Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
The widely popular maple syrup can be likened to the combined tastes of both honey and caramel. Adding the toning touch of oriental Matcha makes this sweet delight more balanced and delectable. Maple Syrup Matcha can be used in many settings both for normal days and special occasions. On an ordinary day, Maple Syrup Matcha makes the perfect mood enhancer especially on many languid days that can be very dreary. On special occasions, the sweet scent and taste of Maple Syrup Matcha is enough to draw large crowds of enthusiastic followers.
Learn more about this Matcha here.
Taster’s Review:
There are few flavors that SCREAM autumn louder to me than Maple. The warm yet sweet flavor of Maple, the leaves from the Maple trees … just everything about maple is just so autumnal.
Maple is one of my very favorite sweet flavors! I didn’t always love maple, or so I thought, when I thought Maple = Pancake Syrup. I didn’t know there was such a thing as REAL maple syrup … and so my only real experience with maple was the flavoring in the pancake syrup that they sell in the grocery store.
After I had my first real experience with REAL maple, I was in love! Sweet without tasting like processed white sugar, maple has an earthy taste to it that really appeals to me. And this Maple Syrup Matcha is a delightful representation of the Maple flavor that I love!
It is sweet and maple-y without tasting too sugary. The flavor of the Matcha – sweet, slightly earthy and vegetative, with hints of chocolate in the background – seems a perfect pairing with the rich, sweet flavor of maple! They just work together so well! The flavor is sweet, slightly vegetative, earthy and very comforting – something that makes you feel all warm and cozy just by sipping it.
For this particular batch of Matcha, I went with the classic grade of Matcha and the Robust flavoring. Usually, I go with the Distinctive level of flavoring, but since my experience with maple flavoring in tea has been sometimes disappointing when it comes to a lack of maple flavor, I went with Robust because I really wanted to taste the Maple. And I TASTE it. I think I would have been safe with the distinctive level here, but, I am loving how strong the maple flavor is with the robust, so I think I’ll stick with it for future orders.
The first time I tried this flavored Matcha, there was a slight artificial-ness to the taste, slightly chemical. It wasn’t a strong flavor and it did not intrude upon my enjoyment of the Matcha, but at the same time, I wasn’t pleased it was there. However, today, as I sip it, I don’t notice the chemical flavor nearly so much! I don’t know why that is! All I do know is that I love it more now than when I first tried it! YUM!
Doke Thunder Second Flush from Rare Tea Republic
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Rare Tea Republic
Tea Description:
Ripe apricot, butternut squash, sweet finish.
A juicy ripe apricot aroma leads to an exceptionally flavorful liquor with vegetal undertones of cooked butternut squash and a lingering finish. .
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I bought a sample of this, along with about 12 others, from Rare Tea Republic a week ago and today I picked it from my grab bag of RTR teas to taste.
This is an Oolong? I had to check three times to be sure. I was extremely sleepy when having this as my morning wake up cup, I thought perhaps because I generally have a black tea in the morning, and that is what I thought I had grabbed I thought that I must have been mistaken when I went to Rare Tea Republic site and saw it was an oolong! Surely that was a mistake on their site. To me, this tastes like a black tea.
I am even a little surprised by the flavor palate of this tea – again to me it rings more true to a black tea.
Regardless, letting go of all that and just allowing myself to sink into the tea itself, submersing my distractions of what this tea is supposed to be and just appreciating the tea in and of itself I could not be more pleased.
This tea reminds me of walking through our local fruit farm in the fall. Today’s weather here in my town could not be more perfect. Its like the weather had planned my tea selection this morning. Its cool and crisp outside, leaves are gently blowing around, my yard is the neighborhood’s catch all for fallen leaves, and I LOVE it! The aroma and flavor from this tea are fresh butternut squash, apricots that are a bit over ripened and reduced for quick sale, (the juiciest), autumn leaves, moist air and wet leaves, all indicative of the weather we are having today. Yesterday it was sunny, balmy, and hot, but hey I live in Kansas, as they say if you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes, it will change! My local fruit farm which is down the road from me, is chalk full of the very things this tea evokes at this time of year.
Also there are wonderful flavor notes of syrup, and malt. This is like no other oolong I have ever experienced! The astringency is even aligned with a quality black! I can’t get past the fresh squash note. It is so spot on, so perfect. What a lovely treat on this cool October morning!
Surprised, yes, but delighted for sure! This is one enjoyable cup with wonderful flavor notes that are sure to please!
Gui Fei Oolong from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Gui Fei Oolong was sourced from Lugu Township in Nantou County, Taiwan and is a particularly unique tea. Green leafhoppers are allowed to bite the tea leaves which causes the leaves to begin the healing process which creates the honey notes in this tea and also begins the oxidation process. This tea utilized traditional Dong Ding processing techniques. Gui Fei Oolong has a natural sweetness to it and produces no astringency. Notes of honey, lightly burned toast, raw almonds and apples can be detected.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Good Heavens! This tea smells DIVINE! Seriously I have had this in my stash for ages now and just never got around to testing it out. I am angry with myself for waiting so long! I am kicking myself!
The aroma is peach and honey. The dry leaf is nuggety and a few stems while the moist leaf is still quite dry and I hope for more steeps to follow! The cup is a beautiful sunny orange color.
My first sips emote honey, peach, and candies almonds. What a pure and simple delight! This will be consumed regularly until it is time to reorder. Still angry at myself for sitting on this one!
Subtle notes of oak are peaking through. I do not detect any apple notes but perhaps in the second infusion. I am getting a mouthfeel of brandy like consistency. Thick and syrup like yet not clinging to my mouth like syrup, much brighter than that – not heavy just very juicy and refreshing in a sweet rich sort of way.
There is some astringency to this cup and it is a tad sour on the after taste much like a peach that is not fully ripened yet, but as you wait a little the flavor tames into almost an oak moss flavor and then the sweetness comes back around. There is a palate cleansing effect that follows.
My second steep is still deep in color perhaps even more so which is surprising. The steep turned into more of a reddish orange rather than a bright sun colored orange. The astringency still exists, which is something I have found in Butiki Teas oolong more so than others but it is nice as it reminds me of a black tea’s astringency even though the flavor description says there is none but again, I don’t mind at all. I am now getting a savory sweet note like apples and sage that I often cook with together.
I decided that I needed to “pair” my tea with a chocolate truffle. Okay I was making excuses to have one but hey I wanted a truffle! This brought out the peach notes in the tea by truck loads! Literally it was like a truck load of juicy ripe peaches drove into my mouth! Okay not literally but figuratively. Regardless it was amazing! Now I could easily use this new discovery of the paring as an excuse to have another truffle but alas I would prefer to savor my third steep allowing it to stand on its own.
Steep three although not necessarily the final steep but the last I will write about still has a lovely color to it. It does not seem to be weakening at all! The flavors are still very present with the peachy notes, along with the wood notes. It is becoming more oak-y in flavor now however and a little less sweet. Now it is settling into a tea that one would kick back and really relax with and it may even be making me a little sleepy due to its easy going qualities – no not sleepy but grounded. Like a good meditative tea!
End result is this tea has many layers of flavors to offer someone willing to sit down and contemplate it. One could easily suck down cup after cup and just enjoy and embrace the goodness however for me, I am finding this tea one that I will build a relationship with and discover more depth through each steep as I know there are many more left to uncover! The wet leaf still has more love to give, still some dryness within them, and they still smell strongly of flavors!
Very good tea!
On The Fifth Day of Christmas, 52Teas Sent to Me …
This is another tea I was fairly certain would make it into one of the coveted spots of the 12 Days of Christmas sampler. This one has been a huge hit, it has even been reblended a couple of times and it manages to sell out quickly. (In other words, if this is a tea you want to try, I recommend getting to 52Teas NOW and buy one of the revived in-stock pouches, because, they will not last long.
For the 5th Day of Christmas, 52Teas chose this tea …
PANCAKE BREAKFAST FLAVORED BLACK TEA
This tea has been a big hit on Steepster. And for good reason. It’s not only incredibly good … it actually tastes like pancakes that have been topped with butter and maple syrup. It is pleasantly sweet (but not too much), buttery, maple-y, and there is a bread-y, cake-y kind of taste in there that gives it the pancake-like taste.
This is one of those teas that is best served warm, and it is a rich, satisfying tea so I think it’s fitting that it was chosen for a Sunday tea. It’s one of those teas that you want to reach for after sleeping in a bit.
If you’d like to read my review of this tea from earlier this year, click here. I really don’t know what else I can say about this tea that I haven’t already said, except that this is one that you need to taste to believe. It’s remarkable.
