Hugo Tea Company

Haven’t been reviewing much because stupid busy and also have been drinking favorites as comfort and to de-stress. :)

This is still a superb EG for bergamot lovers. The tea is super smooth, the leaves are big and beautiful, it’s just an extremely well done tea. I got to sit down with Tyler from Hugo Tea last week in his new digs and have some tea and chat about the local and global tea scene. He’s a passionate and knowledgeable guy and it was a very pleasant afternoon. I hope their new location works out for them – at the very least because it’s close to me! :) And more importantly because these hometown boys need to be supported in their efforts to bring better tea to the public.

As an aside, why does Yunnan Sourcing hate me so much? Just last night I closed my eyes and hit the purchase button on a large tea tray, a cha hai and a large gaiwan from Umiteasets and today YS puts their teawares on sale. >.< I don’t think they would have been able to get here by the time I need them without ridiculous shipping but still… And I’m still waiting for some of the gorgeous cups they posted to FB a long time ago to be listed on the site to buy. That’s what I was holding off on in the first place or I’d have ordered a tray from them before now. But I need a large gaiwan for June 6 so I had to go ahead and buy now… le sigh. Ah, well. I need to drink up some of the huge splurge purchase from them anyway.

And I can see the bottom of this tin of Grey Line, too. That will have to be remedied!

Okay, so I was bad on Saturday and grabbed a tin of this as well while I was at Green Acres. :)

The scent about knocks you out when you open the first lid on the tin. Talk about strong bergamot! And it doesn’t let up after steeping. If you like your bergamot in your face, this is the blend for you. It’s not harsh, but easily might become so if oversteeped. I hope this tin wasn’t an over bergamotted bunch because if this is consistently representative of the Grey-Line, it could well become a staple Earl in my cupboard.

Man, this is some good tea. The blend on this is just fantastic. And with the addition of some cream – madly good.

This is a dangerous sipdown. I have sworn off buying any more for a loooong time – I don’t have a problem with having a large stash of tea, but I don’t need to spend any more money on tea. This one will make it hard to stick to that vow since I can just pick up a tin locally. Such a problem to have. :)

There we go. More leaf at 3 minutes is the sweet spot for a practically perfect cup for me. Upping the rating to reflect that. I don’t think I mentioned last time how pretty the dry leaf is. A wide range of colors – reminds me of a Darjeeling just from the look.

Malty, smooth, a bit dusty, dark and mildly sweet.

This needs to stay in my cupboard. It was a perfect tea to be the first one after a 20 hour fast so I could have some standard tests done. I seriously missed my tea all day today. Unfortunately I needed to get this done quickly and 4 in the afternoon was the first appointment. Which meant that I ate last at 8 pm last night. I missed tea more than food. I need help.

I do wish there was more information about what kind of tea is in this blend. Ah, well. Maybe someone with a more educated palate than I can identify. :)

I finally saw Hugo Tea in a local shop. I had stopped by this place before looking for it and there wasn’t any. When I stopped in for another reason a few days ago, they had a whole line of it on the shelf!

This is pretty good. Strong and warm. I have tried it with 2 different steeping times – 4 minutes and 2 1/2 minutes. At 4 minutes, it got a bit harsh, in my opinion. At 2 1/2 minutes, it was good, but maybe a bit lacking? I think have yet to find the sweet spot with this one. Maybe more leaf at 2 1/2 minutes. I like my teas hefty. :)

“What’s in your cup?” This morning it’s a favorite – Organic Morning’s Journey. Today I brewed 1 tbsp. (5g) / 8 oz. / 205*F / 4 min. and found it to be SO ROBUST that I added more water. Then I remembered, I typically steep 5g at: 3, 4, 6, & 8 minutes. It pays to check one’s stepping notes before brewing. (In my defense, it was the first cup of the morning.) This black tea is the definition of full-bodied!

I’m going to miss Organic Morning’s Journey. Since this cup puts us half way through our 4 tin stash, of which there is no more, I’m genuinely interested to see how Hugo Tea’s Full Steam compares.

Organic Morning’s Journey Black Tea – 2012

Introduction:
Per The 2012 Hugo Tea 2.6 oz. (75 g) tin:
“Behold friends! This is the 100% organic black tea blend you’ve been seeking. Morning’s Journey is my private blend of three black teas from three countries. This loose blend holds unparalleled balance and flavor, ready to sustain your adventures—no compass or knapsack required. Keep it close and brew it often.”

Blend of three black teas from three countries:
Fellow Steepster members have guessed Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, and perhaps Pu-erh. (However, since the teas come from 3 different countries, it can’t contain both Assam & Darjeeling.)

Per Hugo Teas (from review comments):
• “We hope it wouldn’t ruin your day if we told you that there isn’t any pu’erh in our Morning’s Journey—rather, there are only 100% Organic black teas here. But there are certainly pu’erh-like flavors.”
• “It does have darjeeling in it! Nice work! The other two teas are Yunnan and Ceylon :-). Happy Tea-Drinking.”

liberteas has an excellent review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/11/02/organic-mornings-journey-black-tea-from-hugo-tea/

“Amount: 1 Tbsp / 8oz water Temp. 205*F (96*C) Time 3-4 min.”

Technique:
1 Tablespoon – 5g (My Weigh Durascale D2 660), 8-oz filtered water (TDS: 72 PPM), heated to 205*F, brewed with a Finum tea basket in tea mug without sweeteners, milk or cream. Three steeps: 3, 4, 6, & 8 minutes.

Fragrance: Woody, warm, relaxing, pleasant, and moderately-strong
Dry leaf: Color – A few gold tips with amber, green, & dark chocolate brown < 1mm long twisted wiry leaves and small pieces.
Liquor: Clear, moderately dark copper
Aroma: Wonderful, relaxing, with a distant hint of cinnamon
Infused Leaf: Color – Mostly milk chocolate and some rustic brown leaves with some larger pieces of green leaves
Body: Full-bodied for the initial infusion and the first re-steep. Subsequent re-steeps require longer infusion times and result in a medium-bodied cup.
Caffeine: Invigorating without being aggressive like Irish-Breakfast can be.

Impression:
I’ve been enjoying multiple cups of the Organic Morning’s Journey recently. The flavor profile includes malty-ness, muscatel, and a mild caramel notes. Organic Morning’s Journey has a natural mild sweetness combined with a creamy smoothness that provides a mellow and relaxing yet invigorating cup without any hint of bitterness tartness, or astringency. This is one of the very few teas that my wife will substitute for her all-time favorite tea – Earl Grey. Very well done Hugo Teas! It’s easy to see why this was such a highly-rated tea!

Tyler,
How will your 2013 Full-Steam Black Tea compare to Organic Morning’s Journey?
• https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=493953444017194&set=a.343468832398990.79456.303309236414950&type=1&relevant_count=1
• https://sphotos-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/179720_10151497209467896_1280112790_n.jpg

Next week is sure to be crazy (the university I work at starts classes, and I also start my class!) so I used this morning to cook some things for the week so that we have food on hand — black bean stew, Indian lentil stew, German potato salad, mini meatloaves with pasta, roasted hot peppers — one less thing to worry about! I’ll only need to made a few side dishes. I also made some mustard and BBQ sauce.

My reward? A nice sit down with a giant cup of this tea. It’s magical. So smooth, malty, raisiny-sweet and flavorful. Invigorating without being strong like your typical breakfast tea. I’m having some milk and sugar with it and it’s comforting and delicious this way. Those of you that have been around for awhile — I do believe it has an echo of Thomas Sampson to it :)

Many, many thanks to ashmanra for this tea!!!

A sad sipdown. This was a wonderful morning tea, and I will certainly miss it. A smooth, gentle wake up in the mornings. I have yet to try out the tea that replaced it (I think it’s called Full Steam?) but I do plan on getting a tin once my tea stash has gotten a little more under control.

Made a cup of this for the morning. I may have oversteeped it in my sleepiness, but it’s still a very smooth and malty cup with just a bit of astringency! I’m impressed. I hope Hugo Tea’s website comes back up in the near future, since the bottom of the tin is slowly creeping up.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written any notes here, mostly because I’ve been on a tea buying hiatus since May and have also been interning/shadowing at my local hospital, which has been very exciting. Anyway, I hope all you wonderful Steepsterites are doing well!

I had a cup of Morning’s Journey with breakfast today, and wow, I’d forgotten how delicious it is! It’s so malty and smooth, and gently pokes my brain into waking up. I need to drink it more often.

Found myself in that situation where there’s a little more than needed for one cup, not enough for two, so I dragged out a big mug and made with lots of leaf and a shorter steep (3 1/2 min). Lots of malt and cocoa, less of the raisin-esque character I noted the first time around. I’m thinking this is one of those rare and wonderful breakfast teas you just can’t ruin.

This little sample from ashmanra arrived providentially. Someone must have told her last week that I would have insomnia last night and need something substantial to prop me up this morning before heading to church and facing a roomful of fifth graders hopped up (pun intended) on Easter candy.

This is a wonderful breakfast tea. I’ve been smiling at the descriptors in other reviews: Fruity. Apple. Malty. (Oh yeah.) Rich. Smooth. All true. “George Clooney in a tux…” not sure about that one :)

I think this will get me out the door.

Happy Easter, tea friends. May it be a day that brings lasting joy.

Still feeling a bit stuffy, blah, and icky. I can’t taste my Premium Silky Green so I made this to go with lunch since son said he would like green tea instead of lemonade. (Let me squeal with excitement here over that statement. The two eldest kids used to HATE all tea including sweet iced tea and now they ask for it for Christmas and birthdays!)

This one had the guts to go with our meal and not disappear. It is also a SIPDOWN, which is probably good since it is now just over a year old. I am beginning to think that it is time to seriously pare down my cupboard and keep a small number of dearly loved teas…and then I get on here and find ten more I want to try.

I made Asian food for supper tonight and we HAVE to have green tea with that! I picked this one because it has been such a magnificent complement in the past. I made two 18 ounce steeps, and they were gone in a flash.

This is a fantastic tea. It has great body, wonderful flavor, pairs beautifully with food, tastes delicious on its own. I have the old style tins that I…..I mean, my hubby…..ordered for me as a Christmas gift. They have revamped their packaging and it is gorgeous! A fitting delivery for such gorgeous teas. Go on their website and check it out!

We had a giant tetsubin full of two steeps of this with our Asian buffet takeout tonight. It was very nice and a great complement to the food. We made 22 ounces with three teaspoons and then resteeped, adding that to the pot as well. I think the directions call for one tablespoon per eight ounces but I have found it strong enough with less leaf. Combining the two steeps gave us a nice green tea with good, deep color (for a green) and enough flavor to hold up to the food, which makes it a great buy as well.

I am really glad this is organic. The news regarding pesticides on Celestial Seasonings teas and the newer report about lead in green tea leaves (but not in the tea itself) has me looking at my cupboard a little more closely. Almost all of my tea is from Harney and Sons or Teavivre, with four Hugo organics and a smattering of other teas. Almost all are loose leaf, and I try to buy high grown teas when I can as there is supposed to be less pollution there. I am thankful for Garret finding us high grown, pristine puerhs, too. It would really be a bummer to drink tea for our health and then find out it is making us sick!

Does anyone know how this new info on lead relates to matcha? Are the matcha leaves tested for lead since we consume the whole leaf?

I was going to have a black tea this morning, but I noticed I had not opened this final tin of tea from Christmas.

The directions call for one tablespoon of leaf per eight ounces of water and a two to three minute steep. It always makes me a little sad when directions call for more than a teaspoon per six to eight ounces because that means I am going to run out of tea sooner!

This produced a pale liquor that was richly scented of garden peas with a bare hint of root vegetable – rutabaga, I would say, possibly turnip.

The taste was strong, and I considered it somewhat grassy and a bit sour, but good. I drank the whole pot so it couldn’t have been bad. It did create a slow rising sweet aftertaste that bubbles up way behind the sip.

For the second steep I used a lot more water. I kept the steep at two minutes. Ah! Now I found my tea happy place! Everyone likes different things, so other people may very love this at the suggested parameters. I prefer it this way. And this means my tin is going to last longer, bwahaha!

There is still plenty of flavor in this, and though I finished it about ten minutes ago I am still enjoying the sweet rising aftertaste. I think this would be excellent with food, as in a hearty meal or nice Asian dinner.

I love this tea, so how do I have so much of it left? Overfull cupboard, that’s how. Despite the age this is still an excellent tea.

In my last review of this tea, I spoke of my bestie being reluctant to try it since she was a black tea and puerh fan. She has done a 180 and now prefers white and green teas, but usually drinks flavored varieties. As the mother of an autistic child with dietary issues, she is keen on organics. Tonight when I suggested this one, she was pleased. She didn’t remember having it before and wondered if she would really enjoy an unflavored white, but she liked it a lot and said that she was surprised at how much flavor it had.

This is probably my favorite of the four Hugo Teas I have tried.

When I told my bestie we were going to have an unflavored white tea tonight, she cried, “NOOOOO! Won’t it just taste like hot water?” I said, “Well, I like it! I think you will, too.”

We had Royal Wedding first and she liked that, so she was primed and ready to try an unflavored white. And she liked it! Very much in fact! She was surprised at how much flavor it had, and this one indeed does have a lot of flavor. She was very pleased to find that she DOES like unflavored white tea and that it is flavorful, not just hot water!

Another Christmas present!

I want some tea before driving up to Raleigh to pick up my daughter at the airport. She has been in a bit of a white tea kick, so I guess that is why this one was on my mind.

I checked out the recommended steeping instructions on the tin. Thank you, thank you, Hugo Tea, for putting those on there. It gives us a starting place to find our own favorite way. It calls for one tablespoon of leaf to eight ounces of water and when I open the tin I see why. These are big leaves! They don’t look like typical tea, but more like what you pick out of your socks after raking the yard. All that fluffy means you need more leaf! It reminds me in appearance of a Shou Mei (SooMe) white tea I had a while back.

Oh my gosh! This is fantastic! Reading their description of the tea made me think I was going to have to hunt for flavor unless I wanted to pretend I was having a nice cuppa hot water, but this is so flavorful and good. It is sweet and smooth, a little bit creamy, a little mineral, a little tiny bit buttery, a bit floral, a lot good.

Hubby downed his cup before I could sip mine once and he asked for another, so I immediately went in and made a second steep.

Home run, Hugo Tea. Home run.

A couple of days ago I asked the kids if I could get tea for Mother’s Day. A day later I said, “I TAKE IT BACK!” I went through my stash and saw soooo many teas that I love that really need to be enjoyed before they get older, so I will try (just a little) to put myself on a buying restriction. We have managed a lot of sip downs lately. I do not include samples in my cupboard unless they are really large, so when I went through to delete some we had finished it took me down to 175, but then I discovered that some of my teas are not listed BAH!

Well, this one will be a SIPDOWN on the very next pot, so I am going to go ahead and remove it from my cupboard.

This is just the right strength for a morning wake up tea for me. I like to take my tea with no additions and this one is right there on the border of strong-enough-to-need-it but makes it just fine as long as I am having breakfast with it. By itself I would probably add a splash of milk.

There is a little fruity high note in this. Youngest takes milk and sugar, though she has cut back in the amount of sugar quite on her own (YAY!) and she quite likes this one. It has been her morning pot of tea every day for about a week now.

Eight days ago it was 70F and we were sitting outside on a blanket reading. This morning it is 25F. I opened the door at 6 am as the pup I am dog sitting today was being dropped off. Then I had to go to the storage room fridge to get more milk…barefoot. Then I had to go back out to hunt in the freezer for English Muffins. We’re out. Sigh. I should have put on shoes.

Anyway, I was feeling pretty frozen so instead of my usual toast and chocolate milk breakfast, I made grits, bacon, and an egg to go with the chocolate milk and tea!

The lemony high notes of this tea make me think there is a bit of Ceylon in here, but I really taste more Assam. This is quite drinkable without milk or sugar, though, and for me most Assams are not.

I talked my youngest daughter into trying this one today. She likes a few black teas – mostly Lapsangs and Assams, but I thought she would enjoy this one since it reminds me of one of her favorite Irish breakfast teas. And she did! We are now warming up nicely, I had the sense to put socks on, and we are wrapped in blankets ready to begin school. (The furnace is set to seventy but we are total wimps when it comes to cold weather.)

I am drinking a huge pot of this today! I made a steep in my small pot, poured it, and made another and this is still plenty strong, so hooray for all us resteepers!

The nice thing about this tea is that it is strong enough for morning but doesn’t make you feel like you need to do CPR on your tongue. I am awake, oh yes, but I am not traumatized.

And why did I make so much? To try out a new teapot! My doorbell rang just after eight this morning and I saw a FedEx truck. There on my doorstep was a huge box. Ike the puppy had sent me a tea service for six as a thank you gift for taking care of him while his master was in the hospital! Ike will be here again tomorrow to share my English muffin at breakfast, as he usually is, on Tuesdays. He may get jam on his piece tomorrow!

Merry Christmas, everyone! It has been a very tea-full Christmas for me! One of my gifts from hubby was this tea, so among the many new teas I thought I should choose this one, just because of the name, as the first. I will continue to take tea journeys throughout the day.

On opening the tin I gave the leaves a good sniff. The aroma wasn’t powerful, but it was the kind that makes you growl jus’ a lil’ bit. Kind of like when you see George Clooney in a tux. Niiiice.

I thought I detected Assam in this, and sometimes Assam doesn’t like me. I kept a close eye on the steeping and checked it at 3 minutes. Nope. Needs more time. I gave it a minute and a half more.

Aaaahh. This is a bright cup of tea. It is really hard to describe. It isn’t strong like the Assams that give me tummy ache, those sharp teas that make my tongue curl up and try to hide. It is fresh and clean, there is a nice pure metallic taste – that melting frost taste I usually may find in green or white tea. And malt. And…muscat grape?

I don’t pick up any puerh taste like Azzrian. The fruitiness makes me wonder if there is some Darjeeling in here?

This is a great wake up cup, civilized, smooth, and the drying effect on the tongue builds gradually as you drink instead of assaulting you. (I guess you can tell I have been traumatized by Yorkshire Gold and the like.) It did not need milk and sugar for me. I did try it that way just so I could report the effect but I preferred it plain. A little milk was fine, but sugar did nothing to add to it for me. I generally don’t put sugar in my tea so those who do might prefer it that way. This is sweet enough for me as is!

A very nice offering, Hugo Tea!