It has been a while since I’ve been able to sit down and relax long enough to review some teas. I appreciate all types of tea but the tea that I’m having today is really special. It’s a Darjeeling and it is beautiful. It appears to be a second flush, dark brown, thin leaves with a sprinkling of tips. The dry leaves smell like typical black tea only a bit more musky, reminds me of my grandfather hmm. This is the first time I’ve had tea from the Maikaibari Estate (Kurseong, Darjeeling in West Bengal ,India) and I get the feeling I’m going to be impressed with it.

Steeping it in boiling water for three minutes. It has settled to a light orange color with a sweet and still musky scent to it. It does appear to be a Summer flush, possibly a late Summer though… The tea tastes rich and full, a bit sweet, with a perfect muscatel after taste. The color has lightened after a few steeps but the flavor is still strong. It is spicey and warming, perhaps more of a winter tea, but I am still going to cold steep some for later.

Love teas from India, also love that this one is organic and Fairtrade certified. Can’t wait to try more teas from Hampstead, the quality in this tea and its packaging is outstanding.

Namaste.

You can purchase the Organic Fairtrade Darjeeling directly from the Hampstead Tea website.

Canton Tea recently asked if we could review their Special Puerh, produced for them a small artisan farm in Yunnan Province. They state that it is made from big leaf maocha is from the Big Tree, Arbor varietal, and consists of Grade 6 leaves and above, with some small buds.

I approached this in their suggested manner, using 4g of leaf, 95C water, doing multiple steeps, starting at 20 seconds per steep. The dry leaf appears to be tightly compressed, consisting of mostly dark leaves, with a smattering of light silver-needle like buds here and there. There seems to be a higher than usual proportion of leaf to stem ratio, favouring the leaf side.

The scent of the dry leaf is earthy, but raw. A definite scent of dried hay, or drying grass on the lawn. I can also detect a slight fruity sweetness, like ripening peaches.

1st steep – just a quick rinse.

2nd steep – 20 seconds. The scent of the leaf on the lid of the pot is wet hay, and the color of the liquor is a rich golden yellow – on the lighter side, not dark at all. The scent is raw, and already triggering a drooling response The taste is very light, and a bit flat. In the mouth it is cooling and fresh, sliding off the tongue, not coating it. The most interesting characteristic is the cooling sensation – telling me that it is a high-mountain Puerh.

3rd steep – 20 seconds. The scent is much sharper, with deeper tones. I think this is giving us a hint of what we will see in 3-4 years as it ages, with a sweetness coming out to play. The astringency is starting to show up – but still playing a background role.

4th steep – 20 seconds. The liquor is still the color of golden nectar, but starting to turn slightly cloudy. It seems to have a bit less flavour than the 3rd steep, but otherwise still the same characteristics.

5th steep – 1 minute. I decided to up the steeping time, as it seemed to be getting close to washed out. At 1 minute for the steep, the color is a bit lighter, but the astringency is starting to come out. I can feel it on the sides of the tongue, and a slight tingling in the middle of my tongue. The flavours are still sweet, slightly fruity, and cooling in the mouth. A very clean taste.

6th steep – 1 minute. Now this is what I was waiting for. All of a sudden, the flavour has become very complex, and strong, with a biting feeling in the back of the throat. My tongue is definitely tingling now, and the sweetness has reached an almost candy flavour. It is not as cooling, but there is more depth and character to it now. This is how I envision it in 7 to 8 years from now. This is the steep that I would like to freeze it on – really loving it right here!

7th steep – 1 minute. Back to about where the 5th was. Lighter flavour, sweetness, but definitely starting to feel a bit washed out.

You could probably continue on and easily get another 4-5 steeps out of this before you entirely lose the flavours. As a first year raw puerh – I would say that this is probably going to age very well, the flavours are beautiful and cool, like a high-mountain spring running through a peach orchard. As it ages and gains complexity, it will only get better, I am sure!

As always, Canton Tea never fails to impress. Whether you want to enjoy it young, or let it age and enjoy it later, this beeng cha will not disappoint!

You can purchase the 2011 Canton Tea Co Special Puerh directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

Indian tea estate names are fun to say and to think about: Goomtee, Moondakotee, Namring, Tumsong. In the case of Thurbo Tea Estate, the name evolved from “tumboo,” the Nepalese word for “tent.” Evidently, British troops set up camp there in the early 19th century. Had they had the opportunity to sample this excellent first flush tea, they would have permanently occupied the plantation!

Historical kidding aside, this is definitely a Darjeeling to linger over. The dry leaves are a light greenish gray with plenty of those blond tips that tip you off to “this is really going to be nice.” The first whiff was almost reminiscent of chocolate–dark and sweet.

With water just under boiling, and 3 1/2 minutes or so, the tea steeps into a beautiful honey color, but don’t let the lightness fool you–this has plenty of flavor. Close your eyes, smell the steam, and you’ll wonder if you accidentally put your nose in a bottle of Welch’s unsweetened grape juice.

Newbie tea drinkers often wonder why they can drink cups of certain varieties of tea and still feel a little thirsty. That’s astringency (I’m so proud of myself when I learn new tea tearms!) and Thurbo Darjeeling has plenty. The champagney-grape flavor puts a puckery wrinkle in your tongue and lips, which makes it that much more desirable to take another sip. And another. And another.

You can find Lochan Teas directly from the Lochan Tea website.

I love the way that Tea Forte does herbal blends and this one is looking like it’s not going to be an exception.  It smells beautifully tart and minty, perfect for a chilly bedtime brew.  The tea bag is looks to be filled mostly with peppermint leaves but I can definitely see lemon peel mixed in with it.

Steeped it in boiling water for 7 minutes (I like my herbals stronger) and it infused the water to a nice light color of mint tea.  The scent is now more tangy than tart and the smell of mint is invigorating.  It’s tastes clean and fresh with no trace of the artificial aftertaste that I sometimes get with mint teas. Yes, Tea Forte did it again, I really like this blend.  It’s perfect if you need to feel warm and refreshed at the same time and the full flavor lasted through three steeps.

You can purchase the Citrus Mint directly from the Tea Forte website.

My first visual impression of this compressed green pu-erh was the bottom of the leaf pile I raked to the curb two months ago that the city maintenance crew still hasn’t picked up. The first smell impression was a strong memory of Grandpa Jenkins’ damp cement-block garden shed resplendent with rusty spades and bins of stored potatoes. Which, lest you think otherwise, is not an unpleasant recollection.

Since my sample didn’t come with an instruction manual, I averaged the best advice I could find online and among acquaintances. Starting gingerly with a nugget the size of an unshelled almond, I gave it a quick rinse with hot kettle water. With water just underneath boiling, I steeped the first batch in a two-cup pot for a minute. The garden shed smell was still prominent, but the taste was lighter and mellower than the eau de potting soil I was bracing for. Almost maple-sugar sweet and leafy with a thickness on the tongue that I don’t generally associate with green teas.

The second steep, since I declared myself over my initial apprehension, was allowed to go a whopping extra 30 seconds. Color deepened just one tint from golden to dark amber, and the sweetness intensified equally.

I’ll end this narrative with Steep #3 (2 minutes, 30 seconds), which is still darker, still sweeter, and apparently still viable for several more steeps. As a newbie to the pu-erh spectrum, I think I should skipped Steeps 1 and 2 and just started here.  Thanks, Grand Tea, for providing an afternoon of entertainment and analysis, as well as proof that even an untutored and clumsy tea preparer can learn to appreciate the personality of this unusual variety.

You can purchase the Year 2000 – 7542 Green Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.

This is a 8 year old pu-erh tea from the YiWu mountain area of China. A lot of people don’t know that pu-erh tea is made from leaves picked from tea trees usually wild-grown in the higher mountains and are not from the low-lying cultivated tea bushes. Pu-erh is tea-medicine. In France, medical experiments showed that with regular consumption of pu-erh, blood lipids (cholesterol levels) were lowered by 13% (3 cups/day over one month). Other benefits include cuts in fat consumption and aids in digestion and lymphatic secretions. Pu-erh also invigorates the spleen and dispels toxins.

Grand Tea has provided ample information about this tea. They comment that the Qing Yun Hao tea cake is suitable for long term storage. The cake is well compressed. In fact, I noticed the quality of this tea through the transparent sample pack before opening it. The producer of the tea has left fairly whole leaves despite compacting the tea into a cake. The blackened leaves are not crushed beyond recognition and but this manufacturer promises a good quality leaf.

I used ½ the sample, 5.5 grams in150 ml boiling water with my special Xishing tea pot used only for aged pu-erh. I poured of the first steep after 10 seconds and made additional steeps for 10 seconds there after. The liquor colour is a golden mahogany red, probably much like the tree bark. It is not opaque as the 12 year old sheng pu-erh can be. The liquor smell is a bit like turpentine. If you want to forgo the first 2 steeps, I’ll understand.

Grand Tea tells us the mouth feel is typical Yiwu, soft and gentle, with an aroma and woody taste characteristic of wild trees from 1500 m. high slopes. Indeed when you breath in, there is a cool minty, refreshing cold sensation, typical of high-grown tea. The liquor does have a mellowness to the feel. There is also a slight astringent quality. I was thinking medicinal but really, it is a flavour that is found with some pu-erhs – camphor. The camphor/eucalyptus taste lingers as the aftertaste then resolves pleasantly to “musty leaves in the forest”. There is a slight floral fragrance left in the cup.

Try not to miss the 2nd steep because you will only get about 5 good steeps from this tea unless you go up to 7 grams. Be sure to pour off after 10 seconds or you’ll not get more from the leaf in the later steeps and you don’t want to disappoint yourself.

Speaking about the leaf, the remains were examined. Here, you can see what the blend comprises. The wet leaves are dark-reddish from natural fermentation. I found the typical crinkle in the large leaf, typical of pu-erh. Speaking to the quality of this tea, there were many smaller leaves, some with no bud, and two two leaves on a short stem, leaving me to think the tips were taken from an early bloom (on or around Qing, the festival in early April). “Hao” by the way means good, but in this case, I think it would refer to “good quality”. I speculated that the 2nd and 3rd leaves of the stem may have been added to give some brightness in with some of the older larger leaves. I ended my tea session with a small milk chocolate candy from Pot ‘O Gold that had a bit of hazelnut. It felt like a perfect tea session.

So, “wow”. This tea is more than I expected. I would buy a cake and probably drink about ¼ of it and tuck the rest away for another year or two. Its pricey at $83 USD. for a cake at 343 g’s. However, 100 grams will make you lots of tea too – about 20 sessions using 5 grams of tea with a Xishing pot, or try 7 grams for a richer liquor.

You can purchase the 2003 Qing Yun Hao directly from the Grand Tea website.

Jade Sword also known as Mao Jian is a favoured tea among many for its light refreshing vegetal flavour and pale liquor. Canton Tea has again provided an exceptional sample. In digging around on the internet, I found a comment in an article by Jane Pettigrew about the difficulties in sourcing tea in 2010 due to climate conditions. This Jade Sword tea sample is from another region that i was receiving more rainfall: ” … Edgar Thoemmes, the founding partner of Canton explained that “we have had to be agile this year!” and instead of sourcing Canton Teas Jade Sword Mao Jian from Zhejiang this year, their supply has come from Guangxi province”. The Canton Tea web site says this tea is sourced from Da Ming Shan which is located in Zhejiang.

Could you find a prettier tea? The long thin fronds are so tender and graceful and the colours are muted sage and silver tips. This tea is so pleasing to the eye and so celestial looking. If you have guests, put this tea out for a visual inspection, to smell and for admiration. The scent of the dry leaf is heavenly – sweet with grassy freshness. I used a Gaiwan for this tea using 2.5 grams tea in 150 ml water at 90 degrees C. for 2 minutes.

The scent of the wet leaves is light and fresh, with a note of asparagus. The wet olive-green coloured leaves were opened only lightly, leaving room for additional steeps. I used a shorter 30 second timing on the second but had a weaker cup rather than one producing more flavour with a more open leaf. I would not want to be dissapointed on a 3rd steep so I stopped. Examining the wet leaves, I could see the long bud and even some chopped leaf.

The colour of the liquor was very pale yellow almost clear! This Jade Sword is a smooth drink, but not as full in the mouth or as astringent as other Mao Jian’s I’ve tried. There was an exceptional aftertaste though. Sometimes, one has to wait for the best experience at the end rather than at the beginning. The umani lasts and lasts. There is an astringency and minty-coolness across the tongue. And the natural sweetness stays in the mouth.

I would not serve this tea with anything other than a light almond cookie or cucumber or watercress sandwich least it mask the subtleties of this tea. This is an all-day any-time drinker. Frankly, I would love this in the spring or early summer. I would sure like to know what the Zhejiang-sourced Jade Sword is like in comparison.

You can purchase the Jade Sword Green Tea | Mao Jian directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

This is the first of three samples I received that I am trying from Tea Forte.

I love Tea Forte’s packaging for their bagged teas. They are in a nylon/mesh bag, with a bendable leaf that sprouts out of the top of the bag (which allows you to hook it over your cup while steeping).

The leaves look to be a good size within the teabag, and they have room to unfurl once the water hits them. I steeped this cup in 170F water for two and a half minutes. The wet leaves have a hint of sweetness to them, but I’m not getting much else in the aroma.

Green Tango steeps up a bright marigold with a greenish tinge. Getting the slightest sweetness to the taste with a bit of hay on the aftertaste. This is a very subtle tea. The cup finished quickly, but nothing memorable in drinking this.

Tea Forte describes this as having a “hint of the tropics with every satisfying sip” and states that it is a lightly steamed green tea with fragrant mangoes. I do feel a little tropical after drinking this cup, the sweetness and bright liquor make it feel very tropical.

I’m not sure if I’d purchase this tea, but I certainly wouldn’t refuse a cup from a friend.

You can purchase Tea Forte Green Tango directly from their website.

Spider webs conjure up ethereal visions of delicate pale films of almost nothing. Wisps of white that disappear in the sunlight. Shanti’s Spiderweb oolong initially seems strangely misnamed. The leaves are short, black and twisted, but very tangible and more like spiders than their webs. My sample didn’t have much aroma dry, but once steeped, it almost smelled more like grapes than oolong. Or ice wine. Very sweet. Again, not a quality widely associated with spider webs.

Once brewed up, the liquor is a light tan. The tea doesn’t have much of the typical oolong flavor of other teas, but it’s got a pleasant lightly tannic flavor, and a lovely sweetness on the finish that reminds me again of grapes, or on subsequent steeps of sweet lemons. There’s also a malty overtone to the brew. It’s got a thin, tannic mouth-feel, and here’s where the spider web name is applicable. The tea’s flavor dissipates quickly, leaving just the hint of sweetness, and the knowledge that you’ve just had some nice tea.

You can purchase the Spiderweb Oolong directly from the Shanti Tea website.

The Grand Tea company is a tea company that I am growing some respect for. I’m even asking to review their tea, so that is a good sign that they have something of higher standard to offer. Generally, pu-erh tea that comes from the Xishuangbanna mountains of Yiwu in Yunnan, China is considered to be of high quality. The 2009 Yang Pin Yiwu Pu-erh tea is made in the form of a tea cake. It is considered to be “sheng”, a raw or uncooked tea, naturally fermented and is aged a little bit more than 1 year. Aging removes much of the bitterness. However, with such a young cake tea, we can expect some bitterness. Grand Tea describes this tea as medium hard pressed, with a fresh and flowery aroma.

The sample was 11.5 grams and contained not only leaves flaked off from part of the cake, but there were also a few pieces showing the layers of the cake. This gave me a good feel and a visual reference for the quality of the cake. The smell of the sample was delightfully fragrant and floral for a pu-erh, with a high note of leather and other complexities.

I wanted to use my Gaiwan rather than a Xishing teapot as I don`t have one strictly for pu-erh yet. I poured off the initial two steeps as that is required for pu-erh tea to both wash and rehydrate the tea. I used half of the sample or 5.5 gram in 100 ml water for 15 seconds on the first drinkable steep and 10 seconds on the 2nd steep but a little less water as I wanted it stronger. My notes from a pu-erh specialist say to use 7 grams in 100 ml water and I tend to agree. I noted the golden brown liquor and that there was a slight earth smell. I examined the wet leaves and compared them to another blend, noting the size of the leaf in comparison was smaller and chopped. I made about 6 steepings and sampled each one to check on strength of flavour. It did not give up its flavours too soon so this type of tea is perfect for sharing among others with confidence.

As for tasting notes, this tea isn’t totally young but isn’t the damp foresty pu-erh you get with aged tea either. It has the mild sourness of a younger pu-erh, but is also transitional to a more mellow naturally aged tea. It has a unique floral note that sits on the tongue after the bitterness dissipates. There is also a fullness in the mouth that gives this tea another dimension of enjoyment. It`s rather interesting to think the manufacturer has made the decision to sell at this point because you can either drink this tea now, or tuck it away for another few years, perhaps sampling it at intervals to see what characteristics are developing further. However, it remains to be seen if a few more years would actually develop this tea. I think the delicate floral flavours may be compromised by time. I like the packaging as well. If you are going to have a cake around for a few years, you’d want it to look a bit artistic with some elegant calligraphy, rather than with cold industrial printing. As this cake is not a tightly compressed as other traditional tea cakes, you may want to turn to a more highly compressed cake for long-term storage purposes.

The price of this tea is 400 gram cake for $16. USD and is very inexpensive, making about 60 servings from a 7-gram, remembering you will get multiple steepings. I recently paid more than that for 50 grams of pu-erh. Go ahead and get a stack of 5 cakes for $96. You’ll enjoy this for while or give the cakes as gifts to those who appreciate sheng pu-erh. Drink this tea alone to enjoy its qualities and remember to smell the warm empty cup for the floral aromas.

You can purchase the 2009 Yang Pin Yiwu Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.