Red Blossom Tea Company

I’m an absolute sucker for this treasure. I loved the 2012 batch and finished it wayyyyy faster than I should, so when this came out I purchased it right away.

The dry leaves are a pretty dark green, the leaves are well retained, and give off a faint caramel sweet scent. When brewed, the leaves expand quite a bit, filling almost to the top of my David’s Perfect Mug (I know, I know, this is gaiwan worthy but I’m just too tired) infuser even though I only used a teaspoonful of leaves.
The tea is light green in color, with a light, sweet aroma. When drinking, you get a little vegetal feel, but just a little (which I blame on the fact that I may have overbrewed it). The rest is just a subtle, mellow sweetness. It wasn’t as sweet as I remember it, (possibly because I overbrewed it ,sob) but it’s still awesome.

I love this tea. I would marry it if I could.

Thanks SIL
A little ‘bitter-crusty’ like toast with a bit of smoke which I like! A natural berry note as well as cocoa type aroma and end sip on to the aftertaste. This is fairly strong and I like it! I should have started my day with this one!

Cheers!

Since finals are over, I get time to actually use my gaiwan set that has sadly been neglected.

The dry tea is shaped into little balls (ditto), very cute. It’s also very relaxing to see the tea unrolling itself during the steeping.

First steep: the brew is a pale, transparent yellow and very aromatic. The jasmine is pretty prevalent, you get it from the smell, the brew, and it leaves you with a pleasant jasmine aftertaste.
It sort of cleanses the palate after you eat stuff, too.
Not astringent, not sure about the caffeine, but I always sleep better after it.

Second steep: the brew gets slightly darker, the smell is also more intense.

Okay, I got about 10 steeps out of this, but then it’s gaiwan sized, so that might not account for much. Stopping at 10 steeps not because it can’t stand another steep or two, but because I’m starting to crave some sweet stuff..

Enjoyable.

Sipdown! I am done with this tea for now…
It’s definitely a really good black tea, probably one of my favorites in the current stash.

I really need to focus on drinking what i have, however. Hoping I can get through winter without buying much more and maybe I’ll have more money in the spring :)

Looks like my cold is finally abating somewhat, thank goodness. Still sick but not overwhelmingly so. I actually slept until 10 am which is good, because I really need the sleep.

Decided to brew this one up this morning, it’s definitely one of my favorite teas. Very comforting, malty, sweet potato-y. Good for breakfast, afternoon or anytime really. :)

I am grumpy this morning as there has been construction going on in the building across the street, Hammering noises for about 12 hours a day, every day. Even on the weekend! Argh. Luckily music seems to blot out some of it, but I might need to go to the library later to get some reading done.

Anyway this is an amazing tea… one of my favorites. I’ve already written a few tasting notes on it. This morning it reminds me of freshly baked dark bread and roasted sweet potatoes. How can it be so incredibly delicious? Yum. I should pay a visit to Red Blossom Tea soon but I can’t really afford them right now, lol!

I bought this tea yesterday, although I really KNOW I shouldn’t be buying any more tea. This is one of my favorite Golden Monkeys and I don’t have any more so I felt justified. And it’s my favorite breakfast tea, but right now it’s the afternoon. :-P

So I finally heard from my ex-employer after threatening them with my attorney and now they say they’re going to offer me a severance package if I resign. Oh happy day. Nice to leave a place that would “restructure” your job after you broke your arm and were on a company approved medical leave. I won’t be sorry to leave this pack of wolves but it’s still a very emotional time for me. Thank goodness for tea.

Good morning Steepster!
This is a sipdown, I’m all out of this tea but will certainly get more at some point. It’s one of my favorite black teas at the moment. I’m not really looking forward to the work day today… it’s not very much fun trying to type when your hands are in pain. I might just stay at home today.

Good morning Steepster. I am doing okay aside from having a fractured finger which is really annoying and somewhat painful!

Anyway this is a good tea for consolation purposes. ;-) Today it’s a sipdown. I will certainly get more someday, it’s a great Golden Monkey. Today I am really getting such nice malty notes.

I feel like all I did yesterday was stay at home and drink tea, not that I’m complaining because it’s time to go back to work… :-/

This is one of my favorite teas currently, the tin is slowly disappearing while my other teas languish on the cupboard shelf. Will repurchase more for sure.

Monday? Is that you already?

Tea of the morning here… I always know I will like this when I steep it up. Today it reminds me of graham crackers dipped in milk. Truly scrumptious!

Tea of the morning here, this is just right at 2 minutes of steeping. It is going to be a warm week for San Francisco – I have a feeling I’ll be drinking a lot of iced tea this week…

This tea is smooth with delicious flavors of starchy yam and dark bread. I am raising the points just a wee bit. I really like this, it’s also very easy to drink plain. Probably will end up being a permanent part of my tea collection. See previous notes for more details.

I also wrote a new blog post on what I’ve been up to, if you’re interested you can read it here: http://sanfrantea.teatra.de/2013/04/28/art-nepali-tea-and-other-random-musings/

This is another tea I ended up getting at the Bi Rite grocery store, it’s definitely nice they are buying from a local supplier.

I am up early this morning to get some yoga in, therefore I decided to try and supercharge the caffeine here. Directions say to steep this for 2 minutes but I went for 3 before I read the instructions. I don’t think I will rate this until I have tried it at their recommendation.

But anyway… at 3 minutes this tea got fairly dark and is very aromatic, like the smell of baking bread. Typical of a golden monkey, there are bready and yam/banana type flavors present. Very low on tannins. I decided to add a splash of soymilk to mine with the longer steep and it is very good that way.

I’m very happy with this purchase and would not hesitate to get more.

This tea review is inspired by Bonnie and her unique style!

I have some big decisions to make soon and my mind has been racing all of yesterday and today. I needed something to clear my head. A hike? Some tea? Why not both! I packed up my Jetboil camp stove, my most durable yixing pot, a cup, a tiny vase, and some Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong from Red Blossom. I found a spot near the bank of the Cache La Poudre river and created a tea space with rocks and logs and a cloth I brought with me. In the vase, I placed the first signs of spring—some willow branches close to bud-burst. The first steeping was intense, probably brewed a little too long, but full of flavor! Sweet plumy flavors and floral aromas were balanced by a slight astringency. Subsequent infusions lead to less complexity, but a more harmonious flavor. The slight astringency was replaced by a smooth and full-bodied mouthfeel and the floral aromas mellowed into a more honey-like taste. At the same time, my mind slowed along with the tea. Disparate and racing thoughts disappeared and were replaced by a calmness. I was finally able to be solidly in the present for the first time in a long while.

This is a sample kindly shared by Sil, thank you Sil !
I really appreciated this tea.
Even if I’m not a big plain tea drinker, I manage to recognize an high quality tea and it is really one.
It’s not an heavy malty black tea but a medium bodied one with wonderful notes of wood (that’s what I felt !)
There is absolutely no bitterness with this tea.
I love it.

2nd steep today, added 2% milk and a teaspoon of sugar.

Buttery taste turned into more of a cream taste, like that better. Steeped way too long, forgot about it, oops.

That extra time added more bitterness to the aftertaste

Always love when I follow instructions included with a tea and then when I log in to Steepster I see additional instructions (namely to rinse the tea) have not done that.

Not bad, buttery taste.

I got this in one of the Steepster select boxes and haven’t written a tasting note on it before now. I have given up on buying a lot of green oolongs just due to their sorter shelf life, but I was really in the mood for this today.

I decided to gong fu this tea – so…

1st steep: 20 seconds. After steeping the leaves I am noticing the floral aromas coming forth. It does have a nice buttery/nutty quality about it but I am not getting much of the peach flavor.

2nd steep: The Lily aroma is getting quite strong now and is very pleasant. A couple of reviewers have mentioned this is a really weak jing xuan but I’m not sure I’ve ever had another one. It reminds me a bit of a milk oolong.

3rd steep: 10 seconds. The leaves are opening up a bit and I think I’m detecting a peaches and cream flavor. Although I am keeping my steeps short, I am detecting a slight vegetal bitterness in the finish.

This is an enjoyable oolong but not destined to be a favorite. I may try cold brewing the rest of this sample to see what happens!

1 second rinse with tea infusing temperature water
1 tablespoon for 375 ml

Nice smooth flavour. Molasses-like sweetness. Leathery hints in the background. Lingering sweetness, reminds me of a ginseng-type sweetness.

Second infusion at 2.5 minutes with near-boiling water.

Third infusion at 3.5 minutes with near-boiling water. A lot of flavour seems to be lost by the third infusion.

Thanks to Sil for sharing this with me!

SIPDOWN! I’m sad to see this one go as it’s a really nice tea from Red Blossom. Brewed the last of it cold brew, which is where i finally landed with this tea as being my favourite! I’l for sure be checking out more of redbloosom’s teas as i’ve enjoyed the few that i’ve tried quite a bunch.

Nearly through the last of this. Have one other container of this cold steeping in the fridge and then it’s gone. I think that this might be one of my favourite straight teas to brew cold. There’s just something satisfying about this one – a little sugar and/or lemon and i’m golden. :)

been drinking this nearly every day as a cold brew + lemonade. my favorite black tea to cold brew so far.

another several glasses of this tonight with dinner. Soooo good! I really do love this as a cold brew tea…way more than hot brewed, although hot was pretty decent as well :)