Taiwan Tea Crafts

Thanks to TastyBrew, who included this TastyTea in the last round of the BBBBox.
I drank this last bit as short gongfu steepings, 15/30/45/60 sec, 2/3/4/5 min.
I didn’t take detailed notes, but it was yummy with essence of honey, malt, wheat bread, & a slight spicy & floral quality to it. Sipdown!
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Taiwan Tea Crafts has some lovely & interesting teas, & this is another one of them.
If you’re looking for a knock your sox off bold tea, this is NOT it. But if you want something subtle & soothing, but still within the black tea genre, this might be the tea for you :)
There is a creamy quality, a honey & cream of wheat thing, a little pumpkin.
It kind of reminds me of Butiki’s wild mountain black, kind of.
Thanks to TastyBrew for including this in our latest BBBB!

I’m finding that the “easiest” way to get a sipdown in at work this week is to use the samples of TTC teas that cavocorax gave me haha. Then i can get a second one in at night during the week when i have a herbal :) This one i’ve had before but it was still enjoyable. that being said, i see no need to go with the upgrade version, as i like the non upgraded version better :) thanks for letting me revisit this one Cavo!

terri sent this one my way (she received it from charlotte zero) and i’m glad she did. I haven’t had this lot before. :) This of course reinforces my opinion that 25g samples of all the different lots can for sure be sustainable from TTC once i finish up my current larger sizes. It’s actually a better route to go for me, unless i’m sharing a larger size with someone. Not because i don’t love the teas, but because i want to be able to try all the lots in case one really blows my mind. There’s no fear of picking up something i won’t like either because thus far all the TTC teas that i’ve tried that are in the black range have been enjoyable for me :) thanks for sharing terri!

So far, all the Taiwanese teas I have tried seem to have that distinctive spice note both in taste and aroma. I’m not really sure what it is, but it is very unique, aromatic and flavourful.

This is fragrant, fruity and spicy, but also smooth and creamy with notes of honey, and somehow savory as well. Seems bolder and more full bodied in a way, than the TTC golden dragon tippy black tea I had earlier, but both are similar to me. Delicious!

Warm cinnamon raisin bread. That is exactly what this cup tasted like – so delicious!
There is a rich sweetness of cinnamon and spices, combined with the fruitiness of raisins, and fresh bread. Lovely and fragrant!

Large curled leaves with a slight golden hue.
Brewed aroma is fruity like apricots and raisins, and has a spice note I first encountered in butiki’s taiwanese wild mountain black, also which carries over into taste.
Very flavorful of spice, fruits and honey. It is very much reminiscent of pumpkin pie, as TastyBrew noted in her review, and so delicious and smooth, especially with added cream. Yum!

mmmmm i do like TTC’s teas. This is not one of my favourites, but it is a pleasant, taiwanese cup of tea. Likely won’t reorder this variation from TTC but only because there are others that i love from them, so why settle for a mostly yummy tea when i can have amazing yummy tea? :)

..weird. I know i’ve had this before but i can’t seem to find a tasting note for it. Oh well..this was another tea from this morning since i need to stay moving on to some of my other teas. this is similar to other TTC taiwanese blacks but different in that it’s less juicy and honey sweet and closer to being malty, without actually being malty. if that makes sense. either way, a good cup for today!

I was rummaging through my sample box the other day and found this tea. Had a brief conversation with myself…
Where did this come from?
Obviously Sil sent it to you.
I drank all the samples Sil sent…
The fact that it’s still here means that you didn’t.

Another perfect example of why having 23408234098 teas in your cupboard is too many.
Anyway…. I’m drinking this today at work.
It’s awesome. Of the teas I’ve tried from Taiwan Tea Craft this is my favorite. it’s not really like a “true” dark oolong, it’s not really like other aged oolongs I’ve had. It’s really fruity (stone fruit – peach? apricot?). not floral at all, not roasted/smokey at all. Not sure what it is, but awesome is how I feel.
Thanks so much Sil (and Terri ?) for passing this on to me.

I got this tea awhile back with my Taiwan Tea Crafts order. I had a huge hurting for a roasty oolong. Though, a surprise with this tea – the oolong leaves are pitch black with an intense roasty charcoal smell that steeps up light, clean, mineral, honey sweet and really smooth roasty flavor.
I was expecting a heavier flavor and texture. I’m on my 5th steeping in my yixing pot and the flavor is pretty consistent.
Overall, a pretty interesting oolong, and this one is on the cheaper side on the website, so easy to sneak into your cart.

I spent most of the day drinking Teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts. In particular, I wanted to drink this & the aged 2005 songboling, lot 135, back to back, to see what becomes of a tea such as this one when allowed to age.

Of course, I have no idea what to say about it. I enjoyed them both, LOL.
This one is a lovely cup, roasty, creamy, & sweet. There’s a real incense quality to the aroma, & also a fruitiness, maybe apricot?

1 tbsp

Smooth hint of savoury milky sweetness. Definite strong floral note. Slight oceanic (salt) tone. Fresh grass.

Thanks to Sil for sharing!

This tea is a little different than some of the Taiwanese blacks I’ve had before as it is neither dominated by fruit, or the mint spicy tones you often find. Instead it actually does reference oatmeal, not in the aged tea/ exhausted steeping type of oatmeal flavour you get but actual oatmeal with grain, malt and a little hint of nut in it, contributing to a savoury comforting, rich flavour. As secondary notes it has fairly strong malt tones, sharp fruit ranging from long an to red currant, and honey tinged cocoa.

I brewed it 5 times (20, 30,55,120, &240s). It seemed to have a nice bit of resiliency, with malt retaining prominent notes and the cocoa honey note increasing in the first few steepings and the fruit changing from longan to a currant note in later steeps.

Maybe not my favourite Assam but still a warm, comforting and pleasant cup. Thanks to TastyBrew for allowing me the opportunity to try another of TTC’s black teas!

Wow! This is a great one for coffee lovers!! It is a deep espresso flavor with accents of prunes and raisin, and essences of sweet pipe tobacco.
Thank u to Terri Harplady for this sample!!

Sipdown!! (118)

Thank you Sil!! This is certainly a delicious black tea. It is one I would even consider stocking as it is fruity and smooth and really quite tasty. I definitely was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did and now it is gone and I am sad.

Thank you Sil for sharing this with me. I am actually quite surprised as I anticipated a straight black but this is smooth and fruity. It is very good so I am glad you sent it to me and forced me to try something new.

Along with the usual floral and honeyed notes (albeit subtle), there are other tastes that are hard for me to pin down. Perhaps fresh tomato? The leaves, both dry and infused, are stunning. A rather complex tea, which may not be worth the steep price.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 3:00 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 5:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10:00+ min.

First sipdown of the day, no. 90 overall, I think, sent to me from Sil.
This is lovely, simply lovely. I’m not really sure how to describe it, so I won’t even try.

Nice subtle roast. Like coffee with lots of cream and a hint of sugar. Has a creamy mouthfeel too which is really delicious.

I prepared this Gong Fu style in my Yixing that is dedicated to roasted type Oolongs. I am having fun with this as I just got this pot. I am getting another one to dedicate to an individual tea as well but am searching for the perfect tea to go for that one.
I am a total tea addict now because the Yixings are very very fun. I love the idea of all the years of lovely tea seasoning the pots with all that character and flavor. And this tea added to that!!!
Thank u to Terri Harplady for this sample!!