Porto Rico Importing Co.

The dried leaves are a rich dark brown, almost black. There’s a lot more dust and fannings than I usually see in Darjeelings, but there’s some good-sized leaves too. The scent is autumn leaves and wood and malt.
The steeped tea is a deep, orangey-brown. It smells of malt and autumn leaves. The taste is typical Darjeeling: very little astringency, a bit of muscatel, some woody and dead leaf-y notes.
Overall, a very good mid-range Darjeeling. Not the best I’ve ever had, but a great buy for the price.

Some backlog today, I got this awhile back (maybe a year or two honestly) and I never really enjoyed it. But with two ounces of it, and it’s age, I decided I may as well start drinking it down. And honestly, it grew on me. It’s got a really lovely fruity flavor to it, not too sweet but just sweet enough. Great during the summer once it’s cooled a bit after steeping.

This is very different from other Russian Caravans I’ve had, and from what I’d expected – I bought this in the shop, and the bins at Porto Rico are just labelled with names, not descriptions. It’s mostly oolong (something on the greener side; I’m not equipped to say anything more than that) with a bit of green (something Chinese, I’d imagine, and not particularly vegetal). It’s not at all smoky, and I don’t think there’s any black tea in the mix. It’s a perfectly drinkable blend, but nothing really special.

I bought a quarter of a pound of this in a sale back in February but hadn’t gotten around to drinking it – bad, I know! Anyway, I decided to cold-steep some of it. Darjeelings are some of my favorite teas to drink iced, but I’m pretty new to cold-steeping and hadn’t tried it with a Darjeeling before. I’d read some instructions, on the forums here I think, to let Darjeelings steep for four days, and I thought I’d try that method.

And I’m glad I did – this is fabulous! And so different from Darjeeling brewed the regular way. More delicate, and sweeter, and less astringent. It’s light and crisp, and very smooth. I’m getting strong bergamot notes – this could almost pass for a delicate Earl Grey, even! There’s also some honey. I usually dislike black teas that taste like honey, but here it’s so delicate and melds so well with the other flavors that I’m finding it very pleasant. The whole experience is, oddly enough, reminding me of Earl Grey ice cream – one of my favorite things in the world. I think this will be going on regular rotation for the rest of the summer.

This is a very green-tasting oolong – smooth, rich, buttery, vegetal. I like it a lot, although I think I might have a slight prefence for darker/roastier oolongs.

I really like this! The taste is nothing like red rooibos. It’s a little bit grassy – even hay-like, but in a good way. There are some nutty/toasty notes and some sweetness, too – I’m getting hints of maple syrup, or maybe honey whole-wheat pretzels. I’m even getting a faintly oolong-esque aftertaste. I’ve only had this hot so far, but I bet it would be good iced.

I had this tea a while back at a lovely tea house where I had lunch, tea and dessert with a dear friend. The owner gave us some to take home and I am now reliving that wonderful day. While I don’t have the carrot cake to enjoy with the tea, I still really love the flavor. I have never had a Pu-erh tea or anything with chrysanthemum that I am aware of, but the combination was delightful: warm, spicy and slightly floral. I am going to resteep and find some kind of dessert yummy to enjoy it with…after I eat my dinner of course! ;)

Fast forward to now: ate my dinner, resteeped the tea…delish with warm apple pie. This tea is a perfect companion to sweet yummies!

This tea has a great story, so I must tell.

Visiting the Dragonfly Artisan Tea Cottage in Sylvania, Ohio was one of the most delightful things I have done in a long time. One of my good friends planned this trip as my 2011 Christmas present and we finally found the time to do it. The food was delightful and this was the tea we ordered to share. It is my first pu-erh tea and was pleasantly surprised about how much I loved it!! I couldn’t get enough :) It has a nice earthy flavor. I’m interested to try other pu-erhs to see how it compares. While we enjoyed our shared slice of baked today carrot cake, when tasting the tea, I could really taste the floral not of the chrysanthemum. Wow!! Complemented it so well.

Highlight of our experience there was the generosity of the owner who, when asked if I could purchase some of the delicious tea to take home, put about 3 ounces in a bag and gave it to me to take home (NOT purchase, but as a gift) along with a bamboo tea basket. WOW!

It just goes to show how amazing tea people are :)

This is the first Yunnan that I’ve drunk within memory, so kindly weigh my context-free impressions accordingly. I expected and got a certain earthiness from this, as well as the peppery quality associated with Yunnans (white pepper, not black). What took me by surprise was the faint “fuel” note. You know how foods fresh off the backyard grill can take on the flavor of not only the charcoal briquettes but also a bit of the lighter fluid used to set them aflame? That’s what I’m tasting here. I imagine I might find this enjoyable on a winter day, finding it warming and restorative in the same way as a sip of brandy or cognac. But winter is seven months away, and until then, I’ll keep warily experimenting with this … and probably blending it with teas that don’t taste quite as flammable.

So, yeah, I’ve been drinking this, and I think I like it best when it is steeped for just a minute or so. Steep it longer and the tea starts to compete with and overpower the rice, which maybe some people would prefer but for me defeats the whole purpose of drinking tea with toasted grains in it.

It’s good on resteeps as well.

I’d been meaning to drop into Porto Rico and check out their teas for a while, but as I was passing by today I saw a sign in the window that said “Tea Sale.” Apparently the sale has been going on for a couple of weeks but ends tomorrow.

I managed to escape only a few dollars poorer with just a few ounces of the Genmaicha. I’ve been craving genmaicha for a little while, so it was an opportune purchase.

What to say about it? It’s good. It tastes like green tea with toasted rice. There’s also some corn in here, but although it’s pretty, I don’t know how much it affects the flavor.

I think two minutes might have been a bit long for this tea. The woman in the store told me she steeps for up to seven minutes (!) but that seems crazy.

Enjoying this one more than the last time. Steeped well at about 5 minutes. Water not as hot as it should be (yay for office tea), but some of the subtleties are coming out with the lower temp.

Unimpressed. Not a terribly distinctive darjeeling; somewhat flat. OK, but certainly not what I was hoping for.

Delicious Taiwanese oolong with a very full mouthfeel. Similar to another “milk oolong” I had a while back.

Interestingly, my 2 1/2-year-old daughter absolutely loved this tea.

Very light liquor with a 3 minute steep. Going to try the second at 5 minutes.

I believe this was mislabeled on my bag as “Golden Mountain Needle,” which is a green tea. I think it was actually the King of Golden Needles that Porto Rico sells.

A very nice, light liquor not at all a far cry from a good Silver Needle.

A more mellow first steep than previous brewings. Enjoyable, but not the most distinctive Chinese green. A solid enough everyday tea.

I honestly didn’t like this one when I first tried it. It is indeed bold and, as a result, I find where it really shines is during its second infusion. Tastes even better when it’s cooled down a bit.

1 Cup down, 1.5 cups to go. I have this HuesNBrews Teapot which rocks my world.