Red Blossom Tea Company

Note: This is a later-harvest Longjing and thus trickier to brew than the higher-end Longjings. In future, skip the rinse and brew at 177 – 180˚F, for 40s / 55s / 70s / 90-95s.

Even when sufficiently steeped, the liquor is paler than any other tea I’ve seen so far––it’s the colour of moonlight, paler than canola oil, the sepia of a recent memory.

Brewing this Longjing in a gaiwan this time. Rinsed for 1s before brewing.

1st infusion (175˚F, 45s):
Strong buttery fragrance as usual. Tastes clear, fresh, but a bit astringent this time. Next time maybe just 40s. (Assuming I dilly-dally and take 5s to get to the gaiwan and pour it out)

2nd infusion (175˚F, 55s):
Surprisingly, the buttery scent is gone from the leaves. All I smell is vegetal and fruity plum notes. It’s really intoxicating. The tea still tastes buttery though. Unfortunately halfway through drinking this my mouth got so dry I had to throw out the rest of this infusion.

3rd infusion (177˚F, 65s):
Not bad, the astringency has decreased. Maybe it’s better brewed at a slightly higher temperature.

4th infusion (180˚F, 75s):
Lightly, elegantly scented water. We’re done here.

This is the 2015 harvest that I bought in Feb 2016. Brewed 12oz in a teapot so that I can bring one of the steepings to work.

First infusion: My God, this smells so sweet! Like warm butter. It tastes like fresh buttery spring water. Am I being transported to the legendary Dragon Well? This is amazing.

Second infusion: The divine fragrance is gone, but we’re left with a smooth-drinking liquor which retains the buttery and a nice flavour of toasted nuts. These leaves are pretty done, but I will try a third infusion with a gaiwan next time.

Was browsing green teas at Red Blossom Tea Company this weekend. The dry leaves of the Spring Mao Feng 2015 smelt beautiful –– even nicer than the super buttery premium Dragon Wells. It was a harmonious blend of grassy and buttery.

Unfortunately after steeping, it tasted mostly grassy. Slightly toast buttery but more grassy. Not a bad green, but I went with the Pre-Rain Dragon Well instead.

The buttery, almost oily popcorn fragrance lasts through three infusions –– what a high quality tea! Absolutely gorgeous.

After steeping, you’ll notice a lot of bigger stems in the leaves. This tea smells sensational, there’s a strong flavour of butter popcorn and it’s smooth to drink. Probably the butteriest oolong I’ve ever tasted.

This was only my first time at Red Blossom Tea Company, but they seem to carry a lot of buttery tasting teas (greens and oolongs at least). My partner bought this so there will probably be future tasting notes as we brew this at home.

Stolen from the box I have half-ready for Sil.

Tastes more like a black tea than a white.

Steeped 1 minute at 195F.

It’s really good, but I’m still not really into tea, so I won’t keep it. It just smelled good, so I wanted a cup today.

Need to try this tea a couple times before I send the remainder of the packet to Sil.

Steeped 1-ish tsp in 8 oz 2 min at 180F.

Smells good. Juicy. Thick.

Mmm, this is malty. Very light, yet very malty. OMG this is so good. Wow.

I’ll need to keep a couple servings. But it’s a tea I don’t see myself reaching for often, and it would best go to someone who I know will nom it all.

But it’s so good.

Hahaha.

Edit: Thanks SO MUCH, MissB! I was so blown away by the tea I forgot to thank you.

Edit edit: 2100! WHOA!

I’ve had this for awhile, so I finally decided to take it out. I’m not going to go into too much detail about this brew, for it wasn’t that complex. The dry leaf gave off a Shou earth aroma. I warmed the leaves, and I got a deeper earth. The steeped leaves had the same warmed earth. The liquor tasted like….. you guessed it, earth. This wasn’t terrible, but it was boringly basic. This tea was thin and didn’t have any differentiated tones other than earth, wet earth, soil, and warmed earth. All these tones are pretty much the same, or at least in the same category. I won’t be getting any more of this. I wouldn’t use the word “rich” to describe it either.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAC5lc6zGdx/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Just thought I’d right a quick tasting note for this one, not of of my favorites but it does have a wonderful bold taste. If anything it could possibly be a bit too strong to my taste or probably just the fact I’m not a huge fan of smoky teas. Would totally recommend this to someone who like smoky flavors and is looking for a solid green tea to drink. But as for me I’d prefer this one to be steeped with something such as mint to sort of cut the strength of it.

Thanks for the tea, MissB!

This is kind of interesting. From various notes, and the description here on steepster (their website is down…), it’s supposed to be a super fancy puerh. But I’d have to disagree.

There’s quite a lot of that icky “wet dirt” flavour that I’m going to call “fermentation flavour”. It’s a loose puerh, and I used 2 tbsp in 130-ish ml water. Now that I’ve thrown away 4 or 5 steeps, it’s starting to lighten up a bit and a lot of sweetness is coming out. I’m not getting overwhelmed by dirt anymore, although it’s still present.

So I’d say it’s not bad. It’s not great, but it’s not bad. I think my parents would really really like this one, so I’m going to tuck it in with their Christmas gift (a selection of puerh samples, because I have no money). Their local tea shop only has 2 kinds of puerh – a loose, and a cake that I don’t know that they should buy. Hopefully I can get them hooked and then they’ll come over and we’ll have fun tea shopping.

Another new one from Red Blossom. I love their selection of Oolongs, and I think I am learning a lot from cruising through their stock.

This one is no slacker. I was worried while brewing it that it would be a bit tastless as the water stayed very clear and light, but the taste certainly shined right through. Big and bold, very well balanced, a hint of maltiness hidden behind butter and wet straw. Certainly closer to a green then most of the other Oolongs I have tried, this one would certainly make a great Fall Season tea.

-E

Of the Pu-erhs I have tried, this one is a great middle of the road example. Super basic, fairly easy to brew, all the good things about a Pu-erh front and center with a great balance, nothing surprising or super special.

Nice and rich and malty, just like a great Pu-erh should be. This is what I think of as a great benchmark for anyone interested in getting into high grade, very good Pu-erhs. I love it!

I had this yesterday with some Vitamix banana “ice cream” for dinner. It was a nice enough pairing, but maybe I should have chosen something with more earthiness or spice or something. This tea was perfectly smooth and sweet, but didn’t necessarily have the complexity or depth of flavor one could hope for. I just don’t know how to feel about this one! I don’t know if the subtlety of the flavors and the way they all meld together is it’s greatest feature or its greatest flaw…?

Finished this one off today as well. Such a lovely treat :)

mmmmmmmm… pulled this one out since i was making a white tea anyway and i’m glad i did. OMGsrsly sent this one to me, though it was MissB who sent it along. I’d forgotten how much i like this particular tea – it’s a white tea without being “boring” as i often find many straight white teas to be. sweet notes.

Really enjoy this one as far as white teas go. it’s MUCH cheaper than my all time favourite white, so no complaints there and it’s something i may look to pick up again. in the meantime i’m super happy omgsrsly introduced me to this one :)

i’vev had this a couple times now and haven’t really landed on where i felt about it. today though? it’s bang on what i wanted it to be. A juicy, delicious tea. noms. thanks omgsrsly

this one comes from omgsrsly as well. I figured since i was doing a few lower temp teas, i might as well toss this one in to the mix. I’m not sure how i feel about this one in the grand scheme of things. It reminds me a little bit of white night, but doesn’t seem as flavourful or sweet. I’ll have to play with this one a little more to see if i can get it to behave for me!

sent this as a free sample. Not feeling too well today, but ive really wanted to try this one out as im beginning to get a taste for puehr now i have tried some nice ones and got the brewing method down a bit better.

So, rinsed to open the leaves.

first steep was quite, hmm, reserved? crisp & has a nice taste which isnt overpowering at all, nothing jumping out at me. 5 secs.

straight to second steep and for 10 seconds this time. the colour is a lot thicker and darker and the leaves smell of a slight raisin sweetness. I get, again, general pu earthy flavours & some sort of cake. not sure which cake, but something like that.

further steeps were 15 & 25 seconds. the flavour has taken on more elements of a cake or a sweet (maybe an english sweet flavoured with a herb or plant) but i cant put my finger on it. again, its a subtle flavour, nothing jumping right out at me.

subsequent steeps started to lose their flavour.

quite nice, nothing amazing, nothing bad about it.

lol! the aroma from the steeped leaves actually reminded me of being in a canteen at a marks and spencers (M&S is a department store if you dont have them in the US) roasty with a bit of fruit. Aroma from the cup has the oily/buttery smell of a dancong. tried it 3g western style, too weak.

5g 100c 1 minute in the gaiwan, however, the aroma, of the steeped leaves, i swear down, was a really nice british-indian curry. i kid you not. the taste, however, wasnt strong enough again. weird.

second steep, straightaway after. for 2 minutes. still smells of curry hahahaha. a bit bitter and chocolate-savoury. oversteeped, slight yucky aftertaste.

im a bit tea’d-out so i iwill update this review later when ive experimented more. any suggestions on how to brew from anyone who knows this tea would be great.

Interesting. tried this as i love whites, the leaves are more spindly like its almost an Oriental Beauty.

aroma from the steeped leaves is more vegetal than i thought. from the cup there is an underlying sweetness, a syrup.

Tried it as recommended, 4g 90c 2:30 western style. I think this might have been too much (the 4g & temp). there is a hint of sourness, which reminds me of a too-strong white. next time i’ll try it the white way, 80c 3g 3mins.

I let it cool. interesting tea. very much like a white, but with a slight sourness that hangs around on the tongue, less floral than a yin zheng, but with similar characteristics.

Tried it straightaway after at 80/3g/3mins, it was similar to a yin zhen, again more sour and less sweet. I preferred a good silver needle, ,i must confess.

Made me feel nice. slight astringency.

I think i will need to experiment more with this tea, at the moment im on the fence with it, so it gets an 80 from me.

This is pretty solid. Very busy/lazy today. This is one of the teas my dog attacked/ate recently. Dachshund-approved flavor.

Ohh, this is a tasty white tea. It reminds me more of a black tea, as it has malty chocolate in here that tones down the hay-like notes that are typically present in white teas. This is the kind of white teas that I tend to go for the most. MissB, you just knew I’d love this one, didn’t you? Thank for you much for including this in my package!