Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Hand-picked, sun dried for three days, baked, then cured. Woody hints of roasted hazelnuts, and sweet corn. Lingering notes of hot cocoa. A golden infusion to soothe monkey mind. Explore the darkest of the white teas.
Tea Type: White
Origin: Fujian Province, China.
Caffeine Level: Low
Processing Details: Hand-picked, dried under the sunlight for 1-3 days and then briefly oxidized from 30 minutes to 3 hours, varying by weather, before being baked to package.
Tasting and Aroma Specs: Smooth, sweet, woody flavor with hints of roasted walnuts, sweet corn, and hot cocoa.
Food Pairing: Any dessert, including chocolate walnut brownies and Samovar’s Honeycomb Platter.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of Bai Mudan Organic White Tea from Samovar Tea Lounge is so scrumptious that I almost don’t want to drink it, but I will. You don’t have to twist my arm either! I am not a big fan of white tea as a rule, but when I find one that I do like, I am overjoyed! I like this one a lot! Samovar spares no effort in finding the best teas to offer their consumers. I only wish there were a Samovar Tea Lounge local to me. I am happy that they offer their fine teas to us online, and if you keep reading you will find a special surprise for their online customers!
I agree that this tea would pair lovely with a dessert as mentioned in Samovar’s tea pairing suggestion, because it has such a sweet, yet earthy quality to it. I can see how it would compliment dessert beautifully. The notes of sweet corn are prominent, and the cup provides a full, but cleansing mouthfeel. I love the earthy flavor in this tea, and there is such a wonderful caramelized note within it but my taste buds keep going back to the more woodsy, nutty notes. There is also almost a mineral like quality to the tea that is deeply intriguing. A bit like a Wuyi rock mineral flavor without the oolong taste.
There is a velvety, buttery sensation on the palate as I allow it to sit in my mouth, and it causes a mouth watering effect in a slightly vegetal way. The tea finishes with a dash of sweetness that lingers on the palate but as you exhale you taste fresh hay, sunlit fields, a very slight flavor or sesame. I also think this tea would pair wonderfully with Asian food.
This tea is so mysterious, so much mystique, it romances your mouth and makes you want to just take sip after sip to uncover the next note, the next tease on your tongue. The sensation in the mouth long after the sip leaves it feeling slightly numbing, but not medicinal. It is sparkly and tingly, and kind of trippy.
And now, for a limited time, you can use coupon code sororiteasisters for 25% off any online order! The coupon is active now, and is good through May 11, 2013. This is an amazing discount offered by our friends at Samovar Tea Lounge. Thank you to Samovar for offering this special discount to our readers! The coupon is active now, and is good through May 11, 2013.
The head feel of this tea is something else! It leaves you feeling heady, dreamy, and a bit outside of yourself. This is a tea to drink before and after meditation, or when you just want to release and escape from the troubles of the world. Perhaps with a great book, or movie. This is like the champagne of tea, not to steal from the description of a darjeeling, but this is a tea you could toast to or serve at a romantic occasion, or as an aphrodisiac! It does release stress and gives you a freeing feeling.
Love it!
Maiden’s Ecstasy Organic from Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Puerh
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Wild-crafted from 30-foot trees in the jungles of Southwest China, this tea is a traditional wedding gift and evening mood-setter. Dark, creamy, and luxurious with notes of bittersweet chocolate and espresso.
Details
Tea Type: Pu-Erh
Origin: Jing Mai Mountains in Yunnan, China
Caffeine Level: Medium-high
Processing Details: Tender, young-leaf, vintage, loose leaf Pu-Erh
Tasting and Aroma Specs: Very balanced, smooth, rich and dark, with a slightly sweet, wildflower honey finish. Deep, strong forward notes of earth and moss with a lingering raisin sugar sweetness.
Food Pairing: Dim Sum and Samovar’s Mushroom Quiche
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
It is really difficult to sum up a puerh in a review without mentioning each and ever steep. Especially when it is such an excellent puerh like this Maiden’s Ecstasy Organic from Samovar Tea Lounge.
Maiden’s Ecstasy is one of the first pureh that I ever tried and is still one of my favorites. I stopped drinking coffee shortly before I found my love for loose leaf tea, and this Maiden’s Ecstasy provides such a rich, full, and robust cup that it brings back memories of my once loved coffee, but is so much better, and far more flavorful!
With a creamy, heavy mouthfeel, this tea has notes of german rock sugar, brown sugar, raisins, tree bark, oak moss, and so much more. Sometimes you will taste a more woodsy note, while other times you get a taste of chocolate, and other times a savory note of mushroom!
There is something otherworldly about this tea. It is the kind of tea I like to drink while watching a movie such as Avatar, or The Never Ending Story. I would take this and drink it at the Renaissance Festival every year if I could find a way to keep steeping it! It makes me feel like jumping from toadstool to tree trunk and swinging from branches of friendly tress and cavorting with gnomes but beware of the trolls because this tea does have a sparky, spicy kick to it at times as well! Its not dangerous though, it won’t burn your tongue at all, its just a little spark of playful now and then in the middle of an otherwise dreamy cup.
It does evoke thoughts of sipping on a very luxurious espresso, a good one though, one you could probably only find at one of those quaint cafes in Italy, as you sit writing in your diary at a white linen clothed table, dreaming of a romantic interlude. Flavors of molasses peek through resembling the sweet desires playing out in your mind as you gaze into nothingness, while someone, sitting at a table not too far away can see everything emoting through your eyes.
Yes, this tea is that special.
Wuyi Oolong Organic Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Origin: Wuyi Mountans, Fujian, China
Flavor Profile: Deep and complex…with a rich body, a roasted aroma, and sweet finish of raisin sugar, honeysuckle, and roasted barley. Warm and earthy notes of bittersweet chocolate and peat moss. Expertly dark roasted, the Wuyi oolong has very little floral notes. If you are a coffee lover, this tea will steal your heart away.
Tea Story: This long rolled oolong tea harks from the remote and ancient cliffs Wu Yi Mountains in Northern Fujian province. Produced in China since the 18th century, our dark-roasted Wuyi is also know as Wuyi Qi Lan, Wuyi’s Profound Orchid.
Our Wuyi’s nutty, dark-roasted flavor profile has won over many a coffee-drinker. If you’re someone who’s trying to wean themselves from coffee, this Wuyi is the perfect step into the world of tea. Trust us, we’ve seen many stave off coffee-withdrawal with a smile, sipping the Wuyi.
Samovarian Poetry: A climactic eruption of tea intoxication. Hauntingly ambrosial, with an evolving complexity of carmelized raisins, roasted barley, smoked bittersweet chocolate, & aged peat moss.
Food Pairing: This is the best oolong for pairing with deserts. The roasted, nutty flavors pair excellently with dark and milk chocolate, sweet creams, and the dense sweetness of baked figs or juicy dates stuffed with chevre.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wuyi Oolong Organic Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge is a good starter Wuyi but at the price for this specific tea may not be worth it to those just starting out. This is a good tea, with notes of honey, cocoa, rock mineral, peat, salt, and lingering floral after notes, but with that said there are many other Wuyi Oolong out there at a much more affordable price tag, that are just as good, if not better.
Please don’t take this wrong, as I do enjoy this tea quite a bit but there is a slight bitter note left behind when I recall what I paid for this tea, which leaves me a bit disenchanted with Samovar.
On the good side of this Wuyi Oolong Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge, there is a hardy, robust, flavor that would be excellent to serve to your coffee drinking pals. There is absolutely depth to this cup and some really wonderful flavors to explore. I also can detect some nuttiness and a creamy mouthfeel within the sip.
I feel this is an excellent tea to introduce your non tea drinking friends to as well as a great place to begin a tea journey. While there may be less expensive options out there to explore, this tea does provide one with a great starting place and a baseline to compare all others to. It has the elements one should expect and require of a good Wuyi however perhaps lacking in some elements it has all of the base notes one would need to start their knowledge from.
I do not regret this purchase, it was one of my first purchases back when I got into loose leaf tea and I do absolutely feel it set the parameter for what to expect from a good Wuyi.