Tea Ave

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90
drank Rose Oolong by Tea Ave
11 tasting notes

Tea Ave isn’t yet open at the time of this writing- these are some samples I was sent, and I will definitely be ordering this as soon as I can.

The brewing process was interesting- I usually brew oolongs a little lower than 100 C/212 F, but the packet said to try it at boiling, so I did. Recommended brew time for 250 ml was a minute, but I ended up letting it go for a little longer, about three minutes. Maybe closer to three and a half.

Anyways, onto the tea- the important bit. This was a very bright, tasty oolong. One of the dangers of floral teas is losing the tea to the flowers, but I found that the rose played very nicely with this oolong. There was lots of vegetal and floral goodness, without anything overpowering or cloying. The scent was very much the oolong, as was the initial taste- the rose kind of creeps up on you, finishing the sip with a nice burst of flowery sweetness.

The second infusion, which was a five-minute infusion, brought out more of the subtle vegetal flavors in the oolong. Less grass, more herbal/woody. All in all very nice and drinkable- the oolong base is great and the roses are a nice complement!

On a side note: the packaging for this tea is some of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s super informative! In addition to a description of the tea, it tells you the altitude, roasting level, oxidation level, base tea, origin, and gives you brewing instructions for a gaiwan, a tea bag, a teapot, and cold brew… and the sizes for the brewing implements! And somehow it manages to do this without seeming too crowded. A+ visual appeal.

Flavors: Floral, Rose

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 250 ML
Teaave

Hey wrathlet, we hope you have enjoyed our oolongs so far :) We would like to invite you back to our website sometimes when you have a minute to rate the teas you’ve tried. Thank you so much!!

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90

Wow…got TeaAve sample box today. I mean…I feel almost guilty not having paid for any of this. It’s beyond any expectations. Fancy and classy.

Really TeaAve, thank you, you really made my day!

I love pretty much all types of oolongs, and this one is no exception.

First the look. OB is a stunning tea to look at. It’s like an autumn bouquet, beautiful auburn, green, grey and brown leaves.

I was happy to see the silver duvet tips in the blend, so pretty.

This tea is bug bitten, so hello honey sweetness!

It’s very fragrant, and the scent is even more powerful using the beautiful aroma teacup set provided by TeaAve.

The color of the brew is a beautiful honey golden color.

The taste of OB resembles more of a black tea in my humble opinion. It is after all highly oxidized.

I get red fruits, muscatel, citrus and honey. Very sweet and zero astringency.

As the steeps evolve, it gets a little spicy and boozy, i also get dried fruits, like apricot and dates. It’s rich and doesn’t loose any of its sweetness.

I did many steeps and couldn’t help looking at the wet leaves when I was done. I found the perfect example of leafhopper bites! See pics :-)

TeaAve and Heidi, thanks again for such a lovely gift…can’t wait to purchase your wonderful teas!

http://instagram.com/p/y-VASHQh1P/

http://instagram.com/p/y-WHUDQh3I/

http://instagram.com/p/y-XweNwh55/

http://instagram.com/p/y-lFlswhwz/

DeliriumsFrogs

Lovely pics and lovely review!! Leafhoppers!!!

TheTeaFairy

Thank you DFrogs ;-)

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drank Osmanthus Oolong by Tea Ave
84 tasting notes

Gorgeous leaf with light reddish-amber crumbles which must be the osmanthus flowers. Fragrant as well as visually pretty.

Brews a clear, pale yellow color. Lovely candy-like and floral aroma. Tastes sweet, creamy and custard-like, and very delicious!. Brewed leaves four times with abundant flavor in each.

Thank you Tea Ave for your generosity in sending this beautiful tea to try!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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87

Tea provided by Tea Ave for review

Ever since Tea Ave contacted me to try this tea, a bit of hype has built up for me. So I had a lot of expectations going into my first steepings of their samples. Out of the three samples received, I started with Oriental Beauty. In my experience it can give you a really magical experience or be really disappointing.

For the steeping I decided to short steep as suggested on the packaging with a bit of personal adjustments (increase water temperature/reduced water/longer steep times towards the end). Tea Ave was also most generous in providing a sniffing vessel and cup along with the samples, so I used them in my tea sampling today.

Smelling the fragrance cup, there was a heavy honey/nectar smell. Sipping, the the liquor was delicate. It had a nice balance of the flavours I associate with Oriental Beauty; sweetness (honey/nectar), floral, wheat, and spice. The tea body didn’t have a strong/bold flavour, but it wasn’t flat or weak either.

As suggested on the package, I resteeped it ten times. The tea flavour changed quite a bit from the following steeps. On the second steep I got more a citrus flavour. Then on the third steep, more of a roasted flavour came out. Nearing the end on the seventh steep, the liquor tasted and felt really creamy in my mouth. Finishing off on the tenth steep, the tea retained a dark color, and I could still taste subtle characteristics from my initial steepings.

Overall this is the sort of Oriental Beauty that I have a strong preference for. It is delicate, subtle, and just sweet enough for me. I’ve tried the same style of this tea in the past, and I do not like the overly sweet ones as much. I really enjoyed how the tea flavours unfolded over the short steepings. So I’d recommend Tea Ave’s Oriental Beauty for those that enjoy sweet, but not overly sweet oolongs and also for those that like good resteepers.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 5 g 3 OZ / 75 ML

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I’ve only ever had one other wenshan boachong, but I’m a fan of that one, so I was excited to try another. The dry leaf smelled so fresh and yummy, I couldn’t wait to dig in! This one tastes a lot like the other one I have, but maybe a little better. That could be because this one is more fresh though. It tastes like buttered buttermilk loaf with a touch of edamame. It’s also a bit floral. I’m not good at describing floral, but maybe orchid-like? My husband said it smells like candles, so I guess he’s picking up more of the floral aspect then me. It also smells like vanilla cake to me. Yum! Definitely a winner. :) Thanks, Teaave, for this sample!!

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This sample from Tea Ave came with a lovely little surprise that certainly altered the way I was going to try the sample: an aroma set! I had to youtube how to use it though. It’s certainly an interesting way to taste tea.

I brewed in a 24oz teapot. The packet recommends 15G to the 750ml (there are several sets of steeping parameters, depending on your vessel), but when I weighed it out, 1: there wasn’t enough tea in the sample (only 9g), and 2: that seemed like wayy too much leaf to me. I decreased the amount to what I would normally add of a rolled oolong to that teapot (because I expect a lot of unfurling), which ended up being about 4g or a rounded tablespoon of dry leaf. If I were using my big teapot (45oz), I would be out of luck. So I made a decision, as I brewed it as I would normally brew it. Excepting the temperature. Normally I brew oolongs at 185F, this called for boiling water. OK, I’ll make that change. I might try it at a normal temperature next time though. After the first steep the infuser was pretty full, although I can tell the leaves are not yet fully unfurled. They are a medium-ish leaf size, not as big as the Lupicia fruity oolongs.

Using the aroma set: So the aroma is where you get the Ginger. It’s a more matured ginger taste, not quite deep enough to be savory, but not so sweet to be called candy either. That only appeared in the first aroma cup though, when I did it again the sense of ginger lessened. The smell of the hot brew however was kind of vegetal, and dare I say it?: malty. The taste of the steep was quite the same as the smell, but soo smooth. The steep had not the slightest bit of astringency or drying. It was like velvet.
If you drink it hot hot! The overall sensation was like drinking really really good (although hot, and flat) beer. THIS is what I would imagine a perfect beer to taste like. Hmm. (My cousin is convinced that malty beers like stouts are horrible and really hoppy craftbeers, mostly IPAs, are the top of the line – I say the opposite. I dislike hops, but malt is the bomb.) When it cools down you get the sense of ginger, which gets more spicy and yet more sweet the more it cools.

With a normal teacup: After it cools down some more the malt taste goes away and you’re left with a green oolong with cream and ginger notes, with mild floral notes. Still good, but I think I’ll try to drink this one pretty hot. (How different is this from the experience above… man, that aroma set really changes things up, doesn’t it?) I probably would have gotten a more pronounced taste if I followed the recommended amount of leaf, but the intensity was just fine for me.

The oolong itself is pretty green, but well rounded. The scenting process that they claim is new to me. The results however they did it, is quite spectacular. I would buy this. (Probably lots, I hope my wallet can afford it). They are set to open shop this month. Maybe there will be a grand opening sale? (A girl can hope.)

Thank you Tea Ave! Good luck on your opening!

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 30 sec 4 g 24 OZ / 709 ML
Uniquity

Sounds delicious! I’m on a stout kick at the moment, and after scouring two of the three liquor stores in my area I can only find three kinds of stout – and I have to buy them in singles. I tried the first last night and it was good but really lacked the depth and choco-malt flavour I love. Maybe I’ll try another tonight. :)

Flyawaybirdie

Hmm, I love a good stout. This tea was not really chocolate malt though. Now that I’m out of the moment I don’t even know… It was yum though

Teaave

Hi Flyawaybirdie, it’s been a while!! Thanks so much for sampling our oolongs. We would like to invite you to stop by our site sometimes when you get a chance to help rate the teas you’ve tried :) Hope to see you soon, cheers!!

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drank Ginger Lily Oolong by Tea Ave
818 tasting notes

After months of anticipation, samples from Teaave are here! Woo! And they came with extra special goodies too! Lots of thanks to Teaave! :)

So, this is the first oolong I tried and OMG, it is so good! It’s like a milky oolong sweetened with candied ginger. I’m not even a big fan of ginger, but this was yummy! There’s a little spicy heat from the ginger, but it’s subtle. It’s also milky, buttery, and sweet. The flavor lasts through several infusions. I could definitely see myself drinking this as an afternoon or evening treat. So good. After this one, I’m really excited to try the other samples. Also, I think their website launches unofficially next week and officially in March. Starting my wishlist off with this one!

TheTeaFairy

Sounds nice, can’t wait to get my samples :-)

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95
drank Tie Kwan Yin Oolong by Tea Ave
1271 tasting notes

My favorite so far out of the samples I tried from Tea Ave. The oolong looks great with nice delicately large leaf. The flavor is rich, roasty nutty with a strong peach apricot aftertaste. Later infusions got kinda dry, but the after taste was still going.

I really want to get my hands on more of this tea to get a full gong fu experience – it was originally bagged (and whole leaf!) and I gong fu steeped it with the 3 grams I had.

Full review and preview of Tea Ave teas on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/tea-ave-oolong-preview/

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec
TheLastDodo

Wow. Why would they bag up such lovely oolong?

Oolong Owl

They will be selling loose leaf, they just made some bagged teas for those bagged tea drinkers. At the time I got my samples they only had bagged teas available for me to try.

Cwyn

I have a 30 year old oolong tea bag from Origin Tea perfectly preserved in cellophane. Hang onto those bags long enough…

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85
drank Ginger Lily Oolong by Tea Ave
1271 tasting notes

Mmmm, I love the ginger level in this tea! It has the perfect amount of ginger, that popped the best after a 3.5 minute infusion.
Ginger Lily is sweet, buttery ginger that warms you up as well as refreshes you.

Full review and preview of Tea Ave teas on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/tea-ave-oolong-preview/

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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