Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Loose Leaf Tea’

Here at Its All About The Leaf, we were recently contacted by Adagio – asking if we were interested in reviewing their new line of gourmet tea bags. Now, I have been following Charles Cain of Adagio on twitter, and on the tearetailer.com website, and on several occasions the issue of loose leaf tea vs. teabag has arisen. Often it is brought up by new “tea retailers” in a bit of a snobby attempt to differentiate themselves from other store-bought teabag companies. Claims of the non-teabag faction include:

- teabags contain only fannings – the tea “leftovers”
- the teabag interferes with the taste of the tea
- teabags are for old ladies and young children not hip middle agers
- only loose leaf tea will give you the full taste and experience of tea.

I have to admit, that at one time, I thought all of these things exactly. However, since starting this website, I have had a chance to review tea in all different forms and fashions, from teabag to loose, to dried, even baked in chocolate. And I have come to the conclusion – it is not the container the tea is in, it is the quality of tea.

And with that, I come back around to Adagios’ offering. This collection includes Jasmine Pearls, Silver Needle, Dragonwell, Wuyi Oolong, Golden Yunnan and Oolong Goddess. Each tea is packaged individually in a sealed wrapper, and in each wrapper is a teabag *GASP* containing just enough for one cup of tea. The tea bag its self is a good quality, pyramid teabag, allowing plenty of room for the tea to expand as it infuses.

Now, lets compare these teabags to the most popular claims by the anti-bag groups:

1. Teabags contain only fannings -> not here folks. The Jasmine Pearls for example, contained ACTUAL Jasmine Pearls – kind of a waste in my opinion, since it is such a high quality tea that’s neat to watch unfurl, but it is clear, that these are no fannings. The same goes with the rest of the teas – we are talking full leaf tea, not broken down old leaf.

2. The teabag interferes with the taste of the tea -> what are you, a supertaster? The fact is, 75% of people do not even have the capacity to tell the difference between good and bad tea, never mind to detect if a teabag interferes with a teas taste! I will tell you, I consider myself relatively picky with tea, that comes with the territory of drinking it daily and in great variety, and in not one single tea I had from this collection, could I taste the “teabag”.

3. Teabags are for old ladies and young children -> I am neither. Nor is my family, or friends. All of them mix teabags and loose leaf. Lets be real, how many old ladies do you know that will pay $19.00 for 30 bags of tea – not many I warrant. And kids? Rarely will they even do the buying. Lets just drop this myth entirely, it smacks of 50′s England, and I have never seen anyone in North America drink tea with a pinky out!

4. Only loose leaf tea will give you the full taste and experience of tea -> nope. That is plain old tea bigotry. Anyone who says this without qualification is either willfully ignorant, or is trying to sell you something. The reality is the quality of the TEA is what gives you the taste and experience – not the delivery mechanism. I have had loose leaf that is garbage, and teabags that sing (i.e. the Adagio Silver Needle in this collection) – it is about the tea folks, not the wrapper.

So – now that we have dispelled the myths, lets again, focus on this collection.

Jasmine Pearls – the taste is exactly what I would expect out of a good quality Jasmine tea. I enjoyed it very much, but the Pearls part is a bit of a waste since you cannot really see them unfurl. From a marketing point of view, I get it, but the same quality Jasmine tea would have accomplished the same experience. None the less – I loved it, it reminded me of my youth at home in the kitchen with my Grandmother!

Silver Needles – By far, I am a Silver Needle guy. No matter where I am, if Silver Needles are on the menu, I am buying/drinking/taking it home. I have had some stinkers, but this one is NOT! I loved every drop, and even got 3 good steepings out of it. There would have been more, but the teabag mysteriously disappeared in a whirl of kitchen cleaning…

Dragonwell – I am not a huge Dragonwell fan, but enough so that I know good green when I taste it, and again, this is it. Adagio has not skimped on the tea part of these teabags!

Wuyi Oolong – Oolong can be a lifelong study. There are so many kinds, from a greener Oolong to a dark, rich Oolong, to buttery light Oolongs. Wuyi is one of the more recognizable (see a pattern in this collection?) and is a good mid-range Oolong, appealing to a wider audience than say, a Formosa Oolong. It tasted… just as it should. No teabag flavours, no bitterness, just smooth, Oolongy goodness.

Golden Yunnan – a Chinese black “standard” – it is again, a good mid-range selection that appeals to a wide variety of palates. You get the boldness of a black tea, without the over-astringent flavours of a poor quality Black. I would have liked to see this replaced with a good Darjeeling or Assam, but to keep with the theme, it does work

Finally – Oolong Goddess. To be honest, I have not had a chance to try this out of the sampler, but I can assure you, that it will be a good example of this kind of Oolong, it will be fully leafed, and it will not suffer in the least for being presented in a teabag!

The Gourmet Tea Collections from Adagio are not meant for established, hard core loose leaf tea drinkers, nor are they meant to replace Adagios’ high quality loose leaf tea offerings. As Charles Cain has pointed out in the past, too many people are “scared” of loose leaf tea, I think because it has been made out to be too exclusive a club. These tea bag collections are intended to assist people in the transition of poor quality teabags, to loose leaf, being the intermediate step along the way. I think that they accomplish that admirably. High quality tea in a teabag is NOT a new concept, but the presentation of these in a retail environment like Adagio is doing will only serve to convert more people to good quality tea, and for that, Adagio gets kudos for a great effort, and I am looking forward to more collections just like this!

If you have gotten this far, you have probably formed your own opinion – and I am dying to know what it is! Leave me a comment, and I will reply to each and every one of them, pro-teabag or not, this website is about the everyday tea drinker – which you are! So let me know your thoughts!

You can purchase the Gourmet Tea Collection – Artisan Comfort directly from the Adagio website.

So, I’m a geek.  It took me a long time to accept it, but as I’ve been a medieval re-enactor since before I could drive, cut my teeth playing video games on my TRS-80 and used the campus role playing gaming groups as potential dating pools, it’s pretty clear.  I’m a geek.  In the last few years, I’ve accepted and embraced my geekiness.  Recently, as I was buying a Wampa Rug from ThinkGeek for my new home, I noticed their loose leaf tea sampler collection.  Tea?  On ThinkGeek?  SWEET.  I couldn’t help myself; I bought it.

The collection was created by Adiago, and includes four teas:

- Tea Earl Grey Hot (black tea with bergamot, choice of the best Starfleet captain)

- Timmy’s 1UP Jasmine Green (sweet and intoxicating like the feeling of having multiple lives)

- Zombie Blood Orange (caffeine-free herbal tea blend of blood orange and sour apple)

- Pirate Chai (spiced black tea guaranteed to fight off scurvy)

So, for you today, I have a four-for-one special.  Here are my reviews of the tea collection:

- First, I tried the Timmy’s 1UP Jasmine Green.    I’m a fan of jasmine, so I was quite curious about this tea.  Good looking leaf, but not highly fragrant.  On drinking, it shows itself to be a nice, fairly standard jasmine green.  A little heavy on the green.  The jasmine was not soapy (always a worry with jasmines) but didn’t quite have the sparkle or lively quality of other jasmines.  It was a little flat.  But in general,  a nice standard jasmine.  Quite drinkable.

- Zombie Blood Orange was the next sample on the menu.  For being an herbal, it’s got something in it that looks very like green tea leaves.  It’s also got some hibiscus – to give the blood color.  I’m not a hibiscus fan – it tastes bitter to me.  Definitely has orange peel.    But, it all comes down to the taste right?  It’s very hibiscus.  VERY hibiscus.   I think there’s orange in there somewhere.  I still don’t know what that green tea-leaf looking stuff actually is.  I don’t like this at all.  But as I said, I don’t like hibiscus.  This might be better iced and highly sweetened.  Otherwise, blea.  Not my cuppa at ALL.  Apparently I am NOT a zombie.

- To get the taste of the Zombie Blood Orange out my mouth, I decided to try the Pirate Chai next.  Oh!  This one smells amazing.  Heavy on the clove.  I love cloves, and I love spicy teas.  I’d like to do this in a traditional method, but as I’m sitting at work, I don’t have the necessary equipment.    Once I started drinking however, it seems it’s pretty much just a clove blend.  Maybe they were trying to make this like a Bay Rum style chai?  For me, a truly good chai needs the spicy heat of the cardamom and pepper which this tea is missing.  But, as a clove tea?  It’s a great clove tea!  In fact, my mouth is even getting slightly numb from the clove oil.. so you know it’s clove-y.

- Now, the final tea in the set: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot.  Mm.. takes me back to sitting around in Watson Hall, watching Star Trek: TNG with the Sci-Fi/Doctor Who club on Saturday nights.  (And reminds me of Whoopi Goldberg’s character’s stupid hats for some reason.)  The leaf of this tea smells VERY bergamot-y.  Brewed up, it’s a fairly solid Earl Grey.  Not too bergamot, not too strong.  My guess is that the replicators of Starfleet do a generic blend of the various types of Earl Grey. 

Overall, it’s a nice sampler.  I hope it’s placement on ThinkGeek helps others of the geeky persuasion find a new facet of their geekdom – being a Tea Geek.  Now, if I could only get a d20 teapot, life would be perfect!

You can purchase the Timmy’s Tea Sampler directly from the Think Geek website.

The Grace Tea Company originally hails from New York and was founded by one Frank Cho – a man deemed an experienced tea taster. The focus of the company has always been on bringing rare teas from many different areas to the palates of the public. In 2009, all operations were moved to Acton, MA., under the care of Elliot and Hartley E. Johnson – better known as the owners of the Mark T. Wendell Tea Company. I was so slow in realizing the connection I even commented how the websites looked similar. This is why I love “About Us” sections.

Grace’s Organic China White Fujian Silver Needle hails from – you guessed it – Fujian province. Also known as Bai Hao Yinzhen (White Hair Silver Needle), this white tea is made using the buds of the Dai Bai or “Large Leaf” varietal. Said buds are hand-rolled into needle-like shapes after a light fermentation process. The best whites are picked in the early spring; the more fuzz on the leaves, the younger and better they are.

I don’t consider myself an “expert” tea taster by any stretch, but I am quite familiar with Silver Needle whites. They were the first loose leaf tea I ever tried, and to this day remain one of my favorites. I’ve had good ones, fair ones, and wretched ones. Quality can usually be discerned on first whiff. This Silver Needle smelled of melons, lotus blossoms, cream and spice – absolutely wonderful. Also appealing were the leaves themselves, tightly-rolled and basking in their furry display.

Brewing instructions on the sample bag called for 1 tsp of leaves per cup (likely 8oz). Grace Tea instructed that water should be brought to a boil and then allowed cool for a minute. The actual steep recommended was one-and-a-half to two minutes. I didn’t like the temp instructions. Instead, I went with my usual approach of water heated to 165F and a steep of two-and-a-half minutes – same leaf measurements, though.

The liquor brewed up almost clear, save for a slight yellow tinge. The aroma was wonderfully fruity, faintly citrus-like with a grape-y lean. Any melon echo it had was gone, but that was okay. Flavor-wise, it lived up to how a Silver Needle should be – floral, creamy, fruity, slightly nutty, and no vegetal profile. This was just as impressive as the Silver Needle put out by Mark T. Wendell. A fabulous late-afternoon cup o’ subtlety. It made me feel like a Chinese aristocrat…even though I was wearing gym shorts at the time.

You can purchase the Organic China White Fujian Silver Needle directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

Product Description:
Golden Moon Tea delicately blends hand-plucked white loose leaf tea leaves and exquisite Yin Zhen buds with freshly dried ginger root to produce a sweet and enlivening cup. Ginger, treasured by traditional herbalists for its strengthening and digestive properties, lends a spicy and aromatic note to the clear infusion. White Ginger, delicate yet vibrant, serene yet sensuous, warming yet refreshing. Ingredients: White tea, ginger root

Tasters Review:
When I first sampled this I noticed many other reviews online from others that didn’t particularly like this. I, however, didn’t think it was all that bad. I don’t think I would purchase it for myself in large quantities but I gave it a little more credit than others seemed to have given it. This wasn’t very gingery – which is fine by me – I do know that White Ginger is supposed to be mellower than regular ginger – but I think this is regular ginger and it’s in white tea…so…perhaps the white tea toned down the heavier ginger flavor. Regardless – the ginger isn’t harsh. It’s a bit chewy for a white tea but the flavor overall isn’t very memorable. The taste of this flavored white is not bad…it’s just not what I would call stunning either! Perhaps people were looking for that stereotypical ginger taste – I guess I can understand their confusion because this flavor isn’t your typical ginger taste. I, however, am grateful it wasn’t overly gingery…that factor I will say I enjoyed about this offering.

You can purchase the White Ginger directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

Product Description:
Madagascar mixes rich black tea with slices of real vanilla bean to produce a deep flavor that incorporates notes of dark rum, sweet earth and tropical flowers. Both smooth and exotic, this loose leaf tea is great served with buttered toast as a special morning treat.

Tasters Review:
Although this one isn’t my favorite offering from Golden Moon I didn’t think Madagascar Vanilla was bad either. I did find some interesting traits and characteristics that I would like to share! First…the aroma! It smells nice both before, during, and after infusion. It ‘brews’ dark brown and is quite mellow in taste. I’m more of a “In Your Face” Bold and Black Tea Drinker for the first cup of the day and when I first sampled this it was my first cup of the day. I didn’t think it was overly strong but it makes a nice mid morning or afternoon flavored Black Tea. Overall it was an ‘alright cup’ but I was looking for something stronger for first thing in the morning. If you like a mellower black tea…this one might be right up your alley!

You can purchase the Madagascar directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.