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Sometimes I wonder if Maeda-en is like the Lipton of tea in Japan?

In any case this is a good basic tea for me which I have been drinking for years, I get it in Japantown and the price does not break the bank. I like the toasty, nutty flavor here which goes nicely sometimes as a breakfast drink when I want something mild.

A nice light offering from Naivetea. I now have 1 oz. of this bad boy which should keep me happy for a while. I have no idea what osmanthus smells/tastes like. There is a slight hint of floral here but not nauseating like a floral scented tea. To me it’s brothy and buttery. I also let it steep for 3 minutes or so, I like it a bit stronger and it does not seem to suffer at all with a longer steep time. Gentle and precious.

A short foray into the Aroma Tea Shop this afternoon which is in San Francisco’s Richmond District. A very unpretentious little store. The Owner is quite nice and humorous and offers free tea tastings. I probably tried about 10 different teas before I ended up taking this one (the Milk oolong was also quite good).

So the Eastern beauty or Oriental Beauty is known as the champagne of oolongs. There is a good reason for this comparison. I am not an expert by any means on this tea, but I found this to be slightly sweet with a faint plummy/nectarine base and light minerality. I don’t get “malt” at all here, I’m reminded a bit more of honey. Not bitter or astringent in any way. Really hit its stride for me after the first steeping. This will be a very forgiving oolong you don’t have to worry too much about oversteeping. I will also have to try cold brewing this as I am sure it will make a fantastic iced tea. I need to experiment a bit with my ideal tea/water ratio. The rating will most likely go up if I get that figured out.

Upped my rating of this one today. A VERY short steeping time of 45 seconds or so seems to do the trick with this one. Smooth minerality with stone fruit flavors… yum yum

I have two Wu Yi teas but it took me a while to get my brewing methods down. If steeped too long they can turn bitter very quickly…

and if you are interested in the history of Wu Yi Tea check out this documentary.
http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2011/11/wu-yi-tea-documentary.html

Not my favorite thing from Naivetea so far but still very good. Some people seem to go nuts over Li Shans and Ali Shans. I think they are nice but perhaps a bit too light for me? Or maybe I have not had the right one for me.

In any event this is a very delicate and fresh tasting tea. After brewing the leaves smell of spinach and green pea. Light flavor, mostly floral with a bit of buttery-ness. Very pale gold color. If you are a fan of green tea I would recommend checking this one out…

Slowly I am working my way through two sample packs I got from Naivetea. This must be the last thing I drink with caffeine today if I ever want to go to sleep!

I am very happy with this. The word sublime comes to mind. It is slightly sweet, honeyish with a bit of caramel flavors. It has a lovely golden yellow color and a bit of peach in the aroma. I am getting some buttery notes in the finish. I feel a bit like I’m drinking liquid gold. I’m amazed there is no added flavoring in here. It’s pretty flavorful on it’s own… still going perfectly strong after 3 steeps here of about 2 minutes.

It is quite good so I will probably end up wanting more of it. After the third steep, I was about to cry due to pangs of regret. How could I have wasted so many years of my life drinking crap tea? Naivetea does have a lot of tasty oolongs… :)

I still love this stuff. If you cold brew it in the refrigerator it makes a great iced tea. See my previous notes. I will miss it when it’s gone and will certainly have to order more.

My first Sheng, I don’t really feel like I know enough about them to rate this one. I drank a lot of shu pu-erh when I first gave up drinking coffee and I enjoy them quite a lot.

I brewed small amounts of my tea in a glass infuser mug. I kept the steeping times short, to around 60 seconds or so.

First impression: this reminds me of the Heritage Rougui I picked up at Red Blossom Tea Company. According to David’s notes this one has anxi oolong as a base. I am getting cedarwood, and spice with a slightly earthy and smoky flavor. A hint of smoke. My first two infusions were slightly bitter but I think my water was also too hot. I learned (also at Red Blossom) that if the water is too hot for you to drink it is also too hot for the tea.

Around the 3-4th infusion this is really hitting its’ stride for me, I used a lower water temperature and was now picking up more of the oolong base with some smoother chestnut notes.

The fifth infusion yielded some vegetal and honey flavors but I decided not to steep it again after #5.

This was a pretty fun tea drinking experience! Next time I will try it with less hot water from the very start.

I really like the base flavor of this tea which is going to make me want to go to Mighty Leaf’s website and check out some of their plain black teas. The pear caramel flavor is nice but a little too artificial tasting for me somehow. The caramel bits make it pretty sweet which could be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view. I went to their website and checked out the ingredients list and also discovered it contains milk powder which is a real bummer from someone who has milk allergies. Still, that is my fault since it clearly states on their website what’s in the tea. I should have checked the ingredients list It’s ok but definitely more of a dessert tea and not something I would have for breakfast too often.

Hi, this will (hopefully) be one of my last Teavana adventures for a while…

I tried this blend this afternoon at work. My immediate thoughts were: this isn’t bad, it actually tastes like Spicy chocolate as promised. But… it really needed SOMETHING.

So, on my way home I had a semi- intelligent thought. What if I added some black decaf tea to this? I stopped off and got some Decaffeinated Evening Tea from Ahmad Tea. When I mix the two together, I get a wonderful dessert tea.

So apparently I realize now that the secret to making Teavana tea great is by adding actual tea to it???

Goodnight!