Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Smoothness’

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.

Hampstead’s Ginger Green detox tea follows the trend of recent Hampstead teas I’ve tasted – that being a softer flavour of the main ingredient coupled with a more noticeable base tea flavour. The ginger taste is not potent like ginger tisanes. Here the green tea involved softens the ginger taste and mellows the sting of the ginger. I like the grassiness but it is a tad dull. If you prefer tea tastes that are not too overpowered by the flavour element, then this might be right for you. But do not leave the teabag in too long as this could lead to a bitter, tiger-balm-like taste. I think this could have ruined it for me. I steeped it too long and did not have another sample to try again. Try a 2 minute steep instead of three.

I would drink this tea if there were nothing else around but I would not purposely choose it to drink.

You can purchase the Ginger Green directly from the Hampstead Tea website.

When I scanned the list of teas we had to choose from to review, this caught my eye – strawberry cheesecake, one of my favourite deserts. It tastes delicious as a food, how bad can it be as a tea?

The aroma coming off the dried leaves from the bag smelled sweet and very appetizing; I wanted to eat straight from the bag, it was so good! Leaf contains Ceylon black tea, strawberry and cheesecake flavouring, and dried strawberry slices. Usually when I get strawberry slices in something say, cereal, when I eat them, they taste sour; but because these strawberry slices are infused in the tea, if there are and sour tastes, it’ll probably mostly be lost in the sweetness of the cheesecake flavouring.

I steeped it according to instructions 1 tsp per 8 oz of boiling water and took my first sip. Very nice, sweet with a tad bit of sourness at the beginning but finishes off like you are tasting a strawberry cream wafer. It is not for everyone like purists or people who don’t believe in drinking a meal / desert, but one thing I do have to give it is the Ceylon tea used in this flavoured tea is good black tea and you can tell that right away from tasting it. It is flavourful, no briskness or astringency, no spikes or unevenness in taste so very balanced, and carries the taste of the strawberry cheesecake very well.

The aftertaste and feeling I get from the tongue rubbing on the roof of the mouth is like I’ve been eating some cream wafers, there is a little bit of buttery smoothness to it. Actually it reminds me a little of milk oolongs.

After drinking a cup of this strawberry cheesecake tea, it makes me want to reach for the real thing! I need to satisfy my sweet tooth now. ☺

You can purchase the Strawberry Cheesecake directly from the The NecessiTeas website.

2 minute brew time

Smell is vegetal with a slight hint of ginger.

Where is the ginger? I don’t know, maybe it is just me, but if the title of the tea has ginger in its name one would think ginger could be found. Not so. I adjusted the times, the temperatures. The green tea base is good and drinkable, but I am still left questioning as to the whereabouts of the ginger. I feel like a detective, looking and adjusting my tactics to see if I can reveal the missing component. Tea is a journey. Enjoying tea should not have to be interrupted with the particulars of a steeping perimeter to make the tea drinkable.

Again, I am left saying to you my reader, if this is the only tea choice in the house, by all means drink up! If you have another choice, take it and save this one for later if at all.

You can purchase the Ginger Green directly from the Hampstead Tea website.

On the package, Hampstead Tea promises the drinker an evening on the beach. So, with that promise in cup, I brewed up this Lime Green tea.

As I look at the dry tea bag, I can see bits of ginger intermingled with an abundance of tea leaves. The smell of the dry tea bag is of limes. Ok, I have never had lime in my tea. A two minute infusion, the tea bag is heavy as I pull it out of the water. This is not your run of the mill grocery store tea bag, these bags are full and the leaves expand into the entire tea bag. My first sip…’you put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up’ hum…sorry I got carried away by the LIME in my tea. Did I mention it had LIME in this tea? The lime is not overpowering, it balances the green tea. Oh my, I have never tasted a green tea that was so refreshing, so different, so totally not grassy or bitter.

OK, so now you know my issues with green teas: bitter, grassy, generally yucky. BUT, Hampstead Tea promises that their green teas are never bitter or grassy and it is all because they grow their Organic Fairtrade green teas at a higher altitude. I say hooray for the higher altitude and for a company that goes that extra mile to bring us good organic affordable teas.

When I first started on my tea journey, I drank green tea. I kept thinking over time I would learn to love it, but I never did. Granted I was not drinking high quality leaves, but I did not like it. Since that feeble attempt at green teas, I have found a few that I can tolerate to drink. This green tea is in a class all by itself in my humble opinion, it is mellow and fresh. I find myself looking forward to the next cup. As you might have guessed by now, I am a fan of this Lime Green tea. It is a perfect after meal tea. I can see myself drinking this throughout the day and night. The caffeine is low on this one, so this can be added to your nighttime tea stash.

Lime zest + Green Tea = Enjoyment.

You can purchase the Lime Green directly from the Hampstead Tea website.