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I am not sure what it is, but when fall hits, I start craving robust black teas. Now, to be frank, there is hardly a time of year in which I do not crave some sort of black tea, but for some reason, fall equals Assam time for me. My Keemun and lapsang souchong consumption usually goes way up too. This year I managed to hold back a little longer than normal, but I have been hitting the Assam hard for the past week or so. I expect to finish the last of this Assam within the next 24 hours and finally was able to move myself to review it.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion I normally use for non-Chinese black teas and many black tea blends. I steeped approximately 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. At other times, I have attempted longer infusions around the 5 minute mark and will briefly comment on the results of those as well.

Prior to infusion, I did not get as much of an aroma from the dry tea leaves as I was hoping. There was a little bit of a faint maltiness and a fleeting impression of mild cocoa, but that was all I got. Examining the leaves, I could see that this Assam was made up of mostly broken leaves. Some pieces were considerably smaller than others, but I was not particularly concerned. I have had some fine black teas made from broken pekoe grade leaves, so I was willing to give this one a fair chance. After infusion, I noticed aromas of malt, cream, leather, roasted nuts, cocoa, molasses, and toffee. In the mouth, the tea was slightly brisker and more astringent than I was expecting. It was also oddly sweeter than I was expecting as well. I picked up on robust notes of cocoa, cream, vanilla, toffee, molasses, leather, roasted nuts, nutmeg, toast, and malt. I also thought I picked up on a very faint hint of citrus, but it might have been my imagination. The finish provided a pleasantly soothing blend of cocoa, nutmeg, cream, vanilla, and malt flavors with a hint of molasses. The longer infusions were brisker and more astringent, with more pronounced toffee, nut, and molasses notes throughout.

Truthfully, I was not wowed by this Assam. I thought it was decent, but I have had far better. The combination of sweetness and astringency was off-putting for me, though I found the finish to be near exceptional. Of the Assams I have had from Simpson & Vail, this one was by far the most hit or miss for me. I am glad that I tried it, but I do not think I will purchase it again. Still, I could see some hardcore Assam drinkers liking this one. Personally, it just wasn’t my thing.

Before I start this review, allow me to state that I was not familiar with this style of tea prior to trying this version. I knew that this was a black tea harvested from the same tea cultivar used to make Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, a.k.a. lapsang souchong. That was about the extent of my knowledge pertaining to this particular tea. Apparently, there are two major distinctions between this tea and lapsang souchong. The first is that this tea is produced from the young buds and smaller leaves of the plant, while the more familiar lapsang is normally made using the larger leaves. The second is that this tea is not pine smoked.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Again, I used Verdant’s suggestions as a starting point and then went with my gut. I started by steeping 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 5 seconds. I followed this infusion with 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 11 seconds, 14 seconds, 17 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, and 2 minutes.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves gave off a wonderful aroma that reminded me of a combination of cocoa, brown sugar, and vanilla bean. After infusion, I noted strong scents of roasted grain, cocoa, brown sugar, cream, and vanilla bean. In the mouth, there were pleasantly robust notes of cocoa, brown sugar, cream, vanilla bean, and roasted grain. I also noted a trace of minerals that was most apparent on the finish. Subsequent infusions displayed a slightly enhanced minerality, while black walnut, hazelnut, and maple syrup joined the aromas and flavors detailed above. The final series of infusions was very mineral heavy, offering fleeting impressions of cream, vanilla, maple, and cocoa on the nose and in the mouth.

This was a nice black tea. It kind of reminded me of a less honeyed Jin Jun Mei. I did, however, wish that the flavors separated slightly more and that they displayed greater staying power. Still, I could see myself reaching for this if I were in the mood for a lighter, sweeter black tea. I could also see myself recommending this to people looking to branch out from some of the more common Chinese black teas.

Continuing my mission to plow through more unflavored teas, I came to this green tea from Shandong Province. A product of the He family in Laoshan Village, this is one of the more unique green teas that they produce. Knowing that I had yet to have a tea from the He family that I found to be bad, I figured I would enjoy this one. I was right.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Rather than following Verdant’s guidelines, I used them as a starting point and then just let the tea tell me where to go from there. I started with 5 grams of loose tea leaves and steeped them in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 13 seconds, 17 seconds, 21 seconds, 25 seconds, 35 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

The dry leaves had a wonderfully vegetal, grassy aroma. It was like a combination of soybean, snap peas, kale, lettuce, spinach, and freshly cut grass. After infusion, the grassy, vegetal aroma intensified and was joined by a subtle hint of spice. In the mouth, I picked up strong notes of soybean, lettuce, snap peas, kale, spinach, butter, cream, grass, vanilla, and minerals. Subsequent infusions saw the vegetal notes increase in strength and the minerality play a slightly larger role on the finish. The later infusions were increasingly mild, creamy, and buttery, offering delicate notes of lettuce, butter, vanilla, cream, and minerals with faint traces of soybean, spinach, and snap pea in the background.

I was greatly impressed with this green tea. I found its strength and complexity very appealing. I am always on the lookout for savory, vegetal Chinese green teas and this one is definitely that type of tea. I would recommend it highly to those who enjoy more vegetal green teas.

Before sitting down to write this review, I found myself wondering “whatever happened to the Xingyang Collective?” When Verdant Tea first started offering products from this enigmatic team of teamakers in November 2015, their work seemed to catch on quickly with fans of Verdant’s offerings. Then all of a sudden, it seemed like all of their products went out of stock. For a short while, it even seemed like there was no active listing for Xingyang on Verdant’s website. It was strange to me that all of their products were out of stock. I really liked several of the Xingyang offerings, and I was a little dismayed at the thought of not being able to procure them again. Fortunately, it appears that I was worried over nothing. Verdant’s listing for Xingyang is once again active and it looks like they have a few products in stock. I’m guessing that’s a good sign. Hopefully more will follow. If they bring this green tea back, I’m snagging as much of it as I can.

I didn’t have much of this tea with which to start. I only had a 5 gram sample packet left in the cupboard, and since I had yet to post a review for this tea, I used that for this session. I prepared this tea gongfu style. Note that I am not really comfortable gongfuing green tea, but I still wanted to give it a shot. I started with a 10 second steep in 4 ounces of 175 F water. I followed this initial infusion with 9 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 20 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes, and 4 minutes. Obviously, I could have timed these better. That would have allowed me to stretch out this session a little more, but the results I obtained from the method detailed above were still very pleasing to me.

I did not get much of an aroma from the dry tea leaves. All I got was a kind of mildly grassy, vegetal scent. Truthfully, the first infusion wasn’t much better in terms of aroma. I got a more pronounced grassiness, but that was about it. In the mouth, there were mild notes of grass, hay, straw, oats, cream, malt, and green beans. The next 4 infusions were a different story. The vegetal, grassy aroma was more focused and pronounced. I could now pick up on malt and oatmeal scents, as well as a strong aroma of citrus. In the mouth, the grass, hay, straw, green bean, oat, malt, and cream notes were joined by a strong flavor of tangerine and a hint of lime zest. At this point, I noticed that Verdant’s tasting note for this tea was very accurate, though I was not picking up any hints of basil. The next couple of infusions added a pronounced chestnut aroma and flavor. I thought I detected a hint of hazelnut as well. The final infusions were mostly nutty, grassy, and malty with undertones of cream and citrus as well as a hint of minerals. I also detected a trace of corn husk in the aroma and flavor at this point.

This was nice. For some reason, I did not go into this session with high expectations, but ended up very pleased with my experience with this tea. I found it to be very unique, but also very approachable. The unexpected citrus aromas and flavors were great. I do not usually expect such a pronounced fruity quality from a green tea. I also loved how this tea added new aromas and flavors over the course of the session before mellowing and fading. It had a pleasant depth, but also did not overstay its welcome. Honestly, I would recommend this tea to anyone looking for an everyday green tea with a unique, unexpected mix of aromas and flavors.

Before I formally begin this review, allow me to offer a warm thanks to S.G. Sanders for providing me with an opportunity to try this tea. I am planning on doing a side-by-side shootout between this and the loose leaf Harney & Sons Paris this weekend. I like both, but there are some subtle and not so subtle differences between the two.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose material in 8 ounces of 208 F water for around 5 minutes. Obviously, I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noticed that the dry leaf material produced a pleasant aroma of vanilla, bergamot, and lavender. After infusion, the lavender, bergamot, and vanilla aromas intensified. They were also joined by a subtle toasty character and a hint of cocoa. In the mouth, the notes of lavender, vanilla, and bergamot were most definitely dominant. I was able to detect fleeting impressions of toast, cream, and cocoa beneath them.

I like this blend. It is not nearly as fruity as the Paris blend from Harney & Sons and is very smooth in the mouth. There was not a tremendous amount of body, but I did not expect there to be. Flavored teas are usually a little light in terms of body, at least in my perception. Anyway, this is a nice, straight-forward blend. I would have no difficulties recommending it to fans of flavored teas.

This blend is a mixture of green and black teas from China, India, and Taiwan. It is one of Simpson & Vail’s 15 original blends, going back to the early part of the twentieth century. Actually, these original blends predate Simpson & Vail in its current form by perhaps a decade or more. Simpson & Vail was originally a coffee seller operating under the name Augustus M. Walbridge, Inc. in New York. At some point in its early years, the business also started selling tea, and in 1929, the original owner, Augustus M. Walbridge, sold to his accountant and tea taster, and the current business was born. By this time, these original blends were already in existence.

I prepared this particular tea blend using the one step Western infusion I favor for so many black teas and tea blends. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 190 F water for 3 minutes. As usual, I did not attempt additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noticed that the dry leaves produced a slightly smoky aroma. After infusion, I noticed a fairly strong aroma that was both vegetal and smoky with a hint of spice. In the mouth, I detected notes of pine, smoke, roasted vegetables, roasted barley, and spice. I also got a hint of salt, which provided a brothy note that was especially evident on the finish.

As odd as it sounds, this blend kind of worked for me. It was not particularly complex, but it was both filling and pleasant. I imagine that many contemporary tea blenders would not produce a similar product. This type of blend is very much a product of its era. I found myself thinking of it as “old lady tea” because it just seems like the kind of tea that older women or older people in general would have been drinking in the middle years of the twentieth century. Now that there is so much more variety on the market, blends like this seem to have fallen by the wayside, but I still found some simple pleasures here. I would recommend this blend to those looking for something approachable and filling and/or those looking to get an idea of what vendors were producing in the early years of the previous century.

I received a bag of this as a freebie with the quarterly Republic of Tea catalog. Even though I am trying to primarily focus on unflavored teas and tea blends, I still wanted to give this a shot. I’m not a huge fan of the teas offered by The Republic of Tea, but hey, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to try one more. I love peppermint, cocoa, and vanilla (I’m not sure how I feel about green rooibos at this point), so I figured this one might be a winner.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped my sample bag in 8 ounces of 212 F water for around 5 minutes. I am not in the habit of resteeping tisanes or anything in a teabag, so I did not attempt additional infusions.

After infusion, the liquor produced strong aromas of cocoa, vanilla, and peppermint. There was a slightly toasty character that I presume was provided by the green rooibos. I could also pick up on a slight sugary scent from the stevia. In the mouth, I got a muddy mix of peppermint, stevia, cocoa, vanilla creme, and toast followed by a finish that continued to emphasize peppermint, cocoa, and vanilla creme notes, though there was also an oddly sugary sweetness from the stevia that became a bit distracting for me.

So, it would appear that I am still looking for a tea from The Republic of Tea that I actually like. I think what killed this one for me was how muddled the flavors were and how sickly sweet this blend became toward the finish. I am far from a fan of stevia, and I think this blend may have been slightly better without it. I also noticed that the green rooibos base was just barely detectable. It seems that a lot of herbal blends are going to rooibos as a base component these days, and while I like rooibos, I am undecided on green rooibos and tend to feel that rooibos of any sort is better on its own. I also have a little bit of an issue with the teamakers seemingly deliberately obscuring a component of this blend to the point that it is just barely detectable. I get that the green rooibos is likely there just to provide body, but why even bother at all? Why not use something else? In the end, I’m glad I had the opportunity to try this one and will give it points for decently approximating the flavor of peppermint bark, but I would most definitely not go out of my way to have it again.

I’ve noticed that I have been reviewing more flavored teas and tea blends lately. That’s not a bad thing, but I started posting reviews in an effort to highlight the various unflavored teas that I had been drinking. So, with that in mind, I decided to get back to work on unflavored teas. Expect more straight tea reviews in the near future.

This green tea is what I hope will be the start of me getting back to doing more straight tea reviews. I have been drinking this off and on for the last week. It is a nice tea to unwind with in the afternoon. Since the name really does not tell us much about the tea itself, allow me to state that this is a San Bei Xiang from Ningde in Fujian Province, China.

I prepared this tea using a three step Western infusion. I started with a 2 minute steep in 8 ounces of 170 F water. I followed this infusion with 2 additional infusions at 2.5 minutes and 3 minutes respectively.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry tea leaves produced a mild, slightly smoky vegetal aroma. After infusion, the light yellow tea liquor produced a mild, pleasant aroma that reminded me of a combination of pine, grass, hay, straw, and corn husk with a slight floral undertone that reminded me a little of squash blossoms. In the mouth, I picked up notes of grass, hay, straw, pine, smoke, and corn husk. There was a very subtle sweetness on the finish that I couldn’t quite place. The second infusion produced a similarly colored liquor with a simultaneously fruitier and nuttier aroma. In the mouth, I noted more pronounced notes of grass, hay, straw, and corn husk joined by lemon, chestnut, sea salt, and a hint of minerals. The final infusion produced a light yellow liquor with a subtle aroma that put me in mind of a combination of minerals, lemon, sea salt, and corn husk. In the mouth, there were fleeting, indistinct notes of minerals, sea salt, lemon, grass, hay, straw, chestnut, and corn husk.

Prior to trying this tea, I was not familiar with San Bei Xiang. The information provided by the merchant seems to suggest that this is a straight-ahead tea, and I found that to be very accurate. This is not the kind of tea one would really want or need to dig into and analyze. It’s more of a pleasant daily drinker. In that respect, it succeeds quite easily. It is the sort of green tea that doesn’t excite me much, but if I were to be in the mood for something mild, pleasant, and soothing, I could see myself reaching for this one again.

I’m on a mission to try all of Simpson & Vail’s original blends before the end of 2017. There are only 15, so I think I can do it. I’ve already had their Russian Caravan Tea and their Aromatic Earl Grey. After I finish the last of this particular blend, I hope to start on either their China Restaurant or Irish Blend.

I prepared this tea using the merchant’s suggested brewing method. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. I did not attempt additional infusions. I have also tried slightly longer infusions around 4-5 minutes. I found the 3 minute infusion to be less astringent so I will focus my commentary on that specific preparation.

Prior to infusion, I noticed that the dry leaves did not emit much of an aroma. After infusion, the golden amber liquor produced surprisingly mild aromas of bergamot, toast, honey, cream, almonds, and orange. In the mouth, I detected mild, integrated notes of honey, cream, malt, toast, nutmeg, roasted almonds, bergamot, and orange. The finish was mostly smooth, creamy, and toasty, though it did also offer an interesting ghostly impression of bergamot and orange peel on the back of the throat.

I know this is an old, established blend from a reputable vendor, but I, personally, did not care all that much for this stuff. I know a lot of people like it, and that is perfectly fine, but it just didn’t appeal to me. I’ve noticed that Simpson & Vail’s blends tend to be all about subtlety, but I found this to be too subtle and smooth. It was sort of bland. If the orange and bergamot had a greater presence in this blend and the base of Indian teas were slightly more flavorful, I think I may have liked this one more. As is, however, I would pass on it.

Before I start this review, allow me to state that I am exceptionally picky when it comes to mint teas. I either like them or I don’t. There is usually little, if any middle ground. Oddly, this one fell into that precious little space in the middle for me. I didn’t really care for it, but at the same time, I have had worse. I will explain why I felt this way in a moment, but before I do that, I would like to backtrack a bit.

My on-again, off-again relationship with Maghrebi mint teas started with a spur-of-the-moment trip with a now ex-girlfriend to Bloomington, IN while still an undergraduate. In between visiting local shops and the beautiful campus of IU-Bloomington, we stopped at a small Mediterranean restaurant. It was a cool early spring afternoon and we agreed to split a pot of Moroccan mint tea to help us warm up as quickly as possible. It was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, the waiter was unwilling to divulge any information about the tea. All he offered was that it was the owner’s favorite blend and that the owner was very secretive about it. I still have no clue what the tea was. I have tried several Moroccan mint blends in the years since, but have yet to find anything remotely resembling that tea.

I had high hopes when I received a sample sachet of this tea with a recent Steven Smith order. I normally like the teas offered by Steven Smith and figured that there was a good chance I would enjoy this one. Maybe it would even be similar to that beloved mint tea from long ago. Sadly, it wasn’t. First, this is not exactly a traditional Moroccan blend. Rather than using a base of Chinese or Ceylonese gunpowder green tea blended with fresh spearmint leaves, this is a blend of Zhejiang Mao Feng (the same tea Steven Smith Teamaker offers as No. 8 Mao Feng Shui), Australian Lemon Myrtle, and American spearmint. They may have been taking liberties with the traditional Moroccan formula, but whatever, I was still game.

I followed the merchant’s suggested brewing method for this tea. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose leaf material (I’m assuming that is about how much they put in those sachets) in 8 ounces of 190 F water for 3 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions. I just didn’t feel like it.

After infusion, the delicate yellow-green liquor produced mild aromas of spearmint, lemon myrtle, grass, hay, and flowers. In the mouth, I noticed a somewhat turbulent blend of lemon, grass, hay, vegetable, spearmint, and floral, nectar-like notes. The finish was slightly muddy, with a lingering blend of spearmint, grass, hay, and lemon myrtle.

Okay, so I didn’t hate this tea, but I didn’t really like it either. The best Moroccan mint teas I have had have hewed fairly closely to the traditional Moroccan formula. I can give Steven Smith Teamaker a few extra points for attempting something unique, but this really did not work for me. First, I think their No. 8 Mao Feng Shui is a more or less great Mao Feng. In my opinion, it is one of their best and most consistent green teas. Blending it with both lemon myrtle and spearmint obscured some of the more intriguing vegetal and floral aromas and flavors that I enjoyed so much. Second, one of the reasons that Maghrebi mint teas work so well is that the savory, vegetal gunpowder green base creates a really unique contrast with the sweetness of the spearmint. Here, the teamakers started with a green tea that I found to be slightly floral, sweet, and smooth and blended it with both spearmint and lemon myrtle. This added additional layers of sweetness and vegetal, herbal character on top of an already somewhat sweet and mildly vegetal base. So, rather than having two distinct components that ended up melding and working together, you ended up with three components with one or more similarities that fought one another for dominance and then merged together all at once. In my opinion, it just came off as sloppy and muddled with too many loose ends, and that is not what I typically look for in a blend of any kind.