TeaSource

I had never seen a tea like this before! I was even a little skeptical that pouring water over it would result in tea after 2.5 min, but it did.
Let my water cool a little too much before adding- steeped for 2.5 min as directed at 150F. I wish I had let it go for a little longer- the flavor is nice but a little too light.
Second steep, let it go for about 5 min, taste was roughly the same.
Grassy and fresh- exactly how you’d expect something that looks so fresh to taste. Didn’t love it though.

Rare Orchid Oolong is quite the experience. Because of it’s ability to re-steep, this oolong continues surprising long after its first infusion. It is distinctly floral with mentionable sweet undertones. The flavor evolves as it is re-steeped, certainly a great investment for those who like exploratory teas and flavors!

My second tea from Steepster Select and a second hit! Packaging said this was good for 5+ resteeps, but I have to say it was only good for 3 cups for me. Three delicious cups.

An interesting tea to say the least. Fuzzy silver buds come tumbling out of the package when you first open it, giving way to an herbal scent with sweet undertones.

The flavor is surprisingly mellow, allowing me to agree with the listed tasting notes. The tea sits at a nice green/gold color.

The package suggests a 2.5 min steep, I think a little longer is better for my personal taste, but I like the tea a little stronger.

*A great tea if you’re into this sort of flavor, but I prefer teas with a little more kick. It’s not a bad tea by any means. It tastes similar to a jasmine tea in my opinion.

This may just be someone’s cup of tea—it’s not mine. It’s made with milk, and I can distinctively taste it, and couldn’t help thinking that if I want milk in my tea, I’d like to add it myself. My aunt who loved the Rare Orchid and Light Roast Tung Tings the other day, found this one “blah.” Not a tea I’ll order again. If I want a tea on the creamy, silky side I prefer TeaSource’s Sweet Silk Oolong.

This has the fruity sweetness of some oolongs and laid over Is the roasted note—earthy, tobacco-y, in a way that makes it smooth and mellow. My aunt who can be picky flat out “loved” this tea. Definitely a keeper (even if I personally preferred the Rare Orchid Oolong we first tried yesterday.

This is the first high-quality pu-erh I’ve tried and it’s unlike all that came before it.

It doesn’t brew nearly as dark or pungent as the previous ones I’ve tasted.

The first sip tastes of malt, maple syrup, and vanilla. Further tasting reveals peaty, mossy, and earthy flavors.

Overall, this tea is quite enjoyable.

Something about this tea reminds me of going to Dickens Fair at Christmas time. I can’t quite place it, it’s not cinnamon or cardamom, nor douglas fir trees. It has a holiday spice quality that I really like but can’t name. Roasted butternut squash with brown sugar maybe?

The dry leaf is a fun menagerie of White Peony and Silver Needle teas with scents of after dinner mint & dried basil.
The packaging had low brew temp instructions which I love. I have brewed White Peony at 185 before and it brings out a good sweet and champagne colored liquor. I chose to go with 160 F and then just left the leaves in longer, for 5 minutes.
This created a light silver green clear colored liquor with flavors of Honeycrisp apple, Asian pear, pie crust. Yumm this tea is a mix of fun, delicious and lovely.

Second Steeping – I resteeped this at 185F and it brought out a more colored liquor and deeper flavor. Still lovely with accents of apple and pear.
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7/25/14
Brewed this Western style today at a very low 165F temp. The liquor is pearl color and the scent is light light fruit.
Flavor is fruity and creamy. There are notes of pear and peach with cream. This is a nice white.

Lovely—if I don’t rate it at the tippy top, it’s because I try to rate my teas in such a way as to make it easier to know which ones to buy again, so my favorite gets 100, and the next 99 and so on. Of the Oolongs I’ve tried, the only ones I liked as much or more were Sweet Silk, Big Red Robe—and my favorite tea of any I’ve tried—Oriental Beauty. Rare Orchid I’d definitely order again. It’s honeyed, silky smooth and fruity, but in subtle very drinkable ways that aren’t overwhelming. That’s just with the first steeping, I haven’t had a chance to try others—but it’s wonderful right from the top.

This maybe a fermented tea, but it’s unlike any pu-erh I’ve ever tasted. That being said, I really liked this tea. It tasted like roasted grass to me, and unlike any Hojicha. I get the mahogany notes too. Not really tasting the grapes or much sweetness. The tea is complex and different from black or pu-erh teas.

I’d agree with the description of TeaSource’s site that it’s “sweet, smooth” although I don’t detect the citrusy or spicy note. In fact, my major complaint with the green teas I ordered this time (their House Green and Double Yunnan Needle as well as this one) is that they don’t seem to me to have much personality. In that sense any of the three might make good introductions to green tea—they’re not too grassy, they’re drinkable, and they’re … inoffensive. But none impressed or would have me ordering them again. I like this one slightly more than the other two, but not as much as several other green teas I’ve tried from TeaSource.

The description on TeaSource calls it “herbaceous” and “smooth.” It’s mild and not grassy. My aunt calls it “watery” (and no this didn’t have more water or less tea than usual) but this is a very light tea and to me doesn’t have much personality—not one I’d order again given I prefer several other green teas from TeaSource.

We did enjoy this tea, but I feel mixed about recommending it, since we didn’t love it, prefer other Darjeelings, and don’t intend to order this again. But that might be more about my tastes and my aunt who I share the teas with than this tea itself. Our favorite tea is a Darjeeling, but it’s a Summer flush. This is a spring flush, and definitely on the oolong rather than black side of Darjeeling: light, rather flowery, fruity, honeyed, mellow, but with a bit of astringency compared to most oolongs.

This was a wonderfully light, sweet tea. Almost tasted like I had added a touch of honey to it. It’s now one of my favorites. And it is fun to see a tea that visually looks a little different. Instead of shredded leaves, this is small, silver bud tips. I ordered a pound of it and will share with friends. I’m trying to get a dedicated group of tea drinkers started in my area so we can meet and try teas and talk about teas…a tea club.

The dry leaf smells like a spice shop. I smell spearmint and caraway seed. The moss green colored leaves look naturally dried with nothing else done to them, minimal processing.
The liquor didn’t gain color until around 4 minutes at 165F. The tea is like white tea, a very light color tint to the water. A very light yellow green.
The flavor is spearmint with a touch of caraway seed just like the leaves smell. I like this because it is subtle. I do not detect the roasted corn notes that Tea Source did so I would be interested in what temp they used because their brew suggestions say between 160-180. I bet they went lots higher than I did. I will try higher temps next time.
Nonetheless, I’m glad I brewed this low and slow because it tastes very nice!! Similar to a mint touched white tea and a good one for the cupboard.

Second Steeping — Kept it at 165 and brewed 5 minutes. There are just small amounts of mint now but still light, cleansing, and refreshing. I am getting a bit of tannin to my tongue now. I think a second steeping is all I would do for this leaf.
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7/25/14
Had a little of this today. Very mild and light. Like a green tea in scent and appearance and touches of white tea qualities. Flavor is mostly vegetal I guess but it is so light and subtle.

This is my first pu-erh ever! And I really liked it – my favorite from the Steepster Select box besides the roasted buckwheat tea. The tea tastes complex and balanced, not too earthy. Even the first steeping has a lot of depthy. I like the grape notes and the gentle astringency.

I love the special day they pick this tea and how prized it is.
The dry leaves smell minty , not vegetal. I think this might be my first Shincha so I only know how Gyokuro is and they look very similar with the grass-like thin strands.
It has the light spring-green colored liquor that is my favorite color. The wet leaves look like chopped green spinach or herbs.
The liquor has a faint scent of vanilla then lima bean and green spring pea come in stronger.
The flavor is really excellent. It has the slightest vanilla flavor as well with lima bean, pea, and a buttery mouth feel and note. There is an umami end with a salt note. This is Springalicious!!!!!!!! An excellent one for my cupboard.
This tea is exactly as described by Tea Source which I like. I like to know that I can trust the tasting notes and will buy from them again some time.

I read about Shincha and it means “new tea” and is the first picked, that it is that year’s earliest tea, and is timely and seasonal.

I steeped this first for 2 minutes then after the leaves opened up, all my other steepings were short as 1 minute or less to keep the tea from being burned or bitter.

From my Steepster Select box March 2014. You’re gonna hate me for saying this, but all oolongs taste alike to me. WELL…all GOOD oolongs taste alike to me. I don’t notice a difference between this guy and the Iron Goddess we sell at Tea Hugger. Mayhaps the Fuijan Provence is steady in its water/soil quality so teas out of that region are similar. Mayhaps tea is complicated. Mayhaps I should have tasted our Iron Goddess side by side with this little Orchid. (Though “should” is the dirtiest of dirty words there is, y’know.)

Anyway, my tips are:
Don’t oversteep
Add a sprinkle of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the leaves

This was my favorite in the March 2014 ship of Steepster Select. My husband agreed – it really did live up to the tasting note it came with: “Silky mouthfeel with fruit and honey overtones.” Wow! The instructions said it can be steeped up to 5 times, but I thought it lost all the flavor by the 4th brew. But still, it had a lot of flavor.

This was one of my top two in the March 2014 shipment of Steepster Select. It had a beautiful floral note in the first brew, with a bit of melon, and a slight licorice in the after taste. It lost flavor fast though – it did not have any flavor left by the third brew. Still worth it for the first two brews!

The dry rolled balls have a subtle scent of dried cherries, a nice natural sweet smell.
The brew instructions had a lower temperature range (155-165F) for this than I’ve ever used for a white tea so I went with 160F because that’s as low as my kettle goes.
The leaves did not unfurl as much as I thought they would probably because of the lower temp. They appear to be chopped and then rolled. The brewed leaves look like chopped cooked frozen spinach. They have not unfurled all the way so they are still in balls that are falling apart. I am gonna give this one a second steeping because more flavor is rolled in there.
The liquor has the distinctive white tea champagne color and this one is a golden and darker white tea.
The flavor is good. It is subtle sweetness and mainly tastes like honey with a tiny hint of dried cherry.

Second Steeping – kept it at 160F for 2 minutes. The leaves have mostly fully unfurled now and the liquor is a deeper champagne color. The flavor has evolved to include a very interesting note. I had to get into my spice cabinet and start smelling because I could not figure out what that note was. It was closest to sumac and blue poppy seeds. A sweet spice note mixed with the dried cherry note. The second steeping turned this into a different tea because the first was devoted to the outside of the balls and then second brought out the surprise of the inside of the leaves.

I really enjoyed this tea experience and a white tea pearl type (non-jasmine) must always be kept in my cupboard now!!!!!!!

6/2/14
I brewed this today in a different pot than I did last time. Still Western but a 22 oz ceramic pot. Flavors are the same and there is definitely a sumac note to this tea. A sweet note too which makes it good!