Ten Ren

Quite a difference cold brewed. Much greener like grass but not grassy. Rich, heady florals and some toastiness. Annoying bitterness at this strength. Do most people cold brew with more leaf than they would hot? I do not but that’s what I did this time. I think I should stick to my typical low grammage for refrigerated refreshment — keep the bitter out.

I have no idea from whence this tea came nor exactly what kind of oolong it is. I’m guessing it’s at least from Anxi.

The dry leaf smells like baked fruits like cherry and cranberry, apple skins and woody cinnamon. Warming the leaf brings forth additions of a sugarcane-like sweetness and flowers. Once brewed, the aroma of the tea becomes very sweet with rich white florals and the woody cinnamon of the dry leaf transforms to a very soft, floral cinnamon. The taste is nonexistent with short gongfu steeps. Switching to longer steeps (starting at 1min) brings out a mild flavor with no distinctions beyond an impression of toasty-woody-vegetal apricot-straw. The aftertaste of unripe apricot is also mild. No astringency, bitterness in only late steeps, no sourness as in a tieguanyin. Slightly mouth-cooling. Surprisingly, the bottom of the cup retains a rich, sweet smell.

This oolong is reminiscent of pretty much any pot of oolong from a Chinese restaurant. In that way, it’s a very neutral tea. The tea’s mild qualities have made it a particularly enjoyable pick for this hot weather.

Is it this one? Who knows. It is 10 grams from derk, saying “Ten Ren oolong, 10 grams; how old ?” But thank you anyway!

I used 3 grams in my 300 ml glass cup, grandpa style. It seems it is more than enough. Leaves expanded and are half filliing the cup! Aroma – well, I think I note vegetal and mostly beans?

Taste is generic vegetal, but quite nice and mellow. Maybe bit buttery?

Anyway; probably quite cheap, but nice. Thank you derk!

So I don’t know what company made this one actually, but it was a little heavy for me.

The dried leaves are a dull brown and broken in small pieces. I see some pieces of stem mixed in, though there are also some nicely curled full leaves. They have a rich, roasted scent, like the rice that sticks to the side of the pot and gets crunchy. Yum!

When steeped, the tea is a dark golden-orange. It smells of slightly charred toast and roasted nuts, and tastes like toasted rice, a full deep flavor that lingers. A very thick, full mouthfeel. There’s no astringency, even if you accidentally oversteep it. It’s a tea that holds up very well to multiple resteepings, and that gives a lot of flavor for few leaves.

I’m not actually a huge fan of Ti Kuan Yins, but this is an excellent example of the best the tea can be. It’s a wonderful wake-up tea, especially on cold, gray mornings.
(Note: purchased loose-leaf, Dec 2019. Not sure of country of origin.)

N O

The dried leaves are dark green, mixed between small fannings and whole, curled leaves. They smell of wood smoke and baking bread. After steeping, the whole leaves uncurl beautifully and the tea is a rich orange color. The scent is chestnuts and butter and fresh grass. It tastes of toast, nuts, and honey. Not a stunner, but a really excellent everyday sort of tea.

Very nice flavored tea in winters

I don’t know exactly how I feel about this ginger tea. I kind of like how the ginger is not that prominent and that it’s a really relaxing tea to drink, but I also hate how the ginger is not prominent in this tea and that I don’t feel the burning sensation that strong ginger tea’s give. I would recommend this tea for when you’re starting to feel your throat is sore? or if you just want a little hint of ginger to drink. For full on throat soreness…I would not recommend this tea.

It’s a decent Dong Ding oolong — the first steep has a strong smokey flavor that mellows out in later steeps to an almost nutty beany taste. I wouldn’t buy it again but I have enjoyed it.

Sipdown! (91/395)

Thank you Hapatite for the sample. Unfortunately this one wasn’t my favourite. The black tea didn’t really add much, in fact I didn’t realise it was in the blend until I came to review it! It wasn’t awful, but when it comes down to it there are other things I’d rather be drinking, and I preferred the hibiscus on its own to this blend. One plus I did notice though is that this didn’t need as much sugar to counteract the sour hibiscus.

Sorry about the short and infrequent tasting notes guys, life has just gotten unexpectedly more stressful lately and even though I don’t have a lot going on (the opposite, actually) I haven’t felt in the right frame of mind to be writing up tasting notes and I haven’t even been drinking that much tea. Fingers crossed I’ll get out of my rut before it gets too deep, I’ve been there before and I’m not going back.

Sorry about the slightly dark turn that apology just took, too…

Picked this up at Taipei 101 (their crazy tall skyscraper), when I was going through an oolong withdrawal.

The flavour profile is crisp, floral and sweet. Minimal butter. It’s a gentle tea but I can still taste flavours which, if steeped longer, contribute to the strong flavours found in bottled oolong beverages. There’s the potential of bitterness in those floral caffeine laced notes.

I prefer my green oolong milky or, if it’s buttery, to be incredibly buttery, but with only two green oolong varieties in my cupboard this is gold.

Heavenly taste..!!!!!!!!!!! Keeps you proactive , energetic and healthy.

I’m assuming this is the tea I’m reviewing (purchased 100g for 450NT).

I don’t normally buy TenRen, as I think it’s overpriced, but apparently they are trusted when it comes to provenance.

Definitely a green version of Dong Ding. Rolled leaves are dark green and have a pleasantly fresh grassy pear aroma.
Infusion gives off baked apples, cream and gentle spice.
Taste is more apply and bitter vegetable greens with a slight chemical taste on the finish (at least on first few infusions).

This is good, but not great. A fine daily drinker.

Lovely. Earthy and grassy. Both in scent and flavor. Good hot or iced. Darker amber color. Steep about 2 mins. Maybe 3. It becomes bitter quickly after that.

Surprising taste as the mango is semi sweet but the green tea contributes a bitter taste to the liquid. I ended up mixing this with a lighter green tea that I bought from them to make it more drinkable, but I don’t even know what that tea was because the sticker they put on it has no English and I told the lady to just give me what she likes. This tea alone was not something I would want to drink again though.

Time to finish the EU TTB teas so I can start a new. The sign up is open by the way for round 4!

The raw leaf is wonderfully sweet and pure lychee like with a slight malt and smoke finish. Very pleasant!

Sampled with a drop of milk.
Flavour is malty yet sweet with lingering lychee notes and a touch of smoke. Seems to remain consistent throughout the sips as well, even as it cools. Though there is some dryness now in the after taste.

I admit that I’m not a lover of lychee, it tastes like artificial sweetener in my opinion. Overly sweet yet something almost chemical like about it. Love the smell but just not a fan of it’s taste. This is in general and not aimed at this specific blend. Still it’s pleasant enough!

Nothing I would miss or desire more of but a nice tea all the same.

This tea is beautiful to watch bloom. It smells vaguely like plums and tastes a bit like goji berries. Lovely, but gets a bit astringent and bitter if you leave the bloom in too long (as is the case with lots of teas I guess).

A very pleasant Chinese black tea. Surprisingly delicate and complex, the lovely golden-red color is almost too pretty to drink. Light floral aromas, the steeped leaves have notes of dry wood which doesn’t transfer much to the cup, but is there hidden amongst the orchids and chocolate. Subtle malt with hints of smoke and cooked apples dominate the flavor profile. Smooth and rich, yet delicate with nice acidity and almost no astringency to talk about on the lingering exotic coco finish. Could easily be an every day black or used for experimenting with home blending.

I’m assuming that this is the Keemun that I got from Ten Ren’s today, and since there isn’t another listing for a Keemun, I’ll just put my review here and make it my own. XD
And as much as I want to review the actual store, I’ll resist and just stick with the tea.
This review is based on having no idea for brewing parameters and just using my basic 1.5 tsp/12 oz @ 3min Boiling.
The tea definitely has a smoky smell to it brew wise. Not Lapsang in-your-face, but a definite woodsmoke smell.
Taste wise it’s got a nice smoky hint to it, along with a slightly almost sweet note (though that might be just residue from the spoon I was using to slurp since the mug really is too hot still to drink from). Mildly astringent and just bordering on a bit bitter for me. Next time I might do 2:30 min or try a lower temp on the water.
It’s honestly not the train wreck I was fearing it might be with me just guesstimating everything. I liked it better after adding a bit of Truvia to sweeten it, but then I always add sugar to my tea eventually. But this one is good enough to stand on it’s own. I’m not sure how it would handle milk though, not to mention that would be a bit weird to me. Lol!
So yeah, not a bad tea. Not the best Keemun that I’ve had (not that I have a huge worldly experience of Keemun), but I’ll certainly drink it eventually.

The last Ten Ren Green Tea that I received was very sweet with some delicious fruity notes. I actually decided that I liked it better cold-brewed, so have been steeping it overnight. Overall a very smooth, refreshing green tea with very little astringency.

This is a regular for me – one of my favorites!

Pale yellow hinting at chartreuse. Wonderful aromas reminiscent of green tea, but with a slight maltiness. Light to medium in body and delicate, this tea displays a lovely malty sweetness balanced with a very long finish which is quite pleasing and very mildly astringent. Cooked squash and notes of fresh mint are the memorable subject playing counterpoint to the classic fresh grassy undertones seem to have an almost lactic buttery roundness which enhances the light mouth-feel and gives the illusion of a more full bodied tea. The astringency mixed with notes of mint seem to have a similar effect, at least on the brain, as Hydroxy-alpha sanshool which seems to almost delicately numb the gums and tongue as you drink multiple cups and would probably be a perfectly wonderful tea to pair with Szechuan cuisine. The leaves unroll beautifully and slowly to reveal clearly handpicked lightly toasted tippy short stemmed selections which yield extra steeps. This tea is perfect for anyone who is in love with green tea but would like to get a little more bang for the buck from an everyday tea that drinks like a special occasion tea.

It’s just lovely, so floral (think mums, not roses, for an American comparison) and with a definite milky richness. Stands up to rebrewing well (although I’ve only gotten through 3 rebrews, since I usually make pots or drink it over the day at work).