So many not-so-great grocery-store brands of tea tout themselves as Orange Pekoe (it’s a tea grade, not a flavor) that some fine tea appreciators associate Orange Pekoe with bland or acidic brown water. Hot leaf juice. Nothing to get excited about.

Therefore, I am pleased to report that TeaFrog has rescued Orange Pekoe’s reputation and elevated it to a really fine morning cuppa. This is flowery broken orange pekoe, which adds the flowering plant to the leaf mix. In the packet, the leaves have no resemblance to the smooshed and crushed dusty stuff you see in a mass-market tea bag–you actually see leaves.

And when said leaves are steeped at the 3-4 minute mark, they result in a nice, hefty cup that feels a little thick on your tongue. It  has a little fruit-and-flowery sweetness. No additives needed.

Priced quite reasonably, this is a good go-to pantry tea. Stock up!

You can purchase the Orange Pekoe directly from the TeaFrog website.

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.

One of the things I’ve been noticing over the years, as I’ve ordered tea from various merchants, is that common parameters aren’t always common.

Almost every tea will have directions on the back of the packet, telling you how to brew a cup of tea. Too bad they can’t agree on the definition of the word ‘cup’. A standard English definition of the word cup could lead you to believe that it would be a measurement somewhere around 8 oz. But apparently this doesn’t count in the tea world. The general rule of thumb is 2-3 grams of tea per cup. But if you don’t have the same definition of cup, that could result in some very strange brewing parameters.

Lupicia has one of the smallest definitions of a cup I’ve ever seen. They define a cup as 5 oz., and still call for 3 grams of tea per these 5 oz. I’d be afraid of oversteeping with something like this but this cup? This was an amazing cup of tea.

The product description says “Sweet nostalgic aroma of caramel and almonds. Delicious straight or with milk.” This tea leaf smells sweet. And brewed up, it’s a beautiful medium brown and smells lovely, although much less sweet. Drinking the tea straight up, it has hints of caramel and almond flavors; a nice light cup. However, I like to add splenda or honey to my black teas. And if you sweeten this? Wow, it’s amazing. Mellow, smooth caramel flavors. Rich, creamy, and sweet with an almond finish. I also tried this tea with milk, and while nice, I didn’t find that it added as much as the sweetener did.

I strongly recommend that those who like a little sweetness with their tea give this a try. It’s a lovely yummy cup of goodness.

You can purchase the Caramele directly from the Lupicia Tea website.

Ah, the pleasure of a good smelling tea. Often the dry leaves, as-of-yet un-infused, reveal a lot about the tea that is to come. The spicy and sweet notes of the dry leaves of this herbal tisane blend in an attractive melody that promises a deep and possibly heavy drink.

Utilising a Tea Forte Café Cup, I steeped this pyramid infuser for four minutes using just-boiled water. Smelling the infusion, it is clear that cinnamon is definitely what lends much of the spiciness to this tea’s aroma. However, with the first sip, it becomes immediately evident that cinnamon is not all that is in Tea Forte’s Flora. The sweetness of liquorice root melds with the explosion of flavour from the hibiscus in this blend. The hibiscus adds a lot of body to this tisane and sweeps through one’s mouth, filling it with flavour.

A re-steep of this herbal blend offers a much weaker version of the first cup, but with the same balance of flavours. This is one blend that is worth trying and might make a tasty chilled drink as well. I would give Flora an 83/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the Flora directly from the Tea Forte website.

This is a solid white tea.  Just a nice solid white tea.  The leaf smells lovely and fruity.  Once brewed, the aroma of this tea is sweet and slightly grassy,  It brews up to a golden liquor; a really pretty cup.  The flavor is pleasantly hay-like, and very mellow, but the aromas don’t arrive on the tongue.  There are no outstanding high notes, but nothing distracting either.  It does have a base-line sweetness to it, and overall, it’s just really pleasant.  I don’t know how typical or representative of a White Peony this tea is, but it’s good and would compliment a number of sweet treats or an afternoon sitting and reading.

You can purchase the Organic White Peony directly from the Boston Tea Company website.

Well, the notes on the website state that this tea will hit maturity in 2010 and peak in 2015. I have enough to try it now, and then hopefully remember to try this four years from now. The dry leaves smell creamy and smooth (I love the smell of cooked Pu’erh), and they have a bit of spice in the aroma. I notice a few stems in amongst the leaves, but the leaves are quite prettily twisted and twirled.

Rinsed, then steeped in a gaiwan for 30 seconds, the wet leaves smell even more creamy, still with a bit of spice, a bit like a nice brandy in a way. The liquor is a very bright and clear amber colour. For what it is worth, this tea looks great. I pour the first cup and sip…and sip…and sip. This tea is great. The flavour profile is not very bold, but it is delicious in its own simple way. There is even a strange hint of sweetness in the background.

The second and third infusions go by quickly as I thoroughly enjoy the simplistic wonder of this tea. I highly recommend it and give it an 87/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

You can purchase the 2005 Xing Hai Cooked Loose Puerh directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

When one takes a look at the little brown rice puffs peeking out from the tightly rolled spinach-y sencha, one would conclude that this is tea with an interesting backstory. Two histories are attributed to this tea; the first one being highly practical–housewives using a common household commodity to stretch expensive tea.

The second legend is much more colorful: the servant of a samurai tucked some grains of toasted rice in his sleeve to sneak a snack in between his duties. As he served his master’s tea, a few grains fell into the steeping cup. This attracted the ire of said samurai, who whipped out his blade and beheaded the poor peckish peasant. To his regret, the master discovered the brew he believed to be tainted was pretty doggone tasty.

Believe either, or neither, but if you’re a lover of out-of-the-ordinary green teas, this is one to taste. Steeped, it’s a luscious golden green and has a scent akin to a whiff with your nose stuck deep in a box of Rice Krispies. And instead of muting the flavor of the quality organically-grown sencha, the rice gives this bright and brassy brew a nice sweetness. Perhaps our remorseful samurai repented by writing a haiku in praise of this serendipitous discovery:

Snap, crackle, pop; rice
Enhances this tea’s flavor.
I’ll have one more cup.

You can purchase the Genmaicha Organic directly from the TeaFrog website.

Not being much of a mint fan, in whatever form, be it candy, ice cream, or chocolates, Tea Forte has a tough job at hand to try to convince me that mint – yes, in the form of a tea is good. Well, I like citrus fruits so at least they have that going for them. Anyway, on with the review…

Dry leaf looks like the grade of a fannings, green and some brown, packaged in that familiar pyramid shaped teabag known to be Tea Forte. I cut open the 2 teabags I received (total about 3 grams) and steeped it in about 400 ml of hot water. I was pre-occupied at the time and by the time I returned to the water, it had cooled to 80C. Herbal teas should be steeped at 100C for 2-3 minutes. I knew I was going to get a sub-par tasting tea. There was a faint minty aroma, no hint of citrus. The taste was minty, not overly piercing mintyness but a softer mint. I did not detect any citrus taste. After the initial mintyness, there was a taste as if you were licking the back of an envelope – that sort of gluey-paper taste. Mind you, I think this was because of the low temperature at which I steeped the tea.

I tried a second infusion at boiling point and the tea tasted much better. There was no more of the gluey-paper taste and the mintyness was more light and tangy rather than stale if that makes any sense. I noticed that as the tea cools, the minty taste dissipates and you can taste hints of citrus. I prefer it cold rather than hot. As a hot beverage, I found that the citrus and mint did not complement each other very well. I don’t know, maybe because when I drink citrus I expect something sweet like citrus juices, because when I tasted this the sort of “lack of sweetness” coupled with the mintyness made the taste buds yearn for something that wasn’t there. It was missing an ingredient, maybe honey or cocoa shells or maybe even lavender. But then again, that could just complicate things…let’s leave that to the tea blenders shall we.

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

A rose by any other name…  Oh, the lovely scent of roses.  As a child, many of the important older women in my life all seemed to use a particular brand of rose lotion, giving me a definite sense memory of strong older, rose scented women  who made me feel safe.  And this tea definitely tripped that trigger.  Highly scented, and very rose.  I was enveloped in comfort as I inhaled the steeping brew.

But I also had a slight worry.  I’ve had a few floral teas that taste like drinking perfume.  Would this one taste like rose perfume?  Smelling good is all fine and dandy, but the best memories can’t mitigate a cup of perfume. It would be downgraded to potpourri at that point.  Luckily – my fears were TOTALLY unfounded.  This tea tasted as lovely as it smelled.  Unsweetened, it carried with it flavors of honey and an underlying sweetness.  It also had a slight nuttiness to the brew.

I will definitely be purchasing some of this tea for myself.  It had good memories, good aromas and good flavors.  What could be better!

You can purchase the Rose directly from the Golden Moon Tea website.

Pineapple bits, dried coconut and rose petals are dispersed throughout this rooibos blend. The dry smell is tropical without the woodsy smell that some rooibos teas exhibit.

5 minute infusion and the rose petals have unfurled. This particular blend is very drinkable with a sweetness that masks the rooibos. As I sip this tea, I can detect an almost orange flavor profile. Nice choice for late night tea sipping since rooibos is naturally caffeine free.

You can purchase the Tahiti Cream directly from the TeaFrog website.