Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Four Minutes’

The first thing I noticed when I went to drink this tea were the directions on the side of the sample package I had. They said to empty the contents of the package into eight ounces of water and steep for three to four minutes. I have to raise issue with this as there is enough leaf in the sample package to satisfy an eight cup teapot at three to four minute steepings. That being said, I chose to not follow the directions and instead used about half a teaspoon of leaf in my small gaiwan (six ounces or so).

Boil water, rinse the leaves, steep for thirty seconds, pour into the fairness cup, serve. Repeat. I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. Based on past experiences with coconut flavoured teas, including other companies’ coconut oolongs, I did not have high expectations. In general, it seems that most companies take a mediocre oolong or black tea and douse it in artificial coconut flavouring. This one, on the other hand, got it right. The initial taste is of oolong. Plain and simple. But then the flavour of coconut kicks in, and it does not taste fake! Rather, it tastes a bit like coconut oil, and provides and delightfully sweet aftertaste.

I enjoyed this tea very much. On my personal enjoyment scale, I give it an 85/100 and would definitely recommend it to lovers of coconut flavoured tea.

You can purchase the Coconut Oolong directly from the Rishi Tea website.

One of the perks of being married 25 years come September is the marital right to stick just about anything under your spouse’s nose and say, “Smell that!” without getting clobbered. In the case of nice tea from India, the response was “Wow! There’s something clove-y going on, isn’t there?”

While neither of us have a professionally trained tea nose, we did pick up some nice spicy, fruity notes in the dark dry tea. I suspect it has something to do with the area in which Banaspaty tea is grown — evidently the perfect greenhouse environment for teas.

The fruity tones come through loud and clear when this tea is brewed. Because I prefer my Assams on the meatier side, I let it steep a full four minutes before a taste test. Assam Banaspaty has the nice thick heft you’d expect from an Assam tea, but was surprisingly mild in flavor. While I don’t think milk and sweetener would harm this gentle brew, it certainly doesn’t need to be toned down any.  This would be a good introductory selection for someone new to the world of fine loose leaf tea.

You can purchase the Assam Banaspaty Organic directly from the TeaFrog website.

Black tea with Madagascar vanilla and coconut slivers? hmm, hmm, hmm. Now we’re talking. The dry tea pyramid smells fantastic, can’t really make out the coconut smell, reminds me more of hazelnut for some reason.

Steeped for four minutes in boiling water. Can smell the coconut and vanilla now and it’s killing me to have to wait for it to cool (debating whether or not it’s worth the risk of a burnt tongue). Decided to wait – last two minutes. This yum in a cup. Rich and full bodied, smooth with a coconut twist, and sweet enough on it’s own.

Made it through three steeps with this one before it fizzled out. Ripping the pyramid bag open with the next one, thinking I might get one more good infusion out of it if the leaves are loose.

You can purchase the Orchid Vanilla directly from the Tea Forte website.

My first reaction to this tea was that it smells very sweet and a lot like potpouri! The scent of roses blends nicely with the fruity smell of mango and the sharp scent of jasmine.

After four minutes of steeping, the previously strong aroma really mellows out to a pleasing blend of primarily jasmine and mango scents. My first sip seemed to be entirely roses, followed by hints of tropical fruit and some jasmine. Quite pleasant, if not a bit much in the way of flowers. Taking a bigger swallow, a myriad of flowers and the mango taste flooded my mouth, though everything seemed to be tinged with the flavour of roses. There really is not much taste of rooibos in this tea, as it is overwhelmed by all the other tastes…and it really is okay. I see no problem with that (excepting that one of those tastes is sadly not rooibos).

To be quite honest, I cannot say this is something that would have caught my eye and held my attention if I had seen it in a tea shop. Perhaps it would have required a second glance at the ingredients and at the tea itself, as it is very attractive, and unique looking, both in the dry leaf and in the list of ingredients. It is tasty, the flavour is quite pleasant, and I believe it is a tea that some will very much enjoy. As for myself, I give it a 75/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Xaouen directly from the 52teas website.

This is another tea that I’ve been enjoying for ages and appreciating more with each cup, but keep forgetting to review.  It’s poor man’s tea, rumored to have been created out of necessity during a time of tea rations… it makes me feel rich. Genmaicha, roughly translated, means brown rice tea in Japanese, and this one is absolutely the best I’ve ever had.

The dry tea looks a little odd (and gets some odd looks when people see me making it) but I’m happy to explain what it is and to refer people to TeaFrog to get their own.  The Sencha is delicate, like tiny needles, and a smooth dark green color when it’s dry.  The dry rice looks like puffed brown rice – not sure how else to describe it.  Can’t really smell the rice when it’s dry but the Sencha smells grassy and fresh.

Steeped it for four minutes in boiling water and it brews up really clean but with a bit of dust from the rice. Smells like roasted popcorn with a bizarre twist of fresh cut grass.  Tastes like smooth and buttery popcorn but still light and refreshing like you’d expect from a Sencha.  This is one of my favorite daytime teas, especially when I’m running late in the morning (most days).  It’s strangely filling yet light, hard to describe exactly (guess that’s why I’ve struggled to review it).

This Genmaicha should be a staple in everyone’s cupboard, wouldn’t (and haven’t) hesitated to recommend it.

You can purchase the Genmaicha Organic directly from the TeaFrog website.