in a black tea. Ease of preparation. Versatility. Sweet Flavor. Caramel notes. Touches of honey. Slight roasted tone. Everything.
The first sip you are greeted with a nice malty like hint. Then you get that luscious caramel and honey sweetness finished with a hint of a lovely roasted profile. Each sip I find myself closing my eyes and heaving a sigh afterwards, indulging fully in the flavor. This tea is impressive. Really really impressive. I don’t think I can use enough adjectives to really describe this tea and the marvelous flavors it delivers. It makes me sad that the little pearls I have left, which I think are about 3 at this point, is it for this beauty. I wonder if there is any company that sells a comparable tea?
There will be tears when this tea is gone. Big ol alligator tears and lots and lots of wailing.
Black King 2015 from Harney & Sons
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Harney & Sons
Tea Description:
The name says it all.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m not going to lie. I was very excited to try this tea. My adventures into straight teas has been a blast this far and have tried some pretty amazing teas in the last few weeks and had some pretty big expectations with a name like Black King 2015 for this tea.
This tea has a beautiful dry leaf appearance. The leaves have a nice curl to them and the coloring is gorgeous. Dark curls with light brown tips.
I steeped this up per H&S’s recommendations with my Breville One Touch-212F for 5 minutes.
Unfortunately after one sip of this tea, I knew this tea wasn’t for me. The flavor was nice enough. A nice malty tea with a bit of astringency. This is a solid tea but there really wasn’t anything popping out at me or any flavors that I really noted that made me think wow. There were slight subtle notes of a dark cocoa flavor but they were very subtle. I just wish those notes popped a bit more.
I think maybe a bit of parameter experimenting and possibly add in another scoop-maybe this tea will give me that wow factor I was striving for. Back to the drawing board with this one.
Daughter’s Ring from Teasenz
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A farmer needs to work seven days, just to produce about 1.5 kg of this artisan tea, picking only the most-tender leaves from large-leaf tea trees in Simao, Yunnan. Afterwards, each ring is carefully hand-rolled piece by piece, requiring patience and mastery of advanced tea processing skills. A pure organic and luxury green tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was very excited to try this one. Very excited. The beautiful rings were something to behold. Just gorgeous. I’ve never tried a tea like this before. I steeped this in my Breville One Touch so I would have the right temp for water.
Not having this tea or any teas from this company, I was a little intimidated so I did a bit of research about this tea on Steepster and what reviews this tea has already received. The more I read about the tea the more excited I seemed to get. Sweet, delicate, not grassy, buttery, and nutty. How lovely does that sound?
When I heard the beep of the Breville announcing the tea was ready, I basically ran to the tea pot to pour myself a cup. Poured myself a cup and let the brew cooled off for a minute.
Took a nice big sip and wow that was not the taste I thought I would be greeted with. From the reviews I had read, I was thinking this was going to be a more delicate floral green tea. What I got was a tea that reminded me of a savory Slim Jim based tea. Not bad, just not what I had expected so I was taken by surprised. This is a very very savory green tea with hints of smokey flavors popping through each sip. I’m curious if further steepings will create a different flavor, but I doubt it would be that much of a difference. I’ll have to just experiment some more. That is one of the aspects of tea that is just so much fun! All the different tastes and textures you can get out of steeping the tea differently!