Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Quality Tea’

Usually I shy away from packaged tea. However, the word “Organic” on the front of the Mighty Leaf package got my attention. I’m also a fan of Earl Grey. I was curious about the “artisan whole leaf pouch”. The contents were just that – artisanal silk tea bag with fancy unbleached cotton stitching continuing into a long chain-stitched string. You can see the intensely large black whole leaf tea through the mesh bag. It doesn’t look like a lot but will soon be saturated with hot water and the tea will expand to almost completely fill the bag, elongating it to the shape of a diamond, providing visual interest.

This company has specific large print instructions on the package to steep their product for 4 minutes, yet doesn’t say what quantity of water should be used. I would assume this would be a single serving size and that would be 8 oz. I used a mug with a lid. You will lose a lot of the aromatics from the bergamot essential oil without a lid to trap the vapours. Alternatively, you could use a teapot and steep the tea in 12 oz water without losing too much as long as you use a tea light or a tea cozy to keep the liquor warm during this longer steep.

The blend contains golden tips organic black tea (doesn’t say where sourced) with first-pressed bergamot oil with a drop of jasmine essence. The tea is organic, but not necessarily the flavouring. When I opened the package, I expected to have my sense flooded with bergamot. They weren’t. So I wondered if the characteristic of the tea would be lost.

After the dutiful 4 minute steep, I sampled the tea. I could smell the bergamot in the stem. The drink was an orange-red. The flavour of the bergamot was not strong, allowing a natural sweetness of a good quality tea to come through with a fullness in the mouth. The bergamot flavour sat at the mid to back of the tongue and at the roof of mouth where the aromatics can be enjoyed. There was relatively low tannin and minimal astringency making this perfect to drink without milk.

While the flavour of jasmine is not really the feature of the tea, its effects are unmistakeable in combination with the bergamot. Combined, they provide a relaxing experience. One can mellow out with this tea. It de-stresses the body and the emotions and like the long steep, you relax into the experience. The smoothness of this tea tempered with jasmine provides a long satisfying drink. Each sip renews the flavour profiles even after 10 – 12 ounces. This is a long, slow drink. I would take this in the late evening. Its quite different, less edgy than a Twinnings Earl Grey. I may have found a new favourite!

You can purchase the Mighty Leaf Organic Earl Grey directly from the Mighty Leaf Tea website.

East India Tea Company’s Director’s Blend came in a very attractive lavender tea tin with the picture of East India House on the front. The East India Tea Company held auctions in London, a grand tradition that lasted 300 years and controlled the monopoly for the import of tea and other goods from the Indies. The auctions were held at East India House and tea was sold “by the candle” – wherein a candle was lit at the beginning of the sale of each lot, and when an inch of the candle had burnt away, the hammer fell and the sale was ended rather than allowing the bidding to go on for an unlimited length of time.

I was excited to taste this tea as a “director’s blend” usually means higher quality tea. Director’s blends are the tea held back by the tea company for in-house use, saved for the directors and shareholders. This is why they are the best teas to drink.

As this is a director’s blend I wanted to get a true, thorough analysis of it. I originally was just going to review it as a tea drinker, therefore using steep time, temperature, and tea amounts as a tea drinker would. However I did not think this “tea drinker” review did it justice so I also reviewed the tea as a professional tea taster would. A professional tea tasting prepares a typically more concentrated tea, the flaws and qualities of the teas come to the forefront a lot easier and we can get a truer picture of the qualities and characteristics of the tea. This is also the case when milk is added for colour analysis.

Dried leaf of this blend shows orthodox, mixed with very little CTC, good roll and tippiness. The smell of the dried leaf is of malt, and this malty aroma becomes more intense once the leaves are steeped. Where I work, we would make blends for our own consumption using the same components as this director’s blend – Sri Lankan tea for its fragrant taste and aroma, Assam tea for the maltiness and body, and Kenyan tea for the strength. This is the traditional way of making black tea.

Review using a “tea drinker’s” steeping methodology, time and amounts:

This steeps to a very bright, beautiful dark orange to amber clear infusion. Interestingly enough the colour doesn’t carry through with milk added. The milk solution was a light brown, whitish, no reddish colour.

It is not very heavy or full in the mouth, rather it is a little light, could use a little more body. If this was an Assam CTC blend it would have more body rather than an Assam Orthodox. But then again you would not see CTC mixed with Orthodox on the market; it is just that this is a director’s blend so they can put in whatever they want, especially since this is a loose tea. There is some Kenyan CTC in it. At work we also drink our black tea loose mixing Assam Orthodox with Ceylon CTC and Kenyan CTC.

The “tea drinker’s” director’s blend is not very strong after a 3 minute infusion using 13 grams of teas and 1.7L of water. But it is very flavourful. I suspect there is a first flush assam in it on account of the peppery-ness, a high-grown Ceylon which gives it its flavourfulness, and if it weren’t for the description of the blend on the back I would not have guessed that there were Kenyan teas in it just by tasting it.

As it was not very strong, I let the tea steep an extra 2 minutes and now the tea is a bright amber colour and has a golden rim around the teas which was not present before.

Taste is stronger as would be expected but was not bitter even with more extended steeping. I think a four minute total steep would be ideal. I like to steep my black tea longer (maybe even 8 minutes) but I don’t drink it black. I just like the strength to go with the milk I add as it gives a little oomph to this light bodied tea. After I added milk to the 8 minute steep, it tasted interestingly like Hong Kong style milk tea (also known as pantyhose tea “si mut nai cha). Hong Kong style milk tea is usually Ceylon black blend with condensed milk.

Review using a professional tea tasting methodology, time, and amounts

For the professional tea tasting, using a scale I measured out 2.1 grams of tea and steeped it with 150ml of boiling water for 5 minutes. It is malty. From the cupping I found that the tea was a lot stronger, brisk and bold, and had more fullness than in the previous tasting. This tells me that the tea is actually a second flush, not a first flush Assam. Second flush Assam is the best Assam. There should also be high grown Ceylon in it because it is very flavourful and once again I would not have guessed that there was any Kenyan tea so the amount they used was probably not substantial. Steeped infusion is a lot redder than in the previous tasting. With milk added the reddish colour once again becomes more apparent in this tasting than the previous.

Overall as the true qualities of this tea show up in the professional tasting, I think this tea is excellent and of high quality. It is like an English Breakfast but really can be taken anytime of the day. It is fitting that this tea is a director’s blend.

You can purchase the Directors Blend directly from the The East India Company website.

Longjing is one of China’s Ten Famous Teas but there are many grades from high quality to the standard. Inferior teas are even sometimes passed off as Lonjing. Highest quality Longjing come from the young, first flush of the pre-qingming crop (10 days before the Qingming festival). Teas plucked pre-qingming command a higher price. These teas are prized for having much lighter and subtler aromas than those plucked after the festival.

On the Canton Tea website, it states that the Superior Longjing I am reviewing is made from the first flush of small spring leaves so although this is not pre-qingming, it should still be of exceptional quality.

I examined the dry leaf; they were small and uneven, not very attractive to tell you the truth. Colour was yellowish green, rather than a jade or emerald green, but that could be on account of it being late in production. But despite being late into production and despite these initial physical oddities, aroma and taste holds up well. It is actually a quality tea.

The liquor is light, yellowish green and clear. Aroma is nutty and light. There is also a very pleasant, very nutty, green bean-like taste and a ‘hui-gan’ aftertaste. ‘ Gan’ is a two dimensional taste. ‘Minty-bitterness’. Slightly bitter at first, then comes the sweetness; not exactly sweetness, but it is difficult to translate. When breathing, there is a cool sensation. This is the good kind of bitterness to the Chinese. If it’s strong enough, it reoccurs and is called ‘Hui Gan’. To get a better understanding of this taste, try bitter melon, or Ginseng. They are both very ‘Gan’. I guess the best way to describe it in the dragonwell is as a bitter oaky bite.

I used 5 grams of tea leaves with 600ml of water. Temperature at 75C and steeped it for 2 minutes for the first infusion.

For the second infusion, I steeped it for 3 minutes and it did not taste like a Long Jing anymore. There was no more nuttiness, just a bit of bitterness at the end.

I steeped a second pot, this time at a temperature of 80C with the same amount of water and leaves. The nutty aroma was still present but the green bean / nutty taste was less noticeable and what replaced it was an oakiness with less bitterness.

I would recommend Canton Tea’s Superior Long Jing to tea lovers looking for a green tea with a unique taste — something with a nutty, green-bean-like, oaky bite, basically, the classic dragonwell; although, I would suggest maybe 2 minutes max. for the steep time, at a temperature of 75C for best results.

You can purchase the Superior Dragon Well Green Tea | Traditional Long Jing directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

White teas are generally early spring pick, young growth leaf, that are picked early in the day.  They are delicately handled, to ensure the leaf is not damaged, and sun dried for short periods, and are minimally oxidized. White teas have very delicate aromas and taste, and need some patience to prepare and appreciate.

This white tea has a classic big leaf with round tight shape.  The leaf is covered with silvery fluffy down, and has a mild sweet aroma.This fluffy down is indicative of proper processing and high quality.  (And proper storage and handling by the vendor.)

The down begs a choice: some classic tea masters advise a very quick rinse with at temperature water prior to brewing, others advise against it. I am going to forgo the rinse – it is purely about cosmetics in this case, to wash away any loose down, so it does not float in the cup.

There are also two schools of thought as to the brewing temperature. Classically, whites are brewed with “warm” water in the 155F-170F range.  Some modern masters advise “very warm’ water in the 170F-180F range, but very short steeps.  My view is that this is a high quality tea, and I will stick with the classic thought which is consistent with the vendors suggestion of 75C/about 165F.

Brewed 1 TBLS of tea (about 5g) in 6oz water @ 168F for 2 minutes in my for green Xing pot. Pale golden in the cup, like a Chablis wine – with a very very small amount of the down floating on the surface.  There is a very delicate aroma of chestnut, with a hint of sweetness.  Dry, refreshing taste, just a small amount of astringency, with a hint of mellon in the aftertaste.

Plump wet leaves unfurl to the classic two leaf shape expected.  These are good looking leaves.

2nd Steep @ 168F for 2:30.  Creamy, smooth on the tongue, more astringency.  This is a most satisfying cup. The flavors are not prominent, more expressions of sweetness, dryness. 

3rd Steep @ 170F for 3:00.  Aroma almost gone, and the flavors an afterimage, but still nicely refreshing.

This is an excellent, high quality, satisfying, white tea.  It is worth the attention to detail it demands.

You can purchase the Silver Needle – Bai Hao Yin Zhen directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

I like green tea but it’s never the first tea I reach for. I generally oversteep it and then fight to get past the bitter taste of my own forgetfulness. A friend of mine swears by the bitterness of green, says that you don’t get the full benefit without oversteeping it…. erm I don’t know. He’s cool but always leaves me shaking my head, so misguided. So green tea is just okay for me unless it’s Pouchong.

Pouchong green from Canton is among the best Pouchongs I’ve had. It’s a triple threat when it comes to tea. It’s an antioxidant and an antimutagenic and it’s tasty all in one. The leaves are big, dark, and twisted just right (reminds me of another one of my friends hmm). The tea brews to a light golden yellow, almost clear, like liquid sunshine. I put stevia in the first brew (out of habit with greens) but found it was a bit much and it took away from the clean taste of the tea. Second steep, without stevia, brewed up just as clean and with a slight melon scent. Third steep was a bit longer (on purpose) and it still was smooth and almost clear.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pouchong or who shy away from greens the way I do, this is one tea you must try. This is a high quality tea that will not disappoint.

You can purchase the Pouchong directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!