Red Blossom Tea Company

Pretty standard go-to tea for parties and when making a big pot of tea for a few friends and me after dinner. It’s good but I am a big fan of whoppingly massive rose flavor whenever possible. When making my own Mango Lassi’s, I put in way more rose water than they suggest, probably like 10×. I really love that flavor. Maybe I am crazy, but I was surprised that the Rose flavor in this tea was so mild. I was really hoping for more. Much more. But even so, it’s a good go-to tea and it was cheap enough to buy a huge bag of it so I can make it one pot at a time.

This is a beautiful, glorious tea. Last time I checked at Red Blossom they said they WEREN’T CARRYING IT ANYMORE? If so, that is a travesty. This is a really amazing tea and the flavor is just unbelievable.

It smells like ice cream or popcorn or something in a movie theatre that is glorious. The steeping is pretty solid for at least 2 times or even 3 and it’s great for a dessert. The regular Silk Oolong was very nice but the Formosa version really plussed it up a lot in my opinion. I love this tea, it’s marvelous and tastes and smells like candy and happy tears of joy.

I am having a good tea day. I’m at home relaxing so why skimp on the quality stuff – lol. It’s been a while since I had this so I decided to have some today. I really think the xi ying teapot is the perfect way to make wuyi oolongs.

I decided to steep this up at 180 F for 2 minutes. It’s very roasty and woody with cinnamon notes and dried fruit. Someday I need to go back to Red Blossom and get another of their Wuyi teas. I seem to remember the Tie Luo Han as also being very good.

A guy at another local tea shop told me that the darker style oolongs don’t really go stale and might even improve with age. I wonder if that is true.

see my previous notes on this if you are interested. :)

Still very delicious…. my favorite wuyi tea to date

Upped my rating of this one today. A VERY short steeping time of 45 seconds or so seems to do the trick with this one. Smooth minerality with stone fruit flavors… yum yum

I have two Wu Yi teas but it took me a while to get my brewing methods down. If steeped too long they can turn bitter very quickly…

and if you are interested in the history of Wu Yi Tea check out this documentary.
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2011/11/wu-yi-tea-documentary.html

The Red Blossom Tea Company is a fabulous place to go in San Francisco’s Chinatown for tea tasting. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. I knew when I went in that I wanted to try an oolong that was more oxidized than the ones I have been trying. We sampled two wuyi oolongs which were both very good, the Tie Luo Han and this Heritage Rougui.

This is a nice woody tea with hints of cinnamon. It is very creamy and has a smooth finish. The spicy flavor comes out a little bit better with the second steeping here. The tea “liquor” is light and amber-like with a hint of smoke. This is a very nice tea for fall!

My last from the Steepster August box. I wasn’t looking forward to this one since I thought it might be overly floral. Opening the package didn’t make me feel better, as it smelled pretty damn flowery. Turned out to be a fantastic jasmine scented white though. Extremely balanced in flavor. Good white tea flavor and the jasmine adds a different, floral sweetness to the white tea. It’s a great evening tea. Almost a light dessert tea. Relaxing.

Reminds me of summer evenings when I lived in Cali. Sitting on the patio after a hot day while a cool breeze travels through the backyard, bringing with it the scent of the potted jasmine flowers in the neighborhood… Just chillin. Much better than right now, where I’m chillin because it’s freaking cold downstairs. I’ll have to put my teapot inside my sweatshirt pretty soon.

Absolutely divine Chinese black tea, shockingly sweet and smooth, smells and tastes a bit like vanilla.

Aroma and flavor of dried plum. This aged wenshan baozhong has never been roasted and has been stored well for it’s 20+ year lifespan. No roasted notes as in many aged oolongs.

This smells very sweet like honey, a touch green, a little woody.

Sipped very hot the taste is… different. Green like chewing on leaves.

Cooled some it is still green but also that woody scent comes forth as flavor. The sweetness smelled doesn’t make itself part of the taste. It’s very lightly astringent.

The scent is of green tea and bitter black licorice. I’ve never smelled lotus before, so I guess that is what it smells like. It’s quite unappealing. There’s also a medicine smell to it.

The taste is horrid. Something that makes your mouth kind of tingle like some lozenges due, bitter black licorice that sticks in the back of your throat. shudder

The more I drink this the more I like it. I enjoy a nice pot of this and each cup after cup.

It’s a very light and smooth jasmine. Just a wonderful balance between the tea and flower.

This is a very pleasant tea. But I prefer their Dragon Pearl Jasmine. This tea is scented 3 days longer than the other and you can tell.

I had thought that maybe you wouldn’t be able to, but decided to buy some to try it out in case there was, indeed, a difference because of those 3 days.

There is. The jasmine is quite more prevalent… with the other tea it is a whisper, with this one it’s a clear voice.

Beautiful for those that like more jasmine flavor to their jasmine scented teas. It’s lovely tasting and of good quality, IMO, but I’m one who likes their jasmine softer. I’ll stick to their non-supreme version and gift or trade this one to someone who can enjoy it more.

Finally getting around to trying this tea from the Summer Lovin’ Steepster Select box. This is an excellent Jasmine Pearl. The flavor is soft and smooth, with a light jasmine taste that is simple and sweet. It doesn’t taste soapy. It’s very pleasant… and I do love Pearls! A great choice for the Steepster Select Box!

When I smelled this tea, my first thought was the jasmine would overpower the white tea. However, it is very balanced in the cup. Delicious.

This may be my current favorite tea. I love pearls—I may be easily amused—and I love jasmine. Oh, and I love white tea. What’s not to love?
I was drawn to it the moment I opened the little package from Steepster Select. It has a delicious jasmine-y scent. When I took the leaves off I thought for a moment that I hadn’t steeped it long enough, because it’s really light. I may have kept it on a little longer. But it didn’t make it bitter or anything. It’s a great tea for my morning ritual. Not too dark, with a subtle fragrance (even after oversteeping), and a smooth texture.
As a bonus, it still tastes good when I accidentally leave it out for too long. I haven’t tried this one iced, but I suspect it would be just as good. There aren’t too many teas that can get away with keeping their flavor at room temperature.

I have to take back what I said in my last review of this: It has turned into a favorite.

Actually, the more I drink this the more I think I may buy it. It truly is a nicely balanced tea.

Sweet and floral scent. The jasmine is present without being overwhelming, like some jasmine scented teas.

Taste-wise, this seems nicely balanced. Again the jasmine is not overwhelming and the white tea can be found in the flavor. There is a slight sweetness to it that is found in many whites, so far IME. It leaves the mouth watering a bit.

Another flavored tea I find I like in this set of samples. I doubt I’d buy it, but I’m glad I tried it. It gives me new hope in jasmine scented teas.

At the bottom of my Steepster select bag and I’m a little sad to see the tea go. The scent is quite lovely and it’s so delicious with my macaroon. <3