Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

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The aromas of this white tea’s dry leaves are quite sweet and grassy. Fuzzy, short, white twists intermix with small green leaves for an enjoyable looking tea.  Canton Tea Co’s packaging suggests using 2 teaspoons of leaf per cup of water and infusing the tea for 2-3 minutes. Accordingly, 2 teaspoons of the tiny leaves went into my cup for a little over 2 minutes. The resulting aroma of this tea was somewhat different than the dry leaves suggested.

My cup of tea still maintained its grassy aromas, yet felt deeper and stronger with a light, roasted smell. I was further surprised when, upon tasting it for the first time, the flavour burst in my mouth, both sweet and fruity and without a lot of the formerly smelled grassiness. Impressed by the full flavour, I continue drinking.

This is one complex white tea…the flavour is not, in any way, straightforward. Slightly reminiscent of half a dozen different white teas, this is a must-try for white tea lovers. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would give it a 91/100.

You can purchase the Ye Sheng Wild White Tea directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

Many lemon-mint based herbal blends are pretty nondescript. It can be difficult to tell where one ingredient ends and the other begins. On the other hand, the ingredient line-up for Chamomile Citron is like a bunch of feisty schoolkids competing for your attention. Peppermint, licorice, hibiscus…they all scream, “Notice me! Notice me! Notice ME!” This combination pops!

Chamomile Citron is a pretty tea; bright yellow flowers and cheerful red-orange bits. (The rose hips? Maybe the hibiscus). Steeped to the five-minute-and-beyond mark, the liquor has a pink-orange tint and feels heavier in the mouth than many herbal teas. The aromatic steam from the cup has a really pleasant Vapo-Rub vibe. Lemongrass and lemon verbena hit my tastebuds first, with a nice peppermint chaser that left my tongue tingling after I drained the last drop.

Many tea lovers turn to tisanes when they need to be lulled to sleep … Chamomile Citron doesn’t lull, but it will give you a pleasant, mouth-pleasing experience without the caffeine.

You can purchase the Chamomile Citron directly from the Tea Forte website.

I prepared this tea in an almost reverential mood because the reputation of Mark T. Wendell teas is excellent.  And I was not disappointed.   Their River Mist Green tea is a great delicacy.  According to the Wendell web site, this tea is an “unusual Chinese green [which]  has abundant silver strands among the twisted green leaves and unopened buds. It’s supple, rich flavor is easy on the palate and a treat to drink.”  

This is no hyperbole at all.  This tea is a clear winner.  I’ve been tasting a lot of green teas lately noticing which ones manage to forge a distinctive identity on the memory of my nose and palate.  River Mist Green is a winner in terms of delicacy and refinement.  This is a tea to be sipped with attention and pleasure and not to be slurped down efficiently (and I do like teas that deliver huge flavor and caffeine while being hastily slurped). 

Mark T. Wendell’s River Mist Green is of the former company.  Choice, classy, and charming, it can serve as a centerpiece for entertainment or for quiet times alone.  I enjoyed every sip as if it were a delicate wine.  The tea does not have any overtly vegetal notes, which will be a recommendation for green tea lovers who don’t want to drink spinach juice.  This tea, instead, is what I would call bright, fresh, delicate, and refined.  It’s a very swanky tea but also an eminently affordable one.  

You can purchase the River Mist directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

Click here to enter the Steepster Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest

We are taking a brief break from reviews to help Steepster in getting the word out about this amazing contest! Why? Because in our opinion the tea community has never been hit with a contest of this magnitude before.

Steepster announced on Monday the Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest – and I have to say, I have NEVER seen such a prize package for tea lovers as this!

Headlined with the much lauded Sorapot by Joey Roth, this prize package contains over $825 worth of tea and tea accessories from companies such as: Adagio, TeaFrog, Maeda-en, Golden Moon Tea, Art of Tea, Pearl Fine Teas, 52 Teas, Teas Etc, Earth Bound Tea, Tavalon, and Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea.

It is simple to enter, just visit the Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest page, and follow the simple directions. No long winded essays to write, no video testimonials, just a simple tweet or discussion reply, and you are in.

Steepster is a site that “helps you keep an online log of the teas you drink”. You can keep track of your teas, rate them, make tasting notes, and share them with your friends and followers. It is a great place to discover new teas, and share your passion of tea.

I personally had a chance to speak with Jason Roos, one of the founders of Steepster, and they are excited to be offering not only this amazing contest, but specials and features of tea companies of all size and shape through their Steepster Select program – a daily showcase of deals and favorites, a new one posted every day.

So head on over and enter the Steepster Ultimate Holiday Tea Gift Contest.