Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Water Temperature’

Ah, this tea smells tasty. The aroma of the dried leaf is very fruity, if also a bit floral. There are some spicy tones as well. It would appear the mixture is composed of rooibos, rose petals, and perhaps some dried citrus, among other things.

For my first infusions, I steeped a teaspoon and a half of this for five minutes in a cup of just-boiled water. The Shanti Tea website does not give many details regarding this tea, but judging by the fact that it has rooibos, I decided on the tea measurement and steep times. The steeped cup smells of sweet fruit, with big hints of apricot and citrus of some sort. The impression of the first sip is…subdued. Quite a bit of lemon and orange flavours, but not a lot else that stands out. More sips bring out the rooibos and mixed fruit flavours. They blend quite well, and the tea makes for a pleasant evening cuppa.

On my personal enjoyment scale, I would rate this tea a 68/100.

You can purchase the African Carnival directly from the Shanti Tea website.

As I peered into the sample bag, I was struck at the beauty of this blend. It needs to be stored in a glass container just to admire the tapestry of colors. Think miniature potpourri.

The smell of the dry leaves reminds me of spearmint gum.

7 minute brew with boiling water

Burgundy colored brew

The first sip is sweet and minty. I really enjoyed this cup of tea. Sweet, but not too sweet. The mint is nicely balanced with the other flavors.

You can purchase the PITTA BALANCE directly from the Shanti Tea website.

The initial scent I get from this tea reminds me of a darjeeling…light and a bit spicy. In fact, this almost seems light enough to be a bit reminiscent of some green teas that I have had. Steeping it for three minutes with just-boiled water, I’m greeted with creamy aromas from the golden-brown liquor. Despite being a little too eager to try it, and burning my lip on the first sip, once I wait and get in a (safe) first sip, I am delighted by the result. This tea is indeed creamy, just as the Canton Tea Co website describes. I am not so sure about the caramel notes, but I suppose I could see where one might pick up hints of those. To me, this tea has just the slightest bit of a malty aftertaste, creating an impeccable flavour.

A resteep of this tea brings about a much-subdued, yet still flavourful, brew. This is most definitely one of the best black teas I have ever tasted. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would give it 90/100. On top of that, I would definitely recommend this as one of the must-try teas for lovers of black teas.

You can purchase the Bai Lin Gong Fu directly from the Canton Tea Co. website. Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout! Save 15% right now when you use the code LEAF at checkout!

So, as I child, I used to eat grass.  Not a lot, and not actual grazing, but every so often when outside, I’d pick a blade and nibble.  Thank goodness my parently didn’t use chemical fertilizer, and that we didn’t have any dogs!  I favored wild grass, because you can get the milder white hearts of grass from the inner stem in larger portions than from regular lawn grass.

That is what this tea reminds me of – those mild grass hearts.  It’s a lovely mellow, smooth and grassy tea.   And grass really is a motif throughout the tea. The dry leaf looks like dried grass slippings, while having cocoa and nutty aroma notes.  The brewed leaf looks even more like grass clippings and smells like a typical green tea.

But the brew – oh!  the brew.  It’s lovely.  Others have called it sweet.  I don’t get sweet.  I get grassy, lightly nutty, and very mellow.  Mild.  Very lightly colored.  This is a tea I could sip all day.  Lovely, lovely tea.

You can purchase the Anji Bai Cha directly from the Canton Tea Co. website – Save 10% right now when you use the code IIATL at checkout!.

Ingredients for this were thankfully simple. Along with the touted natural blueberry flavoring were Bai Mu Dan (White Peony) leaves and cornflowers. Telling them apart wasn’t a difficult feat, even for a bespectacled boob such as myself. The tea leaves were forest green-to-brown – wilderness-like in appearance – with flecks of bold purple interrupting the jungle-ish canvas. Cornflowers aren’t considered a flavor enhancer. They’re added to blends for the sole purpose of making them look pretty, such as with Earl Greys. They certainly did their part here. As did the blueberry flavoring; one would’ve thought a blueberry had bled for this blend.

Brewing instructions called for a water temperature of 80C (176F) and a one-to-two-minute steep. That actually seemed rather light for a Bai Mu Dan in my opinion. Peony is generally a very resilient white. Usually, I went with a 165F (or above) steep for three minutes. That said, I went with their recommendation; a heaping teaspoon worth in 8oz of water, steeped for two. Just in case.

The liquor brewed up to the usual pale yellow associated with most white teas, albeit a tad darker since it was a Peony. The steam aroma was about as blueberry as anything could get, even in comparison to actual blueberries. The fragrance was also surprisingly sweet, giving the impression of fruit candies. Y’know…the roll-up kind. No surprise, but the flavor echoed the smell to the letter. Most flavoring agents dilute a bit upon infusion, but this stayed afloat like some sort of – uh – berry boat. (What? It was all I could come up with?!)

For connoisseurs looking to taste some Bai Mu Dan with their blueberry, I regret to inform you won’t get much of an impression of the white tea base. The problem with blending white tea is that so subtle a foundation gets lost in the botanical fray. This is why the most successful white tea blends use petals and blossoms, so as to enhance their subtleties. Actual freeze-tried or sun-dried blueberries probably would’ve worked better with this. That is, if the goal was to have a White Peony presence. But for something that blares with bombast about it’s “blueberry”-ness, this succeeds in spades.

You can purchase the Blueberry White Tea directly from the TeaFrog website.