Joseph Wesley Black Tea

Sipdown. Backlog
This tea suffered from being open to air for a while.
190F, gaiwan
lilac, floral
I don’t think I drank that many steeps of this.

Backlog. floral, rolled oolong
7.1g, 100ml gaiwan, 190F
floral, slightly buttery, thick, oily, green
Benefits from slightly longer steeps 30s to 1 min.

Backlog. Sipdown.

I had a uneven session with this tea. I started with half the sample 5g in 100ml gaiwan and 200F water. Dry leaf smells malty and bready.
10s-fruity, little too light in body/taste
I decided to add the rest of my sample. I knew that I had probably overleafed at this point, but I didn’t want 3g floating around. Probably could have tried it westren, but I thought why not?
10s- fruity, now fuller bodied, bit tannic (the overleafing)
10s- dark fruit, strong
I ended up getting another 10 steeps out of it before stopping. It was almost too strong at 10g. 7g was probably the sweet spot.
I wouldn’t get this again. Have to leaf pretty heavy otherwise it’s thin.

I gongfu steeped this and got this Dian Hong to produce some excellent sweet apricot, malt, molasses, and mineral flavors. The flavor is full force (though I did ratio on the high side), and got a nice silky texture. A little bit of astringency at the final 9th steep, but no bitterness.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/04-dian-hong-congfu-joseph-wesley-black-tea-tea-review/

YUM!

I haven’t had this tea in a while. It’s so tasty. Incredible aroma and taste.

I also haven’t written a review in basically a year. Ouch. It’s been a while. Sorry!!! (in my head, this was said with a Canadian accent.)

This tea is a little old, but I can’t tell as I’m drinking it. Just the right balance of malty in this one. I’m glad I broke it out this afternoon. It’s been a long time.

I cold brewed this the other day. SO GOOD! A ratings bump is in order. I wish I’d known this over the summer. Even though it means forgoing multiple infusions, I say its worthwhile, for me. It all comes out at once. Syrupy molasses, with a lemon edge, but more intense than usual.
The only thing I dislike about cold brews is that the chill really sets in to the liquid. I’ve never been a fan of super cold drinks, even in summer. Yeah, a cold beverage is refreshing and nice, but I don’t want my throat frozen either. It isn’t a pleasant sensation. A lot of people I know feel differently, so to each their own!
Oh. and rating bump! just a tad

GAHHHHH!! I had a note all typed up and it disappeared. So I’ll make this quick as I need to sleep:
Mulled molasses. Aftertastes of lemon molasses candy.
Five steeps, but not much variation between them. Last and first were my faves.

Almost to the end of this tea. Probably about two sessions left. I picked this one out because it has been dreary and rainy for the last 5 days. A covenant has been broken. A new ark needs to be built. But a slightly smoky black tea is just what the doctor ordered for a rainy fall day.

This smells much better to me once steeped and brewed. The dry leaf smelled so overwhelmingly of tobacco (or rather, stale cigarettes) that it was a little off-putting. It wasn’t a good smoky smell either, just the smell of the tobacco itself. Usually I enjoy the tobacco aroma in teas, but not so much this time. It’s much tamer after steeping and I"m enjoyed the flavor, which has a slight chocolate note.

2nd sample from my order. I must say I tried to like it. Drank it several times, varying time, temperature and leaf.
Fruit, malt, thin body. Taste is front loaded. Tannic and astringent.

I like some assams. This isn’t one of them. 70

Sipdown. 100ml gaiwan, 212F
Chocolate, fruity, and malt. Medium body. This tea is better westren as longer steeps bring out better more well rounded flavor. Good daily drinker. I’d consider getting more for mornings.

Dry- sweet hay, malt
3g, 8oz, 208F, 2min
Taste – malt, chocolate, smooth and thick. 2nd steep very similarly tasting. Chocolate less strong than some other teas. Solid tea, good but not great. I’ll finish off my sample. 82

I finished up an overdue tea cabinet re-org a week or two ago, and in doing so came across several teas that had gotten shuffled to the back of the cabinet. Several of my Joseph Wesley teas were in the mix. This one has a lovely aroma – my favorite for a black tea – sweet, dark chocolate. This didn’t translate as well into the cup of tea after steeping, but there was a nice malty flavor I still enjoyed. Not as incredibly delicious as their Classic Chinese, but still a satisfying cup.

Side note – I really hope Joseph Wesley isn’t gone forever! Their teas are so good!

This black is worth playing with steeping methods – gongfu and western give you different results, but both very complex.

Gongfu (boil, 1g 15ml), I got a savory tea of chocolate mole, char, bittersweet, molasses. Later steepings got brown sugar and malt sweet. It was never dry.

Western (190F 4g 10oz), the keemun was a meld of savory, fruity and sweet with a dry finish that wasn’t present in the gongfu steeping.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/05-keemun-congfu-joseph-wesley-black-tea-tea-review/

This tea is good, quite good. It is slightly malty. It has chocolate notes. It can be described as creamy. It is one of the best black teas I have tried.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 185 degree water for 2 min.

I had this earlier today and found it to be a tasty, but fairly unremarkable Assam. Smooth, malty, pretty much what I expect from a good assam. Reading other people’s reviews makes me think I should go back and pay a bit more attention. :)

This tea is quite good. It’s not a smoky lapsang. There are some notes of malt in there. There are some notes of chocolate in there. Very tasty.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Graqvity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.

Bought this at the tea festival in NYC the other day. It is quite good. It’s not malty. It’s not too astringent. Has a bit of a fruity note but not a strong one. It’s a fairly mild tasting black tea in truth. I don’t know if this is a first or second flush Darjeeling. The website says it was picked before the monsoon. They also mention a spicy note and thinking about it now it is in fact there, but mild.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 185 degree water for 3 min.

I am brewing this gongfu style. The leaves in a warm gaiwan smell chocolatey and buttery. It has kind of graham cracker crust or toffee scent as well. The wet leaves smell perfumed and floral with fig notes.

The flavor of the first infusion is really pleasant. It’s a good mix of dark fruit flavor like plum or fig, with buttery and floral notes. There really isn’t much bitterness to be found here and the feel of the tea is really smooth.

The second infusion is tasting more floral and plum like, really buttery and mouth-filling, juicy. There are notes of chocolate in the aroma of the liquor. The finish of the flavor is like malt and dark chocolate.

By the third infusion the flavor is darker and more sweet. Notes of chocolate come through more strongly. The flavor is rich and more fruity than floral. There are lingering notes of cinnamon.

The fourth infusion is also deep and rich. More of the same flavors as the third, but not quite as sweet.

I was overall impresed by this tea. I have never had tea from Joseph Wesley before, much less even heard of this company before I got this sample, so I’m glad I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve only had maybe three Bailin Gongfu teas before but this was easily my favorite one. Might have to put this on my wishlist! Thanks mtchyg for the sample!

I’m not quite sure what to say about this one. I am always happy to try tea that my friends generously send me, but in general I don’t really like Indian black teas.

This is light with some high notes. It’s not as acidic/astringent as I normally find Assam teas. The fact that I’ve drank three cups of it tonight must mean that it’s not that far out of my comfort zone. I guess that also means that this is not a typical Assam. I’m sure this is a quality tea – JW has great teas, but it’s just not to my tastes/preferences.

Thanks Sil for the opportunity to try it. :))