Tealyra

So here we go with another Japanese black tea from Tealyra. I dug this one out of my stash a couple days ago in order to compare it to the Wakoucha. The two could not have been more different. The Wakoucha was thin, smooth, and delicately malt. This tea was sweet, fruity, honeyed, and syrupy with a more pronounced astringency.

I prepared this one Western style. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 3 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions. In two earlier sessions, I tried steeping this tea for 5 minutes, and while the longer infusion amplified the tea’s fruitier, more syrupy qualities to a ridiculous degree, it also brought out the tea’s natural astringency in a big way. I would recommend sticking with the 3 minute infusion if you’re only going to steep it once.

Prior to infusion, the mostly jet black, broken leaves produced noticeable aromas of ripe plums and honey underscored by hints of malt and spice. After infusion, the dark amber tea liquor emitted almost unbelievable aromas of honey, plums, toast, malt, and cinnamon. In the mouth, the tea produced a flourish of honey, cinnamon, plums, apricot, and cocoa before introducing milder notes of cream, toast, and malt. The finish was astringent and somewhat woody, though lingering impressions of cinnamon, honey, malt, and plums were easy to note.

This was a very aromatic and flavorful tea with an abundance of body and texture in the mouth. The astringency was a little off-putting at first, but I doubt it would be troubling for anyone accustomed to BOP grade black teas or any sort of traditional black tea blend. Though this may not qualify as the highest grade Japanese black tea in the world, it did make for an extremely pleasant drinking experience. I would say give this one a shot if you happen to be looking for a unique black tea with a lot of flavor.

My goodness, I’m in love with this tea! I like it so much I don’t want to share with anyone;)
So yes, when you open the sealed packet there is a strong strawberry aroma. It is sweet, and creamy, full of buttery goodness. It smells like strawberry frosting or cake, but with floral notes. It is Rich and Delicious. I find the cream and berry to compliment each other, and while being strong they give the tea an interesting character. I also have to say that I do not like flavored teas, and that this one is different, its not your perfumed Teavana mix. Its more delicate, more tasteful and classy. Steeped, its much more mellow, it looses the overpowering aroma yet retains the notes of cream, berries, buttercream, honeysuckle, gardenia. The taste is fresh and not overly complicated. It leaves a bit of a mineral tingling, and a mouthwatering feel. Most likely because I’m now craving Strawberry Cake lol ;)
It is definitely a “desert” brew, but if you like rich, aromatic and vivid experience I would definitely recommend this one.

My senses of taste and smell are finally returning, but kind of come and go at this point. It’s a good thing this infection seems to be resolving itself. I was starting to get concerned. Now that I am able to resume at least semi-regular tea reviewing duties, I decided to make this Japanese black tea my first target. I had actually started this one before I got sick, but never got around to conducting a review session with it.

I prepared this tea Western style. I did not have enough energy for anything more involved. I steeped a fairly heaping teaspoon of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. I did not conduct any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted toasty, malty, slightly nutty aromas. After infusion, the peachy golden tea liquor provided mild, soothing aromas of toast, malt, almonds, straw, plums, and white grape. In the mouth, I detected simple, unobtrusive notes of white grape skin, toast, straw, toasted rice, malt, plums, and almonds with faint underpinnings of cocoa and cinnamon.

This was a very light, simple tea. It’s kind of hard for me to find much else to say about it. Even though there wasn’t much to this one, it was very easy to drink and was very soothing on my sore throat. I’ll give it a few points just for that.

sample from evol ving ness this one was a resounding NOPE for me…i dunno what it was about the tea but between the aroma and the taste, i could drink it… oh well, can’t win ‘em all and i’ll happily shre what i have left with folks since lots of others seem to have enjoyed them!

Here’s another sipdown. To this point, this has probably been the most interesting black tea I’ve tried this month. It has taken me nearly a full week to reach a consensus on this one, but I ultimately found it to be a worthy tea.

I prepared this one Western style. For this session, I steeped approximately 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. I did not conduct any additional infusions this time, though I have tried it in the past. I avoided it here because I found that a single five minute infusion worked best for me. It seemed to bring out some of the tea’s more unique characteristics. I must say, however, that I never got around to gongfuing this one and I regret that. It would be interesting to see how this tea would react to such a treatment.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced an interesting malty, woodsy bouquet. After infusion, the dark copper tea liquor produced intense aromas of wood, cream, malt, molasses, cocoa, and menthol. In the mouth, I clearly detected notes of cocoa, cream, malt, molasses, toast, wood, honey, dates, peppermint, and wintergreen backed by notes of chestnut and walnut which became noticeable on the finish.

Prior to trying this tea, I knew absolutely nothing about this cultivar and had no clue what to expect. After trying it for the first time, I determined that it had to be some sort of Taiwanese Assam because it was so reminiscent of some of the wild Assamicas that come out of southern China and Vietnam. Lo and behold, I was kind of right. This cultivar was at least partially developed from the wild-growing Taiwanese Assamica plants that have produced some of the most acclaimed black teas in recent years. That being said, this tea was not your typical Assam-type black tea. If you approach this tea expecting it to be similar to a typical Assam, you may end up disappointed. Compared to a typical Assam tea, this was much more herbal and much more intense all around. It was a very enjoyable, if rather quirky tea, but it was also not the sort of black tea I would see myself reaching for on a regular basis.

Sample from Evol Ving Ness – this one isn’t terrible. lol i think the sarsparilla is actually throwing me off a little. As in, without it, i think i’d like it a little better as far a chocolate chai goes.

This is a wonderful tea. It is very aromatic and full flavored, wet leaves smell sweet, strong hint of burnt sugar. Very pleasant cup, its floral but also very creamy and smooth, I detect sweet hay notes, caramel, malt and honey. Rich and satisfying:)

I do not talk about this often, but I have a huge soft spot for Chinese yellow tea. Though I do not have a ton of experience with this style, the few yellow teas I have tried have all really pleased me. This one was no exception.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water. Tealyra recommends a water temperature of 190 F for this tea, but that seemed rather high to me. On the rare occasions I drink yellow tea, I normally brew around 170-175 F, so I decided to do the same here. The first infusion was followed by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 4 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted lovely aromas of grass, hay, green beans, peas, and chestnut. After the rinse, the tea’s bouquet grew slightly smoky and more floral. I caught hints of squash blossom and sweet corn, as well as some sort of fruit. The first infusion produced a more mellow, integrated bouquet in which I began to catch impressions of bamboo, marigold, and chrysanthemum. In the mouth, I savored a pleasant combination of smoke, chestnut, bamboo, grass, hay, butter, cream, sweet corn husk, squash blossom, green beans, and peas. Subsequent infusions grew fruitier and more floral. The chrysanthemum and marigold fully emerged in the mouth, balanced by interesting touches of honeydew and cantaloupe. The sweet corn husk, smoke, hay, bamboo, and chestnut notes became more prominent, allowing the grassier and more vegetal touches to take a backseat. A touch of minerals also began to peek through on the finish. Later infusions saw the floral, smoky, and nutty characteristics fade, as green beans, grass, cream, butter, and peas once again asserted themselves. The mineral presence greatly increased, imparting something of an alkaline mouthfeel to the tea liquor. I also detected a note of leaf lettuce.

This was very nice. I could have cut this session at least 1-2 steeps short, but I wanted to really savor that alkaline mouthfeel that always strikes me as being unique to Anhui green and yellow teas. Though I doubt that this tea comes from the slopes of Mt. Huo proper, I can confirm that it is sourced from the Huoshan area. Regardless of where precisely it originates, this struck me as being a quality Huang Ya. I found it to be highly enjoyable and would have no issues with recommending it to those looking to get into yellow tea.

Hey all, I know I have been out of action for a couple days. Sorry about that. I have been dealing with a lot of job stress (I have finally fully realized that the position I transferred into in November is not for me and I’m trying to find a way out into something that suits me better). So, needless to say, I have not been nearly as productive on the tea reviewing front. As a matter of fact, this oolong is the only thing I have been drinking for the past couple of days, which is unfortunate because this is not my thing at all.

For this review session, I prepared this tea gongfu style. I gave this one an extended rinse (10-12 seconds) in the hope of rousing the tea a little. I had tried this tea prior to this and my first impression was that there wasn’t much to it, so I figured I could get a stronger flavor right off the bat if I drew out the rinse and then started with a longer-than-average first infusion. Normally, I start off with either a 5 or 10 second infusion with most oolongs. I started with 15 seconds here. I followed this infusion up with 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 18 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 2 minutes 30 seconds, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes. Can you tell I had no clue what I was doing or where I was going with this one?

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves (which are basically entombed in a sarcophagus of ginseng and Xiang Cao) give off a light musty odor. After the rinse, I could only detect hints of vanilla, ginseng, and grass. The first infusion produced an almost identical aroma. In the mouth, I was just barely able to detect notes of sweetgrass, cream, butter, cucumber, watercress, Chinese vanilla, and ginseng. The next two infusions were virtually identical in every aspect. Subsequent infusions gradually grew smoother and sweeter. The aromas and flavors of Chinese vanilla and ginseng grew more pronounced. Later infusions saw the Xiang Cao merge with the underlying cream note as the sweet, herbal ginseng notes started to fade. The liquor grew slightly more buttery, while a subtle mineral presence began to emerge.

Considering that I do not know what to make of this, it could have been far worse. I think the mistake I made initially was not fully committing to a lengthy first infusion. I should have started around 20 seconds because it takes this one awhile to open up. Once it did open up, however, I did not find there to be all that much to it. The tea, itself, did not have much character, serving as a relatively neutral base from which the Chinese vanilla and ginseng sprung. I guess that was the idea, but I kept looking for additional points of interest and did not find any. It was a very uncluttered drinking experience, but unfortunately, that also means it was a little boring for me. I also have to note that I found the mouthfeel of the tea liquor unappealing. It was very slick, limp, and thin, the liquid equivalent of a dead fish handshake complete with that odd ginseng grittiness on the back of the throat. I am beginning to get the idea that some of these ginseng oolongs just may not be for me.

Sample from Evol Ving Ness more berries! haha i think this one would be a decent cup of tea cold brewed (or maybe just brewed and then cooled…) with some sweetner. As a warm cup of tea, there’s a floral note to this that doesn’t jive with me. You can taste the base through the flavouring, which i like..but that berry + floral note is not for me. thanks for the sample evol!

Tried this one from Evol Ving Ness today and while it was a tasty cup, the flavours seemed a little muted. David’s tea – strawberry rhubarb parfait is more up my alley as i expect POP from strawberry rhubarb versus…oh hey..hi there… :) Still enjoyable but i want moar taste!

Final Count: 106

On par with the 2016 Jingmai black that I got from Farmer Leaf.

I will say, high quality black teas can be amazing.

Probably going to be one of the best three teas I have this month for sure. Smooth cinnamon like tingle with a floral taste in the back while sweetness comes through…. different from the sip to the breathing out after drinking it. Wonderful stuff.

While organizing all of my teas this weekend, I came to the realization that I have a ton of stuff from Tealyra that I need to finish. The thing is they have so many good sales that when I do order from them, I end up with a ton of exciting new teas to try. Since then, I have been taking baby steps toward reducing the number of Tealyra products in my home by working my way through a pouch of this oolong.

For this session, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. I followed this infusion up with 12 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I noted that the dry tea leaves emitted mild aromas of butter, cream, and fresh flowers. The rinse somewhat intensified the butter, cream, and flower aromas, while also bringing out a subtle vegetal scent. The first infusion produced a similar, though somewhat more integrated bouquet. In the mouth, I detected mild notes of cream, butter, and steamed rice underscored by fleeting impressions of fresh flowers, cucumber, and sweetgrass. Subsequent infusions saw the floral aromas and flavors intensify and subtle fruit notes emerge. I began to detect distinct impressions of lily, honeysuckle, and magnolia, as well as hints of tangerine, cantaloupe, and honeydew. The vegetal, grassy notes were also more pronounced, especially on the finish. The later infusions were very mild. I mostly picked up aromas and flavors of butter, cream, cucumber, and sweetgrass underscored by subtle minerals and an extremely distant floral presence.

Overall, I found this to be a very mild oolong that was easy to drink. I know that Tealyra advertised plenty of dark floral flavor with this one (whatever that means), but I didn’t really get any of that. What I noted was a lot of very bright floral notes balanced by plenty of savory cream and butter notes and mild fruity, grassy, and vegetal qualities. There was nothing deep or dark about this tea. It was a mild, approachable high mountain oolong. I liked it, though I have to admit I found it a little boring. I tend to find many Alishan oolongs a little boring. Still, I would not hesitate to recommend this tea to someone looking for a solid introduction to high mountain oolongs or for an oolong that is basic and drinkable.

Well, it’s getting cold here and I’m still drinking as much Assam as I can manage. I bought this one back in either late spring or early summer and I started on it last week. From the first sip onward, I was not impressed, so I decided to work my way through a couple of other sipdowns and then pick it up again. Allowing this tea to sit for about a week helped it a little, but not much.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion I tend to prefer for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped a heaping teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. Tealyra recommends using one standard teaspoon and only steeping for 2-3 minutes, but I did not get much out of this tea using their brewing guidelines, so I resorted to the method outlined above.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves gave off a slightly musty, leafy scent. There was not much else to note. After infusion, I picked up on faint scents of malt, autumn leaves, wood, leather, and roasted nuts. In the mouth, the flavors were very weak. It took some time, but I was just barely able to pick out notes of autumn leaf pile, leather, roasted nuts, malt, tobacco, cream, and some sort of mild spice.

I have no clue what the deal was here. This tea did not even remotely smell or taste like an Assam. It barely smelled or tasted like anything. I keep thinking that it maybe was stale, but I have not even had this tea a year and I was as careful as always in storing it. I also did not pick up any musty or stereotypically old flavors, so who knows? Looking at Tealyra’s description, they do not mention much in the way of aroma or flavor, so perhaps this tea is just a dud. I know that it still packed one hell of a caffeine wallop whatever the case. The only things I see this Assam being good for are blending into another black tea to add some additional kick, making a very spice forward masala chai, or drinking straight exclusively for the sudden caffeine pick-me-up.

My recent Assam binge has continued this week, and wanting something a little different, I settled on this CTC Assam from Tealyra. To be honest, I grew up with CTC Assams and have long held an affinity for many of the teas produced by the Mangalam Estate. I sort of expected to like this one from the start.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion process I tend to favor for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped around 1 teaspoon of granulated leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 3 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted. Just as a warning, understand that I tend to prefer CTC teas on the brisk and astringent side and I went into this review session trying to bring those qualities out to a certain extent. Reducing the steep time from 30 seconds to 1 minute creates a smoother, silkier brew.

After infusion, the dark mahogany liquor produced the mildly malty, leafy aroma that I pretty much always get from CTC teas of this type. For the uninitiated, that is sort of one of the drawbacks of CTC processing. It tends to flatten the bouquet of any tea. In the mouth, I was rewarded with strong, lively notes of oak, malt, cream, molasses, leather, brown toast, toffee, black cherry, black walnut, roasted chestnut, figs, and raisins. The astringency was pronounced, especially on the finish, which emphasized lingering sensations of black cherry, raisins, toffee, oak, malt, and molasses.

In my opinion, this was an excellent CTC Assam. I know a lot of people do not tend to care for many teas that are processed in this manner, and quite frankly, I understand that. Many CTC teas can come off as bland, simple, and overly astringent, but I did not find that to be the case with this tea. Though it was not particularly expressive on the nose, it was richly flavorful, brisk, and wonderfully textured in the mouth. Personally, I found this to be a near perfect breakfast tea either on its own or with a splash of milk, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a flavorful and affordable Assam to serve as a morning pick-me-up.

Butterscotch Potion. By Tealux

Review:

Western style, 10g/250ml mug

Dry leaf: Strong Butterscotch/caramel

Wet leaf: Strong Butterscotch/caramel, spices

I taste/smell: butterscotch, caramel, hibiscus(?), floral, spices, peach.

all in all, what a lovely tea! i rate a 100 :D

allthough, i’m not much for blends, however this one was yummy! i might order more. who knows ;) Update: its sold out :/

I’m finally cleaning out the backlog with this one. I started working on a sample packet of this about a month or so ago and finally logged a proper review session at the start of the weekend. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed this extremely affordable maocha.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I think Tealyra has changed their brewing parameters for this one over the course of the last year. They used to recommend brewing at 190 F and starting off with 10 second steeps. Now they recommend brewing at 205 F. I used the latter temperature for this session. I also started with a steep time of 5 seconds, as I like to start off with shorter steeps for shengs. So, my first infusion after the rinse was 6 grams of loose tea in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 5 seconds. I then conducted 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 8 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted a musty, smoky, and somewhat vegetal aroma. After the rinse, I picked up strong aromas of seaweed, raw mushrooms, roasted vegetables, sea salt, forest floor, and black cherry. The first infusion produced a similar, perhaps slightly fruitier, earthier aroma with just a hint of petrichor. In the mouth, I easily detected notes of raw mushroom, moist earth, wet stones, black cherry, sea salt, pickled seaweed, and roasted vegetables. There was also just a hint of wildflower honey and petrichor, as well as a subtle impression of wet wood. Subsequent infusions gradually grew fruitier and more honeyed on the nose and in the mouth. The flavors of wildflower honey and black cherry became stronger and were joined by distinct impressions of lemon zest and bitter orange peel. Later infusions downplayed the fruit and honey a tad and began to once again emphasize the raw mushroom, forest floor, roasted vegetable, pickled seaweed, and moist earth notes, although honey and citrus continued to be a balancing factor. The mineral aroma and flavor of wet stones began to amplify, as did the impression of wet wood. I also began to pick up on a note of birch bark in place of the black cherry. The final extended series of infusions were mostly stone, wood, sea salt, and roasted vegetable heavy, though I could still just barely detect impressions of citrus, wildflower honey, raw mushroom, and birch bark.

I have not been reviewing many pu’erh teas lately, and I am still quite new to reviewing pu’erh in general, but I rather liked this tea. Given the price, I was not expecting much, but this had more staying power and considerably more complexity than I was expecting. Though my experience in evaluating these teas is limited compared to a number of other reviewers, I do not feel that this would be a bad everyday sheng, and I think that if one were to approach it with an open mind, one would perhaps be pleasantly surprised.

I’ve had some time to seriously evaluate this tea. When I first tried it, I did not care for it in the least, but it has grown on me to a certain extent. I think that it is a tea with which one has to be realistic and evaluate it for what it is.

First, let me be clear. This is not a Zheng Yan Da Hong Pao. It is a Ban Yan Da Hong Pao that comes from an area of Fujian Province just outside of the Wuyi Mountains. That should be obvious. If this tea were a true Zheng Yan Da Hong Pao, I would not have been able to acquire 1.76 ounces of it for $6.50.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After performing a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 5 seconds. I followed this initial infusion with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 8 seconds, 11 seconds, 15 seconds, 22 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute 15 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes. My steep times were a little weird because I kept getting distracted, but overall, I found that this method worked well enough.

Prior to the rinse, I noted that the dry tea leaves produced a musty, slightly vegetal aroma with pronounced hints of char, minerals, wood, and tobacco. After the rinse, I noted strong aromas of limestone, burnt molasses, wet wood, moist earth, leather, and tobacco with hints of nuts and flowers. The first infusion produced a similar, though slightly more floral, fruity aroma. I found that the mouth did not follow the nose. The tea was initially bitter, offering a wash of bitter chocolate, burnt molasses, black walnut, hickory, leather, fresh tobacco, pipe smoke, char, wet wood, and moist earth chased by limestone. Subsequent infusions grew gradually lighter and somewhat sweeter. Aromas and flavors of dates, raisins, yellow plums, chrysanthemum, and marigold began to express themselves as the earthiness, leatheriness, bitterness, and char began to fade a tad. The limestone presence seemed to increase on each subsequent infusion. By the final couple of infusions, a mild, mineral-laden nose was chased in the mouth by dominant flavors of limestone, wet wood, bitter chocolate, nuts, and tobacco, while fleeting impressions of flowers, dates, burnt molasses, and raisins were just barely detectable beneath them.

So, as far as Da Hong Paos go, I found this one to be rather odd. I have been a bit spoiled when it comes to this type of oolong, as I have grown accustomed to sweeter, more layered examples as of late. Comparing this tea to something like the Da Hong Pao offered by Whispering Pines Tea Company (which is the most recent tea of this type I have consumed) makes an interesting, albeit unfair comparison. This tea is sharp and to the point. It lets you know more or less exactly what it is about up front and it proceeds to present you with subtle variations with each infusion. By the time it finally fades, you’ve known where it was going from the start. The latter was more nuanced and mellow. It offered new, intriguing, and often highly pleasurable twists and turns over the course of a session. This may sound pretentious, but in my mind, drinking these two teas and then diving into a back-to-back comparison kind of struck me like listening to something like Marquee Moon by Television and then jumping straight into something like Hex Enduction Hour by The Fall. I went from a tea that was poised, sophisticated, and nuanced to something that was at times harsh, jagged, repetitious, and confusing, but not without its own charms. Getting back on track here, I can say that I ended up rather enjoying this Big Red Robe. It was interesting and oddly satisfying in its own weighty and slightly prickly way. Perhaps strangest of all, I could maybe see myself drinking a tea like this more frequently than something presumably higher grade just because I enjoy its quirks.

Sipdown (216)!

Finished this one off right after work, meaning I steeped the cup on my way out the door and then drank it on the bus ride/walk home. The walk home where, I might add, it started to snow! Like, it’s almost May! Can’t we be done with snow now!?

This was a really nice cuppa though; it had a light to medium roast overall and soft undertones of caramel and cocoa in between all of the toasty goodness. Also hints of other toasty/roasty things like brown rice and barley. The finish did have a weird sort of lingering taste on the tip of the tongue; kind of the taste/feeling of licking a copper penny? If that makes ANY sense at all. I still really enjoyed it though, and that warming toasty feeling was the perfect ‘hug’ while it was gradually getting colder/snowier.

I’ll miss this one!

Drinking a mug of this currently, though it’s now gone cold because I had sort of forgotten about it. I’m trying to finish this one off at the moment because I just got my Camellia Sinensis order and I added a lot of Hojicha to that order and I really don’t need two on hand…

My breakfast this morning is a Peanut Butter and Banana Crepe topped with salted peanuts, from this local crepe place. I swear to God delivery crepes are kind of the best thing ever. I mean, screw ordering in pizza – this is where it’s at! It’s also a really smart food pairing with the Hojicha because the tea already has a nice, pronounced nuttyness to it and the addition of both peanut butter and salted peanuts really exaggerates that in a truly lovely way. The roastiness is also just very complimentary overall.

Apart from that general overall nuttyness and roasty quality, this tea also has the faintest caramel/honey notes and a surprisingly fruity/jammy undertone. I do very much enjoy this Hojicha and when it’s gone that will be sad but Hojicha doesn’t tend to be too drastically different overall from company to company, so I’m sure I’ll love this new one quite a bit too.

Western style on the commute to work.

Really enjoyed this one Western, though I struggle to remember much of my thoughts of it from when I drank it Gong Fu so I don’t feel confidant saying which prep style worked better.

I will say, this was nice and medium bodied with a smooth and very even feeling roast. Didn’t have any astringency or ‘char’ and I do definitely recall somewhat of a char taste when I drank this one Gong Fu so that change is definitely interesting. It was also quite sweet with both scrumptious caramel notes and a sweetness that reminded me a bit more of agave or just generic-ish sugar? Or maybe, in a distant way, the sugary sweet taste you get from a crisp, ripe Fuji apple. Not the taste of the apple itself, but the clean sweet fructose quality of it.

Very pleasant overall, though!

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdD8Emu-T64&index=7&list=PL8Aq0uFRC43exfgj2s4qm5qJymscpRTN5&spfreload=1

Finally got a chance to sit down with this tea that I plucked out of the fifth round of the Great Canadian Travelling Tea Box a few months back…

I actually brewed this one Gong Fu today in my Hojicha dedicated yixing pot. God, I just love the feel of that pot in my hands. It’s the perfect size and weight, and it pours so smoothly. I don’t use this pot enough; and it shows a bit because brewing this today there flavour of the tea was light enough that I imagine there’s still some flavour being sucked out of the liquor into the pot. It’s hard to say definitively though ‘cause I actually haven’t tried this Hojicha yet outside of the yixing pot as a “control” infusion. I likely should have done that first…

But despite some possible flavour sucking, I actually thought that this was a REALLY enjoyable session. The first half I enjoyed while listening to some good music. In this case, I was rocking a couple different songs by The Inkspots. This was my favourite from the session though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC_VzbtRGr0&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=2

The Ink Spots are just so smooth and melodic, and I think the tone of their voice matches the smooth qualities of the tea quite well. Sometimes there’s a hint of that “char” sort of note with Hojicha, but this was just so beautifully smooth and evenly roasted/toasty in flavour. Apart from the familiar, comforting toasty notes I felt there was also some sweetness in this tea; maybe a bit of honey and cocoa hidden underneath that soft roast? I liked that I couldn’t taste any “greenness” from the tea either.

After four or so infusions I took a break for supper, and then when I returned to the session I switched things up a little bit and instead of listening to music I watched the Season One finale of Scream Queens. I have to say; I wasn’t surprised by the final reveal but only because I had it spoiled for me ages ago. It was a good finale though! I’m not really sure what direction season two will take from here, but I think I’m on board with continuing with the series to find out…

Final infusions were much lighter; the flavour of this one definitely deteriorated quickly into the session. I’m not overly surprised; I’ve never managed to pull off super long session with Hojicha. Even the last infusion I did (I think number seven?) did have a mild roast to it though, even if it was mostly watery. So I feel like I definitely got as much out of the tea as I could have. So it was very enjoyable overall.

After taking a day off from writing reviews, I decided to get back on track this morning with a new oolong. Yesterday, I finally finished the last of the Silver Buds Yabao from Verdant and the Margaret’s Hope First Flush Darjeeling from Tealyra. Both were teas I really enjoyed, but neither were the sort of tea to which I would be in any rush to go back. I needed to try something a little different. Enter Tealyra’s Dong Fang Mei Ren Formosa Oolong.

First, allow me to state that I have virtually no familiarity with this particular type of oolong. My experience with Formosa oolongs is limited to baozhongs and rolled oolongs. Second, I had actually tried this one before. I did a short gongfu session with this tea back in the middle of September. I recalled liking it to a degree, but did not remember any specifics.

For the purposes of this review, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water. I followed this infusion with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute 5 seconds, 1 minute 35 seconds, and 2 minutes. Please note that if this method seems strange, it does so for a reason-I made it up as I went along. I could not find much consensus about how to prepare this tea gongfu online, so I just tried to push it as hard as I could.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted a wonderful aroma. It reminded me of a combination of peach, white grape, and honey. After the rinse, the aroma changed slightly. The honey, peach, and grape scents intensified, but they were joined by a melange of flowers and citrus. The first infusion produced an almost identical aroma. In the mouth, I noted a pleasant mixture of peach and honey underscored by flowers and white grape. The next three infusions produced a somewhat more intense citrus and floral quality on the nose and in the mouth. I began to note distinct plum, lime, date, mandarin orange, magnolia, and lily tones on the palate. Subsequent infusions were more balanced, producing well-integrated floral, fruity aromas and flavors with a hint of minerality. The last three infusions were extremely light both on the nose and in the mouth. The mineral notes were more pronounced, though I could still detect fleeting impressions of flowers, peach, and citrus in the background. Though the tea was not quite flat at that point, I ended the session after the eleventh infusion as I doubted the tea had much more to offer.

Immediately after I ended the session, I was not quite sure what to make of this tea, and really, I’m still not. I enjoyed the way the intense peach and honey aromas and flavors mingled with the floral and citrus tones. To me, this gave the tea an elegant, exotic quality that is hard for me to accurately describe. Still, I think I prefer the Formosa oolongs with which I am more familiar. Just to be clear though, I do think this is a good oolong. In this instance, I think it admirably served its purpose as an introduction to oolongs of this type. I could see it doing the same for others, though I also do not doubt that those who are more familiar with this style may still enjoy this one.

Finally getting around to trying this one. It’s been in my cupboard long enough, that’s for sure. I followed the recommended parameters, and used 1.5 tsp of pearls (which amounted to 12, some smaller than others). I gave them 3.5 minutes in boiling water, no additions.

I’d heard a lot of good things about this one, and fortunately it’s as delicious as I hoped. It has a strong, fruity, juicy lychee flavour right up front, followed by the smooth, malty chocolatey flavour of the black tea base. It’s an amazing combination! Although the lychee is strong, it’s not overpowering or cloying, which is always a bonus when it comes to flavoured teas. I wish more things were lychee flavoured, actually. I think it could only improve my life, in all honesty.

I have some of Tealux’s unflavoured Black Dragon Pearls to try next, and it’ll be interesting to see how they compare with both this blend and with the Teavivre pearls I tried a while back. I love that there are still new tea discoveries to be made, even though I’ve rated 900-odd individual teas in my two years on here. Hooray for new tea adventures (and more lychee!)