Silk Road

Really enjoyed as a daily tea the orange and spice compliment the tea to give a well bodied cup. Over steeping will give a powdery spice taste that feels flat in the mouth before getting bitter that is eliminated with a touch of added sweetness. I generally steep a maximum of twice 4:15 initially 4:30 for a final pot. Do not bother buying anything smaller than an 80 cup tin as the iced tea and infusions with this tea are also amazing in the summer. I have also added some while making oatmeal in the mornings.

Ruby 18/Ruby Black/TTES #18 is my favorite tea I have tried in the past year. The tea is a large full leave loosely rolled and as such does not pack tight. The flavor is a delicate sweet malt with no bitterness and slight astringency. Despite heavy steep times and multiple steeps flavor remains true with only the sweetness waning.

This tea came courtesy of the Victoria Tea Festival last year. It appears to be a limited edition blend as I can’t seem to find it listed on their website.

The leaves of this tea are lovely – long dark twists when they’re dry that unfurl into large, unbroken leaves when they steep. The smell of the steeping tea was a mix of malt and cocoa that reminds me of Ovaltine and the flavour seems to harken back to both its Taiwanese and Assamica roots. It’s a full-flavoured tea that’s lightly malty but with a slight astringent bite and a touch of that bitter cocoa flavour Chinese black teas seem to have.

It’s a very complex, multi-layered tea and I can see why it was a competition winner.

This was a more pleasant experience—preparing and drinking—then I had expected. I had heard all sorts of things about pu-erh and was rather intimidated when I received as a Christmas gift this cake of pressed tea inside a dried mandarin orange. I had never tasted pu-erh before, let alone prepared it, and expected it would be difficult just getting the tea out. It turned out to be easy. I sliced into the peel with a knife, and it turned out inside is just…tea—which I could pick out with my fingers.

I usually use an infuser—a rather roomy tea ball essentially but instructions I’d read said to make this loose in a pot. So that’s what I did. Also as instructed, I poured off the first steeping of 30 seconds (some sites say as little as 15 seconds for this step.) Some sites also say the next steeping should be only 30 seconds, but I went with the guide that suggested 3 minutes.

I expected something much darker, since I’m told pu-erh is the “real” black tea. (What we call “black” the Chinese call “red.”) But this is described as a green tea. Pu-erh is supposed to come in two varieties: ripened (shou) and raw (sheng) types. The Silk Road Tea site doesn’t specify which this is, but I assume since it’s green it’s the “raw” type?

My aunt and I quite liked it. I’ve heard all sorts of things about pu-erh. That it has for instance a “fishy” taste—which didn’t sound appealing. To me this one tasted like a really nice green tea, but without the grassy taste that puts me off. It’s somewhat oolong-ish to me. A bit of a woodsy note, and I think I can detect a bit of that mandarin orange, but so subtle is it I’m not sure it’s not my imagination. My aunt thought it a bit “flowery” but “very nice.” All in all a much more enjoyable tea than I expected.

(The second steeping at 3 minutes, 30 seconds was rather bitter.)

Having only gotten into fine loose leaf teas this year, I’ve avoided buying flavored teas while I’ve gotten acquainted, especially since I often share this with my aunt, and she prefers her tea unflavored. This tea was given me as a Christmas gift. It’s basically Earl Grey with vanilla. The Silk Road site says it’s a blend of Ceylon, Indian and China black teas with bergamot and vanilla. Maybe that’s why this tastes like dessert to me. A rich indulgence—I can really taste the vanilla and it really compliments this blend. I imagine this would partner well with milk, but I really don’t want to in any way hide the flavor. A real pleasure.

I had my last bit of this tea in my mug this morning, on the first day of school for the semester. I really like it, but I think that when I’m not awake I need either something with a LOT of flavour, or something that’s just really strong. It’s definitely on my repurchase list, if I get to Victoria again this summer, along with their Royal Abkhazi and Golden Phoenix.

Wednesday morning I think I’ll have Steam Tea House’s Ginger Peach. Or maybe I’ll go buy something else tomorrow, because my order from Tealux still hasn’t made it to my house…

Very similar to their Royal Abkhazi. This one is a lot stronger and holds up to added milk and sweetener quite well.

YUM. First real tea of the day at 1pm, when I’ve been up since 9am. What.

As always this is a delicious mostly-EG tea. Like always I have added some creamer to it and it is nice and creamy, with the vanilla EG flavours. And.. now that I’m learning about teas, it feels like there’s some keemun in the cup. Or at least that flavour that pairs so well with maple syrup. Hmm… maybe I should try this with maple syrup next time.

Mmm…

MMM….

I totally forgot how good this is. Really mild Earl Grey with vanilla in it. So delicious. I used 1 tsp in 14 oz, and it’s good enough for me. Sadly, brewing Silk Road teas the Silk Road way means that they last forever and I still have loads of all of them in my cupboard.

I brought this one with me when I went out today. It’s delicious (as always), but it loses something in the travel mug. I’m really preferring my 12 oz ceramic mug from sbux, even though it doesn’t seal at all. Too bad I haven’t found a ceramic travel mug with no silicone bits I have to touch, and a (mostly) sealing lid!

In other news, I made delicious delicious fries today for dinner. I used avocado oil (takes higher temps than olive oil), and made a dipping sauce with tahini, garlic, lime juice, S&P. So good. Do it. Please. I’m going to try with ghee at some point. :)

http://foodwishes.blogspot.ca/2014/02/duck-fat-steak-fries-theres-new-fat-in.html

Nice big mug of this one tonight.

Silk Road teas always last forever, because they recommend only 1 tsp per 16 oz. And I follow their directions. :) I’m not even half way through this tea, and I’ve given a bunch away. Gotta drink more faster!

(This is possibly my favourite Earl Grey.)

Such a nice Earl Grey. Not too much bergamont, and excellent with a spot of cream.

I enjoyed this a lot this morning. Yay for sorta randomizing my teas!

I haven’t had this one for a while as the tin is sitting under other tins in my cupboard. I brought it out when a friend asked for “Earl Grey” type teas… which I really don’t have many of.

This tea works so well in a travel mug, as well as a cup. 1 tsp per 16 oz water, you’d think the flavours would be weak and watery – well, they’re not. This truly is one of my favourite teas, and the hint of vanilla coupled with the delicateness of the bergamot work really well with the base of this tea.

Even though I ended up having coffee this morning too (The horror!), I’m really enjoying sipping on my mug of this.

I finally managed to eat food today ($$$ bacon my brother got me, an egg, and sauteed greens, yum!) and to top off that delicious meal I decided to have an earl grey.

This one is, as always, fantastic. Just having it with a little soy creamer today.

Pay attention to their steeping instructions. 1/2 tsp per 7 oz (or so, this time), 4 mins. It’s actually pretty good, even though my water was WAY too cool. I do prefer making it in 16oz quantities, but I’m trying to only have 8oz cups of tea today, so I get to have more varieties before I start sloshing!

The last time I had this tea I ignored the Silk Road brewing instructions, thinking that they underleaf drastically.

Not true.

1 tsp in 16oz of water, and this tea is perfect. I added 1/4 tsp sugar and some soy creamer, just to make it a richer cup. I’ve done 1 hour + of yoga and a 20 minute body weight workout. I’m tired and need the pick-me-up!

This is such a nice Earl Grey. Really. I love this one. Not too floral, the vanilla adds some extra flavour without being in your face like the vanilla syrup added to a London Fog (Which seems recent. The first few times I had a London Fog there was no sweetener added.). It doesn’t need milk or sugar, I just like to add them for extra comfort. If you want more vanilla, use vanilla almond milk. :) I even love the black base on this. It’s starting to hint at astringency at a 4 minute, boiling water steep, but I think even 5 minutes would be fine if you wanted a stronger tea.

Yum. Definitely a tea I will try to keep stocked in my cupboard.

A vanilla flavoured earl grey. The flavours are delicate enough that it’s delicious without sweetener, just a touch of unsweetened milk substitute

The site doesn’t give a lot of information about the tea. Just that it comes from the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian Province. The leaves look curled up, reminiscent of tiegaunyin teas I’ve seen and it steeped up a dark yellow and tasted very much like Iron Goddess of Mercy. That’s an oolong I like, but not as much as Big Red Robe or Oriental Beauty especially given the mineral-y note to the tea.

I’ve had Moroccan Tea before—and I’ve also had its base tea, Gunpowder China Green. I don’t care for Gunpowder tea—it’s too…flinty in taste for me. In general, I don’t care for unflavored Green tea at all—too vegetal, at least those I’ve tried. I do like Moroccan tea with its mix of gunpowder tea and spearmint. This one is a nice blend, with the mint very much there but not unduly dominant. It’s impossible at several months remove to really compare this with the other cup of this tea I had from Alice’s Tea Cup. Then though my impression was that while I wouldn’t turn down a cup, it wouldn’t be a tea I’d buy again. I find I like Moroccan tea more this time. I just had a second steeping and it was a lovely treat while recovering from a cold.

The tin calls for 1 tsp per two cups of water “just before the boil” and steeping for 3 to 5 minutes. That just didn’t sound right to me, so poking around the net I decided to steep with water at around 176F—and I added about twice as much tea as called for. Despite that, this had the problem I’ve had with most white teas. It’s barely there. This is why I prefer (the more affordable) White Peony over the celebrated Silver Needle. As far as I’m concerned there is such a thing as too subtle. I think I can detect the muscatel taste of darjeeling here, but the taste is so faint I wonder if it’s my imagination. This isn’t as wimpy as Silver Needle or Snowbud, but I definitely prefer my tea stronger. It did strangely improve on a second steeping, with the flavor a bit more pronounced.

Listed on the tin as ingredients are lemongrass, peppermint leaves—and seaweed. Given that last I didn’t think I’d like this at all. I haven’t liked the taste of seaweed when I’ve tried it, and the entire reason I haven’t liked the unflavored green teas I’ve had is because of a vegetal or seaweed like taste to them. However they blended this though, they did a wonderful job. Looking at the mix in the tin the lemongrass definitely predominates, and that citrusy/gingery taste is what’s most obvious in the brew, but the kick of peppermint is certainly there too. I can’t really detect the seaweed, though no doubt it makes its contribution. It’s light, soothing. I really liked this!

(Or rather I really loved the first steeping. I resteeped it for about 9 minutes and didn’t like the result at all—dumped half of it undrunk. On that second steeping I could really smell—and taste—the seaweed and it wasn’t to the good. Less of a minty taste and far more bitter, even with increasing the sweetener. Guess that this is a one-steeping tea.)

Vibrant mint and green tea.

Simple, fragrant and pleasant. Love the little blossoms.

One of the top teas I have ever tasted and piqued my interest for flavoured tea. I don’t generally like cherry, but this is slightly sour and subtle. It marries well with the slightly bitter green tea notes. YUM! I like strong tea and this is such a bold flavour but it’s delicious.

This is the first green pu’erh I’ve tried, and I’m not sure if I burned the leaves, or if green pu’erh is just meant to be more astringent than black, but it’s got a bitter, sour tang to it, that’s not there in the black tuocha.

That being said, I still quite like it. I’m still on the first steep, and have laid the leaves out on a paper towel lined plate to save for more steeps later when I have more time, but it’s a comforting cup of tea, perfectly matched to the crispness of the weather.

I really enjoy the convenience of shaped pu’ehr, the tuocha are individually wrapped in tissue paper, inside the tin, so it’s easy to grab one tuocha, toss it in my tea-on-the-run kit, and then I can toss it in my cup anytime I want it, no separate bags/containers needed!

I’m going to look around for other green pu’erhs to try, and would love suggestions!