Metropolitan Tea Company

Last time I tried this it was loose-leaf, brewed strong in a tearoom… Since my friend went to study in Calgary and brought me back a tin of this, however, I’ve been trying it from teabags.

My gf usually has this with milk and the idea is just /strange/ to me considering the white wine taste, but… I think she might have the right idea because black, it’s a little difficult to get to just the right strength and flavour! That’s for next time.

It tastes like white wine. ___ A winner.

3tps for 3 cups water. The leaves were red small with bits of vanilla. You could really smell the vanilla.

The liquid is light amber and you can smell the vanilla. I’ve never tried a rooibos and this is very light flavor. I don’t really know what to write. I like it but I think I should have added another tsp of leaves. I think it might be better a little stronger. I keep thinking I want to sweeten it but it doesn’t need to be sweetened.

4tsp for 3 cups water. The leaves were dark, twisted and long. When I smelled them my first thought was laying on a blanket in a park in the spring time. That’s what I smelled, fresh grass with light notes of flowers.

The liquor is light amber. I don’t get the same scent with the liquor as I did with the leaves which is a shame. There is a light scent, somewhat earthy. The flavor is light and mild. There is a little bit of a lasting flavor which I think is typical of black teas.

This tea is good. Now I will try it sweetened. The finish is smoother for me when I sweetened the tea. I like this tea.

4tsp for 3 cup water. Leaves are small bits. You can smell the cloves and a little cinnamon. The liquor is dark amber and you can smell the cloves. I definitely need milk or sugar in this. The flavor is good but very strong.

Much better with milk and sugar. The clove and typical chai flavor is still there but it is lighter and doesn’t leave a funky taste in the mouth.

4tps for 3 cups of water. Leaves were short and dark with a pleasant scent. The liquor is golden amber. I don’t know what flavors I am tasting but it tastes like it smells and I like it. No lingering flavor. It was nice and mild.

4gram per 8oz of water. Leaves are fairly short, I’m thinking because they are a sample and it might have been broken from lots of handleing. Nice fragrant but cant’ really smell the jasmine.

The liquor is a light golden color with a strong green tea scent. I was tasting this tea and reviewing it along with the Jasmine Green from ‘T’ Shoppe. There was an earthy flavor but not strong. I think I will need to add more tea next time.

The used leaves were a dark green which opened up nicely. There were also some stems.

Overall this tea was more pleasing overall to the eye than the Jasmine Green from ‘T’ Shoppe. The flavor was about the same.

There was a nice roasted brown rice scent. When looking at the leaves you could see the brown rice as well as little bits of popped popcorn. I used 4 tsps for 3 cups of water. Next time I will add one more tsp of tea.

When brewed the liquid was light yellow and there was a light brown rice scent. I taste the brown rice and little bit of the popcorn. When taking a drink there is a light after taste with kind of an astringent lingering flavor.

Overall I like this tea. When I go to a sushi bar I always have the tea and this tea just brings me there.

4tsps for 3 cups of water. The leaves were long and rolled with little flower petals. They smelled very good. You could faintly smell the grenadine and vanilla.

The liquor is coppery in color. You can smell the cherries a little more when brewed. There is a lingering flavor that I just can’t point out. I think this might be a characteristic of black teas but I’m so new to reviewing teas that I might be wrong. I feel like I have something still in my mouth, like there wasn’t a clean finish. I do like this tea and will drink it again but I will be adding something to sweeten it up.

There was a nice roasted brown rice scent. When looking at the leaves you could see the brown rice as well as little bits of popped popcorn. I used 4 tsps for 3 cups of water. Next time I will add one more tsp of tea.

When brewed the liquid was light yellow and there was a light brown rice scent. I taste the brown rice and little bit of the popcorn. When taking a drink there is a light after taste with kind of an astringent lingering flavor.

Overall I like this tea. When I go to a sushi bar I always have the tea and this tea just brings me there.

I wasn’t especially impressed with this tea; it wasn’t bad, wasn’t great. It was certainly fresh enough, had been stored well, etc. and the flavor was clean and not astringent or foul, but for the price—about $3.50 an ounce—there are dozens of whites I’ve preferred at half the cost. I like teas that are memorable, that leave an impression, that I’ll specifically crave later, and this was none of those. I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but among the snow dragons I’ve had… Adagio’s was preferable, and I usually find Adagio’s offerings mediocre at best. I will say this much: Metropolitan does a very good job with their packaging and the marketing built-in to their descriptions… the problem is when the descriptions aren’t very accurate to the tea. Maybe there’s a subliminal element where if they say it’s floral, you’ll find something floral and if they say it’s jammy you’ll find something jammy. In that respect, I tend to just look at the ingredients and the source and read descriptions AFTER I’ve consumed. I honestly wouldn’t have believed the tea I drank was the tea described if I hadn’t grown up seeing how silly the more common brands like Celestial Seasonings, Harney and Sons, Stash, and later Tazo are in romanticizing their leaves :)

Thanks to ColumbiaKate for the sample! I think I found the right tea… if not, lemme know and I’ll move things around.

I’m not normally a big earl grey fan. The term “watery fruit loops” is often a description I use. But I love lavender tea so I thought I’d take a risk on this.

When I sip, I only taste a subtle hint of lavender and plenty of bergamot (normally I am not a fan) and citrus. But somehow the medley works. This reminds me of the Lady Earl Grey from Twinings. It’s light on the Earl Grey (good riddance!) but still tastes bright and citrusy. The lavender complements the citrus just fine.

I may actually gasp purchase this one. It’s bold and strong, but the EG isn’t all in your face. Great for this morning – Monday morning, getting back into the work mode…

Enjoying a cup of this today. I brewed my first cup a bit too strong (using 2 bags instead of just one), and it didn’t work out too well, then I brewed it again with just one bag and it was much more palatable. The cranberry is tart with a nice level of sweetness, and the tart tingles on the tongue in the aftertaste. It’s a really good representation of the cranberry flavor.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

It’s a nicely flavored cranberry tea. Nice cranberry taste, sweet and tart. There is a bitter background note to the tea, perhaps I infused it too long for a bagged tea? I don’t know. I will have to play around with brew time and see if I have a better experience next time. Still a nice tasting tea though.

I received a bag of this in a valentine’s exchange (not the SweeTea exchange on Steepster). I thought for sure I had reviewed this previously, but I guess not.

A good Monk’s Blend. It’s better as a loose leaf than as a teabag, but, that’s true of all teas. Light vanilla taste with a hint of grenadine, and good, solid Ceylon flavor in there too.

I made a super weak brew of this tea last night because I wanted to get a taste for it before I made a stronger version of it. I really, really liked it. A great note of grapes and sweetness that really tasted delicious in the cold of night! I can’t wait to try a strong version of this.

First brew: completely got distracted by impending storm and let it overbrew. Super bitter. Sad.

Second brew: so, so much better. Tiniest floral taste, and a touch sweet. I think next time a bit of sugar will make this tea absolutely delish!

Spices and Tea just illustrate, to me, how well our favored drink takes to blending. It virtually says, “Bring it on”! Pile on a variety of traditional chai spices and throw in rose petals too. The tea can take it.

I love rose in tea. It harkens back to the first time I tasted Turkish Delight and realized the delicate flavor of flowers can be so ‘delightful’.

This Metro Tea lived up to my expectations. I brewed for less than the suggested 7 mins, but I did add the ‘chai obligatory milk and sugar’.
It is truly Yum. Fragrant and flavorful!

On my last order from Metropolitan, I splurged and bought some of this. It is a bit more expensive, but on tasting is quite worth it. Also it is supposed to bring good luck, so I thought it a good way to start 2011.

Here is some further description from the companies’ site.
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It all begins with a tea producer named Mr. Huyincai. Mr. Huyincai worked in the district of Panyong in Fuan City, Fujian Province. In 1851 while making a routine inspection of his tea plants, Mr. Huyincai noticed a small section that seemed to be producing leaf of exceptional quality. Mr. Huyincai regarded this exceptional crop as a gift from mothernature and decided that it should be processed in a new and unique way. He plucked the leaf and decided to allow it to ferment before firing it, a process that turned the leaf black. While this technique of its own is not unique, Mr. Huyincai also developed a complicated production procedure that resulted in a tea so special he decided to name it 9 Bend Black Dragon.

Unfortunately, we can’t tell you much about his complicated production procedure since the details of it are judiciously guarded by a handful of people in Fuan City to this day. What we can tell you is that the name is both derived from the lucky 9 Bend River that flowed through his birth-place of Wuyishan (9 is a lucky number in China), and the symbol of the black Dragon, long considered lucky in China. We can also safely say that the luck rubbed off. Within a short time his tea had won just about every award there was to be won throughout China and Europe. As its popularity grew, the tea came to be regarded as a precious gift amongst the nobility and ruling classes of both places. Letters began to pour in from people who had drunk the tea and been rewarded with bouts of good luck – a Prime Minister re-elected here, a nobleman awarded a new fifedom there, etc. Needless to say, Mr. Huyincai became very wealthy. In fact he was considered for a time to be one of the wealthiest men in Fujian. Thankfully, besides good luck, Mr. Huyincai was also blessed with brains and so reinvested his newfound wealth back into his factory and started the operation that produces his tea to this day.

As in the days of Mr. Huyincai, 9 Bend Black Dragon – which goes by the production name of Panyong Needle – is only produced in the district of Panyong in Fuan City. Production totals these days are around 50 tons annually and the tea is still regarded by traders as one of Fujian’s finest exports. Professional tasters praise this tea for its exceptionally fresh, sweetish infusion, pure, thick nose, and bright golden cup. Brew a pot for yourself or your customers today, say a prayer for old Mr. Huyincai, and keep your fingers crossed. Cheers!

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The loose tea is beautiful. Long, twisted and glossy. It is a pleasure to look at.

I infused this for less than my usual 5 mins as I anticipate a couple re-infusions. I can tell you that the 2nd and 3rd are excellent as well. The flavors hold up nicely, and I can taste the oaky flavor with a light astringency. This tea is everything it is touted to be. In my estimation.

I have noticed that many of the Metropolitan tasting notes here on Steepster are of their bagged tea. I will hope to bring many more tastings of the whole leaf tea that I carry in my shop to the notes on this site. I have not had many disappointments. Their tea continues to be the bulk of my re-orders and backs up the popularity with great sales.
I only sell the loose leaf and prefer loose/whole leaf in my own tea drinking.

For TeaEqualsBliss Challenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3rxNCzzJpY

So I am impressed with this tea. It takes an interesting spin on flavored black teas. The unique tangy notes is quite similar to ice wine. Good times.

Received a few teabags of this from a swap with French Vanilla. I love the aroma the dry leaf produces (dry bag of leaves produces). It is grape-y, sweet and full of black tea scent.

This tastes like a lighter less astringent black tea sweetened with sweet red grapes and cheap sweet wine. I suppose it doesn’t have to be cheap wine, but it reminds me of the boones farm wine and tea. I wonder if this would make a good tea cocktail if one would use a tea concentrate with vodka or rum. Hmmm…I think I best stick to a satisfying tea. I’m glad I have the opportunity to try this tea.

I’ve always enjoyed Naturally Flavored Fruit teas. My first exposure was an Apricot Tea. Hence, I’ve measured following tastings by my enjoyment of that for some reason.

Metro’s Loose Leaf Blueberry tea is an excellent flavored tea. The unsteeped aroma is inviting. I favor judging expectations by inhaling the blend in advance of infusion.

This infusion was short of my typical 5 minutes. The tea brews nice, full and strong, so I don’t recommend oversteeping. The blueberry flavor is distinct and you get the back of the mouth flavor as well.
If you like milk and sugar, that will enhance the blueberry.
Very enjoyable.

This is Metro’s loose leaf blend, not the bagged which has it’s own tasting notes.
You can also get an organic blueberry from Metro.
My preference will always be loose leaf.