Green Terrace Teas

I decided to do my first-ever gong fu session with this tea. I was having a rather bad day – my car was towed because of the registration being expired, so now I have to sort all of that out and go get it this week. So I had hoped that this would cheer me up. I based my parameters mostly off of Sarsonator’s recent tasting note (I believe it was a milk oolong from TeaVivre), but I used less tea per water as was suggested in the comments. And I also used 200 degree water because I seem to be uncomfortable going for boiling on any teas besides herbal and rooibos. :P So sue me!

The parameters: 5g tea per 4 ounces of water, 10s rinse/25s/35s/45s/55s

Used two of my noble cups from David’s. They’re about 10 ounces total and came with lids, so I figured they were perfect! Hard to pour, but I got the hang of it…
(http://imgur.com/du542o8)

Rinse (10s): extremely light vegetal flavor with floral notes, light peach aftertaste

Steep 1 (25s): creamy and peachy, light vegetal background with floral aftertaste

Steep 2 (35s): creamy, buttery, quite floral with slightly bitter vegetal taste, peach aftertaste

Steep 3 (45s): quite floral and vegetal, apricot aftertaste

Steep 4 (55s): extremely floral with some vegetal notes, light apricot/peach aftertaste

I could have gone for more steeps, but I found myself liking this less and less as it steadily became more floral. I want more of that lovely creamy peach steep! I have enough left for a smaller session, so I might try this one again with shorter steeps. If anyone has suggestions, I would love them! I did enjoy this tea, but I was looking for more of that milk creaminess that I got in the first couple of steeps. I’m finding that green oolongs tend to be too floral for me.

This tea was excellent, it surpassed my expectations and was a joy to experience. The leaves are a dark green color, rolled into small clumps that pack a powerful aroma and flavor. The aroma is light and refreshing with hints of sweet fruits and floral undertones. It brews a beautiful light green/yellow and tastes heavenly. It starts with a sweet flavor again accompanied by floral undertones. It has a light astringency, bringing attention to the full-bodied character of the oolong. Overall this tea was wonderful and it comes HIGHLY recommended.

This tea was my accompaniment to the world cup today.

I got 15 steeps out of it (35,25,35,45,55,65,90,80,95,125,180s, 5,6,8,10 min) after the rinse. I found it kind of interesting it started savoury with vegetal,wood, and almond meal among the fruit and floral notes and ended savoury, with fruit and floral notes that vied for dominance within the centre. My favourite steeps were the second set of three where apple, magnolia and honey were the more prominent notes. The other thing I noticed with this tea was a bit of a disconnect between the scent and the taste. With the scent promising warm apples with cinnamon and raisins, whereas the taste was not as sweet and often much more floral than expected. Anyways I did very much enjoy this tea. Below see the scent and taste notes I found. Thanks again Green Terrace Teas this was my first Gui Fei and I appreciate the chance to try it!

Scent: cream, soft creamy floral that opens up to Magnolia, apple flower, apple( which dominates most of the steeping)’ plum,raisins, cinnamon, raw almond, woody tone, light vegetal scent.

Taste: cream, soft creamy floral that opens up to Magnolia, apple flower, pluumeria, apple( which dominates most of the steeping)’ plum,raisins, cinnamon, raw almond, woody tone, artichoke, cooked broccoli stem, musk, celery leaf.

This was one of the samples that GTT sent me to make up for the lack of a teapot that I ordered. Okay, they forgot to send me the samples and I complained, so they then sent me samples. I’d already had a sample of this, so I was kinda bummed, but hey, free tea.

It’s got a great mouth feel, but the flavor isn’t as strong as I would like.

Today, I am sick, so the flavor is really lacking. But the mouth feel is there. Bonus. Big mugs of this are providing comfort. Always nice.

This is the last of my three samples from GTT. It was the one I thought I would like the best, so I saved it for last so as not to drag my like of the others down.

I should have had this one first.

It’s good, it’s nice, but it’s not as great as I wanted it to be. It’s got a good mouthfeel, heavier than the other two oolongs I had from GTT, definitely more creamy while those were buttery. But the flavor is lacking. It’s not as good as the flavor on either of those.

Dang.

Thank you again Green Terrace for this sample! I really enjoyd the Li Shan Black, but this one just blows that one away IMO. It’s bright and sweet, and has a honeyed sweetness that lingers on your tongue. Surprisingly, I’m also getting floral notes, like in a lighter oolong. And peach?

Also, as it cools, the honey notes become even more apparent. Mind = blown.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to review this! It was my pleasure. :) Would I pay $23.50 for 100g of this? Yes. Yes I would.

This is the second of my free samples from Green Terrace Teas for reviewing.

I needed something nice this morning while relaxing and waiting for my husband to get up. Usually, he sleeps about an hour or so longer than I do, so I really have time to enjoy several cups of tea. Today, he was up not long after me and wanted to go out for breakfast. So I had a couple of infusions before breakfast and a few after we got back.

This is another very nice green oolong. It’s sweet and floral with a really nice mouth feel. It’s more buttery than creamy. I really am enjoying this one.

This is the last of my three free samples from Green Terrace Tea. I’m grateful for the opportunity to taste such fine teas. I prepared this oolong in what I call a modified gong-fu method: 3 grams in 6 oz of water with 60 second steeps. It is a compromise between the simplicity of western style and the effort of true gong-fu.

1st steep (60 s): Light nose is spicy, with cooked veggies underneath. Taste has good mouth-feel but not as interesting as the nose. Good finish. As I sip, the tea seems to keep getting better, probably because the finish is so long that the taste builds upon itself. 2nd steep (70 s): Similar to the first steep but more powerful. Really good. 3rd (2 min): Still very good. I’ll probably try a few more steeps but have other things to do today, so will stop for now.

I decided that I wanted oolong today but I didn’t really have the time to sit and enjoy the ceremony of it with my clay teapot and all that jazz, so I did this one western style. It worked out pretty well and tasted delicious. I do like this tea quite a bit. I finished off the sample I got from GTT today, but I ordered more during their big sale.

Ooh! Free samples for reviewing. I’m down with that. I just feel badly that these have sat for a week and a half because I had too many teaboxes all at once.

I did this one pseudo gongfu again, because even though I’m at home with all my equipment, I’m just feeling lazy this morning and I didn’t want to break it all out. I wanted to relax and enjoy tea, so that is what I am doing.

I did a quick rinse. I sometimes drink the rinse on oolongs, sometimes I don’t. I always try it, and sometimes I just drink the one sip, sometimes I drink about half. This one, I drank the whole thing. On the first sip, all I could think was, “wow! This is incredibly sweet and creamy!” It was delicious.

Anyway, the early infusions are less mineral and more floral, but in the later infusions, the mineral and vegetal flavors really shine, but it still finishes amazingly sweet and floral. through every infusion, I noticed how creamy and smooth this tea felt in my mouth.

I really enjoyed this one. I highly recommend several short infusions, increasing the time with each one, to truly enjoy all of the different flavors. Every single infusion has been different, but really nice. I’m still drinking this one.

Sip down on this tea today! Actually I sipped down all the remaining Green Terrace Teas I had this week-end. They were all one year old. All were still good but this one is still as good as the day I got it. A delicious sip down. Will miss this tea but it’s good to take some off the tea list.

Keep in mind this review is coming from someone who normally doesn’t drink black tea and doesn’t like black.

When I opened the package it smelled so wonderful. Fruity sweet. There was an element that reminded me of how Bi Luo Chun smells (and that’s one of my favs).

I kept the steep time really short – 30 sec at boiling. The aroma was intoxicating- fruity , floral , sweet. Every sip was perfection. There were strong honey notes , stone fruit notes ( peach comes to mind) , and floral notes. I couldn’t place the floral notes. They were so intertwined with the fruit notes.

Excuse me while I go for my second infusion.

Brew style: Gongfu in gaiwan
Temperature: 205 degrees F

Dry aroma: Flowers, cannot place the exact type, but ones that occur in tropical places, plumeria, creamed honey, sugarcane, ripe tropical fruit, hint of cotton candy
Throat: Hard caramel candy, sweet buttered cinnamon toast, touch of tropical flowers
Wet leaf aroma: Roasting wood and leaves, honey, plumeria, hint of fruit and cinnamon
Brew aroma: Melted butter with brown sugar, flowers, hint of green woods, fruit, small hint of vanilla and almonds
Brew color: Medium gold with tinge of brown
Taste: Overtones of fruit that turns into a sugar like sweetness at the end. Distinct note of plum upfront and apple in the middle alongside other fruits that mingle seamlessly (to the point in which I can only say that it mainly tastes of fresh tropical fruit salad). Small note of woods, almonds, cinnamon and cream. Subtly complex. Slight creamy mouthfeel. Medium length.

Brew style: Gongfu in gaiwan
Temperature: 205 degrees F

Dry aroma: Fragrant orchids, sweet cream, sugarcane, caramel, beautiful roasted aroma
Throat: Caramel right before it’s done, candy-like sweetness, roasting wood, hint of fruit
Wet leaf aroma: Woods, vegetal, fresh apples, nuts, faint hint of caramel
Brew aroma: Butter, cream, sweet caramel, orchids, extremely complex
Brew color: ’Very, very light gold
Taste: Notes evolve on the tongue quickly but noticeably, very complex. Immediately hit with the quintessential moderately roasted Dong Ding flavor. Notes of caramel right before it begins to burn, woods, roasted nuts, flowers. Smooth, bright, and bold. Medium length. In second infusion, notes of toast and more roasted nuts begin to emerge. A hint of sweetness lingers throughout.

Brew style: Gongfu in gaiwan
Temperature: 200 degrees F

Dry aroma: Roasted wood, honey, raisins, cherry, milk chocolate, very sweet chamomile flowers
Throat: Nutty, caramel, cream, milk chocolate, a hint of fruit
Wet leaf aroma: Roasted nuts, pure cacao, vanilla, cream, caramel
Brew aroma: Immediate plum, then caramel, nuts, vanilla, cream, milk chocolate.. a more subdued sweetness than the dry aroma
Brew color: Light to medium tawny brown, very clear
Taste: Honey hits first and then is followed by notes of milk chocolate and plum. Some notes of orchid in the middle. Honey and some faint notes of nuts and caramel linger. Long length. No astringency. Very smooth and quite mellow.

thank you again for the generous sample green terrace tea! I need to try the other samples you sent soon (aiming for this weekend!). I am still a fan of this tea, though it may not be my favourite honey black tea. I like that there almost seems to be a hint of something in the background of this tea beyond the sweet honey taste. Maybe it’s plum? either way, this was a great cup to start my morning off :)

Another of the 3 samples sent to me by Green Terrace Teas.

this has been highly reviewed by a number of people so i was a little apprehensive. this tastes sweet. Not quite like honey, but still sweet. I think though, that this reminds me of a more solid TTC tea. There is a strength to this tea that runs through it that makes it different to other sweet black teas that i’ve tried. I’m looking forward to having this a few more times since the samples sent from Green Terrace are quite generous! thank you again Green Terrace! more to come :)

I’m not rating this one, as Green Terrace Teas sent this one my way even though i’d only asked for two samples from them. I hate adding to my cupboard or wasting teas that i don’t think i’d really enjoy. I’m guessing they had room in the envelope. Soooo i’m drinking this even though i don’t generally prefer oolongs as a thank you for their generosity. I wholeheartedly appreciate it when companies do this sort of thing so that i get a chance to try their teas without having to commit to a HUGE purchase.

Sooo this is a green oolong. It had a floral scent to it that had me a little worried but brewed up, this isn’t overly floral. There’s a nice balance of sweetness here to go along with the floral. It doesn’t have that distinctive OOLONG taste that i dislike either. I think anyone who loves oolongs would find this a really pleasant cup of tea to drink.

thanks so much Green Terrace teas!

This was the green tea that Green Terrace Teas chose for me. It smells the jasmine teas should… light and floral. The jasmine flavour is very good. Reminds me why the jasmine greens got me into tea in the first place.

As soon as I saw this on the site, I wanted to try it. The scent is a nice malty honey. (And the dry leaves reminded me a bit of Yunnan black). There is a sweet malty flavour. I do get some hints of peach. Overall, I glad I decided to get this one as a sample.

Thank you to Green Terrace Teas for sharing samples of your teas, including this one.
Sometimes I like to sit with my cup of tea while it’s still too hot to drink, & just hold it under my nose & breath it in. When I did that with this cup, it was like I was breathing in the essence of a bowl of cream of wheat, drizzled with honey, & topped with a big spoonful of peach preserves. The preserves are melting, from the heat of the cereal, & it’s like anticipating that first bite of a favorite childhood comfort food.

Yup, the pretty much nails it.

Had a little of this left over. Seemed like a good time to finish it off. Even though this is 7 months old in an open package sealed only with a paper clip, it is still really good. Baked raisin bread and honey, with grape and cinnamon notes. Wonderful stuff. I prepared a mug for myself and one for my son. He was not impressed. His tastes seem to run more toward harsher Ceylon teas. I happen to like those as well but there is just something about a smooth tea loaded with depth. Top notch, I say.

The rain was really coming down this morning – after we left the house for breakfast with friends. Stayed gray all day with occasional thunder. Fixed this one and it was a great choice. This is way better than I remember… and I gave it a 93 the first time. I let it steep longer today and the cinnamon note was really obvious. The honey was more intense as well. This is a really excellent tea.

I’m not sure I have ever quoted George Takei before but, “Oh My!” Yeah this stuff is really good. With Honey Black, I pretty much thought Green Terrace Teas nailed the description. Here I am not getting peach. Instead, dry I get sweet and malty with grape. Not Darjeeling muscatel, just grapes. Maybe the difference is in the prep? I used 195 F with a 2 minute steep. Once water hit it the nose was cinnamon raisin whole wheat bagel covered in honey. Love! The taste is malt and wheat, cinnamon and raisin, and honey. I am not saying they taste alike, because they don’t, but my reaction to this was similar to my first exposure to Golden Tips. It is just so good and hits all the right spots in my taste requirements. This is one of the few black teas that I think does not benefit from additions, and this from a sugar junkie. If you don’t resteep this is probably a bit pricey but it is definitely worth trying a sample.