TeaSource

A lovely tea with a strange brewing ratio. I used too much water on the first steeping, failing I’ve again to notice the drastic change in water required from usual with the Select packets. With the amount of water adjusted for the second steeping, mellow notes of honey and peach came forth, with a mossy tang rounding out the body. A very well balanced tea, but I was surprised I couldn’t get more flavor out if the giant buds. 7/10

An enjoyable, subtly flavored tea, with light honey notes over a gentle, malty body. Beautiful aroma rounded out the tasting experience. I was noticing a distinct lightness of flavor, but I made two faults: I did not notice the drastic change in the amount of water required versus other Select teas, and so when I first made it in my usual teapot the flavor was seriously washed out. I also brought this tea up to an altitude of 7600 ft to enjoy, and woke the mountain scenery enhanced the experience, I do believe the flavor was adversely affected. Would definitely try again at sea level.

The last new tea from the Steepster Select box (I still have the second packet of each, yet).

The leaves are pale, pale yellowy-green, like a plant that hasn’t received enough sunlight. And they are covered in golden fuzzy hair. I swear it looks like parts from tiny furry crustaceans, like it came off the Kiwa hirsuta, or wooly lobster. It honestly freaks me out a little bit!

It smells grassy, with a hint of apricot.

I brewed it in my gaiwan. If I had not sneaked a peek at the other reviews, I would have thought I underbrewed it – the liquor is pale yellow, like a white wine.

Taste-wise, I am unimpressed. A light aftertaste of grass. I’m not getting any fruit or citrus from it. I let the second steeping go longer, and I get perhaps a little more grass. The leaves don’t expand much, suprisingly. I am not going to bother with a 3 resteep – it’s like somewhat flavored water to me. I know it says it’s “mellow” on the packet, but this is too mellow – it’s like drinking hot water heated in a kettle that didn’t get washed well.

I might try heating the water a bit more if I do try the second packet.

Interesting tea. Never had tea that looks like these buds do. After it brews the 2.5 minutes, it looks like it’s still just water but it has a light, citrus flavor. It’s nice, not something I’d drink a lot of but it’s kind of lemony to me. Smells good too.

Another packet from the Steepster Select box. Opened it up and took a sniff. Smells quite nice and the leaves are a pretty deep green that has almost blue tones to it.

Brewed it up in my all-purpose white teapot, drinking from a small Japanese cup.

Drinking it straight for now, since I have never tried it before.

First cup: it kinda just seems like black tea to me. I can’t detect a difference between it and something that’s “just” a black. I have no idea what “mahogany notes” should taste like, so ignoring that for now. Not getting any grape.

Second cup: ok, I get grape a little.

Third cup: Not unpleasant, and I’m happy to try something pu-erh related that I do not dislike (the track record has not been good thus far), but I don’t really find it to be anything unique about it.

Fourth cup: switched to a mug and did splenda and half & half. Definitely still getting the grape.

Verdict: Not bad but not something that makes me sit up and take notice. Not clicking the “would you recommend” option because it’s not a tea that I would tell anyone “Oh, you have to try this!” but it’s not something I would warn anyone away from – if offered a pot of it, I would have no hesitation in drinking it, I just don’t need it for my cupboard.

It did not have a lot of flavor, and in comparison to other teas it was not my favorite.

Backlog:

I was really happy to find this tea in the Steepster Select box for March. I love Ya Bao teas, but, they are seldom a tea that I put in my “cart” when I’m shopping for tea. It seems that there are just so many great teas out there, you know?

So I looked forward to sampling this tea.

The early infusions were delicate, sweet, slightly grassy, and faintly reminiscent of honeydew melon. I also noted a very faint whisper of spice. Perhaps nutmeg with a hint of white pepper. Very subtle notes of spice, but enough to get the taste buds to perk up and say, hey, what was that?

In later infusions, I tasted notes of peaches and cream. Hay-like notes. The tea became sweeter with each infusion.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/28/silver-bud-ya-bao-white-tea-tea-source/

Oh my. This is lovely. I needed something soothing tonight, as I research my sudden TRIP TO ENGLAND in 2 weeks!!! So I’m simultaneously excited and terrified. I’ll be there for 2 weeks (near London), with hopefully a weekend trip in the middle to PARIS! Advice/recommendations/tea shop directions appreciated :)

I opened the packet and a took a sniff, and it smelled so nice. The leaves are long and dark and smell amazing. Brewed it up in my small green pot and one of its cups. It’s floral with a touch of honey. No astringency.

I really like this. I want to try the next packet gongfu style but I need to find a gongfu tea tray first so I can make a controlled mess.

Ok, I have gone through the entire small pot and every cup is amazing.

From Fujian Province, China.
Yumm!! This is a delicious Silver Needle tea. I brewed this by the cup in my gaiwan which I don’t usually do with white tea so it was more intense in flavor and creamier.
Always love Silver Needle and this one was very nice :)

Backlog:

I was really happy that teas from Tea Source were in the Steepster Select box. This is a company that I’ve not tried teas from and I’m always happy to try new to me teas!

There is a malty note to this Oolong and that’s not something that I generally experience with an Oolong, but I like it! A really lovely, different Oolong.

I never really caught a strong “asparagus” note as some of the others who tasted this tea did. The early infusions offered no real asparagus tones to me, and in later infusions if I really focused, I could taste hints of it, but, it was never a really assertive flavor.

What I did get was the aforementioned malt, notes of vanilla which offered sweetness and a lovely creamy texture and flavor, honey notes and floral notes. Fruit notes began to develop in later infusions.

A really nice Oolong. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/23/rare-orchid-oolong-tea-tea-source/

This one was on sale for 50% when I shopped with TeaSource so I just threw it into my cart.
The dry leaf smells like Moroccan Mint style tea and the leaves are forest green twisted threads.
I brewed this Western style at 175F, tasting every minute until I had steeped for a total of 4 minutes.
The wet leaves are very attractive, long slender, slightly opened twists of moss green,,,still smelling like faint Moroccan Mint.
The liquor is very light, like White tea light,,a clear pearl color and has a mineral and light spring mint scent.
The flavor is light Moroccan Mint flavor but very light. A tiny tiny tiny bit of bitter, not vegetal though.
I paired the tea with black quinoa and some beautiful heirloom yellow cherry tomatoes.
This is definitely an everyday type of tea. I think that I might use it for iced tea,,,it would be perfect for that :)

This has a nice, dark brew colour. (It’s like the Petite Sirah of tea.) The scent is kinda of malty caramel. There is more of a molasses flavour. I only get a hint of the grapes. Not a type of tea I’ve had before, but this is really good. Went well with my French toast.

This tea was a little weird. Unusal is probably a better word. Like no other straight tea I have had so far.

I expected it to brew pretty dark but it didn’t. It had this very curious color that was brown, yellow and dark green, all of these at once. I know it doesn’t sound appetizing, but it was actually really pretty. The aroma was mostly earthy with very strong grape notes. This is the first time I smelled grapes so distinctly in a tea.

The flavor was very bold and unique. Kind of like… if you kept your green/oolong tea leaves out because you wanted to resteep them but then you forgot about them and the next time you got to them, the leaves were getting a bit damp and perhaps even moldy, but you steeped them anyway ;D Sounds horrible, but that’s how it tasted and it was good! While it is not something I would like to have in my cupboard, it was definitely very interesting to check out.

This is does not have a strong flavor, but still retains many of the unique profiles you find with fermented teas. In fact, this would make a good replacement for coffee.

I really need to have more oolong, it’s becoming one of my faves. This one is from the Steepster Select box. It has a sweet, floral scent I can’t quite place. The flavour is honey, mildly fruity, and some orchid. I rather like it.

I’ll have to try it again when I’m not having oatmeal.

This came in my Steepster Select box.

It smells vaguely vegetal. The flavour is mellow and sweet, and semi-fruity. Not bad, but I much prefer to cold brew my white teas.

This was a part of my free Steepster Select package. I remember having some ya bao tea as a part of a Verdant blend (the one that tasted herbal to me even though it was not an herbal) but this was the first time that I had it straight.

As lovely as the dry leaf looks, there’s something about this kind of white tea that doesn’t sit well with me. And that doesn’t mean it’s giving me indigestion or anything. There’s just something about the way it tastes… Like drinking tea sap. And I don’t think I am fond of this note. I can’t explain it! It’s like some honey note that went wrong and fermented into wood-shavings.

Well, either way, I will venture to try it again since I have one more single serving packet, and I am not going to rate it either for now * shrugs *.

This is my first pu-erh tea and I really like it! I’ve been hesitant to try it because i’m not into strong, pungent flavors but this is actually relatively smooth and quite delicious. I’m starting to tread softly into the realm of dark teas and boy is it exciting.

I won’t get into tasting notes, the experience is different for every drinker in my opinion.

Soooo…. it tastes good. I get that oolong sort of taste from it. I wish my taste buds were better because I don’t really get all the tastes like grape or whatnot. It’s good though. Ah, Happy Easter! Tea and chocolate bunnies :). I did 2 steeps, I don’t know how people do more I just can’t drink that much.

After my bad puerh experience this morning I wanted something “safe” I know I like this afternoon! Plus I was still craving pu. This works out nicely :)

Thanks again for the cute little heart tea Amanda Wilson !

Thanks so much Amanda Wilson for sending me a very generous sample of this tea!

I had an AMAZING day yesterday you guys! HUGE all day outdoor art fair with incredibly beautiful weather, and then a gallery opening in the evening. The theme of the gallery show was a movie mashup- The Big Lebowski in Little China, LOL. Anyway both went great, and my Lebowski piece sold within an hour of the opening starting and I’ve already taken two reprint orders! WOO!

ANYWAY, yesterday was long and good but I reached for this tea because I may have had a little TOO much fun at the gallery opening (it was at a bar/cafe) so I reached for this one assuming the cute little compressed heart was some kind of puerh…

I’m not totally sure it is! It sure tastes more like a black tea to me. Nice and dark and malty. Also I think the rose adds a nice subtle sweetness but is not too overpowering. Very nice tea. I will enjoy drinking the rest of this sample packet for sure, whatever it is :)

This was very delicious! It had a sweet finish as well as smokey floral notes. I was very pleased with this tea. Will buy more!