Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Natural Sweetness’

TeaFrog’s Assam Rani SFTGFOP is an exceptional tea.   The very best Assam teas are versatile and yield many aromatic and flavorful treats.   This is one of the very best I’ve experienced.

A morning cup without milk or sweetener, is a delightful malty rush of great taste.  I even felt a bit guilty drinking such a delectable tea when I had not yet fully awakened, but TeaFrog’s Assam Rrani SFTGFOP had me alert and paying close attention within a few seconds.   There’s a natural sweetness to this tea, so I would not recommend adding any sweetener.  On its own the tea envelops the drinker in folds of chocolate, citrus, raisins,  and the malty deepness of a truly rich tea.  It’s always fascinating to me how single leaf teas can be as intensely versatile with each sniff, each sip presenting a new universe of flavor.   This kind of tea leaf is to be cherished.

I had the Assam Rani SFTGFOP in the afternoon as well.   The morning calls for a tea to rouse one, to get one moving, to bolster the spirits and to summons energy.  In the afternoon, a tea can be sipped more slowly and appreciated and savored without urgency.  It’s like the difference between a quick sprint through an art museum and slowly pausing in front of a painting to speculate and contemplate.   In the afternoon I added some milk, which did not diminish the tea at all.  It’s strong enough to stand up to any creamy additions.  I once again picked up on the changing flavors offered by each sip.   The malty essence of a good, strong bracing tea is a splendor in its own right but the side-notes that come to the front of the palate are a true pleasure.  

TeaFrog’s Assan Rani SFTGFOP is a superb tea to be relished and appreciated.  It has numerous taste notes dancing upon the bracing scaffolding of a really exceptionally fine black tea.  It wins my highest rating for a good, strong black tea which offers many gifts to the appreciative drinker.

You can purchase the Assam Rani SFTGFOP directly from the TeaFrog website.

Keemun Hao Ya B is one of the very best grades of  Keemun teas from China, so I brewed Vicony’s import with great anticipation.  I was not a bit disappointed–indeed, I felt rapturous.  A good Keemun tea opens up a universe of surprising and complexly melded taste treats.   This tea is fairly tippy and has a distinctive floral aroma in addition to the naturally malty taste that a good Keemun provides.   There’s an underlying but subtle smoky aroma and taste which serves as a vehicle to enhance the floral aroma.

The deep brownish-red liquor is splendidly inviting to look at and would grace a glass pot.  As one continues to drink, other flavors unfold and rise up.  I could detect a bit of toasty chocolate and chestnut.  I enjoyed this Keemun Hao Ya B from Vicony teas black and appreciated a touch of natural sweetness.  The tea is strong and robust enough to stand up to additions of cream and sweetener. 

After enjoying this tea, my mouth was left with the an exceptionally  pleasant smoky, toasty, floral flavor.    All of the best Keemun’s I’ve enjoyed are both hearty, robust teas with a capacity to roll out waves of wonderful flavors that can be almost ethereal.  Vicony’s Keemun Hao Ya B outstandingly  highlights the complex beauty of tea.  I plan to make a full purchase because Vicony’s tea morphed, in just a few minutes, from an unknown brand and brew to an essential ingredient to my happiness.   Strongest recommendation.

You can purchase the Keemun Hao Ya B directly from the Vicony Tea website.

I’ve been dipping my toe into the waters of the world of green teas and discovering the results can be sensational.  I’ve only tested and tasted Japanese green teas, so I’ve been eager to try more Chinese green tea.  Knowing that Dragon Well (Lung Ching) has a reputation for being the champagne of Chinese green teas and that it’s known as being a fairly light tea, I thought that this was the ideal time for me to try this tea from Tea Frog.

The dry leaf is long, pretty and fairly flat. It’s green but not the neon green of some Japanese greens. It smells a bit nutty with hints at complexity that will arise with steeping. Brewed at approximately 175 degrees, the results are very pleasing. The brew is mid-yellow in color and the aroma is both vegetal and nutty. It is not ostentatiously sweet but it is fresh, mellow, and not the least bit bitter although one cduld argue that there’s a natural bitter-sweetness to this Dragon Well.   I use the “bitter-sweet” as a word of tribute, not a word of warning.   Tea Frog has done a beautiful job of presenting a Dragon Well that balances toasty roasty goodness with some natural sweetness.

Drinking this tea is a great adventure in unfolding layers of nuttiness and some vegetation—not so much that you can call it a “spinach” or an “artichoke” tea but enough so that the vegetal taste plays a strong third fiddle to the primary taste of roasted or toasted nuts.  I detect roasted walnuts more than other kinds of nuts although I taste a strong complementary chestnut overtone.   This tea is  very satisfying and would make a great accompaniment to a meal or as an after-dinner tea. It would also be a great afternoon tea.  I can see it as a great accompaniment to solitary study as well as a great social tea.   It’s versatility is impressive.  So many teas pigeon-hole themselves as “reading teas” or “wake-up teas”.  Tea Frog’s Dragon Well (Lung Ching) has variable facets like a beautiful gemstone and is a great tea option for many occasions.

SECOND infusion: Tea Frog’s Dragon Well has not lost any potency but has gained perhaps more of a nutty focus. I added a few sugar crystals and the added sweetness was nice, but did not open up any new vistas.   The tea stands well on its own. I will serve this to myself without the sugar but would offer some sugar to guests who might like it.

The rich toasty nuttiness and the deep flavor make this tea well-worth trying. I think it will become a staple at my house.  I would also say that any green tea aficionado should start to learn the primary green teas of China,  which has a longer green tea producing history than does Japan.    Dragon Well justly deserves its reputation as one of the star teas of China and Tree Frog’s Dragon Well is a spectacular introduction to a tea that I immediately came to admire and then love.   I am off to a third infusion, confident that the tea will stand up and not lose any potency.

You can purchase the Dragon Well – Lung Ching directly from the TeaFrog website.

I am a fan of Rooibos. I love all teas, but there is something about Rooibos that is more appealing to me. Perhaps it is my sweet tooth, which appreciates the natural sweetness of Rooibos, or perhaps it is because Rooibos tends to blend with so many “sweet” flavours such as Caramel and Vanilla. Whatever it is, I am a fan.

With that in the forefront of my mind, I brewed up a bag of the Mighty Leaf African Nectar. My teabag prejudice aside, Rooibos actually works well in a teabag because it is naturally a small leaf, and does not need a lot of room to expand.

I brewed the tea using my regular Rooibos methods, boiling water, steeped for 5-6 minutes. The smell was fantastic, and I could not wait to dive into it. The cup was a deep red color that I relate to good quality Rooibos.

Prevalent in the taste was a mango and vanilla combined with, but not overwhelming, Rooibos flavour, which is a sweetish, nutty flavour. I like it. I like it a lot! There is not much more to say on this tea, as I think the above speaks for it’s self. Sometimes Mighty Leaf has fallen down in taste for me, but in this case, it is a home run! I would recommend this tea to anyone who likes Rooibos, and to someone who wants to get an idea of what a flavoured Rooibos tea can be!

You can purchase Mighty Leaf African Nectar Loose Tea or Mighty Leaf African Nectar Tea Pouches directly from their website.

From Adagio Teas Bengal Green Chai is an eastern fusion blend of green tea from China and a traditional mix of chai spices from India. It is described by Adagio as ” Our smooth China green tea with a chakra warming spice combination. Its natural sweetness and fiery kick will bring you back to center, no matter how polarized you’ve become. OOMMMMM OOMMMMM”

The loose tea presents very well, long leaves of green pekoe tea, lots of cloves, big chunks of cardamom pods, cinnamon bark, ginger root and orange peel; once brewed it makes a cup of tea that is a nice amber color. The aroma of the tea is rich and spicy and stays with the tea even after it is brewed.

I found the flavor of the cloves to be the most pronounced, almost a little too strong, but the ginger, cinnamon and cardamom worked nicely together as an underlying flavor. Overall, I liked the tea but I think that the mildness of the green pekoe was overpowered by the spices. I often add milk and sugar to a traditional black chai blend but I found that this tea isn’t robust enough to hold up to the addition of milk and sugar without losing too much of it’s color and taste.

I followed Adagio’s suggested brewing instructions of two heaping teaspoons per 6 oz cup – 3 min at about 180 degrees. This actually seemed like a lot of tea required to make a cup but I guess it has to do with the loose mix of big leaves and spice pieces – the more tea you use the more likely it is to get a consistent proportion of cloves, ginger, cinnamon and cardamom.

You can purchase Adagio Bengal Green Chai directly from their website.