Bamboo Tea House

This one is a nice anytime tea also, it’s much like the Samovar blend from Tea Table with just a little more malty boldness.

When first steeped, the jasmine fragrance is pungent, which I like. The leaves don’t look very high quality, as there are a lot of little pieces after they have been steeped. After about 3-4 steeps, the jasmine flavor is noticeably diminished.

I really like Alisan as a general rule because it’s so rich. This one is just okay. I enjoyed it, but there wasn’t a lot in the flavor that really stood out. It does have a great aroma, though.

4tsps for 3 cups of water. The liquor was golden amber and smelled like Lipton. There was lychee taste but not much. The flavor didn’t last on the tongue.

This is a tea that I bought because when I saw it I went, “Ooh, I’ve never had that before! Impulse buy!” (Now that I think of it, that’s the reason why I buy most of my teas…)

The dry leaves are a pretty mix of black and gold curls, which according to my research is what most Golden Monkey tea looks like. I honestly didn’t care much for the taste at first, but it has really grown on me. I’m still not sure how to describe it. Very rich, a little bitter, and a little… meaty? If such a thing can be? I can’t think of a more solid thing to compare it to because I don’t think I’ve ever tasted something like this before. But it’s good! There’s a bitterness to the aftertaste that reminds me of coffee, but a little more mineral.

Also, it resteeps like a billion times. Well, it resteeps at least 4 times, and by then I usually want to move on to something else.

This tea tastes like Dan Cong that’s been roasted (unless they already roast Dan Cong… then I guess it tastes like it’s been extra-roasted?). In the aroma and the beginning of the sip, you get woodiness and toasty goodness, which is then backed by a light sweetness similar to peaches. It’s a lovely combination. It starts to get a more mineral taste by the third infusion, plus cocoa notes and a stronger fruit taste. I’m sure if I was better at tasting and brewing, there would be all kinds of flavors to list in this tea. Delicious.

In general, I prefer Japanese greens to Chinese, but for some reason I keep buying different Chinese greens to see if I can find one I like. This one’s not bad; it reminds me of really ripe honeydew melons. You know how they can get so ripe that the sweetness becomes heavy? Yeah, this tea tastes like that, even when steeped for only one minute. It doesn’t have the fresh vegetal note that I like in greens, though. It would probably be better for someone who prefers sweet, mellow teas.

Okay, I’ve found my happy place with this tea. 180F brewed in a gaiwan for 15 seconds to start and increasing 5 seconds for every steep thereafter. I’ve pushed it to 7 times so far, but it can definitely go farther.

Still very floral, but with a sweetness reminiscent of corn. Smooth and light, but still comforting on a cold day (as opposed to very fresh greens that just make me wish spring would hurry up and get here).

As much as I love the Bamboo Tea House, it’s a little problematic that they don’t provide any steeping instructions for their teas. Normally I can figure it out based on past experience, but I’m having a lot of trouble with this one.

3 min at 180F has been my favorite attempt so far, but the flavors still feel buried. The aroma is very floral, like perfume, and the taste reminds me a bit of jasmine greens I’ve had, but more earthy. Other than that, though, I can’t taste much, and the resteeps I’ve tried haven’t been any better. I’ll keep fiddling with it.

I see Jasmine Green Tea as one of those staples that everyone needs to have in their cupboard at all times, maybe because I’m used to drinking it with dinner. This one is just lovely. The dry leaf is both dark green and white, with long twisted leaves. I’m fairly certain I see flower petals in there as well.

I was halfway through typing the previous two sentences when I decided to look at the dry leaf again to make sure the description was accurate, and promptly dropped my canister and spilled the tea all over my carpet! Since I don’t remember the last time I vacuumed, I figured I probably shouldn’t scoop it up and use it anyway. Sigh. Luckily, some of the leaves managed to stay inside my canister, so at least I’ve got those.

Anyway. The leaf has a very strong smell of jasmine — almost too strong, actually. I guarantee that if I came across a hand lotion that smelled like this, I would chuck it out the window.

The taste, however, is perfect. Very mellow chinese green that tastes almost creamy balanced with sweetness from the jasmine. And when I say sweet, I mean it. It tastes like I stirred sugar in here, but without the stickiness you get from adding sugar. Simple enough to have with meals, but wonderful as an afternoon drink as well.

So, I previously said that I would never drink this tea in the morning because it leaves my mouth dry. I lied. I drink this tea almost every morning now. It’s absolutely addicting and tastes lovely with the oatmeal I eat for breakfast.

Recently I have been making an effort to try more black teas that aren’t blends so that I can distinguish better between them. So, this is my first Ceylon.

The dry leaf smells like dried berries. Almost like craisins, actually. It has that kind of sweetness in the smell. Small, pretty black leaves that curl a bit.

The taste is very mellow. Definite chocolate notes, which is lovely, as well as a sweetness that reminds me of raisins. I thought the berry taste would be stronger because of the aroma, but it’s pretty mild. I think what I like most about this tea is that I can definitely taste several different flavors, even though I don’t have enough knowledge to identify which each one is. It’s not just one taste, and then me searching to see if I can find anything else in it.

What I don’t like is that it leaves my mouth pretty dry. Ugh. Definitely not a morning tea for me. Such an unpleasant feeling.