TeaBrat select Send Message

Purchased this tea with my last Dragon Tea House order that came in a few weeks ago, but am just getting around to reviewing it now. I’ve tried steeping it Western style and also in the gaiwan (this morning).

The only other bohea tea I’ve had is Upton’s version. This is a lot lighter in body than I remember the UT version being. It does have flavor notes similar to a dark roasted oolong like a wuyi. I’m getting roasty grain notes, along with a fruity flavor like plums and yes, a citrus. I can see why they liken this to bergamot but thankfully it doesn’t have the overpowering obnoxious smell of bergamot ;) Finish is sweet on the palette without a loot of bitterness.

I can really see drinking this as a late morning or early afternoon tea. This would be a decent one for the office too as it needs no cream or sugar. (I like simple when I am at work).

Overall I think this is “ok” but I’m not really thrilled by it. I feel like I have a lot of teas already that fit this flavor profile. I know this isn’t a puerh but maybe it will develop a bit more complexity with some age behind it? hmmm.

sipdown
I wasn’t too impressed with this tea for the price but I have finished off the tin fairly quickly. Now I just need to bring to work the Trader Joe’s version I got for $3. I do like a cuppa peppermint tea in the evenings.

Good morning Steepster. I have been drinking this as my morning tea this week and it’s a decent cuppa, it does have me pining for a really good yunnan black. I would say this is kind of average but it does have a nice malty heft this morning.

I was at Peet’s the other day and saw they are bringing back some of their tinned teas but with a Mighty Leaf label on them. I don’t know if they will relaunch the entire line; I only saw about 10 of them in the store and this wasn’t one.

What are your favorite yunnan blacks? Are there any I need to try? One of my recent favorites came from a hole in the wall shop in Oakland’s Chinatown. I do feel I need to do a significant number of sipdowns before buying a lot of new stuff, but maybe I can afford one or two really good ones ;)

I’m enjoying this tea that I got at the Vital Tea Leaf the other day. I stopped in to do a tea tasting with some tourists in Chinatown and tried a few things. I’m not usually the biggest fan of Iron Goddess oolongs but I found this to be well balanced and tasty. I bought 1/4 oz. This is not roasted as far as I can tell.

At home I’m drinking it out of the yixing teapot and got 4 steeps. It is vegetal and creamy in texture, with a slight butteriness in the 2nd and 3rd steep. By the 4th steep the buttery flavor had mostly gone. I could have gotten more steeps out of it but gave up after steep #4. It has a slight mineral quality that I notice in the Iron Goddess teas. The woman in the store told me this doesn’t have much caffeine in it, however I do notice it seems slightly energizing. A good everyday drinking tea.

Picked this one up from Tea Ave recently. I’m finally getting to steep some tea in my gaiwan, which is something I haven’t had the chance to do much of lately.

I had a few steeps of this and it is very vegetal. It smells buttery but doesn’t taste too buttery to me. I’m picking up a bit of floral but to me, this has a bit of marine/seaweed/mineraly flavor that reminds me more of an Iron Goddess of Mercy than the LiShans I’ve tried in the past. I did three steeps, at around 30 seconds for the first two and then 10 seconds for the third. I wish I was getting more out of this, maybe I’ll need to try it soon as a cold brew? It’s ok but my least favorite of the Tea Ave’s so far I think.

Good afternoon Steepster. It’s been unusually hot for San Francisco so I haven’t been drinking much tea or other warm beverages. Finally last night things started cooling off a bit.

I got this as a small sample with my last Tea Ave order. Brewing it Western style this afternoon in my new ‘For Life’ green infuser mug. When it comes to jasmine I am a fan of more subtlety so I’m enjoying this today. The base is an Alishan Jin Xuan and it has a sweet, buttercream sort of flavor. The jasmine is present but subtle, and the overall effect is quite relaxing. Of the 3 floral oolongs I’ve tried from Tea Ave, I think the Magnolia is my favorite but this is also quite good, and something I would consider ordering again. Tea Ave has a lot of nice options. :)

A sipdown, finally…
I’ve had these for a couple of years now, they are very tasty little tous. Good for travel or to take to the office. These have a nice date flavor. I’ve written about them extensively before so check my previous tasting notes for the details. I would re-order these again if I was going to buy more tea from Seven Cups.

My review is for the 2015 version of this tea. It definitely has a ruby color, almost orange in appearance. I don’t really wan to give this a numeric rating as I’m not a big fan of second flush darjeelings in general. I am much more partial to the first flush. This cuppa has a woody, slight citrusy flavor with a touch of muscatel in the finish. It’s a bit brisk. I’m happy for the opportunity to try this but still not a second flush convert ;)

Good morning Steepster!
I am finishing off the last of this tea I got from the Yunnan Sourcing tea of the month club a while back. This is a nice dian hong for sure. Today I am getting bready and malty notes and a bit of pepper! This is good plain but also pretty good with soymilk as I am drinking it this morning Granpa style in a big mug. I wish I had more time to gong fu teas these days.

Anyway I have enjoyed this but I still have a lot of black teas to get through, so I doubt I will be needing to buy this anytime soon :)

This is quite a lovely and interesting oolong from Tea Ave. I got this a few weeks ago and am just getting around to trying it now. Due to being at work, I had to steep it Western style but hope to try the gong fu method soon.

The tea has an Alishan Jin Xuan (milk) oolong base. I definitely get the strong milk oolong element. It reminds me of fresh butter and has a creamy taste; almost decadent. The magnolia flower is light and fresh here and compliments the base tea well. Overall the bouquet of this tea is sweet but I am picking up on a very slight bitterness in the finish. I like this one a lot. It seems like the perfect thing to serve at an afternoon tea party.