Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Upton Tea Imports
Tea Description:
Named after Robert Fortune who toured the tea producing regions in the 1840s under the auspices of the East India Company. Darjeeling adds a pleasing brightness; Yunnan lends a dark, honey colored liquor and delicately spicy overtones.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The aroma of dry leaf of this Robert Fortune Blend 41 from Upton Tea Imports – which is a blend of Darjeeling and Yunnan teas – is woody with earthy low notes. The fragrance of the brewed tea is very similar to the dry leaf – woody, earthy, with notes of sweetness (like honey!) and hints of fruit and flower in the distance. It’s a very inviting scent … very autumnal.
This tastes really quite nice. Darjeeling tends to be a lighter, brighter … sort of sparkling taste on the tongue and the Yunnan – which is a more full-bodied tea – seems to fill in the flavor and provide a very well-rounded taste. The deep flavor of the Yunnan is a very compelling complement to the light, crisp taste of the Darjeeling.
There is a distinct woodsy tone to this cup, giving it a definite “masculine” sort of taste. I taste notes of fermented grape, evoking thoughts of a well-aged wine: something that I don’t drink very often (read: never) but, if I were to indulge in such a luxury … these delightful fruit notes are something that I would expect to experience in a well-aged, fine wine.
There is a sweetness to this tea as well … a sweetness that reminds me of honey and caramel. Both honey and caramel are sweet notes that I associate with “heavy” or “thick” flavors, and here, the honey-esque, caramel-y notes are decidedly thinner than teas that I might usually note with a honey tone or a caramel note.
There are floral notes here too, but they are quite distant. Imagine a field of flowers in the distance … you can’t really see the individual flowers but just a field of color … this is what I note here. A taste that is reminiscent of a flowery sweetness but nothing that is too distinct.
What I am enjoying most with this tea is the complexity and the body of the tea. I like that this is not as robust and full as a Yunnan … but not as crisp and light as a Darjeeling … it is skillfully blended to find a happy medium between these two dynamic teas to create a flavor that really excites the palate.
Eight Treasures Yabao Tea from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh & Green Tea
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Yabao is an incredibly intriguing tea, evoking marshmallow sweetness, spice, and even cooling cedar notes. By combining it with a light sun dried green jasmine from Yunnan, and whole vanilla bean, this brew steeps up perfectly smooth, thick and velvety. The floral elements of the vanilla and honeysuckle are extended to the aftertaste with marigold and rose petals, and the spice of the yabao is sharpened with goji berry. This well-integrated take on the traditional “Eight Treasures” is sweet but nuanced, and great hot or iced.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Eight Treasures Yabao Tea from Verdant Tea is absolutely delightful! Then again, I was expecting nothing less from a company like Verdant Tea. I can’t recall ever being disappointed by a tea from them!
This blend takes the natural creamy sweetness of a Yabao tea and combines it with vanilla bean to enhance the rich, creamy notes and the decadent sweetness. These two components together would be enough to send this tea drinker into a blissful tea experience, but, this is EIGHT Treasures … so Verdant Tea didn’t stop there.
The jasmine green tea adds a little bit of a vegetative taste and a distinct jasmine note. The floral tones are further accentuated with the addition of marigold and rose. I don’t notice the marigold a lot, but, the rose has a distinguished flavor. The tasting note from Verdant Tea suggests an “orchid” note and I am getting that here, although I find that I taste more jasmine and rose than orchid.
I taste the goji berry and the berry adds a tart, tingly sensation toward the finish that offers a nice contrast to the smooth, creaminess of the vanilla and marshmallow notes of the Yabao, and the sweet flowery tones. My first few sips I noticed a slight “resinous” taste … and as I continued to sip, and after reading the tasting notes from Verdant that suggest a Cedar note, I realize that this is the resinous note I was noticing at the start. Slightly woody, slightly earthy … with an invigorating crisp, cool sensation.
The most surprising thing about this tea is just how good it is iced! I was astonished by it’s iced flavor. It is sweet and fruity and very refreshing! The next time you place your order with Verdant … add this tea to your shopping cart – you won’t be disappointed!
High Mountain Red Tea from Foxfire Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Foxfire Teas
Tea Description:
This beautiful black tea from the Yunnan Province in China has a beautiful dried leaf appearance and once steeped it has a wonderful robust aroma with slight fruit notes. This tea is part of the Limited Collection, so we have a very small quantity available and once it is sold out, we may not see it again until it is next harvested.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh. My. Goodness!
This is soooo good.
Once upon a time … (Once upon a tea?) I tasted Dawn from Simple Leaf. Dawn is one of the very best teas I’ve ever had the privilege to sample, and of the pure black teas I’ve sampled, it is definitely in the top three if not at the #1 spot. Unfortunately, Simple Leaf is no longer in business. (sob) But every once in a while, I will encounter a tea that reminds me so much of that amazing experience that I had with Dawn.
This moment with High Mountain Red Tea from Foxfire Teas is one such experience.
The dry leaf is beautiful – long, curly, wiry leaves of dark chocolate brown that smell of sweet fruit, notes of chocolate and hints of caramel. And after the tea brews, that is the fragrance that surrounds my olfactory nerves when I take a deep whiff of this magical brew.
And that’s what I taste too. The flavor is sweet, rich and smooth. Well-rounded. Notes of cacao. Undertones of sweet, luscious caramel. Sweet fruit notes that are reminiscent of apple, plum and currant – but with no tartness. Just the sweet tones of those fruits! There is a pleasant … what I’m going to call “savory” quality … toward mid-sip. This “savory” quality is not bitterness, it is not sweetness, it is not tart or tangy … it’s just … smooth and robust and … well, savory.
There is no bitterness to this cup … and virtually nothing that resembles astringency. There might be the slightest twang of a tangy pucker towards the finish. But this is so slight that if you’re not paying very strict attention, you’ll miss it.
Easily one of the best cups of tea that I’ve had in a very long time – and I’ve had a lot of really, really good tea lately!
Moonlight White Tea from Life in Teacup
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: White
Where to Buy: Life in Teacup
Tea Description:
Production Season: Autumn
Production Region: Yunnan, Jing Mai
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh wow! I’m amazed at just how flavorful this Moonlight White Tea from Life in Teacup is. More often than not, when I brew a white tea, I find the taste to be delicate. I don’t mind the flavor to be delicate, mind you, but, Life in Teacup recommends to use boiling water on white tea rather than a lower temperature which is what I always use when it comes to white tea – and this will result in a stronger (that is, not delicate!) flavor.
I did not follow the recommendations of Life in Teacup, mostly because I am a creature of habit and when I get a white tea, I think automatically 160°F. So, that’s the temperature that I used. But I’m still getting a WHOLE LOT of flavor from this white tea!
It is sweet, earthy and possesses hints of vegetative notes. I find that the vegetative notes for white teas tend to be a bit more like “hay” than grass or steamed vegetables, and that is true in the case of this tea as well. But I’m finding this tea to be just a bit more on the earthy side than on the vegetative side. I’m also noticing a slight “spiced” quality to the tea as I continue to sip. Not “spicy” … but more like a hint of warmth to the cup that keeps the palate intrigued!
There is also a nice nutty flavor to this, and the nutty flavor accentuates the sweetness in a pleasing way. It’s a soft “textured” tea – it doesn’t feel or taste harsh. It has no bitterness to it. There is some astringency that I notice toward the tail … it sort of has that “tangy” pucker at the tail that is slightly acidic, and it is a really nice contrast to the sweet, soft feel and taste of the tea at the start.
A really enjoyable cuppa!
Organic Ancient Green Tuo Cha Pu-Erh Tea from Arbor Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Arbor Teas
Tea Description:
This compressed Green Pu-erh is made with top-quality sun-dried buds from the antique tea trees of the Jing Mai Mangjing region of China’s southwest Yunnan province. Many of these tea trees range from 800 to 1200-years-old with the eldest exceeding 1300-years-old! The flavor of this organic Chinese tea is mildly sweet with a character of gentle white and green teas. This Pu-erh is created using the traditional sheng processing techinque and aged for eight years. The infusion of this exquisite organic tea is light brown with a rose hue, yielding the flavor and aroma of malted grains and sweet apples. The faintest hint of earthiness that is characteristic of organic pu-erh tea can also be detected. Each tuo cha is individually wrapped and perfect for a medium sized teapot or can be broken apart to accommodate a single serving.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This Organic Ancient Green Tuo Cha Pu-Erh Tea from Arbor Teas is one of the nicest and most unusual Tuo Cha Pu-Erh Teas I’ve yet to taste.
The dry appearance of the Tuo Cha is the first thing that took me by surprise … it doesn’t look like the typical Tuo Cha … the leaves are green and yellow-ish (like straw!) and it looks a bit more to me like hay that has been compressed into bails than it does a Pu-erh Tuo Cha. The aroma is quite different too, normally, I experience a strong earthy note from Pu-erh, but the aroma here is rather mild.
The flavor of the first infusion is just as mild as the fragrance. And I’m liking this mellow attitude that I’m getting from this tea. It is light and sweet, reminding me more of a gentle green tea or perhaps a delicate white tea than a Pu-erh. It doesn’t taste earthy, brine-y or fish-y or any other flavors that are often associated with Pu-erh. It is vaguely reminiscent of the flavor I’d get if I were to sip the simmering water from a pot of farro rather than what I would normally taste from a Pu-erh, and I’ve got to tell you … I like that a whole lot!
The second infusion offers a slightly deeper flavor. The flavor is a little more earthy … but again, it’s not the same kind of “earth” note I’d get from a typical Pu-erh. This is more like the earthiness I’d taste from a Shou Mei white. Sweet, almost hay-like. Notes of flower to this cup as well. There is a slight dryness to this infusion that I didn’t experience with the first infusion. Where I liked the mild, mellow flavor of the first cup, I’m liking the sweet, white tea-like flavor of this second cup … I like that this tea has different things to show me as I take this tea journey.
The third infusion is my favorite so far! The flavor is sweet and has a distinct fruit-like taste to it. The above description suggests notes of apple, and I’d agree with that … there are hints of the sweet apple-y notes as well as whisper of tartness. Nice contrast. The earthiness is no longer present, this is much more like a hay-ish taste, with notes of the aforementioned farro and the fruit tones. A crisp, light sweetness to this cup. Very nice!
And this tea is still going strong! I like that this tea offers me a taste of the lighter side of Pu-erh … it is smooth and sweet, but it is much crisper and more delicate than the typical Pu-erh tea. If you are a fan of Pu-erh and are looking for something a little different, you should give this one a try. On the other hand, if you typically find Pu-erh to be a little too earthy or brine-y for your liking … this one will change your mind about Pu-erh!
A really delightful Pu-erh!