200 Tasting Notes
As I understand it, this is the base of a lot of flavoured teas. I’ve had Rose Congou a few times, which isn’t my thing, but I do really enjoy lighter black teas.
I enjoy drinking this tea, but not very interesting. I can see why it’s a base tea rather than being drunk on its own too often. I think next time I’ll go for a Nepali tea, Sikkim Temi or a Keemun or something like that, which have more interesting flavours.
Preparation
Really good earthy Oolong tea, it’s exactly what I look for in an Oolong. I’d be curious to have it next to the Wu Yi Oolong, which I have reviewed on here and enjoyed very much. Like that tea, it also brews at least 3 times without any problems, which is the sign of a good tea. Highly recommended.
Preparation
I’m really enjoying this tea. I seem to get the brewing wrong with a lot of breakfast teas, but every time, this tea seems to be good. I drink it with a small amount of milk and like lots of colour in it, but not so much that it turns an orange colour. Some black teas with whole leaves never quite get the strength you’d like, whereas others are prone to getting too strong too quickly, like a PG Tips teabag. This gets the balance, and I don’t end up with too much dust in the bottom of my cup, even with a cup infuser.
I still prefer the rounded flavour of an Irish Breakfast over an English Breakfast, but this isn’t far off.
Edit The amount of tea information below is showing 1 tsp per cup, but I actually use 1.5. I haven’t tried it with less than that, so I don’t know whether it would be right…
Preparation
This has been a wonderful accompaniment to Wimbledon this summer. Really well balanced tea. I was a bit concerned about the mate component, but it adds something to the tea and doesn’t dominate. The strawberry flavour is not synthetic like it can be. It all melds together into something that seems sophisticated and almost designed for the Wimbledon fortnight.
Wow, this is great. I didn’t even realise tea was grown in Korea. When you brew the tea, it’s a natural golden yellow colour. The processing of steaming and roasting gives it a really interesting flavour. Even after three pots (the leaves re-steep really well!) I find it hard to describe. It’s certainly earthy. The roast flavours are there but it is nowhere near as strong as your average houjicha. It would suit someone who likes oolongs, houjicha, genmaicha, that kind of thing. Struggling as I am to describe the flavour, the only thing I can think of is sawdust. That sounds like a terrible insult but it’s not. I’m picturing my Dad’s garden shed when he had a carpentry project on. It’s homely, it’s musty, it saturates your tastebuds, and it has the life of the trees distilled down into powder. God, that doesn’t make any sense at all. Just try it for yourself, you will love it.
I wasn’t particularly excited about the idea of an oolong flavoured with ginseng. I brewed a pot and wasn’t initially sure what to think, so I passed it to my girlfriend. She screwed up her face really tightly when she took a sip, but I don’t think she’s too keen on oolongs in general. I think it’s a nice earthy oolong, and the ginseng adds some winter warmth to it without being too strong as a flavour on its own. I imagine having it with shortbread or hot cross buns or something like that. As the tea cools a bit, the flavour kind of separates out slightly and comes to the fore a bit more. I haven’t had much ginseng before. I find it a nice round flavour and a good addition to the tea. A final thought though: would I rather have oolong on its own or with ginseng in it? Unfortunately I’d rather have it on its own.
It’s taken me years and years to finish this tea, but mainly because I had 500g to start off with. At times i found this tea a bit too strong and bitter, but as long as you don’t use too many tea leaves or brew for too long, it usually turns out well. I actually found that I preferred drinking it when made with a tea egg for a single cup of tea. I think possibly it’s best when it’s really hot, and also much easier to keep an eye on the amount of tea leaves to use when using a tea egg. A strong flavour, a good everyday tea.
Preparation
It’s just not my cup of tea. I don’t enjoy the chocolate in it. It dominates the tea flavouring without making it better. The little hearts are very sweet, and I think it would make a great gift at Valentine’s day or something, but I’m not personally a fan. On a related note, I recently tried a tea with cocoa in it, and that was really good. I’ve had a few chocolate teas in the past, and this is probably one of the better ones, but it’s just not something that I really like to drink
Really excellent blend. It’s good with milk, and it’s the right strength for me – great with a little milk but not too strong. It’s got a lovely round flavour to it.
Some of my friends insist on teabag tea. This is one of the few teas that is very close to something like Tetley, only much nicer and smoother. I’m sad it’s run out.
