Springtime feels like the time for Alice in Wonderland: flowers blooming, spending more time outside, feeling a little more whimsy after the winter blues. I’ve seen a few new teas popping up this time of year, themed for just such an occasion.
I recently tried the Lewis Carroll blend of black tea from Simpson and Vail. In case you don’t know, Lewis Carroll is the author of Alice in Wonderland, among other works. Alice in Wonderland tends to be a favorite among tea fans for the famous tea party scene featuring the Mad Hatter, not to mention all the cute tea cakes that wreak fantastical havoc for Alice’s adventures.
This Lewis Carroll tea blend features an Indian black tea base, combined with Chinese Rose Congou black tea, highlighted by added violet fragrance and flavoring. All these flowers are meant to put us in a fantasy world, whether in the queen’s roses, or in the garden beside the tea party. There are lots of blossoms in the dry leaves, and the brewed cup smells as sweet as a blooming garden.
I enjoy the fragrance of this tea, but strong floral blends aren’t my personal favorite when it comes to taste. I found I enjoyed the tea more with a touch of milk and sugar, which helped mellow out the strong floral flavors and made the brew more like a flower-scented dessert.
This is a great tea to put you in a springtime mood, perhaps sipped while out-of-doors after a dreary winter. If you’re one for having fancy tea parties, this may also be a great choice, whether it fits your Alice in Wonderland theme, or just because it feels fancy and ladylike, and makes the flowers on your teacup smell like they are alive and fresh!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Simpson and Vail
Description:
A tea party plays a memorable role in Carroll’s most celebrated novel as the setting for Alice’s nonsensical meeting with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. “A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden” where, as the Mad Hatter told Alice earlier, “it’s always tea time.” To make our Lewis Carroll blend, we added our fragrant violet flavor to an Indian Black tea and Rose Congou tea, a China black that has been scented with rose petals during the drying process, to create a deep amber cup with an incomparable bouquet and a flavor that is absolutely heavenly.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Fresh and Easygoing Green: Tian Mu Mao #FengGreen Tea from @Teavivre
There’s a lot of green teas out there: potent matcha, sour kukicha, toasted hojicha, or smoky gunpowder, to name just a few. After trying this offering from Teavivre, now I can add Feng Green tea to my list.
First of all, the leaves of Feng Green tea were unlike any of the green teas I mentioned. The Feng Green tea leaves were long and tightly curled, tangling into each other as I tried to scoop some tea into my teapot. This was certainly a different shape than the rolled pellets of gunpowder green, or the flattened hojicha leaves, or the powdered matcha.
The Feng Green dry leaf smelled lightly floral and just a touch sour, like an aged forest floor. There was just a hint of something spicier, like pine resin or citrus, almost making the leaves smell like a box of Christmas potpourri. Brewed, the tea is well-balanced, with the expected grassy green notes, a hint of sour fermentation, and a full scent and aftertaste of sweet apple and green grape.
I don’t often reach for green teas, but Feng Green from Teavivre was so drinkable and naturally sweet that I found myself making a cup to help take the edge off my long afternoons.
Try Feng Green when you need something pleasant and easygoing, like sitting on your porch and taking in the fresh grass of spring and the fresh fruits of summer.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Description:
Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea is one of the ten famous Chinese teas. This Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea origins in organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain in Lin’an, Hangzhou. The organic tea base of Tianmu Mountain, has passed the organic certification of European, USA and Japan, is a significant base of planting organic dragon well and green tea. When brewing, it tastes light sweet and fragrance. In Chinese, Mao Feng refers to the hairy buds—to be covered by pekoes means a super quality of the tea leaves.
This Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea is produced by traditional manual frying method and the idea of modern crafts of tea making. Combined with the advantages of organic tea and high grade tea, it is suitable for tea lovers of organic tea,
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
An Early Taste of Spring with Mountain Oolong Spring. . . . .
Mountain Oolong Spring from Mountain Tea Co. is truly a springtime tea. In the spring, everything blooms and bursts into life, and you can evoke this feeling by brewing a cup of this tea in your kitchen at home. I’ve had quite a few teas that smell like jasmine or rose, but this tea lights up with the fragrance of less typical flowers, soft and feminine like baby’s breath or lily of the valley.
Putting your nose into a cup of this tea will envelop you with this relaxing, perfumey sensation.
Beyond the flavor of flowers, there are nutty and buttery tones to help fill out the brew and give the tea a smooth, rich mouthfeel. The more I steeped these leaves, the brighter and greener the undertones became.
The most unique and memorable part of this tea is its forward floral accents.
If you’re a lover of flowery oolongs, Mountain Oolong Spring will be a perfect fit for your tastes.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Mountain Tea Co.
Description:
The character of a pot of tea tells a story about the leaf it originated from. Good tea is a mixed blessing for tea farmers; in general, the harder the tea plant struggles to grow, the more flavorful and tempered the finished brew becomes. For this reason higher elevation with colder temperatures and thinner air produces outstanding leaf.
The 2016 spring harvest of Mountain Oolong withstands high temperature water longer without introducing dryness to the flavor, producing a forgiving and well-behaved pot of tea for the busy brewer. The steeped cup reflects a beautifully clear yet deep honey gold color; the nose is creamy sweet over a faint, nostalgic scent of rice flower bud. Notes for this crop are sharp and floral, paired with a robust body. Expect flavors of citrus blossom mostly, nasal and high in the mouth. Properly brewed we found that this tea has even greater re-steep potential than past flushes, up to six or seven.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Deluxe
I’m not sure sure WHY but for some reason I thought Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Delux contained CHICORY in it but it DOESN’T. Which is ok because I’m not a HUGE fan of Chicory but I don’t necessarily hate it either. So at first when I Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Delux I was thinking to myself…’wow…the chicory in this isn’t that bad’ well that’s because there isn’t any in there that is why! Okay..crazy tangent over…on to the actual review of this tea…shall we?
Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Delux DOES contain oolong, orange peel, cinnamon, and pecan essence. I would say that the ratio or breakdown was ‘pretty even-steven’. So 25/25/25/25 split of flavors on my tongue!
I have enjoyed Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Delux both HOT and COLD. I cannot decide which I like better. Both have an extremely pleasing flavor which is flavored oolong with orange-cinnamon. The pecan flavors do seems to shine more when cold, however.
I’m not sure if this is a tea that would be enjoyed specifically in the spring months. I’m enjoying Spring Hickory Oolong Tea from Plum Delux months later and I think it’s pretty fabulous!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong Tea
Where to Buy: Plum Delux
Description: Relax into the unfolding of seasonal change as we go from winter to spring. Contains: Oolong Tea, Orange Peel, Cinnamon, Pecan Essence,
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Himalayan Shangri-la from Teabox
If I had to choose between dark oolong or green oolong, for me it would be green every time. I find them characterful and unique, with more variation in flavour than I’ve typically found (at least so far…) among their roasted counterparts. And that’s coming from a habitual black tea drinker.
Himalayan Shangri-la is a Nepalese Oolong from 2015. It’s a first flush, or spring, oolong comprising highly graded leaves taken from a single estate.
The leaf here is pretty impressive – they’re long and twisty, with a high predominance of downy buds, and vary from a dark khaki to the palest green-silver. The scent is lightly vegetal and just a touch floral, in the way of orchids.
I followed the recommended parameters, and gave 1 tsp of leaf 4 minutes in water cooled to around 85 degrees. The resulting liquor is a pale yellow-green, the scent mineral. The initial flavour is also mineral, with a hint of petrichor and wet rock. There’s a hint of heady floral in the mid-sip, reminiscent of orchid and jasmine. Heavily scented, and very reminiscent of perfume, but thankfully not in the cloying, throat-coating way some floral tea possess. The end of the sip features some cleaner, fresher notes. Tomato flesh, wet grass, and the return of the petrichor.
I really enjoyed this one. It’s a flavourful green oolong, and the tomato note in particularly was a highlight as it’s not something I’ve come across in an oolong before. If you’re looking for a high quality oolong that’s also accessible in flavour terms (there’s nothing to deter the newcomer here…) then this would be a good place to start. If you already love oolong, this one might still have a few surprises…
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teabox
Description
If there is one oolong that can compete in the same league as the Taiwanese and the Chinese kind it has to be this Nepalese offering. The rigors of high elevation, mineral-rich terrain, and cool air allow the plants to grow slowly resulting in an immensely flavorful tea. Also interesting is the fact that it’s from the country’s small-scale producers’ cooperative which produces small batches of orthodox teas.
