TenFu's Tea

By the third steeping, this tea has developed a light and sweet essence to it. Really surprising but proof that multiple infusions can bring out notes you had not picked up before with a single infusion.

Steeped 5 minutes in one-mug infuser.

It is worth noting that this tin was found in storage and shows a date from 4 years ago. This may be an expiration date so it is possible that the tea is even older than that.

This is the un-smoked version of Lapsang Souchong.
I did find it a delightful blend even if it is technically out of date range.

The bouquet is sweet tea leaves, taste starts with a base of earthiness (perhaps it is old?) but with a sweet cereal consistency like honey wheat.

This sweetness is very subtle and light, but adds to this already golden delicate tea. With this delicate body is no shortage of flavor, and I think the loose leaves would stand up to a second infusion with slightly longer steep time.

I would recommend this tea as a great Chinese classic. Interested to try other variants and possibly from a fresher source but I was surprised with this one.

What I smell: jasmine

What I taste: butter, pea shoots

Notes: Smooth, medium-bodied tea. Buttery with a bright green vegetal taste. Strong floral aroma. Definitely pleasant; will experiment with other steeping times and techniques. This time I did a single steep for perhaps a tad too long.

I am lucky enough to have two friends who frequently travel between China and the U.S. and they bring me back the most wonderful teas, most recently, this one. It came in a tin with a vacuum-sealed bag inside. Not a scrap of English all over the whole tin except where it says “Ten Fu’s Tea” and “LongJing,” so I can only hope this is the right tea page to post this note on. It has a light green-yellow body when brewed, very clear. The leaves are long and “needle”-like and open into delicate leaflets when brewed. The smell of the dry leaf is very fresh and outdoorsy, but with a warm roasted note before you brew it. After it’s brewed you can smell roasted barley and something like cooked spinach or asparagus—very vegetal—with a buttery richness. The taste is very smooth and grounding, only lightly astringent. It has a long, languid finish with lasting flavor. It makes you feel very leisurely and relaxed, like you have to take your time and appreciate it, which honestly is my favorite thing about drinking tea in general. I love this tea! I don’t know where you can get it in the U.S., though. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone who loves green tea.

The best jasmine needle tea I have ever had. It only leaves my shelf to drink with my most precious friends. Even though real tea enthusiasts will condemn me for it, I use the gongfu tea ceremony to brew it: that’s how much I love this tea.

I had this tea for my morning tea in my carry mug. I love how I can smell how green it is.

My friend Colin was often in China for work. I just recently found this out. I told him I was looking for tea. He sent this to me as it is one of his favorites. Of course, now that I know about his whole often in China thing, and that he loves tea and would send me tea (and wouldn’t let me pay him for it!!!) then he gets a new job and I no longer have a source to pick me up tea. Ah well.

This tea actually has a date on the side of the vacuum sealed bag of 2014.12.3 so it’s quite fresh. And it looks and tastes like it’s that fresh.

It’s very green tasting, like a cross between spinach and green beans, not quite either, but definitely some of both. It’s almost slippery it’s so buttery. I’m loving it.

This is both energizing and comforting in the the same mug. I am working from home today and pretty busy, so I didn’t really have time to pull out the small tea set he sent me to make this tea in, but it’s definitely on my to do list. (Yeah, Colin wouldn’t let me pay for that, either. Or any of the other teas he sent.)

Can be hot or cold brewed. Tastes very floral. Like orhcids.

Held up really well to many infusions, though takes more leaf than I’m accustomed to. Not exceptional, especially not for a TGY, but it definitely holds its own.

Round and soft, smell of flowers and a beautiful sweet aftertaste!

Well how shall I put it, I found a bunch of these little blue bags in my basement filled with tie guan yin. The production date stamped on it says 10.25.2006, so that makes it about 5 years old. Though it is vacuum packed.. I’m sure this kind of tea is not meant to be aged, so I am really drinking some old tea. 10 means October too, so that puts this as an autumn harvest tea and that means this is a grade lower than the ones cultivated in spring. Anyways, I pretty sure this was something my parents brought back from a trip to china (which trip, I wouldn’t know).

Tenfu (same thing as Tenren) is a massive tea company so really, if anyone ends up ever getting some of this will be beyond me. That’s one thing about steepster, most teas from North America or western Europe, can be found with ease well what about that crazy amount of asians and asian countries that drink tea? Well those will most likely never be found here at all even though they represent a significant portion of the tea consumed in this world. That’s just me saying, as I drink a lot of green tea that was brought back from China, yet I have no means of listing it or any clue who made it. Luckily this bag had a little url printed on the side that lead me to the tenfu website.

Getting down to the tea itself, I tried making it gong fu style (lots of leaf, less water, more infusions) It’s a light tasting tea, not as dark or heavy roasted as some TGY teas. I’ve gone to 5 infusions and it still tastes alright. Anyone curious to try some? I think I have like 3-4 more bags of this stuff. Figure it might be more educational to some of you than it will be for me. Swap me anything that I have never tried before, I’d be down.

A nice light, traditional green tea drank mid-day.

Two days ago I had a discussion with Barbara and cteresa about jasmine teas and I was saying I stupidly never think to drink Jasmine teas except when I am in a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.

Then I remember I had an untasted sample from a swap with LaFleurBleue and decide to rectify the affront I make to Jasmine teas.

The smell of the dry pearls has nothing especially noticeable, the liquor smells very delicate.

Jasmine is not overpowering vs the tea base, the mix is perfectly balanced.

In spite of my fear with green teas, there is absolutely none hint of astringency with this tea.

Looking the small pearls opening is a real pleasure too

I really appreciate this tea even if Jasmine isn’t my favorite floral tea – I am very rose and very violet (and strangely this is exactly the same with Perfumes) thank you LaFleurBleue to permit me to taste this lovely tea.

I bought this at the Southeast Market about a year ago. I bought it when I was first getting into pu-erh and to be honest… this tea kind of scared me away from pu-erhs because of the fishy smell it has. I’ve only had it one other time but I thought I’d give it another shot since I found that pu-erh is actually pretty tasty :]
It’s very mellow. It’s earthy and sweet. It has a bit of a floral-ish note. It is actually pretty satisfying for super cheap pu-erh.

Light and earthy.

It’s not overpowering or too weak. It’s light and earthy. It has a bit of a “fishy” note but only in scent, not taste. VERY clean and smooth. Velvety almost. The taste of the whole process is apparent but the taste of the tea itself comes through as well. Just a great tea. Probably a good introduction into pu-erh.

I tried those pearls (3) with the Kusmi Rose green tea (about half serving).
The result is quite good. I’ll have to put more rose tea or only 2 pearls next time, as the jasmine overwhelmed the rose flavor. The result is a bit milder than pure Jasmine.

While visiting TenFu’s in Beijing, I could not resist this tea and bought another jasmine tea to compare them both. Not sure exactly what the price difference between the two was; I would say something like 40% more for the pearl.
The little balls make it quite easier to use and for evaluation of the right quantity (2 balls for the first cup + 1 each, more or less). The smell is not very strong when opening the bag, much lighter than “regular” jasmine teas.
I always find the steeping disturbing (even after something like 20 to 30 teapots). The color remain very very light, however long I steeped it; once I probably forgot it for more than 10 minutes. The smell is quite delicate : not too strong on the jasmine, neither on the tea. Same thing when drinking : the taste feels really delicate, stronger on Jasmine at first then the green tea takes over.
A real bonuss : the tea never gets really bitter.
I really have the feeling those two smells and aromas just managed to be perfectly mixed together in this tea. And every time I prepare it, I get the same feeling “wow this is way better than jasmine tea”.