Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Pekko Teas
Tea Description:
Country of Origin: India
Region: Darjeeling
Shipping Port: Calcutta
Grade: TGFOP1 (Tippy Golden Flavoury Orange Pekoe 1)
Altitude: 6800 feet above sea level
Manufacture Type: Orthodox
Cup Characteristics: Good body with a classic muscatel character. This quality is only available during June when the 2nd flush growing season is at its peak.
Infusion: Bright tending light
Ingredients: Luxury black tea.Mim is in the Darjeeling area of Northern India. From the town center on a clear day the peak of Mount Everest can be seen. The genus of the Darjeeling tea bush is the Chinese Jat, which gives it the distinctive muscatel character. Because the tea is grown at such high altitudes and in relatively cool weather the bushes do not grow quickly, and as such the production is limited. The best time of the year for quality is during ‘second-flush’ (end May – end June). During this time Darjeelings are incomparable to any other tea in the world. The fragrance and taste is a complex bouquet that reaches right out of the cup. Some would describe the taste as nutty; others find it reminds them of black currants, but most often it is described as similar to the taste and fragrance of muscat grapes.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Now I am not as knowledgable on Darjeeling as my SororiTea Sister Anne, so I can’t pretend to know just how good this stacks against others of its caliber, however I am throughly enjoying this tea!
I can taste the muscatel in this tea, the base is great, and the mouthfeel is rich, almost creamy.
Its not AS robust as some black teas but yet it has its own nice level of somewhat roast-y flavor.
As Anne stated in her review, there is a slight bit of astringency not to be confused with bitterness – its like it is meant to be there – almost a little tart, like a fresh grape.
I have enjoyed this tea many times now, but one thing that I find with this particular Darjeeling, that I have not found in others, is a sweetness, not just from the muscatel, but rather a maple syrup flavor that is quite amazing!
It is almost a dreamy sort of tea, one that takes me away from the chaos of the world and eases me into a very relaxed, yet rejuvenated state of mind.
This is truly a stash must have. I find myself reaching for it regularly. Its not just a dependable tea but an impressive tea as well. One to enjoy while reading, with breakfast, enjoying the outdoors, excellent cold brewed, and by all means, serve this to your tea friends, as they are sure to be impressed by its quality. I know that I am impressed by it every time I steep it.
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.
Organic Shui Xian from Arbor Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Arbor Teas
Tea Description:
Our organic Shui Xian Oolong hails from the Wuyi mountains in China’s Fujian province. This exquisite oolong is produced using the top three to four leaves on the branch. After wilting and bruising the leaves, they are hand-rolled into their final shape. When brewed, these dark green-brown leaves create an amber infusion with an exquisite floral fragrance that complements the tea’s sweetness (in fact, Shui Xian translates directly into “narcissus”). The taste is smooth and lightly sweet, with a subtle dryness reminding of pear skin, followed by a lightly baked aftertaste. As with most oolongs of this type it is moderately oxidized, ranging from 40% to 60%. Like other fine oolong teas, our Shui Xian Oolong may be infused a number of times, with each infusion revealing a new nuance of this tea’s complex flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea offers a very fruity flavor and is quite juicy. The roasted woody flavor is one of my favorite notes in oolong but it is so well complimented by the lighter plum flavors. I get far more plum in this cup than peach but regardless I do enjoy the juiciness of this tea. I actually almost choked on my first sip because the juiciness exploded like biting into a ripe plum! I was not expecting this out of such a darkly roasted oolong.
The aroma is lovely with nutty and earth notes working their way up to my senses. There is something in this aroma of must notes and forest floor.
The after taste lends toward the drier notes but it never quite gets so dry that it leaves your throat parched – the juiciness of the tea keeps that from happening.
I love roasty toasty oolong teas especially when they have that backed good flavor in them. The light and subtle sweetness does bring about a bakery essence to the taste.
Of course you have your rock mineral notes in here that are lovely and I do love mineral notes in tea. It comes over as quite refreshing along with the juicy plum flavors and reminds me of sitting along side a fresh running steam watching the water run over the rocks and pebbles within it.
A pleasing tea and from a company that also cares about the environment – can’t get better than that!
Temi First Flush from The Tea Horse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Orange Pekoe
Where to Buy: Tea Horse
Tea Description:
Temi 1st Flush is officially a black tea, but is less oxidised and much lighter than usual blacks – to drink, somewhere between a black and a green tea. Its grade is SFTGFOP1 (standing for Special Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe grade 1). A bit of a mouthful but it makes for a lovely tea!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love a good Temi First Flush. I recently sipped down the last of my favorite first flush from another company so I was excited to dig this sample out of a box of teas from my SororiTea Sister Anne.
I was waiting with anticipation to fully immerse myself in this cup. The first thing I picked up was the astringency which was not unpleasant but more prominent than what I am used to in this style of tea.
Then the notes develop into a background flavor of straw that has been sitting in the sun light which is a note I personally enjoy, added to that a slightly vegetal flavor but not as one expects in greens, not that prominent. More of the flavor of fresh straw blade that you picked out of a field to stick in your mouth to chew on like country folk. The tea is in fact quite “sunny” in its flavor and has a bright mouthfeel.
This is a light tea and I don’t think I would try adding any milk or cream to it however it could go quite well with a little sugar, or honey.
As for spicy notes, they are present but they are not very intense and while I appreciate subtle notes in teas this tea somewhat leaves me wanting just a little bit more. Its not a bad tea by any means and I would not dump it out so I don’t want to give the impression that it is unpalatable but it does seem to lack some of the complexities and fruity notes I appreciate in my regular Temi First Flush. Now with that said, while I do not pick up the fruit notes I was desiring, it is a “juicy” tea. The tea does tend to have a burst like sensation in the mouth that is quite lovely.
So there are some high notes and low notes to this tea in my opinion however for me, ordering this tea may be more trouble than it is worth due to it being a U.K. company, and I am in the U.S.A. I would love to try some of their other blends though as they have a couple that caught my eye. I would say that if ordering were a tad easier this tea was a good introduction to their company and would indeed make me want to order from them again.
Its just that sometimes we love another tea of the same type and that love can be difficult to beat. That is the case with this specific tea.
It is however light, bright, and quite thirst quenching, and there is nothing wrong with any of those things.
Thé des Alizés from Le Palais des Thes
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Le Palais Des Thés
Tea Description:
A green tea enlivened by flower petals and delicately scented with pieces of white peach, kiwi and watermelon. The green tea and the juicy freshness of the fruit are wonderfully balanced. Can be drunk hot or iced.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I am not usually one for watermelon flavored things outside of watermelon itself, but this delicate tea by Le Palais des Thes has me enjoying a watermelon blend. Granted it is not just a watermelon flavored tea, there are other wonderful fruit flavors in here accompanying the watermelon, peach is one of those flavors, and I am quite partial to peach teas! Kiwi is pretty good in teas although I have not seen it used often, so this is a really nice flavor blend.
Just as in the description offered by the company, it is in fact quite a “juicy” tea. As you sip your mouth almost waters with the burst of fruit flavors.
Also the green tea base holds its own against quite a few somewhat strong flavors. The base cold easily have been overcome, but it is not. In fact it not only holds its own, but the base is the main flavor I taste, which is good because when it comes to tea, sometimes I do enjoy a tea that is overwhelming with flavor, but for the most part I want to savor the tea over any flavorings within it.
I will say that it can be difficult to pick out any one flavor in the tea between the different fruits. One would not sip this and instantly say “Watermelon!” or “Kiwi!” for example. Rather it is more like a fruit punch flavor – a tropical punch, without the cloying sugar sweetness, yet it is nicely sweet, a natural sweet.
While this is not one of my favorite stash buster teas, it is always one that is lovely to return to. It is inviting enough that I am interested in trying more teas from Le Palais des Thes, which I intend to do in the future if this is any indication of their tea quality I should be quite pleased!