Yunnan Gold Tips Limited Edition Tea from Damn Fine Tea

DFTYunnan2Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Damn Fine Tea

Tea Description:

We’re galloping into the New Year on a 150 horse-powered infusion of Yunnan Gold Tips. Care to join us? Like a chestnut mare with a brilliant golden mane, this special tea has the might to carry you through good times and bad, and a gentle, unassuming beauty that will stir noble feelings in your breast. We wish the year of the snake a fond farewell, perhaps even a tip of the hat as it slithers away into the bushes. Now it’s time to face the road ahead. Welcome to the year of the horse — saddle up this damn fine steed and ride out to meet it!

We’ve teamed up again with our pals at Aesthetic Apparatus and made 150 tins of one of our favorites, Yunnan Jin Hao Gold Tips tea. This full-bodied black tea from China will remind you of a classic Yunnan — it’s good and strong — but the gold tips add a soft, velvety smoothness. Brew it in boiling hot water for at least five minutes and you’re off to the races. Cross the finish line and re-steep the leaves for another ride.

Learn more about this limited-edition tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I have been chomping at the bits to order this tea for months now, ever since it was announced.  However, I have quite a bit of tea as it is, and I always seem to go a bit over my budget when it comes to tea spending, so I held off on ordering this as long as I could.  I didn’t want to miss out on it – since it is a limited edition! – but I also couldn’t justify ordering it when it was announced.  I waited and waited for a “free shipping” offer from Damn Fine Teas, but I never found that opportunity.

Then they offered free shipping to Canadians for Canada Day, and when I looked at this tea, I saw that there were only 6 tins of it left!  Egad!  I was freaking out, worried that I’d miss out on this tea while I was waiting for the 4th of July when (hopefully) they might have free shipping in the states (which they did), but I worried that this tea might sell out before the 4th arrived (it didn’t).  But I still didn’t want to take that chance, so I paid for the shipping and declared that my budget be damned!  It was time for some Damn Fine Tea!

I mean, it’s not like I haven’t had a golden tips Yunnan before, I’ve had quite a few lovely opportunities to try this type of tea.  I didn’t really feel like I was missing out on something as far as the tea goes, but, as I’ve admitted in the past, I’m a sucker for packaging.  And I didn’t want to miss out on a numbered tin which is beautifully appropriated with a vivid, yellow label with a cool horse on it.  I didn’t want to not have this tin.  I also needed to find out what cool little extra they’d send along with the tin.  They always have a nifty little toy or something with the tin … something that corresponds with the tea.  This tin came with a little rubber horse head finger puppet toy.  Cool.

Yeah, go ahead and say it.  I’m a nerd.

This Yunnan Gold Tips is an enjoyable tea and a nice selection for the celebration of the Year of the Horse (which was the reason behind this limited edition series).  I don’t know that it’s the best Yunnan tea that I’ve ever tasted, but I’m enjoying it and happy to have it as part of my tea stash while it lasts.

DFTYunnanThe dry leaf is beautiful with it’s chocolate-y brown leaves tipped with gold.  The aroma is earthy and rich, and there are hints of sweetness.  The leaves brew up dark and produce a flavorful liquid that smells sweet – like molasses!

That molasses-y note translates to the flavor, and I can taste notes of sweet molasses that seem to mingle with an undertone of caramel-like flavor.  It’s a hearty, robust tea with enough gusto to get someone up and running (or galloping!) on the days when you need that sort of thing.  It has a leather-y, earthy quality to the flavor which is a nice contrast to the sweeter notes.

But what I like best about a Yunnan are the spice notes.  And this tea has those too.  They are warm and comforting, and I think that’s why I enjoy a good Yunnan like this one so much.  It is an invigorating drink but there is a certain comfort to drinking it.  Like waking up even though you don’t want to, but then walking into that hot shower and it feels so good that all the sudden you’re not minding waking up so much.  That’s what this tea provides for me.

A really awesome tea, I’m glad that I finally ordered it.  I just wish that I could have gotten the free shipping on it.  Hey … Washington is right next to Canada … and I live in a city that is often confused as a Canadian city.  That should count for something, eh?  (See, I’m even trying to sound Canadian.)

Castleton Autumnal Tulip Black Tea (2013 Autumn Flush) from Darjeeling Tea Lovers

CASTLETON AUTUMNAL TULIPTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Darjeeling Tea Lovers

Tea Description:

CASTLETON AUTUMNAL TULIP, as the name suggests is an AUTUMNAL TEA or THIRD FLUSH tea from the estates of CASTLETON TEA ESTATE.

This tea comes with Malty, Muscatel & spicy notes smooth yet complex in flavour. “LIGHT & BRIGHT” is an ideal way to describe this tea. It has a very smooth cup with plenty of sweet muscatel notes. An ideal tea for your breakfast.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet with some spice notes and floral tones.  The brewed tea has a fruitier fragrance, smelling a lot more like fruit than flower.  I still pick up on sweet and spice, but mostly, I’m picking up on a delightful grape-y scent!  You know what that means, right?  Muscatel!

Oh yeah!  And this tea has the muscatel that you’re looking for!  It has a very wine-like taste, with bright, fruity notes that taper to a slight dryness at the finish and the aftertaste is sweet and fruity, with notes of grape and black currant.

The sip starts with a sweet yet spicy note.  The malty notes of this tea accentuate the sweetness, although I’m not finding this tea to be overly sweet.  I think that the spice notes add enough contrast to the overall flavor to keep this from tasting like your average Darjeeling.  This is – in my humble opinion – head and shoulders above that average Darjeeling.  I love the muscatel notes here, and I love the crisp, light flavor of the cup.

This is not a heavy tasting black (not surprising, it is a Darjeeling, after all!) and it would make a great tea for mid-morning or early afternoon.  The above description suggests this as a breakfast tea, and I could see that too, there is a certain briskness to this cup that is quite invigorating.  Although, I wouldn’t add milk to this cup – it would overwhelm the fabulous flavors going on.  So, if you’re one who wants milk in your breakfast tea, save this one for the second cup of the day when you are ready for some unfettered tea flavor.

As I continue sipping, I’m picking up on some bright citrus notes that arrive just after mid-sip, and re-emerge in the aftertaste.  I don’t usually associate citrus flavors with Darjeeling, but this tea has some sunny notes of lemon!  Nice!

There is some astringency to this cup, but, it’s a fairly mellow astringency.  It isn’t leaving the insides of my cheeks feeling puckered or dry, although there is a gentle “clean” feeling to my palate.

Another delightful autumnal flush from Darjeeling Tea Lovers!

Peach Brulée Black Tea Blend from Tea Forté

peachbruleeTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Tea Forté

Tea Description:

This refreshing black tea offers a masterful blend fragrant with floral and fruit. Mango and marigold blossoms embrace the lushness of sweet juicy peaches with a lingering finish of tropical cut coconut. 

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

While shopping the other day at Chuck’s Produce, I stopped by the tea section (as I usually do) and this tea caught my attention.  Maybe it was the slick, black “Tea Noir” tin that drew me in, or perhaps it was just the name:  Peach Brulée … um, yes please!  That sounds amazing.  I also liked that this was a loose leaf selection, rather than the tea pyramids that Tea Forté is probably best known for.  So, maybe it was a combination of the three things, but there was something that came over me and told me to put that tin into my cart.

And I’m glad I did.  This is yum!

The black tea base is a very BOLD tasting black tea.  And the reason it’s so bold is that this tea has a pan-roasted Assam to serve as the base.  Awesome!  I can taste the richness of the Assam, notes of malt, and I’m getting a really nice roasted flavor from the pan-roasting.  It has an almost “coffee-like” flavor to it.  This would make an excellent alternative to those who are trying to switch from coffee to tea, but miss that rich, robust coffee flavor.  This tea has that!

And the flavoring here doesn’t overpower the rich, roasted flavor of the tea.  This is a tea that has been flavored with notes of peach and hints of mango and a very subtle kiss of coconut … and not the other way around.  That is to say, that this doesn’t taste like a tea where the flavors have been overdone.  The flavors are right on point, allowing me to enjoy the really flavorful Assam tea first, and then celebrate the juicy, delicious fruit notes.

The peach is the most prominent flavor after the roasty-toasty notes, and then the mango sort of weaves its way in and out throughout the sip in a very soft, subtle way.  The coconut is very delicate, and I notice it more in the aftertaste than I do in the sip itself.

It’s a really flavorful, unique take on tropical fruit flavored tea, and with all this bold, hefty flavor, it’s a great way to start the day.  It also tastes outstanding as an iced tea – in fact, I’d find it difficult to say which way I like it best.  I think right now, seeing as we’re experiencing the hottest part of the summer thus far, I’d go with iced.  But, in the cooler weather, I’d probably say that this is better hot!

Paradise Tea Tisane from Eden Grove

EG 12ct Prism CollectionTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black & Green Teas

Where to Buy:  Amazon Trading

Ingredients:

Black Tea, Green Tea, Passion Fruit, Pineapple, & Natural Flavors of Passion Fruit & Pineapple.

Learn more about Amazon Trading here.

Taster’s Review:

This Paradise Tea Tisane is an enjoyable blend of black and green teas flavored with passion fruit and pineapple.  I brewed the silky sachet for 3 minutes in 185°F water.  The result is a yummy cuppa!

As I’ve said in the past, when it comes to blends like this – where there is more than one type of tea, in this case, there is both black and green tea leaves – I usually opt to infuse the tea at the lowest temperature requirement for the tea to avoid scorching the green tea.  This would result in a bitter tasting tea.  So, I went with a lower temperature and steeped it for 3 minutes.  This seemed to be the perfect setting for this tea, because the flavor is really nice.

The black tea isn’t particularly robust or even brisk.  It’s more like a smooth, mild black tea flavor, lightened by the soft, silky taste and texture of the lightly vegetal green tea notes.  It doesn’t taste like “black tea” or even “green tea” … it tastes like something totally different, but with similarities to both of these tea types.

And then there is the luscious tropical fruit notes of passion fruit and pineapple!  These two flavors add a sweet, juicy taste to the cup without overwhelming the tea base.

The way I would describe this tea is that some mad scientist (a scienTEAist?) brewed a cup of black tea and a cup of green tea and added equal parts of each to a new cup, and then added the nectar of passion fruit and pineapple.  I can almost taste the sweet pulp of the fruits!  It’s really quite refreshing and tasty.  Not too fruity though, I think a nice balance has been achieved.  (Insert mad scienTEAist laugh here)

Really tasty served hot, but even better when it cools!

Product Review: Libre Glass’n Poly Mug

Where to Buy:  Libre Tea

Product Description:

New! Libre glass ‘n poly mug – enjoy loose leaf tea while on the go, now with as easy hold handle!

The Libre glass ’n poly has a health-conscious glass interior for fresh taste and a durable polycarbonate exterior for ‘on the go’ durability. The stainless steel tea filter is surrounded by BPA free polypropylene as is the lid interior. Can be used 2 ways to brew and travel with loose leaf tea.

Product Review:

I really like my new mug from Libre Tea!  The inner lining is made of glass, and because there is a double wall (inside wall of glass, outside wall of polycarbonate), the outside never gets too hot to handle.  And did I mention that this mug has a handle?  This mug makes loose leaf tea-to-go easy!  It also makes a perfect device to steep blooming teas!

There are two ways this mug can be used to steep tea – the first is simply to put tea into the main chamber, add the hot/boiling water, and then screw on the strainer lid.  After the tea has steeped, simply sip the tea through the strainer.  I find that this method works best for tisanes:  teas that won’t grow bitter as they continue to steep.  My favorites using this steeping & sipping method are flavored honeybush blends and yerba maté.

The second way to steep tea with this mug is to screw the strainer lid onto the mug before you add the loose leaf tea, and then add the loose leaf into the strainer lid.  Pour in the hot/boiling water, screw on the top lid securely, and then carefully turn the mug upside down to allow the water to infuse into the tea leaves in the strainer lid.  Once the tea is finished steeping, carefullly turn the mug back over, and unscrew the lids.  The spent leaves will remain in the straining chamber so that the tea does not over-steep.  This second method works best for green teas and black teas, or any tea that you don’t want to continue to steep. (Such as hibiscus-laden teas!)

This glass is like the one that I've owned for a couple of years now.

When using this second method, I recommend using some caution.  The first time I attempted it, the tea leaked out of the screw top because I failed to screw the lid on securely.  Be sure to screw the lid on securely – making sure to line up the threads properly.  I also recommend placing the mug on a dishtowel … just in case!  Since that first time I used the second method to steep, I have had several successful steeps using the same method, so it really was user-error, not product error!  So, do take some care to avoid this mishap, and you should be fine!

I have owned a similar type glass for several years now, and I must note some significant differences between the original glass and the new mug.  First of all, this mug has a handle.  (That one was pretty obvious, huh?)  More importantly, at least for this tea enthusiast, is the finer mesh on the strainer lid.  This fine mesh works well with chai teas, keeping the fine-ground spices out of the liquor!  It also works well with rooibos.

I like this new mug very much, and I highly recommend it.  It makes tea brewing on the go so easy, I no longer have an excuse to stop at the coffee house and buy a cup of tea there for $3.00 a cup!