The Tao of Tea

Very similar to Tao of Teas Jade Bamboo, almost identical taste, perhaps a little more on the tannic side. Very nice.

I love to smell and eat the tea leaves before actually tasting and this is another good tea to do so. The smell is almost fruity; maybe sweet and vegetal is a better description, it’s hard to pin point. The leaves themselves taste rather bitter and roasted.

This is such a good green tea! The flavour hits you dramatically with peaks of I have no idea and trails off dry. Opposite of its flavour profile: flat and consistent. I find it much more rising and falling.

Sure am glad I purchased this again; it’s been too long.

Fantastic tea. Quality green tea flavour from India. It’s slightly musty and down to earth. I steeped it in 80*C water for 2 minutes.

I love this tea. It has a very VERY smooth taste. I really can’t compare it to anything else. It has a slight chocolate/nutty aroma and never becomes bitter or too strong.

In fact, to really release some of the flavour from the twigs, I bring water + the twigs to a boil. I let it all boil for about 2 minutes, remove the kukicha twigs, and then let it cool off.

You can easily infuse these twigs 3-4 times.

One of the better Chai’s Ive tasted. Not overpowering, pretty close to what you get in India, except the big missing ingredient:Indian Cows Milk. Mmmmmm

Mellow. Very pleasant taste.

Fantastic taste. Exceptionally smooth even after long steeps hardly gets bitter.

Noticeable but not overwhelming or artificial lychee flavor. Fruity without feeling like you’re drinking something that should not be in tea.

Full bodied, smooth texture with slightly woody and fruity flavor.

Steep Information:
Amount: ~1.5 teaspoons
Additives: none
Water: 6 ounces filtered boiling
Steep Time: a little over 5 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: woody, spicy, followed by mint
Steeped Tea Smell: woody, followed by mint
Flavor: spicy red tea, mostly cinnamon and cardamom
Body: Full
Aftertaste: mint
Liquor: dark reddish-brown

I was fortunate enough to grab the last two serving of this from the Steepster Traveling Teabox.

The smell is a bit different than the normal Chai I drink because of the mint.
The taste is a smooth, well balanced, spicy tea. The mint follows the sip.
The spices are a mellow and don’t stand out individually, they also are not very strong (think medium versus mild salsa).

This was not a bad tea, it was a nice sold red spiced tea. I am glad I got to try it, and would drink it again, but it is not my preferred chai so it won’t become a cupboard regular.

Post-Steep Additives: lactose free fat-free milk

It didn’t really make much of a difference. Perhaps if I had steeped it in the milk it might have?

Post-Steep Additives: honey

Tempered the spicy, but the spicy wasn’t a strong spicy so I don’t think it’s really needed.

images:http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/02/tao-of-tea-loose-leaf-red-tea-red-bush.html

This has the honor of being the first matcha I’ve tried. I have since tried better ones, but this one is still quite top-notch. It isn’t the highest quality – that honor belonging to koicha-grade ceremonial – but the zesty, slightly roasty, sweet-seaweed-like taste can’t be beat.

This is a bergamot-scented Silver Needle white tea. While the scent holds the sour-citrus quite strongly, it mutes a bit in the taste. But not too much. Compliments vanilla extract and stevia perfectly.

This was the second loose leaf white tea I ever tried. The greatest thing I noted was how it had the subtle scent and taste of apricots. It was the first time I ever picked up on a fruity note in a tea and tasted anything but “leaf”.

While not a fan of most Japanese green teas, gyokuro is an exception. While this is not the best gyokuro I’ve had (a little too roasty), it still soothes quite nicely.

Oh, Jin Cha, how you’ve ruined me. I had a note for this up from several months back, but it was in error. That was actually a note for the Tippy South Cloud – a Dian Hong. Totally the wrong tea. This…was a Yunnan Gold Bud with everything I loved about the tippy tea. Honey-ish texture, fruit-ish lean, creamy finish. No black tea negatives. Again…I should’ve picked up some, but I wanted to try it first. Next time. Next time. Oooooh, so yum!

I’ve had Lapsang Souchong’s before that were mainly just…well…burnt tea. I like ‘em, but not much can be said about ’em. This one had a chocolaty note to it that added something extra. And it’s cheap if you buy in bulk. Can’t beat that.

This herbal is pure WIN. It has all the nut-sweetness of it’s redder sibling, but none of the blandness. Compliments honey well, too.

It’s lemongrass. There’s not much that can be said about it other than it’s citrusy, slightly grassy and light. Not much of an impression by itself, but it can be added to other teas perfectly. Really goes well with their Jing Mai White.

I feel I may be getting close to oversteeping this tea at 4 minutes. Granted, I’m pretty new to reviewing tea, so maybe this is normal.

I like this tea. Slightly fruity, good smell. It’s about in the middle as far as the caffeine index reads on the side of the packaging.

Used up the last of my tin and added some matcha. Tasted a bit too thin, vegetal and decidedly un-toasty. It’s like the best part of each tea was “cancelled out” instead of enhanced. Maybe there’s an art to creating a proper “Genmaicha Matcha-Iri” than just tossing the two together.

I brewed this in my Travel Mug last night and brought it to work today. I walked to work and it was in my bag (which is a crossbody/messenger-type style). And when I arrived at my desk and took the mug out, the top of the inside was all foamy! Like really thick, latte-ish foam. It surprised me, but I guess it makes sense because matcha foams up and matcha and genmaicha are both green teas. It makes me wonder…do all teas foam or just green teas?

The tea itself tastes good, as always. Even cold like this. There is no bitterness.

Very toasty scent. The taste is mostly of brown rice with just a hint of grassy green-ness. This is a soothing, warm, savory tea. I love genmaicha and this brand is very good.

I had really high hopes for this tea. It sounded so good and was out of stock for quite a long time, so I was really excited to try it out, but in the end I just couldn’t get into it. Too vegetal tasting for me. I love green teas, and don’t mind grassiness (Dragonwater’s Green Yerba Mate is quite grassy, but also one of my favorites) but this was a little too much for me. Tried different steeping methods, times, and temps, but ended up just throwing away the last couple ounces of the four ounce bag I bought.