1271 Tasting Notes
From Teeny tiny TTB2
Whoa, thats minty! Spearminty! Toothpastey! The super minty smell appealed to me to try it, even though I’m more of a peppermint person. It is pretty minty, not enough to feel like you cleaned your teeth, but enough to have a minty taste linger for awhile in your mouth. The smokey gunpowder tea is an interesting contrast. Not bad and very refreshing.
Very good iced! This one is a green oolong that is very creamy with a bit of floral and grassyness – the apricot/peach flavor is light and much stronger of the taste when iced. With that said, this is more of an oolong with a twist of fruityness at the end.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/apricot-oolong-sterling-tea-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
Another saffron blend tea! This one was my favorite so far with La Perse’s Saffron Tea collection.
The ceylon base is really smooth with the light cardamon spice and light rose notes. The saffron adds a sweet honey nutty quality pairing awesomely with the blend. Very delicious – a perfect blend to have for afternoon tea! The color of this tea is quite interesting too with a golden glow at the edges of the dark reddishbrown black tea.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/la-perse-saffron-teas/
Preparation
Is this the one in the wee triangle from the tea expo?
yeah these were packaged in little pyramids
I got those! Gave the green away, but haven’t tried the rest….thanks for reminding me! I love cardamom, so it’ll be on my hit list soon!
I bursted into laugh when I saw that name ‘La Perse’ since perse means ass in my language, sounds delicious eh?
Lol @ Riimu I’m afraid to google image search without “tea” next to it.
Mwahahaa.
Earl grey with saffron? Why not?
Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this tea. The bergamont is quite weak, the lightest EG I’ve tried so far. The citrus flavor comes out end of sip. The ceylon base is pretty good with a light rich quality and the saffron adds a nice honey flavor, but drowns out the EGness of this blend.
Pass on this one unless you want a really light earl grey and try La Perse’s Black Ceylon blend instead.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/la-perse-saffron-teas/
Preparation
Saffron threads in tea! Yeah! That’s fancy pants!
This green is blended with peppermint and saffron making for a really yellow tea. The flavor is grassy, steamed vegetal, light minty with a sweet honey like saffron. An interesting combo that I liked best when the cup has cooled for a sweeter taste! If I had more I’d probably try this iced.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/la-perse-saffron-teas/
Preparation
This is a 50% oxidized oolong from Indonesia! Organic too!
This oolong has a nice silky texture with plenty of roasty nuts notes (chestnut walnut) and honey flavor. Later steepings I got yellow squash and bread flavors. A little bit of dryness in later steepings as well. I found this tasted similar to a Dong Ding, but with more roasty richness.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/organic-medium-oolong-arum-tea-tea-review/
My first Tai Pin Hou Kui green tea – this tea has an amazing and unique appearance! I always thought it was a dragonwell, but you really need to see it to scale to grasp how cool this green tea looks!
The flavor has some notes that seem unique to this type of green tea – lightly creamy, sweet grassy, straw and cider. I love the cider notes as it has a light acidic/fruity/tang to it. I got 3 good infusions. The cold steep wasn’t as good as it was too light and not as interesting in flavor (just sweet grass/green bean)
Full review (picture heavy because this tea looks really cool) at my blog The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/nonpareil-cha-wang-tai-ping-hou-kui-green-tea-teavive-tea-review/
(Trotted on over to the blog). Very glad to see the photos in your review. This sample is far closer to Tai Ping Hou Kui than the Camellia Sinensis version I recently tried. It is supposed to be 100% 1 leaf/1bud, no broken tea. Otherwise it cannot be called Tai Ping Hou Kui and must be called Houjian instead. At least Teavivre gets close, but loose leaves are Houjian and also 3rd and 4th leaves on the stem are to be plucked off in yet another quality check. Hence the high price. Still, from what I am seeing from your photos I’d rather buy Teavivre version. I really like the taste of this and the slight roast on the leaves.
Omg big price difference only $16.90 for Teavivre, same amount as $58 buys from Camellia Sinensis. The price from Teavivre is in line with Houjian, glad to see.
I have some TaiPing houKui that a friend brought me from China. It’s really different and good.
Maybe you got the real 10 famous tea version?
I’m going to bet not.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/cheri0627/3o2mSu
It’s the tall blue tin on the right.
OMG those blue tea tins are stunning! Looks like you brought home a Chairman Meow as well! I guess we’ll have to wait until you crack it open to know for sure.
I’ve been in it. No special markings. I don’t know what the fancy tea would look like. I can take pictures from home.
I do love the tins.
And I love my Charlie Cat. He was all about the tea that day. It was so cute.
The good stuff should all be 1 bud/1 leaf branch pressed flat and straight, and nearly all the same length. Taste will still be good and probably the same if it turns out to be single leaves, broken leaves and broken buds or any yellow leaves, this indicates a lower grade and is not supposed to be called Tai Ping. I don’t think any other tea has as strict a requirement for the name, but it is a Famous Tea after all!
Yeah, I don’t think mine was like that.
Do you have any pics? I would love to see the leaf sometime, that tin is just swell.
I forgot to take pics yesterday. I’ll take some hopefully tonight.
Aloha Girl! This rooibos honeybush blend packs lots of flavor. I found this tea was best iced – lots of sweet tropical and pineapple flavor, earthy rooibos background with a light amount of spice that adds warmth to each sip – it was like being back in Hawaii again with the exotic and tropical feels and warm sun. There is a slight tartness to this tea, so Aloha Girl works well with a bit of extra sweetener.
I’m a tea drinker who generally dislikes red rooibos, but I found this blend to be pretty good and not watery. By the way, Tea Xotics has really pretty packaging too!
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/aloha-girl-tea-tea-xotics-oolong-owl-tea-review/
Preparation
I just looked them up based on your review. Wow, this tea isn’t the only one that sounds absolutely incredible! Anddd…you are right, their packaging is adorable :D
Yeah, that Jungle Monkey sounds good! :)
I wish they had more information on their website about each tea – it was much better in person to view their teas and see them. Their Santa’s Cup tea is a North American Tea Championship winner too!
Yum, now this is a creamy Earl Grey! This EG has a light to medium bergamont, with a nice malty flavorful base that isn’t dry or bitter. Lots of sweet creamy vanilla flavor, kinda like melted ice cream! This EG doesn’t need cream or sugar as the vanilla packs a punch! Very tasty, I’d like to have this one again!
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/zen-tea-traders-oolong-owl-tea-review/
This peachy white tea has a juicy light and floral tea base with a thick texture. A good amount of peach flavor too – though I’m pretty sure this tea would be best iced to bring out the peach flavor more! Not bad for peach teas, though nothing that stands out from other peach whites I’ve tried.
Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/zen-tea-traders-oolong-owl-tea-review/
I like this one best with a 2 minute steep. :)