Keemun is a variety of Chinese black tea, possibly China’s most famous.   The region centered around the town of Qimen, between the Yangtze and the Yellow mountains, produces mostly black tea.   Keemun used to be a component leaf in many traditional English Breakfast blends.  It contributed a smoky, rich character, while not imparting much bitterness.   Economics and politics led to most English blends toi use Indian and African sourced teas.  In China, Keemun is drank unadulterated, but also serves as a basis for a mid morning “milk tea” common in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

This Keemun from Adagio Teas, is a Mao Feng style tea.  Mao Feng denotes a tea that is picked with a bud set and two leafs of equal length – and is the preferred pick of most good quality teas.    Long thin. rolled & twisted black leaf, with a good amount of lighter tips, with a spicy aroma.  As it is a black, it is a one -steep tea:  1tsp/3g tea per 6oz water @ 205 F for 5 minutes. (Adagio recommends 212F, but I like letting the water cool a bit so as not to blast or scorch the flavor).   Bright & clear brown with a bit or orange in the cup.  Faint aroma of dark chocolate, with a hint of spice.  A light sweet flavor, with suggestions of cocoa, moderate body and almost no astringency.  Wet leaf shows the two leafs and a bud, brown in color, with a nice chocolate and spice aroma.  

It doesn’t have the smokiness I associate with Hao Ya Keemuns.   The Mao Feng is the first pick, and its emphasis is on the subtle flavors of the bud set.   Hao Ya is second pick, the pickings are separated by a matter of 7-10 days.  Both teas are finished in the same way.  It is amazing the difference in tastes of the teas produced.

This is a very good Keemun, very smooth and inviting.  This is the highest grade of the three Keemun’s Adagio offers, and it shows.   

You can purchase the Keemun Rhapsody directly from the Adagio website.

This oolong from Canton Tea, hailing from the Wu Dong Mountain, Chao Zhou / Guan Dong, China. Yu Lan is associated with magnolias, and Dan Cong indicates a tea picked from a single bush. (There is some controversy in the Tea world about “single bush” vs another interpretation of the word as ‘single trunk’, a sub varietal in which tea trees uncommonly branch off a larger single trunk.  Oolongs need about 8-10kg of fresh leaves to produce 1kg of finished tea – which makes it unlikely that any tea commercially available in the west is sourced from a single tree and can be affordable.    This is uber-tea geek silliness , and all I really know is if someone offers me a Dan Cong, I say as graciously and politely as possible – “YES! PLEASE!”)

This Yu Lan is a long, twisted leaf with golden tips and olive and blacks – indicative of a moderate to high level of oxidation (40-60%) associated with this region and style.   The dry leaf has a very inviting floral nose, with a hint of stone fruit.  This is a physically big, good looking leaf, and with this type of oolong, I recommend weighing the portions. 

Brewed 3g of tea in 6oz water at 185F for 3 minutes in my oolong Xing teapot.   There is an excellent floral nose with strong notes of apricot or peach.  Clear bright yellow orange in the cup, with a bright taste of flowery stone fruit.  Refreshing mouth feel, with just the right amount of dryness, and a pleasant sweet aftertaste.  Both the aroma and aftertaste stay with you.

2nd infusion at 190F for 3:30 -  this is a very nuanced cup, the aroma and taste become more balanced, more satisfying.  This is the best infusion. 

3rd infusion at 190F for 4 min. – The aroma remains pronounced, and the taste is not unpleasantly faded.  There is a good dryness to this infusion.

The wet leaf opens to a full whole shape, with a excellent musky green smell and even olive green color, consistant with a high quality tea.

This teas leaves one fulfilled, content.  It is perfectly suited to a quiet conversation with a friend, or some contemplation.   Canton Tea’s YuLan Dancong is a very high quality tea and an excellent experience, that I recommend.

You can purchase the Yu Lan Dan Cong directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

White teas are generally early spring pick, young growth leaf, that are picked early in the day.  They are delicately handled, to ensure the leaf is not damaged, and sun dried for short periods, and are minimally oxidized. White teas have very delicate aromas and taste, and need some patience to prepare and appreciate.

This white tea has a classic big leaf with round tight shape.  The leaf is covered with silvery fluffy down, and has a mild sweet aroma.This fluffy down is indicative of proper processing and high quality.  (And proper storage and handling by the vendor.)

The down begs a choice: some classic tea masters advise a very quick rinse with at temperature water prior to brewing, others advise against it. I am going to forgo the rinse – it is purely about cosmetics in this case, to wash away any loose down, so it does not float in the cup.

There are also two schools of thought as to the brewing temperature. Classically, whites are brewed with “warm” water in the 155F-170F range.  Some modern masters advise “very warm’ water in the 170F-180F range, but very short steeps.  My view is that this is a high quality tea, and I will stick with the classic thought which is consistent with the vendors suggestion of 75C/about 165F.

Brewed 1 TBLS of tea (about 5g) in 6oz water @ 168F for 2 minutes in my for green Xing pot. Pale golden in the cup, like a Chablis wine – with a very very small amount of the down floating on the surface.  There is a very delicate aroma of chestnut, with a hint of sweetness.  Dry, refreshing taste, just a small amount of astringency, with a hint of mellon in the aftertaste.

Plump wet leaves unfurl to the classic two leaf shape expected.  These are good looking leaves.

2nd Steep @ 168F for 2:30.  Creamy, smooth on the tongue, more astringency.  This is a most satisfying cup. The flavors are not prominent, more expressions of sweetness, dryness. 

3rd Steep @ 170F for 3:00.  Aroma almost gone, and the flavors an afterimage, but still nicely refreshing.

This is an excellent, high quality, satisfying, white tea.  It is worth the attention to detail it demands.

You can purchase the Silver Needle – Bai Hao Yin Zhen directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

This Taiwanese tea is actually an Oolong, not a green, though I can understand the purveyor classifying it as green.   Oolongs are fermented between 20%-80% of their total sugars.   The ones on the low end of the scale are very flowery in nose, very delicate in taste, and very light in leaf color. These oolongs are sometimes referred to as green oolongs, and tend to need to be steeped at lower temps (below 180F)  The ones on the high end – think Da Hong Pao (Red Robe) – tend to be more robust in taste, aroma, and darker in leaf, tend to be steeped in the 180-200F range.  

The tea is a dark jade green leaf, twisted and furled, with a inviting perfume smell,  The leafs are  quite long, common with well processed Pouchong.

1st Steep: 1 TBLS tea (3g) in 6oz water @ 175F for 3 min in my oolong xing pot.  Yellow and bright in the cup, with a nice floral perfume nose.  Excellent sweet “oolong perfume” taste, and a dryness that is much like a green tea.  A touch of that savoriness in the aftertaste that lingers.

Wet leaf is well shaped, long and broad, with a good musky smell.

2nd Steep:  4 Min @ 180 F.  The aroma is much more balanced, with suggestions of Peonies, very pleasant.   The taste has mellowed to a very distinct flower presence, with hints of butteriness, that I associate with Taiwanese Oolongs.  The aroma and taste linger well after.  This steep is the best.

I got two more good steeps from this leaf,   This is a satisfying, refreshing, bright tea, of excellent quality.

You can purchase the Pouchong directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

Ahhh, Moroccan Mint tea! You are either an otherworldly refreshing, soothing treat, or a musty, nasty muddle. The bad ones tend to be old stale pre pack tea sold in ethnic stores, over brewed, with boiling water. This results in a nasty, bitter, musty, medicinal cup. The best are fresh and light, invigorating and restoring. These teas are a blend of dried mint and green tea – usually peppermint or spearmint mixed with Imperial gunpowder or other chinese green. Usually served with sugar or honey, these teas are great hot or cold.

This tea, from those great folks at Rishi Tea, is a mix of peppermint, green tea, and jasmine flowers. The un-steeped tea has a strong peppermint aroma, with some sweetness contributed by the jasmine. Good green leaf tea and nice sized mint pieces with a good amount of jasmine flowers.

Brewing: 1.5tsp (3g) tea per 8oz water in my small glass teapot, 195F water for 4 minutes. Excellent mint nose, with a flowery note, golden in cup. Strong mint taste, with just a bit of dryness, and a sweet aftertaste. Light on the tongue, and not overpowering.

My next cup I added about a teaspoon of sugar, and this really brightened the flavors and aroma, and made the mouth feel a little more substantial. The peppermint flavor is just moderated a touch by the jasmine. This tea steeped twice, the second was a pleasant – I think do to the strong nature of the mint. 3 steep was bitter, I think the green got washed out.

This is what I expect from Rishi, and excellent example of a tea. Very good in the evenings, when you want to moderate the caffeine. Or on a hot afternoon – either hot or iced. (I think this cold also be an excellent tea for cold brewing.) If you are looking for something different, this is well worth the try.

You can purchase Rishi Teas Moroccan Mint, Organic Fair Trade Green Tea directly from their website.

Oolongs come from primarily 3 regions Fujian & Guandong provinces PRC, and Tiawan. The mainland oolongs tend to have a savoriness to them – some describe this as a buttery feel. The Taiwan produced Oolongs, tend to be more delicate, and have a sweetness to them. Oolongs are teas that undergo a fermentation step during their processing. This process converts between 10% and 80% of the available sugars in the leaf, which produce the unique flavor and aroma characteristics of oolongs. These are some of the most complex, most inviting teas produced anywhere.

This Formosa Oolong Finest from Teafrog is a great example of a Taiwanese Oolong. Short reddish-black leaves with a faintly sweet aroma, with some broken leaf.

1St Steep: 3g (2tsp) tea in 6oz of 190F water, in my for Oolong Xing teapot for 4 minutes. Bright brown in cup, with a pleasantly strong spicy/perfume nose expected from Taiwanese Oolong. Spice with a bit of citrus sourness to the taste, with a nice smooth mouthfeel. The astringency is balanced and the dry aftertaste lingers.

Wet leaf shows good leaf shape, short leaf with a brown green color, and a musky smell.

2nd Steep (190F for 4.5 min) – Still a good spicy aroma, flavor much more balanced, and a slight sweetness to it. There is a bit more dryness to the aftertaste. This is a refreshing cup.

This is an excellent, every day Oolong. If you are looking for a Oolong to try, this is a good one to start with.

You can purchase the Formosa Oolong Finest directly from the TeaFrog website.

Roasted teas are interesting.  As a step during the finishing,  they are roasted in a manner similar to roasting coffee beans for a short period. This imparts a “nutty’ or “toasted” flavor and scent.  (Green teas are usually withered by steam, stir frying (think of a huge wok), or occasionally roasting. Green Needles (Lu Zhen) is a spring harvest (Qing Ming) tea, that is noted as a very brisk and strong tea, unusually so for a green.  Roasted teas are sometimes recommended for people trying to move away from coffee.

This tea from the great folks at Rishi, shows a long pine needle shape with a slight curl and whites tips on dark green.  There is a fresh, sweet smell to the dry tea.

2.5 tsp (about 6g) tea in 6 oz water @180F in my green Xing for 3 minutes. Tan with hints of red in the cup, with a brothy, nutty nose with a hint of toasted nuts. Nutty, complex, big flavor with a big astringency and a lingering dryness.

This is a very big green tea!  My first pass at this tea caught me off guard – much larger personality than the usual greens I drink.

Wet leaves unfold to a leaf and a bud shape expected from this type of tea.  Leaf is consistent in size and shape, with almost no broken leaf.  A mark of quality I expect from Rishi.

2nd Infusion 185F for 4 min. Nose more typical green, with more roasted nuances, taste nutty and dry.  I got 2 more infusions out of this @5 minutes before it washed out.

Wow, this is a big, strong, green tea. This is not the soft, introspective kind of green. This is a strong, energizing tea – reminds me of the energizing effect of Yerba Mate – with a good bold, robust flavor. This is a  green for first thing in the morning to get you up and running, or any time you need a pick me up.

You can purchase Rishi Teas Organic Green Needles (Lu Zhen) Roasted directly from their website.

This green tea is also known as “precious eyebrows” due to its descriptive leaf shape. The rolled leaf is delicate, and boasts shades of dark jade green.  A slightly sweet smell to the very small, uniform leaf size, indicative of good finishing and quality tea.

Brewed 3g (1tsp) tea in 6oz water @170F for 2 min in my for green Xing teapot. Bright yellow Spicy nose with sweet notes. Warm, soothing mouth feel, with honey accents, and a spicy dry aftertaste.

Wet leaf has a nice musky aroma, and the leaf opens to a consistent size and shape.

2nd Infusion 2:30 @ 175F. More general sweet nose, less honey in taste, but overall a more subtle and nuanced cup. Smoother, drier finish.

This is an excellent green tea – it leaves one refreshed, brightened, like good green tea should.

You can purchase the Chun Mee directly from the TeaFrog website.

If there is one single tea China is known for it is the green teas produced around the Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. (Just south of Shanghai.) These teas from gardens in the Xi Hu (West Lake),Mi Jia Wu (Mi Family Valley), Long Jing (Dragon Well), and Shi Feng (Lion Peak) districts are what most westerners know as ‘green tea’. Today, cousins of these greens are grown in various parts of china, but the best are from this region.

This is the everyday tea of most Chinese households – it comes in many different grades from most common (cheap) to Imperial Tribute (extremely rare and expensive). It is consumed in great quantities by the masses, and is found in virtually every home and tea house.  Long Jing (sometimes Long Ching or Lung Ching) is a great entry into green chinese teas. Picked in the early spring, these leaves are hand shaped and tend to have a spear head or “sparrows tongue” shape.  The traditional characteristics of the style are the leaf shape, a bright green liquor in the cup, a fresh taste with a little dryness in the after, and a delicate flowery nose.

This specific tea is a Special Grade Long Jing Ten Ren Teas (the less unbroken leaves the better the grade – this one has very little broken leaf.) It is equivalent to a better tea served in a better tea house in China. It is a vivid spectrum of green and jade, and the leaf is long and uniform. Unsteeped it has a very earthy vegetative smell.

Brewed in my green xing teapot, 2 tsp (3g) of tea, infused in 6oz of water at 160F for 2 minutes. ( If you are brewing this in a normal tea pot, 2 tsp tea per 8oz of water, plus 1 extra tsp “for the pot”.) Bright light Jade in the cup, with a green fresh vegetation nose. Taste of chestnuts, with a touch of astringency and a good mouthfeel. The great thing about this green, and most greens is they can be re steeped multiple times – I use a little hotter water – 165f and add about 15-20 seconds, and got 4 more decent steeps. The aromas fade and the flavors as well with each, but it is still a nuanced cup. This is an all day every day good drinking tea – and if you are new to greens, I would recommend trying some.

You can purchase the directly from the Ten Ren website.