Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teasenz
Tea Description:
A first flush Longjing tea picked in early spring. An exceptional quality rarely seen outside of China.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice! This is an exceptionally fresh-tasting Longjing! I’m not surprised, of course, because I can’t recall being disappointed by any of the teas that I’ve tried thus far from Teasenz! This company is one that is committed to offering the very finest (and freshest!) teas. I like that in a tea company.
And I’m finding myself really appreciating the freshness and flavor of this first flush Long Jing (aka Dragon Well). It’s sweet and smooth and delicious. Not a trace of bitterness and a very low astringency level.
This Dragon Well has a light vegetal tone and tastes more of sweet butter with nutty tones than it tastes grassy or vegetative. I also taste notes of fruit and flower in the distance.
The sip starts out sweet, reminiscent of the nutty flavor you might experience with a browned butter. The nutty flavor has a light, toasted taste to it. About mid-sip, I start to pick up on hints of fruit and very delicate whispers of flower in the distance. More sweetness! The sip ends smooth with a slight dry sensation – a very, very slight dry astringency here. If I wasn’t focused in on the sip and really concentrating on everything I’m picking up on … this astringency is so low that it would have escaped my notice.
I love how this tea washes the palate with sweetness with every sip. It’s so enjoyable. It is more sweet than it is savory or brothy, this isn’t one of those “nourishing” type of teas, this is one to drink for the sheer celebration of a superbly beautiful and satisfyingly sweet green tea.
Another AMAZING tea from Teasenz!
Goomtee Grand Reserve Spring Tea First Flush 2014 from Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Darjeeling Tea Lovers
Tea Description:
Goomtee Grand Reserve is a LIMITED EDITION tea. Not all teas get the prestigious tag of GRAND RESERVE but this tea deserves every bit of this.
The leaves have been plucked from the highest elevated section of this garden which is also called the MUSCATEL VALLEY. Super fine plucking of the leaves and tender processing has resulted with a masterpiece.
High floral notes with distinct JASMINE LIKE flavour will make every tea connoisseur mesmerized. It is only Goomtee that could deliver such a beauty.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This 2014 Goomtee Grand Reserve Spring Tea First Flush is a lot greener than most of the Darjeeling teas that I’ve encountered lately. In fact, it looks very much like a green tea rather than a black tea.
Taking this into account, I lowered the temperature slightly. Normally, I would steep a Darjeeling tea at 195°F, but for this greener Darjeeling, I lowered the temperature to 185°F, and using my Breville One-Touch tea maker, I set the steep time for 2 minutes.
The result is a delightful cup of tea! The aroma of the brewed cup is crazy floral – it is really beautiful.
And the flavor! Sweet! Floral! There are even hints of muscatel in this cup. The floral notes are profound, and as the description above promises, there is a “distinct jasmine like” flavor. There is a soft, pleasant texture. The astringency sort of tingles on the tongue in the finish, and I find that it accentuates the floral notes of this cup.
I’m mesmerized by the jasmine tones of this cup. I don’t think that this tea was actually *scented* with jasmine, but, it almost tastes as though it has been processed similar to a typical jasmine scented tea. The jasmine essence is a bit more subdued than in a typical jasmine green tea, for example, but, it’s still a rather surprising taste to find in a Darjeeling tea such as this.
I’d recommend this to all those that enjoy drinking tea! Those that love jasmine, as I do, this is an exciting twist on that classic favorite. Those that love Darjeeling, this is one that you should have on your cupboard because it’s a stunning representation of a fine Darjeeling first flush. Those that simply love all teas, this is quite a unique tea and unlike any that I’ve tried thus far (and I’ve tried a lot of tea!) It’s one you should try too!
A truly remarkable and … rather unexpected Darjeeling tea.
Mr. He’s 1st Picking Laoshan Black Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Laoshan Black is our most popular tea, and its success has encouraged Mr He of Laoshan Village to keep refining his process to make it better every year. This year, Mr. He has taken leaves normally used for his delicate and subtle early spring green tea and allowed them to roast in the sun for three days before hand processing in small one to two pound batches, yielding this incredible rich, subtle Laoshan Black experience.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of the dry leaf knocks my socks off. OK, so I wasn’t wearing socks, but if I was, they’d be blown off. My feet felt the absence of the socks and felt the strong gust of wind that was there to blow the socks off the feet, but, because there was no socks, my feet just got a nice cool breeze for a few minutes, and given that it’s kind of hot outside, I’m glad that the gust wasn’t warm air.
Wow … so that was a lot “windier” than I expected to be to describe a scent that I can’t remember experiencing with a black tea in the past. It smells like chocolate. Like dark chocolate with a nice roast on those cacao beans. Nice. The chocoholic in me is happy.
This is a very special tea. And since it is so special, I decided to consult the suggested brewing parameters on the Verdant Tea website for how to best brew this tea. Now, this isn’t something I do often. I don’t usually check to see how the company suggests I brew a tea, mostly because I’ve been brewing tea for a long time. I eyeball my measurements using my bamboo scoop (the bamboo scoop that I own looks sort of like this one).
I have kind of a set “temperature” guide in my head: for most black teas, I use boiling water. If I’m brewing Assam, I drop the temperature to 205°F. If I’m brewing Darjeeling, I drop the temperature to 195°F. If I’m brewing herbal teas, including rooibos, honeybush, yerba mate and guayusa, I also set the temperature for 195°F. Most pu-erh teas get 190°F. If’ I’m brewing Green or Oolong teas, I use 175 – 185°F. If I’m brewing a white or yellow tea, I use 170°F. I don’t often stray from this mental temperature guide often. Steep times are also follow a mental steep-time guide.
But because this is a tea that is of very limited quantities, and not one that I want to experiment a lot with because I don’t have a large quantity of this tea to experiment with, nor do I have the resources to secure myself a large quantity of the tea … because of these reasons, I decided to consult with the people who have had more experience with this tea than I. I decided to go with the gongfu brew style (hey, what the heck!) and I now have sitting before me my first cup of this tea – the combined results of the first and second infusions, following an extremely quick 1 second rinse.
Ow! Cup is hot. I’m using my little Chinese teacup with no handle and made of very thin porcelain, so there’s not a lot to insulate and protect my fingers from the heat of the boiling water used to infuse this tea.
Very mellow tasting. These infusions were 15 seconds and 20 seconds, which went a little longer than the suggested 2 – 3 seconds as suggested in the brewing parameters by Verdant. But there is still a lot of flavor to the mellow taste.
The chocolate notes are THERE and I’m loving that. The tasting notes on the Verdant website also suggest notes of cherry and almond, and I do get a slight roasted nut flavor there that is almond-y. A lovely combination of flavors with the prolific chocolate notes. I taste hints of the sweet cherry notes. This first cup is sweet and lovely.
The next two infusions proved to continue with the chocolate-y notes. I love the roasted flavor to this cup and how that enhances the chocolate-y notes. I’m starting to pick up on honey-like flavors and a slight caramel-y note, like a honey caramel. Nice. I love that while this is tea is loaded with sweet notes, it doesn’t taste too sweet. It’s smooth and well-rounded.
Later infusions, I noticed the chocolate notes beginning to wane, replaced with a stronger nutty tone. Imagine toasted nuts that have been drizzled with honey.
The brewing parameters suggest 15 infusions, and I might very well have gotten that many out of this measurement of leaves, but, I was quite satisfied with the eight infusions that I brewed. By the fourth and final cup, while I was still enjoying the tea but I found myself missing the chocolate-y notes of the earlier infusions.
Then I found myself wondering how the flavors would differ if I were to experiment with this tea using the “Western” approach to brewing. So, I decided to do just that!
I think that I actually prefer the western method of brewing for this particular tea. The flavor is richer and more robust from the very first cup. Still deliciously chocolate-y and tasting of roasted almonds with hints of cherry, but the flavor has more muchness to it when I brew it using the teapot rather than the gaiwan.
And brewing this way, I can still get three flavorful infusions out of this tea. The first: chocolate-y, rich with notes of toasted almond and sweet cherry. The second: a little lighter on the chocolate notes, but, still very pleasantly chocolate-y, with more enhanced nutty notes and a touch of honey. And with the third, I was able to actually taste some notes of sarsaparilla.
This tea is awesome! It makes me want to dance the futterwacken!
Spring Keemun Limited Edition Tea from Damn Fine Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Damn Fine Tea
Tea Description:
We’ve noticed spring is struggling to get off the ground this year in our little corner of the USA. March came in like a lion but its fur got stuck to the permafrost so the lion continues to sit outside our door, calmly licking its paws and giving us the stare down. Fine. We’ll stare right back. Should be no problem as long as our supply of this great Keemun holds out. Good thing we have 150 2.5 ounce tins of the… Wait. We only have 150 tins? Whose idea was that?
Despite a strong desire to keep all these tins of Spring Keemun for ourselves, we offer them to you. This is a spring crop of Keemun Xiang Luo (Fragrant Spirals), so while this tea has all the usual, unmistakable tawny richness of Keemun, it is more delicate than you might expect. Lion and lamb, all at once. The leaves are so beautiful — elegant, dark, and shiny — it’s almost a shame to pour water on them! When you do, make sure the water is boiling hot and allow it to steep for at least 5 minutes. Or longer. This is a very patient tea.
Learn more about this limited-edition tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yeah … so shortly after I purchased the Yunnan Gold Tips on Canada Day, Andrews & Dunham announce that they’re offering free shipping to the USA on the 4th of July. As it turned out, I would have been safe in waiting until the 4th to get free shipping for my Yunnan tea, but, I didn’t want to take that chance that I’d miss out on the tea because at the time that I ordered, there were only 6 tins left of it. There are now – as I write this review – 2 tins left of the Yunnan.
And while I am enjoying having the Yunnan in my cupboard (it makes for a seriously tasty cuppa!) I’m even happier that I now have this Spring Keemun in my cupboard! OH YUM!
I think I’m in love with the tea that is in my teacup right now. Seriously. I have tried a lot of Keemun in my years as a tea reviewer, but I do believe that this Xiang Luo is the best Keemun I’ve tried to date. It’s delightful. So good, in fact, that I’m contemplating picking up another tin or two so that I have it on hand for many more months to come.
It is rich and smooth and delicious. There is very little astringency to this, although there is just a slight twinge of dryness toward the end of the sip. The texture is thick and almost creamy, evoking thoughts of a warm, comforting soup. But this is sweeter than a soup!
It tastes of honeyed caramel. I can almost taste the light notes of flowery pollen. There are fruit notes to this as well. Sweet, juicy plum – just the sweetness of the plum, no tartness from the fruit. Sun-ripened plums drizzled with honey and then cooked down to caramelize it. Mmm!
There is a tantalizing, cake-y, freshly baked sort of goodness to this tea too, like a cake that had just come out of the oven. You know those browned, caramelized edges of a freshly baked cake? Yeah … that’s what I taste. Again, let me say: Mmm!
Delicious! This tea is best served hot. Sure, it’s really good when it cools off, but, something is lost with the chill. The flavors mute a little and you really want to experience this tea to its fullest flavor, which means drinking ti while its still hot. Give it a few minutes to cool after you’ve poured yourself a cup, and then begin to enjoy every sip. Not that you need me to tell you to enjoy … because trust me, you will!
There are only 24 tins left of this tea – this is one you don’t want to miss out on. The only disappointing thing about this tea is the “prize” that comes with it … it’s an A&D Damn Fine Tea button. Like the kind you pin on your jacket or hat. It’s OK, I guess, but seeing as this tea is to be a celebration of Spring, I thought that they could have been a little more creative. A little toy bird like the one on the label of the tea? That would have been fun!
But it should say something to you that my only complaint about this tea is the freebie that came with it. (Well, that and the tea disappears too fast after I’ve poured a cup!) What the Spring Keemun lacks in free prize it more than makes up for in amazing flavor!
Four Seasons Spring Oolong from Green Terrace Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Green Terrace Teas
Tea Description:
Grown at about 1,200 meters in the rich soil of the Alishan region, this tea is a wonderful introduction to oolong teas from Taiwan. Sweet, rich and aromatic, Four Seasons Spring Oolong (or Si Ji Chun) has a pleasant buttery and honey taste that evokes mild notes of jasmine and lily. This oolong as a mild vegetal character and has almost no bitterness – a great tea for any time of the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh … LOVELY! It’s been a while since I’ve had a Si Ji Chun, I’ve been focusing on other teas as of late and this is almost like a new tea to me now. But as I am sipping this golden cup of wonderful, I have to think – why have I been away so long, Si Ji Chun?
The aroma of the dry leaf is FRESH … like a fresh spring morning! It smells a little vegetal, and I realize it’s those vegetal notes that give it the fresh smell, but rather than smelling specifically of vegetable or steamed veggies or even of grass, this just smells like the new, fresh smells that great the olfactory nerves as spring reawakens the earth.
Sweet, sweet, sweet! This is so delightfully creamy, with notes that are reminiscent of butter and honey – evoking thoughts of honey butter! The sweet, yummy spread my gramma used to make when she’d bake fresh biscuits for dinner. Mmm! But there’s more to this cup than just a sweet resemblance of honey butter, I taste sweet floral notes and a hint of vegetative flavor.
It’s a remarkably smooth cup with very little astringency. I do notice just a hint of astringency at the tail, but, it’s very subtle. The above description suggests notes of jasmine and lily, and while I do taste a ‘floral’ taste to the cup, I don’t know that it’s jasmine and lily that I taste. Then again, this is only the first cup (infusions 1 and 2 after a 15 second rinse), perhaps those flowers will reveal more of themselves in the later infusions.
The second cup is not quite as creamy as the first was. There are still notes of butter, and it’s still a delightfully sweet cup of tea. The floral notes are beginning to emerge more in this cup, and I definitely do notice a jasmine-esque tone. It’s not nearly as obvious a jasmine note as I’d experience with a jasmine scented tea, but, there are notes here that I recognize as jasmine.
I’m also noticing a touch of citrus to this second cup as well, as if someone maybe put a drop of lime in my cup. It’s bright and adds a nice dimension to the cup.
I can still taste notes of creaminess in the third cup, but there is a gradual loss of the creaminess with each subsequent infusion. The sweetness is still there. The floral notes seem to have merged together with the other flavors of this cup, creating a taste that’s a little floral and a little vegetal, and a little creamy too. The aforementioned citrus tone is there as well, and it’s quite a delicious combination of flavors.
A really lovely Oolong. For those out there who – like me – have been drinking other Oolong teas and haven’t had a really good Four Seasons in a while, now is the time to reinvigorate your palate!