Pumpkin Rooibos

Tea: Pumpkin Rooibos
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $6.45 / 4 oz
Source: South Africa
Vendor Description: Rooibos Pumpkin Tea. Rooibos with a fruity pumpkin and cream taste. A must try.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is very sweet smelling. There are quite a bit of additions to this mix, including blossoms, leaves, and dried pieces of fruit. Nothing really resembling pumpkin though. There is some very interesting green leaf in this mix of red rooibos and brownish hued fruits. It adds a nice color contrast.

1st Infusion Parameters: 1 tsp (2.3g), 5 oz, 6 min, 208F

1st Infusion: Like most rooibos this tea has a rich red color. A red that is somewhat unique to rooibos. The aroma is sweet and fruity, it reminds me of the aroma of a strawberry rhubarb pie. The flavor is very smooth and very sweet. The flavor is light, but is well bodied. It is fruity and sweet, and really does not taste like pumpkin at all.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This tea is somewhat well known. I have heard about it from a few people saying how wonderful it is and it is almost like a guilty pleasure. It is a non-tea, flavored, and mixed. It defies traditional tea. That said, it is enjoyable. It is sweet with no astringency, caffeine, or bitterness. However it's name is deceiving. Nothing in this tea's flavor, appearance, or apparently composition is pumpkin. I really don't know why you would call it pumpkin when it doesn't contain or taste like it. More appropriately named this may have gotten a higher rating, but a lot of a tea is in the name. Thank you to Jessica over at Authoritea for the sample of this.

Hojicha

Tea: Hojicha
Vendor: Dragonwater
Price: $14.25 / 4 oz.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Japanese green tea made from roasted Bancha leaves. Produces a golden cup with a smooth, nutty taste.

Leaf: This is a very uneven hojicha. The size and shapes of the leaf do not stay very uniform. There is a lot of broken leaf and a fair amount of dust. The aroma is not very similar to most hojicha that I have tried.

1st Infusion: The tea has a very dark brown color, not as red as many of the other hojicha that i have tried. The aroma is very dull and heavily roasted. The flavor is shallow and shorte lived. It is difficult to taste much of the flavor in this as it is very weak.

2nd Infusion: The flavor is best described as being dusty. It is very short lived and very dull and flat.

Rating: 1/10

Conclusion: This is probably the worst hojicha that I have run across yet. The price is not particularly great either. It seems like a more expensive hojicha, but fails to deliver the flavor of one.

Genmaicha

Tea: Genmaicha
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $6.00 / 4oz.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Genmai-cha Tea. A famous blend of Japanese green tea and brown rice.

This is a specialty Japanese green tea that is blended with fire-toasted rice. A good grade Japan sencha is blended with the toasted rice. The fresh vegetative character of the green tea is imparted on the cup but it is tempered with the bakey-like character of the rice. There is a natural sweetness and almost chewy character to the finish of this tea. During the firing of the rice, it is not uncommon for rice to ‘pop’ not unlike popcorn, hence the pet name ‘popcorn-tea’

Legend has it that during the 1400’s an important samurai warlord in Hakone on the Izu Peninsula of Honshu Island (the Izu Peninsula is near the Shizuoka area) was having tea in the morning discussing a battle strategy with his patrol leaders. A servant by the name of Genamai was serving hot tea to the group. Leaning over to give tea to the warlord, rice that he had surreptitiously taken for a morning snack fell out of his pocket into the steaming hot tea. Some popped upon hitting the hot tea. The warlord was incensed, jumped up brandishing his samurai sword he promptly cut of Genamai’s head in one fell swoop. He then sat down to continue the meeting. Despite the fact that the tea had been tarnished he drank it anyway. The flavor was very unique and he enjoyed it tremendously. In honor of poor Genamai he pronounced that this rice and tea be served every morning and be called ‘Genmaicha’ (cha being the name of ‘tea’ in Japanese).

Leaf: The leaf for this genmai had quite a bit of rice in it. The aroma of the leaf was not very appealing though it had a sense of staleness to it.

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a very typical genmaicha aroma to it. It had an almost overpowering rice aroma as well. The tea was a light yellow green color. The flavor of the tea was almost overwhelmed by the rice, it wasn't a very good balance. Most of the flavor of the tea itself was masked by the rice flavor. There was a light crispness, to it.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion was darker yellow in color. This time matching the color the flavor was heavier on the rice flavor. It was bitter, like the flavor of burnt rice. The flavor felt empty with just a hint of astringency on the back end.

Rating: 1/10

Conclusion: I did not particularly enjoy this tea. The flavor was overly dominated by the rice flavor, almost as though they thought they could make the tea better by adding more rice. Stale flavored rice at that. If they were going to go that far, why not just go so far as just remove the tea altogether and make a beverage using just rice. There are much better genmaicha teas out there.

Green Forest Fruits

Tea: Green Forest Fruits
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $6.95 / 40z.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Green Forest Fruits Tea. Japanese green Sencha tea flavored with strawberry, raspberry, and rhubarb.

Leaf: The leaf has a very strong and sweet aroma to it. The aroma reminded me of the Paradise Green tea from Lupicia. The leaf appeared to contain an assortment of dried fruits / berries / flowers. It looks like a blend of green and black tea.

1st Infusion: The tea itself has a red colored infusion like a black tea, although the color is much lighter than a black tea normally is. The tea is very fruity in flavor. It is very floral and sweet. There is a very heavy floral aroma to it and it is very astringent.

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a much fruitier flavor, but developed a bit of a bitterness to it. The tea is still very astringent, and it had hints of a soapy flavor to it.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: The flavor for this tea was very hard to find, and generally weak. The tea itself was rather unimpressive, and did not much live up to it's name. If you're looking for a flavored tea that has a big mixture of fruits and flavors out there, there are many other options.

Puttabong Darjeeling FTGFOP1

Tea: Puttabong Darjeeling FTGFOP1
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $28.00 / 4 0z.
Source: Darjeeling, India
Vendor Description: Puttabong Darjeeling FTGFOP1 Tea. High grade first flush Darjeeling from the revered Puttabong estate in India. FTGFOP1 (Full-leaf, Tippy, Golden, Flowery, Orange, Pekoe, Grade 1).

Leaf: The leaf for this tea looked nothing like the image on the Dragonwater website. The tea on the website was very golden in color, where this looked much darker in color. The leaf was uniform in shape, and evenly distributed color.

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a light characteristic Darjeeling aroma. It was not as strong as the first flush Darjeeling from Lupicia or the Badamtam Darjeeling. There was a growing sense of bitterness though, that build up very evenly from a very mild taste up to a strong sense of bitterness. This finished though with a long lingering flavor. The tea was very full boded which was paired with a medium sense of astringency. This tea has a very good and solid Darjeeling flavor though.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion had a sharper bitterness to it, the bitterness was so sharp though that it was too strong and masked the Darjeeling flavor.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: While this is a good Darjeeling tea, it did not stand up well to multiple infusions and was quite pricey. A Darjeeling such as this should easily handle two infusions.

Meleng Assam FTGFOP1 (SP)

Tea: Meleng Assam FTGFOP1 (SP)
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $3.00 / 1/2 oz.
Source: Meleng Estate, Assam, India
Vendor Description: Meleng Assam FTGFOP1 (SP) Tea. High grade Assam from the Meleng estate, FTGFOP1 (SP) (Full-leaf, Tippy, Golden, Flowery, Orange, Pekoe, Grade 1, Special).

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is a very interesting mix of black and gold colored leaves. As is typical with Assam teas the leaf is rather small compared to many other teas and curly. The golden leaves are quite visually appealing.

1st Infusion: The first infusion had a very dark and red color, the shade was almost brown in color. The aroma is very sweet. The flavor matches the aroma nicely, the flavor is as well short and bold. There is a very present richness in the flavor. It reaches an apex rather quickly and then tapers off just as fast. Once the tea is finished you find a very high sense of astringency left in your mouth.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion is lacking the same strength and boldness found in the initial sip of the 1st infusion. Where there was a sense of boldness when first tasting the tea, the second infusion felt emptier on the front end, almost like the initial taste has no tea flavor, and that you can taste the water. After that initial impression though the sweetness and strength still builds up and you experience the strong tea flavor that reached an apex quickly in the first infusion. On the backend though I felt the same emptiness that I found on the front of this infusion as well.

Rating: 5/10

Conclusion: While the flavor was very enjoyable about this tea, it was a bit short and couldn't hold up for multiple infusions well. I enjoyed the taste, but it didn't last long enough. I didn't enjoy this as much as I would in comparison to a Darjeeling.

Dragonwell

Tea: Dragonwell (Organic)
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $24.60 / 4 oz.
Source: Zhejiang, China
Vendor Description: This entirely handmade, organic, superior-grade green tea is the most famous of China's Fifty Famous Teas.

Dragonwell (Organic) Tea. This entirely handmade, organic, superior-grade green tea is the most famous of China's Fifty Famous Teas. USDA organic.

Produced in the small Chinese village of Lung Ching (Dragon Well) west of the famous West Lake in Zhejiang province, this tea is known for its "four uniques": its green color, mellow taste, aroma, and beautiful shape. It has long been celebrated in both prose and poem, including mention by Lu Yu himself in Cha Jing (Classic of Tea) and famed Tang dynasty poet Su Dongpo.

One of the true congou teas, this one requires great gongfu, or skilled discipline, to harvest and create. Only the most tender buds and leaf are plucked by skilled fingers. They are then pan-fried in woks at carefully controlled temperatures to give the leaf its flat, dark green appearance. No other processing occurs.

Produces a yellowish-green cup with a slightly sweet, fresh flavor and a famous lingering aftertaste.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea was very dark in color with a significant amount of broken leaves. The leaves were not evenly pressed down. The quality of the firing job was not as good as that of the Just4Tea Dragonwell. The dark color had more brown hues to it than green which was a bit surprising.

1st Infusion: This dragonwell was quite different than the others that I have tried. The aroma was significantly weaker, and reminded me somewhat of the roasted aroma of a Japanese green tea, like a Hojicha. The tea has a very light and smooth flavor to it, much lighter than the other Dragonwells that I have tried. The light flavor has a very unusual feeling to it as the tea is medium bodied and fills the mouth with this light flavor to a certain degree. Most of the more full bodied teas I have tried as of late have had a heavier flavor to be carried, but this carries a light flavor throughout the mouth. To pair with the light flavor though is no bitterness or astringency. At first I had thought that I might have under steeped this tea, although upon inspection of the used leaves they were almost completely opened. So far though this is the only dragonwell not to give me a headache. The flavor that I seem to associate with dragonwell was only slightly present in this tea.

Rating: 1/10

Conclusion: I'm not really sure who would do well by this tea. It is relatively expensive and there are much better dragonwells out there. I was really unimpressed by this tea.

Leopard Snow Buds

Tea: Leopard Snow Buds
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea

I got this tea as part of the Dragonwater tea tasting club, but interestingly it is no longer available on their website.

Leaf: The leaf has a color very much like a green silver needle. There were a lot of buds in it, but the tea was rather broken unlike a silver needle. It consists of a mixture of leaf and buds. The leaf shape and size was very uneven.

1st Infusion: This tea has an aroma very similar to a dragonwell, like many other Chinese greens. The flavor of this tea is very strong initially, but then a smooth flavor tails off leaving a long lasting flavor on the tongue. The flavor feels rather standardly like a Chinese green, with nothing much to make it very unique and distinguished.

2nd Infusion: The second infusion had a weaker flavor than the first and lacked a lot of the flavor of the first. This one was slightly astringent.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This tea lacked any very distinguishing characteristics and did not have a very appealing leaf to it. It really only went for one infusion as well, so ended up not being that impressive.

Silver Needles (Organic)

Tea: Silver Needles (Organic)
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $29.95 / 4 oz.
Vendor Description:Silver Needles (Organic) Tea. Handmade, organic Chinese white tea consisting of the most tender, down covered buds. This lot contains a fresh, sweet fragrance and true Yinzhen characteristics, highest grade available. Limited supply available.

This was the second time that I have tried silver needles, and I was very curious to see what the difference would be for the same tea from different vendors. Unlike many teas which try to make themselves more unique in their name, Silver Needles are referred to as their own tea. For instance a Darjeeling might be further specified as a Castleton Darjeeling, but as far as I can tell there are no classifications or further specifications on most Silver Needle teas. They are Silver Needle and that's it.

Looking at the needles themselves they look as though they have been handled much more than the ones from Seven Cups. Also a lot of the fine hairs had come off of the leaves forming small balls of fuzz in the package. There were many broken needles and the coloring was not quite as consistent as the Seven Cups tea.

The flavor of the tea was a lot weaker than that of the Seven Cups silver needle, it tasted more like a Bai Mu Dan than the other silver needle did. The flavor felt like it was more generalized than specified. It did taste like a white tea, but like a Bai Mu Dan it was not as refined and blended more towards a green tea in flavor. The flavor was sweet and mellow as a white tea should be. It had no sense of bitterness and left with a medium sense of astringency.

I tried a second infusion with this tea, and the second infusion was very similar to the first, but with a higher sense of astringency and a lighter flavor.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: In comparison to the seven cups silver needle this wasn't very good. The appearance of the tea was not as pleasant and the flavor was not as refined. Unfortunately when getting a tea such as a silver needle there is no rating system to know how good / bad one is. Especially considering the price between the two vendors was quite close it is probably better to go with the Seven Cups.

Sencha

Tea: Sencha
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea
Price: $8.50 / 4 oz.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: Sencha Tea. Fine grade Japanese green tea yielding a smooth, aromatic cup.

I felt obligated to try out this tea from Dragonwater having tried the Sencha Extra Fine. I wasn't exactly expecting much from this tea using price as a general guideline. At less than half of the price of the Sencha Extra Fine it seemed like this wouldn't be that spectacular of a tea.

The tea leaves had a disappointing yellowish hue to them. The color of the leaves made the tea look old and not that appealing. Having been trying a lot of more vibrant greens and bolder colors, to switch to something looking like this for a sencha was a bit disappointing.

The first infusion had an unappealing openness to the flavor. If I had to put the flavor into a word it would be empty. While the tea had the normal sencha flavor, it lacked body and a voice. It was almost like the sencha flavor was there for the sake of being there, not for the sake of a delicious cup of tea. There was no bitterness associated with it, but where normally a sencha would have a bitterness there was nothing. The flavor was light and smooth, like a Chinese green would be, but without the strength and nuance. There was a very light sense of astringency paired with this, but nothing that you would really notice.

I tried a second infusion and this was a bit stranger. The tea liquor had become golden yellow in color, with no hint of being green. The flavor was stronger, but this time it felt more of just being bitter. The sencha flavor was weaker, and replaced with more bitterness.

Rating: 1/10

Conclusion: This is a case where I believe very much that you should not try to save money on buying lower end tea. This is more appropriate of a name being flavored water instead of tea. The flavor was lacking and disappointing. The appearance was plain. This tea could barely hold it's first infusion, let alone produce a decent second.

Sencha Extra Fine

Tea: Sencha Extra Fine
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea Company
Price: $20.25 / 4 oz.
Vendor Description: Extra fine grade Japanese green tea yielding a smooth, aromatic cup.

This is the higher end version of the two specifically sencha varieties that Dragonwater offers.

When brewing this tea the aroma had hints of grassy tones, but these were overpowered by something more unusual in the scent. There is something rather pungent about the smell that I could not put my finger on.

The flavor of this tea was very sweet for a sencha. It had a bit of an odd flavor, it felt heavier than most senchas that I have had. It had a very high sense of bitterness, that was not a rapid peak of bitterness, but rather a slower growing plateau. It finishes off with a light sense of astringency.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: While this is not a bad sencha, for the highest grade they offered I somewhat expected a more refined taste. It is very different than a typical sencha making it very unique.

Kokeicha

Tea: Kokeicha
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea Company
Price: $7.50 / 4 oz.
Source: Japan
Vendor Description: A Japanese green tea based from Matcha powder.

I had seen this form of tea show up on a few different vendor sites, and it had peaked my curiosity. I decided to get some, although at the prices I didn't have very high expectations. This is a relatively inexpensive tea and considering the description says it is "based" on Matcha powder it doesn't look much like actual Matcha.

The "leaves" themselves were much darker in color than I expected. I refer to them as "leaves" because they are far from that. They are hard little noodle like bits because the paste these were created from was squeezed out like a pasta maker. Once you've used them you can smear them with your finger into a paste.

The tea itself was very mild in flavor. It hinted at sweetness, but also had no bitterness and no astringency. The flavor hinted at the taste of matcha, but didn't follow through. This is a very unusual tea.

Rating: 8/10

Conlcusion: While this tea is very hard to describe, at it's price it is worth picking some up. It is a very mild and delicate flavor, but if you're expecting something very similar to matcha go get some real matcha.

Gyokuro Asahina

Tea: Gyokuro Asahina
Vendor: Dragonwater Tea Company
Price: $38.50 / 4 oz.
Source: Uji, Japan
Vendor Description: Gyokuro, "Jewel Dew", is one of the most sought after green teas in Japan. Produced at the historic Uji tea gardens near Kyoto, the bushes for this tea are shaded by straw mats before harvesting to slow their growth and enhance the tea.

At the price of almost 40.00/ quarter pound I was expecting quite a bit from this gyokuro. I found the price right similar to the Yame Gyokuro from Lupicia. Considering how much I enjoy that tea, I had high hopes for this one. This was also the first tea that I tried from Dragonwater, so a lot was riding on this one.

The first thing that I noticed while preparing this tea was the rather large needles the tea consisted of. I was rather surprised to see this in a gyokuro. Most gyokuros that I see have smaller needles, where large needles are most common with high end senchas from my experience. While brewing this tea had a very delicate, yet sweet aroma to it. It is an aroma worth sitting there and pondering.

The actual flavor was very distinct. It had a sensation which I want to describe as bitterness, but unlike most sencha bitterness it wasn't sharp uplifting bitterness, but felt like a deep downward bitterness. In general the flavor was flat and not particularly sweet.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: The taste of this gyokuro was very unusual and unique, but not what i'm normally looking for in a gyokuro. There was no grassiness to it, and at the price I expected a more by the book flavor of gyokuro.