Lindsay Send Message

Sample provided by Teavivre – muchos gracias

This is a really well-balanced tea. The silver needles are beautiful and large, not many broken pieces in this sample. I am not normally a fan of straight silver needles, but this tea is smooth and delicate with just a hint of jasmine. It really is quite subtle. I like jasmine teas to be strong and sweet with more jasmine than tea, but this makes me appreciate the nuances of both tea and flavoring. I found this to be most enjoyable when brewed gong-fu style with 80-85 degree water.

I seriously don’t know what I’m going to do without this tea in my life. I just got a 2oz bag in the mail after learning that this tea will be discontinued. I’m trying so hard not to buy every pound that is left of this tea. It should be stated that this is quite strong in the lavender and bergamot department, but it is blended so well with the lovely jingshan green. And it’s good for at least 3 western steeps.

Hoading mode – engage!

I was excited to try this after blowing through 100g of Blueberry Fruit Tea. Dry mix smells like almost nothing, to my nose. I brewed 2 heaping tsps in a big mug for 10 mins, and sweetened it after it cooled. The result was a dark peach coloured brew that tasted like a stripped down pina colada. Even though I wish the pineapple were more prevalent, this was still good iced. I could taste a bit of citrus, and I could identify the roselle right away. With sugar or other sweetner it kind of complements the other general fruitiness of this tisane.

New samples! Thanks TeaVivre team.

First up is the flavored milk oolong. The dry leaves smell like buttery milky oolong sweetness! Exciting. This is the second ali shan I’ve tried. At this point in my life they are my favorite oolongs. First steep, 30 secs in a gaiwan at about 85 C. This cup isn’t overly milky, as I assumed the flavored milk oolong would be. This is actually more vegetal and buttery than milky, but the milk flavor pops up in the middle of the sip. It’s interesting, and I imagine this would be more milky with a longer steep. Second steep, 45 secs: milk flavor is almost gone, which is quicker than I predicted. I still really like the quality of this oolong though.

Rose and marshmallows! What a strange tea, but I like it so far. Since I can’t try this in a gaiwan right now, I put 3 tsps in my Perfect Mug steeper and steeped for 2 mins initially. This is REALLLY floral in scent, even for my tastes, but the florality (is that a word?) backs off a bit in taste. I am curious as to how the next couple steeps are going to be. However, I won’t rate this tea until I’ve tried it in a gaiwan and with a cold steep. Those seem to be the most popular and best methods for bringing out the nuances of this tea.

Thank you TeaVivre for the sample!

I would have to agree with most tasting notes on a few aspects; the leaves are quite dark and thinly rolled, and smelled slightly of nori. I found that even with short steeps, this is a bold and mildly smokey green tea. Tasted like steamed asparagus/spinach combo. Quite nice, a little bitter on the end of the sip but nothing unpleasant.

This morning I’m drinking a smokey variation of this tea, courtesey of Tommy the Toad. I’ve had these samples for awhile now, and then I misplaced them in my overflowing pantry of doom. This one is (i believe) is a mixture of Chestnut black tea and lapsang souchong, which is awesome. I’m not very experienced with smokey teas, but this hits the spot. A touch of sweet caramel chestnut with a nice smokey punch. Love it! Thanks again Tommy!

Lychee-flavoured things are always attractive to me. I remember when I first discovered SoHo at the ripe age of 21, and couldn’t believe I had been missing out on such a delicious liquor during my underage drinking days. I also love those lychee jelly desserts found in the ethnic food aisle of the grocery store (I don’t even want to know whats in them, they’re so weird but tasty).

So when I heard that DT had a lychee black tea, I was intrigued at first. Then the tasting notes on this page made me put this tea on my “maybe when I’m really bored of all other teas” list. But recently, I somehow I decided to pick up 25g of this blend while stocking up on Midsummer Nights Dream, Pink Flamingo and Mango Diablo. I didn’t think I was going to like this dusty smelling tea, but once I brewed the first cup the choir started to sing.

This is a really light, floral lychee essence that grows on me with every cup. The black tea blends so nicely, and normally I like my flavoured blacks to not taste like black tea. I’m odd like that. But the black tea compliments the lychee exceptionally well, imo. I can also smell the lychee in the dry tea now. It makes me swoon! The little bag of tea I bought is all gone, and now all I can think about is when I can get another fix.

twitch

(Good for 2 steeps at 3 and 4 mins apiece. Very good iced)

Sample provided by TeaVivre – thank you Angel and company

The fuzziness of the curled dried leaves is quite interesting. This looks to me like a green Golden Spring Yunnan-like tea. Oh, it tastes like a black tea too…

This one took me by surprise because of the miso-taste. It reminded me of golden fuzzy yunnan buds from Adagio I tried in one of my first tea adventures. I could not pinpoint any flavours that reminded me of chinese green tea: no nuttyness, no vegetable notes, no buttery flavour. I got a smoky, miso-soup type flavour, and folks, I really don’t enjoy those things in my green tea. The polarity of this tea compared to my expectations did make me appreciate the vast differences in green tea. I love that this was not what I expected, and over the next few cups I hope my taste buds learn to appreciate a smokey green tea like this one.