Camellia Sinensis

Drank this tea for Ashmanra’s Oldest Black Tea prompt!

Oh yeah, this is my oldest black tea for sure. I think CS has changed packaging at least twice since I bought this tea :) I tend to finish black teas faster than any other tea kind, maybe because I find them more versatile and less finicky. That and when I share tea with people, I know a nice black tea will be a crowd favorite.

Even as old as it is, the flavor is as smooth and bold as ever. The cute lil swirls of golden fuzzy leaves give the tea a great malty kick. There’s an earthy sweet potato note that makes it go down very easily. No wonder I hoarded this one for so long, if this was one of my first forays into tippy chinese hongcha, I wouldn’t want to say goodbye to it either. Too bad, I know it’s not going to last long in my office stash hehe

Meh. This is perhaps my oldest green tea, if memory serves me correctly. I’m sure that if this was fresh, the flavor profile would be so much more lush. but this tea may well be damn near 9 years old XD

The leaves are still gorgeous, if not a little grey. I still see the beautiful fuzzy bunny tails and the craft of these flat leaves, but the flavor leaves much to be desired. It’s not bitter in any sense, but very faintly vegetal. If la croix did tea……

Note to self: If you get a spring green tea, you best drink it within the year!!! Aging isn’t for every tea. Not even this one. Boo.

Brewed usually at boiling, 400ml water, for 3 minutes at a time in my steeper basket. I’d Gong Fu’d it in my Gaiwain, however I feel like it really shines with heavy handed brewing. The first infusion is Milky and Woody undergrowth, the second infusion is Milky sweetness with Wet wood, and the third is basically a ligther milkyness with wet wood.

Absolutely no bitterness, and quite economically priced. How can I say no?

I only had a few grams of this from a sample but made the best of it.

Wood, minerals, and a slightly fruity black tea. Good balance through the body so it is not overpowering to the senses. It reminds me of a Shui Xian I had but with a smoother profile. (That could be a result of the shape of the leaves, my Shui Xian was a bit crushed.)

Pretty good, mild but flavorful through the whole cup. I’ve had better but I would gladly drink this as it is not harsh and pleases the palate.

This Tea REALLY opened my eyes as to the potential of Oolongs. I didn’t know how to eyeball the weight, so I simply put the entire sample pack of about 10 to 13 grams in my 350ml Kyusu, with about 200ml of water. I opted for non linear brewing times, starting with a 25s first steep, and dropping down to 10 to 15 seconds on the second, adding more time as needed.

Each infusion is very consistent, and the notes you get from it are very dependant on Temperature. As you get closer to the 205F mark, All of the lovely milky notes come through, together with a vegetable, almost Umami undertone. The Milky taste and silky smooth mouth feel really pleasantly surprised me, as it was the first time I’d gotten that note from a tea. Quenching and Mouth Watering.

I added time to what ended up being 2 hours worth of infusions on each steeping, and the leaves just kept giving and giving. The tasting notes transformed a bit throughout. It started Milky, vegetal, with a hint of a fruit I couldn’t identify, and held those notes while the floral and fruity nature expanded in later infusions. Absolutely mouth watering. The liquor was a luminescent, glowing green. After 2 hours of about 1.7 liters worth of infusions, I’d decided to give it a 2 minute steeping at 210F. That last steeping held up, leaning heavily into the vegetal and floral, while keeping those Milky and Umami notes.

When it was all said and done, those tiny pellets expanded into small to medium sized leaves that completely STUFFED my Gaiwan when they expanded. While the amount of leaf was indulgently large, I didn’t regret it for a second. I was left with a calm, warming, lucid body sensation, and a milky sweet aftertaste.

This was an excellent baptism into Oolong. I’d ordered several others, which I cannot wait to try! I want to take a moment to recognize this Vendor, as well. With hundreds of teas to choose from at any given time at good prices, I regard them as the Top vendor in all of North America, let alone Canada. They are true tea experts that know what those of a discerning taste want in their cup.

I very highly recommend this Oolong if the tasting notes are in your lane. It is very consistent in its milky/vegetal notes, with pleasant floral/fruity nuances that pop up through many, many infusions. Now that I’ve totaled the sample pack, I am going to order a big haul!

I prefer to brew this one Western Style in my tea basket, when I want a mug of something good and invigorating to sip on. Usually 3 to 4 grams of leaf per 400ml, 4 minutes each steep.

This Black Tea is complex, yet not finicky. On the first infusion at 200f, I was pleasantly surprised. It is silky smooth, with very little astringency. Dark Chocolate married with a Woodiness, nuttiness, and a slight malt. It goes down very easy, because it’s absolutely delicious. Absolutely devoid of any bitterness, despite the heavy handed nature of Western style brewing.

On the Second infusion, I dialed up the temperature to 205f, and used about 300ml water, and let it steep for close to 5 minutes. While the liquor was a touch lighter, it was a delicacy on my taste buds. Milk chocolate now, still married with the Woodiness, but the Nuttiness really shone through and is persistent in the aftertaste, even 10 minutes afterward.

This is a great tea to wake up to and to brew western style when I’m feeling too lazy for Gong Fu, as it is incredibly forgiving and hard to overbrew. It also gives me an great caffeinated zip to put some pep in my step.

I highly recommend this if you want a Black Tea without much bite, that is very savory and sweet both in aromatics, and taste.

Gongfu!

Drank this session in the warm glow of the rising sun!! Even though green tea isn’t usually my jam, I wanted to try this one because of it’s more unique terroir! My initial thoughts were pleasant surprise at both how buttery and bean-y the medium bodied liquor was. Definitely on the softer side, and the delicate vegetal notes had a quality that almost gave the illusion of them “melting” on the palate. Alongside those notes were flavours of Timothy hay and straw that I would usually expect to taste in white tea. It was a curious session, in an almost exciting sort of way. I’m rather unfamiliar with teas from Bhutan in general, and I would love to explore further – something tells me other tea types, like black tea, from this region could be strongly up my alley!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnP0BeBOrGO/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=325NwgCMdMg

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Okay, so this was obviously a must-try in my recent Camellia Sinensis order. Any tea with evergreen elements, I’m here for it. And this is hojicha, which sounds even better.

To be honest, the first couple of cups of this left me wanting a bit more of the cypress. I could taste it, especially at the tail end of the sip, but the hojicha was overpowering it a little bit. This last cup seems much more evergreen-forward, maybe there was extra cypress hiding at the bottom of the bag? Either way, I can taste more of those refreshing piney notes, and also a lovely resinous sap-like flavor that I don’t think I’ve tasted before in a tea. Not sure if that’s down to the cypress compared to more common evergreen ingredients like fir, cedar, and juniper. Actually it’s reminding me a bit of cardamom, which feels like an odd thing to say. Regardless, it’s lovely. The hojicha adds a lovely sweet, roasty-toasty, woody, autumn leafy foundation that really brings home that feeling of sipping tea in an evergreen forest.

What a perfect winter tea! I’ll definitely have to order more of this at some point.

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So I finally made a Camellia Sinensis order recently. Even though I’ve been trying not to buy much tea, I got a notification that their wintergreen was back in stock so I jumped on it immediately. I mostly chose their Quebec herbal tisanes, but a few flavored tea samples also hitched a ride.

The apricot here is on point. It tastes so natural, with a juicy sweet-tart flavor. Maybe closer to a dried apricot than a fresh one in terms of intensity? However, there’s something about the oolong that I’m just not loving. Mostly it tastes like a fairly standard green oolong – lightly grassy/leafy with a smooth minerality and hints of stonefruit and flowers. However, there’s some other note here that almost reminds me of spirulina, or maybe moringa? It’s like a little punch of vegetal-mineral flavor that throws the whole thing off.

Lovely apricot aftertaste though. Probably not one I would reorder, but I did enjoy sipping through my small sample size.

Borderline decent tea that just falls short. I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent CS order. Beautiful leaves with a nice but slightly weak aroma and decently vibrant liquor. The flavour is decent but could use more potency, and the texture is average to decent. Character is average, not a lot of steep variability. Finish & aftertaste is decent as well, nice malty note lingering at the tail end. Cha-qi is unnoticeable, and steep longevity is relatively decent, topping out at steep 8-9.

Very nice green! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my CS order, and it’s one of the better greens I’ve had. Beautiful beautiful leaves with a great buddy look, paired with an absolutely rich aroma both in the dry leaf, which displayed notes of nuttiness, and the wet leaf which displayed potent notes of vegetalness. Liquor is decently vibrant and thick, flavour is decent to pretty good with a nice delicate balance of floral vegetal and bittersweet. Texture is decent, nicely smooth and juicy but could do a bit of work in potency, character is average to decent with some steep variability but pretty unidimensional. Finish & aftertaste is pretty good, nice elderflower bitter-floral lingering aftertaste with a slight astringency to boot. Cha-qi is almost non-existent and steep longevity is decent, lasting up to steep 8 or potentially more.

Overall, a good green which would be a 80-85+ tea if it had a better cha qi and better character.

Decent Oriental Beauty! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent order with CS. Beautiful leaves with a great proportion of buds, rich rich aroma in the dry and wet leaf that is complex and nuanced to the max. Liquor is a vibrant orangey red. Flavour is decent, lacking a bit of potency and nuance. Texture is juicy with a slight astringency, but really nice. Character is mediocre, the session was pretty unidimensional. Finish & aftertaste was decent, great lingering muscatel and spice note with a nice airy finish. Cha-qi is almost non-existent, and steep longevity is mediocre to decent, topping out at steep 8.

A little worried that these leaves have been tainted. The dry aroma is nowhere near what it should be. The first taste was fruity. Apples and almost a fruit cocktail drink without sugar. Still no aroma worth mentioning :/ This is probably one of the ..weirdest? oolongs I’ve ever had. As you steep longer you find charcoal and roasty notes. The apple stays but it doesn’t mix that well with the other notes. I wish I could find myself enjoying this tea but I just find each sip is somewhat of a grimace…

An okay to decent oolong! I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent Camellia Sinensis order, and it was nice but it didn’t last long. Very nice leaves albeit slightly dull and slightly broken, creamy and milky aroma that was extremely delicious but not potent enough, liquor was vibrant and active with a bright greenish-yellow hue. Flavour was decent for the first few steeps, reminds me of a Jin Xuan, creamy and milky and overall flavourful. Texture is decent, smooth yet with a slight bite. Character is lacking however with poor performance in the cup in later steeps, finish & aftertaste was quite nice, good airy finish with a slight milky aftertaste. Cha-qi was almost non-existent and steep longevity was mediocre to poor. Overall, a good tea but nothing too amazing especially past the first few steeps.

A very Complex Green Tea worth muliple infusions. Gong Fu style is enjoyable, but I tend to brew this one western style with A LOT of leaf. Aromatics of steamed spinach, steamed cabbage, with a bit of a nuttiness to it. The taste itself transforms through multiple infusions. The first infusion I did at 175f with about 5g of leaf gave me those vegetable notes mentioned in the aromatics. The second steeping at the same temperature gave me the same, giving way to a bit more nuttiness and a fuller body. The last infusion at 195f steeped for 4 minutes completely transformed it in a thicker textured tea with sweeter notes meeting a brothy kind of tea. The perfect amount of astringency throughout, and very hard to over-steep. This is by far the most enjoyable Chinese Green i’ve ever had. The Theanine hit was immediate in the first infusion, relaxing me completely.

The body/heady sensation is a very calm alertness. I very much enjoy this tea, and for the price point, it’s a must have.

I’d tried it Gong Fu style in my gaiwan as well. It draws out the experience, starting vegetale, moving into a nuttiness, and then a sweetness through the infusions. It’s a fascinating tea.

This is the most unique Black Tea I’ve ever had the pleasure of trying. I find it’s best brewed western style, and it’s generally a one steeper. I get notes of Malt, transforming into marinara sauce, a caramel sweetness, with hints of dark chocolate. It’s a very savory black Tea, and a wonderful way to start your day. It’s not nuanced enough for multiple infusions. I’ve tried it in my Gaiwan, and didn’t enjoy it enough to warrent that kind of effort. No, this is definately mean to be put in a steeper basket for about 3 to 5 minutes at 195f. It releases its infusion very quickly. So if you want a quick cup, at this price point, I’d say its worth it given the complexity of the aromatics and tasting notes of what this tea has to offer.

Not a great green. I got the 2022 harvest of this tea from my recent Camellia Sinensis order, and it seems to be the first review for this tea in 9 years, so it seems like the anji baicha this year is a downgrade from a few years back. Beautiful leaves with a vibrant green colour yet boasting a yellow sheen, wet leaf aroma is rich and complex, dry leaf aroma is nuanced but not rich, and empty cup doesn’t boast much of an aroma. Liquor is a vibrant rich greenish yellow. Flavour is decent but somewhat short-lived in the mouth, and doesn’t highlight much complexity but is quite delicate. Texture is disappointingly slaty but tends towards juicy with slight astringency towards the end, character is pretty one-dimensional which was unfortunate. Finish & aftertaste was negatively impacted by the short-lived flavour, but improved as the session climaxed around steep 3. Cha-qi is unnoticeable, and steep longevity is average to poor, with the session reaching its end at around steep 5.

Overall, not the best green tea and probably not worth the price tag.

Gongfu!

The early steeps have such a distinctly sweet and tangy umami snap to them that makes me think of honey mustard. It’s very unlike anything I’ve tasted in a yellow tea before, and also wickedly delicious. The back end is nuttier and more traditionally like the yellow teas that I know and love, and as I pushed the session and the mustard seed elements waned I found the nuttiness slowly built along with a more bean-y vegetal note.

I’ve wanted to try Mississippi grown tea for a whole now, as currently the only other US grown Camellia Sinensis I’ve come across is from Hawaii. I’m definitely glad I snagged this at the MTL tea fest because I think it was worth it just for that striking mustard note alone!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjN85A6OiSa/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my6zHC-5MDM

TTB

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Korean black tea before, and this is quite interesting.

It is surprisingly floral and sweet- like lilacs and honey.

There is a bit of a wet tree bark thing happening, which actually works really well with the soft floral notes.

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The first of many samples from my recent swap with Courtney! ❤

This is her favorite Earl Grey cream, and it’s definitely the best one I’ve had as well. There’s a nice level of bergamot, strong but not too strong, and the base is very smooth. The vanilla is somewhat subtle, but adds a gentle sweet creaminess that sort of rounds the edges of the overall taste. It’s a a very aromatic tea without being perfumey.

A very lovely tea. I’m not sure I feel the need to have an Earl Grey cream in my cupboard as I tend to reach for Earls with extra citrus and other flavors. But if I did want one, this would certainly be at the top of my list. Thanks Courtney! :)