Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Tea Pot’

This Grace tea is called Winey Keemun and gets its name from sharing an affinity to wine, at least in using similar descriptors such as body and colour. This tea is a blend of teas from 3 continents: China, Formosa and Indian teas, similar to an English Breakfast Tea. Grace reminds us this is a specialty tea as the leaves have been extra slow-fired.

I did a search and came up with some fairly standard wine terms from Dummies.com. So, is it possible to take wine terms and apply them to tea? I picked a few wine terms and placed their tea compliment following the term: Aroma/bouquet, body/liquor, flavour intensity/depth of flavour, softness/mouth feel, and tannins/dryness in the mouth. Tea typically needs much more inspection than wine. Tasters read the actual leaves. Wine lovers read a label. One could say my humour is “tannic” (dry).

Lets look at the leaf first. The leaf is interesting. I think the longer leaves are from Formosa. There are some broader matt-black flat leaves possibly from China that have a good curl and lots of smaller pieces possibly from India’s CTC processing including some golden tips. The scent of the leaves is a bit like a stone fruit, a peach or apricot. What I am expecting I’m not sure. The leaves are telling me the colour will be quick to express but the flavours will develop with time. Grace recommend a 5 minute steep. So, I’ll try the traditional 2.5 grams in a glass tea pot with 5 oz water at 200 degrees F. for the 5 minutes, then lets see what part of this tea is winey.

The colour of the liquor is clear and bright with a medium mahogany brown-red and a malty aroma to the liquor. There is an acid-bitterness taste and citrus notes that are obvious. The flavour intensity is not as deep as an orange pekoe but not as complex as a Darjeeling, so I’d call this a medium intensity tea. There is some natural sweetness coming through the bitterness. The Formosa minty-clean on the breath is unmistakeable. The softness/fullness in the mouth is enjoyable but not as much as other teas, so I’d call this a medium for mouth feel. The tannins are not light but they also do not have the same strong levels as tannins in wine either. The bitterness is peculiar though and left a strong after taste in my mouth. Astringency from tea tannins leaves a dry mouth, not a bitter mouth. I decided to add milk. Sure enough the tea could take the milk, killing the bitterness. This left me wondering if a 4 minute steep would be better.

I returned to try a new shorter steep and the results were much better. Sure enough, the liquor was smelling floral now. There was a slight smokiness coming through on taste from that slow-fired approach and the bitterness gone. There were taste complexities coming through including a bit of fig-flavours coming in now. There is a pleasant lingering taste . Its amazing what a difference 1 minute will make. This tea is not very forgiving, so watch your timing carefully. Winey tea.

As a recommendation, this tea can be taken in the afternoon with a savory or sweet snack or with a heavier meal in the evening. I think it would be great as an after dinner beverage as well as the robustness would be appreciated.

You can purchase the Winey Keemun English Breakfast directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

I like big chunky tea leaves and the Mark T. Wendell Formosa Keemun fits the bill. A fully oxidized black tea from Formosa (aka Taiwan) is unusual as Formosa typically produces the famously large-leaf fragrant oolong, a green tea. Taiwan is known for its superb tea industry and its workers handle tea with care and appreciation. Mark Wendell referred to this tea as “the burgundy of teas” boasting a mellow full-bodied brew with a superb bouquet. However, some reviewers say it’s too mild a tea . This black tea is typically served as a breakfast beverage so I can understand that a robust tea would be expected by some. A keemun would typically not be taken with milk or sugar and a light sponge cake would probably accompany this tea if served in Taiwan.

The dry leaf is cut and dried with a gentle curve. The pieces are about a 1/2 inch in length and thick, not wirey as you would expect from a mainland China Keemun. The colour of the leaves is not jet-black either. There is a silvery appearance reminding me of fermented Pu-erh tea. The scent of the dry leaf is a bit minty and bit chocolate and a bit floral.

The recommended preparation from Wendell is “1 rounded teaspoon and 1 for the pot. Steep for 4-5 minutes in 190-200 degF (88-93 degC) water”. The amount of water is not specified. So, I will use 2.5 grams in a pre-warmed 5 oz Gaiwan as my tasting measure with 200° F filtered water. I think 4 minutes would be best. The leaf is quite thick so a longer steep is needed. I would use the full 5 minutes if I were preparing a larger quantity (12 oz.) in a tea pot and I would keep it warm under a tea light. As a special note, I tried a heaping teaspoon (from my kitchenware) of the tea and weighed it. I was at 2.4 grams with my kitchen teaspoonful, almost bang-on. I tried a traditional kitchen measuring spoon ( 1 tsp.) and ended up with 1.8 grams, considerably less. So, you can see that if you’d end up with a lighter tea if you were too scientific about it.

On the examination of the wet leaves, I noted brown-leather coloured, fully opened leaves. There were some stems but generally a quality leaf was used. The leaf and stems were a bit dry on rehydration. This tea could go up to 5 minutes but has little more give after the first 4 minutes. There is a distinctive floral scent to the wet leaves to enjoy as well.

The liquor pours off clear and bright with a light amber-red colour. There is the scent of caramel and a slight malt note from the oxidization, similar to an Assam. With low astringency the natural sweetness comes out. There is a hint of smokiness. The liquor is full in the mouth, leaving a pleasant residual and minty-cool freshness in the mouth, almost like after brushing your teeth in the morning. I can see adding a tiny bit of lemon to pick up the brigntness. I tried the tea after an initial tasting with a blueberry bran muffin to see how it would stand up to additional sweetness and flavours. The tea tasted quickly like an orange pekoe, losing its sweet floral notes and leaving some astringency that seemed to now ask for milk.

My recommendation is to enjoy this tea mid-morning to early afternoon where you are not expecting robustness. While it would be best to drink this tea solo, try serving the Formosa Keemun with light fruits such as melons or pears as the tea will not stand up to strong flavours. I don’t think its meant to be. I can see Mark Wendell sitting in his office sipping this tea while working on his business papers. Light and mild, this tea would not distract his attention. What a contrast from his dearly loved smoked Lapsang Souchong Hua-Kwa tea!

You can purchase the Formosa Keemun directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company 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.

Bi Lo Chun is also known as Spring Green Snail tea and is as famous as Dragonwell tea. The original Bi Lo Chun is still grown in the Jiangsu area of China, most notably in the west part of Dongting Lake, home of the dragon boat races but now other provinces are also producing this exquisite tea. The highest quality is pre-Qing Ming (plucked before April 5 annually), distinct silvery-green tips. Bi Lo Chun is known for its youthful pekoe (“hairy”) tip that curls over looking like a little snail. It takes 60-80,000 tips to make 1 pound of this tea. Both the smell of the leaf and the liquor is refreshing, aromatic with a pale yellow liquor. Stone fruit trees such as peach and apricot are planted amongst the tea trees, providing the floral tones in this delicate tea. Conventional Bi Lo Chun (picked after April 5th) will not have as perky flavour and the liquor colour will be more dense.

The sample of Bi Lo Chun was very small, only 2.8 grams but my goodness, what a beautiful pluck with small elegant curls and a lazy twist to the leaf. The silver-grey tips were heavy with pekoe and constituted about 70% of the sample with the remainder a darker possibly older olive-green leaf with less pekoe. What appeared to be dust in the sample bag was actually the presence of pekoe. Pekoe carries the briskness in tea and also provides the best health benefits as it is rich in anti-oxidants, caffeine and aromatics. Usually the bud and the first leaf are picked for Bi Lo Chun provided the leaf contains sufficient pekoe.

I used a glass tea pot. The 1st steep was in 5 oz/150 ml water at 170 F/75 C for 1 minute and produced a somewhat cloudy, pale golden yellow liquor. The cloudiness came from the amount of pekoe floating in the water. When poured in a white ceramic cup, the pekoe becomes invisible and the liquor was clear. I smelled the liquor and it was unremarkable. I had my much anticipated first sip and immediately tasted the flavour of green beans. As much as I was expecting fragrant fruit or floral notes, I just couldn’t find it. There was also low astringency. I was a bit perplexed as I was expecting Bi Lo Chun flavours and I wasn’t getting them. Then, I got a head rush from all that pekoe and realized that some teas are going to deliver something special. I was anxious to see what a second steep would produce now that the leaf had opened.

The second steep of about 40 seconds with slightly cooler water at about 160 F, was again cloudy. There was more astringency now. There was a fullness in the mouth and an umani taste. I was still missing something though – a wisp of roastiness, a chestnut flavour, anything! I had to remind myself that this really was a delicate tea, and not to demand tea to taste a certain way, but to understand what it is giving you. Maybe this Bi Lo Chun also has a subtlety that may be lost on my inept palate. There was an unusual sensation though, of all those pekoe hairs that were dancing and tingling on my tongue. I must tell you that this tea gives you an unexpected experience and pleasure. By the way, the 3rd steep of 40 seconds at 160 F was also cloudy with pekoe and with less significant taste than the 2nd steep. I felt very cleansed and alert after my tasting no doubt due to all that pekoe.

Grace Tea doesn`t list this tea on their web site. I think if you wanted this rare and intimate Bi Lo Chun , you`d have to ask for it. If you were diving into a book on poetry or philosophy, this tea would make a good compliment. I wouldn`t take any food with this tea or you might miss the delivery of its message.

You can purchase Grace Tea Company products directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

I’ve had Tea forte before and consider it a premium tea. This whole leaf organic tea comes from a single estate Assam. Assam tea from India is known for its exceptional malt flavours. The packaging indicated that the bergamot oil used in the manufacturing is a 1st pressed Italian bergamot. Like a good olive oil, forst pressed offers higher quality and more desireable flavour. The package temps you with words of ” citricy and lightly floral infusion” and prints a single word “caffeine” on the front to let you know this tea is not a caffeine-free. The ingrediatent listed areblack tea, corn flower petals and natural flavours. Both the Fair Trade and USDA Organic seals were printed on the package. After opening the package, I could smell the bergamot and citricy oils I weighed the sample in at 5 grams. The packaged direction were 12 0z. Boiling water and 5 minutes steep time. Milk and sugar were a compliment for this tea, I read.

When I opened the package I was suprized that the leaf was whole and not in a tea bag . The Broken Orange Pekoe looked uniformly dark and the intense dark blue cornflowers provided an interesting visual depth. I grabbed my teaball and found the 5 grams fit perfectly. I prepared boiling water and pre-heated a traditional porcelain tea pot, noting the line for 12 oz. I also knew 5 minutes was a long time for tea to steep, so I prepared a burner on my stove with a protective ring to maintain the heat. A tea light on a tea stand or trivet could also have been used, but I was in a hurry to get the tea at 5:30 to revive my spirit after a stressful day at work. I noted a strong chlorophyll rim in the tea pot.

After 5 minutes, I poured off 10 oz into a large porcelain tea mug and had a sip of the clear brew. I noted a low astringency to the tea and soft bergamot and floral flavours. Lets stop for a moment and look at what cornflowers do for tea. First, they are decorative. In Victorian times, adding fresh flowers to food provided a lift from gloom and celebrated the floral tones of the tea. There is a slight clove-like flavour to the flowers. Secondly, the flowers are an aid to digestion, aid in healing wounds and scrapes, and are used to treat ailments of the eyes.

I added milk and took a sip. Milk cuts astringency. As this tea is already low in astringency, the milk enhances the malt flavours but now they come in secondary to the citrus high notes. There is more fullness in the mouth. Amazingly, despite the addition of milk, there is a very long lingering taste of the bergamot, an aftertaste of bitter orange. If you were having an afternoon tea, this flavouring would easily last through two tea scones loaded with jam and clotted cream.

I know there are many who need more “earl” in the earl grey, so I’d recommend this tea to those wanting those citrus notes and that bitter orange bite. Enjoy then, as this tea is forte!!

You can purchase the Earl Grey directly from the Tea Forte website.