Busting out the aroma cup set for this session.
The only steeping guidelines on the bag are for western-style but I prefer my oolongs gong fu style. Experimenting with tea gives you a better sense of what parameters the tea is best suited to.
It’s harder to do that with western style unless you have a cupping set made for tasting. The inital smell is full of lilacs and orchids. While the wet leaf is reminiscent of a rainforest after a light rain with slight butter.
My first steeping wasn’t long enough. Only did about 30 seconds, which usually is enough to decipher something but the hot tea didn’t give me much. Ah, now that is has cooled it begins to shine.
Vegetal and little butter slight mineral in the aftertaste. The second steep is better and ripe with heavy orchid aroma from the aroma cup.
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teasource
Description
An everyday tea you can soak up like rain. Clean aromatics, a light-bodied cup, and a bright, mineral character. More traditionally known as Huang Jin Gui.
This tea was made by Mr. Lin Rui Fu of Huqiu town in Anxi County, Fujian, China. Huang Jin Gui style oolongs are known for producing wonderfully fragrant teas, but sometimes with lighter body.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Li Shan Oolong Tea (Cui Fong)/Zi Chun -teaequalsbliss
Li Shan is one of my favorite types of Oolong Teas. That’s why Li Shan Oolong Tea (Cui Fong) from Zi Chun Tea Company is on my list of favorites when it comes to Li Shans!
Organically farmed, hand picked, and ball-rolled oolong, this tea is delicious! With being only lightly oxidized at about 15 to 20% and spring to winter harvests you can TASTE the freshness! It’s naturally fruity and smooth, rich, and robust!
Cui Fong, Lishan (Pear Mountain), Taichung County, Taiwan is where this tea hails from. With a name like Pear Mountain I had to Google it! International Tea Masters was the first one that popped up! Of course I knew that Li Shan was “The King of Teas” but it’s been a while since I looked at pictures from that region. I adore sipping on tea and looking at the regions from which they came. It makes me feel like I am walking in that specific Tea Garden or Tea Farming area.
As for this tea, it’s one I would sip on again and again! It’s TEA-riffic!
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Zi Chun
Description
Li Shan tea is known as the “King of Teas.” Its exceptionally pristine and fruity fragrance is not found in any other Taiwan teas.
This Organic Li Shan is harvested from one of the rare Organic tea gardens in the Li Shan Mountain area. The tea garden is small and has very limited yields each with each Spring and Winter harvest. A very prized and exclusive tea
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Anxi Dan Gui/Verdant – skysamurai
This is my first time drinking a Dan Gui. But knowing it is an Anxi region oolong I have high hopes. The dry aroma is very fresh.
With summer garden scents. . . . though I only got to smell it once since I was outside at a splash pad with my kids. Not ideal tea drinking area but we tea drinkers have to make do.
Leaf is gorgeous. Blends of light green and darker greens. Refreshing flavor. Reminiscent of tie guan yin but lighter. The mouth feel is silky. The wet aroma is very interesting.
There is a spot in Hawaii where the forest and the ocean meet. Bits of plumeria and other tropical flowers with a fresh water meets ocean water aroma.
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for oolongs that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Maple Pecan/Plum Deluxe -Super Starling-
It’s been a perfect day so far. My rescue dog (an abuse survivor) was on his very best behavior during our walk AND our fetch session. I have fresh bread for my sandwich later. I’m going on a spaced-out masks-on walk with friends (and my dog!) later. And I’m trying tea!!!
Today’s goodness is Maple Pecan Black/Oolong from Plum Deluxe. I really love Plum Deluxe, as a company. They always list things like “love, gratitude” in their ingredients. Their tea costs more per cup than, for example, David’s Tea, but I feel like they manage to cram a LOT of goodness in there, and it’s worth it. Plum Deluxe is like my bougie treat.
I steeped this tea in boiling-hot water for 5ish minutes in a tea ball. (Sorry, guys, I don’t pay the best attention to the brewing specifics. I leave it in there until I remember to take it out.)
David’s Tea makes a maple chai that’s pretty good, but this one is better. It doesn’t feel as overly-sweet and/or artificial.
This one is rustic — no-nonsense, no pretension, just a nice gift. It’s a warm, chai-like tea with maple and nut overtones. The taste after you swallow is clove & cinnamon, not syrup.
A woods witch would infuse healing magic into this, and serve it to you in a handmade mug. Your skin would seal itself back together; your hair would detangle; your eyes would be 20/20. You would say goodbye to her, and she would hug you. After leaving the cabin, you’d take a glance backwards, and it would be gone.
You’d just have the cinnamon flavor in your mouth to remember her by.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Black/Oolong
Where to Buy: Plum Deluxe
Description
Originally featured as a new blend in our 2019 advent calendar, Maple Pecan is back as a wonderful sweet and nutty tea to enjoy during the holiday season. A blend of oolong and black teas, paired with fresh pecans and a hint of real maple syrup, it’s sure to please many palates.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Tea Time with Friday Afternoon Tea – CuppaGeek-
Each and every year, tea enthusiasts take a look at their tea stashes/cupboards and decide to take an earnest attempt at sipping down the tea that they currently own for a variety of reasons. This year, I’m joining in on this venture for a different reason- I want to dedicate more time to myself. 2020 was a hard year on my family. Between one of our son’s being diagnosed with cancer to losing a beloved member of our family to an extremely hectic and challenging political cycle (my 9-5) to everything in between which includes basically being a “single parent” for a good chunk of the year while my hubby took care of our son, Parker while he was getting treatment at St Judes. For so many, 2020 will always be an exhausting and stressful year. But, it is time to now look at 2021 and make new habits and choices to set the year off right.
One the new habits I am truly striving to establish for myself is literally time for myself. I am very fortunate to have been working from home for a few years now but with the kiddos also being home and remote learning, that tea time that I always really enjoyed fell by the way side. And I have too many delightful tea goodies to have that happen. So I have literally set up time each day on my calendar to take a moment, pop onto Steepster, log my teas, see tea lovelies everyone is enjoying all while enjoying a cuppa myself. If you aren’t familiar with Steepster, I highly encourage you to check it out. Steepster is a great place to log your tea tasting notes while engaging with other like minded tea friends. A lovely environment that I am thrilled to be engaged with once again.
To start 2021 off right, my Black Friday Friday Afternoon tea order finally arrived on 1/3 so I thought these would be a nice treat to ring in the new year. I mainly ordered a variety of black flavored teas but my mystery sampler was also included in this order so there were various tea samples to dig into as well.
#1 Sipdown:
I’m No Prize was the first sample I grabbed. This blend is black tea, ginger root, star anise, rose, jasmine blend with cinnamon flavoring. I’ve been seeing a lot of rose flavored chai blends lately and the idea of mingling floral and spiced flavors was incredibly intriguing. Brewed up with water at 212F and steeped for 3 minutes, this tea was a joy. You could literally pick out each flavor on its own and they all worked together nicely. Pops of ginger, star anise, and cinnamon worked wonderfully well with the rose and jasmine.
I was able to get a few infusions out of the sample serving and enjoyed every sip. Really lovely blend and one I could see re-ordering more of in a heart beat.
#2 Sipdown:
Butterfly Blend was the second sample that grabbed my attention. A black tea blend with honey, strawberry, orange peel and lemongrass. When I first opened the sample- the first thought that came to mind was how much this tea smelled like a strawberry candy. I was eager to enjoy this one so I prepped up my water at 212F and again allowed the tea to steep for 3 minutes. Sadly, I think my taste buds are changing and this blend was too sweet for me. The first sip – my taste buds were super happy. Super sweet honeyed strawberries was what I was getting. However, after a few more sips, it was like I needed a bit of something else to round out that sweetness, possibly even a bit more black tea. The blend itself is beautiful to look at but just doesn’t seem to be the right tea for me.
#3 Sipdown:
Courtesan’s Blend was the last of the three samples I enjoyed during my tea time sipdown. I will be honest, I’ve received this blend a few different times in my mystery samplers from Friday Afternoon and I have never really enjoyed the blend. But again, looking at the ingredients I should. Oolong, clove, cinnamon, and vanilla flavoring. All sounds delightful. When you first open the sample pack as well, the blend smells delightful. To my dismay, those aromas (for me) did not translate into any noticeable flavors until the very end of each sip if not the after taste. Then I could pick up the oolong, clove, and cinnamon notes. If the flavors were more pronounced, I have a feeling I would be in love with this blend. But after trying this blend so many times, I think this one just isn’t for me.
All in all, not a bad little tea party (that spanned a few hours might I add). The winner for me is I’m No Prize which is already on my list to re-order the next time I order from Friday Afternoon.
Let us know if you have any tea related goals for 2021. We’d love to hear them!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Where to Buy: Friday Afternoon
