TeaSource

I’m always a sucker for a good Chinese black tea, so when this one was deeply discounted at TeaSource, I had to give it a try. No regrets, because this tea is delicious! The dry leaf is so pretty: tiny, delicately twisted golden leaves with a rich molasses aroma. The flavor is smooth and full-bodied with notes of malt and sweet potato. No bitterness or astringency at all and it re-steeps beautifully. Kinda wishing I’d grabbed more than 2oz in the sale!

I recently noticed Mastress Alita said she finished this one and I knew I still hadn’t written a tasting note for it, so here it is!  Thank you, Mastress Alita!  This is one I definitely wanted to try the most.  A darker small bundled oolong with the fragrance of a custardy creamy rhubarb and the occasional rhubarb piece and rose petal.  I love the aroma, but it seems the aroma is stronger than the flavor.  But the flavor is there!  It was probably stronger before.  The flavor is what I had wished for in general though.  The oolong doesn’t get astringent and I like the choice of a slightly darker green oolong to pair with this flavor.  Though it doesn’t taste roasted which is a good thing.  Very consistent flavor.  I don’t taste rose, but I would rather it just stay with the rhubarb custard anyway.  Though the third steep is more sweet than custard or rhubarb. It’s a great oolong base too – I’d love to try it without the flavoring. I really like it!  It reminds me of the glory days of the older Bird & Blend Rhubarb and Custard flavoring but on a lovely oolong.
Steep #1  // 1 heaping teaspoon for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling  // rinse // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 22 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 2 minutes after boiling // 2 min

Got an e-mail from them today: Use code SUMMERTEA83 to get $10 off any $30 purchase at teasource.com! Valid online & in-store. One use per customer. Expires 8-31-20.
I’m tempted to buy some of this one! But I won’t for now.

I accidentally ordered 4oz of this tea, so it’s a good thing I ended up liking it! The green tea base is smooth and not too grassy and the ginger is strong without being overly spicy. I do wish the lemon flavor were a bit more prominent, so I may experiment with adding some lemon juice one of these days. It’s okay hot, but really shines as an iced tea on these hot summer days!

This one was an impulse purchase the last time I ordered from TeaSource…pretty sure it was on sale. While straight green teas don’t tend to be my favorite, I’ve found myself reaching for this one surprisingly often! It’s very smooth and easy to drink with a mild vegetal flavor that reminds me of baby spinach. It’s certainly nothing special or memorable, but a nice “everyday” type green tea.

A simple but pleasing tea. I tasted dark blueberries as the main flavor. Maybe tiny amounts of dark earth, milk chocolate, and vanilla. $5 for 2oz seems fair. Might buy it again.

This tea is sooooooo old now, it’s been discontinued from TeaSource’s website for some time. When it was pulled from their site, I knew that my local cafe that sources some selection of TeaSource still had a tin of it, and I’d often order a cup of it from them on my lunch breaks from work… then a coworker gifted me an ounce she bought from that cafe with a cute coffee cup for my birthday one year. I kinda forgot about it until I was scanning my spreadsheet for my oldest teas and saw this and thought, “Ugh, I should drink that.”

Western brew, 3.5g steeped in 350ml of 205F water for 3 minutes. The leaf looks like gunpowder green tea, small and pellet-like, and even smells a bit vegetal/metallic/smoky in the bag, but brewed up? It tastes very much like a Four Seasons green oolong to me… smooth and very floral, like lilac and honeysuckle but not overwhelmingly perfumy, with a bit of a pear-like note, and a touch of cinnamon spice and sweet honey. There is a subtle, earthy roasted nuts note and a bit of a mineral aftertaste. It’s a very pleasant green oolong that looks quite deceptive from the exterior. I may try a batch cold-brewed, as well.

That was a bummer. The dry leaf smell was nice – sweet and berry-like – but the taste was simply not there. It was like desperately trying to see the details by staring in the dark window of an abandon house, festooned with grime and cobwebs. I could discern some malt, berries, chocolate and undefined sweetness – but it was so barely-there and muted…. And that was for the first steep, with the second steep being simply undrinkable.

Most likely, it is simply a tea that is old and was stored carelessly. Which is a bummer since I do like lapsangs and was looking forward to trying this one.

This is a sunny, carefree tea. Bread and fruity sweetness. It is not complex but so yummy and charming. It has no astringency but enough of the malty backbone to keep it from becoming cloying… also a mild pleasant aftertaste of baked bread. This tea is very forgiving regarding the steeping times and the water temperature.

It is a golden retriever of teas, always ready to cheer up with unadulterated happiness.

I will echo the previous review by azgryl that was very much on point. It is a pretty tea with an aroma of Darjeeling. The taste is mild, with malt, mint, flowers and muscatel predominating. Ir has a nice long aftertaste and re-steeps very well.

Overall, it is a very solid tea that lacks complexity or uniqueness. I got it as a sample and will not consider buying it due to its high cost ($0.60-0.70 per gram). At that price range significantly more interesting teas could be had. However, if one has a predisposition toward Darjeeling-type teas and no monetary constraints this tea would be a good choice.

A fairly subtle tea. Has the maltiness and I would say slight honey notes and bitter chocolate note. It’s too mild for me. $12 for 2oz. Probably won’t buy it again. Can be steeped twice.

A nice tea from china it is not smoked. Red raspberry is the main flavor, some cocoa notes and a little bit of mushroom taste. Can be steeped twice. The price was 10.50 for 2oz. Probably won’t buy it again too pricey and I’m not the biggest fan of chinese black teas.

The best tea I have had in a while. I think it was complex a mix of sweetness and slight citrus. Some hay notes and pretty bitter. It can only be steeped once.

I ordered this on a whim because it was on sale and I’m so glad I did. It’s quickly becoming a favorite! Great balance of the juicy mango flavor and a little kick of spicy ginger. I’ve been drinking it hot (because Wisconsin is ridiculously cold for May right now…it SNOWED yesterday!) but I bet it will also be amazing iced!

Many moons ago, TeaSource had this AMAZING tea called Golden Mao Feng that was the best black tea I’ve ever had in my life! Since then, I keep trying every tea they put out with “golden” in the name, trying to recapture that magic. While this one isn’t the holy grail, it is a smooth, sweet, easy-to-drink black tea with delicious notes of brown sugar and sweet potato. Also re-steeps beautifully! Sad to be finishing it off today.

I have to admit I’ve not tried Bai Mu Dan before but right away you can tell that the quality of the leaves is top notch. There is alot of fuzz and large leaves. I brewed gong fu style and the flavors are light yet intricate. Jasmine, chrysanthemum, peachy notes and just the barest hint of mineralness.

I must’ve made this tea very wrong (despite steeping within the specifications on the bag), because it was pretty bitter and unpleasant. I’m not rating it because I’m not sure if this was user error or age (it’s about 14 months old), but I’ll have to give it another shot at some point.

An Ode to Tea challenge – L Redux

Sipping down Lavenderberry!   A lovely one, though the rooibos flavor does take over a bit from the other flavors.  Mouthfeel is almost like a throat lozenge at first… which is a weird comparison as I don’t actually use those.   The description mentions actual raspberry pieces, but if there are any here at all anyway, it tastes mostly of strawberry and lavender.  I’m probably repeating myself here.  I wouldn’t mind having this around again!
2021 sipdowns: 66

Thanks so much for this one a while ago, Mastress Alita!  I’ve had it a few times, so next steep session it will be a sipdown.  This is a lovely concept and a unique one I haven’t really seen around anywhere else.  The flavor is quite light even with 1 1/2 teaspoons.  The lightest touches of lavender and what should be raspberry in the ingredients seems more like strawberry to me (which is mentioned in the description).  The rooibos even adds the complementary base for these flavors.  I could swear one of the sips was even creamy.  This is lovely but I wanted those flavors to POP even more! 
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 12 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  4-5 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 20 (52Teas – Raspberry Almond Cookie)

Another new-to-me blend from my latest TeaSource order. My first couple of sips were disappointing…all I could taste was cinnamon. But as it cooled down, the flavor started to pop and I ended up being impressed! This actually does taste like carrot cake, or at least a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. I don’t really taste carrot, but I get the cakey flavor, the spices, a bit of sweetness and even a hint of sour creaminess in the aftertaste that reminds me of frosting. So glad I gave this one a chance!

I don’t remember what prompted me to add this one to my last TeaSource order, as senchas tend to be a bit too assertive for my taste. This one’s actually nice and smooth and not too grassy, but I do wish I were getting more strawberry from it. There’s definitely a fruity flavor here, but it’s not distinctively strawberry. Their website recommends drinking it iced, so I’ll have to try that this summer! (It was -2 Fahrenheit when I woke up today, so definitely not iced tea season right now.)

From the TTB
I used two teaspoons and steeped for 5 minutes but this was still rather weak in the mango department. I guess the mango enhances the natural vanilla of the rooibos, but my take is rather, meh. Not sure I’d drink this again.