With its campy quality, lapsang souchong is the perfect tea for a grey winter day. And Mark T. Wendell Tea Company’s China lapsang souchong is a particularly smoky version of the classic Chinese tea. It has a strong, meaty flavour and somewhere in there, piercing the tea’s most obvious aroma – smoke -, is a sharper note that reminds me tea tree oil.

Drinking this tea feels like you’re eating the charred outer bits of souvlaki meat. Sound strange? If you’ve never had lapsang souchong before, there’s a good chance you’ll be repulsed — it’s a tea that takes some familiarity before it really impresses. But once you’re passed that introductory stage, try Mark T. Wendell’s lapsang souchong for a hardy, nicely balanced cup of tea.

Click here to buy from Mark T. Wendell Tea Company

This tea was received as a free sample.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | China Lapsang Souchong from Mark T. Wendell Tea Company | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: chinese teas, Lapsang Souchong, Mark T. Wendell Tea Company

My fellow tea blogger, Tony Gebely of World of Tea is starting Chicago Tea Garden, an online tea store that’s just days away from launching. He sent me samples of two of his teas a few weeks ago, one of which is this Golden Bi Luo, a rare black tea from Yunnan Province, China.

Golden Bi Luo is made in the style of Bi Luo Chun, a green tea that is the specialty of tea makers in Jiangsu Province. Like Bi Luo Chun, Golden Bi Luo is rolled into little balls, but it has a lovely golden tint. This tea scores very highly on the attractiveness scale. It’s beautiful to behold.

The tea infuses into a very subtle little black tea, with a mild nuttiness and sweeter notes, like caramel. Something about it reminds me of a first flush Darjeeling, though I can’t quite place what.

Like many fine black teas, this one can easily be re-steeped for multiple infusions. I’ve been experimenting with preparing it in a gaiwan, with two small spoons of leaves; on the first infusion, I give it about a minute, and then allow about a minute and a half on the second and 3-5 minutes on the third. As with any steeping directions, one piece of advice holds true above all others: experiment.

As I said, Chicago Tea Garden hasn’t opened its doors yet, but if you’re based in the area, be sure to get on their mailing list. When it’s available, the Golden Bi Luo will be sold at $12.99 per 50 grams.

Update: Chicago Tea Garden has now launched! You can order Golden Bi Luo here.

Browse more tea from Yunnan Province in the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Golden Bi Luo from Chicago Tea Garden | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: bi luo chun, Chicago Tea Garden, golden bi luo, Yunnan

My Father’s Day mug.

Do you like my mug? It was a Father’s Day present — my first ever — from Benedict.

Of course, Father’s Day was way back in September, so why the recursion into the past? Truth be told, my camera has a flat battery, so I don’t have any photos of today’s tea. Instead, you’ll have to make do with some choice pictures of the almighty mug I drank it from.

Today’s tea is Keemun Panda #1 from Orange Tea Co., who sent this to me as a free sample. Further disclosure: Orange Tea Co. have advertised on Tea Finely Brewed in the past.

This is one of those teas you start the day with, when what you’re after is a nice kick of caffeine and a tea with a bit of verve. The perfect tea to have in a big, hulking mug like my Father’s Day mug.

It’s a balanced, well-rounded tea. The flipside of that is that it doesn’t have anything that really jumps out at you; there are no surprising or unexpected flavours here. It’s just pure black tea, with that smoky quality that you would expect from a keemun, and some nice notes of honey as the tea cools.

The dry leaf, which consists of needle-thin, mostly broken leaves, suggests to me that this is a lower grade keemun. It’s on par with the keemun from Narien Teas that I reviewed in this post, though the Teas Etc keemun I reviewed in that post still trumps them both.

Keemun Panda #1 is available from Orange Tea Co. for $10.95 CA for 50 grams.

Browse more keemun tea in the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Keemun Panda #1 from Orange Tea Co. | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: keemun, Orange Tea Co

What does it take to be a championship-winning tea?

That was the main question I had in mind this morning as I enjoyed Teas Etc’s Ceylon OP1, which took first prize in the Ceylon category in last year’s World Tea Expo. It was one of three Teas Etc teas to win a prize (you can get all three together in a special Championship pack).

So back to the question: What does it take to be a championship-winning tea?

I was expecting something unlike anything I’ve ever had before, and miles ahead of other Ceylon blacks I’ve tried. But it wasn’t. Instead, I was struck by how familiar this tea seemed.

The marks of quality in this tea are small and subtle. You notice it in the crisp aroma, which is earthy and almost peppery. You notice it in the tea’s liquor, coloured a bright, vivid shade of rusty orange. And finally you notice it in the drink itself, which is robust, balanced and full-bodied.

Ceylon OP1 is available from Teas Etc.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Ceylon OP1 from Teas Etc | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Ceylon, Ceylon Tea, Teas Etc

Chocolate.

That was the first thing that came to mind when I opened this packet of Sungma Clonal Wonders ’09, a 2nd flush Darjeeling tea sent to my by Benoy of Thunderbolt Tea. I was amazed at how clear and distinct the aroma was.

That was a few weeks ago. Since then, I have been drinking this black tea on a regular basis. To me, it seems like a middle-of-the-road sort of Darjeeling tea — it exhibits some characteristic Darjeeling traits, with a few noteworthy aspects, but in some ways I come away feeling a little disappointed that it doesn’t live up to the promise offered by its aroma.

The leaves are an attractive bunch, matching the aroma. White tips are interspersed with bronzed leaves. Later, after inspecting the wet leaves, I find a few stems, but for the most part it’s a consistent batch. I am surprised though at the amount of broken leaves, something I wouldn’t expect in a tea classified as SFTGFOP1. There are a handful of full bodied leaves, but there are more broken leaves.

The liquor is a coppery orange. In characteristic Darjeeling fashion, the tea has a sharp, biting quality, like the skin of a grape. This is the point at which I find myself a little disappointed with this tea. It has the basic characteristics I’ve come to expect from a good Darjeeling, but I don’t find it exceptional. Contrast that with the Giddapahar Musk from Thunderbolt Tea I reviewed earlier this year, which was remarkable for its smoothness, depth and musky flavour. The Sungma Clonal Wonders is smooth, but I’m struggling to find as much depth in it as I did in Giddapahar Musk.

Sunga Clonal Wonders ’09 was available from Thunderbolt Tea, but has now been sold out.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Sungma Clonal Wonders 2009, 2nd Flush Black Tea from Darjeeling | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Darjeeling, Sungma Estate, Thunderbolt Tea

When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a writer when I was older. Over the years that dream has faded, but I still enjoy putting pen to paper. This morning, as I drank Tea Trekker’s Bai Lin Gong Fu with the intention of reviewing it, it suddenly struck me how writing a tea review is great practice for a writer, because it forces you to be deliberate and thoughtful about the words you use.

When I write a review, I usually base it around two or three words or phrases, which I think accurately depict something about the tea — either its appearance, flavour, aroma or character. You could condense any of my reviews down into two or three words or phrases, and you would have roughly the same thing, minus all the contextualizing with which I pad the reviews.

So then, to talk about today’s tea: Bai Lin Gong Fu from Tea Trekker. The first phrase I think of describes its appearance: pine needles of black and gold. The tea is thin like spider legs, but long.

I decide to prepare it in the gaiwan, which is something of an experiment. Two teaspoons and about a minute of steeping time (all very imprecise, I confess). It seems to work. The tea yields a brew that seems sweeter than other Chinese black teas, though on the second infusion that sweetness has disappeared and seems to have been replaced by a mild saltiness. So then, do I describe this tea as sweet, or salty? Words. They’re tricky things.

Tea Trekker’s description of this tea indicates that Bai Lin is a town near Panyang, which produces Golden Monkey tea. The similarities are fairly obvious. Both are buttery, with a more delicate mouthfeel than black teas from India or Ceylon.

For a while I struggled to think of how to describe this tea’s character. I considered the word bold, but that doesn’t quite fit. Eventually, I found the word: darting. This contrasts with Golden Monkey, which I consider to be a rounded, full-bodied sort of tea. Bai Lin Gong Fu is rich but playful.

Bai Lin Gong Fu is available from Tea Trekker for $15 for 1/4 LB.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Bai Lin Gong Fu from Tea Trekker | No comment |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Bai Lin, Tea Trekker

Fair trade is a tricky thing. I’ve written before about why I believe fair trade is important, but there’s a flipside: too often, fair trade tea is of lower quality to similarly-priced, non-fair trade tea. Which leaves a tea lover to decide between sacrificing quality or sacrificing an ethical stance.

Over the past year I have bought primarily non-fair trade tea, for one big reason: there are very few fair trade tea options around here in Melbourne, and the ones that I can find tend to be in teabag form. But one goal I’ve set for myself over the next few months is to explore some of the fair trade tea options available online. Here are four online tea stores that sell fair trade tea.

1. The Tea Spot

The Tea Spot have four fair trade organic teas:

• Organic Blue Mountain Nilgiri — Single-estate black tea from India’s Nilgiri tea region.
• Organic Green Twisted Spears — Hand-twisted spears from Sri Lanka.
• Organic Monkey-Picked White — A buttery white tea from Fujian Province, China.
• Organic New Moon Darjeeling — Autumnal Darjeeling tea. It’s single-estate, but they don’t specify which estate.

You can also get The Tea Spot’s Black Label Organic Teas set, which includes all four of the teas above and ends up saving you about 20%.

2. Numi Organic Tea

Numi Organic Tea have quite an extensive range of fair trade teas, most of which are organic as well:

• White Rose – Velvet Garden — A white tea combined with rose petals. Also available as tea bags.
• White Nectar – Osmanthus Spring — Organic white tea with Osmanthus flower. Also available as tea bags.
• White Orange Spice – Moonlight Spice — White tea mixed with orange, berries, lime and spices. Also available as tea bags.
• Ginger Sun – Lemon Decaf Green — Himalayan grown green tea combined with lemongrass and ginger. Also available as tea bags
• Jasmine Green Tea – Monkey King — Jasmine tea from Jiangxi Province in China. Also available as tea bags
• Mate Lemon Green Tea – Rainforest Green — Yerba Maté blended with lemon myrtle and chun mee green tea. Also available as tea bags
• Decaf Black Vanilla – Indian Night — Organic black tea blended with vanilla. Also available as tea bags
• Breakfast Blend – Morning Rise — A breakfast tea blended from Ceylon, Assam, Keemun and Darjeeling teas. Also available as tea bags
• Aged Earl Grey – Bergamot Black — Full-leaf Assam tea blended with natural Italian Bergamot, not oils or flavorings. Also available as tea bags
• Berry Black – Raspberry Darjeeling Black Tea — North American forest fruits blended with Darjeeling tea. Also available as tea bags
• Golden Chai – Spiced Assam Black Tea — Numi’s chai tea. Also available as tea bags
• Lapsang Souchong – Smoky Tarry — From the Wuyi Mountains in China comes Numi’s Lapsang Souchong.
• Chamomile Lemon – Sweet Meadows — Egyptian chamomile tea blended with Australian lemon myrtle.
• Ruby Chai – Spiced Rooibos is a rooibos chai blend. Also available as ]tea bags.

Also check out Numi’s Velvet Tea Caddy, which has four of their fair trade teas and could make a great gift idea. (Click here for more tea gifts).

3. Art of Tea

Art of Tea have a small selection of fair trade teas, all three of which can be bought together in their Fair Trade Tea Gift Set, which includes:

• Biodynamic Darjeeling — Black tea from the Makaibari Estate.
• Egyptian Chamomile — Chamomile tea from Egypt.
• Gunpowder — Gunpowder green tea from Zhejiang Province, in northern China.

4. Rishi Tea

Rishi Tea have made a name for themselves with quite a huge range of fair trade teas. You can see all their fair trade teas listed here. Also be sure to check out their store on Amazon , which has some great discounts.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | 4 Places to Buy Fair-Trade Tea Online | 5 comments |
Post categories: Black tea, Fair Trade tea, Green tea, Oolong tea, Organic tea, Pu-erh tea, Tisanes, White tea
Post tags: Art of Tea, buying tea online, Numi Organic Tea, Rishi Tea, The Tea Spot

Thank you to Dan for pointing this out to me. After Dan’s comment, I checked a couple of my books about tea and discovered that yes, I was completely wrong. And I felt a bit silly, until I ran a Google search for keemum tea and found 411,000 results — a figure that outnumbers the 378,000 currently being returned for keemun tea.

Seems I’m not the only one who’s a little confused.

So to all you who have stumbled across this on a quest to rectify your ignorance, I assure you: It’s keemun, not keemum.

By the way, one reason I’m posting this is to try to fix a problem with my RSS feed, which isn’t updating as it should. Let me know if any of you are noticing some funny stuff.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Keemun, not Keemum | 2 comments |
Post categories: Black tea
Post tags: Keemum, keemun

Long-time readers of this blog will be well aware of my fondness for black teas. While I concede that black tea doesn’t — for the most part — have the depth or range you can find in other types of tea, I remain an avowed fan of our fully oxidized friend. This morning, with heavy eyes from too little sleep, I decided to turn my attention to one of the most well-regarded of all black teas: keemun.

Keemun is a region in Anhui Province, China, near the city of Huangshan and the Huang Shan Mountains (where one finds the teahouse I featured several weeks ago). It’s a temperate, wet area where tea grows amidst rain-soaked clouds and mist.

I have two Keemun teas to sample today: Narien Teas’ Keemun Imperial and Teas Etc’s Keemun. Note to the FTC and those readers who care: Both these teas were sent to me as free samples.

Keemun Imperial by Narien Teas

The name of this tea is surely a throwback to the days of the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, when Keemun was one of the Imperial Tribute Teas. The emperor of the day commanded an exclusive right over the Imperial Tribute teas, which were given him by loyal followers for whom the ‘gift’ was little more than a tax payment.

Narien’s Keemun is a smooth black tea with a slight smokiness. It has a buttery note that reminds me of Yunnan’s black teas, though the butteriness is less pronounced than I find in Yunnan blacks.

Keemun was the original English Breakfast tea, and as I enjoy Narien’s version, I can see why. Keemun is wonderfully smooth, with a refinement that sets it apart from most black teas. These days, most English Breakfast teas are blends of black teas from different regions (the organic English Breakfast tea I reviewed earlier this year combined teas from Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon, for example), but dipping into Keemun gives me a new-found appreciation for what must once have been a most wonderful blend.

Narien Teas’ Keemun Imperial is not my favourite Keemun, nor is it Narien’s best tea (my vote for that still goes to their wonderful Earl Grey tea). While it is quite smooth, I find that it doesn’t have as much depth as I would like.

Keemun Imperial is available from Narien Teas for $11 for 4 oz.

Keemum by Teas Etc

Teas Etc have garnered quite a reputation over the past few years. Earlier this year, they won two gold prizes at the World Tea Expo for their Assam Reserve and Ceylon OP1. This Keemun didn’t win any prizes, but black tea certainly seems to be one of their strengths.

The first thing that I notice about this keemun as opposed to the Narien Teas’ version is the size and shape of the leaves. Whereas the Narien Teas Imperial Keemun is composed of small, mostly broken leaves, Teas Etc’s Keemun has some longer, twisted leaves. As it turns out, this has quite an impact on the tea’s flavour.

Teas Etc’s Keemun has a lighter colour than the Narien Keemun (though this could have something to do with the amount of dry leaf I used). It has a lovely aroma of fruit and smoke. Like Narien’s Keemun, this one is very smooth, but it has a rounder, more balanced mouthfeel. A lingering sweetness gives it fruity notes while there is a certain delicacy to it that is almost floral.

Keemun is available from Teas Etc for $5.95 for a 1 oz. tin.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Keemun Double-Header: Keemun by Narien Teas and Teas Etc | 2 comments |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Keemum, Narien Teas, tea samplers, Teas Etc

Those of you who have been following this blog for some time will know that I have a soft spot for teas from Darjeeling. A while ago, I received a wonderful bundle of teas from Benoy, the benevolent man behind Thunderbolt Tea, a Darjeeling-based tea vendor. I’ve been following Benoy on Twitter, and one thing that is very clear to me is how much work goes into picking the best teas each season.

Today’s tea, a lovely 2009 2nd Flush from Giddapahar Estate — the tea is nicknamed Giddapahar Musk — is a testament to Benoy’s great taste. I find it a wonderfully refined tea, with a rich sweet aroma. Second flush Darjeeling teas are renowned for their distinctive muscatel flavour, a flavour which is very dominant here. With that muscatel comes astringency, though it’s quite tame in comparison with some of the other Darjeeling teas I have tasted.

I first tried this tea about a month ago, and I have enjoyed it regularly since. I’ve made it for friends, simply because it’s a very likable tea. As I sat drinking it this morning, struggling to put words to what I was experiencing, I realized I couldn’t. I would describe this tea as smooth, savoury, sweet, rich and deep, but that still doesn’t do justice to it. Nor does it probably give you much of an idea of what to expect!

All I will say is this: If you enjoy that characteristic Darjeeling tea, this will hit your sweet spot. And if you’ve never tried a Darjeeling, start here.

Giddapahar Musk is available from Thunderbolt Tea.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Giddapahar Musk: 2009 2nd Flush Black Tea from Darjeeling | 3 comments |
Post categories: Black tea, Tea reviews
Post tags: Darjeeling, Giddapahar Estate, Thunderbolt Tea