Seven Cups Little Rose Tuocha

So its been awhile since I have had any tea, I was in Michigan with family for Thanksgiving and without the internet. When I got home the Package from Seven Cups was waiting for me.

As in a previous blog I said my favorite tea was a black rose tea, this lead me to buying this "little rose tuocha" from Seven Cups. Lets just say I have a new favorite tea.
He Tian Neng is an excellent tea master. The dried leaves have a sweet smell about them.

My first infusion was messed up because I left the leaves in for about seven minutes, needles to say it was very bitter and yet there was a sweet smoky taste as well. The soup ended up being a deep ruby color.
The second infusion I watched the time and only had it steep for three minutes. What an amazing tea! The amber soup was just fantastic. At first an earthy flavor arises it you mouth, then a gentle sweetness takes over. A floral aftertaste, the roses I am guessing, is the parting flavor.
The third infusion was sweeter then the last. The bitterness had left and all the remained was a smoky sweet taste. The rosy floral after taste became a major part of the taste.

What an amazing tea, I was actually so distracted by the taste and aroma of this tea that I forgot to take pictures of the actual soup. Sorry about that I could not help it, I was lost in the moment.

I am glad I bought this tea, Thank you Seven Cups and He Tian Neng.
I have some a lot left if anyone would like to try it.

Black Dragon Pearls by Teavana

Alright so I don't typically like buying from huge commercial cooperation, but there are no tea shops in my area so I had no choice, forgive me. The dried pearls have next to no smell, until it was steeping. The Teavana site states the this tea has "chocolaty and malty undertones". I look forward to seeing if this is true and if it can take multiple infusions.The Tea pearls.

The first infusion was very bold with a rich full bodied taste. You could taste some of the malty flavor the description talked about. It was very sweet and smooth. However I forgot to take the basket infuser out and it became rather bitter, but I could taste a chocolate flavor. To my surprise I rather liked it. The second infusion let out more of the nuances that was described. A lot smoother then the first infusion, the second let out the malty taste as well as the chocolate without having to over steep. Also a somewhat sweet almost bamboo like taste came out from with in the amber soup.
The tea, what an excellent amber color.

I was very impressed by this tea, especially coming from Teavana, Maybe they aren't so bad. I also got a tea called Golden Monkey from Teavana as well, I can't wait to try it now. I would suggest this tea to any black tea drinker, though it is not very earthy as some like.

White Monkey tea

I really hate myself right now. I bought 5 types of teas in China Town and yet the only information I got on them was their names, I have no idea where they are from, or what harvest they are. Today I am trying White Monkey. The dried leaves have a nice earthy smell to them, though half remind me of sliver needles, the white tea. So I anticipated a very light tea, I was right.The Dried tea leave, You can see the sliver needles I was talking about.

As the tea steeped a very subtle smell of vanilla arose. As I poured the tea into my new cup, It seemed to be the same color of water. However upon putting the soup into a glass i realized it was an extremely light orange yellow. I am not used to drinking such a light tea.The light orange yellow soup.

At first I was skeptical of trying so a light, what I thought to be weak, tea. I was gladly mistaking. This tea was a perfect mix of earthiness and sweetness, yin and yang, perfect harmony. Every sip I took was better then the last the build up of this harmony seemed to have overcame everything I was thinking at the time. Though I am inexperienced I do believe this was a great tea and everyone for likes lighter smoother black teas. A warning though, do not over steep this tea it becomes very bitter and leaves a dryness in your mouth. What a great tea.

If you have any suggestions please email me.

Sen-cha tea

Today was a great day in the world of tea. With my new teacup, I tried sen-cha from maeda-en for the first time. I never had any form of green tea until now.

My new teacup

As the aroma from the bag wafted to me, I smelt hay. I really did not know if this was what I was supposed to be smelling or not, but I was intrigued. Also reading the package it came in, it read "sen-cha is the most popular tea in Japan", I could not wait to try it!

Sorry the picture is so dark there I can't find any decent lighting at night.

As I was steeping the tea a sweet aroma came from the pot. The golden yellow soup was a bittersweet masterpiece. At first you would taste the bitterness, and as you drunk more the subtle sweetness would arise and never leave. Though it did leave a strange after taste, a kind of hay like taste except it was more bitter. For some reason I think it would taste a lot better if steeped in a clay pot instead of my ceramic one. I am glad I tried this green tea even though I still prefer black and puer over this new found green, but I will still sample others if I have a chance.

Don't forget to watch the leonid meteor shower tonight it is still going on, cuddle up with your loved ones and have a warm cup of tea as you watch this noctural event.

Black Rose Tea

So my favorite tea as of now has been a Black Rose Tea I bought in China Town, I wish I had more info on it because today I ran out. As I am writing this I am enjoying the last bit of it.
You can see the dried roses that give the tea it's floral taste.
This tea has an aroma that will take your breathe away, it is like walking into a rose garden at full bloom. If you were not sold on the aroma alone the taste was also fantastic. A sweet roses kiss will pass your lips as you drink this tea. There is a subtle yet wonderfully earthy undertone that is paired so well with the floral taste. It will even leave behind a sweet aftertaste that will leave you wanting more. If only I had more. I guess I will have to move on.Even the used tea looks good, I had a picture of the lovely amber color this tea makes, but alas I drunk it and the picture turned out bad. Next time I will make sure the picture is good before I drink it, sorry. I am still learning.

All good things must come to an end, but hopefully one will find something new.

How to start?

I really have no idea as to how to start a blog, so here is my best guess.

Since I was a child I have been fascinated by the world of tea, but I am just now getting around to studying this amazing lifestyle. Though I may be young, sixteen, I am well educated and have a craving desire to learn all that I can about tea and the culture around it. This blog is to show just that. Hopefully I won't get too distracted from the topic of tea, but bare with me. I will mainly be focusing on Black, Oolong and Puer teas, but I will be trying some others as well. Plus I have a ton of herbal teas that I should probably get around to trying.

Feel free to email me at anytime if you would like to chat about tea.