Today I’m trying some Melon from Golden Moon Teas and I can’t wait. I love white tea and I love melons, sounds like a good match.

Opened the sample and was surprised by how little was in it. The directions only say how long to steep it and how hot the water should be, doesn’t tell me how many cups this sample is meant to make. Looks like about two teaspoons of tea in the packet. Going to try for two cups…

Opened the pouch and the dry white leaves are really full and long, mostly buds. Can’t see the melon in it though. Took a deep breathe and inhaled. The smell is nasty. It smells like an over ripe (rotten) honeydew melon. Ugh. Thinking the scent will lighten, I poured boiling water over it and steeped it for two minutes. Brew is a nice golden, honey color, smell is still horrid.

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

I love oolong, and I love finery, especially in the tea world. So when the chance to try this tea came up…an oolong, mind you, that is supposed to be one of the finest available, and available only in limited quantities, I jumped at the opportunity.

The dry leaf holds light, vegetal notes that are, surprisingly, reminiscent of a few white teas that I have tried.

The steeped liquor is a brilliant gold, with excellent clarity (the benefits of utilizing a glass vessel for steeping). It also has a darker aroma, more akin to darjeeling. Ah, but the first sip was nothing like drinking darjeeling. Light and fruity (what specific fruit flavours – I cannot quite place), the liquor slipped over the tongue easily. Incredibly soft mouthfeel combined with a surprisingly bold, yet not overwhelming, aftertaste to provide a wonderfully pleasant drink.

Steeping the tea again, for a few minutes longer (five this time), led to a brew of much the same strength and character as the first. I was pleased at the resilience and quality of this tea. I most definitely enjoyed drinking this and would certainly keep this on my list of teas to keep in stock. I give it a 90/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company 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.

Love the vintage feel of Blue Q products, they always make me smile. This tea is designed to help you function at family functions (clearly the creator has attended one of mine). It’s a spicy blend with a Darjeeling base and I love spicy teas in the colder months. Cracked open a bag of this, after being thoroughly amused by the packaging, and steeped it in hot water for a couple of minutes.

Thinking I should have steeped it longer because I’m not smelling any spices at all. Sadly, it doesn’t even smell like Darjeeling…. Hmm no flavor, not even a bad flavor.

You can purchase the Pleasant Holidays w/Family Tea directly from the Blue Q website.

The name of this blend is really inviting, who doesn’t love lemon, ginger and snap? Really. The only concern I have with this one is whether or not the herbs will balance with the Chinese green tea. The dry blend is really pretty with the bright lemon grass contrasting with the dark green tea. The dominant scent is definitely the lemon myrtle, having trouble isolating the scent from the tea and the other herbs.

Ready to steep this tea but I’m a bit torn about how to steep it because it appears to be mostly herbal but it’s categorized as a green tea… Going with green tea method, guessing that steeping it any longer or with hotter water will ruin the green tea in it. So it’s brewing up at 175 degrees for two minutes.

The scent of the lemon myrtle didn’t mellow but that’s okay because I love lemon myrtle. It’s an almost clear brew, just slightly golden. Tastes wonderfully tangy with the spicy hint of ginger. The green tea is crisp and fresh with no bitterness.

You can purchase the Lemon Ginger Snap directly from the SpecialTea Brew website.

Dear Tea Companies,

Your packages’ brewing instructions matter.

No Love,
Me

Let me explain. I have run into many a situation where I’ll get some amazing sounding tea. I’ll read the instruction on the label, and do what it says. I have to trust that the company who gives me a tea, knows how to make it the best. It will look lovely, the leaf will smell lovely, and the brew will be the most beautiful color ever.

And then that first sip will make me cry. Wonky preparation details will take my little cup of heaven and make it undrinkable.

Such was the case with my first experience with Royal Garland by Samovar. Many of my on-line tea friends experience heighten states of being when they have Samovar teas. So I was really looking forward to the experience of this tea. And then I got it, and read the package where it called for 2 tablespoons of leaf being steeped in 5 ounces of water for 3 minutes. MEH?? I know some teas, especially the fluffier ones, break that 1 cup = 1 tsp golden rule, but this sounded really funky. And everything I’d read says that more leaf = shorter steep. This just couldn’t be right.

But, I decided to trust the tea company. The leaf was gorgeous and smelled amazing. But when I tried that brew… Oh, when I tried that poor abused cup of tea, I almost sprayed the room. It was horrid. Bitter, astringent, and just plain awful. And it was a goodly portion of my tin, since it had called for so much leaf. It honestly took me a good few months to think about trying the tea again.

But, luckily, this tea story has a happy ending. I, after asking around for suggestions of brewing parameters, played with brewing some additional cups. And I’ve gotten the brew to where it’s pretty darned good. It’s a light yellow color, with a clean and slightly astringent flavor with overtones of cashews. I can get multiple yummy steeps out of the same, much smaller, amount of leaves. This is a really nice oolong. Just don’t use the preparation techniques on the container!!

You can purchase the Royal Garland directly from the Samovar Tea Lounge website.

Have a bit of an unsettled stomach today, digging through my tea cupboard looking for a cure and I found this lovely ginger and lemon balm blend. Normally I just make my own ginger tea (freshly grated) but well, meh, tummy ache.

The first scent to hit my nose is that of lemon, a sweet lemon though, not like Myrtle or lemongrass. It’s a nice and refreshing smell, can’t make out the ginger yet though. The Tea Forte website says the only two ingredients are ginger and lemon balm but it lists lemongrass under the ‘origin’ tab and not lemon balm. Curious.

Steeped in boiling water for five minutes, now I can definitely smell the ginger. Love the way teas change their scent so dramatically when you add water. It brews really light but dusty, not clear at all. Tastes fantastic though. Not helping my stomach though, back to fresh ginger.

You can purchase the Lemon Ginger directly from the Tea Forte website.

Attention ALL Pineapple Lovers! 

Before, During, and After infusing this tea is all about the freshly cut Pineapple Smell…once the infusion was complete add the fresh Pineapple smell to a Green Tea and there you go! It has a typical Sencha type color and the taste is refreshing and creamy, yes, creamy! I was shocked it was creamy…sure it says it’s creamy but I didn’t believe it for myself until I tried it. AND it’s still a Loud Pineapple Scent! The Green Tea Taste is still true as well but you really have to enjoy Pineapple to like this tea…lucky for me…I LOVE Pineapple!!

You can purchase the Pineapple Sencha directly from the Den website.

DoMatcha Organic Matcha:
DoMatcha Organic Matcha

Bamboo Whisk:
DoMatcha Bamboo Whisk

Whisk Stand:
DoMatcha Whisk Stand

Suggested Preparation: ~1 teaspoon of Do-Matcha in a large cup or tea
bowl, hot water between 65 and 85 degrees Celsius.

Received a tin of Ceremonial Matcha from DoMatcha, along with a new whisk and a holder for it (nothing better than a new whisk and I really needed a holder).

The tea came in a small tin canister, really cool but it was a bit of a puzzle to get opened. The matcha inside the tin is inside of more packaging – at least I know it’s been sealed up so it must be fresh. The pouch that the tea was sealed in was impossible to open without getting matcha all over my hands. Killing me on the packaging. I get why it’s sealed up but I’m wondering if there might be a better way to keep it fresh, maybe sealing it right in the tea eliminating the foil pack. Anyway, got to the matcha – almost felt like the quest to get to the tea made me more appreciative of it when I finally got there.

The matcha is clearly fresh, smells amazing and it’s a really beautiful, bright green color. Can tell without even tasting it that it’s going to be good -it has the same appearance as when I grind my own tencha, super fresh. Grabbed my favorite chawan and sifted a teaspoon of the matcha into it (I prefer my matcha on the thicker side), then poured the water into the bowl. It started foaming just from the swirl of the water before I even had a chance to start whisking it. Beautiful. Whisked it slowly for a few minutes, enjoying the scent and the ceremony of it all. It foamed up to a light, green, crisp smelling chawan of goodness. Tastes as crisp as it smells with a bit of a bite on the finish. The after-taste is pleasantly minty and it lingers for a bit – makes me feel like kissing someone. Love matcha – matcha promotes love (well, this one does anyway).

All in all, this is a really high quality, organic matcha. Superior in freshness than others I’ve tried and absolutely worthy of a recommendation. It’s probably better than the matcha that I make from working up a sweat grinding tencha leaves but I refuse to admit that (makes me feel bad that I work so hard grinding when DoMatcha is as good without the effort). It’s become my new favorite on-the-go tea – I chill it and put it in my water bottle, gives me a huge boost during the day. So whether you’re looking to indulge yourself in a calm, soothing, always perfect matcha ceremony with your favorite chawan or if you like it iced and on the run, DoMatcha will not disappoint.

You can purchase the DoMatcha Organic Matcha directly from the DoMatcha website.

Product Description: Orange Blossom is a blend of oolong teas from Taiwan, Sri Lanka and India. This loose leaf tea is combined with jasmine petals, fruit peel and natural flavors giving it a light, airy character with delicate orange flavor. This is an excellent beverage with morning toast and marmalade. The aroma will leave others wondering what’s in your cup, so make enough to share. Orange Blossom oolong tea also makes a refreshing and exotic iced tea.

Recently I was introduced to Imperial Tea Garden Teas. I LOVE trying teas from companies I have never tried from before. One of the teas I tried this week was their Orange Blossom Oolong. The dry leaves reminded me of a home that has recently been cleaned with Orange Glo and Lemon Pledge… I could smell the fresh, clean orange smell but also a little woodsy as well! Post infusion the aroma is more of an orange and a blossom. The scent is very ‘pretty’, pleasant, and uplifting!

As for taste this is a fairly full-bodied Oolong! It has some kick to it! There is more of a blossom than an orange taste but it seems to all even out at the end. I must say I am a fan of the Imperial Tea Garden teas I have tried so far and will be reviewing more of them very soon… so stay tuned!

You can purchase the Orange Blossom Oolong Tea directly from the Imperial Tea Garden website.