Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Zen Tara Teas
Tea Description:
Enjoy great tasting tea and good luck in the new year with our exclusive green tea blend that celebrates the 2012 Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dragon.
A pleasant combination of premium green tea, warming floral ingredients and tropical citrus creates a flavorful cup of tea perfect for drinking throughout the year.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
My first couple of sips of this tea were a little disappointing. I thought that maybe I did something wrong or had over-steeped it. It kind of tasted sour, but not a lemon-y kind of sour that I had expected. It just tasted … off. I decided to give it a couple of minutes to let it cool and try it again before tossing it, and that’s all it needed.
After allowing it to cool for about two minutes, the flavor of the tea has improved tremendously. No signs of over-steeping, no bitterness, no sour taste. Just really delicious green tea that has been flavored with the essence of passion fruit and lemon. A hint of chrysanthemum offers an intriguing contrast.
The green tea has a mellow flavor to it. It’s a little sweet, and offers a slight kelp-y vegetative taste in the background. It’s a soft green tea taste, one that I’d recommend to someone who seeks a green tea that doesn’t have that strong grassy flavor. Instead of a strong, grassy flavor, the green tea base here lends a smooth and almost creamy texture to the cup, allowing the flavors of lemon, passion fruit and chrysanthemum to do their thing.
And while lemon and passion fruit are not two fruit flavors that I’d have thought of combining, they really work well together. The lemon is tart and tangy without being TOO tart, thanks due largely to the sweet, luscious flavor of the passion fruit. And while the chrysanthemum is not a strong flavor in this cup, it adds just a little extra interest to it. Just a little extra *something* that make the taste buds perk up and say “hey, what is that? That’s different and I like it!”
Overall, a very vibrant cup of tea, soothing and yet energizing in its own way.
Organic Dragon Well from Rishi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Rishi Tea
Tea Description:
Dragon Well (Long Jing) is the most famous Chinese green tea, named after the Dragon’s Well landmark in the West lake area of the Zhejiang, where the tea originated. Dragon Well is a pan-fired green tea flat fried by hand in large woks one small batch at a time. This artisan processing technique yields a tea with leaves shaped like the blade of a sword. Each spring, during the prime Dragon Well harvest, we select a unique quality that has a balance of fresh green and smooth toasted flavors. Rishi’s Dragon Well is mellow and smooth with a fresh bittersweet finish and roasted chestnut aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This month’s Steepster Select Box was a celebration of the Chinese New Year which marked the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. To celebrate this occasion, the Steepster Select Box included three Chinese teas: Two Dragons and a Pearl; a flowering tea from Teavivre; Dragon Well (Long Jing) from Rishi Tea; and Pheonix Yunnan Gold from Tea Valley. The flowering tea and the Yunnan tea are two teas that were new to me, and I’ve already reviewed them this month, but this Organic Dragon Well from Rishi Tea is one that I’m familiar with as I reviewed it several years ago.
This Dragon Well holds a somewhat special place in my heart as it represents the first Dragon Well tea that I tasted that I enjoyed, having had somewhat of a bad experience with a Dragon Well quite some time ago, I was hesitant to try it again. Since that time, I’ve realized that I’m actually fond of most Dragon Well teas, and I therefore must assume that it was how I brewed the tea, and not the tea itself that I found distasteful those many years ago.
The tea has a light to medium body and a crispness to it that is quite refreshing. It is sweet and smooth, with a very pleasing nutty flavor in the background. While the description on the Rishi website (provided above) describes this nutty flavor as a chestnut taste, I find it also tasting vaguely of roasted almonds, a flavor that is especially pronounced toward the finish. It tastes very much the way I think a roasted nut butter made of both almonds and chestnuts might taste.
While this Dragon Well has a somewhat grassy taste to it, I find that the grassy flavor can be toned down significantly by lowering the water temperature to just 175°F and steeping for about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. With this cup, I taste almost no grassy tones, only a hint of it in the distance.
A delicious Dragon Well, one that I’m very happy to be enjoying again!
Phoenix Yunnan Gold from Tea Valley
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Tea Valley
Tea Description:
Our Phoenix Yunnan Gold is quickly becoming a favorite in our fine selection. The lasting sweetness in every cup will keep you brewing for more. If you enjoy black teas, this is certainly not one you would want to miss out on.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve been busy trying to get my tea stash organized – that’s my only excuse with being so behind on reviewing the teas from February’s Steepster Select box! Of all the months to be behind … February is not the month is not the month I would have chosen (fewer days to get caught up!)
This is the first of the three teas that I’m reviewing, and it is the only black tea of the three selections. This month’s theme is “Year of the Dragon” to commemorate the Chinese New Year. About their choice of this tea, Steepster stated:
The Yunnan Gold varietal uses the robust leaves of classic Yunnan black teas with a healthy portion of young, golden buds. In Chinese culture, the Phoenix is a complement to the dragon, forming both sides of Yin and Yang respectively, and we think the bold, fruity flavor of this brew is a fitting complement to the other teas in this month’s box. It’s a tea for coffee lovers, and it comes to us by way of The Tea Valley, a company founded by a China expatriate named Chaozhou, who returned to his birthplace to rediscover tea and its heritage.
Whatever reason they chose to put this tea in the Steepster Select box for this month, I’m good with it … because this tea is fantastic. It is a richly flavored tea with a delicious spiced overtone. I find that this tea is best served hot, but not piping hot. After it’s had a few moments to cool, the aforementioned spice notes seem to really come alive.
In the above description from the minds at Steepster, they mention that this is a tea for coffee lovers, and I understand where they’re coming from with that statement. It is a very full-flavored tea, quite bold and in that way it is quite similar to coffee. Fortunately, though, this lacks the bitterness that I have experienced with coffee – instead, I get a lovely honey-esque sweet note that I can’t ever recall tasting with coffee.
This is a remarkable Yunnan – deserving of high praise!