Tea Ave

“Previous experience with many tie kwan yin (or ti kwan yin or ti guan yin or several other spellings) had attuned me to a typical green, buttery, creamy, smooth nose with these oolongs, but this one is different. I note that the tea smells darker, stronger, and more intense.
…in the flavor, I taste what had surprised me in the dry leaf aroma – those deep, rich notes. Originally, they had reminded me a bit of a roasted oolong, but I realize at first taste that this is not the same. Natural and flavorful, even not quite yet full, the mouth-coating flavors embody a dark, green sweetness. The very faintest hint of bitterness sits on the tongue in the aftertaste, truly not strong enough to distract from body (and perhaps even contributing a bit).”
Full review here: http://www.createwritedrink.com/2015/03/tea-review-tuesday-review-of-tea-aves.html

For the delicious…we have this. The last of my sample, sadly.

After having started the day, late (unfortunately unavoidable), with a triple lungo on the way to work, followed by three hours of documentation, code, and translating developer-speak into laymans terms for customers…tea was needed, desperately.

In all fairness to this tea, I did not treat it right. It got a rinse, but then it was brewed in a twelve ounce mug, when it was deserving of a gaiwan. Still delicious, all the same. The jasmine is really soothing, calming one’s busy mind.

“The oolong scents are subdued, but the leaves are only just beginning to open. The first sip awaits… The jasmine bursts across the tongue, naturally sweet, yet not cloying, strong but not overwhelming. The tea has a surprisingly-thick mouthfeel. The taste of oolong is very subdued, much like the aroma had been, but I think the next steeping will open it more.”
Full review here: http://www.createwritedrink.com/2015/03/tea-review-tuesday-review-of-tea-aves_17.html

I am still marveling over the beautiful and generous gift sent to me by Tea Ave. I have used the aroma cup several times now and can say that it is a wonderful way to gain a deeper appreciation of the olfactory qualities of tea!

This Tie Kwan Yin oolong is super tasty, and brews up lighter and greener than I was expecting, given the rather dark color of the dried leaves. Most of this variety of tea seems to be more green and less brown—or perhaps that’s just been my luck of the draw? In any case, this one was delicious through three separate and full infusions—very aromatic and silken in texture. I’ll probably order this tea once back in the United States since they do not ship to New Zealand. For now I am happy to be able to enjoy these samples.

Thank you Helen and Tea Ave!

Yay for sunday gong fu with Dinosara!
First steep: Light, flavored like the green part of roses.
Second steep: Rose smell was lovely, flavor not very strong, but base is still slightly sweet. It’s almost like the base and flavoring are fighting, and neither is winning. Rose flavor is like a vague rose oil, like the smell of silk roses in Joann’s!
Third steep: Base turning vegetal. Rose is fading some. Greener overall.
Fourth steep: Smells much rosier, a little bit of buttered bread too in the scent. Lost a lot of the high notes, mostly sugar snap pea aftertaste.
Fifth steep: Hot water with bean aftertaste, much rose in the nose still.
I’m going to bump this one down some, I definitely appreciate the Magnolia much more.

Finally trying this tea because it’s Monday and I deserve it.
First steep, 205F/1 minute: YUM! This is the most true rose flavor that I have had the chance to try. The sweetness of the oolong makes this taste like candied rose petals without the bitterness! Soo tasty! On the beginning of the sip, I’m still getting that bit of custard/papaya that I got from the Magnolia Oolong, perhaps it is the butteriness of the oolong blending with the flowers from both that is creating that flavor. Still excellent.
Second steep, 205F/1:30: A little greener taste, like the smell of rose stems, has creeped in. This tea is still so sweet and flavorful that I feel like I put too much sweetener in, but I haven’t sweetened it at all! The rose + sweet really lingers on your tongue. Minerality is creeping in as it cools.
Third steep, 205F/2 minutes; the rose scent has taken on a slight bitter quality, like rose oil. The base is coming through much more in this steep, and I can taste the sweet vegetal minerality of the fully unfurled oolong, a French green bean/ broccoli stem type of flavor. Still delicious.
I got one more steep out of this at 2:30, the vegetal notes upped in power, but it was till sweet and smelled of roses. Cold steeping this tonight.

Finally completely over my head cold and able to try my final TeaAve sample this weekend!

All of these teas were wonderful. The Magnolia was the most subtle of the floral scented ones I received. The creamy, smooth oolong really shines through!

I really want to order more of the jasmine oolong. It is probably my favorite jasmine tea I’ve ever tried. I’d really like to try the ginger lily next time too. Thanks again TeaAve for these wonderful samples! Definitely recommended!!!

I finally had a chance to sit down for a gong fu session with one of my Tea Ave samples, and what better opportunity to try out this aroma cup set that Tea Ave so generously provided as part of their free sample sets.

Everything about this is beautiful and stylish.

The aroma cup and tea cup are made from a medium thickness porcelain that is glazed with a smooth, creamy white glaze. Very minimalist and beautiful. The aroma cup does a wonderful job of amplifying and funnelling the fragrance of the tea, and the tea cup is a lovely size for sipping (about 2oz).

The set comes with a lovely oval tray made from oak. The tray is made from a single piece of wood, has a small lip around it and the Tea Ave logo embossed on the underside. It perfectly holds the aroma and tea cups.

The set also came beautifully packaged, in a box that’s worth keeping for storage. The cups are safely nestled in foam, and the tray sits below the cups. The box is cardboard wrapped in texture white paper or fabric, with the Tea Ave logo embossed in gold on the top. It has a magnet closure.

Everything about this set, from the presentation, to the quality and function, is wonderful. The cups are also durable, as I discovered when I knocked my aroma cup off the coffee table and onto my hardwood floor with no damage.

Tea Ave has out done themselves, and this set will be a regular part of my gong fu tea ritual.

I decided to have something special. Tea Ave sent a sample of this tea with my last order. It came in an opaque blue bag with tons of detail on it – growth altitude, roast level, cultivar, oxidation level, instructions for four different brewing methods, and flavor notes. I love this level of detail! Unfortunately, I missed the part where it’s a teabag and not loose leaf, so I prepped my gaiwan, pitcher, etc. before opening the packet and realizing my mistake. Not a great start, but I am not so easily deterred. I switched to a mug and ended up getting… maybe 6? good steeps out of it. I lost count at a certain point. The teabag itself is interesting. It’s a pyramid sachet but not made out of the same plastic-like material as most mass-produced pyramid sachets. This is more like a cottony paper. The leaf inside is of course proper full leaf. There’s plenty of room for it to expand, and it does. The flavor is exactly what I wanted. Sweet floral honey paired with something else that I can’t quite articulate. It’s thick and rich and savory-sweet and distinctive Apparently I’ve reviewed this before, but it was two years ago so I forgot. Back then, I described this flavor as whole wheat toast (gong fu) and camellia blossom (Western style). That’s close to what I tasted this time, but not quite it. I would be more frustrated by my inability to name this flavor but the tea is too yummy and soothing to let it stress me out.

Tried this Western style for a change. 85c, first steep 1 minute, second steep ~ 2 minutes. I find the flavor is much stronger this way. It’s still honey up front, but a sweet sort of savoriness quickly follows. The brew is definitely heftier this way than gong fu style. It actually reminds me of camellia blossom tea. Not at all what I expected. Tasty, though. Thanks to KiwiDelight for sending this to me and Tea Ave for sending it to her!

Now here’s a company with some serious style. Their preview samples are quite lavish. I didn’t sign up for one, but KiwiDelight was generous enough to send me her second set. It includes three tea samples, a cup & tray set, and a tote bag. I am completely enamored of this cup & tray set. The aroma cup and sipping cup are clean white porcelain. The tray is sturdy and perfectly sized for the two cups (or just the sipping cup and my little glass gong fu teapot). The letter that came with the set identifies the tray as being made of oak. However, the website offers what looks like the same set for sale and says that the tray is made of bamboo. Strange. Either way, I like it.

I inaugurated this lovely set with the Oriental Beauty. This is the first time I’ve used an aroma cup and it really makes a notable difference. It amplifies the fragrance of the tea, but also seems to reveal scents that don’t come through just from smelling the brew directly. I may have accidentally spilled tea on my laptop while trying to use the aroma cup. My laptop may now be damaged and it may cost $174 minimum to repair… this is suddenly a very expensive hobby, folks. The keyboard was all messed up when I first turned the computer on after drying it, but now it seems to be working fine so I am torn about whether to send it in for repairs if there’s no obvious debilitating damage. TBD.

The tea itself is a solid Oriental Beauty. The flavor is all honey and whole wheat toast. It’s very nice, but doesn’t really change over the course of about ten steeps. I have enough of the sample left for another cup. I think I’ll try it Western-style next time.

Thanks to KiwiDelight for sending me this set and Tea Ave for sending it to her!

Many thanks to Tea Ave for providing me a free sample to review!

Brewed gongfu-style in a gaiwan. 10 second rinse. Steeping times: 10, 10, 15, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 120.

The dry leaf aroma smells roasted and seaweed-y. This roasty quality becomes more powerful once the leaf is rinsed, after which I also get cooked dark vegetables, such as char, kale, and spinach. Using the aroma cup, I’m able to smell the liquor aroma, which is unexpectedly different – fresh strawberries! A little apricot appears later on.

The liquor is pale gold, lovely appearance in a white cup. Full-bodied, very flavorful yet light. Creamy and soft texture. I feel of mid-summer, a sunny and breezy afternoon. Definitely a summer tea.

The first infusion of the session greets me with roasted vegetables and a pure sugar aftertaste. The second tastes of grilled yellow zucchini, which I find to be sweet cooked just right. The third is still vegetal, but this note is but mellower. The texture is at its creamiest, and there is a fruity aftertaste.

Infusions four through six are nearly pure fruit: strawberries, bananas, and peaches. The texture is no longer creamy, but is still soft as ever. Roasted vegetables return in seven through nine (probably because I drank them after an hour break and had to become accustomed to drinking this Dong Ding). A peachy sweetness lingers.

Another wonderful sample from Tea Ave, that I brewed up in my gaiwan as per the instructions on the packet. Longer brewing time, with less leaves than I usually use for this type of tea yielded a truly wonderful series of steeps!

An aroma of dried fruit, roasted barley and a touch of sweetness, was followed by the fantastic taste of the same. Second steep had an additional touch of roasted sweet potato flavor and deep, rich mellowness. Third and fourth steeps were only slightly less intense and continued to please.

Having a medium oxidation level, and medium roast really gives this Tie Kwan Yin a wonderful flavor/aroma to sit back and enjoy. A truly excellent tea!

Baozhong (AKA baochong, baochung or pouchong) is one of the staple Taiwanese oolongs. I must admit that I’m not generally a huge fan of this style of oolong. Baozhong is usually a little light and subtle for my palate. However, this sample from Tea Ave smelled so incredible that I couldn’t wait to dive in.

Baozhong (包種茶) translates to the “the wrapped kind.” This name comes from the production process, in which the leaves are wrapped in paper during drying. Baozhong style teas tend to be very floral and fragrant, with a mild taste. Some of the baozhongs I have tasted had a very notable fruity and grassy character as well.

Drinking baozhong oolong brings back a lot of good memories for me. Baozhong tea is almost exclusively grown in a small region called Pinglin, about an hour and a half outside of Taipei, Taiwan. I visited Pinglin in January, hoping that my trip to the world’s largest tea museum would be one of the major highlights of my adventures in Taiwan. Alas, my enthusiasm was crushed when I noticed that the tea museum was closed for reconstruction.

Luckily, I was joined by my travel buddy Ben, the eternal optimist and baozhong enthusiast. Ben made sure that we still had a fun time wandering around the tea fields and taking photos with the tea themed statues. Busloads of travelers from Mainland China and Korea dominated the landscape, just like everywhere else in Taiwan. We saw some old Chinese ladies picking tea off the bushes and putting them into hot water to make fresh tea. I wish I had thought of that!

We managed to taste a lot of lovely teas in Pinglin. Each shop offered several grades of baozhong to try. We sat down and had tea at a few different shops. This place also served some nice baozhong flavored mochi!

The little downtown of Pinglin is full of shops and restaurants serving tea related foods. We got some delicious food at a restaurant that only used oolong tea seed oil in the kitchen. The oolong oil gave all of the food an herbal, grassy kick. I really enjoyed it, but I can certainly imagine that some people might find the flavor overpowering.

If you follow the online tea nerd world (presumably you do, since you’re here), you’ve seen the much-acclaimed Tea Ave sampler. It really was the greatest sampler I’ve ever received. My package included samples of Ali Shan Jin Xuan, Li Shan, and the Wenshan Bouchung.

Tea Ave is a Taiwanese oolong specialty shop run by a brother and sister team in Vancouver (Best city ever! The real world utopia/Shangri-La). Their website and general design is perhaps the best of any company I’ve seen. You should definitely check out their website and drool over the beautiful packaging. Perhaps I am a bit biased, since I have an unnatural love for sky blue.

Teaware

I brewed this tea using a standard gaiwan. Nothing too exciting this week.

Dry Leaf
These leaves looked wonderful, just like the highest quality baozhong oolongs you can find in Taiwan. I was very impressed with the aroma. I could smell the leaves through the sealed bag! The aroma was incredibly floral and had a slight caramelized note, which is a bit unusual for a baozhong, but still very lovely! There was a mixture of dark grey-green leaves and light greenish-yellow leaves, with the characteristic long, twisted shape that all baozhong oolongs have. Between the amazing appearance and smell, I was super impressed by Tea Ave’s sample!

Brewed Tea

I brewed this tea using a gaiwan and 8 grams of leaves.
I started with a quick five second rinse just to open up the leaves and warm up my gaiwan. I tasted the rinse water, as I always do (don’t judge me). It was very floral and flavorful, even though it had only steeped for a few seconds.

The first steep came out a light golden-yellow color. The taste is very light and subtle, but definitely more complex than a run-of-the-mill baozhong oolong. This baozhong is a lot more “herby” tasting than most baozhongs I have tasted. The tea also has a very grassy character, which might lead some people to classify this as a green tea. The characteristic floral taste is certainly there as well.

The aftertaste is nice and vegetal, like raw spinach. I love teas that taste like spinach, so that is a good thing in my book.

This tea has a very smooth mouthfeel, and even has a touch of the creaminess that tea drinkers tend to associate with the high mountain Taiwanese oolongs.

By the six or seventh steep, the tea was starting to lose a bit of its strength. Oddly enough, the color did not change much.

I enjoyed my session with this tea. It was very thirst quenching, which was a nice change compared to all of the dehydrating puerh I’ve been drinking lately.

Finished Leaf

This tea was very durable. I got about 9 steeps out these leaves, which is pretty impressive for a baozhong. The dry tea unfurled into giant army green leaves with very dominant veins. The leaves had no holes or tears.

Conclusion

This tea is undoubtedly one of the best baozhong style oolongs I have ever had. In fact, I would probably say that it is the best baozhong I have tasted. With that said, this tea is certainly not cheap. At about $11 per ounce, this tea is a bit out of my usual price range. I would certainly consider buying some oolong from Tea Ave if they had a good sale going. If you are a fan of baozhong or other lighter oolongs, then you should definitely try this…and leave more Li Shan and Ali Shan for me!

Adding this here to make sure the review is seen by anyone interested. This is also listed under the heading Aroma Cup Set.

We have listed tea ware in the past and I think this deserves a review!

I had fondled a set like this at a store about two hours from my home, and thought about getting it. Then Teaave sent one for reviewers to use with their teas. Their price is almost identical to the one I looked at, and it appears to be the very same set.

Using the aroma cup makes such a difference in your tea tasting experience. A lot of people drink tea at my house, and they are often tea newbies who are wanting to learn more, to experience something new and special. This set really makes it a “Wow” experience. People love watching the ceremony of pouring, capping, then flipping the cups, rolling the tall scent cup in their hands and wafting in some air, and then passing it around and sharing what nuances and notes they find.

I started out using it with the oolongs they sent to me, and then started using it for…puerh! Yes, it is fabulous with many types and tea and SO MUCH FUN. We tea lovers don’t just drink tea, we experience it as fully as possible – color, taste, aroma. This set adds a whole new dimension to the enjoyment and the friendly sharing and ceremony.

The tray is such a nice touch, and I love that they had their name put on the bottom instead of the top. It seems more tasteful to me. I actually used the tray yesterday to hold some small serving utensils when we were tasting cheese. I plan to add their Al Fresco Tray to my tea ware collection soon.

Just saw Ashmanra’s review of this – and as someone who’s gone out of their way to review teaware in the past I can’t believe I didn’t think to review this! So thank you, for the reminder to do so!

Gonna keep my review simple and to the point; I definitely like this set. It was my first experience with an aroma cup – and I’ve definitely liked it. With the help of some Youtube tutorials I’ve found it very easy to pick up. And, it really adds another layer to experiencing and review teas, and since I’ve definitely been branching out this year away from more Westernized ways of brewing it was a nice way to sort of ease even farther away from that preparation style.

I also think the size of both cups are really nice; with the amount of tea I usually brew up at a time they hold the perfect amount! The tray is nice too; usually I keep coasters or potholders on the table that I prepare/drink my tea at but it’s much more aesthetically pleasing to look at the tray instead. And finally, I appreciate how tasteful the branding on the set is; nothing splashy or in your face!

PS. Happy birthday Marzipan! Couldn’t have picked a better birthday twin! Hope you’re drinking some really good tea today to celebrate.

We have listed tea ware in the past and I think this deserves a review!

I had fondled a set like this at a store about two hours from my home, and thought about getting it. Then Teaave sent one for reviewers to use with their teas. Their price is almost identical to the one I looked at, and it appears to be the very same set.

Using the aroma cup makes such a difference in your tea tasting experience. A lot of people drink tea at my house, and they are often tea newbies who are wanting to learn more, to experience something new and special. This set really makes it a “Wow” experience. People love watching the ceremony of pouring, capping, then flipping the cups, rolling the tall scent cup in their hands and wafting in some air, and then passing it around and sharing what nuances and notes they find.

I started out using it with the oolongs they sent to me, and then started using it for…puerh! Yes, it is fabulous with many types and tea and SO MUCH FUN. We tea lovers don’t just drink tea, we experience it as fully as possible – color, taste, aroma. This set adds a whole new dimension to the enjoyment and the friendly sharing and ceremony.

The tray is such a nice touch, and I love that they had their name put on the bottom instead of the top. It seems more tasteful to me. I actually used the tray yesterday to hold some small serving utensils when we were tasting cheese. I plan to add their Al Fresco Tray to my tea ware collection soon.

I’ve never been a fan of ginger in teas. I like ginger in food but found in teas it’s way too potent. The only exception so far has been when I’m sick I will drink a ginger tea. Now if this tea hadn’t gotten some wonderful reviews I would have steered clear of it and what a shame that would have been. I knew I had to try it when I read the great reviews.

I could definitely smell the ginger from the dry leaf in the bag. It was very subtle and I could also smell the milkiness from the Jin Xuan. Pretty much how it smelled dry is what I was in store for when it was brewed.

From the aroma cup I caught a ginger scent that was quickly followed by the milky/butter aroma. When I took a sip, it was like WOW! First the ginger hits my tongue a sweet ginger, not overly strong but still prominent. Following that was the milky buttery taste and then a floral note. Every sip was like that: ginger, milky/creamy, floral.

So glad I got this tea. I just love it.

In additon to tasty homework for my tea sommelier class, I’ve been tasting lots of other new teas, but have not had time to write them up. I’ll try to catch up over the next couple of days, starting with this absolutely delightful Taiwanese oolong that came as a sample from Tea Ave. Wow, what a brew! I only regret that it took me this long to try it. The first steep smelled nutty and spinachy, but the flavor was dry, a bit floral, and kind of citrusy. By the third (1 min) steep, it had really come into its own: rich, dry, still citrus, but also with honeysuckle. That citrus kept going and going and going until I lost track of how many steeps I’d done (I started at 30s and added 15s each steep). There were at least eight and it was not tapped out. Sample not enough – need more of this deliciousness.

The third and final of the Tea Ave samples I received along with the awesome aroma tasting set. OK, when I opened the sample I contemplated that Tea Ave was messing with me. The dry scent was roasted as expected along with fall leaves and grape. Grape? Makes no sense to me either but that is how my brain interpreted it. Then I looked at the leaf and instead of the dark green I expected, this looks like a tippy black tea rolled into nuggets trying to look like an oolong.

Steeped 3 1/2 minutes in the gaiwan. Poured into the aroma cup, flipped into the tasting cup without making a mess (Score!). Out of the aroma cup I was just getting roasted notes until I pulled the cup away. The I got a flood of floral bouquet. I liked it.

The taste is dark roasted and nutty. Then it seemed to turn very creamy. I don’t recall any one else experiencing this. Late in the sip I get apricot and greenhouse florals. There is a sweetness throughout.

What struck me is what I was not catching. Normally when I think tie kwan yin, I think geranium, or what those who are less amused taste as latex. This note is only lightly found momentarily in the lingering aftertaste. Between the roasting and the heavier oxidation it seems to be mostly eliminated. Interesting tea.

These samples are abundantly labeled with information including 4 different sets of brewing parameters. The C-3PO gold color of the bag appeals to the Jedi nerd in me.

The dry leaf smelled like roasted biscuits and oats to me. Whaaaat? I don’t know, maybe I should have eaten lunch.

The aroma and taste of this honey colored liquor is wonderful. It is a wave of floral typical of Alishan, but it is more. I’ve never heard of a ginger lily but it blends flawlessly with this tea. There isn’t a heat or spice note to suggest ginger to me. Just lush sweet floral notes. Then the taste and feel become milky. Well, that’s neat and how does that happen? Both thoughts go through my mind. But not for long as the light roasted note kicks in giving this a neat earthy nutty touch. The aftertaste lingers, and lingers, and lingers. It is a swirling transition of first floral then roasting then back.

Very nice.

Tea Ave thank you for the sample, and my apologies for taking so long to get to this one.

I feel like I’ve probably had osmanthus before, but if I have, I don’t recall it.

The dry leaf is small rolled balls of green oolong sprinkled with small bits of orange flowers.

Steeping, I was hit by an intense sweet caramel fragrance, that I initially thought was contamination from last night’s caramelly tea, till I realized I made that in a different steeping basket.

Along with the rich caramel fragrance, there were also notes of peaches and apricots.

The tea brewed up to a clear gold colour, and on the palate tastes of peaches, apricot, hay and that vegetal note that’s unique to minimally oxidized oolongs. A sweet floral note is present in the first steep and became much bolder in the second.

There’s a slight buttery quality to this tea which makes it smooth and creamy. Not a bit of astringency.

A delightful and unique (to me) cup. I used about 1/3 of my sample, and I look forward to trying out the rest brewed in my gaiwan, and with the aroma cup.

Thank you to Tea Ave for the free samples and lovely tea set.