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Spring 2018.

Hmm, this one was just above ‘meh’ for me. The flavor hardly bore any resemblance to the oolong tea that its derived from. Leaves smelled like cocoa and tobacco. The brewed tea was slightly earthy and tasted of yams and cocoa powder. Lighter and less malty than your typical black. I didn’t taste the floral honeyed notes they described nor any of the fruitiness of Mi Lan Dancong.

Spring 2019 harvest.

To be honest, I was a little bored by this tea. This is a middle of the road kind of Li Shan. It has a generic high mountain flavor and lacks the depth and fullness of better Taiwanese oolongs. It’s not a bad tea by any stretch, but I’ve been spoiled by some really amazing Li Shans in the past.

The tea offers enticing aromas of flowers, tropical fruit, and pine. The brewed tea had a lilac-y character with fruity hints and a mild sweetness. Starts off light and slowly builds up to a buttery mouthfeel. It gives at least 6 infusions and on occasion, I’ve pushed it to as many as 9 steeps.

Spring 2019 harvest

I was torn about how to rate this tea. I love it cold brewed but not so much prepared hot. Cold, or rather ambient brewing, was able to extract the best flavor from this tea. It had this almost ethereal floral flavor of honeysuckle and perfumey lilacs, punctuated by occasional bursts of hyacinth, and sweet grass notes in the background. Tastes like drinking perfume but in the best, most delicious possible way. Easily a 95+ rating for the ambient brew.

However, this tea was not as successful hot steeped. It produced a somewhat uneven flavor, more savory than flowery. Vegetal with a lemongrass sharpness.

I’m sure there is a way to bring out those luscious floral notes by hot steeping but I couldn’t quite figure it out. That’s okay though, I’m content to ambient steep as long as this warm autumn weather we’re having continues.

This was a lovely cold brew. Very refined and succulent peachy flavor. Reminds me of the fruitiness of a good quality dan cong. Natural tasting and not overly strong. White peach was the dominant flavor here; I couldn’t really taste the blackcurrant. If it’s there, it’s subtle and doesn’t try to compete with the peach. Mind you, I always blend my flavored teas with a straight so that could be why it was so faint.

Although I love peaches, it’s been a while since I’ve actually had a peach flavored tea. Teavana’s Peach Tranquility was a favorite of mine back in the day. It was good but had a lot going on. This tastes more similar to Lupicia’s Momo Super Grade oolong, a baozhong subtly scented with Japanese white peach. It’s got a purer flavor that tastes just like ripe summer peaches.

Spring 2019 harvest

My dragonwell tasting flight continues. I have to say, I’ve never really been into Long Jing until this year. Turns out it wasn’t my tastebuds, but operator error. Having now learned to brew it properly, I’ve started to gain a newfound appreciation for this tea.

I steeped it grandpa style: 1.2g of leaf in 10oz of 180 F water. The aroma of the leaves is sweet and vegetal. The dry leaf smells of spinach, edamame, and chestnut. The brewed tea has the aroma of sweet peas and honey. On the first sip, I tasted warm grass, sugar snap peas, and green beans. Fresh, crisp texture with a thick mouthfeel. Underlying this is mild bitterness that grows ever so slightly as I drink down my cup but doesn’t become overbearing.

This year’s early harvest Laoshan green tea was superb. Lush aromas of soy, leafy greens, nori, and oats. The steeped tea is fresh and full bodied, sweeter than the later flushes with pronounced notes of anise and kettle corn. I prefer slightly cooler brewing tempertures, around 175 F, to bring out the delicate sweetness. Hotter water makes the savory, toasted notes stand out more.

Having owned and broken countless World Market tea thermoses over the years, I figured it’s time I finally did a review. These are 10oz glass bottles with removable strainers and beautiful painted designs – botanical and geometric motifs – on the outside. Being glass, they are lightweight and allow you to watch the leaves as they brew. Of course glass also makes them breakage prone and thus a disadvantage to my clumsy self. After shattering enough of them, I bought a foam sleeve which has helped to protect mine from minor bumps and drops. Good thing is they are fairly cheap – I’ve gotten them for as little as $7 on sale – so not a big deal to replace. Like any thermos, they do a good job of keeping brewed tea hot or cold. There’s no plastic in direct contact with the liquid.

Unfortunately, there is one major flaw that makes this product less functional: the cheap metal strainer gets hot and taints the flavor of the tea. It’s especially noticeable with delicate teas like greens and whites. This problem essentially makes it unusable for grandpa brewing which mostly defeats the purpose of having a strainer. For this reason, I had to buy another tea thermos with a better quality strainer for steeping tea on the go. Mine is now used only for holding brewed tea.

World Market has carried these tumblers for a while now. Every year they come out with attractive new designs, but alas they all have the same cheap-o metal strainer. It’s a shame because this is otherwise an excellent tea thermos.

Not a tea I would have picked out on my own but was seduced by its divine aroma. I ambient brewed it today blended with a mellow green tea, then poured over ice for a really delicious and refreshing iced tea. The taste reminded me of fresh baked blueberry pie. The blueberry flavoring is very well done here; light and totally natural tasting with a gentle coconut accent in the background. I’m usually not a fan of coconut flavoring and appreciated the fact they didn’t go overboard with the coconut.

Note that I have yet to try this straight or hot brewed since I find most flavored teas too overpowering on their own. All 3 of the teas I bought from Kusmi turned out to be winners. I really appreciate the subtle, true to life flavoring and after writing off flavored tea a while ago, it’s made me give them a second look.

Bought a bag of this at Mitsuwa to make Hojicha lattes. Back in the day, I used to buy Maeda-en sencha from the Asian market and it was one of the better grocery store loose tea brands. Their Hojicha is no exception and it not only made a tasty latte, but was delicious served straight. It’s sweet and earthy with caramel undertones.

To prepare the latte, I steeped 1 tbls of tea in 1/3 cup of 195 F water for 3 minutes. Sweetened with 1.5 tsp of sugar and added a 2/3 cup of frothed milk.

Spent the afternoon at Barnes & Noble yesterday while my car was in the shop. It’s funny, although I read almost exclusively on the Kindle these days, nothing beats the experience of browsing an actual bookstore. I’m aware that bookstores and libraries are an endangered species these days, and try to support them in some way whenever I visit. So I went to the cafe and ordered this unsweetened Teavana iced tea.

As soon as I took a sip, I instantly recognized it as the old Starbucks Tazo Zen Green Tea now rebranded as Teavana. A tea I used to be quite fond of but hadn’t tasted in years. The tea was light amber in color and very heavy on the mint. Not the fresh mint you taste in Moroccan mint tea but the dried variety in your spice jar. There is a bit of lemongrass and citrus but the dominant flavor is mint. When I’m drinking a blend, I like to be able to taste some of the base tea however this felt like I was drinking dried herbs steeped in water.

It’s interesting how your tastes evolve over time. Although i used to love this tea, I struggled to finish the entire cup. It’s palatable and was nostalgic for me, but wouldn’t recommend it unless you really love mint.