It doesn’t happen very often these days, but I would say about once every couple o’ months, something catches my eye in an “ooo shiny!” fashion. Okay, okay, I do that a lot…but not AS often with tea. I have a list saved as a Gmail draft that I call my “Tea WANT!” list. On it are several orthodox (and some plain out-there) teas that I hope to try someday. At present, I’ve notched off half of it. Some of the more difficult things were more easily obtained than I thought.

What’s this got to do with Shang Tea? Well, I ran across their operation via a tea social network called Steepster. (Think Facebook for cuppers.) Someone was waxing poetic about this black tea blend they recently tried. What caught my “shiny!” gland was the mention of tangerine blossoms. In case it isn’t readily apparent, I’m a tangerine fiend – been addicted to ‘em ever since I was a wee tot. I never knew those damn fruit trees had blossoms to them. Had I known, I would’ve built a fort out of ‘em.

Shang Tea is an operation out of Kansas City, MO. Other than being another brick-n-mortar tea shop in a mall, they have another thing to their credit. They own their own high-altitude tea garden in Fujian province, China. Their specialty happens to be Silver Needle white tea, but they also play around with the same cultivar to make red (or black) tea. This fermented option was blended with tangerine blossoms.

I bought a sampler pack that included this, along with several other white teas and blends. Needless to say, I first tore open the Tangerine Blossom black. Almost like an addict, even. It smelled beyond superb. Along with the slightly smoky/earthy black tea base was a scent similar to jasmine flowers and citrus rind – sweet yet floral. The tea leaves themselves were thin and twisty; the blossoms looked like – well – blossoms. Very…uh…blossomy.

The brewing instructions they recommended were a tad confusing, especially the measurements for the tea leaves. I skipped theirs and went with my own prep – 1 heaping teaspoon of leaves in 8oz of 205F water for three minutes. A bit light, sure, but it seemed the wisest approach.

The liquor brewed to a color that I would call “oolong amber”. The liquid aroma echoed the semi-fermented tea comparison with a fruity/lightly-astringent nose. As for taste, this completely floored me. It began with a regular Dian Hong-ish forefront that was immediately followed up with a strong citrus lean in the middle. That tapered off into a honey-floral aftertaste that simply lingered. I could find no fault with this blend. At all. It was perfect. I’m only upset that I’m all out of it now.

You can purchase the Tangerine Blossom Red Tea directly from the Shang Tea website.

Pineapple bits, dried coconut and rose petals are dispersed throughout this rooibos blend. The dry smell is tropical without the woodsy smell that some rooibos teas exhibit.

5 minute infusion and the rose petals have unfurled. This particular blend is very drinkable with a sweetness that masks the rooibos. As I sip this tea, I can detect an almost orange flavor profile. Nice choice for late night tea sipping since rooibos is naturally caffeine free.

You can purchase the Tahiti Cream directly from the TeaFrog website.

I’m easily confused.  Especially when two conflicting rules butt up against each other.  So blends of black and green tea *definitely* confuse me.  Do I brew at high temps or low?  Risk scalding the green to get the black to brew up fully?  Or should you brew at the low temperature and risk a weak cuppa?

This meant playing with the parameters and seeing what worked best.  The lower temperature brew resulted in a more fruity/floral brew while the higher temperature brought out the tea more.  Both were flavorful cups that had some lovely fruity overtones.   My favorite was the lower temperature brew.  It had more floral and fruit notes and was definitely NOT a weak cup.  Either way, it was a lovely, light brown cup that was enjoyable to drink.

Nice, flavorful, and fruity. Yum.

You can purchase the 1001 Nights directly from the TeaFrog website.

Da.u.de samples always come in lovely tins with beautiful labels. Opening this tin an AMAZING scent washes over you. Dark fruit, sweet berries, and lovely sweet tones and floral high tones. I would wear this scent daily this scent as a perfume if I could. However, teas with amazing aromas such as this one always make me nervous – will the flavor live up to the aroma? Or will your tongue call your nose a liar?

I am happy to report that for this tea, your tongue will congratulate your nose on its taste and discretion.

Brewed up, the aroma continues and the deep ruby red tea looks rich and inviting. The flavors are sweet, fruity, and juicy with a base level of tartness. This is likely due to the hibiscus. I tend to detest hibiscus in herbal teas, but here it adds just the right base note for the other lighter flavors to use as a springboard, launching the entire blend into balance and harmony. I realize I’m likely mixing metaphors here, but the tea is just darned good.

I did slightly sweeten the brew, as I tend to like my herbals sweet, but this could be enjoyed unsweetened – it is sweet without needing to add anything.

This is a great blend. This would be perfect for evening drinking, or iced on a hot sunny afternoon.

Wow, what a delicious medley of fruit scents that is being held in the dry leaf of this rooibos blend. Sweet and juicy notes mix together with a slightly tart undertone. Steeped, it remains fruity in smell, with some nutty scents mixed in. The liquor is bright and clear and light red in colour.

For all the intense smells, the taste of this tea is very much muted. Regardless, it has an all-around fruity flavour that is strong, but does not overwhelm the taste of the rooibos. This alone was a welcome change from many other rooibos fruit blends I have tried. The tea also manages to keep the tartness to a minimum (again, very much appreciated).

I quite enjoyed the fact that the ingredients were so well balanced. None of them seemed to overwhelm the complete flavour of the tea, leading to a pleasingly blended finish. This was a great drinking experience, for which I give this tea an 80/100. I am really glad I tried this tea.

You can purchase the Skala directly from the Da-u-de website.

I like this one a lot better than I thought I would. Even tho it has 4 floral type ingredients it’s not overly flower-like.  It’s not that bitter/floral type taste that I sometimes get and am worried about.  The Black tea and the green tea along with the flavors all make sense and make it very enjoyable!  I think I would have this more than once in a blue moon.  The aroma of the dry blend was pleasant and floral but also fruity.  I didn’t really taste the fruity tones, but that may be why it wasn’t overly floral tasting.  Perhaps those fruity tones helps cancel the potential floral bitterness.  I’m not sure how TeaFrog made this happen but I am sure glad they did.  This one made it to my 85 percentile of good-solid teas!

You can purchase the 1001 Nights directly from the TeaFrog website.

What an incredible tea!   The aroma of the  dry tea leaves instantly transported me to an orange grove where the blossoms are sweet and the fruit is mature and ready to pick.   This orange grove also has some very “meadow-y” undertones which is one of the characteristic aromas of a good green tea.  I love an aromatic dry tea and I am always deeply curious as to what will become of the aroma when the tea is steeped.   The aroma typically transmogrifies under the alchemy of very hot water I have noticed.  This is a good phenomenon and means that the tea is multifaceted and opens itself up to complexity throughout its various stages from dry, to steeping, to being consumed.

I allowed the water to come to a boil and then I allowed it to cool down to approximately 175 degrees.  The tea had suddenly transformed!  No longer was I in an orange grove but I felt as if I were in the middle of a lemon grove where the trees were heavy with ripe citrus fruit and the grass was green and smelled freshly mown.  The orange aroma, however, had not gone away.  At this point it was deferring to the greater tartness of the lemons.   The taste, however, brought my back to the supremacy of the orange.    Because the ingredients include lemongrass and natural essential oils of rose, orange, lime, and tangerine, I am not surprised that the lemon made a strong secondary appearance because another ingredient is “lemon myrtle”.   I was not certain what the “lemon myrtle” is, but just spent some delightful time researching it.  It’s like lemon without the tartness and is used in a lot of Pacific cuisines.

This absolutely delightful tea seems to be more of a general “citrus” tea than a specifically orange blossom one. True, the orange provides the primary aroma for the dry tea, but the lemon sweetly dominates the wet aroma and the taste.  I might have named it “Sweet Lemon Organic Tea”.  It’s a  medley of citrus blends with the lemon taking the harmonic lead after an  orange overture.  I hope that my notes convey my general delight with this tea.   I absolutely plan to buy more.   I enjoyed it hot and think it will be a fantastic iced tea as well.   I also can see it as a soothing tea for a cold winter day; as a healing tea for any respiratory problems, and as a delightful tea for entertaining.  Rishi Tea Organic Orange Blossom will bring out the flavors of snacks sweet and savoury and will create a great atmosphere for a private conversation or a large party.  Just because this tea presents itself with a slightly confusing identity is no reason not to rush out and buy some.  If you like orange or lemon you will love this tea.

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website. ]]> http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1526/tea-review-rishi-tea-orange-blossom-take-3/feed/ 0 http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/448/tea-review-mighty-leaf-african-nectar/ http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/448/tea-review-mighty-leaf-african-nectar/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:57:16 +0000 Mike http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/?p=448

Category of Tea: Rooibos Tea Company: Mighty Leaf Tea (website) Ingredients: Rooibos leaves, natural tropical flavors, natural flavors, hibiscus flowers, rose petals, mallow blossoms, marigold flowers Vendor Suggested Preparation: 205 degree water, 1 tea pouch/cup, 5 minutes

I am a fan of Rooibos. I love all teas, but there is something about Rooibos that is more appealing to me. Perhaps it is my sweet tooth, which appreciates the natural sweetness of Rooibos, or perhaps it is because Rooibos tends to blend with so many “sweet” flavours such as Caramel and Vanilla. Whatever it is, I am a fan.

With that in the forefront of my mind, I brewed up a bag of the Mighty Leaf African Nectar. My teabag prejudice aside, Rooibos actually works well in a teabag because it is naturally a small leaf, and does not need a lot of room to expand.

I brewed the tea using my regular Rooibos methods, boiling water, steeped for 5-6 minutes. The smell was fantastic, and I could not wait to dive into it. The cup was a deep red color that I relate to good quality Rooibos.

Prevalent in the taste was a mango and vanilla combined with, but not overwhelming, Rooibos flavour, which is a sweetish, nutty flavour. I like it. I like it a lot! There is not much more to say on this tea, as I think the above speaks for it’s self. Sometimes Mighty Leaf has fallen down in taste for me, but in this case, it is a home run! I would recommend this tea to anyone who likes Rooibos, and to someone who wants to get an idea of what a flavoured Rooibos tea can be!

You can purchase Mighty Leaf African Nectar Loose Tea or Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea Pouches directly from their website.

Described as: “A profoundly flowery blend of select green teas, rare blossoms and aromatic lemon myrtle leaves”.

I was anxious to try this tea because I am a huge fan of lemon myrtle and it did not disappoint. It was difficult to wait the full three minutes for it to steep because the smell of the citrus and rose oils was so alluring. It brewed to a nice golden color, almost like liquid honey and tasted just as smooth. Lemon myrtle is sometimes overwhelming in a tea but this blend has just the right amount to perfectly compliment the taste of orange and the green tea. Couldn’t really pick out the lemon grass in the first steep but it came through in the second. A nice tangy aftertaste, refreshing and pleasant, with enough sweetness on it’s own. It went through three steeps perfectly and has earned a place at the front of my tea cabinet. Can’t wait to try this one iced…

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website. ]]> http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/363/tea-review-rishi-tea-orange-blossom-take-2/feed/ 0 http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/326/tea-review-rishi-tea-orange-blossom/ http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/326/tea-review-rishi-tea-orange-blossom/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:02:31 +0000 Melanie http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/?p=326

Category of Tea: Green Tea Company: Rishi (website) Ingredients: Organic and Fair Trade Certified green tea, Organic lemongrass, Organic osthmanthus flowers, Organic lemon myrtle, natural essential oils of orange, lime and tangerine. Vendor Suggested Preparation: Water: 180°F / Leaves: 1 tablespoon per 8 ounces / Infusion Time: 3–4 minutes.

Orange Blossom is a deliciously fragrant tea blend from Rishi Tea. Rishi describes it as “a refreshing and floral blend of green teas with sweetly-scented blossoms, lemongrass and tropical citrus fruits”. The listed ingredients are organic and fair trade certified green tea, organic lemongrass, organic osthmanthus flowers, organic lemon myrtle, natural essential oils of orange, lime and tangerine.

Out of the bag the tea seems to be more lemongrass than green tea leaf – a very pretty combination of light and dark green with a scattering of golden osthmanthus flowers. Not surprisingly, the scent is strongly citrus – the orange, lime and tangerine combination almost mimics bergamot; with a nice fruity undertone provided by the osthmanthus.

After brewing, the blend maintained it’s refreshing aroma and produced a nice amber cup of tea. I really couldn’t taste the green tea in this blend, but it had a very pleasant taste; the citrus flavors were mild and not too sharp, and the floral notes added a sweetness rather than a perfumed taste. The lemongrass did a nice job of softening and tying all of the flavors together; although I think that between the lemongrass and the lemon myrtle, someone who didn’t like the taste of lemon may not like this tea. The lemony scent and flavor was not overwhelming for my tastes, but I was expecting stronger notes of orange based on the name of the tea.

Organic Orange Blossom Tea is available for purchase as part of the Xuan En Yulu Organic Fair Trade Sample Set from Rishi Tea.

You can purchase Rishi Tea Orange Blossom directly from their website.