Taiwan Tea Crafts

Ohhh, all I can say is this is a nice, nice tea—so nice I’m too busy enjoying it to think. My gosh. I like how the brassy elements one might wish to have smoothed out in a typical Indian Assam are indeed gentled or just plain not there thanks to the (what’s often for me too subtle, mind) Taiwanese style, which in turn gets amplified when given the backbone of a substantial general tea type like Assam. Wow I didn’t write that well. Hrm. The second steep yields more chocolate, delicious.

I’ve been impressed with Taiwan Tea Crafts (and grateful as always to Steepster—ain’t no way I’d have learned of them otherwise)—I love that they offer fancier teas in reasonably small amounts that make them a possibility for me, and that they have promotions and fair shipping policies if you want to try before you commit. And even when one of their teas proves generally not something I’d reach for often given my own proclivities, I have yet to encounter any where the care and quality (indeed, the craft) in producing the leaves wasn’t readily apparent from dry leaf aroma to finished cup and unfurled leaves. And some have knocked me completely off my socks (that one Red Jade!) with qualities I’ve never tasted together in a single tea before. We’re so lucky to live in this age when incredible tea is being crafted so many places AND thanks to modern transport and the internet etc. someone in a place as un-hot-tea-focused as the US has ready access to some of said tea. AND can learn and trade notes with fellow fans to boot. Awesome.

Speaking of, the dry leaf aroma on this one is a splurge. It’s rich and grapey, deep without being cloying like so many sweet grape-smelling teas. And the appearance of the wet leaves! Big and gorgeous, with these ripples of brilliant brighter red streaks here and there. I am surprised sometimes how often big, beautiful leaves can sway me. Admiring them makes tea even more of a pleasure.

Review for lot 267.

Large beautiful twisty leaves which brew up a fragrant cup of tea.

Smooth, gentle and fruity. A bit like bread with jam. Very tasty!

It’s Day 8 of little terri’s Ultimate Sipdown Extravaganza!!
I made it through 42 sipdowns in the first week, which I’m feeling pretty good about, since most of them are multiple steep teas.
I’d like to thank Charlotte Zero for sharing a generous sample of this tea, which is similar to lots #147 & 154 (I think those were the other lot #s I tried).
My tastebuds aren’t quite with it, most likely due to allergies, but it’s a very fruity & enjoyable cup!
358 to go!

How did the day go by so fast?
Earlier I reported that I attempted a comparison between this lot & Lot 154.
That was hours ago, & although I can report that the dry leaf aroma of this one was even ‘jammier’ than the dry leaf of #154, in the cup they were very similar. Jam & chocolate! Admittedly, I was busy with taxes, & then busy with students, so I wasn’t as attentive as I could have been. I have enough of this one to enjoy 1 more time, thanks to the generosity of CharlotteZero! Thanks!

Thanks to TastyBrew, who included this TastyTea in the last round of the BBBBox.
I drank this last bit as short gongfu steepings, 15/30/45/60 sec, 2/3/4/5 min.
I didn’t take detailed notes, but it was yummy with essence of honey, malt, wheat bread, & a slight spicy & floral quality to it. Sipdown!
379

Taiwan Tea Crafts has some lovely & interesting teas, & this is another one of them.
If you’re looking for a knock your sox off bold tea, this is NOT it. But if you want something subtle & soothing, but still within the black tea genre, this might be the tea for you :)
There is a creamy quality, a honey & cream of wheat thing, a little pumpkin.
It kind of reminds me of Butiki’s wild mountain black, kind of.
Thanks to TastyBrew for including this in our latest BBBB!

I’m finding that the “easiest” way to get a sipdown in at work this week is to use the samples of TTC teas that cavocorax gave me haha. Then i can get a second one in at night during the week when i have a herbal :) This one i’ve had before but it was still enjoyable. that being said, i see no need to go with the upgrade version, as i like the non upgraded version better :) thanks for letting me revisit this one Cavo!

terri sent this one my way (she received it from charlotte zero) and i’m glad she did. I haven’t had this lot before. :) This of course reinforces my opinion that 25g samples of all the different lots can for sure be sustainable from TTC once i finish up my current larger sizes. It’s actually a better route to go for me, unless i’m sharing a larger size with someone. Not because i don’t love the teas, but because i want to be able to try all the lots in case one really blows my mind. There’s no fear of picking up something i won’t like either because thus far all the TTC teas that i’ve tried that are in the black range have been enjoyable for me :) thanks for sharing terri!

So far, all the Taiwanese teas I have tried seem to have that distinctive spice note both in taste and aroma. I’m not really sure what it is, but it is very unique, aromatic and flavourful.

This is fragrant, fruity and spicy, but also smooth and creamy with notes of honey, and somehow savory as well. Seems bolder and more full bodied in a way, than the TTC golden dragon tippy black tea I had earlier, but both are similar to me. Delicious!

Warm cinnamon raisin bread. That is exactly what this cup tasted like – so delicious!
There is a rich sweetness of cinnamon and spices, combined with the fruitiness of raisins, and fresh bread. Lovely and fragrant!

Large curled leaves with a slight golden hue.
Brewed aroma is fruity like apricots and raisins, and has a spice note I first encountered in butiki’s taiwanese wild mountain black, also which carries over into taste.
Very flavorful of spice, fruits and honey. It is very much reminiscent of pumpkin pie, as TastyBrew noted in her review, and so delicious and smooth, especially with added cream. Yum!

mmmmm i do like TTC’s teas. This is not one of my favourites, but it is a pleasant, taiwanese cup of tea. Likely won’t reorder this variation from TTC but only because there are others that i love from them, so why settle for a mostly yummy tea when i can have amazing yummy tea? :)

..weird. I know i’ve had this before but i can’t seem to find a tasting note for it. Oh well..this was another tea from this morning since i need to stay moving on to some of my other teas. this is similar to other TTC taiwanese blacks but different in that it’s less juicy and honey sweet and closer to being malty, without actually being malty. if that makes sense. either way, a good cup for today!

I was rummaging through my sample box the other day and found this tea. Had a brief conversation with myself…
Where did this come from?
Obviously Sil sent it to you.
I drank all the samples Sil sent…
The fact that it’s still here means that you didn’t.

Another perfect example of why having 23408234098 teas in your cupboard is too many.
Anyway…. I’m drinking this today at work.
It’s awesome. Of the teas I’ve tried from Taiwan Tea Craft this is my favorite. it’s not really like a “true” dark oolong, it’s not really like other aged oolongs I’ve had. It’s really fruity (stone fruit – peach? apricot?). not floral at all, not roasted/smokey at all. Not sure what it is, but awesome is how I feel.
Thanks so much Sil (and Terri ?) for passing this on to me.

I got this tea awhile back with my Taiwan Tea Crafts order. I had a huge hurting for a roasty oolong. Though, a surprise with this tea – the oolong leaves are pitch black with an intense roasty charcoal smell that steeps up light, clean, mineral, honey sweet and really smooth roasty flavor.
I was expecting a heavier flavor and texture. I’m on my 5th steeping in my yixing pot and the flavor is pretty consistent.
Overall, a pretty interesting oolong, and this one is on the cheaper side on the website, so easy to sneak into your cart.

I spent most of the day drinking Teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts. In particular, I wanted to drink this & the aged 2005 songboling, lot 135, back to back, to see what becomes of a tea such as this one when allowed to age.

Of course, I have no idea what to say about it. I enjoyed them both, LOL.
This one is a lovely cup, roasty, creamy, & sweet. There’s a real incense quality to the aroma, & also a fruitiness, maybe apricot?

1 tbsp

Smooth hint of savoury milky sweetness. Definite strong floral note. Slight oceanic (salt) tone. Fresh grass.

Thanks to Sil for sharing!