Canton Tea Co

I tried this again today and I don’t know what I had going on yesterday, but this time round it’s amazing. Sweet and vegetal with a lovely toasty thing going on in there. And I managed to get six amazing steeps!!!

Out of curiosity, I tried a second steep although the first was very astringent.

This is much better. The taste is less sweet, but I’m getting much less astringency. The colour is more amber this time round and I’m finding it is much more mellow.

My first pouchong. Upon opening the package, the tea smelt sweet and floral, like I would expect a normal green to smell like.

After steeping, the tea is a pale green and still smells floral, but also toasty. It tastes like a green, but without the grassiness I find in many normal greens. It is a lovely taste, but it is very astringent, to the point where it actually hurts my throat. Maybe if I used less leaf (I did use quite a lot, admittedly) this would get better. I will hold off rating this until I’ve had it again.

This is a good puerh. It has a strong earthy quality to it and the taste is stronger than the aroma. But just underneath the earthy flavor is a delightful sweetness that is caramel-y and delicious and keeping me sipping. The liquor is quite thick and imparts a mouthfeel that is similar to that of a green Oolong. No bitterness, no astringency.

I have two job interviews today. I figured I should take a page out of my own blog (here: http://steepstories.com/2012/10/24/tea-pairing-with-job-hunting/) and not over caffeinate before interview #1. So, I went with a Western-style brew-up of this. Buttery, leafy, eerily soothing…I think I’m ready for the first one now.

deep breaths

I got this at the end of last week via the Canton Tea Club, and I’d completely forgotten that I had tried it before. In fact, it was the very first pouchong/baozhong/whatever I ever sipped. I actually had to refer back to my old review to recall what I thought of it. (HERE: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/20/review-canton-tea-co-pouchong-4/)

This time around, I actually opted to treat it more like an oolong and gaiwan it. It was a far more floral and buttery drink when done with short, successive steeps. Far more preferable to the toasty profile of a western approach. As a result, I’m boosting the rating up.

There’s a lively discussion going on as to whether it’s a green tea or oolong on the Canton blog: http://www.cantonteaco.com/blog/2012/10/canton-tea-club-week-2-that-pouchong/

I’m firmly in the oolong camp…but I will settle for “groolong” as a sub-category.

I resisted trying a Pouchong (Baozhong…whatever) because I thought it was just another type of oolong. Turns out that in some circles – and according to the Almighty Wiki – it’s sometimes given its own classification; like yellow tea. Canton’s offering smelled like a grape-rich green tea, but tasted like a green-style oolong. The flavor was smoky, non-astringent, fruity, kelpy, and all-around decent. Quite a feat for a “gr-oolong”.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2011/01/20/review-canton-tea-co-pouchong-4/

What an AMAZING tea. I really don’t know what else to say. It is wonderful, complex, balanced, and most importantly DELICIOUS! This is also one I got in my Tea & Chocolat package.

I got this is part of my Tea & Chocolat set this Christmas, it was a Steepster Select offering. I was not sure how I would like this one but in fact I was pleasantly surprised. I found it to be absolutely perfectly balanced. It was very smooth and not overly minty. I can tell this will be amazing iced, and great on a hot summer day. A long time from now I know but it did evoke some memories of what is to come. Delicious! I anticipate bumping this up once I have tried it iced.

This is an AWESOME Darjeeling.

The flavor is so clean and crisp. I agree with TeaEqualsBliss on this one, there is a malty note to this, which I find to be rather unique for a Darjeeling. Malty overtone with a crisp, sparkling medium body. Not much astringency for a Darjeeling. A nice fruity undertone.

Delicious!

PS: Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea! I’m loving it!

Steeping these leaves in a small, ceramic teapot, I would love to say that the smell conjured up old memories of camping trips and the like…but it did not. It was, however, a delightful aroma that wafted from my teapot to my nose. I steeped the leaves for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, a happy compromise when the website suggested 2-3 minutes. Based on my initial impressions of the tea, if you use the correct amount, then 2 minutes is good for a very light tea, and 3 minutes is good if you like your black tea stronger (as I do). Canton Tea Co’s website says that they stored this tea for an extra year to enhance the smokiness and fruit flavours, and I would certainly agree that this has been successful.

The post-steeped leaves are twisted and curly, reddish brown in colour. When I take my first sip, I notice that the smokiness of the tea has a certain subtlety, and the aroma is not overwhelming, as it can be at times with Lapsang Souchong. The tea has brewed a golden brown colour. The forward taste of this tea is light and smooth, while the smokiness dwells in the aftertaste. The aftertaste also contains almost-fruity notes, following the smokiness. These then meld back into a mellow smoked black tea flavour, which is light, almost like a darjeeling.

I would give this tea an 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale. It was truly a delectable treat.

Love the scent of this tea, so deep and intoxicating yet “natural”, not overpowering, differently from other jasmine teas I’ve tried (maybe they were artificially scented, with hindsight). The aroma is “sparkling” in the nose like a cup of champagne!

The flavour is more delicate yet lively: sweet and floral, with soft spring honey notes, like fresh dew that has dripped onto jasmine petals.
The gentle vegetal note of the tea buds is still present in the background: jasmine scent doesn’t outclass it.
Then I found a surprisingly wild fennel note around the third infusion: so fresh, almost balsamic in the mouth.

I used a level teaspoon of pearls for about 150ml of water.

Definitely a tea to try :-)

This has been on the shelf in my white tea tin gathering fuzz. Oh wait, it already has fuzz. Yes, this is the fuzziest of Silver Needles I have yet come across. You got it, fuzz is a desired trait on Silver Needle leaves. I brewed it a little longer and a lighter temp. The result was a light, floral, nutty, and creamy cup with a melon note. Wow, just like the description of Silver Needle’s typical taster notes. A very good offering.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/07/25/review-canton-tea-co-fuding-bai-hao-yin-zhen-silver-needle-white-tea/

From http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1408/tea-review-canton-tea-dragon-well-green-tea-shi-feng-long-jing/

These tea leaves are awesome. They look like they’ve been pressed in a book like wildflowers. Flat spiky leaves that smells delightfully like something like I’d like to have as a vegetable side dish with my dinner; well spiced green vegetables. Almost reminiscent of green beans. Once brewed up, the spicy green bean scent is enhanced tenfold.

The tea is very light colored, and as mentioned very, very fragrant. It’s both savory and sweet with hints of nuts and grass. The cup does leave some astringency to it, but just enough to make you want to drink more. Green teas can run the gambit of so tannic they make you pucker more than lemons all the way to spring water. This tea is slightly tannic but nowhere near the lemon end of the continuum.

This is a very enjoyable cup of tea – light, flavorful, fragrant, and just plain yummy.

This was definitely a unique oolong as far as background goes. Can’t say it differs much from the oolong milieu in taste and presentation. I will give it this, though, it delivers on its promised floral notes and has an inherent creaminess that reminds me of osthmanthus-scented teas. Even at a two-minute steep, it embittered a bit. For future attempts, I might go with a lighter temperature to see what I end up with. A decent cup, just not the best.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/12/25/review-canton-tea-co-magnolia-blossom-oolong/

This is just perfect for me! It’s weird because I’m not usually drawn to Jasmine nor am I a fanatic of Silver Needle but this is really great! I don’t know what it is but it reminds me of my grandparent’s (RIP) backyard in Florida…the way it smells…the taste of the tea is super crisp and clean. The Jasmine doesn’t have that funky old floral after taste that some have….yeah…it just seems like everything is RIGHT with this Jasmine Silver Needle! YUM!

Lighter and slightly smoky.

This is a very light oolong/green tea. I was expecting a bit more punch in color and taste of this tea, but it is not bad. Almost refreshing, it is a tea I could drink on warmer days. Expect a pale brew that is not heavy at all.

Picked a random pack from my Canton sampler :)
Is a little sleepy, so my review will be short and lacking in details.

Leafs are nice, green and hairy. Erhm… and somehow they defy gravity and stays at the top of the cup. Maybe it’s because I was to lazy to preheat the cup before steeping. Or maybe it has issues. “I am too good for this cup. Now get me your finest porcelain.”-ish issues.

How to describe the aroma?
First thing that comes to mind is ASSAM, but no way in hell this is assam. I must be craving or something. Anyway… First sip screams: ASSAM, but no. It can’t be. This is a white silver needle soooo far from assam as it’s possible.

The only thing you can trust me for is that this tea really is green/white, hairy and that the liquid is very bright. Sweet tasting.

The rest – look away from it. I’ll write another tasting note for this when I have dealt with my ASSAM! craving.

Funny thing is… I really don’t like assam that much.

This is a second flush from Margaret’s Hope. I “think” I’ve had others from this Darjeeling Tea Estate, but I haven’t a clue. Some vendors don’t list origin. Anyway, this is a shy bit different than the usual second flush. The liquor is lighter, brewing to a vibrant gold rather than amber or red. And it’s lacking some of the requisite muscatel character. That said, it’s a floral cup with a feather-touch spice finish and still worth your valuable morning.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/12/14/review-canton-tea-co-margaret%E2%80%99s-hope-silver-moon/