Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Treehouse Teas
Tea Description:
A soothing and peaceful green tea with surprising body and a captivating floral character. Jasmine blossoms picked only in May when they are in bloom accentuate this tea giving an intense aroma. From the Fujian Province in China this high antioxidant tea is best steeped 3-7 minutes at a temperature of 90C, 194F.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have been on this crazy jasmine kick this summer. I used to stay away from any kind of floral teas and now I can’t seem to get enough. I asked the twins last night if they wanted some tea and they picked this one.
Brewed a pot up with the help of my Breville One Touch on the green and medium settings. I poured three cups, 1 for me and 1 for each of the twins.
We sat down to enjoy our tea while we watched our new addiction-Skin Wars on GSN, a body painting competition that is similar to Face Off. Before the first commercial break, one of the twins had finished his cup and was asking for more. I admit, I hadn’t even tried the tea yet, trying to allow the tea to cool off a bit. While I was making more of this tea, I took a moment to see what I thought of this tea.
Unfortunately, this tea wasn’t my favorite of the teas I have tried from Treehouse Teas. Even with my jasmine addiction, something just didn’t hit the right note for me. I enjoyed the green tea and the grassy like components it brought to each sip but the jasmine to me almost had a sour note that I can’t really put my finger on.
Regardless, one of the twins adored this tea and drank a few more cups of it. I’d like to try this one as a cold brew next to see if I can get that lovely jasmine flavor to come out more on a happy note than the sad note. To be fair, the tea could have tasted off because I do have issues with a sinus infection right now. Either way, I’d love to try this one again to get that flavor I adore to come out in the fore front.
San-Te-Ria from Lemon City Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lemon City Tea
Tea Description:
You forgot to make an offering to your orishas today? No wonder you’re feeling so tired. Have a cup of San-té-ria. This blend of premium black tea will get you so awake, it’ll seem like divine intervention..
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is sipdown #13 on my epic journey to sipping down my tea stash before I can buy more.
What a great tea too! This tea is very well done and is giving me the pep in my step for the rest of the afternoon. This tea can be bought as a loose leaf tea or tea bags. I had the tea bag variety which is lovely for when I’m at work. Boil some water and plop in the tea bag. A few minutes later, TADA! Lovely tea.
This particular tea is a blend of different black teas. From what I’m seeing on the back of the package this is Premium Whole Leaf Nilgiri Tea-Hand-Blended with Yunnan Golden Buds. Well, whatever it is blended with, it is good!
San-te-ria hits all the right notes that I like in my black teas. Not overly malty with a hint of dryness, but by no means overwhelming. A smooth sipping tea. This one definitely has those trademarks and more. I’m really liking it and before I knew it, the cuppa is gone. (Insert sad face here).
I can tell this tea would be amazing iced. I think I’ll try that with the next infusion. And if you wanted this to be more flavored like, I bet throwing in a vanilla bean would be amazing. This tea has that flavor profile of slightly woodsy. Just thinking of adding vanilla beans makes me crave cuppa.
This tea does its job. It has such a nice cleansing taste to it after drinking a few flavored teas. Gives my taste buds a nice break.
Rose Royal from Lupicia
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Lupicia
Tea Description:
A black tea with enchanting aromas of sparkling wine and sweet strawberries. LUPICIA’s Signature tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
If you haven’t taken a whiff of this tea while its steeping, you are missing out. This tea had such an amazing sweet candy with an almost berry dessert wine profile.
I received this tea bag from a fellow tea pal from Steepster and was excited to try it. Lupicia has some amazing teas. With a name like Rose Royal, I just knew this had to be amazing.
Steeped this up like a traditional black but made an error. I left the tea bag in. This tea turned bitter quickly. The first few sips were fabulous. The taste matched the aroma I was loving. Sweet Berry Wine with a strong black tea base. Oh so good. Hit all the right notes. A flavored tea that isn’t overwhelming.
But then I got distracted with a phone call here and an email there. When I went back to the tea, it was a bitter sad brew. I could still smell that amazing aroma but the taste had turned on me.
Even tho my first jaunt with this tea didn’t turn out the way I wanted to, I still loved those first few sips. This tea will be on my list to pick more up once I sipdown some more teas. Which this is #14. Woot Woot!
Dayuling Premium High Mountain Oolong from Beautiful Taiwan Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Beautiful Taiwan Tea
Tea Description:
The premium teas of Taiwan are known for their smoothness, the quality of their soup and their “Chaqi”. Only grown in the highest areas, theses leaves take their time to grow and soak up all the cool mist and the High Mountain air. You’ll feel calm and attentive with this Dayuling sourced High Mountain Oolong.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve heard great things about Dayuling Oolong; and I’m very happy to finally get the chance to try one! The high, high altitude at which this tea is grown (greater than 2500 meters) and limited quantity that can be produced because of the geographical location are a giant part of what makes this tea so special. At $20 an ounce, this isn’t the priciest tea in my cupboard but it’s certainly up there – I can’t help but cross my fingers and hope it’s worthy of the price tag.
I have to say, the leaf is very beautiful; dry the rolled up leaf gives off a very large, ‘thick’ appearance and has a weight in my hands. After the first infusion I could see why; the leaves are so giant – some of the biggest I’ve ever had the pleasure to brew up. Almost every single one is a completely full leaf, and I even picked out a stem that had not one, not two, not three, but FOUR completely intact leaves branching off it. Just stunning!
I certainly wasn’t going to squander this sample by Steeping it Western Style; so I enjoyed a lovely evening Gong Fu session. Sometimes I feel I can get a little stuck in my head when I’m drinking tea or doing Gong Fu in particular and I focus too much on the technical side of things while trying to pick apart flavour – and I didn’t want to do that with this tea so I just kept doing infusions without really taking physical notes; and I just kind of let the tea ‘speak to me’ while I drank it. It’s so delicate and fragile with very lovely, complex nuances! Teas grown at higher altitude tend to be more complex because, due to the altitude, they grow at a slower pace – and that comes through here for sure.
It’s quite a floral tea, that’s for sure – while the infusions I did blend together I remember the first couple had really lovely, pronounced floral notes of orchid, lily, and a bit of violet as well. Incredibly well balanced though; not ‘perfumey’, forced or over the top in the slightest. Other things I noticed were this very cool, crisp freshness. I kind of instinctively want to call that flavor ‘the smell before it rains’ but I don’t know if there’s a technical word for that. I know petrichor is defined as the smell of rainfall on dry soil/earth (and that’s my all time favourite smell) but this wasn’t quite that: it’s the smell of rain before any has actually fallen. No earthiness.
This was such a pleasant, relaxing tea though! I’m not sure how many infusions I got in total but it certainly lasted quite a while and made my evening magical. Probably well worth the price tag just to say I’d tried a Dayuling, but all in all a very delicious, serene taste experience too. I definitely felt a little tea drunk’buzzed afterwards.
Lord Grey from Do You Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Do You Tea
Tea Description:
A delicious, classic, full-bodied tea – perfect for breakfast or anytime.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Earl Grey teas and I don’t always see eye to eye. Sometimes these tea think they need an overwhelming amount of bergamot oil. I think a light touch of bergamot is the way to go. Or a peach tea with bergamot oil or even vanilla. Very few earl greys are staples in my cupboard.
Do You Tea has a nice selection of teas that are unique and catch your attention. Their Backyard Bliss, a mix of jasmine, orange and oolong tea is one of my favorites. From the limited experience I have with Do You Tea offerings, they are crisp and taste fresh and clean. While I was going thru my tea stash and organizing it a bit, I noticed I had this tea that I hadn’t tried yet.
Lord Grey is a mix of Assam & Darjeeling black tea with cold-pressed bergamot oil. I don’t think I’ve had an earl grey blend like this before. I brewed this up with my tea infusion bottle and 195F per the instructions on the package. Let this steep for about 3 minutes and was pleasantly pleased when I took my first sniff of the brewing tea that the bergamot oil wasn’t crazily swirling the air. I only got a subtle gentle note of bergamot.
Took my first sip and Huzzah! The same effect. This tea is perfect for those who like tea that has been lightly kissed with bergamot. The Assam and Darjeeling mix well together providing notes of a buttery texture with malty finishes. This would be a great tea served at afternoon tea with a few sweet treats!
So for all those out there that want to like an Earl Grey but find them a bit too “bergamoty” for your taste. . check out this tea. I think you’ll be glad that you did!