British style

Sorry it has been such a long time. I have not had access to my computer in quite some time.

One day while in Florida I woke up to find a teapot on the table next to me. Apparently my parents bought me a new teapot. (probably an early birthday present I guess) Being it was opening day of Harry Potter and that the teapot looks like a snowy owl the pot quickly got the name Hedwig.
I have always wanted to try the British milk and sugar type tea. To me there has always been something odd about adding milk to water/tea. Being in the south I am used to sugar in tea, it is actually rare to get tea without sugar here. I thought it was about time I try milk and sugar in my tea.

I selected "Ceylon" tea from red leaf teas. This was because of it's British ties and because I didn't want to experiment on s better quality tea.

Plain Tea: Was very strong and tasted sort of like how damp earth smells. However it was surprisingly smooth with a bitter aftertaste.

Milk And Sugar Tea: The first taste was alright. I did not put a lot of milk in the tea but a sickly creamy presence was there. The liquor had a weird texture to it, almost like the tea was thicker and smoother. I did not like that. It has some merit and I am glad I tried it but frankly I don't think I will be trying it this way again, but you never know.

I do however want to try milk tea where you add tea leaves directly to the warm/boiling milk. I think this would get ride of some of the weird texture that I wasn't fond of.

2010 Yunnan Golden Bud

This is another wonderful tea Gingko so graciously let me sample! Thank you.

The dry leaves are so stunning. I never thought they could be such a golden color. The aroma from these lovely dry leaves is a sort of dry bitterness.

While brewing this tea a lovely smell of sweetness came up with the steam swirling from the brewing vessel. I always enjoy watching steam come up from the tea and swirl around in the air.


The dark ruby brew lead to a perfectly balanced bitterness and sweetness. It was such a smooth flavor. I literally sipped this tea all day. Though it did get weaker overtime it remained balanced the entire time. I could drink this tea all day. It is a wonderful way to start the ever busy day. Sorry for the short post, I am busy packing and getting ready to leave for Florida in the morning.

2010 Sun Moon Lake (Small-leaf cultivar)

Once again thanks to Gingko for this great tea!

I have always heard about Sun Moon lake tea, admittedly the "Red Jade" cultivar, and have always wanted to try some of this well known tea. Also it is Organic, at some point in time I would like to compare organic vs nonorganic tea from the same region. Also I would like to taste the difference between the "Red Jade" cultivar and this "Small-leaf" cultivar. The smell of this is spiced and sweet, it also smells like damp grass. It is a wonderful aroma.
Brewing the tea lead to an even more powerful aroma that lost it's spiced smell the sweetness changed to make it even more noticeable.
I could not wait to taste this tea.
Three wonderful infusions came from this tea, without any change really other then the flavor becoming weaker. This tea has a wonderful darkness to it. It is sweet yet there is this subtle flavor underneath that I am having a hard time to describe. It's not really spicy, but is a warmness that you can feel inside and taste in your mouth. What a wonderful feeling and calmness it creates. This is a wonderful tea and I suggest anyone who likes black/red tea to try it.
On a different note I am sorry I have not been posting as much. This was because sampling teas that I feel that I cannot blog about because they are frankly not my cup of tea. So I have an excess of Red Leaf Tea's products that I probably won't be drinking myself so let me know if you are interested in trying any. Also college applications had been taking up most of my time. Thankfully those are finished for now!

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.

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.