thepuriTea

It is already a long day after a long holiday weekend (which I will be backlogging tea from throughout the week). this I tried to brew when I got to work. I am extremely disappointed to say that I think I brewed this tea completely wrong. I typically do not use boiling water – I almost always use “hot” water from the water cooler (the things in offices that deliver hot and cold water out of a large 5 gallon jug) which at home is around 180°F. We have one in work also, today the “hot” side was not working, so I quickly brewed up some water in my little coffee pot for tea (I just boil water in it, no coffee ever goes in there), unfortunately, I did not let the water cool enough and I am afraid the water was too hot and I let the tea infuse too long (at five minutes – the end of the brew spectrum for this tea).

The fragrance of the dried leaves was wonderful, even the aroma of the brewed tea is very nice, a sweet note with some woodsy aroma, however my tea is very astringent in flavor. I am getting no woodsy flavor or sweetness that everyone else experienced.

I have another sample of this, I will have to try again. For now, I will hold the rating because I do not think this was a true review.

Personally, this oolong is not for me. It has a vegetative flavor w/a creamy mouth feel….Just not a fan- I won’t even rate it as this seems to be a popular oolong…

I got this as a free sample. Dry this smells kind of sweet and abit of dark oolong. I steeped it up and this tastes sweet sort of vanilla like and abit of a dark 0olong. This is good.

A good slightly strong black tea and the leaves are golden to.

This was one of my free samples from the company thank you. I had a cup of this yesterday. This is a really good medium strength black tea.

Definitely not in love with this one like everyone else is. I think, however, that it’s because this sample picked up some other flavours, not because this is a bad tea. I can almost imagine the creaminess here, but it’s masked by a fruitiness which is not unpleasant, but not characteristic of any oolong I’ve had, and I doubt it’s how this one is supposed to taste. Perhaps I’ll try another sample of this one in the future, but I won’t be too heartbroken if that doesn’t happen, because I am in love with the DavidsTea version (and will be trying the Teavivre flavoured version soon, which I’m quite excited about!)

Thank goodness that this one is so much better than that Royal Phoenix that I just dumped. I was taking a big risk brewing another unfamiliar sample, but it worked out.

This is a really good roasted oolong. It retains a lot more of the floral flavor than other roasted oolongs that I have had. Way to go thepuriTea! (^^)

Oh by the way, in case anyone is wondering (I know I left you in suspense and you are dying to know, lol), I survived my piano recital on Sunday. It wasn’t as perfect as I way hoping for, but it could have been a lot worse. I was terribly stressed out about other things the couple days before and I’m just glad that I was able to make it through the performance. My hands completely went off on their own tangent right in the middle for a whole 7 seconds. grrr. The awfulness of it. Playing a piece perfect a thousand times over for no one to hear and then a whole audience hears that. ugh. Oh well. At least I had a pretty dress (^^)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxNRCCXF70kYdTZrdHN2ZW5GelE/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you Shelley_Lorraine for this sample.
Once again, introducing me to new teas:)
I am not very picky when it comes to teas, and am always open to new teas.
I have to say I didn’t hate this tea, but I wouldnt go out and buy it.
I tasted the sweetness and milkyness.
Thank you for the sample again, but this just wasn’t my cup of tea.
But I did get to try my new steeper for this first time:)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741867@N05/8872347785/

Backlog:

I brewed this several days ago and forgot to log it. It has characteristics very similar to Dong Ding Oolong, but I feel that it is lacking in the depth and richness of flavor that I find in Dong Ding.

This tea is delicately floral and vegetal. A pleasant oolong indeed, but when I have the choice I’ll take Dong Ding over this one.

(Oh darn-it, I went and put this log under the wrong company and didn’t catch my error before at least a couple of you read it. Oh well. It’s where it belongs now.)

What a neat looking tea. The pearls are much bigger than I thought they would be. I wasn’t sure what an appropriate serving size would be, so I just went with a default teaspoon which fit about 5 pearls. I steeped them for 3min30sec and it made a very strong smelling cup. It smelled like a black tea alright, and a bit earthy too. Something about it was even reminiscent of a pu-erh, but not quite. The flavor is quite malty, but not quite as sweet as other malty blacks (like the Hong Jing Luo also from thepuriTea). It’s a good robust cup of black tea nonetheless.

EDIT: as I near the bottom of my cup, I can’t help but think that this tea really could use some sugar or honey. I prefer my tea straight, though, and would rather drink a cup that doesn’t ask for extra frills.

I had to try Milk Oolong sooner or later just to know what it’s all about. This one had spectacular reviews, so I went with it. I didn’t expect to like Milk Oolong based on descriptions, and, unfortunately, it turns out that my expectations were right.

I can now officially say that Milk Oolong isn’t my thing.

I saw Terri HarpLady’s recent note for this and decided that I wanted to brew some too. I must’ve used less leave than last time, as it is a bit weak (mostly lacking in the malty department). Nevertheless, this is a very good and naturally sweet black tea. I don’t detect any licorice notes as Terri did, but I can see how the sweetness could possibly be taken as such. I might even notice it too if I brew it with enough leaf next time! Of course, we are all individuals and no tea is the same for everyone :)

I just love the way the leaves are all coiled up. They look so cute.

The first sip I took, I thought it tasted sort of musty, like a moldy bath towel. I was about to call this one no good, but that flavor was a fluke! Maybe it was still too hot to get a proper flavor out of it. I really shouldn’t be so impatient about taking the first sip.

I am now tasting the sweetness, like sweet potatoes and malty goodness.

Brew Notes:
2 level tsp in 14oz of water
3 min. steep

Tastes like a roasted oolong. A bit nutty too, like Houjicha. It’s quite good, but not exciting. Lots of roasted oolongs out there. I like this better than some and less than others. This one could be one of many roasted oolongs that I cycle through me regular stash (I always like to have at least one)

I do, however, like the name, so it may get preference once in a while just for that.

Trying this tea out again and I can say for certain that I like Verdant’s Dong Ding much better. This will likely be the last cup of thepuriTea Dong Ding that I drink. I’ll let me husband have the rest as he likes it more than I.

I just posted a note for Verdant’s Dong Ding Oolong and I have a cup of this too for comparison. I steeped it for less time than I did before, but I seem to pick up a slight mineral flavor that I only detected in the second steeping last time. I think I only notice it now because I am comparing it with the other tea, so it stands out more (though it could also be because the water temperature was 5 degrees higher than last time). I still like this one and my rating remains the same, but I like Verdant’s a bit better because it is more savory.

Update: I gave my husband samples of both too and he likes this one better than Verdant’s. Guess I’ll be keeping both in my stash now :)

Something really awesome just happened. My husband loves this oolong! Imagine that, one who likes a select few flavored teas and drinks mostly coffee really loves a simple delicious unflavored oolong. He will be converted soon >)

As for me, I like it quite well enough. It smells both floral and vegetal (exactly how I like my greener oolongs). The flavor is smooth, vegetal, slightly floral and I think I pick up a little lemon too.

Thanks again moraiwe for helping me to find some fantastic oolongs :)

EDIT:
I just tried a second steeping (I figured I’d try to get the most out of my sample). I steeped it 4min30sec (first time was 3min).
I liked the first cup better. It lost a lot of flavor the second time around, but maybe only because I steeped so long the first time. Although, a longer time was recommended for this tea, so I dunno. It’s still a pleasant cup though. Not much floral, but a bit mineral-ly. Not sure if thats the right word. I’ve hear it used to describe other teas. It’s the same flavor I’ve often associated with second and third steepings of mostly japanese greens. I always call it a flat muddy flavor, like dirt almost (but Ive yet to hear anyone else describe it as mineral…) However, in this tea it’s not an entirely unpleasant effect. There is still just a hint of the original flavor left too.

Well Steepster seems to be back up so I can backlog this one. Sipdown, 179.

This is an old sample but it also has been heat-sealed in an airtight foil-lined pouch so I don’t feel like it would have degraded that much. I have to say that the smell of the leaf was less sweet jasmine and more bitter jasmine, like what happens if you cold steep a jasmine tea too long. Sometimes I just want to bury my nose in the dry leaf of a jasmine tea and be enveloped in the aroma; this was not one of those teas.

However upon steeping it really mellowed out. The jasmine was obviously the main event here but it was soft and slightly sweet. I think this tea made me realize that silver needles are not my favorite vehicle for jasmines; I think I prefer pearls or even just a fresh jasmine green. It’s those hayish, brothy notes really; at times this almost seemed savory, which is kind of odd in a jasmine.

All of that makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy it, but I did. I had steeped up half the sample pouch, drank it, and then said heck with it I am going to steep up the second half and have another cup. It was pleasant and tasty, and it was a nice accompaniment to the afternoon.

Woohoo! New jasmine pearls to try! Thanks Dinosara :)

This one is not quite as naturally sweet and delicate as some of the others I have tried. It is still quite good though. I can’t get enough of jasmine pearls in general!

Malt, cocoa and tobacco! What could possible be wrong here? The first steep started as a malty brew with cocoa hints that faded to an earthy tobacco flavor. I didn’t notice any astringency but it has a dry quality that melts away nicely. The second and third steeps were sweeter, but no less tasty. (Plus the tea is really cool looking!)

I so enjoy it, I am addicted to this jolly tea and all my friends do too. They can’t wait to come to my place and do the milk Oolong tea ceremony (a la Aussie). I recommend it. I have two teapots per day 1,200 mls of tea.

Dinner was delicious and a hit all around :) My hard work was rewarded with clean and empty plates so I couldn’t have asked for more.

I’m due some more tea to finish the meal and this was chosen at random from my samples bag. It looks like you would expect but unfortunately my Sencha is not as bright green as the picture, instead it’s a very dark green. Long and thin leaves with a crisp dryness and grassy yet floral scent with a perfume kick.

Once brewed the tea is yellow in colour with a slight sweet and grassy scent with buttery tones. It’s gentle in flavour with grassy and dry highlights with a touch of floralness. There is some sweetness but it essentially gets lost amongst the dry starting to get perfumey essence. It’s too subtle for me, I like fresher Sencha that has a thicker grassy quality.