Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: China Cha Dao
Tea Description:
This tea will be 2013 China popular tea***
Fuding Ba Cha is a really healthy tea, it has the effect of medical treatment, lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, anti-oxidation, anti-radiation & anti-tumor. We have customer with high blood pressure and this tea works out really well for him, just have a small cup everyday or every two day, is healthy!
We strongly recommend tea lover to collect this tea, buy a kilo or two, put it somewhere nice clean and dry and store it!
The tea taste sweet and mellow after aged, a lot nice than new tea! Price goes up like puerh as well!
Aroma – Mild, Roast
Flavor – Sweet, Creamy
Soup – Yellow
Suggest use 7 gram for Gaiwan or Teapot, use 3-5 gram in 200ml Glass Cup
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2012 Fu Ding Bai Cha from China Cha Dao is a lovely white tea. I am not always impressed with white tea, its a little too mellow for my palate, but this one has some lovely character. I really love the creaminess of this one, along with the lovely light vegetal flavor. My first reaction was green beans smothered in butter, which by the way I love my green beans smothered in butter! I am a confessed butter-holic.
While the taste is still on the light side it gives me a feeling of looking into a reflecting pool – just staring into it gazing for that little glimmer of a koi swimming by, or a frog that leaps out unexpectedly from the greenery around the pond. It has its subtle nuances and surprises within the cup. It is also so dreamy, relaxing, and mellow.
To explain what I mean, there is a light spicy note to the sip, like a sparkle of cinnamon on the tip of the tongue. The after taste coats your mouth with the flavor of ginseng and honey!
I don’t know if I would trust myself to store such a tea, I would either drink it all up or I fear I would store it improperly but I will say that a tea like this – it is so worth getting! Especially at right under 15.00 for 8.8 ounces!
Jerry Ma of China Cha Dao got his start as an Ebay seller and I had ordered from him before via Ebay but I am so happy that he has a tea site up and running so that more people will be exposed to his fine selection of teas. You can learn more about Jerry here.
2012 Fu Ding Ba Cha has many layers of flavors that peek out and keep bringing me back to my magical reflection pool, just now I was sure I tasted something rather smokey. Perhaps it is the haze left behind by the waters as they cool from the setting sun or perhaps it is just the tea cooling a little. Either way this tea is quite dreamy.
2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup
Tea Information:
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
Production Year 2009
Production Season Spring
Production Region Fujian
Style Traditional
Also known as Sow Mee or Longevity Brew
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup is a light, juicy, white tea that has a lovely buttered vegetal after taste and an almost earthy note in the sip.
In the aroma is this very subtle essence of jasmine but that does not translate into the flavor. It has a sweet and lightly creamy mouthfeel but leaves you feeling refreshed and your thirst quenched.
There is also a light and lovely toasted marshmallow flavor that just touches your taste buds gently on the initial sip but does not stick around long.
This is a very forgiving tea! My first steep I spaced out preparing to write this review and over steeped it by far too much. I was certain I was going to have to dump the cup, but alas it tasted lovely! My second steeping – with new leaves – also provided a delicious cup as well. I noticed very little difference in the two cups. This would be an excellent tea to put in your travel thermos for many infusions throughout the day without having to take the leaf out!
I love the look of the dry leaf! Its so wild and natural looking! It appears as if someone scooped up fallen leaves from the forest floor! I love the uninhibited appearance of this leaf, so care free, so low maintenance yet so beautiful. The colors are striking from deep tones of brown to variegated shades of green, even some lighter almost white tones in my leaf.
I would not say this is a “to-die-for” cup or anything, and I’m not really that into white teas as a rule, but they do have some wonderful health benefits and this one is quite pleasing.
I would purchase this again.
As per a note on Life in Teacup’s website
Our web store is temporarily closed and we aim at re-opening it in February 2013. Meantime, please feel free to send any inquires to admin@lifeinteacup.com. Thank you and have a great holiday season!
I do hope they open back up soon as I have been eyeballing many of their teas!
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Bailin Gongfu is the highest quality Fujian black tea. This Bailin Gonfu is a premium quality tea produced at Mt. Taimu in Fujian, and is crafted from Fuding DaBai and Da Hao trees. This delicious tea has a great refreshing sweet taste and fragrance.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre is one of my black tea staples. I always have plenty of this on hand. Sure I enjoy other black teas, and have plenty of them for variety, but this black tea, this is my “go to” tea in the morning. It is always spot on for the flavors I crave to wake up to.
Some mornings I have more time to get motivated, and I may go for something different in a black tea but in most cases, I just need what I know will really do the trick.
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea from Teavivre has every element in a black tea that I would want. Malty notes, hints of a cocoa flavor, caramel notes, depth, and complexity, robust, and strong without any bitterness or astringency.
This is one of Teavivre’s most popular teas. There is good reason for this! This tea is warm and toasty with a taste reminiscent of boutique beer, malty and chocolatey. This is THE black tea that made me realize not all black teas are created equal. Sipping this outstanding tea is like sitting back at a campfire with a good friend. It just makes you feel comfy! The flavors are simply decadent yet is so easy to sip with a bright cheery feel!
What is really interesting about this black tea is that within all these flavors, on the after taste, is this wonderful vegetal note! It may not be really noticeable to everyone, but I get a green bean note in the lingering of the after taste that is quite surprising! A black tea with a green bean note? Yes, its in here! Add to that a full, creamy mouthfeel, what more could one ask for in their morning wake up tea?
Perhaps this tea sounds confusing to some, cheery and bright, yet also robust and full? Creamy cocoa, caramel, malty notes with vegetal? Well what we can’t disagree on is that it is interesting! To add to that all of these notes are present in one steeping, and hold up through a second steep. After that you will enjoy several more infusions of the same leaf but the layers begin to slowly ween themselves out leaving behind a lovely black with more attention on the caramel, cocoa, and base tea notes which are equally lovely.
I think, but please don’t hold me to any decisions on this, if I could only have one black unadulterated (unflavored / flavored by nature only) tea for the rest of my life, this would be the one. Granted I would never, ever, want that to happen!
Oriental Beauty Cake from The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
It’s no wonder this tea is also called Champagne Oolong. This Oriental Beauty in compressed cake form tastes of apricots, thick with honeyed spice. Simply break off a piece and enjoy. 3.8 oz
Other names: Champagne Oolong, Formosa Fancy Oolong, Braggart’s Tea – Peng Feng Cha – 椪風茶, White Tip Oolong – Bai Hao Oolong – 白毫乌龙, Dong Fang Mei Ren – 东方美人
Water: 85°C
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oriental Beauty Cake from The Mountain Tea Company is one of the prettiest teas I have ever seen, let alone the pretties cake I have ever seen! There is also a lovely story about this tea’s creation and discovery here.
Well to begin this is an organic tea so points for that! Furthermore it is a pressed oolong yet has a distinctive pu’er flavor profile. Perhaps the pressing of this tea into a cake is only for presentation and novelty but I swear that in doing so it has manifested itself into a more earthy tea like a pu’er. Whatever the case may be – my imagination or reality, this is such a wonderful cup.
I will confess, I am getting a bit of a tea high while sipping on it. Either that or I just need a nap but I am feeling quite laid back and cozy in this sipping moment.
The aroma is a sensory explosion! Sweetly floral, and fruity, peppery notes, and the aroma of a wooded place. The aftertaste is so very familiar – what IS that flavor? Savory, vegetal, something buttered perhaps, GAH what is it? … Squash, Zucchini perhaps. I will come back to that another time it may drive me batty. It is delicious regardless!
I am surprised at just how bold this cup is. There is only a slight touch of astringency to it, but I like it as it has this slight bite then changes into that mystery flavor I was trying to pin point above.
I do also pick out notes of fruits, honey, and spices. It is in a way reminiscent of spending a day at the farmers market or maybe something a little more extravagant like a Moroccan market perhaps.
Ah the second infusion really brings forth the fruit notes! Now I get that raisin note that another reviewer had mentioned on Steepster!
I had got distracted while doing this review and came back to a very cold cup of tea and you know what. Its really good!
This really is not what I generally gravitate toward in an oolong but when I don’t think of it as an oolong I love it. Okay I love it even when trying to see it as an oolong. I think the point I am trying to make is, is that if someone handed me a cup of this I would think it either a black tea with some excellent layers in the flavor notes or perhaps a pu’er. I would be very confused.
I am also pretty sure this is the type of oolong served at a couple of the local Asian buffets here local to me. Now granted I do not think they are near this level of quality of an Oriental Beauty Oolong but hey at least its not Liptons!
So in closing I must say I am excited, surprised, confused, intoxicated, and wooed by this tea. I look forward to many many more steepings and sessions to come with this beautiful cake!
Kudos to The Mountain Tea Company for always having some of the best teas!
Oh and if you order from The Mountain Tea Company be sure to look for the button on their item pages that says “Tweet for Discount” if you have a twitter account you can get a code for 5% off your purchase.
Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea Life
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zen Tea Life
Tea Description:
The name refers to the unusual and striking shape and color of the leaves, which are rolled into tightly-curled dragon-like shapes with a silvery color.
It is a good example of the high level of hand-work. Infused, it produces a complex, sweet, and somewhat floral liquor. Entirely handmade, it is a must have for green tea lovers.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a beautiful looking tea! When looking at Curled Dragon Silver Tip from Zen Tea Life, the leaves are all curled and have variegated colors of light to dark green. The appearance is almost fluffy. Its a fairy tale dreamy sort of tea that makes me feel like a Princess. Yeah that was a little corny but that is what the vision of this tea evoked. If you are a guy and don’t want to feel like a Princess then just consider the curled delicate little leaves the tea you will serve your Princess.
Regardless, this tea has an equally lovely aroma of sweetly steamed veggies perhaps caramelized in a honey butter, white flowers, and summer grass. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy sniffing it.
The flavor … butter, cream, nutty, floral, grassy, toasty, it almost reminds me of a genmaicha! There is a vegetal edge to it, but just as in the the aroma, the caramelized note comes out in the taste as well. Its naturally sweet, nothing artificial about this tea.
I would consider this a very fine tea.
I really appreciate the masterful art work of this hand rolled tea.
On some levels it is complex with layers of flavor notes to discover, yet on the other hand the way this tea makes you feel when you sip it is simple. It makes you feel wonderful. Nothing better than that!