Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Astringency’

I discovered upon opening the package that the leaves of this tea were considerably larger and more ‘whole’ than the leaves of the First Flush from Goomtee Estate that I also sampled from this same company. These leaves were an interesting and attractive-looking mix of dark green and silver, almost as though they were the buds of a silver needle white tea rather than a black tea. But then supposedly Darjeeling teas get fermented less than most blacks, so it makes sense, I guess.

The smell was sweet and hay-like with some floral notes, though brewed it took on a toastier aroma. It had a more typical Darjeeling flavour than the Goomtee first flush did – resplendent with muscatel flavours, though with considerably less of the drying astringency you’d taste in a later-picked Darjeeling. It was sweeter too, which becomes more noticeable as the tea cooled, and it had a nice, full flavour that lingered in the mouth and kept me from forgetting about it. As it cooled it also took on some fruity characteristics, with an interesting nutty undertone.

Of the two First Flush Darjeelings I’ve tasted now I think this one is my favorite of the two, although in my opinion both are excellent, complex, and interesting teas.

I gave this a Steepster rating of 87/100.

You can find Lochan Teas directly from the Lochan Tea website.

OMG. I am so glad I choose this tea for my samples this round.

The smell in the tea is peachy. The leaves are a beautiful blend of black and green and some flower parts…the flower parts…I am usually not a fan of flowers in my tea, BUT this is over the top wonderful.

The peach comes through both dry and brewed. The black and green tea leaves are in perfect harmony together. There is astringency, but you don’t notice until you finish the entire teapot of tea, then the astringency sets in. The tea tastes so good that I may just have to get used to the dryness of my mouth.

I was able to get 2 flushes from two tsp of leaves brewed up in my trustworthy yellow Chatsford Teapot.

Love this tea

You can purchase the Geisha Beauty directly from the Sanctuary T website.

Canton Tea was nice enough to send a box of tea infused chocolates as a thank you, and wow, what a thank you it is!

It seems almost daily that there are more and more tea infused chocolates, chocolate bars and other treats available. To date, I have only tried a couple of tea infused chocolate bars, and what they are lacking is the purity of taste. To me, if you are going to mix chocolate and tea, you need to highlight the best of both, and not overwhelm with one or the other. This is where the chocolates that Canton Tea sent me really excel.

These chocolates are made by hand, by Katie Christoffers in the UK. The name of her company is Matcha Chocolat. Her chocolates are made with only high quality chocolate from France, and fresh, high quality teas and other ingredients. Canton Tea has partnered with Katie, and is offering a box of her chocolates in their Tea and Chocolate Gift Pack – and now is the time to get it! Matcha Chocolat does not ship outside of the UK – but Canton Tea does

On to the chocolates. The box contained 3 Mint & Green Tea, 3 Jasmine Pearl, 3 Earl Grey, 3 Matcha and 4 Masala Chai Caramel hearts. I will go through each of the briefly.

Mint and Green Tea: I am a big fan of mint, and this does not disappoint. There is a nice minty freshness, with a bit of background Green Tea, there but not there, with a wonderfully smooth chocolate flavour. Think After Eight with a touch of seaweed (in a nice way, not nasty

Jasmine Pearls: This combines my two favorite comfort flavours – Jasmine and White Chocolate. Not at all flowery, it is just perfect. As the chocolate melts I can feel the tension flowing out of my body. No sharing this one!

Earl Grey: EG is not my favorite tea (something about the bergamot), however, blended with a nice dark chocolate shell and chocolate ganash, these work together to create a creamy taste with a hint of astringency, both from the Earl Grey and Dark Chocolate – pleasant, if a bit heavy in the mouth for my tastes.

Masala Chai Caramels: Milk chocolate, and Masala Chai infused Caramel – uhh, yum? So far, every spicy tea infused chocolate I have enjoyed, it is not jump out at you O M G I cannot believe it, but rather a more curious, “hmm, I like this, I just don’t know why” kind of feeling. Tasty!

Matcha: I have mixed feelings on this. First of all, the chocolate is divine. I am however, having a very hard time picking up much in the way of Matcha. Matcha is generally bitter, with the edge taken off by sweets. I am “feeling” the Matcha, but not really “tasting” it. It is not bad, just not, well, what I expected. Not my favorite, would pass on this one personally.

Overall, this box of sweets is a must not miss! Thus far it is my favorite box of tea infused chocolates. You can taste the tea in the chocolate, but are not overwhelmed by either – they blend smoothly and leave you with pleasant afterglow.

Lets not forget, that when you purchase this Tea and Chocolate Gift Pack, you also get a sample set of teas! Canton Tea includes their Dragon Well Green Tea, Green Tea with Mint, Superior Earl Grey, Jasmine Pearls, and Bai Lin Gong Fu Black Tea. This is a deal that you juat cannot pass up!

Oh, and if you are not a fan of Jasmine, my address is available for you to send me your Jasmine Pearls Chocolate – I promise it will be WELL enjoyed! Thanks Canton Tea for providing me with the opportunity to taste these chocolates!

You can purchase the Tea and Chocolate Gift Pack directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

This Assam Reserve tea was a World Tea Champion in 2009 and was manufactured for SpecialTea Brew of Redmond, Washington. The 5.6 gram sample shows a golden tippy, beautifully curled and twisted loose leaf Assam. For a black tea, the leaf is large and typical of a good whole leaf black Indian tea. I can imagine what the panellists were expecting. I am expecting a mellow malt, dense texture and malty cup of dark brew.

I checked the SpecialTea Brew site but there was no further information given about this award winning tea. Usually when a tea manufacturer calls the tea “Reserve” it is for a reason. There is some special characteristic about the tea that is put aside and is in limited quantities and is usually set at as a premium tea on the market due to its rarity. Too bad we don’t know more about this tea. I’m assuming this is a newly started business and is still under development. So, let’s see what the tea has to offer.

For tasting, I used 2.5 grams in 5 oz for 3 minutes. Following traditional preparation for an assam tea, use one teaspoon per person (approximately 2.grams) in a teapot with 8oz.boiling water over it and steep for 3- 4 minutes.

The tea was clear and bright, not dense with spicy nutmeg notes. With a low astringency or low briskness, the natural sweetness carries well in a full liquor. The malt flavours held true even with added milk. I was thinking of the hot Ovaltine drink and memories of my childhood came back. I found the tea complex with many malt notes to explore. There was something comforting and yet invigorating about the tea. Most remarkable is the malt flavouring in a bright clear cup. That takes a lot of skill. Please try this tea if you like different assams as it is very elegant as assam usually know for more robust qualities. Maybe the lighter tone of the tea is a new direction for Assam.

You can purchase the Assam Reserve directly from the SpecialTea Brew website.

These tea leaves are awesome. They look like they’ve been pressed in a book like wildflowers. Flat spiky leaves that smells delightfully like something like I’d like to have as a vegetable side dish with my dinner; well spiced green vegetables. Almost reminiscent of green beans. Once brewed up, the spicy green bean scent is enhanced tenfold.

The tea is very light colored, and as mentioned very, very fragrant. It’s both savory and sweet with hints of nuts and grass. The cup does leave some astringency to it, but just enough to make you want to drink more. Green teas can run the gambit of so tannic they make you pucker more than lemons all the way to spring water. This tea is slightly tannic but nowhere near the lemon end of the continuum.

This is a very enjoyable cup of tea – light, flavorful, fragrant, and just plain yummy.

You can purchase the Dragon Well Green Tea | Shi Feng Long Jing directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 10% right now when you use the code IIATL at checkout!.