Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘mark t wendell’

Hu Kwa is purported to be the top-notch Lapsang Souchong from Taiwan. Steeping one cup at a time, I use one teaspoon of leaves per cup, and I steep the tea for five and a half minutes in just-boiled water, as per Mark T. Wendell Tea Company’s website. The dry leaves have a very strong smokiness to them, as is normal with Lapsang Souchong. However, with this one, there is a slight undertone of sweetness that can be noticed in the dry leaves. The aroma of the steeped tea is also quite smooth. Past experience with Lapsang Souchong has exposed me to some that were so rough as to suggest that perhaps one should be sitting outside on the ground around a campfire while drinking them, not sipping this noble drink in a more civilised setting.

The five and a half minutes is up, so I decant the tea to remove the leaves and allow the tea a minute or so to cool slightly (scalded taste buds do not make for accurate tea tasting). Heavily smoked is a good descriptor of the taste, but not overly smoked. That strange line of sweetness that went through the scent of the dry leaves is still present in the tea itself. The smoothness of this tea made it quite enjoyable to drink. Smooth and not thick. This tea deserves an 87/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

At a venerable 104 years old, Mark T. Wendell Company has perfected the art and science of selecting and purveying fine estate-grown teas. This variety, according to the website, was a favorite of the founder himself.

This is a great tea, but if you’re proficient enough to recognize a Keemun with your eyes closed, you may be surprised. This one behaves a little differently. Keemun teas generally have grainy, hay-barn, feedlot aromas. Dry, these big leaves lead with that smell, but there’s a fermented, fruity accompaniment that sets it apart.

Steeped, M.T.W. Formosa is a beautiful burgundy-brown. That magic “other thing” that changes up the dry aroma is present in the liquid as well, toning down the sharpish taste that I normally associate with Keemuns. Sweet…dry and a little puckery…it’s a little hard to describe, but extremely pleasant to analyze! Left (neglected for a couple of hours while I ran to the mall) to itself in the pot to cool, it reheats nicely without turning bitter.

Good tea reviews sum up with a pithy one-sentence summary recapping the tea’s personality in a few concise words. Because this one’s so not-run-of-the-mill-but-really-interesting, I’ll have to do in three: Steep. Taste. Repeat.

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

One of the famous signature teas from the Mark Wendell Tea Company since 1904 has been the Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong. This black large leaf tea from Formosa (Taiwan) is distinctly smoky, taking flavours from the smoke of pine fires used in the tea processing. The history of this company is substantial and if you’d like more, check out this link. Since this tea has been well established, I was definitely expecting a superior tea and was looking for expert handling of the firing. This was all before I found out that this tea was mostly sold to the Boston elite. Now we can sample what finer families have known for years, that Hu-Kwa is excellent tea. And, it is what it has been called, a standard to measure all other Lapsang Souchong teas by.

In examining the dry leaf, I noted there was a lot of stem, some of which was partially charred. Tea stems actually carry a mellow nutty flavour, reminding me of the Kuckicha twig tea from Japan. The smoke scent of the dry tea is is little overpowering at first however. Smoke is a flavour used often in specialty salt, paprika, fish such as salmon, meats and cheese. Smoke flavours should not be a flavour unfamiliar to many.

Although instructions on the Wendell web site for Hu-Kwa were lacking in terms of quantity of tea and amount of water to use, it was recommended to give 5 ½ minutes to the steep. I was a bit chicken and decided on 2.5 g. (1 heaping tsp.) of Lapsang Souchong would steep for 4 minutes in 120ml (about 5 oz) water. There was a deeper, more true bronze liquor colour than with the Golden Moon I tried the day before. There was soft, sweet smoke taste that it was less intense than Golden Moon. I was more aware of a pine flavour with the Hu-Kwa, with less “smoke” and maybe less “ash”. After a few sips, I was amazed that when I really focussed, there was a sensation like a perfume – the soft smoke flavours fills the nasal passage and head. This is what the allure of Lapsang Souchong tea is!

There was not only the flavour of smoke on the tongue, but also an astringency on the middle of the tongue. It is intriguing to taste this tea over and over again to enjoy the nuances. The Hu-Kwa is almost the same as the Golden Moon but has a deeper range of flavours despite the odd pine tar note on the tongue. I tried some soft cheese and found that the fats tempered the smoke and didn’t hide the flavour of the cheese. The tea didn’t really enhance the cheese I selected and I think with some more searching, one could find the right pairing with a goat cheese, an aged gouda, sharp cheddar, or blue cheese. You may think it odd, but this would make a great iced tea!

The 2nd steep was taken at a full 5 minutes and the flavours held true. I tried the second cup with chocolate-coconut almond bar because I’m adventurous, and found it was a very pleasant experience. When I looked at the brewed leaf, it was steamed open fully. So, I am eager to show this Hu-Kwa to friends and see what they think. It will certainly be a great Lapsang Souchong for anyone to begin with or for a master of tastes to enjoy.

You can purchase the Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

My first experience with lapsang souchong was pretty disastrous—reminiscent of sucking pork rinds—so when I first opened this tea packet and the first whiff that hit my nose was souchong-like “smoke,” I was very apprehensive.

But, intrepid tea taster that I am, I persevered and was pleasantly surprised. The big, black loose leaves brew up a luscious, clear red-gold color. At three minutes with boiling water (again, I erred on the side of caution thinking this was going to be really strong) the smoke taste does lead the caravan, but the other teas in the blend add a little sweetness and balance–think “cozy library with leather bound books and a crackling fireplace” instead of “Bedouin campfire with charred wood fumes stinging your eyes and snoring camels.”

But is lapsang souchong responsible for the smoky taste? That’s where this turns into a mystery. As you can see, the origin of the teas in this blend are represented in the ingredient list, but the type of tea must be a closely guarded blenders-only secret.

All the Wendell website reveals is that Victorian Afternoon was once a private label blend for the Elizabethan Club of Yale University, which Wikipedia tells us is dedicated to “conversation, tea, the art of the book, and literature, focused on—but not exclusively of—the Elizabethan era.” This tea is a perfect fit for that mindset. I suppose that if I asked the good folks at Mark T. Wendell to reveal the recipe, they would simply quote me some good ol’  Elizabethan Shakespeare: “No, pardon; ’tis a secret must be locked within the teeth.”  Oh, well. Whatever makes up this nice blend, if you’re a fan of smoky teas, Victorian Afternoon is one you’ll want to lock within your teeth, too.

You can purchase the Victorian Afternoon directly from the Mark T. Wendell website.

Well, these pearls certainly are downy…I felt one of the little balls of tea and it was soft and fuzzy. The jasmine smell is sharp and sweet in the dry leaf, and makes me wonder if the taste will be the same.

I used approximately two teaspoons of pearls, in two cups of water, for three minutes (give or take ten seconds, as I initially forgot to start my timer, oops). At the end of three minutes, the brew was very watery, so I let it sit for two minutes more. At this point, I’d like to take a moment to say that while I enjoy the challenge of matching up just the right steeping time with just the right amount of leaf and water to make a delectable cup, I do wish that more companies would give what they believe the ideal steeping conditions to be, even if it’s a rough estimate, since not all teas are created equally, and generalizing conditions does not always work out. Regardless, the extra two minutes seems to have helped immensely, as there is greater unfurl to the leaves and more colour to the liquor.

The jasmine scent is just as sharp in the completed cup as it was in the dry leaf. And the taste….Wow…that’s incredibly…mediocre. Thankfully, the sharpness of the jasmine hasn’t come through in the taste of the liquor, yet everything about it is very average. The flavour is smooth, and light, and has a nice jasmine scent and taste, but, all in all, it just seems to be lacking something in a big way.

I enjoyed drinking it, but Jasmine Pearls are one of my favourites, so that could bias me a bit. I give it a 65 out of 100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Downy Pearl Jasmine directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.