Chicago Teahouse
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The description she uses for her teas are so… bland. I guess they get the point across, and they do it quickly. Perhaps she figures most people aren’t going to really read the descriptions? Do you?
This is another sample from the Chicago Tea Festival. The leaf is a bit more broken than I assume the rest of the batch would normally be.
Dry Appearance: Medium-sized leaves and twigs. Dark brown with a few golden buds.
Initial aroma: Creamy, chocolate, slight honey, woody
Flavor: Woody, milk chocolate, perfumy.
Wet Leaf Aroma: Resin, purple raisins.
PLEASE NOTE: Chicago Teahouse is no longer affiliated with TeeGschwendner. You can find out why and more here:
https://teatiff.com/2023/02/13/chicago-teahouse/
Brewing: 5 mins. 1tsp. 212F.
I’m leaving it on the other counter so that I don’t try to smell or touch it until the timer rings.
Dry Leaf: Curly and tightly twisted. Mostly dusty, dark brown in color with a few light brown/golden tips.
Wet Leaf: chocolate brown. Fully opened. Some twigs, pieces of smaller leaves.
Wet Aroma: slightly malty. A bit woody.
Flavor: Woody, malty, resinous, and a bit of deep summer fruits.
Mouth Feel: Astringency.
It’s a decent tea. Good for the morning when one doesn’t really want to think and just drink. But it’s not something I would pull out for a special morning.
Our “local” shop in Raleigh, Tin Roof Teas, also began carrying exclusively Teageschwendner but began carrying other teas as well quite some time ago. There are lots of teas there that you can find on other tea company sites, even using the same stock photo and having the same description. A few have name changes. Madame Butterfly, for example, was available from a number of companies but TRT carried it under the name Fuzzy Navel. Sadly, they no longer carry it so I am back to ordering it online when I buy it for my bestie.
Another sample from the Chicago Tea Festival. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a Gunpowder tea. This brings back memories from when I went to China on a study abroad with my college. The Temple of Heaven is quite amazing.
Dry Appearance: Some shiny, some dusty. Tightly rolled into balls. Dark, greyish green. Smooth to touch.
Dry Aroma: Drying. Plaster?
Quick Rinse. (They say you should rinse the majority of the Chinese teas you buy)
Rinsed leaf aroma: Already experiencing some deep and complex notes. Dark fruits and marzipan.
Flavor: Roasting notes of charcoal and composting leaves.
Wet Leaf: At first, it seems somewhat plain, and you wonder if it was stored wrong but they are just complex notes braced with in roast. Deep fruity notes that hide amongst the plaster, and almost a slight cologne note.
Am I sure this is a good tea but I remember now why I don’t typically drink it.
On a side note: I had those business spam callers. Absolutely annoying.
This was a sample from the Chicago Teahouse. After a weekend of being tossed around, the leaves seem quite broken, but we will see once we open the bag. I wish the website would list where she gets this from. Obviously, it’s Japan. But which city? Shizuoka? Uji? Kagoshima? And what cultivar is this? Okumidori? Doesn’t quite taste like a Yabukita…
Dry Aroma: Umami. Butter. Sweet Grass. Wet Grass. A bit of seaweed. There is also a vegetal note that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Makes my mouth water
Dry Apperence: Mostly broken, but there are still a fair amount of longer leaves. Tightly twisted. Glossy dark green.
Steeping the way I learned with a larger cup filled with liquid and dumped on the leaves.
Taste: High in umami. Wet grass. A small bit of minerality. Fresh steamed spinach.
Mouth Feel: Smooth. A bit of astringency if steeped too long, but not unpleasant (unless you really forget ^^; )
Cold Brew Sipdown (2582)!
It’s been a hot moment since I’ve done this, so I thought I’d do a “Teas I Drink In A Day” roundup a few days ago – no theme. Just whatever I wanted to drink.
Big thanks to davidsteashareaday on IG for giving me this sample! I’ve had this tea before a few times and thought it’s actually nice it’s never really all that memorable. I think this cold brew was a good example of that. It was a smooth, green tea forward profile with some sweet notes, some nuttier elements, and a hint of red fruit but generally speaking none of those flavours were particularly well fleshed out which created a tea that sort of felt like it was going through an identity crisis.
Not unpleasant, but the idea needs a little editing/refinishing in my opinion.
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C5RdiYtuAuR/?img_index=5 (5th Pic)
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyOh8HpaDbI
This sample was a gift from my friend Chase (aka Davidsteashareaday on IG), who works at the Chicago Teahouse. I don’t know the history of what happened here SUPER well, but I believe Chicago Teahouse used to be the Chicago location of TeaGschwendner before it was taken over by new management and renamed?
Seems like, while there are some differences in teas, they’re primarily still using the same supplier and/or carrying the same blends. Like this one.
I know I’ve had it before (under the TeaGschwendner label), but it’s been years and I can’t remember what I thought of it then. As I drank this cup, I couldn’t help but fixate on the fact it’s such a European style of tea blending. Very naturally floral leaning (even with the jasmine in the blend), and that hallmark green and black tea blended base. It’s even got the red fruit flavouring. I think it’s supposed to be strawberry, but as I was drinking this mug my brain read it as raspberry.
Pretty solid!
When I was still receiving paper catalogs from Upton Tea, I would read every last word like a novel.
@gmathis, as a young gardener, I was the same way with seed catalogs, reading every word!
@Skysamurai, I read the descriptions, repeatedly, along with folks’ tea notes here. I’m amazed at the sensitive and refined taste buds people have, snd their ability to identify specific flavors and aromas!