Liquid Proust Teas

My first thought on the first sip was “WHOA, complicated.” There are a lot of layers to this tea. This is an introspective tea, something to spend a quiet afternoon on, thinking.

I like to call teas like this traveling teas—the teas whose different flavors light up the regions of the tongue as you swallow. The dark flavors are the ones that hit first, which are sweet potatoes and cocoa. Then the tea hits the middle of the tongue with brighter flavors, like sugary red fruits. I’m going to tell you now that I suck at identifying fruits in teas, so red is as close as you’re going to get. As the brew fades in the back of the mouth, there’s malt, a little bit of astringency, and a honey-like sweetness. I also got some vanilla caramel flavor.

Though I couldn’t find the nuts in the first brew, subsequent steeps yielded a sweet, creamy pecan flavor, while most of the chocolate and fruits fell away.

The tea itself is beautiful, with cocoa-colored curls of leaves and bright pink petals. It’s an interesting choice, as the bougainvillea-colored petals combined with the creamsicle aroma of the blend suggests a tropical experience is to come.

Once brewed, the liquid has a honey smell that comes out strongly in the flavor. The base tea is sweet and vibrant with honey and floral overtones. I’m not sure if the floral flavor comes from the flower petals or the base, but it’s light and not soapy at all (which is how I typically tend to perceive florals). The bergamot is fresh tasting and bright. It may be a little on the light side for some people, since I didn’t consider it too much. And believe me, I was looking out for it.

The bergamot does get too powerful as the tea cools, however. It’s like I squeezed a full lemon into the cup. So that part isn’t for me.

Otherwise, this tea is a major home run for me.

Finally getting around to trying this one. Such an aesthetically pleasing tea.

Smells strongly of pecan in the dry leaf. Steepings lead first to strong pecan notes, which is really nice. I’ve not had a pecan tea that brought pecans into the flavor without maple. I didn’t get any cocoa until the last 2 steeps of 6 but then it came out and replaced the pecan. An enjoyable transition. The pecan and cocoa melded nicely with the base. This was a nice, pleasant way to spend the evening.

Really well done.

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I had put a sample of this aside to try. By the time the box came my way a couple of months ago, I was very much unwell and not up to drinking much tea or doing anything really.

Really really like this one. Bright juicy fresh berry flavour supported by the slightest bit of sage to ground it more firmly. Beautiful base. Yes, yes, very enjoyable.

Thank you for sharing this with us, Liquid Proust.

I invited my friend Mitch over to enjoy the Rummy Pu with me. Mitch likes both puerh and liquor, so I was curious to see what he would think of a combination of the two. Upon opening the package, we immediately thought we opened a bottle of rum. The aroma of the dry leaf was strong! It hit us like opening a bottle of rum. I decided to brew 5 grams in my 100ml gaiwan with boiling water. I gave the tea a quick rinse, and normally I would discard the rinse of any puerh, but I was curious to try it. The rinse tasted like straight rum! The puerh hadn’t become apparent yet, I actually got a bit of that alcohol burn! The next few infusions I brewed for about 15 seconds to let the puerh get a bit stronger. The tea definitely had a rum kick to it, but the puerh gave it a nice chocolatey note to it. The best description I can come up with is that the tea tasted like chocolate rum balls. A nice strong rum taste but with a heavy chocolate note to it. What I kept remarking on during the session was what high quality the base puerh tea was. It was a golden needle loose shou puerh that had excellent flavor. I would drink the tea alone even without the barrel. Liquid Proust does not use lower quality bases and hide its flaws with flavor, everything about this base tea was excellent.

Full Review on Tching.com http://www.tching.com/2016/08/review-liquid-proust-teas-rummy-pu/

I was hesitant about trying this sample because the thought of coffee and tea together made me recoil. Today I felt a little adventurous and decided to try it out.

The dry aroma is of caramel and hazelnut coffee. When wet, it smells like ground coffee beans. I was expecting the coffee flavor to dominate, but to my surprise this tasted like a nice roasty da hong pao. The coffee flavor is there but not up front and center. You taste the warm toasty jin xuan first and then a little char from the coffee that complements it nicely. Shared it with my better half who thought it was weird at first, but liked it the more she sipped.

Really grateful to have tried this tea as it’s an unusual combination that I would never have picked out for myself. After having this and Watermelon Baozhong, I’m legitimately impressed by Andrew’s mad skills at tea blending. Looking forward to future LP creations.

I liked this, thought the coffee would be a darker stronger flavour but luckily it wasnt.

was super groggy this morning and after a couple o cups of this im a bit perkier.

it just adds a nutty taste & aroma to the jin xuan making it a bit more like a light-medium roast. Nice. It was a nice jin xuan too, fruity & leafy. I thought I might not like this one but I did, the coffee added a sort of dryness to the brew. I also get grass as well which is odd for jin xuan. slight cream but nothing too strong, just was there in the background, and it appeared as the leaf unfolds, couldnt notice very much milk – perhaps it got hidden from the roast – maybe try giving it a milk steam next time like some other makers do when they make flavoured milk oolong? you might be able to get away with heavier coffee if you do that? IDK, just throwing thoughts out there.

Interesting stuff, well made, everything worked & nothing jumped out and scared me. You’re such a nice bloke as well Andrew – keep it up, LP teas will keep going from strength to strength the more you do this, Steepsters #1 Ambassador.

Made me smile this morning :)

This tea is definitely interesting! On opening the package, I was hit by the strong scent of rum. I’ve never had tea that tastes like alcohol so I was super excited to try it!

I used 3g in about 8oz of boiling water for 1min. The brew smelled like rum and something kind of… mushroomy? earthy? muddy? which is probably the puerh coming through. I couldn’t taste much rum in the beginning, but the rum flavor started coming through as the tea cooled. There was also a hint of sweetness that complemented the alcohol flavor very well.

This tea is very unique, but probably wasted on me since I still haven’t learned to like alcohol yet! I might brew some of this for my more alcohol-loving friends to try.

Still enjoying this one. It’s become my afternoon pick-me-up! I love the cocoa and chocolate flavours, and I’ve discovered that the oolong stays pretty much in the background even with a longer steep time. “Delicious” is all there is to say, really!

Opened this one today. On first sip, it actually reminds me quite of lot of French Toast Dianhong, in as much as the creamy vanilla flavour is very similar, and the black tea base is quite light and definitely chocolatey. I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in boiling water. I wasn’t sure whether to go with boiling at first because of the oolong, but I figured it was worth a try – I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?

I almost get vanilla chocolate brownie from this one, except the flavour isn’t quite as full or rich as that would suggest. All the elements are there, though, and I might try a longer brew time for my next cup to see how that impacts things.

The oolong is a lot less prominent than I thought it might be. Mostly, I can taste the Fujian black and the vanilla, with only a little woodiness/mineral from the oolong. Also, something that’s putting me in mind of coconut. It works, though, somehow! A delicious start to the morning, and the work week.

I have to admit that I was afraid to try this tea after a mini session with LP. Putting 5 or so needles in a cup full of water yielded a pretty strong rum taste. What on earth was a full session going to taste like??

The dry leaves smell very strongly of rum, but there’s also a fungal, earthy sort of aroma beneath it. That aroma comes through in the scent of the brew and the flavor of the liquid.

Rum, of course, is the strongest flavor. This is particularly great for me because I like some aspects of certain alcohols, but hate that burn that comes with it. This tea allowed me to experience some of that great rummy flavor without the burn. This rum flavor lasted through several steeps.

The base is also nice. As with the dry leaves, the brew is a little fungal, but it is also sweet and woody. It’s rather clean and refreshing for a shou. Later steeps reveal the brew to be more like a dark brown bread, which pairs well with the subdued rum flavor.

This was my favorite of the LP blends so far. Great job!!

I couldnt find an entry for this one? if there is one i’ll merge..

I totally love this tea – out of a blind test of 8 teas this one topped my scoreboard & here is the review:

’Liked this one the mostest. smaller tighter balls than others. Had nice fruit & floral aroma. Some veg. Taste had a nice fruit (cherry & pineapple?) & floral on the tip of the tongue and up the nose while swirling around in my mouth. A bit dan cong in the oil of the leaf, with boldness in this flavour which worked with the fruit. didnt have so much a milk aroma though, unsure if Jin xuan?

Liked this one, defo would buy’

Its a really fruity yummy great tasting green Oolong which I very selfishly waited to purchase some before reviewing just in case it all disappears, and is my current ‘wait for autumn golden lily harvest’ tea.

Great stuff.

This tea is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also delicious! The tea is very smooth, rich, and slightly sweet and creamy. It tastes a lot like honey. Mmmm. Reminds me of sitting by the fireplace with a nice hot drink. It’s a very comforting tea, but still has that oomph to wake you up in the morning. The 2nd steeping is sweeter and less bold, but continues to have that smoothness that I really enjoy about this tea.

This tea smells like the strawberry Kellogg’s protein bar! It tastes exactly how it smells – there’s a warm toastiness from the genmaicha and a tartness from the berries. I’m not the biggest fan of tart tasting teas, so next time, I might add some sugar or try cold brewing it.

This tea is so good! I wish that I had bought more than just a sample of this. I was hesitant to try this because tea+coffee beans? So weird! However, Liquid Proust makes this combination work into a beautiful tasting smooth brew.

I followed Liquid Proust’s brewing instructions for this, which resulted in a light amber liquid that smelled faintly of coffee beans. It tastes warm and toasty. I found myself craving another cup after it was all gone.

EDIT: So my boyfriend tried a sip. His reaction? “Ugh, this tastes like pretzels!”

I got a sample of this to try out and I have to say that this is a really interesting tea! I brewed this in boiling water for 3min. The resulting tea was very dark, quite strong, and tasted really earthy, kind of like drinking dirt… but in a good way(?). I wasn’t really a fan of it in the beginning, but as it cooled down, the vanilla note emerged. Subsequent steepings yielded a nice creamy vanilla taste, just like drinking vanilla ice cream! And as I was waiting for the tea to cool down, I kept on getting whiffs of a scent reminiscent of dark chocolate chip cookies. I think this is the perfect dessert tea!

Liquid Proust describes the taste profile as “vanilla, fudge, woodsy earth” which I think is spot on. I will have to get more of this tea in the future!

My first tasting note! And also my first cold brewed tea. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’d never had baozhong or watermelon flavored tea before. I cold brewed it overnight (7 hours?). The liquid was a pretty light greenish-yellow color and the tea and dehydrated watermelon really expanded! It smelled like watermelon jolly ranchers, which, while nostalgic, was a little strong for me. However, it tastes very fresh and cucumber-y, with a hint of watermelon. It’s a very summery drink! On the second steeping, the watermelon really comes out. It tastes exactly like the meat of the watermelon that’s near the rind – not too sweet, super fresh, and yummy!

This is the best tea I have ever tasted. I just love the dark chocolate bitter sweet and smoothness.

I originally bought an ounce of it, and went through that super fast. I bought a couple this time, and I’ll try to make them last.

I skipped drinking the Mate Nectar for this. I’ll get to that tomorrow!:)

Well done with this one, Andrew! Well done. :)

This is a tasty tea. Lots of cocoa flavor coming out. It reminds me of hot cocoa I used to drink growing up. It’s definitely a sweeter tea.

I spent lots of time exploring different teas during my second year of drinking loose leaf tea. I still have lots of teas to try, but I’ve found that black teas are by far my favorite.

I’m just about out of black tea, so I’ve looked at reviews on Yunnan Sourcing’s teas and have picked out a few. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d appreciate hearing them!

Back to this tea, it also has a nice nutty taste, but does not have the burnt toasty notes of other genmaichas I have tried. Overall, this tea is very good and is the fastest tea I’ve gone through yet.

I’ve spent approximately 8 hours hunting down Pokemon thanks to the official release of Pokemon Go in the UK today. I’m pretty thrilled with my Meowth which I found lurking in my house…with 4 cats here already it makes sense another would find it’s way here. I will have to put more effort in tomorrow, today I have been too tired to walk around much.

I have had this tea before but didn’t get around to reviewing it. Frankly everything about this tea is amazing. It’s a good quality Baozhong with butter, cucumber and sweet floral notes before a juicy watermelon after taste that lingers freshly in the mouth. There is nothing about those flavours that is not to like, at least to me. Cucumber and watermelon are two of my favourite foods ever and having them in such a pure and delicious tea form makes it amazing. Not to mention the Baozhong base can be re-steeped successfully a lot of times so it’s a case of having as much watermelon deliciousness as you can handle.

Yay I just caught another Pokemon while writing this review. It’s a good night!

Sipdown :(

I got a turtle chocolate vibe from this. (here in western Canada we have a chocolate shop called Purdy’s that has the world’s best version of a turtle with high quality milk or dark chocolate, salted pecans, and amazing caramel. This is what I think of when I consider chocolate/caramel/pecans, but I suppose Turtles are a well-recognised brand in the US)

-dark chocolate and cocoa
-very nutty pecan flavour
-the second and third steep had more sweetness to them
-a complex base made from a bunch of teas that go very well together

The dry leaves smell like caramelized peacan, fine black tea, and creamy toffee. What really draws me to it is the beautiful look of this blend. There are several colours of carefully curled leaves, some dark green, some moss green, some amber. The carmalized nuts looks tasty.

I had forgotten what type of teas were used (I was thinking oolong or green) but when I smelled the brew there was a definite black tea smell. The tannins come out strong.

I’m really happy I’ve had a chance to taste this because it is a step up from many black teas I’ve had. I accidentally brewed mine for 3 minutes (I intended to check on it at the 1.5 and 2 minute marks) but my cat got out and I had to chase him down outside. I’ll make this again and edit my tasting note because I think it would be best around 2 minutes and/or slightly cooler water.

FIRST STEEP: The brew tastes of strong black tea: malty, rich, and heavy on the tannins. There is a bit of cream and milk flavours coming through (I didn’t add milk or sweetener.) I can taste very subtle nuts but not as much as I would have liked. I’m getting a bit of almond and pecan. No caramel yet.

SECOND STEEP: (followed brewing instructions this time) Definitely more nutty and less tannic than before. I would now describe it as very slightly sweet as pecans usually are but there is also a bit of walnut and marzipan. The black tea base is less bold now, but it is much smoother.