Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Mountain Tea Company
Tea Description:
Our Medium Roast Osmanthus Oolong has a delightful taste of caramel and osmanthus with hints of coffee and cacao.
Many of the roasted oolongs you’ll find today are ‘qing xiang’ or ‘light fragrance’ style, popularized by Taiwanese tea makers, which favors a light, floral aroma. This oolong was roasted in-house by our very own tea master; it’s an homage to the traditional style of tea making. To develop a deep, rich character, we roasted this tea over the course of 9 days, for a total of 144 hours. This slow roasting gradually caramelizes the natural sugars within the tea and imparts body and layers of complexity.
Water: 6 oz.; 200-212°F
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Upon sipping Medium Roast Osmanthus Oolong from The Mountain Tea Company I find it to be surprisingly lighter than I had anticipated. Keep in mind however I love oolong, the darker the better, so maybe its just lighter on my palate.
There are woodsy notes, and even some notes that lean toward a vegetal flavor slightly, but I am not picking up on the sweetness of the osmanthus. I do get the floral aspect of the osmanthus for sure which is lovely, fresh, and delightful. I was hoping for the sweetness from it however.
This is a medium roast oolong although it may be too dark for some and too light for others I find it to be quite pleasing even if I am slightly disappointed that it does not taste the way I had anticipated it to.
What is cool about The Mountain Tea Company is they list their oolongs by roast on their website which I find quite handy when needing to restock a specific type.
Now I am a huge fan of The Mountain Tea Company, I repeat, huge fan, but this is not my favorite tea from them. That is not to say it is a bad tea whatsoever! It is quite nice especially if you love floral notes in your oolong. Its not as sweet as some of their teas, nor as complex in my opinion, but what it does deliver it delivers well.
I really love the lingering after taste of this tea and its refreshing qualities. While it has an interesting dryness on the roof of the mouth I find my mouth really watering in anticipation of the next sip. The lingering aftertaste is highly floral.
According to Wikipedia:
Traditional Chinese Medicine claims that drinking osmanthus tea improves complexion and helps rid the body of excess nitric oxide, a compound that is linked to the formation of cancer, diabetes and renal disease.
So drink up friends, drink up!
Pomegranate Splash from Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Phoenix Herb Company
Tea Description:
This exotic , refreshing tea won second place in the 2009 World Tea Championship in Las Vegas. This medley of flavorful ingredients is excellent as a sun tea, iced tea, or served hot.
Contains: Black Tea, Oils of pomegranate, huckleberry, lemon
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Pomegranate Splash from Phoenix Herb Company is such a refreshing treat! It reminds me of everything about spring. It has this awakening, light, lovely flavor and aroma, that truly refreshes and makes you feel alive.
So the way I came across this tea and company is that a while back I purchased a Living Social deal. I try to grab up as many of those deals as I can as long as they are tea related. I had never heard of Phoenix Herb Company before but they have more than just tea! They have herbs, incense, essential oils, and so much more! This place is right up my alley! Unfortunately on my three attempts to visit the store itself I had problems. The store is a little over an hour from my home, one way. So I planned to go to the store when I had other events to attend in the area. Well lets just say that each time I missed the boat.
Frustrated and defeated I sat looking at my Living Social print out and decided to just see if Phoenix Herb Company would honor my deal online. So I looked over the site, choose the teas I would like to have, and sent them an email. Within a few hours I had an email from Sean of Phoenix Herb Gallery! He was more than happy to honor my deal online! I of course realized there would be some shipping cost so I only selected teas up to 27.50 dollars leaving a little room toward shipping cost from my 30.00 voucher. Now in retrospect I realize he could have said the voucher does not cover shipping, but he didn’t! For the record I do only live one state away but still – what customer service! Sean also threw in several samples of teas that I had not selected – this is one of those free samples!
I am so thrilled that Sean choose this one for me! I was very tempted to order a few of their flavored and belnded teas but opted for straight teas like Bancha, Sencha, Wu Yi Oolong, etc. When I opened this nice sized sample and sniffed it I said “Ahhhhh” out loud.
The first sip was like drinking in a ray of sunshine! Clean, crisp, refreshing, and fruity! The flavor of Pomegranate is spectacular! There is no artificial flavor here and I am choosey about that! I really was not anticipating having a flavored tea this morning but as I looked through my teas, I kept being drawn to this one and I am so glad I went for it. I have had three cups so far – two being re-steeps and I am finding that the tea is actually making me quite perky and cheerful! There is nothing like a really good cup of fruity flavored tea in the morning. Granted I generally trend more toward straight blacks, with the malty depth and complexity, but it is nice to wake up with a cheerful cleansing tea.
I want to add this is not really a very sweet tea, sure there is some fruity sweetness to it but its not cloying or sappy. It is really rather palate cleansing and the after taste is present but does not linger for too long.
Well I am impressed. Both with this tea and with Phoenix Herb Company! I have made it my personal mission to make it INTO their store one day soon, but until I can, and do, I have plenty of wonderful teas to sip on as their prices are excellent as well.
Boysenberry Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Matcha, Green
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Boysenberry is an interesting fruit that greatly resembles a big sized raspberry, loganberry and blackberry. Its sharp and tart taste is mellowed by Matcha’s velvety flavour to make a Boysenberry Matcha treat that blends perfectly into the palate. This richly fruity treat is perfect for those people who want to expand their fruit filled snacks with different fresh new flavours. Boysenberry Matcha can also become a perfect hot weather treat to both cool and excite the palate with its enlivening sharp taste. It forms an interesting addition in the occasions of young children with its interesting reputation for being the surprise fruit-based treat.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Boysenberry Matcha from Red Leaf Tea is heaven in a chawan! To me, boysenberry is much like a blueberry flavor, only perhaps a bit more tart. Yet, there is this unique flavor to boysenberry that is almost earthy, a bit savory. It is such an interesting fruit, truly. I love it. Its an excellent palate cleanser as well. Its fresh, refreshing, and just so yummy.
The matcha base is excellent! I normally go with a basic grade of matcha but for boysenberry I selected Royal Matcha base as I really wanted this boysenberry matcha to be a true treat, and let me tell you – it sure is!
Now when it comes to Red Leaf Tea’s matcha you really can’t go wrong, you will enjoy any of their matcha bases and as I said I generally go with the basic grade but now and then I do treat myself. Yes I can tell a difference from the basic grade to royal but I just can’t say enough about how good even their basic grade is.
Strange thing, back in the day…I used to really down the Red Bull energy drinks. I loved them. I think I was craving the Vitamin B 12 but regardless, this matcha interestingly has a similar flavor profile, but so much better, and by far healthier!
I just can’t get over how succulent this flavor profile is. Sweet, yet tart, savory, yet sweet, tangy, mouthwatering, dark berry goodness! Then we have those grassy like earthy notes form the matcha which if you love matcha like me, are just simply divine!
Don’t be afraid of the boysenberry! If you are looking for a new fruit adventure grab some of this and give it a go! I can’t see how you could be disappointed in this one. It is so fresh, so refreshing, ripe, and juicy you will swear you are eating the berries themselves!
As a type 1 diabetic this is a treat that I can have with no guilt! Flavored matcha have no added sugar and are very low in carbohydrates, calories, etc. That is why I stock up on as many flavors as I can!
Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA from Uniq Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Genmaicha, Green
Where to Buy: Uniq Teas
Tea Description:
Delicious nutty genmaicha blended with sweet succulent strawberry green tea. This is Azzrian’s blend. Azzrian loves genmaicha, and strawberry teas are her weakness, so she combined the two. A mix of nutty and sweet, just like her!
Blend
55% Genmai-cha / 45% Strawberry Orchid
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
A huge Thank you goes out to Uniq Teas for giving me a chance to create my own blend!
Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA from Uniq Teas is a blend of two of my favorite things, Genmaicha and Strawberries!
I love a good genmaicha, and I adore the fresh sweet flavor of strawberries. Combined it is the most wonderful flavor you can imagine! In some ways it reminds me of a Long Island Strawberry Tea, which is one of my summer staples! It has that really ripe, fresh, and not overly sweet strawberry flavor.
If you are looking for a strawberry flavor that is intensely sweet to the point of almost cloying, or an artificial soda pop flavor of strawberry then this tea is not for you. This is something very natural tasting, very refreshing, and of course add to that the genmaicha, which is savory, nutty, green, etc … its just delicious!
I named my tea to reflect my personality which is somewhat nutty, somewhat sweet, but perhaps not too much of either on its own. I also can certainly be bitter from time to time so you want to be sure that you steep my tea blend correctly or it could, like me, get a little snappy! It is fresh (I can be a little fresh at times) and refreshing, (I would like to think I can be) with its grassy natural flavors, (I do love nature), and excellent cooled or iced. Also like LiberTEA, and TeaEqualsBliss, who also created and named their own blends, I wanted my tea blend to represent our Sisterhood! It is the perfect blend when you want to get some grounding earthy goodness or when you want to feel rejuvenated!
See TeaEqualsBliss’s review and her tea here. See LiberTEA’S review and her tea here.
I love my blend and now you have a chance to win a custom blend of your own! Check it out here.
Dragonwell Lung Ching from The Kiosque
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Kiosque
Tea Description:
Hand picked spring growth offers exquisite green notes. Sweetish with light layers of astringency.
History: Lung Ching Tea – also known as Dragonwell is produced by hand through a 10-part process. The side of West Lake in Zhejiang Province grows the tea used to produce Dragonwell. Dragonwell is distinguished by its beautiful shape, emerald colour, scented smell and tending sweet floral character. Legend has it that in 250 AD a Taoist monk affirmed that there must be a dragon lurking in a certain spring not far from Hangchow. The monk implored the well dragon to come to the rescue of the poor farmers suffering a crippling drought. Instantly, the clouds came rushing in from every side and poured forth a timely rain. One account of this, an old temple adjoining the spring is known as Dragon’s Well Monastery, and this tea derives its name from the same legend.
Tea facts
Country: China
Region: Zhejiang
Ingredients: Luxury Green Tea
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Dragonwell Lung Ching as far as I can recollect is the first tea I have sampled from The Kiosque. Thanks to a Steepster friend I am getting to try this light, lovely, green tea, and a new tea company. The leaves look much greener in person than in the photo.
The flavor is that of a very light and refreshing, and somewhat sweet brew.
This truly is not like any green tea I have had before. There is really no remarkable vegetative flavor, nor any buttery or nuttiness. It has my interest.
The sweetness I had mentioned tends to learn toward the side of caramel but its not a heavy note.
I think this would be a great green for those who want the health benefits but don’t particularly like green teas. For me, its a bit simplistic, and lack luster. Its not bad, please don’t get me wrong. It is good enough that I do want to try more teas by The Kiosque and I will, its not a turn off, just not something that is making me want to purchase a tin.
What I do want to mention though is that the person who gave me this sample seems to love it and that says a lot as she has very good taste in tea! That is the beauty of tea though, there are so many kinds we can all find the ones we adore.
Now I will note that the mouthfeel of this tea is creamy, very creamy, and I like that – a lot. Yet I do miss the buttery, nutty nature that many greens have that this one is lacking.
Overall a very nice tea, and it does offer something different from other green teas, whats not to love, variety is the spice of life!