Vital Tea Leaf

The oolong itself isn’t my favourite (or maybe this tea is just old) but I enjoy ginseng tea once in a while. It has such a nice peppery, biting, gingery sort of flavour. It tastes herbal but in a good way. It does have bitterness to it, but the oolong balances that slightly. I think this one is best not brewed too long and possibly with some soy milk to counter the bitterness. I wouldn’t mind the bitterness except that it stays with you for a long time after each sip.

This fine tea arrived in the TTB and I’ve actually always wanted to try it.

The ginseng made me a bit jittery (I don’t often drink caffeine or use any energy-related herbals) but it did taste quite nice. The oolong was slightly roasty but also had a floral and vegetal quality. I can taste minerals (rocks?) and molasses/burnt sugar from the oolong.

It’s really cold and windy here – winter has come.
Frustrating day at work.
Condo Board drama continues.
Jets gets hammered 5-1.
This tea is just ok for me tonight. Not bad just nothing special.
Think I’m just going to go to bed and try again tomorrow

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcV2HoKhiHW/?taken-by=dex3657

Apparently I do not actually like chrysanthemum tea, as I’ve disliked it both of the times I tried it. The lady at VitalTea Leaf let me sample two of the teas they had, and this was one of them. The flavour reminds me a bit of soy milk, but not in a good way (I love soy milk). It kinda tastes like plastic packaging that has been heated in the microwave. Not soapy, just a bit like melted plastic. I might use the world “grainy” to scribe the smell of it. Nothing floral or cirtus-y like I expected. It is a very odd flavour. Maybe this tea is amazing for those who like this flower, but I can’t say I wish to try it again.

Sipdown. Sad to see it go, but I’ve got to make room for the hundreds of samples I seem to have in my possession right now. I’m hoping to go back to Seattle in the next year or two, so I will pick up some more of this next time I’m in the city.

Some final notes on this amazing yellow (black?) tea
-very rich, creamy, malt, cocoa flavours but not bitter at all
-never astringent, bitter, sour, or anything else unpleasant
-no vegetal notes at all, this isn’t a green/unprocessed yellow tea
-very, very smooth
-taste of minerals that IMO accompanies the classic “tea” flavour, no hint of salt, moss, soil, or fermentation
-thick mouthfeel
-slightly toasty
-lots of flavourful tannins, tastes like a high grade black tea (because it has the flavour of an oxidized tea), but is a tiny bit toasty and less brash
-resteeps very well, I did 3 pots of 700 mL today and there was no loss of flavour from the 1 tsp of leaf I used. Yet it doesn’t get bitter or overly tannic! Yay for good quality tea leaves!

I was very surprised to find yellow tea in a little tea shop, but since I’m such a big fan of the other yellows I’ve tried, I had to buy some of this.

It does not have that toasty, roasted, steamed flavour that other yellow teas have. It is extremely flavourful with a complex combination of tannins. What I like about yellow teas is the complex “natural” unprocessed flavours that come out. A lot of green teas taste grassy to me, and I like that yellow teas are processed in a way that doesn’t lead to the same extremes in flavour. You get that strong “tea” taste, but never any bitterness, astringency, acididty, drying of the mouth, herbaceous, grassy, or weak flavours that black, green, and whites can be prone to.

The leaves are soo beautiful. They seem to be small whole leaves twisted into long needles. All the little silver hairs are still on them and the undersides of the leaves are a beautiful yellow (in contrast with the silver hairs and dark topside of the leaf). They expand to about 4x their original size.

This makes a really good latte, plain hot tea (resteep 4-6 times), or unsweetened ice tea. I imagine you could add sweetener or flavourings, but I think it has such a nice natural flavour that it would be a waste of high grade tea.

sipdown! pulled the last of this one out to have today since there won’t be a whole lot of time in december to drink down my stash :(

pulled this one out of the sample pile this morning – need to work on getting through those samples down so that i can get back to working on older teas. This is another from dex – a non smokey lapsang. This has a fruity taste to it, with some hidden almost choca-y notes in the background. , I quite like this one. :) thanks dex!

Very interesting! The flavor upfront is a nice mild oolong, nothing special, mouthfeel like plain hot water. Holding it in your mouth for several seconds yields a wonderfully intense, smooth, honeyed licorice aftertaste.

The leaves expand like crazy, so use a big strainer!

Not sure if I’ll get this again. If you steep the tea too long you get an extremely bitter tea. It almost hurts going down. By steeping it shorter, however, it turns out to be a nice sweet/bitter taste that is actually somewhat enjoyable.

Thanks to Nicole for this sample! I already had this one in the infuser before I read other tasting notes and saw that this is really a black tea. I was really craving a yellow tea today! I guess I should have noticed that the leaves are really dark (much darker than in the picture, actually). This was otherwise a mild black tea — very sweet and honey while somehow still having a really dark brew. Not much else to say!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsps // 14 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep # 2// just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Sipdowns: 1/30 None 1/31 Spice & Tea Exchange – Carrot Cupcake
…but I’ve added a few to the ‘next-time’s-a-sipdown’ list

I’m enjoying this tea that I got at the Vital Tea Leaf the other day. I stopped in to do a tea tasting with some tourists in Chinatown and tried a few things. I’m not usually the biggest fan of Iron Goddess oolongs but I found this to be well balanced and tasty. I bought 1/4 oz. This is not roasted as far as I can tell.

At home I’m drinking it out of the yixing teapot and got 4 steeps. It is vegetal and creamy in texture, with a slight butteriness in the 2nd and 3rd steep. By the 4th steep the buttery flavor had mostly gone. I could have gotten more steeps out of it but gave up after steep #4. It has a slight mineral quality that I notice in the Iron Goddess teas. The woman in the store told me this doesn’t have much caffeine in it, however I do notice it seems slightly energizing. A good everyday drinking tea.

I was just introduced to this tea and it is fantastic for an everyday tea, especially if you like a sweet, honey flavor to your tea. This one is naturally sweet from the Lychee and it’s very smooth and creamy on the tongue. I’m sure it’d be great iced as well, but as of yet, I’ve only tried it hot.

I find the Siberian rose from Vital Tea Leaf to be a really great before bed tea. It doesn’t take many buds to brew a cup – 3 to 4 rosebuds for as many steeps – and it’s such a light, floral taste that is very relaxing. I’ve always liked rose tea and floral teas in general, though, and you definitely have to like the taste of rose to be able to enjoy this tea. I recommend it if you’re looking for a relaxation tea or want to try something new!

Another interesting tea from the amazing Sil

Contrary to the name this isn’t a yellow tea. This is black. It is sweet though – very sweet.
It’s light, it’s malty, it’s sweet. That’s pretty much how I’m seeing it this afternoon.
I like it – not sure I love it, but for sure outside my “comfort” zone as far as the black teas that I typically drink.