Tea reviews
All posts in the Tea reviews category2010 First Flush Hawaiian Oolong Tea from Mauna Kea Tea
From Mauna Kea Tea comes this 2010 first flush oolong tea, a Hawaiian-grown, organic tea. This oolong reminds me of a cross between a bai hao oolong and a traditional green-style ti kuan yin, like Chicago Tea Garden’s competition-grade ti kuan yin. It has a markedly faint dry aroma which blossoms with plum-like notes upon infusion.
China Lapsang Souchong from Mark T. Wendell Tea Company
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.
Tea Traveler Mug from Teas Etc
I’m celebrating the advent of winter with a snuffly nose this year, so in light of my decreased capacity for sensing aromas, I’ve decided to forego the tea review and write instead about Teas Etc’s new tea travel mug.
Last year, when I put together my article about tea travel mugs, Teas Etc’s travel mug came out as one of my top two picks. With the release of their new BPA-free Tea Traveler, Teas Etc generously sent me two Travelers for review — one for me, one for Bec.
Shincha 2010: Organic Sencha “Warashima Supreme” from O-Cha
O-Cha’s Organic Sencha “Warashima Supreme” is a light-steamed shincha with a seductive aroma of white chocolate and berries and slender leaves resembling broken pine leaves. This sencha comes from Shizuoka and steeps into a mellow, light green cup, whose most dominant flavour is that of steamed spinach, accented by a hint of pepper and a slight sweetness.
Shincha 2010: Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori
Open up your packet of Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori, draw in deeply, and you’ll be hit with the heavenly aroma of extraordinary tea: forest freshness, met by the syrupy sweetness of blackcurrant and the tartier overtones of tropical fruits. You only get this kind of rich aroma when the tea is this fresh ? and this good.
Pai Mu Tan from Yumchaa
From the UK comes this bai mudan (White Peony), a white tea with a light body but a fuller flavour than other white teas. Yumchaa’s Pai Mu Tan is a refreshing tea with a surprisingly minty flavour, which gives the tea a sugary finish.
The leaf consistency leaves a little to be desired, with twigs and broken leaf pieces accompanying the powdery white tips and young leaves you would normally find in a bai mudan. But the drink itself is enjoyable enough, as notes of strawberry are met by the more savoury, vegetal characteristics common to bai mudan teas.
Mao Feng Reserve from Teas Etc
If you want to learn more about tea, spend a week studying one specific variety. That’s what I’ve been doing this week with mao feng green teas, and it’s what I did in early March with ti kuan yin oolong teas. Both times, it has been rewarding to focus in one variety, sampling similar teas from different merchants. It’s a journey of small discoveries.
Today’s small discovery is this: Mao feng is not a very aromatic tea. It shares this characteristic with most Chinese green teas, but mao feng is particularly light in the nose. Mao Feng Reserve from Teas Etc, has a mildly sweet aroma hinting at chocolate or sweet corn, but you’ll barely detect it.
Huangshan Mao Feng from Life in Teacup
Huangshan Mao Feng has the special distinction of being of China’s famous Tribute Teas, teas which were hand-picked by Chinese emperors to become their tea of choice.
Huangshan is a mountain range in southern Anhui Province, and as such, Huangshan Mao Feng is a location-specific tea. Mao feng is produced elsewhere (I will be reviewing one from Zhejiang Province later this week), but Huangshan Mao Feng can be considered the heartland of mao feng teas.
Mao Feng from Oriental Tea House
Oriental Tea House is one of the finer establishments for tea lovers in Melbourne. I’ve eaten there a few times now, and have usually spent more than I’d intended, thanks to the trappings of yum cha. One minute you’re sitting there with a wallet full of cash, then they tempt you with some alluring peking duck, and before you know it, you’re back at the ATM pulling out more cash so you can buy a train ticket home. But man, that peking duck was tasty!
2010 First Flush Hawaiian Green Tea from Mauna Kea Tea
In Hawaii, 2010′s first tea harvest has come. The kind folks from Mauna Kea Tea, a small family-owned and operated tea company in Hawaii, sent me a sampling of this year’s first flush teas, as well as their sweet roast green tea. Today’s tea is their first flush green tea.
Right off the bat, I should note one thing: this tea doesn’t come cheap. At $20 for a 15-gram bag, each cup is costing a few dollars (depending on how many steepings you can get out of your leaves). But there are a few good reasons for this: the tea is organic; the cost of labour in Hawaii is higher than in India or China; and the tea is in short supply. This is the kind of tea you buy out of curiosity, to see what Hawaiian tea tastes like.