Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Fashionista Tea
Tea Description:
Bright, brisk, high grown estate whole leaf Nilgeri tea hand blended with smooth rich Yunnan golden buds. This organic classic blend can be enjoyed at any time of the day; excellent as an iced tea.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice!
My first sip of this Basic Black Tea from Fashionista Tea … my impression was very much like the first sentence in the above description … before I even read the description. This is indeed bright and brisk! It has a really smooth character, and a pleasant richness without a heavy mouthfeel.
The flavor is really smooth. No bitterness to this, it has a clean, invigorating taste that is slightly earthy with notes of fruit in the background. It has a nice sweetness to it, slightly honey-esque … reminiscent of a thinned honey: sweet but not cloying.
There is some astringency to this, I’d categorize it as a medium amount of astringency … it’s a clean-feeling astringency. My mouth feels clean and refreshed after I sip this tea.
It’s a very enjoyable cuppa. It has an agreeable strength to it, I’d call it robust but not in-your-face bold. Because of its smooth character, I’d probably grab this one on those mornings when I wasn’t looking for something to give me that jumpstart … but something to help ease me into my morning. It’s one of those teas that would work well as an afternoon pick-me-up or a mid-morning energy boost … but it has a mellow enough quality to it that it would make a nice tea to just sit and enjoy while reading a good book too.
Another lovely tea experience from Fashionista Tea … I’m really liking this company!
Chocolate Midnight Black Tea from Nature’s Tea Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Nature’s Tea Leaf
Tea Description:
Chocolate Midnight Black Tea is an exclusive blend of select Yunnan Black tea infused with natural dried vanilla bean and blended with rich Belgian chocolate. The leaves of the Yunnan black tea are black with golden hairs on the buds that provide a strong invigorating aroma and vivid red liquid. The classic combination of tempting vanilla bean and rich dreamy curls of semisweet Belgian dark chocolate will offer your palate a temptingly sweet treat that will keep you coming back for more.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
OK … so you KNOW I had to try this one, right? I think it may have been love at first sight with this tea … I mean, look at all those chocolate curls! *drool!*
And this is definitely chocolate-y! It is a dark chocolate taste (although a splash of milk could make it a creamier milk chocolate if you so desire!) and it tastes really quite … perfect. The vanilla gives it just enough creaminess without making it taste too much like “milk” chocolate – making this the perfect choice for any chocolate lover – whether they prefer milk or dark chocolate!
Oh sure, I’ve had teas with more chocolate flavor, but, I really LOVE the way the chocolate is represented here. It tastes like a dark chocolate truffle that you can buy by the piece in one of those gourmet chocolate stores. Smooth and rich … and oh-so-delicious. It is sweet, but not cloying.
The black tea base is a Yunnan base, and I think this is another reason I find myself so in love with this tea. Yunnan teas typically have a natural chocolate-y undertone going on, and their pleasing natural spice notes enhance the chocolate in a very appealing way. The Yunnan here provides a solid background of flavor: rich, robust and well-rounded. And nicely balanced with the chocolate.
This is one of the best chocolate teas I’ve yet to try (and I’ve tried quite a few!) Definitely in the top five! I love it!
Phoenix Pearl Black Tea from Zen Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Zen Tea
Tea Description:
Hailing from the Yunnan province, this Phoenix Pearl is naturally sweet and smooth with a touch of earthiness. Comprised of only the highest quality leaves and buds, expertly rolled into a pearl-like shape. Subtle cocoa notes whisper gently as each pearl unfurls delivering a superior tea experience not to be missed. Recomended to steep 2-3 times for different nuances of flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, my! I am loving this tea! It is so rich and creamy and incredibly decadent!
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The leaves were a little surprising for me, because generally, when I think of “Pearl” black teas, I think of leaves that are very dark (black!) that have been rolled up into near perfect pearl shapes. These leaves are a bit lighter in color, more like a chocolate-y brown rather than a black color, and some of the leaves are tipped in gold. And they aren’t rolled into careful little pearls. They look a little more like disheveled knots rather than pearls. Nothing wrong with that, of course, just my observations based upon what I’ve experienced in the past with teas called “black pearl” teas and this Phoenix Pearl Black Tea from Zen Tea.
The little knots, when dry, possess very little discernible fragrance, I do note some earthiness to the scent but not much else. Once brewed, the aroma of the liquid has a slightly earthy, rich, almost chocolate-y note.
The flavor is superb! Rich and chocolate-y, these are the most profound flavors of the cup – from the very first sip to the last. I note caramel-y tones in the undercurrent, earthiness in the background, flavors that remind me of leather and even a touch of woodsy flavor. This is one of those teas that once you start drinking, you don’t want to stop, and you want more the minute you finish the cup! It has a very pleasing texture to it, it feels full and smooth on the palate, and there is some, but not a lot, of astringency to the sip. The aftertaste is sweet, reminding me of raw sugar.
I REALLY like this tea a lot. It’s one of those MUST TRY teas for those who truly love tea.
Yunnan Gold Rush from BigTeaHouse
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: BigTeaHouse
Tea Description:
This beautiful gold-tipped organic black loose leaf tea from the Yunnan Province of China is full-bodied with hints of spice and a delicious flowery undertone.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea is indeed beautiful – lots of golden tips!
The flavor is also beautiful! It tastes rich and has a full, satisfying flavor that is warm and inviting. The kind of tea you want in your teacup in the morning. Something that will embrace you and invigorate you at the same time.
The flavor is complex, with sweetness that starts out as a heavy caramel undertone, and then lightens as the sip progresses to a honey-esque tone. The spice note is a gentle peppery taste, and it contrasts with the floral tones of this tea quite nicely – sort of sweet and exotic melding with warm peppery heat. There is an earthy/leathery kind of taste, as well as a malty tone that emphasizes a freshly baked bread note in the distance. The astringency is what I’d categorize as medium, and it leaves the palate feeling energized and ready for more! Yeah, as I said … complex. So much flavor!
A very lovely cup, indeed; a thoughtful cup, one that you’ll with which you’ll enjoy spending the morning.
Balché from Handmade Tea, part 2
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Handmade Tea
Tea Description:
The MVP of Balche is an earthy and smoky black tea from the Yunnan Province of China that finishes naturally with a touch of cocoa. It is then followed up with diced Guajillo chile peppers adding a sweet fruitiness and just a kiss of heat as they are only rated 2,500 to 5,000 on the Scoville scale. Finally, in traditional Mayan fashion we added a combination of Saigon Cinnamon and organic Cacao Nibs, not only to keep up with Mayan theme, but to compliment the base tea as well.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
Sorry it took me so long to get around to posting part 2 of this review! As I mentioned before, I had come down with a really bad bug, and everything got put off, including part 2 of this review! (Here is a link to Part 1 of this review)
I wanted to approach this review as I did with Murmur, which was Handmade Tea’s tea of the month for February of this year: Part 1 focusing on the blended tea as it was intended, and then a further examination of the components of each tea, including a tasting of the tea where I customized the flavor using the individual components.
Second Tasting
For this tasting, I am focusing on the Yunnan black tea base that Handmade Tea used in for the Balché blend. Handmade tea makes this easy to do because when you subscribe to their monthly service, you receive not only a large tin of their special blend of the month, but you also receive three smaller tins that include portions of the ingredients that go in to each blend. With the Balché blend, I received a full-size tin of the blended tea, as well as a small sample tin of the Yunnan black tea, a small sample tin of the diced Guajillo chili pepper, and a small sample tin which contained a combination of Saigon cinnamon and organic cacao nibs.
This is a very robust Yunnan tea! Yunnan typically possesses some peppery notes, and that is quite true of this Yunnan … in fact, I think this may be one of the most peppery Yunnan teas I’ve come across. In addition to the well-defined spiced notes, this tea is pleasantly earthy and full-flavored, with a lovely smoky tone. Often I find a strong smoky flavor to be a little 0ff-putting, but, this Yunnan isn’t. It has just the right amount of smoke, and the way the smoky notes meld with the spice and earth of this cup are really quite delightful.
This tea is more savory than sweet, but there is a hint of sweetness to this with a slight caramel-y note in the distance as well as a chocolate-y note that comes through toward the end of the sip.
Third Tasting
For this third tasting, I decided to customize the brew a little bit. I added a little bit more of the Guajillo chili pepper – but before I did this, I took out a small flake and tasted it on it’s own. Mild! And very flavorful. It has a warm, fruity taste to it, reminiscent of a childhood favorite of mine: Chili Saladitos. When I was young, I lived in Southern California, and I fell in love with Chili Saladitos. Now, these Gualjillos are not as salty as Saladitos, but, they have a similar fruit note with a little bit of heat. Actually, I think that the Saladitos might have been hotter than these Gualjillo flakes.
I also added a little more of the cinnamon (these are BIG chunks of Saigon Cinnamon, folks!) and the cacao nibs to the already blended Balché tea. I suppose for this third tasting, I could have also brewed up these ingredients as a tisane for a tasting, and I considered that, but, I do love the Yunnan base so much, that I just decided to amp up the flavor a bit on the Balché blend.
And that’s one thing that I’m really loving about the Handmade Tea blends – I love that I can totally customize the tea if I want, and I’m able to train my palate by tasting each of the individual ingredients on their own. I love the way this product is put together.
By brewing it this way, it has given me another way to explore these ingredients. The Gualjillo pepper is slightly warmer, but, still not hot, even with extra flakes in the brew. The addition of the pepper and a little more cinnamon does make the cup slightly spicier, but it is very slight. The extra cacao brings out the chocolate-y notes in the Yunnan a little more, and I notice that with the extra ingredients, the Yunnan seems a little less smoky … a little less earthy … and while I am enjoying this cup quite a bit, I think that the blend was just perfect the way that Caleb from Handmade Tea made it – no additional alterations needed! So, unlike with the Murmur, where the third tasting was my favorite… with this tea, my first tasting was my favorite (although, I could make an argument for the second tasting too. I really liked the Yunnan unblended!)