Chicago Tea Garden

This has become my go-to black tea when I feel like I need something strong to start the day, but I can’t decide which tea I want to drink. It has that wonderful toastiness — almost chewiness — and that biscuit-y quality that is exactly what I like in a tea to drink with breakfast. It helped jolt me out of my sluggish, sleep deprived stupor this morning, and it tasted so good, I think I’ll drink it again tomorrow.

A savory and toasty cup. Smooth and flavorful. Great way to start the day!

Toasty. That’s the first word that comes to mind when I open the sample baggie, when I smell the brewed result, and when I taste it. It’s a bit astringent, so I add a little stevia. There, that’s better. Now it’s a smooth, rich flavor. The liquor is a medium reddish brown.

This is a strong, slightly malty, black tea. Seems to have a reasonable amount of caffeine, so I’d say this would be a good breakfast tea. The flavor is more subtle than some other Yunnan teas I’ve tried. It has a smooth, creamy aftertaste.

Toasty and biscuity…a good tea to have with something to nibble on the side…cookies, toast, etc. I’m having it with cinnamon toast and it’s perfect.

This would be a great tea for someone who is primarily a coffee drinker — it has a roasted/rich flavor without being too overpowering and bitter. I may have to get some of this when I finish the other Yunnans in my cupboard.

Does this taste vaguely like soap to anyone else?

Regardless the taste is complex. Smooth, a little sweet, a little typical oolong. Personally I don’t care for an overly ‘buttery’ oolong and this one fits the bill perfectly.

OM NOM NOM NOM GIVE TO ME YOUR TEA!!!

This is pretty good stuff. Sweet, floral. If you’re careful with brewing it turns out light, but I can imagine you can make it a little heavier if you try. For me the sweetness didn’t sustain itself through multiple steepings.

61? Why was my rating so low? Dyslexic moment, I suppose. Anyway, not much to add, Ricky basically said it and it’s been a while. I was rushed when I tried this and only got to steep it twice. It was a nice general black pu-erh taste and probably would’ve lasted quite a while. I recently had better but I’m still picking up a few when I finally order from CTG.

Delicious! So far I am enjoying the “Dark” Zealong the most. I will write more detailed notes once I have made more steeps.

I have had a few “wow” moments with this tea, which is always a welcome surprise. “Wow” anything is nice, of course, but tea doesn’t often engender that response from me. More like “mmmm” most of the time if it’s good.

The first wow was inhaling the fragrance of the initial steep: it was like stepping outside on an early spring day… thinking about it (“what is that familiar fragrance?”) I realized it’s lilac. Your first whiff of lilac in the spring. Actually fooled me for a second into feeling like I’m not locked into winter here on the east coast. Then as I drank it it was just like honeysuckle, one of my all-time favorite scent experiences. This continued in subsequent steeps. I’m not too fond of any floral tastes or scents in tea, but this tea’s front floral personality coupled with its butteriness just kept making me smile with enjoyment.

WOW this is amazing.
It is a good pu erh in it’s own right but with the sticky rice sweetness the flavors play off of eachother mmmmmmmmmmmm………

Yummy! I don’t know what chrysanthemum or muscatel taste like, but I’m definitely getting chocolate! Not dark cocoa like most teas, but an actual creamy, milk chocolate kind of taste. There’s also something just a little bit smoky in here. Perfect for drinking on a rainy day!

Very clean and fresh feeling :)

MMMmmm…
Smooth and Earthy
With a unique citrusy huigan

Love it this is my tea for today!

Smokey, Slightly Buttery, and Slightly Toasty — very fresh and clean palatal.

I’ve tried lots of steeping times, but I just can’t bring myself to love it. I prefer Pai Mu Tan to silver needle

Absolutely delicious! I taste a bit of a roasted flavor to it. My favorite steep was the second. I wish I could explain it better but I just can’t. You have to try it to see what I mean.

Delicious and sweet can’t wait to have some more tomorrow.

love this tea! will do a more thorough review soon :)

What a great tea!! Out of the package the tea has a lovely light floral scent. Not very strong, but immensely pleasing. I steeped the tea according to the directions, using the correct amount of tea, and freshly boiled (but not boiling) water. This resulted in a beautiful bright yellow/green liquid that had a light sweet smell. The taste is best described as light, yet full of flavor at the same time. The tea has a rich green vegetal body, that felt buttery on the tongue. Floral and sweet notes come through as well. Even though the leaves are unroasted, there was a slight oolong toasty/tanginess at the end. It is a delicious cup of tea that helped relax me on a hectic day. I did a second steep of the leaves, and the flavor was less delicate, the gentle floral notes were gone. It was stronger this time, with a toastier flavor, definitely more ‘oolong-like’. Can’t wait to try the other Zealong varieties!

The last of the Zealong oolongs for me to try, this one just might be my favorite. It’s got the toasty, honey-sweet notes of the Dark but also the lighter, lemon-tinged notes of the Pure. There’s a moment of thick creamy but it flashes by and the majority of the taste is light, refreshing (though without astringency) sweetness. There’s a lot of fruitiness (apples perhaps but without the tartness?) and a hint of refreshing lemon fruit-ness. As it cools, a slightly darker flavor comes back out – the toastiness from the Dark, but not as heavy. Perhaps somewhat floral? Like grilled flowers sprinkled with sugar and nuts or something.

Honestly, I thought Pure was good. (Okay, it is. Really good. As is Dark.) But Pure has some lighter flavors that I have to pay a bit more attention to. This one? Light enough that it’s not roasted tasting but with just enough roasting to make the flavors truly pop. I’m kind of in love and want to buy a massive tin of this.

ETA: Second steep (1:00) makes me think of a mildly flavored lemon pie.
8.2g/8oz

Wombatgirl sent me this one a little while ago and apparently I haven’t yet posted about it. Which is weird because I can’t really wrap my head around the fact that I haven’t tried it before. I ought not have tried it before anyway, because I always try to post about it the first time I have samples that people have sent me. But there wasn’t enough left that I can understand not having used some of it. Otherwise Wombatgirl sent me really small sample. Which also doesn’t fit, because I would have remembered that. Small samples tend to get tried first, because if people only give me a little it gives me the impression that it’s because it’s awesome and difficult to part with. You know?

Anyway, this one is living up to its name and is showing itself as very aromatic indeed. The aroma is quite floral, I think, and underneath that it has those thick full notes like green teas can have. I’m thinking especially of senchas and dragonwells here.

I have to say I liked the Pure better than this, but it’s still very good. It’s very fruity in flavour with a very strong note of apples and pears, and especially apple.

On the aftertaste there’s the floral notes I found in the aroma. They’re not very VERY forceful, but they do build up.

As the cup cools a bit more the apple and pear note transfoms into something more like maybe peaches and tangerines and with a bit of nuttyness on the side.

There’s definitely a lot of stuff going on in this tea, but yeah, I think the Pure is my favourite of the two.

Thanks to The Purrfect Cup for this one!
I had this once before but am so glad I was able to try it again! Sticky Rice, Sticky Rice…yeah, yeah, YEAH!!!!! Totally…see my other notes on this one!!!