199 Tasting Notes

38

The smell of the tea is very overpowering with lavender.. The same comes through with the taste – way too floral for me!

Flavors: Lavender

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 5 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

First of all, this tea is listed as a black tea, but I’m not 100% sure that it is. Granted, I don’t know a lot about tea, but it looks, tastes, and smells like an oolong to me. I don’t know if someone can tell by the pictures on their site, but if anyone could educate me, that would be wonderful :)
http://happyearthtea.com/collections/black-tea/products/himalayan-autumn-bouquet-153-jun-chiyabari-nepal-organic-autumn-2014

Now, to tasting.. Rather, smelling first! This tea is gorgeous and smells like a fresh raisin nut cake – very pleasing aroma. The steeping instructions say to use 1 TABLESPOON of leaves per 8oz! Wow, that seems like a lot to me! The brew (3 minutes) comes out as a dark amber/gold and still has the scent of raisins. I don’t know about anyone else, but I love the smell of raisins – I tend to put my nose in the box and smell the dried grape-y goodness :)

The brewed leaves are a mixture of green and copper colors (http://imgur.com/oz2Lbbo). The taste is complex and soothing. I can taste the faint raisin flavor along with a nutty flavor (maybe like a walnut, but I don’t typically eat or like nuts). But wait.. it has a very oolong-y finish! Yet another reason why I’m confused as to the category in which this tea belongs. It tastes earthy and roasted on the back end.

The second steep (added 30 seconds) brings out even more sweetness and emphasizes the earthy flavor of the tea. Personally, I love it :) That’s two good, two bad, and one middle of the road tea from my Happy Earth Tea samples. One more to try!

Flavors: Earth, Nuts, Raisins, Roasted

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 6 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
TeaBrat

A lot of teas from darjeeling and Himalayas are pretty light, even thought they are classified as black teas. But technically they aren’t oolongs either I guess.

Anlina

I’ve found that a lot of Darjeeling and Nepalese teas that are classified as black teas look like they are only partially oxidized, and have a lot of qualities that are similar to green or oolong teas. I’m guessing the classification is based on the processing. This chart is helpful. http://www.worldoftea.org/tea-classification/

kieblera5

Interesting.. Thanks for the information :) I guess since it’s not fully oxidized, that’s why it tastes like an oolong, but I wonder how they stop the oxidation process? Since traditional blacks don’t have the “heating” step (kill-green/steaming/etc.), I wouldn’t think that the leaves would still be so green/copper.

Anlina

Drying will also stop oxidation.

Niraj Lama

Hello Keiblera! I am the owner-operator of Happy Earth Tea. Thank you once again for ordering tea from us and we are even more thankful for sharing your experience of it here.
You are right about this tea being oolong because it is semi-oxidized. However the reason why we have it in the black tea category is keeping with the traditional categorization done at the place of origin.
Oolong is not a familiar tradition in tea producing nations outside of China and Taiwan. Although places like India and Nepal have been making semi-oxidized (or fermented, as they still prefer to describe it) for a while, they still prefer to call it black tea. (Cultural differences make for interesting situations. For instance, the Chinese are still perplexed why we call red tea black. By the way, in local lingo Darjeeling and Nepali refer to their black tea as red tea. But while talking in English they will switch to calling it black tea!)
Anyhow because of the Darjeeling and Nepali tradition of describing their semi-oxidized teas as black tea for the market, a lot of long-standing drinkers of Darjeeling and Nepal also refer to them as black. So in line with that we have categorized these teas as black. Not to say that a tradition cannot be revised.
To answer your other question the semi-oxidation is achieved by a very gentle rolling of the green leaf where the leaves are only partially bruised. In black tea the leaves have to be fully bruised, which is achieved by a much heavier rolling, and which sets off a total oxidation.
Thank you again and happy sipping!

kieblera5

Thank you for all the information, Niraj :) I figured it had to be the classification of the tea in the area. I prefer oolongs anyway :) No matter what it’s called, it’s a delicious tea!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

40

Another sample from Happy Earth Tea.

Wow. The tea leaves smell like paprika and chipotle peppers! Unfortunately, it also tastes like water in which I put a bunch of paprika and chipotle peppers.. Definitely not for me!

Flavors: Pepper, Smoke

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

70

This tea smells great before brewing. It has a distinct grape aroma and I was hoping that I finally found a grape flavored tea that actually tastes good! Well, I brewed the tea and it still smelled great, but it tastes like rose and white tea. The rose flavor overpowered everything else in the cup. I couldn’t even taste the green tea in it. I shared this cup with a friend and they really enjoyed the tea. The tea tastes good, but it definitely didn’t taste as advertised, so I’ll save a recommendation either way.

Flavors: Grapes, Rose

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Anlina

Have you tried any of Lupicia’s grape teas? Napa Blanc is amazing.

kieblera5

I’ve never ordered from Lupicia before. How is the grape flavor? If I drink something that’s supposed to taste like grape, I want it to have a strong grape flavor.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

40

I ordered this as a sample from Design A Tea. I almost didn’t brew it because of the smell, but sometimes tea smells differently when brewed. It brings back memories of going to the dentist as a child and getting bubblegum fluoride. It smells like that… and makes me want to gag. The smell persisted even after brewing. While the taste wasn’t bad, I just can’t get over the scent.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

88

First, I tried to add this tea to the database and only realized after that I can’t add more than one picture! Sorry!

The tea leaves smell floral and light and it is lightly oxidized. The liquor is a light gold color. The taste of the tea? Magical. This light, creamy nectar must have come from a heaven-touched mountain. This tea is sweet and buttery mixed with a pleasant floral note and a smooth oolong finish. I really didn’t taste the “steamed spinach” that the product page proclaimed. Overall, this was a very pleasant tea that I would love to have again!
Steeped for 1 minute at 200 degrees and increased by 30 seconds each for the next two steeps.

Flavors: Butter, Creamy, Floral, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84

At first scent, the leaves don’t make me think of anything special. I only smell a nice earthy oolong with a hint of sweetness in the aroma. There weren’t any steeping instructions with this, so I opted for 3tsp in 16oz at 190 for 3 minutes. The light gold-amber liquid smells strongly of the oolong’s earthiness with a hint of smokiness. The taste of the liquor is strange – I had to take a few sips to really comprehend the complex flavor. It’s very much an oolong, but has a subtle sweetness to it, like a honey flavor. The flavor takes over the whole mouth in a pleasing sensation, lingering on the tongue. I only had a sample of this, but I would definitely recommend it.

Flavors: Earth, Honey, Smoke, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80

This was a sample in my recent order from The Tea Table. The dry tea smells like breakfast cereal due to the puffed rice. I brewed it at 180 for 90 seconds. The brewed tea smells and tastes like a lightly brewed hojicha, but you cant really taste the green tea due to the overwhelming puffed rice flavor. Overall, a good tea blend.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 1 min, 30 sec 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Tabby

I just got an order from these guys in the mail today! :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

81

I was excited to receive this as a sample with my order from The Tea Table. I had never had gunpowder green tea before, so this was a new experience. The dry leaves smelled slightly vegetal and smoky. I brewed the tea using 1 teaspoon for a 16oz mug using 205 degree water (per the instructions). I was tentative to use such hot water since I typically use 165 for 45 seconds for most greens. The wet leaves smell like tobacco, which is very off-putting for me (I just won’t smell them next time). The tea is a light yellow-green color and smells lightly vegetal. The flavor is very light and sweet. After thinking about it for a while, I feel like it tasted “yeasty” which isn’t necessarily bad, I just can’t find another flavor to describe it! It definitely doesn’t have the same “seaweed” or “steamed green bean” flavor that other green teas have. There’s a slightly smoky element to it. Overall, there’s nothing to make me say “wow” about this tea, but there’s nothing wrong with it either and I’m looking forward to the next cup.

Flavors: Smoke, Vegetal, Yeast

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Learning more about tea every day.

Likes: Greens, whites, oolongs, blacks, and herbals! Just depends on the mood :)
Dislikes: Coconut, melon, chocolate, peach, cherry

I also collect antique teaware (Chinese and Japanese).

I’d love to try new types, varieties, etc. I’m still exploring pu-erh to make a complete decision whether to keep trying it or just count it as a loss.

I’d love to trade with anyone who likes something that I might have! I just have to get everything added to my cupboard first :)

Location

Virginia, USA

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer