46 Tasting Notes
Sachet. Appearance: small, curled oolong leaves. Some twigs were present. Liquour: light amber infusion, with minor sediment. Smell: floral, with the richness I associate with oolong. Taste: light smokiness of an oolong, but the floral notes predominated, especially as the tea cooled. I don’t really like floral notes with my teas (example – I dislike even the fanciest jasmines). Because the floral notes were so pronounced, it was just something I didn’t like. The tea wasn’t bad, and for people who like jasmine, I think it probably would be lovely. Just not for me. 4/10.
Mighty Leaf – “Earl Grey Decaf”
Sachet. Appearance: small curled, standard black leaves. Some twigs were present. Liquor: traditional reddish brown. Smell: extremely floral and aromatic. Just smelling the dry leaves gave an extremely powerful bergamot smell (almost an essential oil level whiff). When brewed the strong floral scent continues. Taste: the bergamot fragrance tends to overwhelm the black tea taste, and lingers in the nasal passages after swallowing, so it is the primary taste sensation. The tea is more astringent than other Mighty Leaf blacks: after a minute without drinking the tea, I actually had to get a drink of water. The astringency may be from the combination of bergamot oil and black tea. As with other spiced black teas, sugar rounds out the edges, but it does not enhance the already strong bergamot flavor. While I want a quality decaf, I do not like how strong the bergamot is. 4/10.
Harney & Sons – “Paris” (black). Sachet. Appearance: nice sachet, traditional medium and short black tea leaves without additives. Liquor: traditional reddish-brown. Smell: very fragrant. Taste: when fresh and hot, it is smooth with caramel and currant flavors; not bitter; and does not require sugar. Tart notes tend to predominate as it cools, which emphasizes the astringency (but not bitterness, it remained smooth). I needed a drink of water afterward to moisten my mouth. So, delicious initial taste, not as good as it cools. 5/10.
Harney & Sons – Hot Cinnamon Spice (black). Sachet. Appearance: short broken black leaves, with large pieces of cinammon and orange zest. Liquor: dark reddish brown (standard tea color) with moderate cinammon/spice sediment. Smell: heavy cinammon. Taste: potent cinammon flavor tends to overwhelm the black tea flavor. Nice for the variety, but a little too much cinammon. The spices do eliminate the need for sugar though, which is nice. 5/10.
Harney & Sons – Organic English Breakfast (black). Sachet. Appearance: medium and short black tea leaves without additives. Liquor: reddish-brown (standard tea color). Smell: bright. Taste: traditional breakfast blend, with assertive, bright flavors. Moderate astringency. Decent without sugar, which is somewhat unexpected for a breakfast blend. As with a lot of blacks, sugar improves the tea by softening the edges. 5/10.
appearance: the leaves are brittle and include broken pieces, but are so minimally processed I’m quite smitten with how natural and simple they look. The leaves darken after an infusion. Liquor: pale amber-yellow. Smell: simple, vegetal, with a hint of essential oil fragrance. Taste: muted, smooth, and simple. I found this very soothing. The second infusion was also quite nice. 6/10.
Appearance: these pictures show the leaves dry and after initial infusion. The leaves are roughly curled and unfold beautifully after infusion. I can see little red spots on the edges of the leaves that at least seem very natural. I’m not sure whether the leaves of this oolong or of the green are more impressive after an infusion. Liquor: amber. Smell: slightly smokey, clear oolong smell. Taste: mildly smokey, light oolong flavor. It’s considerably more mild than some oolongs like an Iron Goddess. I preferred the flavor warmer than cooler. I liked this but didn’t think the taste was unique enough to prefer it over the other Sakuma Bros. options, or another oolong. 6/10.
Appearance: these pictures show the leaves dry and after initial infusion. The leaves are curled and maintained their shape better than the Sun Dried White. I think that’s to be expected because there is a little more processing (my guess is steaming). I found that I needed to use more leaves than other greens to get the strength I like. Liquor: light green, jade color almost. Smell: vegetal. Taste: vegetal but nicely sweet (sweeter than, for example, the Monkey King I recently reviewed). Consistent flavor as the liquor cooled. Good second infusion, weak third infusion. 8/10.
I picked up a Keemun (black) tea recently for a friend who prefers black tea, and got some for myself. It particularly works in small batches, as in a gaiwan. Appearance: curled black leaves (broken) with golden tips. The black and gold contrast is visually appealing. Liquor: caramel brown. Smell: smoky and caramel. Taste: as with the smell, the tea has smooth, caramel notes, with smoky undertones. It is less bright than other black teas, but sometimes that’s what I’m in the mood for. It works wells on its own, but sugar can work. It is sensitive to oversteeping (primarily why I tried the sugar after a batch I oversteeped). I’m a fan of the complexity of the second infusion. 7/10 (because of the second infusion, also because it works well with my set up at work).
