I have a beef with the iris family. My irises didn’t come up last spring. After several years of faithful blooming, they just gave up the ghost. Literally zero emerged. I have no idea why. I’m irritated about it. There was a huge hole in my garden. Luckily, it was off to the side, but still.
This tea is called “Dark Iris,” which reflects irises, and my feelings about them at the moment.
According to August Uncommon, it’s a “rich oolong with peach, pistachio, and lime” that “feels like Georgia O’Keefe flowers.”
The primary flavor I taste here is the peach, made spiky and edgy by the lime. Yum. Whoever came up with this is pretty smart. This is really well-balanced. I wish they’d release a Sprite/Sierra Mist with some peach in it. I’d drink it. There’s also some deep/spiciness, which might be the lime, but I think is the oolong and maybe some spices. After I’ve swallowed, there’s a very faint hint of floweriness. Rose is an ingredient. I could be imagining it, though, just as I’m imagining the nuttiness. I think there’s a tiny bit of cream, which could be “nut” or “sweetness of flower” or “just my imagination.”
Either way, this is a really great, unique blend that I recommend you try!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: August Uncommon Tea
Description
The iris is a flower long revered for its majesty. It has been a favorite of royalty and artists for centuries. One of the most intriguing depictions of the iris is found in the graceful curves and vibrance of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings. The aroma of this tea is flamboyant, its texture silky. It has the unmistakable scent of iris: an accord of lime blossom and creamy vanilla. At first, the bright acidity of peach and lime dominate. The next sip deepens with the velvetiness of roasted oolong. Peach and rose are the notes that linger. Adding milk introduces pistachio and white chocolate flavors. Chilling this tea deepens its earthiness to bring out roasted peach and dirty rose notes. An experience as mysterious and elegant as the intoxicating spring flower.
A tea perfect for afternoons and evenings of luxurious reverie.
Ingredients: formosa oolong tea, dried peach, persian pistachio, white chocolate, rose petals, flavoring
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
An Early Taste of Spring with Mountain Oolong Spring. . . . .
Mountain Oolong Spring from Mountain Tea Co. is truly a springtime tea. In the spring, everything blooms and bursts into life, and you can evoke this feeling by brewing a cup of this tea in your kitchen at home. I’ve had quite a few teas that smell like jasmine or rose, but this tea lights up with the fragrance of less typical flowers, soft and feminine like baby’s breath or lily of the valley.
Putting your nose into a cup of this tea will envelop you with this relaxing, perfumey sensation.
Beyond the flavor of flowers, there are nutty and buttery tones to help fill out the brew and give the tea a smooth, rich mouthfeel. The more I steeped these leaves, the brighter and greener the undertones became.
The most unique and memorable part of this tea is its forward floral accents.
If you’re a lover of flowery oolongs, Mountain Oolong Spring will be a perfect fit for your tastes.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Mountain Tea Co.
Description:
The character of a pot of tea tells a story about the leaf it originated from. Good tea is a mixed blessing for tea farmers; in general, the harder the tea plant struggles to grow, the more flavorful and tempered the finished brew becomes. For this reason higher elevation with colder temperatures and thinner air produces outstanding leaf.
The 2016 spring harvest of Mountain Oolong withstands high temperature water longer without introducing dryness to the flavor, producing a forgiving and well-behaved pot of tea for the busy brewer. The steeped cup reflects a beautifully clear yet deep honey gold color; the nose is creamy sweet over a faint, nostalgic scent of rice flower bud. Notes for this crop are sharp and floral, paired with a robust body. Expect flavors of citrus blossom mostly, nasal and high in the mouth. Properly brewed we found that this tea has even greater re-steep potential than past flushes, up to six or seven.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Watermelon MajesTea from Cup of Love. . . . .
Watermelon…it’s one of those fruits that many people seem to LOVE or HATE…rarely a ‘Happy Medium’ with Watermelons…it seems! Lucky for me I LOVE Watermelon! So when I saw that the sister company of Vampyre Tea was attempting to perfect their dried watermelon for Watermelon MajesTea from Cup of Love I was VERY excited to try it!
Watermelon MajesTea from Cup of Love contains Oolong Tea, Dried Watermelon, Chunks of White Nectarine, Papaya Pieces, Plum Petals, & Safflower Petals. I’m fairly certain that they dry (dehydrate) the watermelon themselves because I saw their posts on Facebook! I will say that the dried watermelon was a bit sticky to touch but it proved how fresh and REAL it was and that made me even more intrigued!
I really have to pause a moment and tell you about the AMAZING aroma of this tea! The watermelon scents were VERY strong. The smell busted thru the packaging. IMPRESSIVE! This was an intensely flavored oolong.
Flavor-wise the watermelon was the rock star but the chunks of other fruit were a nice addition and seem to round out the fruity flavor nicely. The petals were more for show but still appreciated. No matter which way I slice it I keep going back to the aroma and flavor the watermelon gives off in this. If you are a fan of watermelon like I am I’m pretty sure you will get a KICK out of this flavored oolong. Watermelon MajesTea from Cup of Love is more than ‘just’ a tea…it’s an experience!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Cup of Love
Description
Lush and tasty, this cool, sweet and refreshing Oolong Tea is fortified with delicious (and rare) dried Watermelon and chunks of soft White Nectarines, Payapa, and radiant Safflower Petals. Fragrant and intoxicating, this fine, exotic tea is treasure to behold!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Maharaja Chai and Samurai Chai Blend from Teavana. . . . .
If you’re anything like me, your friends and family know you love your tea– and have been gifting accordingly this Christmas. In a recent office secret santa swap, I hit the total tea jackpot– a brand new gravity (gravi-tea– heee :)) steeper for my desk at work, and a GIGANTIC tin of this chai blend from Teavana. Score!
Now, early on in my tea-drinking years, Teavana was an initial fave, but in the last few years as I’ve discovered amazing small-batch companies and other small businesses that I love to patronize, I don’t really shop at this iconic mall tea shop anymore. That being said, I know they’re a beloved staple for so many tea drinkers, so I was pumped to get to try one of their more popular blends this holiday season through the generosity of a work friend.
First things first: does this dry leaf ever have the SCENT! It is perhaps the strongest spice from dry leaf that I’ve ever had. Super present are the scents of anise and cardamom, which jump right out to me in the brewed cup as well. This is lovely with some cream, no sweetener needed (unless you like your chai syrupy). My only complaint is that this blend is SO heavy on the spice that I can’t taste any of the tea leaf in my cup– which is supposedly a blend of mate, oolong, and green rooibos. I’d love for this to taste more distinctly tea-ified rather than just being so strong on the spices, but if you’re a fan of spiced chai like I am, this one will hit all the notes of a good chai for you. And deliciously warming for the wintertime, to boot!
Nicely done on this blend, Teavana.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong/Mate blend
Where to Buy: Teavana
Description
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Ma Liu Mie the Monkey King and Monkey Picked Oolong from Teavivre
There’s a lot to take in with a name like Taiwan Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea, but the most exciting part is “Monkey-Picked.” What? Really? There were monkeys involved in getting this tea from the tree to my teapot? According to legend, the steep cliff-side where this tea is grown is too treacherous for tea farmers to reach the leaves, so they trained monkeys to pick the leaves for them. Ma Liu Mie is an honorable nickname for this tea used by the locals, as well as the name of the tea-picking Monkey King of legend. Read more about the tea under the “more info” tab here.
My first impression of this tea is that the leaves are small and dense, not cut or broken, but simply in a different shape than the long curls of black tea I’ve come to expect. Dry, this oolong smells pleasantly earthy with a bit of stone-fruit sweetness like raisin or apricot. I followed the recommended brewing instructions, using very hot, boiling water and a hefty serving of tea leaves.
At first sip, I notice strong roasted flavors. However, this tea is not full-on smoke-flavored like lapsang souchong, instead it is more complex, like the perfect warm, golden-char flavor of eating food cooked over a campfire. There are some of the aged, fermented notes I tend to associate with pu erh, but they are much more gentle and less sour. This type of earthiness is concentrated and layered, with notes of toasted grains, warm woods, and new leather.
On a day-to-day basis, I drink tea that is drinkable and easy-going. I have to be in the right mood to want a bold, smokey lapsang souchong, or a challenging, fishy pu erh. This Monkey Picked Oolong is a perfect compromise between all three. It is so much more than a basic breakfast tea, but it is not so sour or smokey to bowl you over. It is gentle and earthy, smooth and toasted, and it has a well-earned, legendary reputation.
How could you not give Monkey Picked Oolong a try?
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Description:
Using Taiwan autumn tea as material, this Monkey Picked Tie Guanyin carefully selected by TeaVivre is baked slowly by soft fire (the baking process falls into three steps and every step lasts two minutes). The degree of fermentation is 100 percent so that the dried tea can keep a long-lasting fragrance. After brewing, the smell of honey peach and the baked flavor can be perfectly appreciated and the beverage tastes gorgeously smooth.