Red Blossom Tea Company

I picked this up on my trip to san francisco. I’m still in search of my perfect chai. I don’t think I’ve ever seen orange peel in any of the chai’s that i’ve tried before, so I thought it might be an interesting twist. The dry scent of this is cloves and an understone of citrus. Once brewed however, this has a really nice taste. The orange brings out the spices nicely without turning this into a “fruity” tea. As usual, I’m drinking this straight. Not a bad Chai…I think I still prefer Verdant’s chai but this is a good blend.

sipdown! (204) I’ve enjoyed this one as i’ve been drinking it. Especially with a dash of maple syrup in it :) Red Blossom is for sure a company that i would be willing to order from again someday!

this + maple syrup = delicious goodness. almost done. no sipdowns today as i had no time for tea. gooodnight steepster friends!

quick notes on this one from this morning – trying to get back on top of my tea logs and notes. I pulled this one out as it’s nearly done but will take more than just 2-3 cups before it’ll be a sipdown. This tea + maple syrup = happy sil. Especially on a day like today with issue after issue. It might be what saved me from taking anyone’s head off today haha :) Like this keemun a bunch but i have grown to understand that assams>keemuns for me since i first picked this up.

mmmm pulled this one out of the cupboard today since i’m not having my usual matcha smoothie. I wanted a good solid kick you in the face kind of bold tea to get me going. What i really like about this one are the almost smokey notes that are present throughout the sip. It’s nothing like a lapsang souchong but it adds a depth of character to the tea that I can really get behind this morning. mmmmmm

Backlog!

I had this tonight as well as mom wanted to try a new tea. I didn’t brew it properly but that’s ok because there will be plenty of tea and games tomorrow while we cook and spend time together! I’ve been having a lovely time with my parents so far. This is a pretty good tea, though not my favourite now that I’ve had a bunch more :)

WHOOOOOOWHEEEEE!!!! Good morning friday! So i’d totally forgotten about the smokiness to this tea when i picked it this morning. I let this steep a bit longer than i meant to and hello! smokey delicious chocolate matly goodness :)

thank god for friday!

Mmmmm i really like this! I haven’t had many (if any) Keemun’s so I opted to pick this up while I was in San Francisco. It has a really interesting taste. It’s a strong tea with a smokey chocolatey taste that hangs out in the background. I brewed this western style for what it’s worth :) Looking forward to trying out the other teas I picked up in San Fran, though i have a few more samples to sip down first heh

Da bOmB diGGity of Da Hong POW! I can’t believe the sheer paucity of reviews of this great version of wuyi wonderful.

Whooo wee, that’s #1 Wuyi!

So precious, my precious, we keep this in a genuine tin.

I can drink a catty (or is it kettle?) of this for-EVAR.

Smoky complex chocolate hint of cinnabon-bons like tasting rich mahogany.

I do it in a bowl. I do it in a gaiwan. I do it in bed. =-)

It is a peace of Tao.

So when you’re pulling an all-nighter for those Confucian exams, reach for Beidouuuuuu!

Srsly, consistent flava breeds champions. We have a winnah.

Ahh summer is slowly coming to an end, as the climate slowly cools, I crave more and more tea per day. I’ve tried several Tai Ping Houkui’s before but never thought much of them (as a matter of fact I just noticed a previous note for Harney & Son’s version was not uploaded… oh well I’ll repost it later). I splurged on this one just because of one thing and one thing only, the photos of the dry leaf. The pictures Redblossom put up are just so beautiful. Considering I have not (yet) been dissapointed with their quality, I figured, “huh, maybe this is the real deal, how a good tai ping is supposed to be,” so I went ahead with the impulse buy and got some.

>Dry Leaf Appearance/Aroma
Beautiful. DEEP vibrant green leaves, super long and unbroken, with a very fresh green grassy smell. The best looking Tai Ping I’ve personally encountered.

>Brewing Method
Following Redblossom’s suggested brew guidelines; 4 grams of leaf, 180F water, 1 min 30 sec steep time.

>Liquid Appearance
Clear yellow green.

>Taste/Aroma
The first cup gives off a very vegetal smelling cup, with some grassy notes.
The first cup overall was also the most flavorful, being light and smooth, subtly sweet, hints of grass, ending with a clean mouth feel. No bitterness at all and very resilient to several infusions. Each subsequent infusion lost some flavor little by little but remained very similar to the first. I was able to re-steep this guy about 7 times, it just kept giving and giving!

>Wet Leaf Appearance
The leaves slowly unfold to show their “true” leafy shape, but not all of them do. From a vibrant green the become a dull yellow green after several infusions.

>Overall
Of the several Tai Ping Houkui’s I’ve had, I can safely say this one was the tastiest one. But my main gripe with this kind of tea, is that I feel it tastes just too plain, I’ve never understood why (in some places/lists) this is considered a famous tea. There is nothing special to it that makes crave it like crazy like some other teas do. I figured Redblossom’s version would provide an epiphany similar to my experience with Dragonwell, but it was not meant to be.

Again, I’ve found this the best one I’ve tried, but Tai Ping Houkui just does not intrigue me as much as other greens. Still, a very tasty and good tea.

Dong Pian 2012 was a very good year and made my top 3. Sweet full bodied mouth feel, never bitter and brewed at 195F 45-90 seconds decanted from gaiwan imparts a golden cloudy liquor so damn intoxicating you can “smell” sweet candy cane 2 seats away. Really no marketing hyperbole from the company’s description. One of their truly great offerings worth every cent. I do short multiple steeps so as to extract every drop of goodness until the tasteless dregs. The only unfortunate thing is they have gone through 2 shipments and once the tin goes powder that’s all folks. Srsly, if you’re visiting them, just smell the lid and you’ll know what I mean.

This is a lighter tasting tea in my opinion. It has a hay-like taste and… Not really sweetness, but sorta. It has a roundish mouth feel. It’s not refreshing feeling, it’s more hardy it seems. There is a long finish of the hay tone.

Over all, I like it but it’s not a favorite. I’ll keep it as a some variety in my whites, something to mix it up with.

A bit sweet, a bit of gold, a little darkness. Some green bitterness at the back of the throat and roof of the mouth.

The sweet wraps lightly around the front sides of the tongue and the gold is a feeling throughout the mouth. I like the sweet touch to this. I’m not usually much for oolongs but this is nice.

I received this as a sample, yay!

I tend to find most oblongs rather light in flavor, in my sense of taste. This one is strong. I don’t get the apple and such flavors that are in the description. Rather, it’s Very flower to me. With a vegetal undertone. But the flower flavor is almost overwhelming in the mouth and back of throat, both. It’s almost like drinking perfume or smelling one that passes the nose in its strength and comes right down into your throat to settle. It’s not bad tasting, just very, very strong. If you like very strong floral flavors, I’d suggest this tea!

It’s a nice change up from other oblongs I’ve had. I’m enjoying the cup but wouldn’t buy. I’m glad I did get the sample and experienced it.

Thank you to Joe at Happy Lucky’s Tea House for this taste!

Today I went for my regular Sunday Tea. Almost immediately after perching myself on a high barstool, a special bag of tea was whipped out from behind the bar by my grinning tea professional, Joe.

“Here it is, the 1982 Wenshan Baozhong I told you about,” said Joe.
“Heh, chimed in Eric, none of us were born when this was produced.”
(Which made me groan!)
“Really? Thanks!” I said, pretty excited to try a tea that old!

Instead of me bringing a tea for my friends to try, they had a special tea to share with me! An Oolong 30 years old from Taiwan!

Joe made sure that I was presented with the tea in a formal way for viewing at every stage of the process.
First, I looked at the long dark twisty leaves, some with a little green on the edges. I smelled them but they had little fragrance since they were so very old and dry, but they were lovely.

Next the tea was brewed in a Gaiwan and then poured into cups and the leaves placed in front of me so that I could smell the aroma. Whiskey, apple, tobacco, honey.
The fragrance of the wet leaves was unbelievable. Everything about the leaves was a symphony of shifting melodies.

The flavor was so delicate that as soon as I decided on one flavor it was gone and another took it’s place. Again another one was also elusive and gone. The flavor’s were moving around like sheets of silk on a breeze.

Plum, light colored jujube, honeysuckle, apricot, yellow delicious apple, yellow raisin, and always back to a mystery flavor or flavors that I could not figure out at all.

Oh my.

My friends had as much of a laugh at my delight in drinking this special tea as I have when I bring one to them.

This is what hospitality is truly all about!

Thank you Joe! http://flic.kr/p/d8Zvvs (Here’s Joe!)

As far as Jing Xuan Oolong goes, this one is a bit on the tame side. It’s enjoyable, but, it is just a little lackluster. The first two infusions were creamy but on the light side. The next two infusions were brothy but, lacked the creaminess I had hoped for. The final two infusions were a combination of the first two cups, somewhere in between the two… a little lighter than the first, and the flavors had melded to a smoothness that provided an almost creamy effect. Of the three cups, the third was the best, but, sadly, I think that they just sort of … fell short of what I expected from them.

This isn’t a bad tea … just a little lackluster and boring as far as Jing Xuan goes.

Another sipdown! Woohoo!

I shot our winter play last night, and I’m sitting here watermarking the photos… it’s so boring. This is keeping me company :)

Last night I steeped up a cup of this in my fancy Bodum Pavina glass – seriously, I love it. And it’s 8oz, so I feel like I can do a semi-gong-fu sitting with it and have two or three cups)

I had two cups last night, and then began my day with another two. It’s sweet and vegetal and really really good.

Oh, I do love this. I received this in the last Steepster Select box.

I don’t feel like writing too much now, but it’s beautiful. It’s sweet and buttery and smooth. It has some of my favorite characteristics of the Dragonwell that I love, but with a little bit less of the vegetal.

This just might become my staple oolong.

I smelled artichoke hearts, my tea partner mentioned gardenia.

Added about 15 seconds each steeping, 3 steepings total, could have probably teased at least one more.

In the second steeping, I noticed more sweetness. The light tea gave a coating on the middle of the tongue.

Fair amount of good bitterness.

I enjoyed the tea.

I got this in the Steepster Select box. I am very inexperienced with Oolongs but I really like this a lot. It has a very crisp and clean green taste. I especially love how the leaves unfurl during steeping. I am definitely going to look into more Oolongs.

Thank you Happy Lucky’s Staff for this Sample from the back room!

When I go to my neighborhood tea pub, I usually have a few tea samples tucked inside my purse, and sometimes I have a whole bag or box that I drag in and set on the bar like treasure. I can’t help myself. I have beloved tea’s that must be shared with people that love tea too.
Many times when you go into a tea shop the people working there are transient. Students, or casual part time workers who may know something about tea but have not made tea their passion or career. This is not the case with my tea pub. (These people know their stuff!)

I received this tea on one recent visit as a gift. (There had been exited tastings behind the bar of my Laoshan White and the Bailin Gonfu Black that day).

Today:
I used a Gaiwan (4oz) with boiling water and steeped 2min.

Wet leaf, copper and olive…very pretty…changing to dark olive green by the 3rd steeping with the leaves open and large.
The liquor was honey red gold gradually getting lighter by the 3rd steep.

I was just about to go into the 3 tasting phases of this tea when I couldn’t. The tea is not about a sterile set of numbers and discriptions. So here goes ad lib…

When I look at the whole tasting experience I’m reminded of Fall.
There is an introduction immediately to a sweet malty rye bread with peach jam. Then banana peel, not a bitter taste at all…but a taste and texture that is thick and fuzzy. Fall, bread baking and holidays.

I could picture my daughter, three grandaughters and I in her big (huge) farm kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving Feast. She would grind wheat and make the bread for the family. Someone else would make pies (Used to be me). Homemade cranberry sauce bubbleing on the stove, Turkey already in the roaster. I’m commanded to make the beloved candied yams layered with apples and pecans.
The second steep had my yam and apple flavor (without nuts and butter), just a more squashy yam and the sugary golden delicious apples cooked together so that the flavor melts in your mouth. Fragrant and luscious. Oh the taste is so good and rich. Dripping. I’ve never tasted a tea like it!

The breadiness of the first steeping was gone along with the malt. The banana too.

The final steeping was like the end of a meal when you’re full and scraping the bottom of the bowl. Not much was left. It was still good to drink but lighter and squashier. This was a shadow of that amazing second steeping.

What a generous gift. One of the finest, fruitiest Black Tea’s I’ve tasted.
A Taiwanese Tea and Assam blend grown close to Sun Moon Lake.

Gongfu style today.

Slightly fishy, earthy, and something in the back of the throat that I can’t figure out. I’m not sure whether I like it or not… I just can’t say.

This has a strong cocoa flavor to it, it also makes the very front edge of the tongue, back of the lips area water a lot. A bit of tobacco and I don’t know what… a taste that I can’t quite place.

As with the 1973 Baozhong I bought from Red Blossom, I like this much better than most oolongs. I think from now I’ll try to stick to aged ones as I don’t find much flavor in newer oolongs. Both this and the 1973 are very good.