Chicago Tea Garden

Tea Prep:
1) Broke apart the tea cake
2) Rinsed tea in boiling water
3) First infusion was a bit too long (about 1-1.5 min) and was a little bitter
4) Second infusion (normally the best anyways) was for 30 seconds with slightly cooler than boiling water

The second infusion was awesome! This Puer is very rich, smooth, and sweet. As I noted above, I steeped for too long the first time which may have added to the slight bitterness, but even this was not totally unpleasant as it added a slight smokey flavor to the tea.

The fourth steeping (at 30 seconds) began to get a bit lighter, but it was still enjoyable. When I get back home I’m going to infuse it another 3 or 4 times to see what kind of result I get. I tend to allow long periods of time between steepings sometimes (1-6 hours), but I’m not sure how this effects the flavor – it normally works out well, though!

Note:
5th infusion I left it for about 2 minutes in order to get it a bit darker. No bitterness at all, but a little bit weaker than the previous infusions. Still great, though.

Initially I steeped this tea WITHOUT the orange peel, but then added in a bit of the peel to see if it added any significant flavor. Overall I liked it more with a bit of orange peel added in. It’s definitely not the best Puer that I’ve ever tried, but I thought it was pretty decent. The unique presentation made it a tea that I absolutely had to buy. Also, the price is reasonable.

I really like this. Sweet, floral and delicious!

Off to write a full-length review of it for Tea Review Blog!

I received this as my prize in AmazonV’s tea art contest a while back! (Thanks AmazonV!) It’s been calling out to me to try it for a while now – and I finally listened!

This is delightful. Heavenly even! It has delicious fruit tones and a strong floral presence.

I think I shall go write about this tea for the Tea Review Blog!

Third steeping — back to tasting green. not really my type of tea. But if you like green teas and oolongs, and you want a tea that will take many steepings, go for this one. It’s just not quite right for me.

Steeped for just 30 seconds as per other people’s suggestions below. I don’t have a kettle that does exact temperatures, so it was about 4 or 5 minutes after boiling, which I figure to be somewhere between 180 and 200 degrees. Possibly less.

Disclaimer: I currently have a cold and am drinking this to soothe my throat and sinuses. As such, I may not smell or taste as much as other people. But I still want to make a point of reviewing it!

First steeping: definitely greener than I would like. To compare it to the Sanctuary T Iron Goddess of Mercy oolong, it’s much sharper at the first sip. It’s actually not too bad, and I think I really like it for a change of pace from what I usually drink. It reminds me faintly of my favorite Irish Breakfast CTC from Upton Teas – possibly because I tend to slightly oversteep and get a hint of bitterness/astringency. There’s also a hint of flavor to the astringency…it’s almost a spicy feel, with an extra burst of heat. The complexity is growing on me. I think I really like this cup for cutting through the awful coating of mucus on my throat!

Second steeping — water temperature probably about the same, but who knows. 1 min 30 seconds steeped. The leaves are definitely more unfurled now, and the liqueur is more golden than before. It’s a weaker cup than before (maybe I oversteeped the first time?) but the flavors are more mellow now. There’s still a jangly note of that spicy astringency but it’s not all I taste anymore. This is more akin to the Sanctuary T oolong, but still with that extra hit of green-ness.

Since this is a rather weak cup I don’t think I’ll go for a third steeping on this set of leaves. Maybe next time. If I change my mind I’ll do a second note rather than add to this one further.

Uhm, so I had this tea but I had it about 4 hours ago so it’s all kind of a blur to me. I remember thinking it was really good. It reminded me a lot of Samovar’s TKY which is pretty much the only darker oolong that I like enough to buy (I’m a green oolong girl) but this one was even sweeter and more fruity. Perhaps not quite as toasty/roasty but definitely not to be mistaken for a green oolong. Very smooth, very clean, very sweet, very fruity…. very tasty!

Right now, I’m going to tie this with Samovar’s TKY. I’ll probably end up adjusting the rating when I 1) get to try it and Samovar’s TKY close together so I can compare better and 2) have a chance to pay more attention to see exactly how tasty I think it is.

And wow, writing this log made me realize that I haven’t even tried a second steep. I’m going to go do that now! (What a crazy day!)
8g/8oz

(ETA: Had Samovar’s TKY to compare and like this one better so I’m bumping up the rating.)

This. Is. Crazy. Good.

Almost buttery smooth, a creaminess is there, but still light, clean, pure, and I can taste a beautiful green flavor coming out. A little sweet, a rich quality, there are so many layers here. And every infusion brings out something a little different.

If I were to be reincarnated as a tea, this would probably be it.

I came home from a great (but cold!) walk and feeling the need for a cup of tea. This is more or less the only sensible thing I’ve done today, that walk. And likely also the only sensible thing, I will be doing. I can feel it in my bones.

Anyway, I wanted a cup and I decided to let myself be inspired by yesterday’s Select and use the rest of the sample that Wombatgirl so kindly shared with me. It may not be all that seasonally appropriate as it has a more spring-y, summer-y sort of flavour profile, but it’s good enough for me right now.

I’ve never had a New Zealander before! I didn’t even know they had a tea production to start with, and even less that it was a tea production with export. Interesting. I got this one from Wombatgirl and I have enough leaves for this pot and another one later on.

I was just in the mood for an oolong, actually, so it was kind of lucky that I just happened to spot this tin in the forest of tins that lives on my kitchen table. I have actually completely dispensed with the idea of a ‘tea cupboard’ and just moved all the tins to the kitchen table. I might as well, since they migrate there anyway. That means I’ve cleared a small cupboard which now holds three retired pots and a gaiwan, thus solving some serious space issues on my various kitchen surfaces. A little rearranging made space for four other retired pots in a different cupboard, so the pots I have out now are the ones I actually use. The rest are hidden behind glass cupboard doors looking nice and decorative. Yay me and my organising skills!

Anyway, these leaves are dark green and rolled into semi-loose little pellets, so they look more or less like your would expect any typical green oolong to look. It’s got a nice yellow-ish colour in the cup and the aroma is also unmistakably green oolong. It’s got that touch of earthyness and a strong note of cooked green vegetables. For me it’s broccoli boiled just so in lightly salted water with a little bit of butter in it.

Lots of flavour here. Again it tastes like a green oolong should taste, with a slightly rough green tea flavour combined with the earthyness of begun oxidation. The green part of the flavour is remarkably hard to pin down though. I’m thinking sort of like a cross between Long Jing and Sencha, if you can imagine that. The strong vegetative flavour of both but without the side note of cat-breath and salt water.

It’s been way too long since the last time I had a green oolong that wasn’t scented so how it holds up to the traditional ones, I can’t be quite sure. But right now I think this tastes like it shouldn’t have too many problems in a competition.

So yes. New Zealand has a tea production. And they’re good at it too.

I have to thank Ashmanra for sending me this tea and waiting to have a tasting with me. Maybe my nose is broken but I really didn’t get much charcoal or smoke from this tea, dry leaves or wet. It does have a very roasted nut flavor and aroma to me with a slight sweet, floral note at the end. I didn’t enjoy a second steep all that much but I may have used too much water for my amount of leaf. It was a little creamy but it tasted more of a weak green tea to me.

A free sample from Chicago Tea Garden. Looked very interesting. I’ve not had a ‘chocolate tea’ before.
But I was disapointed. Couldn’t taste the cocoa flavor at all. There is enough in the sample for one more cup. Maybe I need to getthe steeping correct.
It was much darker than I would expect for a Yellow tea. Much closer to a black tea.

I forgot to log this :X

Welllll…..initially I loved this tea, it has a very nice hay/orange quality, but only after the second or third steep. The first was nice, but I don’t care for the first steep on Pu anyways. But once I got to the bottom of my particular orange, the taste got kinda bleh. I might rebuy, but not before I buy the Black Golden Bi Luo!

The Final Sipdown: Day 9
Decupboarding Total: 17

Today has been a whole lot of suck since I woke up in the middle of the night with a full-blown migraine. Finally at 11pm, I’m over the migraine and the worst of the hangover from it, so it’s time for my first tea of the day. Uhm, night.

I wanted something gentle and soft. Whites typically call to me post-migraine, but I did want to attempt to keep up with The Final Sipdown. This one is nicely mild and, if I shared it with my husband, I’d be able to finish off the tin. Not quite a sample but since it is a decupboard, I’m counting it.

What a wonderful final cup. I used two flowers (which amounted to about 16g) for 22oz. I gave it a quick rinse to see if I could ‘wake up’ the flowers a bit before steeping, then I gave it a 3minute steep with the teapot lid off.

It worked perfectly. I think this one really benefits from heavy leaf and I wouldn’t be surprised if the rinse helped, too. The flavor is still mild but it’s so sweet and pretty. I still don’t get the smoky of the tasting notes but it’s such a pretty Chinese green (with zero of the salty end note they normally give me) that I really don’t care. I’m actually giving this tea a gentle bump up since I feel like I’ve cracked the code a bit on this and would totally get it again.

Anyone remember Koosh balls? This tea makes it look like I’ve put a mini-Koosh ball in my teapot. Which sounds like a negative but I really liked Koosh balls a lot so I’m in favor of the similarity.

One minute isn’t a whole lot of steep time for a tied up tea (is it just me or do flowers and balls seem to take a bit to ‘wake up’?) but that’s what I went with. It turned out fairly light which was unsurprising, but I like it. It reminds me quite a bit of Rishi’s Jade Cloud, my go-to grocery store tea whenever I am out of green teas (which, considering how much tea I bought in Hawaii, won’t be for years now). It’s got the same sweet and vegetal thing going on but this LMD lacks the mineral edge that Jade Cloud can have (though that could be because of understeeping?).

Interestingly enough, when I poured the tea into my cup I got a whiff of something white wine-like. Sticking my nose in the cup, I didn’t get anything wine-like so I figured it was just some weird house-al smell but then at the end of each sip of tea, I got a little aftertaste – sweet with a little pucker – that made me think of eating a white grape. So yeah, the tasting notes say sweet/smoky endnote and apparently sweet/smoky in my world equals white grapes. Who knew?

Anyway, the second steep (1:00) was a little stronger but had all the same notes as the first – even the grape bit – just a little intensity. Light but nice. I’ll see how it goes next time with a longer steep.