Tea Ave

A sample of this was sent to me by Teaave, along with an amazing tasting set. By far the most impressive sample set I have ever received. Also, they included a note that said that reviews are appreciated but not expected. That just made me want to review the tea even more.

Oriental Beauty is my favorite oolong, so this was the first sample that I chose. It was a tough work day and I needed some gong fu time, so that is the brewing method. This is my first time using an aroma cup, but I am a believer now. I tried smelling the brewed tea with it and just in the teacup, and there was a marked difference.

The aroma is all honey and nectar, with faint notes of….honeysuckle maybe? I wouldn’t say it smells floral but there is something sweet and intoxicating about it.

Initially I used part of the sample but the first steep suggested I should have used it all, so I did. The mouthfeel is soft and there isn’t the tiniest bit of astringency. There is a great honey aftertaste that has left me sort of smacking my lips.

Overall, a really lovely oolong that has great character. I am hoping to get really tea drunk on it too!

This was one of the free samples I received with my order. I’ve had unroasted TKYs before, probably before I could really appreciate them, and I’ve also had the one at Peet’s, which I think is roasted, but it didn’t really taste like much to me. That was likely due to me burning my tongue on their ridiculously hot water!

The instructions to gongfu brew this tea said to steep it for 3 minutes for the first infusion! I was totally second-guessing that, because it seemed way to long, but it worked! The tea smells and tastes roasty right off the bat. It also tasted a bit like honey on toast, with a sweet fruity honey-like texture underneath the roastiness.

I used the aroma cup and the aroma was like a fruit pie or pastry! Like a brown sugar crust with jam! Yum! I also found the jam note to linger long after sipping.

I spilled my second infusion all over the place! Yes, sometimes I’m a klutz. The real tragedy of that was that I didn’t get to taste the sure-to-be delicious second steep! :(

Anyway, after cleaning up, I resumed steeping it and enjoyed a few more infusions. The spent leaves are humongous!

I really like this roasty oolong. So good! I wish I had ordered this. If anyone orders this and decides they don’t like it, let me know! I’d be thrilled to take it off your hands! ;)

Iced Tea Sipdown (246)!

So, I finished this one off at work last night! It wasn’t really bad, but it was also very delicate in flavour to the point where it was borderline bland. Just the softest, most delicate floral flavors with hints of grass, mineral, and sweetness. I just wanted a bit more flavour/to kind of be softly punched in the face with the magnolia.

A love punch.

Unrelated, but super cool…

The Tea Association of Canada is doing a few different tea/Canada articles for Canada 150 and one of them is a tea and Canadian cuisine pairing guide. Well, guess who got featured in the guide!? Me! I got the email for it yesterday, and it definitely made my night. If you’re curious you can check out the article here:

http://www.tea.ca/about-tea/history/tea-in-canada/canada-day-food-pairing/

I just felt like sharing/boasting.

So lately I’ve developed the habit of stopping at the downtown park after work for an hour with a cup of tea, and a playlist of music before I catch my bus home from work just to enjoy the time spent outdoors.

It’s really relaxing, and without fail I feel very stress free and at peace afterwards.

This was a good tea to take along with me; the cold brew was refreshing on a hot day but the natural, smooth floral notes of the tea and grassy undertones made me feel tethered to the part; grounded and immersed for lack of a better description. I think this does taste strongly of magnolia, but also of orchids and lilies and occasionally with jasmine like elements too. There’s a bit of a woodiness too that crops up every now and then, too.

Mmmm.

Broke into this one tonight when I got home from work; I’m trying really hard to stay on top of my Gong Fu goal/New Year’s resolution and so far I haven’t slipped up yet. Admittedly this week was hard though what with my being sick for the bulk of it.

I kept this session really casual; I didn’t take notes and I more went by the feel of things for the infusions times rather than actually specifically timing them out. I also didn’t track the number of infusions I drank either but my guess would be around six to eight? It was a somewhat shorter session.

This was lovely though, as I knew it would be. It took an infusion for the leaves to really wake up and the floral notes/magnolia to become strong and defined but when it did it was beautiful. It was very full bodied for a greener, scented oolong with a lot of natural sweetness. Of course it tasted like Magnolia, but I’d say there were other floral notes too. To be specific, I tasted peony a fair bit in addition to the fragrant magnolia. Other nice notes were apple skin and peach, which emerged more in late infusions as a background flavour once the magnolia was waning.

It was really nice to have a casual session like this. As important as precision and note taking are as both learning tools and for brewing great tea, the experience and to a degree spirituality of drinking tea is equally valuable and beautiful. After all, that’s why I like to curate tea and music pairings or practice pairing tea and food: to elevate the experience!

Sipdown (114)!

This was one of the three samples that Tea Ave. included with my most recent order; the one which I’d already tried. It came in a sachet this time, though. Since I drank it hot the two previous times I had it I figured I’d switch things up and cold brew it this time around, and that sachet made that really convenient for me because I didn’t have to use my mason jar/strainer.

This was definitely super sweet and floral; the magnolia was strong and on point but I also picked up strong notes of peony as well, and a little bit of lily. There was some natural sweetness that reminded me loosely of Red Delicious apples; just that crisp apple sweetness they have going on. I tend to find the oolong base Tea Ave. uses quite creamy, but that was really drowned out here by the incredibly drawn out floral notes which dominated the brew.

Still incredibly enjoyable, but different than I remember. I’m happy I got to revisit this blend.

Sipdown (110)!

Gotta make my tasting note quick; I’m waiting for a date to get here any minute now…

I’ve been hoarding the last little bit of this sample, but I finished this one off last night; despite the caffeine I thought that the floral aspect of the tea might help me fall asleep. As I’ve well documented today, I’ve been having bad insomnia all week. It did the trick though! Not half an hour after finishing the mug I was out like a rock.

The magnolia was spot on; and the base was amazing as always. So soft, creamy and buttery! If a group order ever takes place for Tea Ave please let me know guys; I really want to pick up more Ginger Lily but since that’s the only one I really want putting in my own order doesn’t seem all that realistic right now.

Unrelated; I ended up getting a spontaneous tattoo done yesterday! One of the shops in town was doing a flash sale on Umbrella themed tattoos so I got a really cool one added to my inner elbow. It’s an umbrella where the top portion is a birdcage with a canary in it. It certainly hurt more than the two on my forearms; but it wasn’t unbearable. I think the position my arm was in while it was being done ended up being a lot more uncomfortable.

Hurts like a bitch this morning though…

Non-Tea Related:

Feels like I have a lot going on in the next two days, but the reality is that I really don’t; I have today and tomorrow off, tomorrow my Dad’s coming into town to help me sort out my taxes and celebrate my birthday with me – but all I’m doing today is writing backlogged tasting notes, of which there are many.

Four(ish) more days until my birthday – I’m both really excited and really anxious. Twenty seems like such a big deal, though I know it really isn’t. And, I’m not really even doing anything to celebrate anyway: I actually have a file maintenance shift on it too so I’ll be working 5AM to 1:30PM. Boo!

Tea Related:

Thanks again to Tea Ave for the sample! I’m sorry this review’s going up pretty late; I drank it like a week ago, but between work I’ve had no time for much else other than sleep commuting. I cold brewed the majority of the sample (though I did save enough leaf to do a Western hot cup as well) and it was really impressive.

I should probably note that this is my first time trying a Magnolia oolong – and I think a magnolia tea in general. I was really excited about it though; I really like floral teas, especially oolongs or whites, when they really only touch on one or two floral flavours. Originally I wanted to try this one first out of all my samples; but in the end it seemed better to start with the one I was most hesitant about, and then the one I had the most familiarity with.

Pretty sure I’ve touched on this with each Tea Ave review I’ve done – but man, I’m in love with the base that these scented blends use (Alishan, I think). In each of the three blends, it’s just been very sweet, creamy and buttery like a milk oolong with the occasional soft, silky coconut note. While the jasmine underplayed this a little bit, this one gets closer to exaggerating these notes like the Ginger Lily did. There’s also a bit of a hazlenut flavour unique to this blend, it’s tied into the creaminess of the base though, and it’s subtle. If you just drank without looking for it, you may miss it. It was also relatively vegetal this time around; with the natural sugary notes, I was reminded of sugar snap peas (which are like my favourite healthy snack food; yum!).

And, the magnolia notes in this were gentle and soft, but very strong – if that makes sense. Like, they’re very full and can compete with the base really well, but they’re not overpowering. There’s also lesser notes of lilac which help round everything else out a little bit. And, really interesting there’s a fruity note as well that reminds me a lot of Grapples (grape/fuji apple hybrids). We sell them at the store, and they’re really good – though pretty expensive. They’ve got a very distinct smell that’s kind of floral, and smells like fresh apples and purple grapes. It’s insanely sweet; enough so that it’s like a “Grape scented marker” kind of grape smell, though less artificial. Just really concentrated.

Definitely enjoyed this one; and I’m looking forward to doing my hot cup to see if and how the flavours shift. Having tried all three samples I was sent now; I think I’d rank them Ginger Lily, Magnolia, and Jasmine in order of how much I enjoyed them and in how likely I’d be to order more for myself (really trying to justify buying more Ginger Lily right now…).

Beautiful fresh dark green leaf that reminds me of delicate steamed greens once brewed.
Fragrant aroma and taste which is sweet and floral, with butter, vanilla and a bit of savory green/grass.
This is really a gorgeous tea that provided many delicious steeps.
Thanks to Tea Ave for the lovely opportunity to try this!

This is the last of my sample sachet’s from Tea Ave. Thank you for the opportunity to try your wonderful oolongs.

I had this tea earlier this week and didn’t write a tasting note about it immediately so hopefully I remember all the important details of of this one. I remember being suprised that I enjoyed this one more than the TGY. The texture of this tea amazed me. Like most of the TeaAve teas that I tried it had a creamy smooth, melt in your mouth, kind of texture. It seems to enhance the experience so much. I remember this being slightly fruity, with a slight roasted flavor. This one I would definitely pick up again. I unfortunately only had the opportunity to steep these leaves once. I wish I would have had the time to do more, but such is life sometimes. I look forward to an order with TeaAve in the up coming months!

A HUGE thank you to Tea Ave for the super generous sample package. Whoa did I not expect all of these goodies, including another entire set to hand over to someone else. Really unbelievably generous. (I decided my extra set would be sent over to TheLastDodo since she was extremely generous with her tea sale! I guess I must have been thinking that the generosity of TheLastDodo matched the generosity of Tea Ave. :D ) I’m not sure why Tea Ave wouldn’t just sent a sample of each of their teas to everyone, instead of the sets, as the original point was to get their teas out into the world. They would have actually saved money sending a sample of each tea to everyone instead of the sets! I don’t know, that’s just my thinking anyway. On to the first sample!

The dark green bundles have a fragrance like milk oolong: sweet, milky, with a hint of floral. The flavor is surprisingly light… also a lot like a milk oolong, milky, creamy, a little vegetal and floral. The flavor expands as the liquid cools. The second steep is nuttier, a little more vegetal, somewhat savory rather than sweet, while not getting to that really salty or brothy state. The third steep is tasty as well, getting fruitier, maybe pineapple —just an all around great oolong… the leaves could keep going for wonderful flavored steeps. The steeped dark green leaves fill up that infuser basket!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 12 ounce mug // rinse // 7 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 5 minutes after boiling // 2 minute
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min

The dry leaf of this tea is absolutely gorgeous….so many colors! The first time I tried it, I didn’t use enough leaf. The flavors weren’t what I expected and I thought it might have to do with the amount of leaf, and it turns out I was right. I used 6g this time, and it was way better!

The flavors in this tea are honey, hay, dried red fruit like cherry, and it’s also a bit boozy. The texture includes a nice honey silky-ness. It also turns a beautiful red color after a couple of infusions. I don’t think it’s really one I’d crave, but I can tell it’s good quality, and those who like this flavor combo would definitely enjoy it. Just remember to use enough leaf! ;)

I think I’ve only had one other dong ding oolong, I think from Verdant, and I liked it. I remember it having sweet corn notes for some reason. Thus, I don’t really know what they are supposed to taste like. This one is absolutely fantastic!

With the first infusion, I tasted buttery vegetal notes with brown sugar and toast, but with the second and subsequent infusions, this beautiful peach and dried apricot nectar came to the forefront! It reminded me of those thick nectar juices we used to sometimes enjoy as kids. I forget the brand name. So juicy sweet! This tea has earned its place in my cupboard! Mmmm!

Such a smooth and elegant tea. Light, refreshing and with the fruity floral aroma and flavor that is so particular to teas from this region. Brilliant. :)

Ever since Tea Ave sent their amazing samples for review, I was eagerly awaiting their online store opening. That day, I placed a good-sized order with them, including 6 oolongs, 4 of which I hadn’t tried yet, and two tins. My order came in 2 days! Warp speed oolong! In addition, Tea Ave added some free goodies, including a couple extra tins. Awesome, right?! I knew I wanted to put the Wenshan Boachong and Ginger Lily oolongs in my tins, but I thought I’d wait until I tried the other oolongs to see whether they deserved the tin treatment. ;)

This one may have earned a tin. Seriously.

I’ve never had an osmanthus flavored tea before….I didn’t even know what osmanthus was! Apparently it’s a flower and its scent is likened to an apricot or peach. I used a small amount of leaf, about 3g, which is smaller than Tea Ave recommends for gong fu brewing, but it resulted in deliciousness with their samples, so I’m gonna stick with it!

Omg, it smells like peaches and brown sugar! It tastes like peaches and brown sugar! Like a peach crisp! I might be in heaven right now! Slightly juicy in texture. Not in your face flavor, but subtle and delicate. The sweet juiciness sneaks up on you, playing with your tongue between the middle and the end of the sip. It’s a little vegetal and a little floral. The peach flavor lingers in your mouth after you’re done sipping. Delicious! Another winner, but I’m not surprised. :)

This is a sachet sample from TeaAve. Thank you!

I enjoyed this tea at work today. I have never had anything Osmanthus before. This was a citrusy, sweet flavor that blended very well wit the base oolong. The oonlong at first at slight roasty notes that made me actually think the base was the TGY. This was a much stronger flavor than the other two flavored oolongs I tried from TeaAve. the Ginger Lily and Cape Jasmine. This is very enjoyable, but I think I would want to try this one again before purchasing a larger amount. Of the teas I have tried from TeaAve. the Ginger Lily and the Oriental Beauty have been my favorites.

I logged on to TeaAve’s site on Sunday and debated an order, but quickly saw the shipping price and threshold. EEKS!!!!! TeaAve will have to wait a few months or for a shipping sale.

Here I sit with my favorite paintbrush and a pot of Bleached Bone paint working on an Intruder Beta, slowly I finish my army. I am still thinking I might finish my army by the 9th (first day of the league, also the day I go for allergy testing, so that is going to be exciting) I hope that the Intruder Alphas I requested arrive before the league because they are so much better than my stupid Art Deco Pillbugs (it is what I call my Invaders) plus I hate painting them. Something about the way their lines…line up…really just annoy me. Plus they just look cooler, and looking cool while raining plasma on your enemies is very important to me.

So, it is with great joy that I kick off Oolong Week! Oolong might be my favorite kind of tea, sure on some days I prefer a different tea, but I can almost always say on the grand scope that Oolongs are my fave. And what a better way to start of the week of the Black Dragon than with new store Tea Ave! They had their grand opening yesterday, and for those who follow me on Instagram, you know they sent out an amazing promo of three tea samples, an aroma cup set, and a gift card (which when I have spending money again I am so using) so yeah, they certainly got my attention. I decided to start out with Cape Jasmine Oolong, an Ali Shan Oolong (yeah, you remember correctly, that is one of my favorite mountains for green oolongs) scented with Cape Jasmine (which, if I am reading correctly, is a kind of Gardenia) in the traditional way rather than just tossing flowers in with the tea and calling it a day. In my humble opinion, scented teas are far superior to teas with flowers tossed in because you are getting the essence of the flower rather than the added plant tastes you get with flower bits. Anyway, the aroma of this tea is heavenly, it is a thing of beauty, flowery, heady beauty. Seriously, it is amazing. It blends orchid, jasmine, gardenia, honeysuckle, honey, cream…it is like I am a hummingbird and someone gave me a free pass to a conservatory. Yes, I have a weakness for conservatories, they are just so pretty and they smell heavenly…like this tea.

I am using the double whammy of gaiwan and aroma cup set to brew the leaves, and I am pleased to say that I have not once spilled or burned myself while doing the epic cup flip. As a notoriously clumsy person, this is really an impressive feat! The brewed leaves are sweet and creamy, and of course very floral, it blends the aroma of jasmine, orchid, honeysuckle, and gardenia in a heady floral dance. The liquid, ok guys, I am going to be honest, I am at a loss for words, almost. Imagine taking the nectar of these flowers and making a cup of it, it smells just like that, honey sweet and delightfully floral. I spent quite a bit of time sniffing the tea, it was a good way to wait for it to cool.

The flower nectar comparison continues! Good heavens this is delicious, it is of course a bit mild because it is a first steep, but it is delightfully smooth. The creamy notes mixed with the smooth texture gives it a bit of a buttery feel, which makes my mouth happy, it coats the mouth with sweetness and floral notes. And oh those heady floral notes, it blends jasmine, orchid, and gardenia perfectly, it manages to be intensely floral while not being like perfume. First steep is made of win.

Smelling the tea (the aroma cup is so fun! I do not burn my nose as often!) the liquid is much sweeter and headier, there is a flower explosion in my nose! Oh by the flowery heavens this tea is going to haunt my dreams for all eternity, it smells like a steamy conservatory in full bloom, it is sleepy and beautiful. This might be the most girly tea I have ever sipped, I feel like a princess while drinking it, like I am drowning in flower nectar. It reminds me of a combination of a conservatory and my favorite flowers from my mom and grandmother’s gardens in the South. The notes of honeysuckle, gardenia, orchid, and jasmine are so heady, but again, it is not like cloying perfume.

I found the third steep was pretty much identical to the second in aroma. There was more sweetness and the jasmine and gardenia are overtaken by the tea’s natural honeysuckle and orchid notes. So even as the scented qualities fade, the base tea is delightful. The finish is honey sweet and creamy, and it lingers. I won’t lie, I motored through my sample at more or less light speed, I will be buying more of this tea for my collection, it does such amazing things to my brain. It feels and tastes beautiful, and I really do feel like royalty while sipping it.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/tea-ave-cape-jasmine-oolong-tea-review.html

Definitely a black based oolong. Darker leaves and clear, amber colored water like black tea. My first thoughts on the taste are of corn husks. I’m also detecting a bit of hay. Slight sweetness in the aroma cup but I’m honestly not tasting any sweetness. I’m not really a fan of most striaght black teas so I will leave this one unrated.

Another very interesting sample from Tea Ave to help warm me up on a cold and icy day.

First thing I noticed when I set up was that opening the bag was a sensational experience, with a very intense fresh herbacious/grassy scent wafting up from the dry leaves. The only other teas I own that are like this are the freshest of Tie Guan Yin’s and the most traditional of Shinchas. Incidentally enough, they all are very lightly processed teas, so I guess that’s the key. Anyway, I put some in a pre-warmed gaiwan, boiled some water and let it cool off to about 95 degrees centigrade, and steeped it for about 7 seconds for the first infusion. Right off the bat there’s a very strong fresh herbacious aroma, which was expected but still pleasant. The tea produced is a very light honey color, with a slight green tint to it. The flavor profile of the tea is very smooth, with something between a silky and mineral mouthfeel that gradually trends towards more mineralish as the aftertaste continues. Flavors of grass, herbaciousness, and sweet hay dominate the profile, and the tea is very sweet like most lightly-processed teas. The tea is also very thirst-quenching, and will probably make for a good summer tea.

The second infusion was steeped for only 5 seconds, using 95 degree centigrade water. The resulting tea actually smells more floral this time, which is interesting since that’s something that tends to fad in other oolongs, not develop. The flavor profile actually tastes like I steeped it a bit to long, which is a bit odd. It’s lost the silkiness and has gained a tiny bit of astringency. I think that the best bet for this tea is to pour it immediately if the leaves are fully awoken, and I’ll try that for the next cup.

I performed the same steeping as the previous cup, but I poured as quickly as possible this time. The result was much better, with the smooth mouthfeel making a comeback and the absence of the astringency noted previously. The flavor is a bit more grassy now, but still very pleasant. The aftertaste is also less mineral now, and fades fairly quickly. I think this tea really didn’t like the treatment it got during the second steep, and is starting to fade now, so I’m stopping.

In the end, it’s a great tea, though probably not the ideal thing to drink during the winter. I’ll review this again in summer, and I’ll be a lot more careful with steep times.

This is the most floral of the three oolongs I’ve tried from Tea Ave. Big spinachy leaves; nice bronze velvet color and texture. It smells like Mom’s lilac bush, and the taste is close, too. Nice cup of spring when all about me is muddy, cindery, snow slush.

This is not the one I’d choose for a Tea Ave rerun, I think—that’d probably be the Dong Ding—but that’d due to personal preference, not to the excellence of the oolong! Those of you with more delicate palates than me will likely love this.

It was my 2nd test from the Tea house Tea Ave. and second success.

It is a beautiful oriental beauty picked between 400 and 800 meters. The oxidation level is at 6 on a scale of 10 .

A fragrant honey smell typical of these "bitten"Oolongs is emerging from the dry leaf.

I steeped this bai hao 3 minutes at 100 ° C for the first test. The leaves impeccably unfolds .

The beautiful liquor smells delicious fruits and honey.

The taste is from a typical oriental beauty , the body is quite light and fruity very pronounced . Honey is there but in the background and leaves the leading role to dried fruit, stone fruit. The “sweet” aspect is present in a good quantity ,but very balanced.

This is not the best OB I tasted so far but it is definitely very good and it made me starting the day nicely.

Pics are visible here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/oriental-beauty-tea-ave/

I choose to start the Tea Ave samples with the Rose Oolong, it was the best choice on earth for sampling something for me who loves rose so much! 1rst very good point, indications are super accurate: oxidation, type of Oolong used everything is mentionned on the package. I have rarely seen such accurate indications.

It is therefore an Alishan picked at 1200 meters and little oxidized scented with taiwanese roses I am about to drink.

This rolled leaf smells divinely good , a real bouquet of roses. Tea Ave. requires an infusion at 100 ° c, so do I.

3 minutes later, I have a beautiful yellow-green liquor, very pale, typical of Alishan and a sweet smell of roses.

From the first infusion leaves unfold very well. What beautiful leaves … and with rose petals, I am in love.

Then…the taste… because it is not because Tea Ave sent me some samples that I am particularly kind with the teas. But then … I can only be a little seduced beforehand … Oolong + rose … this tea begins with a big advantage … and … it is good. Yes, it’s a good Alishan, refreshing, with a body between light and medium.

The scent of rose is present but just right for my taste, it does not hide the Oolong. I adored my first steep, the second infusion is nice but is less interesting for me as it has less body.

For my first sample with this Tea house, I am delighted.

This is however a beautiful tea, pics available here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/rose-oolong-tea-ave/

My last sample from Tea Avenue. The base is an Alishan, a Jin Xuan picked at 1200 meters. The degree of oxidation is inevitably low, 2 on a scale of 10 (I love those details from the Tea Ave.)

Although we have some osmanthus flowers mixed with the Alishan it is not profusely. I’m sick so I will not go into the description of the smell of the leaf. Fortunately my taste is not yet affected by the cold.

Once drained, we can not see them again too … it’s an Osmanthus hide and seek game.

The liquor is of course very pale, a very pale yellow like Alishan have the secret.

The taste is pleasant : a refreshing Alishan with nice floral notes.

Was it a good idea to have choosen this one for the morning? … Not sure. I think this tea is perfect for the evening (well for my taste). This is undeniably a tea very good. This is not my favorite type of tea but it doesn’t shadow all its qualities. Thank you so much Heidi at Tea Avenue for this sample.

Pics of my session are available here : https://thevangeliste.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/osmanthus-oolong-tea-ave/