Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Filtered Water’

This being the first Tea Forte tea that I have tried in quite some time, I decided to go all out. I am using my Tea Forte Cafe Cup, Tea Forte Tea Tray, and the Tea Forte Tea Timer app for iPhone. The instructions, acquired from the application itself recommend 2-4 minutes of steep time. For a happy medium, I choose three, using just-under-boil filtered water.

I have a decent amount of experience with oolong teas. As this tea is steeping, I cannot help but wonder if the tea is being restricted from expansion by the pyramid in which it rests, as most oolongs like this one do a decent amount of unfurling while steeping.

The colour of the tea is a brownish yellow; the smells wafting from the cup are smooth, mellow, with perhaps a faint hint of spice. After a couple of small sips, I determine to put the pyramid back into the cup for another minute. The strength is okay but not quite as strong as I like. (If you like your oolongs light and mellow, three minutes will probably suffice.) Another minute, and it is back to tasting. Pleasantly, I can still taste the buttery aftertaste of those couple sips, with hints of vegetal flavour. The taste of this tea reminds me a lot of a Ti Kwan Yin.

In my opinion, four minutes was a prime amount of time for this tea. The flavours are much more full-bodied and literally burst in the mouth. There is a bit of vegetal bite on the sides of the tongue, as with a slightly-oversteeped green tea (like a gunpowder), but this is hardly noticeable, and probably due to my long steep time.

Overall I really enjoyed this tea. It was a very pleasant cuppa, and I do not think I have any complaints with it, other than a bit of lacking in the flavour department. I would perhaps be interested to know if this was due to the pyramid or the tea itself. 85/100 is what I would rate this tea on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase Tea Forte Silk Oolong directly from their website.

I like big chunky tea leaves and the Mark T. Wendell Formosa Keemun fits the bill. A fully oxidized black tea from Formosa (aka Taiwan) is unusual as Formosa typically produces the famously large-leaf fragrant oolong, a green tea. Taiwan is known for its superb tea industry and its workers handle tea with care and appreciation. Mark Wendell referred to this tea as “the burgundy of teas” boasting a mellow full-bodied brew with a superb bouquet. However, some reviewers say it’s too mild a tea . This black tea is typically served as a breakfast beverage so I can understand that a robust tea would be expected by some. A keemun would typically not be taken with milk or sugar and a light sponge cake would probably accompany this tea if served in Taiwan.

The dry leaf is cut and dried with a gentle curve. The pieces are about a 1/2 inch in length and thick, not wirey as you would expect from a mainland China Keemun. The colour of the leaves is not jet-black either. There is a silvery appearance reminding me of fermented Pu-erh tea. The scent of the dry leaf is a bit minty and bit chocolate and a bit floral.

The recommended preparation from Wendell is “1 rounded teaspoon and 1 for the pot. Steep for 4-5 minutes in 190-200 degF (88-93 degC) water”. The amount of water is not specified. So, I will use 2.5 grams in a pre-warmed 5 oz Gaiwan as my tasting measure with 200° F filtered water. I think 4 minutes would be best. The leaf is quite thick so a longer steep is needed. I would use the full 5 minutes if I were preparing a larger quantity (12 oz.) in a tea pot and I would keep it warm under a tea light. As a special note, I tried a heaping teaspoon (from my kitchenware) of the tea and weighed it. I was at 2.4 grams with my kitchen teaspoonful, almost bang-on. I tried a traditional kitchen measuring spoon ( 1 tsp.) and ended up with 1.8 grams, considerably less. So, you can see that if you’d end up with a lighter tea if you were too scientific about it.

On the examination of the wet leaves, I noted brown-leather coloured, fully opened leaves. There were some stems but generally a quality leaf was used. The leaf and stems were a bit dry on rehydration. This tea could go up to 5 minutes but has little more give after the first 4 minutes. There is a distinctive floral scent to the wet leaves to enjoy as well.

The liquor pours off clear and bright with a light amber-red colour. There is the scent of caramel and a slight malt note from the oxidization, similar to an Assam. With low astringency the natural sweetness comes out. There is a hint of smokiness. The liquor is full in the mouth, leaving a pleasant residual and minty-cool freshness in the mouth, almost like after brushing your teeth in the morning. I can see adding a tiny bit of lemon to pick up the brigntness. I tried the tea after an initial tasting with a blueberry bran muffin to see how it would stand up to additional sweetness and flavours. The tea tasted quickly like an orange pekoe, losing its sweet floral notes and leaving some astringency that seemed to now ask for milk.

My recommendation is to enjoy this tea mid-morning to early afternoon where you are not expecting robustness. While it would be best to drink this tea solo, try serving the Formosa Keemun with light fruits such as melons or pears as the tea will not stand up to strong flavours. I don’t think its meant to be. I can see Mark Wendell sitting in his office sipping this tea while working on his business papers. Light and mild, this tea would not distract his attention. What a contrast from his dearly loved smoked Lapsang Souchong Hua-Kwa tea!

You can purchase the Formosa Keemun directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

This tea? This tea moved me to buy a tea scale.

I’ve known for a while that if you really want to get serious about making sure you’re able to get good, repeatable results from your tea that you need to watch all your parameters. But I hadn’t bothered to get a scale, until I met this tea.

I got the package, and thought, meh- I can just wing it. So I did. And the tea was awesome. And then my brain finally kicked it and thought – hey, if you can get awesome tea by winging it – what would happen if you actually did it 100% right?? I ordered a scale 5 minutes later.

The dry leaf is very silvery, the large needles are covered with that silvery down that gives this style of tea it’s name. In aroma, it’s got a lot of hay overtones – like summer fields. The liquor is a very light yellow once brewed, with only traces of summer fields. But – the flavor on this tea is where it really shines. It’s got a rich, silky feel in your mouth, and a flavor of newly mown hay and just a hint of honeysuckle for a delicate sweet note on the finish. This is light and clear – not a tea to be drunk with a heavy meal, but a tea to be savored on it’s own or maybe with light fruit. It has almost no astringency, but the very little it does have just invites you to sip more.

Delicate yet rich; smooth and clear. This is an amazing example of a silver needle.

You can purchase TeaGschwendner China Yin Zhen Silver Needle directly from their website.

These leaves are beautiful. I was surprised at how large the coconut shavings were. These were no ordinary shavings used in baking coconut, no not in this tea! This tea brewed up a beautiful lemon lime green. The aroma is very coconutty with a bit of citrus sneaking in as well. It reminds me of Harney and Sons Bangkok Green tea (minus the ginger). There is almost a buttery note to the scent as well.

As far as the taste goes, it is a lightly flavored, buttery green tea. I taste the bright, citrusy lime in the forefront, then the buttery green base with a hint of coconut at the end. The coconut is very strong in scent and as I sip it I get more from the scent of the coconut than the taste of the coconut. Does coconut make the tea taste buttery and smooth, or is that the actual tea itself? This texture I’m tasting was similar in the Harney and Sons tea mentioned above, which also had coconut in it. I do like how smooth this blend is. Nothing stands out too sharply. I really enjoy the lime flavor in this tea. It doesn’t overpower the green tea, but blends with it rather nicely. I’m glad to have enjoyed a mug full of this.

You can purchase the Lime in the Coconut directly from the California Tea House website.

I was really excited to try this tea because it was my first of this type and my first tea from this company. I’ve never come across a Japanese green that I didn’t enjoy, so I was really hoping to love this also.

The leaves of this tea are quite thin and long with various shades of green from jade to emerald. The smell from the package was much like fresh cut grass, very clean and fresh.

The first time I brewed this tea, I let it steep for around 2 minutes with not-quite-boiling water. At first, it was pretty decent. It was nicely sweet with a taste of the honeydew melon promised on the package. There was a definite grassy aftertaste which wasn’t off-putting, but slightly grassier than other green teas I’ve had. Uh oh. As the tea began to cool, the sweet taste of honeydew disappeared and was replaced by a very strong, unpleasant grass stew.

Okay, I was a bit disappointed after this first tasting so I researched Gyokuro and realized that it is a quite sensitive tea when it comes to temperature. I tried the tea again, but this time I poured the water over the leaves when it just started to steam. Well before even the smallest bubbles formed. I also reduced the steeping time to slightly over one minute. Success!! I was surprised with a nicely sweet brew of a beautiful bright yellow hue. The honeydew melon had taken the lead and the slight grassiness served to balance out the flavors nicely. The flavor stays on the sweet side if you drink this while hot. I wouldn’t suggest letting this cool too much, unless of course you want to drink a cup of warm cut grass. This tea was quite good through two infusions when paying attention to the temperature of the water.

I cold-brewed the last of my sample and it really mellowed out the grassy aftertaste. The honeydew melon flavor was juicy and lovely. Truly delicious. If I ever come across this type of tea again, I will be cold-brewing it for sure.

I can see the allure of this tea as it was the most unique green tea I have had so far. However, since it is so temperamental, I can’t see myself drinking this on a regular basis. Overall, if you enjoy Japanese greens, you have to try this at least once. Just make sure to pay attention to the water temperature! (Or just cold-brew it!)

You can purchase the Japan Gyokuro directly from the TeaGschwendner website.