Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: The Tea Smith
Tea Description:
Darjeeling had improved weather conditions this year, and the 2nd flush is a real treat this year. Fresh from the fields, Castleton again has produced a fine sweet tea. The care taken to produce this tea is evident in the beautiful leaves and complete budsets throughout.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a surprising tea! An excellent white leaf that really has stunning taste!
Notes of peach, grape, honey explode with a lovely lingering flavor.
The white tea is interesting – much more robust than your average white tea.
It does have a very nice darjeeling flavor yet a bit more buttery and vegetal than a black darjeeling. What a combination! I did not even know such things existed haha. I am glad I do now and I am glad I got a full 2 ounces of this or I would be ordering more right away!
Now this is one of The Tea Smith’s more “pricy” teas but I tell you what its still a fair price compared to other tea vendors. At a little under 7.00 per ounce, for such a high quality tea, you can’t beat it!
This is most definitely one of those teas you sit with, using your gaiwan or gong fu set up, or cherished china. It is deserving of the best you can brew it with, giving it the attention it deserves. Truly a refined tea. However I feel I could absolutely serve this up to my black tea only – bought in the grocery store – in a bottle friends and they too would love it. Perhaps they would not appreciate it for all of its elements, notes, and flavor profile, but they surely would enjoy every sip, or guzzle as they probably would prefer it iced, which would also be lovely.
Each steep, as with any high quality tea, provides new discoveries and layers of notes, some being of melon, some of berries, some more grassy, or savory, yet with each steep, now up to 4, I am getting more and more that I love about this tea. At one point it was giving over a wonderful honeysuckle note.
The leaf itself both in dry and moist form is gorgeous. Curly leaves of green with some white throughout with hints of almost lime green. I personally do not feel the photo does it justice. This is one I feel I will have to keep sampling to fully discover but it is one that is worthy of reviewing here for you and I highly recommend this tea for you to try.
Rui Feng Jin Xuan from Tea From Taiwan
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea From Taiwan
Tea Description:
Winter 2009
This is a Jin-Xuan tea from Rui-Feng in the Alishan tea district.
When Jin-Xuan tea leaves are lightly roasted during processing, they have a unique milk flavor which is called nai xiang or milk oolong.
Rui-Feng Jin Xuan has a slightly astringent flavor which mellows with subsequent brewings. The milk flavor is evident in the aftertaste, and combines with a pleasing herbaceous aroma for a complex flavor which changes slightly with each brewing.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was delighted when I opened the box and saw the pretty packages this tea arrived in! I love decorative, pretty things and when tea comes in pretty packaging I squeal. Okay I’m a girl, but truly the packages were so pretty I didn’t even want to cut this one open to try the tea. However, you are here to read about the tea so here it is:
A lovely light oolong that is easy on the palate. This won’t be the most taste bud busting oolong you try but if you appreciate an all natural milk oolong with subtle, more delicate flavor notes then this is for you!
There is a lovely lilting floral note that dances playfully with a very slight buttery note. These notes are backed up by a very airy green flavor. When mixed with the floral notes it is reminiscent of sniffing a bouquet of herbaceous flowers, sweet yet lightly savory.
The after taste is refreshing and makes for a lovely after dinner tea.
While it is not in your face with flavors that are popping all over the place it is somewhat surprisingly soothing. A nice mediative tea.
I also feel this would be a great tea to use as an introductory oolong to those just trying oolong for the first time. What it lacks in shock value of that “in your face flavor” it makes up for with its delicate palate of not being too overpowering.
One could arguably say that the true design of this tea is for those who want to sit back and savor something more complex than a tea that vies for your every bit of attention. Yet some may argue this tea lacks complexity by being so laid back.
Which ever side you fall on I can say that this tea offers pleasant aromas, sweet milky indulgence, floral notes that are quite beautiful, and airy, grassy, vegetative green flavors that please the palate wonderfully.
This would not be my all time go-to oolong as I do fall more on the side of the obvious flavors yet there is something about this tea that makes me sit back, relax, unwind, and enjoy the polite mannerisms it offers.
LiShan Oolong, Winter from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our Winter LiShan coats the palate with orchid, pineapple, and vanilla bean. “LiShan” means Pear Mountain and in the past, the most sought after pears came from this place. This highland climate with an altitude of more than 6600 feet above sea level produces especially superior teas. LiShan oolongs are the most fragrant, smoothest, butteriest oolongs, incredibly sweet with a taste of toasted fruit.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have only recently discovered tea from The Mountain Tea Company but I am so very glad that I have.
I have enjoyed every tea I have tried from them so far.
The aroma of this tea in dry form is amazing. Such a strong delicious scent yet so difficult to explain. There is something quite roasty and toasty about this tea yet it is a green oolong. There is a smokey aroma but that does not convey in the steeped cup.
Steeped it is fresh, grassy, vegetal, and crisp. Refreshingly delightful and just simply splendrous cold brewed!
There is such a sweet honey like flavor with a bright clear finish. The sweetness does not linger in a cloying manner but rather leaves behind the flavor of fresh cut grass.
There is a lightly floral note of orchid and some fruity notes mixed throughout the flavors on the palate and a lovely lilting vanilla note that drifts over the taste buds but dissipates quickly making me want more.
While the cup is fresh and bright there is a deep creamy mouthfeel before hand – so the initial taste is that of deeply creamy and buttery followed with the clear cleansing finish.
I know I am just not doing this tea any justice in my review but I am just so very excited to be sipping on this tea right now. I want to sit back and enjoy it yet my excitement to share information about this tea with everyone can’t wait. I just want to get it all out and written down right as the flavors and notes come dancing forward for me so that you can experience in its truest form – outside of having it for yourself. I want you to be in the moment with me while I have this spectacular tea!
I do hope to get more of this before I drink it all, and it won’t be difficult to justify as it is one of the more exquisite teas I could invest in.
As a reviewer I can drink upwards of 10 cups of tea a day, some days more, some less, and I don’t review them all. I only review those teas I would suggest to others. Be it a solid beginner tea, a tea for those who are looking only for the best, or something in the middle. Even though I may not particularly like every tea personally, due to simply perhaps not enjoying a flavor element for example, I try to be quite fair in my reviews. Regardless, this is a tea I would recommend to everyone. Beginners should use this tea as a baseline for all other teas, specifically Oolongs if you are finding you love Oolongs. For those who have been drinking tea for some time you won’t be disappointed in this tea, or The Mountain Tea Company. I certainly am not as experienced as some but thus far I have to say this is one of the most enjoyable oolongs I have had the honor of sipping.
Sometimes we just get so excited about a tea – after drinking one after another – one simply stands out above the others. As for Oolongs, I would stand behind this one hands down as supreme.
Sweet Roast Green Tea (Dark) from Mauna Key Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green, Dark Roast
Where to Buy: Mauna Key Tea
Tea Description:
Selectively harvested for naturally low caffeine contents.
We processed and roasted to make this tea good hot or cold tea. Naturally sweet. Easy to prepare and easy to drink without adding sugar. One sample package (10g) makes 2qt of tea.Organically grown at our farm in Hawaii.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This dark roasted organic green tea has a lovely aroma and flavor much like that of a genmaicha.
It has a deep roasted flavor, with a sweet finish.
Mauna Key Tea has a page that explains how roasting effects the flavors of a green tea here.
One cool aspect of Mauna Key Tea’s website is that it allows for you to select your roasting depth. Light, or Dark on this tea.
I have found this to make quite a nice tea, iced or hot, and just as the description states, you really need not add any sugar or sweeteners. It has such a pleasant naturally sweetened flavor.
There is a toasty roast-y depth to it – not quite a smoked flavor, and nothing near a lapsang souchong type smoke, but just this nice toasty note.
There is a vegetal note but it is different than most greens. It reminds me of when I caramelize veggies on the stove top, or when my asparagus gets slightly browned.
The leaf itself looks like Yerba Mate in my opinion. Little flakes of leaf. Like confetti almost. Haha tea confetti can be thrown at my parties anytime!
I keep asking myself if it would be fair to compare this to a houjicha but I can’t say that it would. It still to me is lighter than houjicha and not nearly as deep in flavor notes.
This could, I suppose, be called a lighter houjicha but even still that is not quite correct.
Truly this is one you will have to try for yourself. I can see this would not be to everyone’s liking but for any true green tea lover it is a must try!
Also be sure to check out their page on Natural Farming here.
Green Tea Sauvignon from Vintage Tea Works
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Vintage Tea Works
Tea Description:
Inspired by Sauvignon Blanc, we blended natural
ingredients to create a green tea blend that is medium bodied, with a
burst of fresh grapefruit offering a racy hit of crisp acidity. (2.0oz. / 56.7g – about 20 cups)About Sauvignon Blanc – Sauvignon Blanc is high acid, medium bodied, white wine that makes a wonderful food pairing wine. Sauvignon Blanc’s aromas and flavors are often compared to fruits like grapefruit, gooseberries and green apples combined with an undertone of a grassy, vegetal nature.
Tea and Food Pairings – Pair our Green Tea Sauvignon with Asian inspired cuisine, cheeses or salads. Try it on ice for refreshment anytime.
Ingredients – Green tea, organic grapefruit peel, calendula marigold flower petals, natural flavorings..
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I have recently ordered three teas from Vintage Tea Works, but this was not one of them. I was drawn to three of their other teas but this will go on my list for future orders! I am lucky to be able to sample this selection due to the generosity of my SororiTea Sister Anne.
I used to be quite the wine drinker before health concerns capped off my more indulgent days. I suppose some would have considered me a wine snob. Yet this, this is a tea, and a very fine tea at that!
Vintage Tea Works has found the perfect unison of wine and tea in this blend. They have made it noticeable that this is not a wine yet wine like enough that those who appreciate a good wine will be able to pick up the notes, the flavors, the balance, and nuances of what a fine wine would offer. What I am trying to say is that you do not have to be wine lover to love this tea, yet if you are, you will love it all the more!
The first thing I notice upon sipping is that there is a marked floral and fruity flavor which is well balanced and well blended. The sweetness of the tea is noticeable as well yet becomes more pronounced as the tea cools slightly. So if comparing to a wine this would be on the side of the more tropical Sauvignon types. Comparing to a tea it is also quite tropical in its flavor with notes of grassy flavors in the aftertaste followed by a slight buttery note but that note is very subtle. Granted there is not much, if any difference between wine tasting and tea tasting.
When I was selecting the three teas from Vintage Tea Works that I wanted to try I of course went with my favorite wine types and I grabbed the pu-erh because I love pu-erh and really wanted to see what they did with that blend. The main reason, however, that I did not select this particular tea was due to the grapefruit element. At the time that I placed my order I was not feeling that I wanted a grapefruit flavor. Now that I am drinking this tea though I have to say I am not picking up much if any of an actual grapefruit flavor. I feel that the grapefruit in this blend adds more to the palate cleansing effect more than the flavor itself. Like a wine however, or a masterfully blended tea, you really can’t judge the final outcome by the ingredients as stand alone elements. I guess I just needed Vintage Tea Works to come around to remind me of that.
I love the use of Calendula in this tea. Calendula is one of my favorite herbs. Granted it is also a flower but it is technically an herbaceous plant. I have used this herb in my home remedy blends for decades. Calendula lends an interesting floral yet savory note to the tea.
This tea also is quite excellent chilled which makes it versatile for summer or winter enjoyment.
When you swish the tea around in your mouth you pick up the fruit notes, then the sweetness, but as you swallow you get this green clean taste that is reminiscent of summer fields and marigolds which the Calendula plant is in the family of. The grapefruit notes as I said are barely noticeable but I get those mostly long after the swallow, about 30 seconds to 1 minute later, which serves almost as a drying effect and reminder to take another sip.
I do wish I had grabbed this tea as well in my order but now I have something to save up for and look forward to.