Ten Ren

I haven’t added a tasting note to this one yet!
I bought it because I had a sample of Upton’s Ginseng Tie Kwan Yin and LOVED it. Ten Ren also makes this with Ginseng and I think some other ingredients. It’s different because this is a lower quality leaf so the leaves aren’t coated in ginseng like they are in Upton’s version. They both have very different flavors so I can’t decide which I like better. However, this one only lasts a few steeps. Might have to buy more of Upton’s too _

Milky!!!! I think that is all that is needed to justify this rating =P It gets even milkier as it cools down.

This one also came as a free sample from a different order with Ten Tea (Ten Ren’s online sales site). This one really surprises me by how good it tastes as quite honestly it tastes almost too good to be coming out of a teabag, especially one that contains a lot of really finely chopped leaves. The brew produces a taste of a very nicely darker roasted style of Ti Kuan Yin with both some smoothness and sweetness to balance out the brew. This would make an excellent office or travel tea for a dark oolong lover to have on hand for the situations where one’s options are limited to no tea or teabag tea.

I did not buy this tea but a box of the bags came free with a past online tea order with Ten Tea. Not bad for a teabag green tea, it has some slightly astringent notes and is a tad on the grassy side but luckily neither of them are too overpowering. Regardless I gave away the rest of the box to a friend who drinks mainly teabag teas.

Tried a bag of this thanks to LiberTEAs!!! This was an ok bagged oolong…kind of white tasting and kinda of oolong as well…a little bakey but not overly. Semi sweet after taste.

They have a few loose Tie Kuan Yins at their store in Chicago. I have two of them — one that’s a more roasted and one that’s a little greener. The greener one was about 30% more expensive.

The more heavily roasted tea was, I thought, perfectly characteristic tie kuan yin. It hit all the high notes, and was a solid tea. I’d put it at about 75 and would highly recommend it if you’re around a Ten Ren store and want to try out an authentic Tie Kuan Yin.

But, the one you should look out for the one that’s greener and more expensive. It had all the characteristic tie kuan yin taste, but also had a fantastic mouth, no bitterness, and an almost creamy aftertaste. Really excellent.

Both teas held up to 4 infusions. I’m pretty sure they’d hold up to 5 or 6, but I haven’t had the time to sit around and do more than 4. The more roasted tea held it’s flavor stronger.

A decently long time ago I bought a ginseng oolong tea from Ten Ren that I labeled “kings tea,” so I’m not sure where to rate this since there seems to be both a kings tea and a ginseng oolong, but I’m pretty sure they are the same thing. Anyway, its highly delicious and makes for a soothing reading companion. Perfect for dreary rainy sundays.

I bought this 5th grade dark oolong with the plans of using it as an ice tea tea only to find that it is almost too good to use for iced tea. I’m blown away at how this $12.50 a pound oolong can hold its own against other dark rolled oolongs that I have on hand that were double to triple the price or more. It has a medium roasted body with nutty notes with a lingering sweetness. The later infusions became sweeter overall while maintaining enough of the roasted notes in the background to remain interesting.

Brewed gongfu this is not the best Oriental Beauty out there as it has a light and sweet dark oolong taste that comes off as plain and almost borderline black tea as their is no roast taste to make it more interesting like wuyi. Although it is a cheap oolong it makes a great ice tea in the ice tea maker which is one of my summer staples.

I found Scarlet Robe to be a really enjoyable Wuyi oolong tea. The roast is subtle but strong enough to be present in the tea while not being overpowering. I am not sure if I would agree with the vendor’s claims of floral undertones but I would say it is an enjoyable lighter roast with a lighter than most smooth sweet taste that is enjoyable. When brewed gongfu I got 6 wonderful infusions out of it and probably could have gotten out a few more if I wanted to but I didn’t bother because the taste was starting to decline, still it is significant as I was able to get more infusions out of this one than I do from most of the other Wuyi oolongs that I’ve had before.

I can’t remember which grade of the Tung Ting I bought at TenRen at this time—I think one of the best—and today I infused it in bulk to fill my thermos for work. So this note does not reflect trying to get the absolute best from the tea, but of it’s service filling a very practical need. The leaves are dark, tightly rolled, and smell like the dark roast TGY that I used to drink all the time. It tastes a lot like that TGY too, dark earthy toasty, quite nice and mellow. Good stuff, but not terribly special.

For the most part even people who hate teabags have to admit that they are a necessary evil at times when on the go when bad tea is better than no tea. With that being said while the Ten Ren puerh teabags are by no means the best ripe puerh tea around, it is made of a surprisingly high quality and much better than any other puerh teabag and even some cheap bricks and cakes that I’ve had. The taste is mellow and not earthy although it is a bit on the weak side so I always brew it with double teabags and for a really long time in my efforts to get it stronger. Would likely make a good safe first puerh for somebody that wants to try it as if you do not like this one it is very unlikely that you will like the higher quality ones either.

sigh this tea just isn’t doing it for me this morning. I miss loose leaf already.

it’s not bad really, but let’s just say that after a full day of not having any loose leaf tea, I can really taste the difference now. I guess I am going to need to teach my daughters how to measure out my tea so that I can have some good stuff today.

I can’t believe it’s been a couple of days without Oolong!

This is not a bad Oolong… especially when one considers that it is a bagged tea.

A nice roasty-toasty aroma and flavor. A pleasant sweetness. I love the “freshly baked” flavor of this tea – like a loaf of bread that just came out of the oven, it’s a very comforting flavor.

I received a few of these tea bags from a friend of mine a while back, and this is my first chance to try one of them. I have said before that I am normally not a fan of bagged tea, and that is especially true of Oolong teas, since Oolongs tend to expand quite a bit. Also, I feel it’s somewhat criminal to chop Oolong teas as finely as this one has been chopped.

That being said, this is not a bad tasting Ti Kuan Yin. It has a baked flavor – like freshly baked bread – along with a slight smoky note that sort of lingers on the palate. There is a buttery note as well that is quite decadent and nicely compliments the thick mouthfeel of this Oolong.

Despite my apprehension over a finely chopped, bagged Oolong tea, it is quite tasty. I will enjoy it while it lasts in my tea cupboard.