Tealet

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Recent Tasting Notes

This is a strange looking brown, with some slightly silvery tip, oolong from Teenjure Cooperative in Nepal.

No real scent from the dried leaf other than generic floral. I followed the directions on Tealet’s site for the brewing and amount and the infused liquor smells divine. There is a scent of raisin and almost earl grey-ish. Honestly, if someone put this in front of me and asked me to guess, blind, what kind of tea it was I’d have put my foot in my mouth and said “earl grey”. But the taste is delicate, a subtle earl grey. It’s fantastic, and I dislike earl greys. With subsequent sips, there are hints of lemon zest and raisins too. The Tealet website states that there would be notes of daikon radish. I didn’t notice it right away but it is there. Raisin, lemony earl grey with a hint of radish! Awesome! If I could compare it to anything it would not be an oolong, but a floral darjeeling.

I might have to just get a whole bunch of this and see what I can create from it.

Flavors: Bergamot, Lemon, Lemon Zest, Raisins

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 240 ML
Anlina

That sounds delicious.

TippysTea

Not what I would have expected from an oolong. It was really delicious.

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This is a high mountain Taiwanese oolong. High mountain teas are grown at altitude, usually above 1 000 m. This stresses the plants and as a result alters the taste of the tea produced from this plant. This tea is another from Goe Tea.

The uninfused leaves are dark, almost black, wirey. There is very little scent from the uninfused leaves.

The infused tea smells floral, and almost like tropical fruit.

Taste-wise this tea is splendid. I steeped 100 ml for 6 minutes and it tasted wonderful. Strong tropical fruit flavours dominate, with mango being the most distinguishing flavour. As it cools you do get a little bitterness, but I am attributing this to my ‘trial by fire’ brewing method for this kind of tea. I figure an infusion for 2 to 3 minutes with 250 ml of water would give a very smooth and tasty liquor.

I’m looking forward to trying further infusions of this tea. It’s a pretty complex brew. Very tasty.

Flavors: Flowers, Mango, Tropical

Preparation
3 tsp 3 OZ / 100 ML
Ost

Mmm! Sounds so good!

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Another sample from the wonderful folks at Tealet. This one is a dark green coloured classical looking oolong. There is a slight floral scent from the dried leaves, nice and subtle.

Creamy, very creamy and smooth tea, slightly floral. I don’t get any toffee. the flavours are oh so subtle. Not in your face like some oolongs that I have enjoyed in the past. There is a tiny amount of bitterness but it works in the tea’s favour as it cuts through the rich creamyness. Very silky mouth-feel.

For the second infusion I steeped the leaves with less water, 120 ml, and for longer duration of time, 5 minutes. Really silky mouth-feel. Almost a sea-weed, nori-like taste from the tea this time around. Still very little bitterness, yet more of a floral aspect for the second round with a hint of toffee.

You can tell when great care and love has went into the production of a tea and with the quality of this tea you know that the people at Goe tea give a damn. A fine oolong this is.

Flavors: Butter, Creamy, Floral, Orchids, Toffee

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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This tea is Doke rolling thunder from Dolly Lochan in Bihar, India. The tea is an amber colour, with no turbidity. The brewed liquor has a dominant scent of jasmine, with some floral/rose overtones. The first infusion was smooth, creamy, and tasted just as it smelled; jasmine. There was some subtle notes of pepto bismol, which was odd. The astringency was strong in this one, and the first infusion was also quite bitter even though I followed the instructions to a ‘t’. Luckily I don’t mind bitterness, and quite enjoy it occasionally, if it is meant to be a part of the profile.

Second infusion the bitterness mellowed out and the tea tasted much, much better. Jasmine was stronger, less pepto bismol, and a slight smokiness lingered. The astringency was still pretty strong.

Overall, a decent tea. Not something I would personally drink on a regular basis but I did enjoy it. A little bit of sugar brings more of the creaminess to the fore.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 30 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 250 ML
Daddyselephant

Can I just say how much I appreciate that not only do you not rate your own teas, but you don’t rate others as well? Try as you may, you’ll always be biased towards your own teas, as we all would be, but you’re not using that bias to influence other companies’ teas, and that is something I greatly appreciate in a tea company and makes me want to order from you! Off to browse your website! (I also love that you’re in Ontario, like me!)

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85
drank Sencha of the Earth by Tealet
49 tasting notes

2013 Sencha of the Earth:
I purchased the Alfredo and Akky Tea Box from Tealet fairly recently, and today I’ll be looking at the Sencha of the Earth from Obubu Tea. Before I get to the tea itself, I want to talk about the packaging a little. This was my first order from Tealet, even though I’ve known about Tealet for quite some time, I’ve never bought anything before because for the most part Tealet sells their teas by 15g, which is something of a weird increment to sell by when most tea stores sell either 25-28gs or an ounce for the smallest non-sample sized available, but I decided to buy the Alfreddo and Akky Tea Box because it was fairly inexpensive and I had an overwhelming desire to finally try some of their sourced teas. I like the idea and spirit behind Tealet, but I’d be more comfortable buying teas from them in the future if they increased the amount of tea, even if that means raising the price.

The dry leaf had a peppery vegetable smell and had the standard sencha look, mostly unbroken, but there were little bits of shredded leaf; mostly green, but with a little light yellow thrown in. Regardless I started brewing at 175 °F in my houhin for one minute. Immediately I could smell a green bean aroma while the taste was mostly nutty, but I could also distinguish both bark and something sweet, although there was some bitterness as well. I’d like the bitterness to be more pronounced, but this steeping was fine, right now it was sweeter than being bitter and has a pleasant astringency. It had a a very pleasant mouthfeel, a little thicker then what one’d expect for a Japanese tea.

For my next steeping I brewed at 180 °F for one and half minutes. This time the aroma was nutty and maybe a little seaweed. While the taste was drastically different from the last; this time it had a strong nutty taste, a mild seaweed taste and very mild honey notes. This infusion was still sweeter then bitter, but not as sweet as the last. I am starting to like this tea more. Generally I like bitterness in Japanese greens.

For my third steeping I brewed at 185 °F for two minutes. This was my favorite infusion; it had a perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. The aroma was pretty much gone by now, but it still had a nutty taste, almost like a Long Jing, but a little more grassy this time, it still had a sweetness there, but it was a little muted. While it did not have the same mouthfeel of the first and second infusion, this was by far my favorite steeping

I got three more infusions out of the leaves, but after the third they became very light. Overall I rather enjoyed this tea. I haven’t had much luck with Japanese teas this year, but this is definitely my favorite Sencha that I tried (although I still have two more in the Tealet Tea Box, so who knows if it will still be my favorite afterwards). This Sencha of The Earth revitalized my interest in Japanese greens, and I’ll have to keep my eye on Obubu Tea.

More at http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/11/sencha-of-earth-2013-from-obubu-teas.html

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56

I enjoyed this one, it was nice and smooth kinda light with some malty notes and kinda fruity like plums. Very decent to me but something about it that just makes it not my cup of tea.

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88
drank Sencha of the Wind by Tealet
672 tasting notes

The very last of the Tealet tea boxes! This is a good one to end on. The tea has a really beautiful scent — honey and sweet peas. There’s some raw sweet pea flavor too, but mineral is the dominant flavor, and the pea is kind of an undernote. Right now this one’s vying with Sencha of the Spring Sun for the role of My Favorite Sencha. Spring Sun is smoother and mellower, something I generally look for in tea, but Wind has really interesting flavor. Hmmm, I’ll have to have a few more cups to decide.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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86
drank Sencha of the Earth by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Sipdown. I’ve stretched this one out as long as I could, it’s really been a pleasant tea. I love the pinenut notes.

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86
drank Sencha of the Earth by Tealet
672 tasting notes

The label mentions a combination of sweetness and bitterness — I’m not really getting either. I do get lots of creamy pinenut flavor though. The tea is having a drying effect on my throat — normally I find this comes with astringency, so it seems kind of at odds with such a mellow tea.

Anyway, not crazy about the drying sensation, but love the flavor.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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87
drank Tecchan Shincha by Tealet
672 tasting notes

The instructions recommended using 1.5 Tablespoons of this, but I suspect that’s a typo (how could you possibly need 1.5 T of shincha?). This tea gets 5 out of 5 caffeine marks, and remembering how buzzed I got on the last tea that was marked that high, I used a scant teaspoon, and I find it is plenty strong.

I was curious to see whether this tea would really taste like buttered asparagus, as promised on the label, and it does! The stony mineral notes are also there, giving it a little zip, but it is primarily a smooth buttery vegetable tea. Good to focus with, as the caffeine brings plenty of alertness but the flavor is soothing. The steeped leaves are lime green, and the liquor is a pale gold.

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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80
drank Gu Hua Sheng Pu'er by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Many thanks to AllanK for the steeping tips! This one turned out much better than my previous attempt at pu’er. I did the rinse, then a 30 sec. steep, a 15 sec. steep, and then 30 sec. again., and every time it seemed to gain a bit of flavor, so I’ll probably try a few more steeps later.

The predominant note in this was earthiness; I gather that is a common trait of pu’erhs. It also has a light touch of cloves. A pleasant tea for fall sipping, and far better than the spice bonanza teas I keep getting in the mail as free samples. I guess that’s the hazard you run of ordering tea in autumn.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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75
drank Gopaldhara Queen by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Haven’t had this tea in a while and I vaguely remember feeling so-so about it — mostly because I’m just not crazy about darjeeling. It tasted really good today though, very fresh without being too raw. Maybe I steeped it a little differently without realizing? Or maybe my tastebuds have just changed, who knows.

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75
drank Gopaldhara Queen by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Hooray, Steepster seems to be up again (at least for now).

There are obvious similarities between this and the Gopaldhara Wonder — they’re both darjeelings with strong muscatel notes. They come from the same farm and, I suspect, the very same plants, but this one is a first flush and the wonder is a second flush.

I guess it’s unsurprising then that this one tastes noticeably “younger.” The liquor looks and tastes greenish. A very spring tea.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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78
drank Gopaldhara Wonder by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Sipdown :(
In happier news, all those black Friday teas I ordered could turn up any day now.
(checking the tracking obsessively)

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78
drank Gopaldhara Wonder by Tealet
672 tasting notes

After having sampled all the Gopaldhara teas a few times now, I can say that this one is my favorite. I guess I must be a fan of the second flush, because the younger harvests of darjeeling just seem too raw to me. While you still get that distinctive muscatel flavor in this, the overall flavor is richer and more rounded, though still light enough for an afternoon tea.

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78
drank Gopaldhara Wonder by Tealet
672 tasting notes

The card that came with this touts it as an “unparalleled” example of darjeeling. I have to admit that I simply don’t have the darjeeling experience to know if this lives up to the advertising.

But it does have strong muscatel flavor, and the sort of papery teabag flavor that I’ve found in previous darjeelings is happily absent. So high marks for that. I thought that darjeelings usually have just a touch of grape flavor, and I don’t find that in this, so maybe it’s not as common as I thought. It has nice olivey-brown whole leaves, and steeps up quite light for a black tea.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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79
drank ChunJian Sheng Pu'er by Tealet
672 tasting notes

Sipdown of this. The aroma is quite spicy and smells a little like Swiss chard, though I wouldn’t say the tea tastes at all vegetal. It has light spice notes and earthiness. To me this seems like a quality tea, but I’m a complete amateur when it comes to pu’erhs.

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79
drank ChunJian Sheng Pu'er by Tealet
672 tasting notes

I’ve always avoided pu’ers because they seemed more than my meager tea-making tools could handle (and because I have no idea what to do with those big cakes). But fortunately this one doesn’t seem too daunting. The small clump broke apart easily and the directions said use a teaspoon, so I just steeped it like normal tea.

BUT unfortunately, I accidentally left it for 5 minutes when it was only supposed to get 30 seconds. It’s definitely stronger than it ought to be. Wow. I’ll just have to try this again some time when I’m paying more attention. Fortunately there’s enough for a few more attempts.

AllanK

Next time just try dumping that steep and resteeping for a shorter time. Also, you generally adjust the second steep down time wise so you might have resteeped it for 15 sec.

Tamarindel

Really? The second steep gets less time? Thanks for the tip, I never would have guessed that!

AllanK

That is because the first steep has “woken up” the leaves. They infuse more quickly after a rinse and a first steep. After the second steep you usually give it more time again.

Tamarindel

That makes sense. Well, I will definitely be better prepared the next time around. Thanks for the knowledge!

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85

Sipdown. For me, the LongWu dragon well from Tealet has the slight edge over this one — it’s a bit sweeter and nuttier, while this one has a touch of salt. It really comes down to personal preference though, they’re both quality teas.

p.s. I’m amazed I originally thought this tea had fruity notes. I’m not getting that at all now. I have had it awhile though, so maybe that has something to do with it?

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85

It’s always a good time to have dragonwell. I think I prefer the longwu dragonwell slightly to this, but they’re very close. This one has just a hint of bitterness, but also some fruit notes in addition to the more customary vegetal flavors.

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85

A very fresh, vegetal dragon well, with mostly green bean notes, but also a hint of sweetness and nuttiness. Very good!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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79

it’s the last of this too. This is an oolong on the the darker side, tastes a bit roasted and earthy, with some very mild spice notes. It reminds me a little of of a pu’erh. While I lean more towards the sweet oolongs, this tea always tastes particularly wholesome; I would usually drink it when I felt a little off, it’s pretty soothing.

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79

This reminds me of the Nepali silver, in that it is an oolong with olive and musk melon notes. This is a smoother, milder take on those flavors though. The leaves are small but whole, slightly bronzed. They look a bit like Russian olive leaves. The liquor is a light golden brown. While this isn’t my favorite style of oolong, it tastes very wholesome and natural, and now and then it makes for a nice change from the floral oolongs.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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82

There’s an unusual amount of natural sweetness in this unflavored black tea. Bold plum and wine notes. Honestly, I was so surprised at how fruity it was that I kept wondering if I had scrubbed the steeper out well enough after previously brewing herbals, but I find the fruit flavor mentioned in several other notes, so it’s not just me. I love fruit, so very pleased with this one!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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