The Pleasures of Tea
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This tea is nice. It’s a mild tea. The leaves are greyish white and unfurl into a greenish brown full leaf with each infusion. The liquor is a light gold color. It has a bit of a grassy, herbaceous flavor. A slight fruity note like peaches maybe. It isn’t bitter if brewed correctly. Quite delicious!
Flavors: Alcohol, Apricot, Grass, Green, Herbaceous, Peach, Plants, Vegetal
Just finished off the las bit of this tea. For a while, I wasn’t able to drink caffeine for quite so there were very few teas in circulation and this was one of them. Needless to say, I got tired of the same old same old. But, after a few months of not having this tea… I have forgotten how refreshing it is. It has a naturally sweet flavor. It’s a different sort of a sweetness than many other teas out there since it doesn’t have fruity or floral back notes. The leaves are small and almost chopped up like. The liquor is a lovely red color. The smell of the tea before it is brewed is lightly sweet, like honey. After it’s brewed it becomes much more potent. It’s great for an upset stomach, sleeping issues, headaches, all sorts of things. I have forgotten how much I enjoyed this tea. A nice relaxing cuppa.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Candy, Caramel, Honey, Sugar, Sweet, Tobacco
Preparation
The leaves are dark especially for a green. They are such a dark shade of purple they almost look black. The liquor is light when brewed. An amber-gold color. The tea is mild tasting, smooth, a bit of a vegetal taste. A little like cucumbers. Nice, mild, morning tea.
Preparation
Green tea from the Anuhi province in China.
Thin straight leaves that unfurl with each infusion. The liquor is a light goldish-yellowish color when brewed. It brews light, almost like a white tea. The flavors are plant-like. Grassy notes, no floral notes, with a smooth finish.
Flavors: Asparagus, Grass, Green, Green Beans, Plants, Smooth, Vegetal
Preparation
The leaves are small and tight. The smell before it is brewed is quite strong. The leaves unravel with each infusion. The liquor is a dark amber-brown color almost brown. The taste is strong. Smokey, Earthy, notes of burnt wood, wet earth, mushrooms. Yummy earthy strong brew. Reminds me of a camp fire.
Flavors: Campfire, Dirt, Earth, Mushrooms, Smoke, Wet Earth, Wood
Preparation
Nice sweet refreshing tea. Great iced or hot. Had it with chicken African stew last night. Complimented it well. The leaves are small and chopped up looking. They are reddish in color. The liquor when brewed is a red color as well. It looks very pretty in a clear glass or mug. It smells like candy honey with a bit of a tobacco note. It also tastes how it smells. There aren’t any vegetal notes, or floral notes. A bit of a peachy, nectarine, taste.
Flavors: Caramel, Fruity, Nectar, Oak, Peach, Sugar, Sweet, Tobacco
This pu-er is delicious. It’s the first pu-er I’ve ever tried. It is an acquired taste if you’ve never had a pu-er before. The leaves are presented in a “nest” form. It can be broken up to get a less potent brew. The liquor is dark amber-dark brown in color. It has a very earthy and smokey smell to it. Strong, dark, earthy, smokey, sweet, smooth. Great “get you going” tea.
Flavors: Burnt, Earth, Oak, Smoke, Smooth, Sweet, Umami
Preparation
Bought two ounces of this in store. It had a nice aroma and I thought it would be interesting to try a tea from Uganda. It is a BOP tea and it reminds me of a Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea. It has that “near orange” taste. The note is almost citrus in quality but not quite. While I wouldn’t rush out to buy more of this it was interesting to drink it.
Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.
Flavors: Citrus
Preparation
Bought two ounces of this yesterday at the store. It is a nice black tea. It is malty and reminds me of a Ceylon black tea. I think it would be good iced too. It has a bit of a chocolate note and little if any bitterness. I like this. It was inexpensive, I think around $4.50 an ounce. At the pleasures of tea she sells quantities as small as one ounce. She also has a sit down tea bar where you can order any of her teas. I had a Japanese black tea while I was there. I didn’t end up buying it because of the price. It was $12 per ounce but was good tea. In general she sells good quality teas.
I brewed this one time in a 24oz cast iron teapot with 4 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.
Flavors: Chocolate, Malt
Preparation
Drank this earlier. It was pretty good. Didn’t review it then because Steepster was acting weird on me. When I tried to add this tea I got a message saying it was already there. When I tried to access it I got a black screen like you get when you try to click on deleted spam. Have to see what I remember about this. It was nice, somewhat malty with a Nepal flavor similar to a Darjeeling I guess you would say. It’s hard for me to come up with specific notes as I didn’t take any and I couldn’t do what I like to do which is review it as I drink it. I did like it. The Pleasures of Tea sells some quality tea in general.
I brewed 3 tsp leaf in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 190 degree water for 3 minutes.
Preparation
Bought two ounces of this in the store today. It is a nice tasting flavored blend. You seem to have two competing tastes, a fruity note and a coconut note. It blends fairly well. If anyone lives near West Sayville, Long Island, New York, The Infuse Tea Bar and the store The Pleasures of Tea is a good store. Yes it goes by two names because they have both a tea bar and a store selling tea products. Picked up a bunch of stuff today.
I brewed this once in a 28oz ceramic teapot with 4 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.
Flavors: Coconut, Fruity
Preparation
This is an interesting tea. The dry leaf smells mildly of peppermint. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to this tea. There was a sweet note and little bitterness to it. Then there was the blend. The cloves tasted strongest, followed by the peppermint, I couldn’t taste the licorice root at all. This was an interesting tea to try. When I bought it I don’t think I realized it was a blend. It just smelled interesting. I would probably not buy it again if she still has it.
I steeped this tea eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.
Preparation
This is a nice blend of assam teas. However it is not spectacular, just above average. It tastes good. Only bought a one ounce sample of it a couple of weeks back. It’s somewhat malty and there is a little hint of sourness, just a hint.
I brewed this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.
Preparation
Bought an ounce of this tea from the store while I was there last week. The leaves look for all the world like shou puerh. I have never seen sheng leaves that look like this. These leaves look fermented. My initial thought is that she was sold an aged shou puerh and her source told her it was an aged sheng. If it was a shou puerh it has cleared completely. I will attach the Instagram photos so others can give their opinions about this tea. She only sells it in store and not on her website. Also, I don’t doubt that 99% of her customers have a lot less experience with puerh than I do. This tastes for all the world to me like an aged ripe. It just doesn’t taste like a sheng to me. In the end I just don’t know. As to the tea itself. There was no fermentation taste to this so I suppose she could be right. It was fairly bitter throughout most of the eight steeps I gave it. In color I couldn’t tell if it was an aged sheng or an aged shou. Whatever it is it just isn’t that good.
I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCnyeV0zDRWmSAeS9jUn3K6YnsCCF57DV4gsrQ0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCn0lyDTDYQFYA2F037PyCSY6hi1Xoghnw-oUk0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea
https://www.instagram.com/p/BCn1V8zTDaPtwAvf9a7TAH-p7jslPCGv_P150c0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea
Preparation
curlygc, I called the woman who sold me this and told her it was shou. She continued to insist it was sheng. It still looks like shou to me, albeit an aged shou because it had no fermentation flavor at all.
The leaves look a little too black and carbonized to me for a sheng. Could you pick out any whole leaves from the brew to see if you could open them up?
Mr Mopar. already threw the leaves out. Too late to pick out leaves and I am in no rush to drink this again. It wasn’t very good in truth. The dry leaves look like shou too. There is a subtly difference between the leaves of an aged sheng and a shou before you brew them and these look like shou. The woman who sold me this tea insisted they were sheng though. She could be lying, she could just not know what she is talking about.
Back in those days puerh often was mixed raw with shou. The thinking was that no one wanted to drink raw puerh, so it was made more palatable by adding shou. I’m sure this practice is still going on, just not to the same extent. I have a sheng/shou tea brick from the early 2000s.
This tea has a malty note and unfortunately a sour note. It’s not so sour as to be undrinkable but it’s not that great.
I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.
Preparation
This is pretty good, but not as good as the chocolate puers I have had from some other vendors. The chocolate does a fair job of covering up the earthy taste of the puer. The chocolate taste is not as strong as I’d like. Overall it is good.
Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 30 seconds after giving it a 10 second rinse.
Preparation
This tea is not as good as the other breakfast blends I got from The Pleasures of Tea. It is malty and it is a little sour. Not so sour as to be undrinkable but it is not that great. Can’t give this one a high rating.
I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min. I think this one would be better with lower temperature water.
Flavors: Malt, Sour
Preparation
This tea is smooth and not malty as you expect a breakfast blend to be. It’s got a bit of a subdued fruity note in the background. That’s not real strong either. This is a blend of Assam and Yunnan teas and it’s pretty decent. It reminds me a little of something like Lipton in a way because it doesn’t seem to have any strong flavors. This is not to say it is without flavor, they are all just subdued. I do find I like this tea.
I brewed this once in a 12oz tea mug with 2 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.