Christina / BooksandTea Send Message

I purchased this sample from Tao about a week and a half ago. Unfortunately, the sample package didn’t contain any steeping instructions so I had to play it by ear.

Dry leaf: Long and spindly, and green-brown. It was hard to measure, but I think I used about 1/2 or 2/3 of the sample packet for a pot of tea. The dry leaf smelled sweet, faintly like figs or honey.

Steeping Parameters: No instructions were provided, so I made things up as I went. I think about 2 tsp of leaf for 24 oz of water. 1st steep for 4 minutes, 2nd steep for 5. Both steeps were around 82-83°C.

Liquor: The colour was a dark tan both times. What surprised me about this tea was that it lacked a lot of the bright, vegetal notes I normally associate with green teas. If I hadn’t have known better, I would have thought this was a black tea, or even chamomile. There was a sweetness to it, but it tasted thin and woody, like cedar. Other than that, not much to write home about.

Verdict: I’m really not sure what to make of this. I think I underleafed it. It wasn’t bad, but this sample is leading me to think that Mao Feng greens are not the thing for me. I’ll see what it’s like when I finish off the rest of the sample. No rating for now.

I decided to give this tea another go today and used up the rest of one of the sample packets I received in my recent order. This time, I used a bit less leaf per cup and a higher steeping temperature. No rinsing either.

I think I was more successful steeping this the other day. Maybe it was just the water I used, but it tasted more dead/mineral today, and less creamy/buttery. Then again, considering my experience with Tealish’s Milk Oolong a few days ago, maybe milk oolongs are just not my thing. I still have 1 more sample pack to try to get this right.

Thanks to De for yet another sample!

De mentioned to me when I met her last week that this was one of her favourite teas. I tried it myself and had really high hopes for it, but I think I underleafed it – 1 pinch for 8 oz at 2 minutes at 75°C. Maybe my pinch was too small?

Anyways, this was sweet and actually had a bit of a minty taste to it, but it’s possible that the flavour of other mint teas in my sample box crept in; otherwise, it was really really light. I’m going to try brewing this again later with a larger pinch to see what happens.

Backlog note:

I had a cup of this at Tao’s last night, and here’s what I remember:

- this was the Premium Shi Feng variety of Dragon Well
- long, thin, bright green leaves; very fresh-looking
- It smelled marine-like, buttery, fishy, kind of green-bean-y
- green-gold, light amber liquor
- the taste was very light and not astringent at first, but as I drank it, it got more and more astringent (that “crinkly tongue” feeling)
- very vegetal taste with a long, lingering aftertaste

It was nice, but I’m not sure if I want to try it again. I think I just may not like Dragon Well teas that much.

I woke up early this morning with a big to-do list, and needed something that would give me a big caffeine hit. This mango-flavoured mate (thanks again to aisling of tea and De!) sounded like it would deliver.

And boy, did it ever! I didn’t notice it at first, but I really did feel less tired, and managed to get through some important stuff to do before I head out for a job interview today (fingers crossed). The mango flavour really comes through in the dry leaf, and although it’s less apparent in the liquor, it’s still there. The smoky, grassy taste of the mate is still dominant, but adding some honey really helped. I don’t think of this as a comfortable staple tea – this is the kind of tea to drink when you really need to get stuff done.

So here I am, about to dash off to the interview. Hopefully the caffeine buzz will help me along.

And now this is my second milk oolong ever. Kind of hard to compare this to the Teavivre one, but I’ll try. Thanks to aisling of tea and De for giving me a full package of this to try.

Dry leaf: Dark greenish-black little nuggets. The smell isn’t very creamy. In fact, it’s kind of metallic, bordering on marine/salty. Perhaps a touch of sweetness underneath.

Steeping parameters: The instructions on the package called for a 2-4 minute steep in 95°C water. I thought that was a bit odd, so I went with about 85° water for 1 minute for the first steep. Then I did 2 subsequent steeps at 95° for 3 minutes each to see what difference that made.

Liquor: The steeping times and temperatures did make a big difference. The first steep was quite light. The second and third steeps had a deep yellow colour and much more apparent flavour. However, all three steeps tasted kind of chemically/metallic. The third steep had the creamiest, milkiest flavour to it, but it wasn’t taste so much as mouthfeel, and it still felt oddly astringent.

Thoughts: I really don’t know what to make of this yet, so I’m not rating it. I think I liked the Milk Oolong from Teavivre more (it certainly had a nicer smell when dry), but since I’ve never tried any milk oolongs before today, I don’t know if I’m doing this right.

My very first milk oolong! I’ve got another one from Tealish that I want to try, but I did want to take a look at this one since Teavivre’s got a sale going on now. I’m holding off on giving this a rating until I try the Tealish one for comparison. So here we go:

Dry leaf: I’ve heard others here describe tea as “buttery.” That always seemed to imply a sense of richness and sweetness to me. But no. I was wrong. Because goddamn, this dry leaf smells BUTTERY. As in, like real, honest-to-goodness salted butter that I put on toast. The leaves themselves are dark green little knots.

Steeping parameters: I made 4 steeps of this tea, all with 8 oz of liquid to 1.5 tsp of dry leaf in 80-82°C water. First steep was between 30 seconds and 1 minute, 2nd and 3rd steeps were each approximately 1 minute, and the 4th steep was about 2 minutes. Before the 1st steep, I did a hot water rinse of about 10-20 seconds to wake the leaves up.

Liquor: The taste and colour of the liquor were pretty consistent across all 4 steeps. The first was the strongest and most buttery. The subsequent steeps were all pretty similar in flavour profile: light and nutty. I don’t know whether the fact that the 4 steeps all tasted so similar speaks to the quality of the leaf or the lack of development of my palate. Anyways, I still enjoyed it, even if it hasn’t given me the paroxysms of rapture that it has other drinkers here.

Verdict: I liked it but I’m leaving it unrated for now. Once I try the other milk oolong from Tealish (which I’m sipping right now), I’ll be able to give it a fairer shake.

Thanks to De and aisling of tea for giving me a sample of this to try! This is my first taste of what River Tea has to offer.

Okay, so a little bit of background: today, for medical reasons, I had to fast. To prepare for a minor procedure, my doctor said not eat anything after midnight of the night before, and to drink as little as possible. Not wanting to risk anything, I just drank a glass of water in the morning. So I’ve gone most of the day without tea. :-(

Once I got home I decided to make up for this appalling lack by drinking something fruity and caffeine-free. So that’s where this tea comes in.

On first sniff, the dry leaf of this tea is very fruity and floral. I followed the instructions I was given, and ended up with a beautiful teacup of magenta-coloured liquid.

The smell of the wet leaf once it’s done steeping is different from that of the dry leaf, but very true to the taste of the brewed tea itself. There’s a layer of vanilla over everything, lending a hint of creaminess, but below that the strongest taste and smell is of hibiscus and rosehips (I find them very similar in flavour). I can see the lemon peeking out from underneath the hibiscus, but am finding it very difficult to discern the other fruit flavours that are supposed to be present. I sweetened things up with a touch of lemon-infused honey, but still the flowers are the strongest flavour.

Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of hibiscus teas, so this is really more of a novelty for me than a keeper. However, it was nice to have something to look forward to when I came home earlier today.

Ok, I steeped it 3 times today! 1st steep at 80°C for 3 minutes, then the 2 following steeps for 4 minutes apiece.

1st steep: buttery, vegetal, and slightly astringent, with a hint of sweetness.

2nd steep: amber liquor, slightly astringent, but surprisingly sweet with very little butter/vegetable taste.

3rd steep: halfway in between the first 2: sweeter than the first steep, but more astringent than the second.

Of the three, I prefer the 2nd steep the best. It was like honey!

It’s Monday, and I’ve got a cupboard bursting with untasted teas! I’m going to try comparing some milk oolongs later this week, but for now, this seemed like a nice way to start.

I got this as a sample from Tao Tea Leaf when I met up with Indigobloom last week – just a little paper pouch.

Dry leaf: Long, dark, and quite spindly. It smelled faintly sweet, but I couldn’t quite compare it to anything. They were a bit hard to measure, but I tried to get 3 tsp of leaf as closely as I could. There should be at least as much leaf left in the sample.

Steeping parameters: The sample didn’t come with any instructions, so I fell back on the default green steeping parameters that I’ve seen others use: 1 tsp for 8 oz of water, 80°C for 3 minutes.

Liquor: The wet leaves smelled very heavily of salt, butter, and vegetables. After steeping, they were a nice olive/jade green, and I hope to get at least one more steep out of them. The liquor is a pale golden colour that shades down to a deeper amber as it sits in the pot. The taste is similar to the wet leaf aroma: buttered vegetables (I’m getting asparagus) with a slight taste of honey at the beginning of the sip. There’s also a bit of astringency as the sip progresses, leading to a bit of dry throat.

Verdict: I quite like this! It’s smooth and slightly sweet, while still retaining a lot of the crisp flavours I associate with green tea. I hope that this tea turns out to be characteristic of Bi Luo Chuns in general. I’ll edit the note once I get a second steep out of the pot.