This top-shelf variant of Iron Goddess (Tie Guan Ying) oolong is named after the Beijing opera story where a concubine gets shwasted after she’s stood up by the king. Based on the name alone, I’m not sure which way this will go from the baseline floral taste of a lesser quality iron goddess – will the tea be a sharp bitter taste reminiscent of heartbreak, or a sweet balm to heal her sorrows?
The dry leaves have fabulous scent, reminding me of the elusive white gummy bears flavor.
After brewing “3-5 grams for under 2 minutes”, the brew is quickly a deep ochre yellow. A delicate purple orchid wafted up from the full, fluffy leaves along with the familiar umami butter of oxidized teas. It should be noted this teas flavor is due to slight oxidation as it grows – leaf hoppers bite a bit and start the process as it’s still growing. Which means there’s an absence of pesticides – win!
Everything about this tea so far is flat out sexy. Yep, sexy tea, I took it too far with the concubine reference…Moving on.
One thing I love about Oolong teas is their incredible resteep value. In this particular case, the royal fragrance gives way to a complex nectar of smoke in later brews. I’m at least 5 steeps in and the flavor just keeps evolving. This is FANTASTIC! Perfect to drink all day. Definitely the heart mending tea from my predictions earlier. A great escape for someone whose thoughts are clouded with an ominous heartache.
My first go with this tea, I over brewed it. Fortunately it was forgiving…maybe the tea is telling me something? When I brewed it with more care, it was simply magical. This is exactly the pick-me-up tea I needed this week.
Here’s the scoop!
Where to Buy: Silk Road Teas
Description:
Drunken Concubine is named in recognition of the intoxicating flavors of a wonderful, high-grade Tieguanyin oolong. One will note the highly aromatic fragrance of the leaves. In the first steep, as the leaves begin to unfurl, delicious, flavorful notes build. This tea is bright, clean, fresh and orchid-like – all classic flavors of this high-grade, prized lo-oxidized oolong. Each season, we select a lot of this varietal from our tea maker that we believe is the finest of the harvest. We are proud to offer our latest lot of Drunken Concubine. This is a rare taste offering, high-grade oolong, much prized in China.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Kukicha Green Tea by Aiya America
Steeping specs: 3 g 1 cup 175° 1.5 minutes
This one was a tea that I could not find on the company’s website, so please forgive me if I don’t steep it according to the ideal specifications. I kind of guessed a bit and I hope I didn’t steep it too hot. It turned out pretty well with the steeping specs I tried, but who knows what would happen with different steeping specs? (I didn’t have a large enough sample to really experiment.)
As it steeps I’m catching buttery, seaweedy fragrances. After steeping, the liquid isn’t nearly as clear as I would’ve expected. It’s cloudy and has what look like tiny T specks throughout the liquid, similar to matcha specks (?) and much smaller than the type of tea specks that normally escape from my tea strainer. So I’m thinking maybe this is an intentional feature of this tea and not a bug. It doesn’t seem to detract from the drinking experience at all and does enhance the tea’s strength.
The flavor is rich and full, with vegetal savory notes, not bitter, and only a little astringent. And it’s very fragrant, but not really floral– it’s more on the grassy side. Its flavor is not just vegetal, but savory in a smooth and buttery kind of way which creates a cohesive flavor profile.
This seems to be quite a strong green tea with plenty of flavor, yet without any unpleasant bitterness. It goes well with sugar too, but seems to be a somewhat less immersive experience somehow once the sugar has been added. Also, I notice the seaweedy notes more once sugar has been added.
This tea is great for when you want a strong, unflavored and non-floral green tea that’s more on the savory side and yet has a very strong presence of its own without any bitterness. (If you don’t like the tiny specks floating around your tea, I would recommend using a very fine steeping mesh or strainer.)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Aiya
Description
Kukicha literally means “stem tea” and is made from different varieties of tea stems. Aiya’s Kukicha is a blend of stems from Gyokuro and Sencha. Most of Kukicha available in the market is made by stems from 100% Sencha, however, Aiya’s Kukicha is adding more than 50% of Gyokuro stems for more natural sweetness and rich aroma
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Monkey King Jasmine Green Tea from Numi. . . . .
Steeping specs: 170° with one teabag in one cup of water for about 2 to 3 minutes
This green tea is a great responsible option for travelers who need the convenience of a teabag but don’t want to go with a low-quality commercialized option. This one has fair trade certified ingredients (tea leaves infused with jasmine that is also certified organic) and a biodegradable teabag. So there’s some social responsibility for you.
The tea water while steeping turns a yellowish color and immediately gives off a very very floral scent from all that jasmine. Jasmine is actually quite a piercing sent, unlike the green tea flavor in the tea (which I can’t smell at all due to the heady flower fragrance). This particular batch of jasmine flavor, though, is actually much more approachable than some that I’ve tried recently. It’s not so penetrating that you want to run and hide, and it doesn’t make you feel like a perfume shop. It just lingers around the tea and makes everything sweeter.
I should probably also mention that I am almost unable to taste any green tea flavor over the jasmine once I start drinking it. Not quite unable, though. I am finding a bit of astringency that could only come from the tea itself, and there are a couple of other notes that may be tea-related, although it’s a little hard to tell this point. In addition, the Jasmine actually makes this tea really really sweet, which means it doesn’t need sugar (making it even healthier to drink and even more convenient for traveling).
Overall I’d say this is a very exceptional option considering that it came from a tea bag (I try not to be too much of a loose leaf snob, but some teabags make it so easy). The leaves in the teabag are chopped up pretty finely but still manage to deliver excellent flavor, especially excellent Jasmine flavor.
I would be careful with the directions given on the packet though, since they’re a little unspecific. It says to boil your water and then allow to cool slightly before steeping. What you really need to do is allow to cool significantly to about 170-180° or you’re likely to end up with bitter tea. My tea was steeped at about 170F and is almost verging on bitter already. Of course you can always add sugar if it starts to get bitter too.
So as mentioned above, I think this is a great option for traveling, what with its socially responsible packaging and convenience of use (and higher-quality ingredients than other conveniently packaged teas), or you could even keep it around the house for a great flowery-tasting option when you’re in a hurry or don’t want to bother with loose leaves.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Numi Tea
Description
This tea is not currently on the website but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Energy Pu-Erh from Komo Tea
The dry leaves are colorful with a strong berry fragrance. The look and smell make me feel very confident in the health value of this tea. A lot of the Chinese ingredients, I hadn’t tried before.
Naturally Pu-Erh has caffeine, then there’s an herbal boost from being hand blended with adaptagen herbs (which I totally googled, I’m not THAT granola. They’re good for stress).
This cold brewed up to be a deep maroon but the mouthfeel was very smooth. At first sniff I thought I couldn’t handle the flavor, but the cinnamon balances the fruit really well, like Dean from Supernatural eating a cherry pie. Very doable.
Overall, I believe this is a great tea, at the same time, one of the ingredients is more of an acquired taste… that I just haven’t acquired yet.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Pu-Erh
Where to Buy: Komo Tea
Organic pu-erh tea from Yunnan Province, China is hand blended with adaptogen herbs – nature’s miracle anti-stress and fatigue fighters – producing fruity and spicy flavors that invigorate body and mind. Whether you’re looking for a mid-morning pick me up or a power boost before a workout, Energy gives you the endurance to power through when it counts.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Marshmallow Assam from 52Teas. . . .
Marshmallow. Assam. So simple but so good.
I had this when it was made by the original 52 Teas and voted constantly for it to be reblended as part of the new 52 Teas’ 12 Days of Christmas promotion. It’s that good.
The assam is bright and malty. Perfect to wake you up but it refrains from being astringent thanks to the soft fluffiness of the marshmallow.
Marshmallow flavor is what takes over here. It is sweet and gooey and great. Plus, the outer layer of real marshmallows are a little crisp as opposed to the gooey center and somehow this drink even captures that crispness of the outer shell. It is one of the most accurate depictions in tea that I have come across and I have tried A LOT of marshmallow teas.
Unfortunately this is out of stock right now but if this is reblended, it is one I certainly recommend picking up. Until then, I will be hoarding my stash.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black Tea
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
