Tea By C or Tea By Claire saved me this afternoon. Let me explain. My current company is going through a lot of structure change and reorgs which equals lots of meetings to go over all of these changes. Not knowing which tea I wanted to try, I thought I would grab one of our recent samples for SororiTea Sisters and Moscato Oolong was what I grabbed.
This tea blend is a unique tea blend-oolong tea, dried grapes, and natural grape flavor. I’ve had other moscato flavored tea blends before but I can’t say I’ve ever had a blend where there were actual HUGE dried grapes.
Because I wasn’t sure exactly how long the meetings would go, I quickly grabbed my Libre Tea Infuser, threw a few scoops of the tea in, ice, and water. Dialed in for the meeting and started to take notes. A few minutes later I took my first sip.
And can I say, my tastebuds rejoiced. This tea is one delicious cold brew! The oolong has this subtle yet present smoky flavor and there is definitely a moscato/grapish taste throughout the entire sip. The flavors are bright and pop perfectly. At the end of each sip, there is also this touch of minerality that just adds to the pleasant experience of enjoying this tea.
As the meeting continued, so did my enjoyment of this tea. As I would sip down each tumbler full, I would add in additional water and enjoyed more of the cold brew delight.
After a few hours of doing this-I have to say, I’m extremely delighted with this tea. This tea really delivered a different and unique taste that I adored. I’m now really excited to see what other tea varieties Tea By C offers. Because after this particular tea, I’m hooked.
And to get you hooked, Tea By C has offered our readers a 15% discount with promo code: SORORITEA.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea By C
Description
Inspired by sweet Moscato wine, this oolong tea is blended with dried grapes to yield a young fruity flavor. This tea is a treat that will make anyone with a sweet tooth smack their lips and reach for seconds.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Phoenix Dan Cong Duck Honey Snowflake/SerendipiTea Studios. . . .
Gongfu Brewing. . .something has always scared me away from trying to brew tea up in the tea ceremonial fashion and kept me to western brewing. I think scared may be the incorrect word. I think intimidated is better.
I was intimidated by the amount of teaware you had to have, intimidated by having the right teaware, and also intimidated by making a complete fool out of myself for trying. But when March rolled around and I turned 40-I finally convinced myself it was time to finally immerse myself into learning something new.
And learn something I did. I found myself taking notes after notes from different videos on YouTube from amazing tea bloggers like Tea for Me Please and tea companies like Mei Leaf. By the time it was all said and done, I found tea ware that I already had that would work to get the party started.
So to test this out, I took a sample of Phoenix Dan Cong Duck Honey Snowflake from Serendipitea Studios and brewed the tea both in the gongfu method and western style. The different was night and day.
With the gongfu method, I was able to get these rich gorgeous notes of sweet floral that I was not getting with the western style. These pops of sweet floral thrilled my tastebuds and I found myself eagerly drinking this tea down. Towards the middle brewing sessions, I would find myself describing the tea as being delicate but with a bit of power behind it. Yes this tea is delicate but this tea demands your full attention as well. There was also this slight savory touch that I could note here and there but couldn’t really pull what I would compare the taste to.
With the western style, I was still able to pull out those beautiful floral notes with a sweet touch but I will say that the flavors were not as bold and not as alluring. Still delicious but I would say I prefer the gongfu method for this particular tea. The flavors were just more pronounced and more on point.
Regardless of how you brew this tea, this tea is fabulous and one that I will be getting more of for myself soon. I’m beyond thrilled with the tea itself and have found myself wanting more so I may be ordering quicker than I intended to. Smooth, lush, floral, with just a hit of a contrasting flavor here and there. Can’t ask for more from your tea.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Serendipitea Studios
Description
Elegant just like its name, Duck Honey Snowflake is a seasonal winter hand-picked harvest of regular Duck Honey Aroma all-natural tea. This winter version is much more florally delicate than the regular and contrasted to caramel like sweetness, its sweetness brings a rather icy wintry feel.
From the coastal area in Canton province, Phoenix Mountain possesses mineral-rich soil and is constantly surrounded by mists and fog, covered by wild tea tress and tea farms, as well as the folklore of the Phoenix Dan Cong Tea. Many wild tea trees are at least 100 to 200 years old.
It’s a special type of organic Oolong treasured for its highly distinctive natural aroma, and is also believed to be the ancestor of all Oolong teas. Well-known for its ten aromatic categories, it delivers rich and complex flavor. Local tea scholars and connoisseurs from China study and try to organize these all-natural teas into hundreds aromatic subgroups. Mandarin uses the word ‘Xiang’ or aroma for each specific type that mimics certain flower or fruit aroma. Phoenix Dan Cong’s aroma is never artificially added or perfumed but exclusively cultivated, artisan crafted, and each aroma comes from the tea plant’s natural aromatic compound.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Golden Jin Xuan Oolong/Totealy
I am one of those people that never wins anything. I do weekly giveaways on my Instagram and I LOVE to give tea samples away! But I never WIN anything. Well, I can’t say that anymore. I entered a giveaway on Totealy’s Instagram page and actually WON! WHAT?! They sent me 4 “mystery teas” and I was so excited to open them!
When I opened this mystery bag I was greeted by an incredible sweet, milky aroma. I could have sat there and smelled it all day. In all honesty, I probably sat there for about 5 minutes. I immediately knew that it was a milk oolong and I was SO excited! I have never had the opportunity to try a milk oolong and I have always wanted to! Just my luck that my first tea from Totealy would be on my wish list! The curled tea leaves were absolutely beautiful. This was going to make an amazing cup of tea.
The instructions on the card are very clear. Steep Golden Jin Xuan at 205ºF for 1.5 minutes. It then goes on to explain that brewing for a shorter time will bring out the floral aromas and longer to bring out the creaminess. It also explains that you can brew their teas multiple times.
Since I could already smell the amazing sweetness of the florals I decided to start with their recommended 1.5 minutes. I could absolutely get the sweet floral aroma when steeped for this time. It didn’t have the creaminess that I wanted so I decided to steep again. I added 30 seconds to the same tea leaves. The flavor completely transformed. It was incredible how smooth the tea was with a perfect amount of sweetness and grassy “tea” flavor. I was able to get 4 solid steeps out of Totealy’s Golden Jin Xuan. I probably could have gotten a 5th but it had lost its creaminess.
Overall, I was thrilled with my first experience with a Milk Oolong. It was exactly as I hoped and expected. Totealy has an amazing quality Golden Jin Xuan that is wonderful from the moment I opened the bag and was engulfed in that sweet floral creaminess to each individual steep.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Totealy
Description
Our sweetest tea, Golden Jin Xuan hails from Taiwan’s Pear Mountain, where it is cultivated at 3,300 ft. After harvest, the Jin Xuan leaves are bathed in natural milk flavors, resulting in a nourishing brew for both tea newcomers and seasoned sippers alike.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Dong Ding / Eco-Cha
Is it possible that tea tastes differently for each person?
Dong Ding is a roasted leaf and said to have hickory, roasted notes. I’m on my third steeping and I’m still not finding much in the way of roasted notes.
Oh wait! I tasted some roasted notes just now!
Much longer steeping was needed in order to acquire the flavor. This is a fly by the seat of your pants steeping as the site doesn’t provide any steeping notes, nor does the bag.
However, I feel that this is the best way to drink oolong. Tasting at various times in order to fully cherish all of the flavors. The roasted notes are faint but delightful. Remind me somewhat of a hojicha.
In each sip there is a sweetness that follows into the after taste. This sweetness can also be found in the aroma. The liquid is a clear, pale yellow that looks as silky as it’s mouth feel.
Besides the roasted notes we also find slight nutty notes mixed in with floral flavors. I wouldn’t say it blows my socks off but it’s a very enjoyable brew.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Eco-Cha
Description :
Rich, hickory smoke, sweet aroma. Robust, tangy, complex roasted character. Lingering heady aftertaste.
Garden: This batch of tea comes from Yonglong Village, just above Dong Ding Mountain. Yonglong is known for its rich soil which differs from other locales in Lu Gu Township. The unique flavor of the Dong Ding Oolong produced here is attributed to this soil quality, along with the fact this region is home to the most concentrated population of skilled oolong tea artisans in Taiwan. This farm is managed by a father and son team who inherited their family tradition as artisans of Dong Ding Oolong. Their tea has been awarded first prize in the world’s largest Oolong tea competition, and they consistently achieve top awards in their local competition of traditionally made Dong Ding Oolong.
Harvest: Hand picked in small batches. Winter 2018. Yonglong, Nantou.
Elevation: 700m
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Fire Roasted Oolong / Esteemed Tea Collective
Tea packaged in a plastic bag is a big no-no for me. Wasn’t expecting much from this tea because of that but this is one of those times when one enjoys being wrong. This is a hidden gem. One of those teas that could easily be messed up at any point in the brewing process or ruined by eating while drinking. And yet… it’s such an easy tea to brew as long as you stick by it and savor every minute of it. My nose is thoroughly perplexed by the dry leaf aroma. It smelled like men’s cologne and it’s really messing with my senses. Maybe I touched something? I have no idea… So the aroma is off for me but the flavor is exceptional. The leaves are exceptional. Tightly wrapped leaves.
So far in this tasting journey it has been tasted every 20-30 seconds after the first minute. The best flavor is experienced within the first 1-2 minutes. The clear and very slightly ambered broth looks as if it would carry no taste but it has this amazing sweetness to it. A slight astringency but it’s almost not worth noting.
The website is impressive. Sleek and stylish but also somewhat Japanese in the way that everything is simple. For a purist like myself I truly love companies like these because they focus on single origin and single batch teas. No blends, just straight up tea, like it’s meant to be.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Esteemed Tea Collective
Description:
Tasting notes: Fresh flavor with a touch of roasted barley, full-bodied with a sweet long aftertaste. This tea has been lightly roasted to preserve the taste and freshness.
Mood/Benefits: A great choice after a meal to clear up your palate and aid digestion, or as a Five o’clock tea to freshen yourself up after the exhausting day. Contains high theine content (tea caffeine), vitamins and minerals.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
