Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Ceylon
Where to Buy: Utopia Tea
Tea Description:
Want a delightful afternoon treat? Try our USDA Certified Organic Ceylon! This aromatic tea with honey-chocolate notes has a medium body and a robust character. Black tea contains a large amount of antioxidant compounds called polyphenols that aid in fighting harmful diseases while protecting the body. Black tea is also known to strengthen the immune system, lower cholesterol, and protect teeth and bones. Small amounts of calcium, manganese, and potassium have also been found in black tea. Try this tea hot or over ice!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a nice basic Ceylon. I love that it’s organic!
It has some honey notes to it and a light cocoa flavor.
There is also little bit of a malty note.
Its nothing that will blow your mind with flavors but it is a rock solid morning or afternoon black tea that I appreciate greatly! It has just enough flavor to make it special, without being overdone.
I can see how this would make a stellar iced tea as well.
Usually in the morning I am reaching for something basic, something black, something with good flavor but not necessarily a flavored tea. I find Organic Ceylon from Utopia tea to be one of those teas I have been reaching for to fit the bill. It has nice characteristics that I look for in a black, is robust enough to start my day, and seems to awaken me nicely. On the other hand I feel it is a fitting afternoon tea as well because it keeps you alert without jitteriness, and also has some soothing flavor notes to curb any hunger pangs to help get you through to the evening. It is a smooth black with no bitterness or astringency.
The honey notes and cocoa notes are really quite perfect and I have not ever felt the need to add anything to this tea.
While I can’t say that it takes me away to some place in my mind or evokes any specific thought or feeling, which I do love in a tea, what this does instead is helps me stay focused on what I need to do in the now. Its straight forward and sometimes that helps a lot – especially for me in the morning.
Nilgiri Frost Oolong from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Nilgiri Frost Oolong originates from Nilgiri, in Southern India and is graded TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe). Since this tea is grown at a high elevation, the leaves are exposed to a light frost during some nights of the winter months. The long thin chocolate colored leaves are hand twisted and produce a weighty body. This smooth tea has notes of citrus, peach, pecan, and oak. There are many qualities similar to a Nilgiri black tea; however, the frost oolong is much gentler and sweeter. This tea is produced in very limited quantities due to the short harvest period and special conditions that must exist.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
In some ways this tea reminds me more of a black tea than an oolong, which isn’t a bad thing as it is nice to have a little of both worlds sometimes. Not floral like many oolong, this tea is deep and robust. It has levels of flavors ranging from light and fruity to deep and woodsy.
Like many black teas there is also an astringency that I often do not find in oolong tea. This astringency is not a bad thing either – not bitter but a slight sour note, not as in sour milk of course but more like in sweet fruity candies with sour sugar sprinkled on top.
The dry leaf is dark and mysterious with twists and curls through out. It looks perfect for this time of year where the leaves are changing colors and Halloween is around the corner. Sort of spooky in its visual effect. Wet, the leaf unfurls and colors of amber brown and deep green appear. The liquid color is reddish amber.
Notes of oak, peach, and nutty pecan peek through in the flavors.
Some mornings I am not sure if I want an oolong even as much as I adore oolong, I just need a black tea to get me started, yet this tea seems to lay somewhere in the middle for me. Its perfect when I crave an oolong but need the black tea mind and energy boost! Quite honestly, even with as many oolong as I drink and as much as I love my oolong tea, this would have been difficult for me to detect as an oolong had I not known before sipping. I could have easily been fooled, especially early in the morning to believe it was a black tea.
Truly this Oolong is different, and if you consider yourself an oolong connoisseur, you certainly should try it, simply for the experience of something so different. If you love your black teas but are curious about oolong this is the one to try. Or, if you are like me, and love both but are not quite sure on some mornings which to grab and steep – get this one and solve that problem right away!
2003 Reserve Four Seasons Oolong from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our aged oolong is sourced from the Dong Ding tea growing region of Nantou County in Taiwan and was harvested in the spring of 2003. The varietal is Si Ji Chuan also known as Four Season. Our aged oolong was crafted by blend master Chen Pei Wen and is re-roasted every 2-3 years to minimize moisture content. 2003 Reserve Four Season Oolong is a rich full-bodied silky tea. The charcoal-colored leaves of this smooth oolong produce notes of honey suckle, bark, and grass and has a natural sweetness with no astringency present. This tea is also low in caffeine.
Ingredients: Taiwanese Oolong Tea
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 180 F
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
As soon as I took my first sip of this tea I knew I needed to order more of it right away, and I did!
This has such a depth to it, it would make a wonderful substitute for coffee. The flavor does in fact have some coffee notes so if you are trying to convert anyone, give this a try!
The dry leaf is tightly rolled nuggets of well roasted oolong. It is one of the darker oolongs I have ever laid eyes on. The aroma is reminiscent of a campfire, or an old library, slightly musty, with a hint of leather.
When you drink this tea some of the notes you may find, like I did are, leather, dried leaves, tree bark, carob, rock mineral, coffee, brown sugar, and cream.
The after taste is quite deep and full, with a very fine roasted coffee bean flavor. Yet it is no where near bitter or astringent!
I am a huge oolong fan but have never experienced an oolong quite like this.
The only down side, if there is one, is that it has a lower caffeine content. So if you are trying to please a coffee drinker they may not get the jolt they desire. However as a tea drinker who used to love her coffee, I am in love with this oolong! It reminds me of what I used to appreciate so much in finer coffee yet it has plenty of caffeine for my late morning tea!
Now, if you are not a person who ever enjoyed a good coffee, don’t fear, this is a complex tea that deserves appreciation for its multiple layers of extraordinary flavors!
I find this tea to be very autumnal – it makes me feel like running out and jumping into a pile of leaves. With the change of season coming in my area, being able to do this is not too far off! As people begin to stoke their fireplaces I will be savoring this tea until the last snowfall!
Yorkshire Tea from Taylors of Harrogate
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Assam, African
Where to Buy: British Isles
Tea Description:
A proper tasting cuppa. Pure and simple.
Founded in 1886, Taylors of Harrogate is an independent family business, dedicated to the pleasures of good tea and coffee. The family business has been buying and blending fine teas for over a century.
In every cup of their tea you can taste the skill, creativity and craftsmanship of Taylors’ tea blenders. Taylors’ employees visit tea estates personally to select only the finest seasonal hand-plucked teas.
By investing in long-term partnerships and paying fair prices, Taylors is able to make a positive difference to the quality of the teas and the lives of the growers. The company is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership and is committed to the ethical sourcing of tea.
Every year Taylors donates at least £100,000 (approx. $190,000) to environmental and community projects overseas. Since 1990 Taylors has planted over 3 million trees across the world with the charity Oxfam.
Taster’s Review:
This is quite simply the perfect English tea! 
A very dear friend of mine, from the UK, sent me a huge box of this tea awhile back and I was surprised when I discovered it was not just some regular ol bland black tea! Imagine my shock and horror that a bagged tea could be so rich, malty, and delicious!
This tea also does come in loose leaf so I provided links to both, but if you look around the site a little you will find you can get it in different quantities as well. My b
ox has 160 bags and on those days when I just can’t seem to navigate my tea stash, let alone, proper brewing, I grab a bag of Taylors and Harrogate Yorkshire and all is right with the world!
This tea is rich, complex enough, and has just the right amount of malty flavor to kick me into high gear in the mornings. It has a rich full mouthfeel and the tea itself is quite robust! Yet, it is not bitter whatsoever and the astringency that exists within the cup is the right kind of astringency that should be there in a fine black tea!
Of course being a good bold tea it can take well to cream, milk, sweeteners, anything you may want to add to it.
Now I did link one of many places to purchase this tea, however it can be found in many places both online and in stores. I have seen it in many of my local markets, as well as at our local British Shop.
If you are looking for the perfect English style tea to sever for a tea party, a cream tea, high tea, ANY kind of “tea” situation or celebration, get some of this. Its just as they say, “A proper tasting cuppa. Pure and simple.”