Red Blossom Tea Company

Very smooth, tasty black tea. Not as flavorful as I would like, but I may have used not enough tea in too much water.

Rather sweet, lots of flavor. Mellow malty overtones. Almost chocolaty, great desert tea.

Very good simple black tea. Great full flavored breakfast tea.

This is a great, solid Pu-erh. Nothing special, nothing extra, just big, bold, beautiful taste.

Dark, velvety redish brown in color, matching the aroma of sweet, thick malt. The taste is right there as well, the malt is up front and present, followed closely behind by the taste of fresh wet Earth. Overall nice and sweet while still staying think and almost creamy with a dry, sweet finish.

Everything I want in a straight up, good Pu-erh tea.

-E

Very good, simple, Pu-erh.

More new tea!

I’ve had a few different Tung Tings from Red Blossom, so I was excited to get a new one in the mail. New to me, of course.

Tung Ting means “frozen summit”, which refers to it being a high mountain grown plant from Taiwan. This one picked in the Winter of 2014 and lightly oxidized.

I used 14 grams of leaves, rinsed, in my 32 ounce Bodum Assam teapot. 200 degree water steeped for 2:00.

From this I get a light but thick straw colored liquor, yellowish and clear. The aroma is buttery smooth and creamy, with hints of straw and earth. This Oolong is more towards the green tea scale of green vs back.

Now for the taste.

I’ve had several Tung Tings from Red Blossom in the past, so I know that I will be a fan of it before I even opened the package. The first sip is no disappointment.

Super buttery smooth, super rich and creamy. The green tea-ish hints of straw and butter are there, but have a thicker, richer presence than a green tea would give. There is definitely also a hint of flowers, Red Blossom says Orchids and Garnenias. Yeah, I agree. Although I’m not the greatest at the name-that-flower-from-its-scent game, I do notice the orchid, absolutely.

This is an incredible tea. The richness, the buttery smoothness, the somehow thick and creamy straw and earth taste…

Damn.

-E

Absolutely wonderful Formosa Oolong tea. Great flavor, super smooth, just the right amount of sweetness and tartness to sip all day long. Can’t wait for the rain to enjoy this one!

Very good Oolong. Incredibly well balanced, full of flavor.

Still one of my absolute all time favorite teas. Red Blossom Tea Company’s Gunpowder Green Tea is one of the few teas I make sure I always have in stock.

Wonderfully potent with a bit of bitterness and a slight smokey taste balances well on top of the green tea grass and wet earth flavors.

This is a green tea with some muscle. Amazing.

-E

It’s been a while since I’ve had this one. It’s one of the few teas I make sure I always have in my personal stock, possibly one of my favorite teas in general.

Big, bold, and beautiful, full of robust taste, with hints of wet grass and a perfect balance of sweet and bitter. When I think of a simple, full flavored, bold green tea, I think of this one.

The Red Blossom website says it is " for those who prefer their tea stronger." Yes, yes it is. Just my cup of tea.

-E

Love this green tea. Nice and strong, big, and bold. I try to always have some in my personal stash. It has been my go-to green tea for years now.

It’s also great for using as a base for blends!

I brought home some Lemon Scented Jasmine, A.K.A. White Azorean Jasmine, from my trip to the Azores last Summer, and decided to try it out using this Gunpowder as a base.

It is great! The Gunpowder base is strong enough to force it’s way through the Jasmine, but not so much as to overpower or unbalance the light, delicate, lemony flavor of the Jasmine. Good stuff!

-E

Here it is. I finally ordered more. The tea that started it all. A random trip to San Francisco’s Chinatown years ago, a random visiting of a cool looking tea shop called Red Blossom Tea Company, and a random finding of a tea called “Gunpowder” that was a green tea with big, bold flavor.

Sold.

I walked out that day years ago with a couple ounces of leaves that would change my life. I already loved tea, but I was going through boxes of tea sachets from the grocery store. Some were very good, but I was still ignorant to what real tea was.

Until now. This one started it all, and I have been learning more about tea ever since.

Gunpowder tea gets it’s name not from the strong, dark taste, but the shape of the leaves, “rolled to form gunpowder pellets.” Preparation is simple, pretty much a standard green tea brewing, with just a bit higher temp water. (180 instead of 170-175)

32 ounces of 185 degree water onto 3 tablespoons of pre-rinsed leaves in my Bodum Assam teapot and steeped for 1:30 gives me a beautiful, almost velvety reddish brown color, semi see through.

The smell is, obviously, the first thing that hits me, and I remember right away how I fell in love with it the first time I had it. It is clearly a green tea, with all the nuances afforded a good, balanced, green, but in this case much stronger, more pungent, with a bit of bitterness layered into the green tea base.

If you like green tea but also like a stronger, bigger, fuller tea taste, go for a gunpowder. You won’t be disappointed.

I wasn’t.

-E

Full flavored, perfect balance of earthy bitterness and drinkability. The perfect green tea.

Got this as a free sampler from Red Blossom, thanks!

Leaves twined and unfolded nicely during brewing, very pretty. Smells really nice too, the brown sugar and maple syrup description is quite accurate. Liquor deep brown with yellow edging. Tastes warm and full into a dark sweetness that beautifully holds into a classic black tea flavor.

I don’t think I’d care for something this sweet for breakfast every day, but this would make a perfect dessert on a cold night.

This is another sample from CharlotteZero. Like the other oolongs she sent, I’m finding this one really pleasant. It’s on the darker side, with lots of sweet notes and hints of caramel. I’ve enjoyed the chance to try some teas from Red Blossom, and this one’s no exception.

Damn good cup, not sure how to describe it yet but it’s rather smokey and smells even more so on repeated steeping (the first 3 or so are the most enjoyable taste-wise). Something about it reminds me of Lapsang. I highly recommend this one, even though I usually go for lighter, fruitier oolongs.

Edit: I get hints of tobacco, in a pleasant way, still trying to decipher the other flavors

Vegetal and sweet, quite a good tea. Got a few gram sample from Red Blossom. I would drink this again.

Review is for Spring 2013 batch. Quite good oolong, my favorite flavor profile. Butter/malted milk taste. Very resteepable. I may order this…

Smokey, especially good with meals. Not a standout, but pleasant. Reminds me of TTC’s Oriental Oolong, except better.