The Jade Leaf

Once in a while a tea comes along that challenges your preconceived notions about that category of tea. For me, this Taiwanese black redefines what black tea should taste like. It’s a magnificent tea, delightfully fruity with a smooth and highly refined taste.

The smell in the bag is heavenly; like tangy, fresh strawberries and dried cherries. A brown sugar aroma like appears after dropping the leaves into a warmed teapot. The first steep was sweet with fruity notes of dark berries and a light malty finish. Second steep was richer with more brown sugar sweetness and notes of bergamot and musk. Next two steeps were silky smooth and had a hint of white grapes.

This was an exquisite tea with fantastic aromatics and a refreshing quality that made for a very pleasant drinking experience. It’s quite different from the full bodied blacks I’m used to. I know Taiwanese blacks are highly regarded but the ones I’d tried up until now failed to impress. Having experienced this tea, I get the hype now. I must say I’m impressed with both of the teas I’ve sampled from The Jade Leaf. I wouldn’t have thought to use them for tea since they are known for teaware. Emilio sources some excellent tea and I’m grateful to have been able to try a couple of them.

Man, it’s already June and the weather in Chicago is still wonky. Seems like we never quite recovered from the brutal -50 F windchills this past winter. It’s supposed to be summer now but here I am with the furnace on and wearing a sweater. WTH?

The unexpectedly cool weather calls for a roasty tea so I pulled out this sample I received with my recent Jade Leaf teaware order. I grandpa steeped 1.2g in an 8oz glass using 195 F water. The dry leaf had an appetizing smell of chocolate, toffee, and butterscotch. Wet leaf though didn’t have much aroma, kind of had the standard roasted oolong smell.

I got busy with other stuff which gave this a chance to steep good and long. The leaves unfurled to release an incredibly smooth texture and taste of flowers and caramel. Roast was gentle without any char and lent a sweet fruitiness to the tea. It was a tad lighter than I like but that’s likely because I slightly underleafed.

An excellent medium roast oolong, perfectly roasted to give it a nice warmth and sweetness. Eager to try this gongfu next time.