Temple Road

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Recent Tasting Notes

44

The oolong tea exudes a captivating aroma, reminiscent of orchid blossoms, while its taste is characterized by a subtle earthiness and a refreshing aftertaste.

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85
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
53 tasting notes

Thank you Liquid Proust for this sample!

Tasting #1 – Steep Time 2 Minutes
A pleasant aroma of of a crackling fireplace. Mild flavor with great mouth feel.

Tasting #2 – Steep Time 4 Minutes
Delicious! I wish I knew the distinctive smells of trees, because this goes beyond the smell of wood but a particular type of wood. I know I’ve smelled this before, but I don’t know what it is. But I love it.

Tasting #3 – Steep Time 6 Minutes
What is this sweetness? There is a distinct aroma left in my cup after its been emptied. Like burnt caramel and white chocolate. But I don’t taste the sweetness, only the cackling fireplace.

Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Fireplace, White Chocolate, Wood

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drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
1113 tasting notes

This is one of those teas that I feel a little odd reviewing because my evaluation differs from others… but, we all have different tastebuds and I have no regrets because I’m as honest as I can be to myself.
This tea just has a funk taste to it. The leaf is quite dark and looks wonderful, but something about the smell and taste has something unappealing to it.
I used 5g and did a 30s steep and a 2 minute steep… both times was like bad techno is my mouth, it works as background noise/taste but I could easily switch to something better.

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96

It’s been ages since I had a Temple Road oolong. I thought I had left a review for this one but I think it was the other two oolongs I had left reviews for. I already had a tea this morning so this is my second cup. That’s already taking it too far on this diet (especially since it’s the 2nd steep which means 3 cups) but considering the circumstances, it can’t be helped.

I got the news yesterday, my cat has gone totally blind so I feel like I could use a little comfort tea right now. He’s getting around better than I thought but it’s just so sad.

This tea is a light oolong but has a real full bodied taste. Very smooth , sweet & buttery. A nice floral aroma and floral notes too. Honeysuckle come to mind yet I’ve never eaten or tasted honeysuckle. I could drink this tea all day. It’s amazing.

Flavors: Butter, Floral, Honeysuckle, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML
TheTeaFairy

So sorry about your cat…but if there’s nothing else wrong with him, you’ll be surprised how well animals adapt. My Lab went blind too for the last four years of his life, but we managed must fine :-)

MzPriss

Hugs for you and your kitty

TheTeaFairy

(I meant “just fine”)

Cheri

I’m sorry to hear about your kitty. One of mine have very limited vision and she does just fine. She’s a little skittish of the others, but she holds her ground just fine when she needs to. They do a lot of “seeing” with their whiskers, so it’s not so so bad. And he’s got you to give him love, which really helps.

Ubacat

Thanks everyone. He did have limited vision for quite some time. He had gone blind in one eye and had limited sight in the other. He would get around just like he could see fine but now everything is black on him. No shadows, nothing. He’s bumping into things and is feeling very scared. He’s really grumpy right now too so I’m only showing him stuff and not picking him up too much. Lots of pats and talking as he’s working his way through his whole new world.

yyz

Sorry about his loss of vision. I hope his adaptation goes well. I can understand your anxiety and his fear though. With warm thoughts, Shelley.

TeaBrat

sorry to hear… :(

Cheri

Please give him some extra pets and love from me. I can’t even begin to imagine how scary it must be for him.

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drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
437 tasting notes

I have to admit that I have difficulty western brewing Oolong’s ( I only have one that I brew that way on any regular basis). There is something about the complexity of tastes, the spice and the warmth it produces in my body that compels me to play with the tea and deconstruct its flavours. I’ve had this sample for a while but have only recently had the time and the health to fully appreciate it.

This is a lovely tea it has a wonderful mix of dark honey, fruit, a variety of floral tones, cured pine, roasted charcoal note, corn, and a variety of savoury vegetable notes. I absolutely enjoyed it and could easily see myself purchasing some in the future. Thank you very much to Temple Road for sharing this tea with me.

I must be impressed with the quality of the packaging of temple road tea as even this sample was packed with a dessication packet to control the moisture levels of the tea.

The dry tea is composed of tightly wound nuggets that are dark spruce and olive green heading towards a dark charcoal colour. The leaves smell of a mix of sweet fruit, charcoal roasted notes and a faint woodiness but are overall very fruity.

I steeped the tea 11 times after a rinse (45,30,35, 40,50,55,60,70,80,90, and 120s)

45s. Liquor pretty buttercup gold colour
Scent complex fruit smell, papaya,melon,warm peach, honey, carnation like spice tones, hint of roast and woodiness, cream.
Taste. Delicious, warm papaya and peaches, honey, vanilla orchid with carnation, cream. Spicy,warm fruit with a slight spicy floral tone.

30s stronger honey tones,fruit still get aparrent, sweet spicy floral, roster woody tone.
Taste spicy floral, fruity tones at the for front as well as something more deeper, tart and berry like, strong honey tones, hint of roasted, charred,bitter greens. Creamy buttery, mouth feel,a bit of woodiness.

35s. Brew is a deeper saffron like colour. Scent buttery, spicy soft floral, with fruit not as intense as before, honey, hint of sweet buttery lettuce like greens.
Taste hint of spinach,spice a faint echo of cloves on top of floral spice vanilla cream, touch of honey, sweet cooked greens, aftertaste of warm peaches. A balance between, savoury, sweet, and spicy, a little perfumy.

40s. cream over stewed peaches and papaya, vanilla, and floral spice.
Floral spice better balanced with other flavours so it is nit so perfumy, sweet buttery green tones slightly more apparent, a touch of spinach. Spicy feel at the front of the mouth.

50s. Scent corn, fruit, vanilla, butter, fainter spice,tones, dried , cured,pine.
Taste savoury vegetable cooked with cloves van butter cooked peaches in vanilla cream, hint of corn. spice in the aftertaste.

55s .scent Orchid and lily, buttetred creams, vanilla sugar, cooked peaches, a touch of citrus, spice.
Taste cooked peaches, vanilla sugar, spicy floral mixed with 5 spice powder, cream, savoury spinach and sweet greens.

60s. Citrus and peaches, vanilla, cream, faint vegetal note.

Corn,warm peaches and cream, vanilla orchid and nutmeg, faint cured pine note.

70s citrus, cream warm peach, sweet cooked greens

Warm peach and spice with citrus accents, a touch of cream, cured pine, sweet cooked greens.

80s. Sweet tone with hint of dark honey, cream,peach, corn.
Hint of woody tone and echo of spice.

90s corn, cooked greens, cream,hint of fruit.
Same as above

120s dark honey and spice with a hint of greens

Veronica

This sounds wonderful!

apt

damn, good review. sounds delicious

TheTeaFairy

Great review :-)

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85
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
630 tasting notes

I admit, I did not steep this according to the directions. Once I saw that the flavor was supposed to be smokey, I knew 6 minutes would be too much for me. Instead I have done several infusions. First for one minute, second for two, and will be attempting a third and fourth. The first cup was delightful. It was smokey but not overwhelming at all like I find strong smokey black teas to be. There is even more smoke in the second steep, but it still isn’t too much for me. I am very interested to see how far this unique oolong can go.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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94

Temple Road kindly sent me this wonderful sample. I really enjoyed their Tiger Monk tea, but I think I might like this one even better. As noted in the name, it’s an oolong on the lighter side, and it has this wonderful honeysuckle flavor. The aroma is fantastic, and, on the third round of steeping, the flavor is still going strong. The leaves are really luxurious-looking, too – this is a rolled oolong that unfurls into huge, dark green leaves. Delicious!

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94

Thank you, Temple Road, for generously sending me a sample! I received in a while ago but I finally have the chance to really sit down with it!

The dry leaf consists of beautifully rolled green leaves, which have a floral aroma. Once they were steeped they took on a dark green color and seemed to have breathed in the water. After four cups, when they were fully unrolled, I could see that the leaf in general consisted of two leaves on a stem. Not one was torn or broken – all were intact.

The first cup and second cups are slightly different, but only so in color in and flavor intensity. When I first steeped the tea, the leaves were barely unrolled. Their scent was floral and a little vegetal, smelling of broccoli. The liquor was a very pale yellow. While it tasted lightly floral, it was full-bodied and creamy. Meanwhile, the liquor of the second cup was slightly darker – a light gold. It was similar aroma and taste, only the floral was much stronger. Additionally, the floral aftertaste lingers much longer on the tongue.

I haven’t had a green oolong in months. This was lovely and refreshing to drink in the early days of spring!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 0 sec 3 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

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95

a quick update on this tea because i had a bit more time with the rest of the sample. I brewed about 4 to 5 cups from one scoop of tea leafs. Its a great tea that keeps on giving if you brew it correctly i used shorter steep times then required going with 3 up to 6min with for each cup going up a bit in time with the steeping. It keeps giving a great fresh taste. I was surprised it kept strong for so long, but if you see the size of the leaf’s it might be no surprise!

Anyway if you like green oolongs, try this one

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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95

I received this sample a short while ago from Temple Road Tea from Taiwan. I have to admit i’m a bit late with my review but here we go, better late then never i guess!

The sample is packaged with nice brewing instructions but i’m not so happy with steeping a green oolong for 6min for a first infusion. I’m going with 3min and the 95°c water.

The rolled up balls of tea are pretty big, among the biggest i had in a long time. The resulting brew gives a light green very fresh looking cup of tea. The steeped leaf’s in the pot are huge, very huge and not cut up in smaller pieces like u usually see with lesser quality oolongs. Taste wise its very soft in the mouth maybe even a bit floral and most certain creamy but not to much. Its a very refreshing cup, the way i like a green oolong.

I can compare this the with a ali shan or a yellow gold, but its more something in between as far than i can remember (because its been a while that i had a green oolong), have to say i prefer this one over the tiger monk i had tried a while ago.

Going to make a other tasting note late on when i tried more of this sample!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 250 OZ / 7393 ML

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89
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
4843 tasting notes

Backlog:

Toast! I love the sweet, nutty, roasty-toasty flavor of this tea. It also has a nice creamy note to it. Later infusions, I began to discover some peach-like notes, notes of charcoal, mineral-y notes. I noticed more of a rustic flavor as I continued to steep these leaves.

A really fine Oolong! I highly recommend it.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/16/tiger-monk-roasted-oolong-tea-from-temple-road/

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100

Ah, last night’s eclipse was fantastic. Other than a pretty violent fight with my tripod (I am going to need a new one very soon) and the cold, it was a spectacular showing. I celebrated with a cup of beautifully dark colored Shui Xian to reflect to color of the moon at full eclipse and took some decent photos. Now the weather is turning warm again, and that means tomorrow I am harvesting violets for candied violets. Spring is a very happy time.

Today’s tea is very much in the theme of spring time, Crane Monk Light Oolong by Temple Road is a beautiful green oolong from Shan Lin Xi, Nantou County, Taiwan. I snipped open the sample package and was immediately slammed with intense floral aroma, I am not saying it was overwhelming (because flowers make me happy) but it was incredibly intense! The aroma is an incredibly heady mix of orchids and hyacinth flowers with a sweet honeysuckle quality. The floral aroma fades to green vegetation and chestnuts, and from that we have a finish of honeyed bread. The aroma is one of the most intensely floral aromas I have experienced from an Oolong, it is fantastic, the other notes are great as well, but that floral intensity really steals the show.

I tossed my leaves into the gaiwan for a nice steeping (after what seems like an eternity of sniffing) and when I lifted the lid I was again greeted by incredible floral. Hello orchids, hyachinth, honeysuckle, and gardenia. There is a bouquet of flowers and their accompaniment of green vegetation in my gaiwan. There is also a creamy quality to the aroma that gives it a heaviness along with headiness. The liquid is very heady, primarily orchid with a hint of orange blossom and vegetation. It is one of those teas that smells like nature, and that makes me immensely happy.

For the first steep, well, give me a moment I need to come up with words that are not just a pile of inarticulate yummy noises. Sometimes I am not dignified when I am sipping a really good tea. The initial taste is incredibly sweet and floral, orangeblossoms and honeysuckles with rich leafy notes. It tastes like what a conservatory smells like, blending flowers, vegetation, and a heavy warmth that makes you never want to leave. The mouthfeel is buttery smooth and thick, I think I could get lost in this tea.

Second steep time! The aroma is still intensely sweet and heady, also creamy and freshly green. I really enjoy how complex the aroma of the liquid is. FLAVOR MOUTH EXPLOSION! So much intensity, no longer articulate at all. Ben, had to come see what the maniacal laughter was about since I was enjoying myself so much I turned into a super-villain. The intense floral flavor from the previous steep remains, the vegetation (the website decribes it as alpine, a term which I love and agree with!) taste is much stronger, and it is joined with a nice juicy pear. The mouthfeel is still very creamy, a pleasant surprise! Usually with oolongs that have a strong green presence I find the mouthfeel to be sharper, so this is quite unique.

Ok, try to regain some composure for steep number three, because you all know I couldn’t stop there. The aroma has calmed a bit, still intense orchid and gardenia with a bit of vegetation. The taste this time is more vegetal and green, a bit of spinach and sage with copious amounts of fresh vegetation. This flows to a delicate sweet floral, it is not as sweet as the previous steep, but the subtle sweetness lingers and is refreshing. Well, Temple Road, you have blown my mind with yet another tea, well done!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/temple-road-tea-crane-monk-light-oolong.html

__Morgana__

I kept hearing about the eclipse on the local classical radio station while driving to and from work, but I then totally forgot about it. This reminds me to go look for some photos.

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88

Hopefully I am really the first to review this and I didn’t just create a new tea page for this one! I received a sample of this from the folks at Temple Road. Thank you so much for the generous sample.

The sample came in a vacuum sealed package with detailed steeping instructions. Very impressive packaging!

I am more of a roasty toasty oolong fan The more green oolongs aren’t as high on my list , but this tea might have me digging into some of my green oolongs again. This is a silky smooth,, creamy mouthful. It has sweet vegetal notes with a hint of mint at the finish of the sip. It reminds me of the milk oolong from Gon Fu tea, but I would have to try them next to each other to be sure since it has been awhile.

I want to make a note that my rating value is based on my preference to purchase/repurchase a tea.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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91
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
33 tasting notes

I received this as a sample – a very delicious tea. The dry tea reminds me of Milk Oolong — tight little buds. The taste and smell of the tea is reminiscent of a roasty big red robe only more complex – some definite floral notes. Very satisfying.

Preparation
6 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
1719 tasting notes

Seems like forever since I have been on Steepster. So today I have Temple Road’s Tiger Monk. I was contacted through my blog and offered the opportunity to review it. Of course I did not turn it down. The 10g sample was vacuum packed with a packet to either absorb moisture or absorb oxygen. I can’t read the writing so I am guessing. The instructions said to use 3 g and 95 C water and a 6 minute steep – so that is what I did. The dry leaf aroma reminds me of the puffed wheat cereal I ate as a kid. The brew though is smoked and roasted. The first sensation when sipping was the roasting. It seemed quite strong, but suddenly melted away with a prickly sensation and became a much greener tasting oolong than I expected. Maybe in part due to the earlier prickly sensation, the aftertaste reminded me of mango.

Strong but no bitterness. Nicely complex.

gmathis

Puffed wheat is still one of my favorite cereals.

K S

As a kid I wasn’t that happy with it. With 4 kids mom bought the generic that came in a giant bag. Rice Krispies was my cereal of choice when I could get it. Today I look back more fondly on the puffed wheat. Time has a way of doing that. Oh, and today my wife kept walking around trying to figure out where that smell was coming from. Apparently the roasted notes are much stronger than I thought :)

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79

Backlog from last night.

It’s been a year since I’ve have this and I think that in the intervening period my palate has really developed. I notice a lot more about this tea than I did before. There’s a lot going on here!

There are the roasty topnotes that I remember from before, but the aftertaste is more noticeable and lingering – it reminds me of barley, corn, grass. Very green, in fact.
There’s a richness and sharpness that reminds me of something fresh and wet, like a humid forest – it makes me think of the Phoenix Dancong I had from the GCTTB a few weeks ago.

Lovely orange liquor, huge unfurled leaves. I really think I’ll enjoy the remainder of the leaf from this. I may even buy a box from Temple Road (but I have way too much tea already :-0 )

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79

And this is another sipdown! Gonna try and finish up another 1 or 2 teas in my stash today – I’m meeting up with my tea mule today, and I can hardly wait.

My notes about this one still hold up – nice roasty malty flavour, a bit of grassiness/astringency, very nice and soothing cuppa. Happy humpday, y’all!

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79

So close to this being a sipdown – one more serving to go.

I oversteeped it again, but it didn’t affect the taste very much. In fact, I thought it was going to be maltier/roastier, but this steep tastes grassier.

I’m going to finish off my cup and then steep a different tea. So much to get through, and I’ve got to pick up 2 orders from my newly-returned tea mule!

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79

Today’s gonna be an oolong day, folks. I can feel it. So here’s oolong #1. This was a free sample that Temple Road gave out to the first 100 people who signed up.

At first I was really surprised by the steeping parameters on this one (95°C for 6 minutes), but I followed the instructions on the label. I was expecting something very dark by the end of the steep, but the liquor was surprisingly light and mellow-looking. I even steeped it for a minute longer than recommended (I was too focused on my breakfast and book to notice), and this didn’t affect it any.

Most of the oolongs I’ve had in the past have been on the green/floral end of the spectrum, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with a darker, more roasted oolong. This was a satisfying cup! Roasty, toasty, malty, and very soothing/relaxing. There’s also a surprisingly green, grassy aftertaste, which I really like .

I have a lot of oolongs in the cupboard right now (most of them sample-size, luckily), but when I sip them down, I think this one will definitely go on the restock list.

EDIT: I’ve resteeped this and the second infusion is a lot less malty, and more grassy/astringent, similar to the aftertaste of the first infusion. This is still pleasant, but I think it might be best as a one-steep tea.

Flavors: Grass, Malt, Roasted Barley

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
391 tasting notes

I like this oolong :) it’s got a nice taste, not really strong even though it steeped for 6 minutes like the package said to so I was a little surprised at that. I like that it’s not like some other oolongs in that it has that strong flowery taste. This is more that warm, toasty…is it nutty? Type of taste. It’s not too sweet so it went well with my chosen breakfast of cinnamon roll loaf with frosting all over it… So good and yummy. And now to clean out my tea stuff. I would drink a lot more tea if someone would just make it for me on demand :D. Thank you for the sample, Temple Road!

Temple Road Tea

A New Tea Is Out! You’ll receive a free 10g sample of the Crane Monk Light Oolong Premium Tea for previously reviewing the Tiger Monk. Simply send an email to [email protected] to help us link your Steepster user name to your Temple Road subscribing member email address. Also, feel free to take advantage of our 50% discount offer, go to www.templeroadtea.com. Thank you!

CK

Thanks! I sent you an email just now.

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85
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
113 tasting notes

This tasting note is a small update on from my first review.

I managed to brew 3 cups from those leaves and they where all equally good, with the second being the best cup i had from them all. That cup was not as robust then the first one, it was a bit more floral and more refreshing then the initial 6min steep. With the third cup being equal in taste i was a bit disappointed that i threw away the remaining leafs.

The rest off my sample i used for a sort of gong fu brewing, not real gong fu because i don’t own a gaiwan yet. But i made a serie’s of long shorter steeps and it was pretty amazing. The tea didn’t get as strong like in the first time i tried it but it just kept giving off great tasting cups all a little bit different in taste but with the same note’s i described before. Got about 5 or 6 short steeps from this experience all with steep times between 1 and 6min.

on a side note i keep comparing this to big red robe, but without the charcoal mouthfeel. tough it gives a dry mouth after drinking.

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85
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
113 tasting notes

Temple Road Tea’s from Taiwan send me this 10gram Roasted Oolong as a sample in order to make a review here on steepster. I would like to thank them to give me the opportunity to try this tea.

Oolongs are a type off tea that is usually a hit or mis with me, i usually drink light greener oolongs tough tis should be a darker one. The instructions that came with the sample are clear, divide the sample into 3 equal parts and make a 6min infusion. 6min is a long time in my opinion but i followed the instructions.

The dry leafs where dark green rolled in tiny balls. Upon infusion they unfurl to rather large leafs. The downside is that i’m not really getting all the aroma’s from te steeping in my nose because i got a bit of a cold… But as far that i can tell the smell reminds me of Big Red robe, and the color of the steep is somewhat familiar to it.

Taste wise i’m getting the roasted notes in my mouth with the first few sips, perhaps a bit smoked like in the description.Its strong but not overwhelming, i was expecting a bitter brew because there was such a long steep time involved. Its surprisingly fresh and delicious.

Gonna try to get 3 steeps out of this tea, will make a new note later today with the evolution in taste over the different steeps.

Have to say i’m looking forward to receive more samples from tis company.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 6 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 250 OZ / 7393 ML
Temple Road Tea

Hi darky, Max here. Thanks for taking the time to review the Tiger Monk. As a token of our appreciation we’d like to send a little treat you way. This one should be right up your alley judging by your review. Look for an email from us in the next 24 to 48 hours for the details. Cheers and take care!

darky

wow Max, u surprise me a lot! Thanks for surprising me :) U still got my email?

Temple Road Tea

I’m sorry, we’re experiencing some delays. Rest assured you’ll hear from us soon!

Temple Road Tea

A New Tea Is Out! You’ll receive a free 10g sample of the Crane Monk Light Oolong Premium Tea for previously reviewing the Tiger Monk. Simply send an email to [email protected] to help us link your Steepster user name to your Temple Road subscribing member email address. Also, feel free to take advantage of our 50% discount offer, go to www.templeroadtea.com. Thank you!

darky

received it today, really fast delivery! Will make a review somewhere in next weekend got some more time then :)

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85
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
125 tasting notes

I got this tea as a free sample from Temple Road. It arrived in vacuum sealed packet and with personalized message. Thank you very much!!

The tea did not disappoint. The rolled up dry leaves looked beautiful and smelled delicious, a little vegetal.

I used half a packet (5 grams) for 8 ounces of water and wondered how long to steep it. 6 minutes seemed so long! No worries, however. The tea survived the 6 minutes steep very well and produced delicious flavour. It was not too strong, smoky with a hint of burnt caramel and sweetness throughout. It went on giving in subsequent steeps giving me 3 steeps overall before it lost the flavour. Perfect for me!

Preparation
5 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
Temple Road Tea

Hi Kamyria, Max here. Thank you so much for taking the time to review the Tiger Monk, and glad you enjoyed it! Good observations too, I think that our tea master’s skillful techniques are mostly responsible for the balanced flavor profile. As a token of our appreciation, we’d like to send a little treat your way. Look for an email from us in the next 24 to 48 hours. Cheers!

Temple Road Tea

I’m sorry, we’re experiencing some delays. Rest assured you’ll hear from us soon! Meanwhile, if you could help us by sending us an email to [email protected] linking your Steepster ID to your Temple Road subscribing member email, that would be a big help, thanks!

Temple Road Tea

A New Tea Is Out! You’ll receive a free 10g sample of the Crane Monk Light Oolong Premium Tea for previously reviewing the Tiger Monk. Simply send an email to [email protected] to help us link your Steepster user name to your Temple Road subscribing member email address. Also, feel free to take advantage of our 50% discount offer, go to www.templeroadtea.com. Thank you!

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100
drank Tiger Monk by Temple Road
921 tasting notes

I think officially spring is here, it is warm, bright, and sunny…and I have started getting Pollen Alerts in my email. Though if I have learned anything in my time living in Kansas City, it is that the weather and seasons are very unpredictable, it might feel like spring now but in a week we could be buried under snow again.

Today’s tea arrived in the mail when I was recovering from the flu, meaning I had to wait till I could fully taste and smell things properly, and it is finally that time! Tiger Monk Roasted Oolong by Temple Road Tea is a roasted oolong from Taiwan and is of the Shan Lin Xi variety and is the first tea in their Martial Monk series. The aroma is really quite intense, blending caramelized sugar and roasted nuts with lesser notes of raisins. The tightly rolled leaves have a finishing aroma of coal and fresh wood. I was pleasantly surprised at how sweet the aroma is, it blends really well with the smoky coal finish.

Once steeped and unfurled a bit, the leaves take on the complex blend of cherries and coal, milk and cocoa. It is very rich and has pleasant layers of aromas that fills me with the desire to keep sniffing, I want to see what other aromas come wafting off the wet leaves. The liquid is creamy and rich with strong notes of coal and a hint of sweet cocoa.

The first steeping is very smooth, the first thing I notice is the initial buttery mouthfeel, the creamy taste that accompanies the tea is wonderful. The tea is sweet with flavors of dried cherries and raisins with a strong wood smoke and coal finish. If the first steep is anything to go by I can say I am going to love this tea, it mixes some of my favorite qualities of Jin Xuan and Roasted Da Hong Pao.

The aroma of the leaves from the second steeping still has the sweet fruity aroma from earlier, but the cocoa and coal notes are stronger, now there is also a hint of roasted nuts. The aroma of the liquid is caramel sweet and cocoa rich with a pleasant kick of roasted nuts. The mouthfeel of this steeping is not as buttery, in fact it has a bit of a bitter dryness to it, similar to a mouthful of roasted hazelnuts (yes I do know exactly what that tastes like). The coal and wood smoke taste is much stronger with this steeping as well, it is a potent steep rivaling Lapsang Souchong for smokiness, except it is like cherry wood smoke rather than pine wood since it has a distinct sweet floral quality. Speaking of sweetness the finish is powerfully sweet, it goes from coal to smoke in an instant and the flip-flop of taste is an awesome transition.

The third steeping’s aroma is almost identical to the second, but this time the liquid had a slight hint of malt. The mouthfeel is dry and the flavor is mostly sweet this time, I think almost all the smoke was left behind in the previous steep. This time I get honey, cherries, and roasted nuts as the main flavor notes. There is a hint of cocoa at the end, throughout the entire sipping experience is the ghost of smoke, like a strong breeze blew away all the smoke from a forest fire, but the memory is still left in the nose and mouth. This tea kinda blew me away, I almost feel like the tea was misnamed, it should have been Phoenix Monk since I felt much like the Phoenix going through a smoky journey with this tea. I think I found a new favorite.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/temple-road-tea-tiger-monk-roasted.html

Flavors: Cocoa, Honey, Stonefruit

K S

I have a sample of this on the way. Reading your review I can’t wait. It just may get bumped to the front of the long line when it arrives.

TeaNecromancer

I hope you enjoy it! I am so glad I waited until I was fully able to taste it because wow!

Temple Road Tea

Hi Amanda, Max here. Now that is a review! We’re so glad you enjoyed the tea and that you took the time to write such a detailed review, Thank you! Phoenix Monk?! Really?! Haha, I have to admit it is a pretty cool name, but the Tiger Monk shall live! As a token of our appreciation we’d like to send a little treat your way. Look for an email from us in the next 24 to 48 hours. Cheers!

TeaNecromancer

Hehe, I couldn’t help myself with the Phoenix Monk, Tiger Monk is of course a wonderful name, and certainly quite distinctive…just like the tea! Thank you for the treat, I will be sure to keep an eye out. :)

Temple Road Tea

I’m sorry, we’re experiencing some delays. Rest assured you’ll hear from us soon!

Temple Road Tea

A New Tea Is Out! You’ll receive a free 10g sample of the Crane Monk Light Oolong Premium Tea for previously reviewing the Tiger Monk. Simply send an email to [email protected] to help us link your Steepster user name to your Temple Road subscribing member email address. Also, feel free to take advantage of our 50% discount offer, go to www.templeroadtea.com. Thank you!

TeaNecromancer

Email sent! Thank you so much!!

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