Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Monterey Bay Spice Company
Tea Description:
Abundant with tropical treats, Gold Rush Tea is as appetizing as it is visually appealing! Chunks of delicious mango improve your mood while bits of passion fruit inject vitality into your body! Amongst the high floral notes of the colorful and aromatic blossoms are cornflowers, blue mallow flowers, safflowers, and marigolds. Completing this blend is robust black tea that provides body and warmth to this savory selection!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I first tried this Gold Rush Black Tea Blend from Monterey Bay Spice Company hot, and while it was enjoyable served hot, it is really best served as an iced tea! It’s so refreshing and thirst-quenching!
The black tea base is strong and somewhat astringent. I would classify the astringency as a “fair” amount of astringency, not overly astringent and this should not be confused with bitterness, but, there is that tangy sensation toward the tail of the sip. This tea is not bitter when brewed properly, although I did notice hints of bitterness in the sip that suggest to me that if you were to over-brew this tea, you might end up with a bitter cup. I brewed it for 2 1/2 minutes, and this was long enough to produce a fairly robust tasting tea without the bitterness that a longer brew time might have created.
The flowers in this blend provide a very colorful, appealing dry leaf appearance, but, I don’t think they add a whole lot of flavor to the cup. I do notice the faintest whisper of a floral presence to the sip, but, it is very slight.
The flavors are very pleasantly tropical with lovely notes of mango and passion fruit. Sweet and just a hint of tangy fruit taste. The sip is primarily sweet and fruity … with the tangy notes coming through more in the aftertaste than during the actual sip. The fruit flavors are delicious and sweet, but I like that they are not overwhelming the cup. The tea comes first … the fruit is an accent flavor. Just a little fruity note to complement the natural fruit tones of the black tea!
Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable cup – and as I mentioned at the start, this is much better iced than hot. It’s still good hot, too – but it’s spectacular iced!
Chai Green Tea from Compass Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Compass Teas
Tea Description:
You will love the amazing aroma of Cinnamon, Almonds & Spices in this Chai Green Tea. Enjoyable hot or iced, sweetened or unsweetened.
Learn more about this chai blend here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m really enjoying this Chai Green Tea from Compass Teas, and I think what I’m liking best about this particular chai blend is that it doesn’t have ginger! Now, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE ginger – LOVE it! But, I think that ginger in this particular blend would have overpowered the smooth flavor of the green tea as well as the delicate note of almond, and that’s what’s really winning me over!
The green tea base is a soft flavor. Hints of subtle vegetation and a light, creamy tone add a delightful dimension of flavor to the spices in this blend. It isn’t bitter, it just tastes fresh and light and sweet … with notes of butter and cream.
And those butter/creamy notes really play nicely to the hint of almond in the cup. When measuring out the dry leaf, I really had expected more of an almond flavor based on the sheer number of slivered almonds that landed in my teapot. But, the almond notes are really very subtle … and for that reason, I really wouldn’t recommend going latte with this particular blend. I think that adding dairy to this cup would completely overwhelm the almond notes … and the almond notes are what makes this blend really special in my opinion.
The cinnamon is the strongest spice note in this blend. It is a spicy-sweet cinnamon that is just a little more sweet than spicy. I like that, because, again, too spicy a cinnamon would throw off the balance that Compass Teas has achieved with this chai. The cloves and cardamom give a nice background of warm spice.
Overall, this is a very pleasant cup of chai. It isn’t a ~spicy~ chai, but, it has a certain zesty quality to it that I find quite enjoyable. It is a gentle, warmly spiced chai with a smooth, sweet flavor and just a hint of nutty sweetness. A really nice way to sip away the chill on these still cold days of early spring!
2012 Margarets Hope Muscatel (2nd Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black, Darjeeling
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
Margarets Hope Muscatel comes from one of the best known gardens Margarets Hope Tea Garden. The dry leaves are black and dark chocolate in colour with fresh floral notes to the nose.
When steeped for 3 mins, it gives a brilliant deep golden liquor. It has a full bodied muscatel flavour with a distinct mint ‘twang’ in the nose. A perfect cup to make your evenings delightful.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2012 Margarets Hope Muscatel (2nd Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers is such an easy tea to drink. It’s light but full bodied, has that wonderful muscatel wine like flavor of fermented grapes, but is accompanied by an almost bubbly mouthfeel.
The tea is also complimented by spiced earth notes and woodsy flavors.
My sample is going on at least 5 to 6 months in age but its flavor is wonderful. I wish I had tried it when it first came out and truly hope I get to experience the 2013 leaf while it is still fresh and full of flavor.
I do love a good darjeeling and this one is slightly different from others I have enjoyed. This has a far more earthy and musk like note to it, which I love, yet a really good balance with its lighter fruity, berry, and red currant notes.
The more the tea cools the more rich and full it becomes. I find it reminding me almost of a pu-erh with notes ranging from peat, oaky, and other aged woods. While the cup begins rather light by the end of the more cooled cup it thickens up and becomes far heavier in the sip.
What an interesting tea! One everyone should try in order to understand a truly wonderful Darjeeling!
Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren) from Driftwood Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Driftwood Teas
Tea Description:
Oriental Beauty is also know by several other names including: Dong Fang Mei Ren; White Tip Oolong; and Champagne Oolong. Whatever name it goes by this is perhaps Taiwan’s most special tea and cited by many connoisseur as one of the world’s finest.
Key Flavours: Ripe fruits, honey and sweet muscatel notes combine with hints of warming spices and exotic woods.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren) from Driftwood teas does what Oriental Beauty always does for me, surprises me. I am always taken aback by this tea because I adore oolong, but this is never what I expect an oolong to be! This tea is light, sweet, and fruity, with notes that lean toward muscatel, and juicy peach.
Then we have the woody and spicy notes that come forward but very subtle on the spice more strong on the woodsy notes. I do love the wood notes in this tea, it feels so natural and wonderful and makes me long to go hiking!
One thing that is a bit different from this Oriental Beauty is that the honey notes are really thick, as in lay in the back of your throat thick, and so wonderfully sweet. Also unlike some Oriental Beauty this tea does not have that drying sensation in the back of the throat. The tea coats the throat and lingers lightly with honey kissed floral notes.
I can’t mention enough how lovely these wood notes are and with the honey sweetness, and that light touch of floral and spice. This may be one of my favorite Oriental Beauty oolongs, yet I find myself saying that in almost every review I do of Oriental Beauty. Yet then I say that I normally do not gravitate toward lighter oolong. Maybe I am changing in that aspect.
Driftwood Tea certainly does bring us a wonderful example of a high quality Dong Fang Mei Ren with a light smooth taste and mouthfeel. Light, yet so very flavorful! You won’t be wishing for more flavor because this tea has it all from woodsy, sweet, fruity, spiced, and, muscatel, almost in a Darjeeling way, to apricot and floral notes.
This is truly a tea to savor through multiple steeps Gong Fu style!
Shui Jin Gui Wuyi from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
NOTES: Caramel, Hazelnut, Elderberry, Custard, Honeydew, Orchid
Commandingly rich and creamy Wuyi oolong with lingering honey, orchid, and citrus caramel flavors. . . .
In opening the first bag of this tea, sealed in Wuyi, we were struck by the rich honey orchid smell of the dry leaves. Commanding and rich even before steeping, we knew we were in for a treat. As we poured boiling water over a pot of the long twisted Shui Jin Gui leaves, the steam carried the nostalgic aroma of tangy simmering orange caramel in a copper pot.
The first sip filled the whole palate in the same satisfying way as a bit of creme brulee complete with creamy custard and burnt caramel qualities. The burnt caramel depth transformed in the aftertaste to a lingering dark elderberry and earthy hazelnut profile.
Later steepings revealed the rocky mineral taste that tea cultivated on the rocky cliffs of Wuyi is known for. The mineral notes gave way to sweet cinnamon and the warmth of ginger without the spiciness. Towards the very end, the aftertaste transformed into an almost vegetal creamy green bean flavor with a lingering honeydew melon sweet orchid finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What more can I say about Shui Jin Gui Wuyi from Verdant Tea that isn’t already in the description? Except perhaps that I personally want to order a huge supply of this so that I am never out of it! To me this tea is Legen…. wait for it….dary! Yes a How I Met Your Mother reference there. I apologize.
The first word that comes to mind while I sniff the dry leaf is sweet honey sugar succulent dripping with lust omgoodness! Okay that was more than one word, but seriously, I do love oolong, but some oolong are far superior to others and this is like the king of dessert-y oolong!
The caramel is perfection, the elderberry brightens the cup and makes it just a tiny bit “zippy” the honey note gives the tea its depth of character adding to the caramel aspect its like something sinful. There is even a spicy note within this tea. Then there is a wondrous floral note that just gracefully lingers all over the tongue, roof of mouth, back of mouth, its dancing around everywhere with sugar berries, caramelized honey, earthy elderberry, and the nuttiness of almond that also adds a slightly, but never bitter astringency, yet this tea remains so smooth all at the same time.
Oh yes the ever important and expected rock mineral is all over my palate as well as expected from a Wuyi Oolong. It blends completely with the floral aspect of this tea making me think of wildflowers blossoming along a creek bed. Wherever this creek bed is, I want to be right there!
This review is probably up at the top of Azzrian’s reviews that make no sense, but I stand by it, in all its confusing weirdness (the review not the tea). Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong from Verdant Tea is stunning, there is no cohesive way to put it. Yet this tea, is very cohesive, all elements of this tea make perfect sense.