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Sometimes I wonder whether or not the individual responsible for packing the free samples offered by Harney & Sons has an intuitive understanding of my tastes and selects samples that run counter to them. I recently posted a negative review of their Organic English Breakfast and then received nothing but sample sachets of Organic English Breakfast with my most recent order. Prior to pulling the sachet of this flavored oolong out of my sample pile last night, I had been wavering on trying this one for nearly a month. I decided on it mostly because I wanted a cup of tea and couldn’t think of anything else to try. I didn’t care for it, so here’s hoping that my next Harney & Sons order does not contain a pile of Pomegranate Oolong samples.

Brewing flavored oolongs always kind of perplexes me. I almost always reinfuse oolongs. As a matter of fact, I tend to favor brewing oolongs gongfu style. For some reason, that never really feels like the right thing to do with flavored oolongs. I prefer brewing them Western style. Harney & Sons recommended a single 4-5 minute infusion in 205 F water, so that is the method I used for this tea. I ended up steeping the sachet in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry tea leaves gave off a wonderfully pronounced pomegranate aroma underscored by a hint of grassy, vegetal character. After infusion, the pomegranate aroma was much more muted. As a matter of fact, I primarily noted mild aromas of butter, cream, custard, and sweetgrass emanating from the pale golden tea liquor. In the mouth, I noted a subtle pomegranate note that was quickly overwhelmed by flavors of cream, custard, vanilla, sweetgrass, butter, and plantain. I also noted a slight floral quality in the mouth, almost like a mixture of lilac, honeysuckle, and saffron. The floral and pomegranate notes were a little more pronounced on the finish, as were the notes of vanilla, custard, and sweetgrass.

It ended up being a good thing that I decided to go with a one step Western infusion for this tea, as I really was not impressed and had little desire to press on with additional infusions. I generally do not care for flavored oolongs, so I am not certain what I was expecting from this tea. To me, it seemed like Harney & Sons muddled a perfectly acceptable Tieguanyin with the addition of pomegranate essence which fought the base tea’s more savory and vegetal characteristics.

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.

I received a free sample sachet of this tea as part of an Adagio order a couple months back and I just got around to trying it a couple hours ago. To be honest, silver needles never excite me. I tend to find them bland and boring. This one did nothing to change my overall impression of this type of tea.

I utilized a three step Western infusion process to prepare this tea. I started off with a 3 minute steep in 8 ounces of 180 F water and followed it up with 5 minute and 7 minute steeps. The water temperature was suggested by Adagio. I stole the brewing process from Whispering Pines.

The first infusion produced a light ecru liquor with a very mild nose. I was just barely able to detect fleeting impressions of hay, straw, eucalyptus, and something resembling mild cinnamon. In the mouth, I got very subtle notes of straw, hay, grain, butter, cream, eucalyptus, and cinnamon. The second infusion was a little stronger, but not by much. The nose was fruitier and slightly spicier. In the mouth, I was once again able to pick up grain, straw, hay, cinnamon, cream, butter, and eucalyptus, though I also detected traces of apricot, cantaloupe, honeysuckle, and oatmeal. There was also a little minerality on the finish. The third infusion was mostly a wash. I found the nose to be pretty much nonexistent. In the mouth, I got mostly mineral notes underscored by impressions of apricot, cantaloupe, oatmeal, butter, straw, and hay.

Well, this one was a downer. I kind of knew it was going to be though. As stated above, this type of tea does not really do much for me. I was willing to give it a chance, but I could tell that this was a low quality silver needle. You see, a high quality silver needle will be comprised of full, slender leaf buds and will actually appear to be silver or white in appearance due to the presence of numerous downy hairs on each bud. This tea did not look like that. It was comprised of mostly light greenish, hairless leaf material. I did not see many full leaves, as most were broken into small pieces. Some of the leaves even appeared to have small ruddy or brownish spots. This was obviously not a silver needle even remotely on par with, say, those offered by vendors like Whispering Pines or even Tealyra. Judging from the weak, lifeless aroma and flavor displayed by this tea, as well as its lack of staying power, I am not sure I can even recommend this as a budget introductory silver needle, so I won’t. Instead, I will offer the following advice: if anyone reading this absolutely has to try a silver needle tea this year, just pony up for Whispering Pines’ silver needle instead.

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.

It’s time for me to celebrate another sipdown. I finished the last sachet of this tea shortly after I got up this morning. At this point, it doesn’t look like I will be able to completely clean out my hoard of stuff from Steven Smith Teamaker by the end of November, but I should be able to finish everything before the end of January.

I prepared this tea using a two step Western infusion process. I steeped 1 sachet of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 175 F water for 2 minutes. I then followed this infusion with a second infusion at 3 minutes. Note that this preparation method is a significant deviation from Steven Smith Teamaker’s recommended method (one infusion at 3 minutes in 190 F water).

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves produced a subtly sweet, mildly vegetal scent. After infusion, I picked up on aromas of oatmeal, toasted rice, corn husk, bamboo, asparagus, soybean, and snap peas. In the mouth, I detected the expected notes of oatmeal, toasted rice, corn husk, bamboo shoots, asparagus, soybean, and snap peas, though I also detected fleeting impressions of vanilla creme, malt, honey, hazelnut, and chestnut. The second infusion was very smooth and savory on the nose and in the mouth. I detected more pronounced aromas of corn husk and bamboo, as well as vanilla creme, oatmeal, toasted rice, malt, and nuts. Oddly, the vegetal scent was somewhat lacking. In the mouth, I got robust notes of vanilla creme, malt, toasted rice, oatmeal, honey, chestnut, and hazelnut up front. There was also a hint of minerality that was most noticeable toward the finish. I was just barely able to pick up on faint notes of bamboo and corn husk in the background.

This was an interesting Dragonwell. It was much sweeter, creamier, and maltier than expected. To me, it was a very savory green tea, though it lacked some of the more pronounced vegetal qualities I typically look for in a tea of this style. Still, I thought this was very good and very approachable. I do not think I would have much difficulty recommending it to fans of Dragonwell or newcomers to this type of green tea.

Here is another sipdown to log. I only had one ounce of this left and finished it up over the course of the last three days. This tea was a roller coaster experience for me. The first couple cups I made were good, but the last five or six were very bland. I don’t think that was the tea’s fault though. A weird thing happens to my nose and mouth whenever I drink Darjeelings or anything remotely similar-my palate just seems to go numb. If I drink a full cup, I will be able to smell and taste it fully, but if I have more than one cup over the course of a session, anything after that first cup just ends up smelling and tasting like hot mineral water. Also, the longer I spend working on a tea of this type, the more quickly my nose and palate shut down. With all of this in mind, it was a given that I would not be able to pick up much in the last couple of sessions. I think this phenomenon probably has something to do with my seasonal allergies and the constant sinus issues they cause.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion process I favor for many non-Chinese black teas and black tea blends. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. At other times, I have tried longer infusions of around 4-5 minutes, but all of the infusions that I could actually smell and taste were pretty consistent across the board. This review will exclusively deal with the 3 minute infusion.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves produced a mild, musty aroma with hints of herbs, nutmeg, and Muscat grapes. After infusion, the bright golden liquor produced a delicate aroma of roasted almonds, nutmeg, lemon balm, bee balm, and Muscat grape. In the mouth, I detected notes of toast, malt, cream, nutmeg, chestnut, and roasted almonds accompanied by impressions of Muscat grape, lemon balm, and bee balm, as well as hints of oak and minerality on the finish.

I could definitely see the comparison to orthodox Darjeelings with this tea. It particularly reminded me of some of the grassier and more herbal first flush Darjeelings I have tried in the past. Still, the pronounced herbal character and the strong nutmeg and roasted almond aromas and flavors reminded me that I was drinking a Nepalese tea (I seem to frequently pick up those aromas and flavors in Nepalese black teas). While I enjoyed this tea overall, one thing that I found a little difficult to get past was how dry it became for me in the mouth. Though this tea did not express itself as being particularly astringent, it got to a point where it kept completely drying my mouth out with each sip. Just for that, I have lowered my rating for this tea somewhat.

After doing my weekly banking, I popped into one of my favorite local cafes to get brunch and couldn’t resist a mug of hot tea. Today’s pick was this Moroccan Mint from Rishi Tea. Though traditional Moroccan mint teas comprise a blend of either Ceylonese or Chinese gunpowder green tea and spearmint, this blend was comprised of a Chinese jasmine green tea and peppermint. So, it was not exactly a traditional Moroccan mint tea.

One interesting thing about this cafe is that they let you more or less prepare your own tea. I steeped approximately one tablespoon of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 195 F water for about 3 minutes. I also did perform a second infusion. I didn’t really time that one accurately. It was probably somewhere between 3 and 4 minutes.

The dark green tea liquor produced a mild aroma of peppermint and jasmine. There was not much of a tea scent at all. In the mouth, I noted mild notes of jasmine, grass, and straw coupled with an impression of peppermint that gradually grew stronger from the entry through the finish. The aftertaste presented a nice, soothing blend of jasmine and peppermint. The second infusion was mild both on the nose and on the palate. There was more of an integration of peppermint and jasmine aromas and flavors.

This was not the most complex mint tea in the world, but it was very likable. I doubt it would be the type of tea I would choose to keep on hand regularly, but as a cool morning pick-me-up, it worked quite well. I would recommend this tea to those who enjoy more floral herbal blends and/or those who may be looking for a smooth, nontraditional mint tea.

This is the last of the Ito En bottled teas I purchased last week. As I sit here drinking it iced, it is my favorite of the bunch. I tend to prefer robust and vegetal green teas and this one definitely is that kind of tea.

On the nose, the golden amber liquor produces a strong, grassy vegetal scent with an undertone of grain. In the mouth, I picked up on clear notes of grass, hay, straw, and grain accompanied by a hint of honey on the finish. The sensation in the mouth is heavy and drying. This is definitely a filling tea. Compared to some other bottled teas that I have tried, the ascorbic acid presence is not terribly distracting.

This is a nice bottled tea. It strikes me as being a step up from the regular Oi Ocha. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good bottled tea with a bit of bite.

This might sound crazy, but I always kind of forget about Japanese green teas. It’s not that I dislike them or anything, I just don’t drink them as often as I probably should. When I’m in the mood for green tea, which, to be honest, is pretty frequently, I usually reach for Chinese green teas. I like bancha, sencha, and gyokuro quite a bit, but it seems that I am always finding excuses to reach for something else. Teas like this one make me really wish I would stop doing that.

I played around with my preparation method quite a bit with this tea. I just could not seem to settle on one way of preparing it that I liked more than the others. Normally, I do three infusions with sencha, and that is mostly what I did here. I primarily resorted to steeping one sachet of loose tea in 8 ounces of 165 F water for 1 minute 30 seconds, then following this infusion with 1 minute and 1 minute 15 second infusions at the same temperature. I also tried a three step infusion with slightly shorter steep times. Finally, I tried the vendor’s recommended preparation method, which was steeping each sachet one time in 8 ounces of 190 F water for 3 minutes. Oddly, each method kind of worked. I’ll make an effort to comment on each.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves produced a grassy, vegetal aroma. After infusion, the grassy, vegetal aroma became far more intense. In the mouth, I picked up on pronounced notes of grass, hay, straw, and seaweed underscored by radish and toasted rice. The second infusion was slightly milder on the nose and more focused in the mouth. The toasted rice character was a bit stronger. The third infusion was mild and smooth on the nose and on the palate. It also introduced a slight mineral tinge on the back of the throat. Using the same three step process with shorter steep times produced a tea that was milder and smoother all around. Increasing the temperature and increasing the steep time to 3 minutes produced an intensely grassy, vegetal liquor.

I found this to be an enjoyable sencha. Despite the fact that I could not force myself to stick with a single approach to preparing it, I found it to be very forgiving. Just for that I have bumped my score up by a point or two. Due to its approachability and resilience, I could see this being a great introduction to Japanese green teas or a good everyday green tea for established Japanese tea aficionados.

I am steadily making progress toward my goal of finishing at least one ounce of each of Simpson & Vail’s fifteen original blends before the end of the next calendar year. I have already plowed through the Aromatic Earl Grey, Extra Aromatic Earl Grey, Russian Caravan Tea, Green & Black Mixed Tea, and Special Orange Blend. This review marks the sipdown of original blend number six.

Before I start discussing this tea proper, I feel the need to ask what exactly qualifies this blend as an Irish blend? To me, this is nothing more than a blend of straight Indian black teas with a pinch of Earl Grey added for extra aroma and flavor. When I think of Irish tea blends, I think of robust, malty teas that will keep one going all day. I do not think of a flowery blend of Indian teas with a little citrus character.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion process I tend to favor for many non-Chinese black teas and black tea blends. I steeped approximately 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. Additional infusions were not attempted. At one point, I also tried a 4 minute infusion. I did not feel that the results differed all that radically from the 3 minute infusion, thus I will be limiting this review solely to a discussion of the 3 minute infusion.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves produced a bright, lemony bergamot aroma. After infusion, the bergamot aroma remained, though it was also joined by subtle scents of cream, malt, and toast. In the mouth, I picked up a heavier than expected note of bergamot balanced by a delicate blend of malt, cream, toast, nutmeg, toffee, and roasted almond flavors.

This was not even close to what I was expecting, but this was still a nice little blend. It was not particularly deep or complex, but it was approachable, easy to drink, and flavorful enough to be satisfying. I found that this worked best for me as an afternoon tea. In the end, I would say that if you are looking for something like an Irish Breakfast, look elsewhere, but if you do not mind the idea of a smooth, somewhat citrusy blend for all-purpose consumption, this may do it for you.