Wuyi Oolong

Tea: Wuyi Oolong
Vendor: Mighty Leaf
Price: $12.95 / 4 oz
Vendor Description: Wuyi Oolong tea made in China's Northern Fujian Wuyi mountains is well known for its smooth and rich body and taste. Long, beautiful twisted leaves impart a roasty aroma and produce a sweet, nuanced cup. L:ike other oolongs our Wuyi oolong can be infused multiple times.

Leaf: This tea is rather small and broken for a Wuyi Oolong. There are more small pieces and powder than I have seen in most Wuyi Oolongs. This could have been from shipping, but the leaf did appear more broken than normal. The leaf itself is characteristic dark brown almost black leaf.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 208F, 5s rinse, 45s

1st Infusion: The tea has a dark caramel chocolate color. It is lightly murky which is surprising for a Wuyi, in my experience most are clear, but rich in color. The aroma is thick and sweet. The flavor is very sweet and quite strong. It is both rich and bold with a light tanginess. The tanginess feels like it's due to the strength of the tea itself. The flavor is smooth and leaves with a light sense of astringency.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 1 min, 208F

2nd Infusion: This infusion has the same rich color. The aroma is not quite as sweet as the first, but shows through more like a the traditional aroma I'm used to. The fflavor is again, rich and bold. It feels more like a traditional Wuyi oolong now. There is a medium sense of astringency following this one, and a hint of something that reminds me of the roasting of a hojicha. Not really directly, but it brings the thought to mind.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 1:30, 208F

3rd Infusion: There is not much aroma left at this point. It still has the same brown hue to it. The flavor is smooth and still flavorful, but there are definite signs of the flavor waning in this cup. The thickness and strength that were present in the first two infusions are lightening up and shows signs of wateriness now. There is also a medium sense of astringency following this tea.

Rating: 8/10

Conclusion: For an introduction into Wuyi Oolongs this tea is probably a good way to start. At $12.95 / 4 oz, it is not a terribly expensive Wuyi. In general Wuyi oolongs deliver great value. Normally one of the more attractive points in brewing a Wuyi oolong is seeing the large full leaf shape once you are done, but in this case, due to damage in shipping or at some point along the way, the leaf was much smaller and broken up. It is a bit disappointing, but it may just be how the sample packets were mailed to me. This tea had some amazing color to it, a richer brown than I am used to seeing in most teas.

Jade Oolong

Tea: Jade Oolong
Vendor: Mighty Leaf
Price: $28.95 / 4oz.
Vendor Description: Jade Oolong tea, made in China's Anxi province on a small co-op farm, is a competition grade, lightly oxided oolong tea with a complex, orchid-like taste. This oolong tea has a distinctive silk mouth feel and a medium body. The perfect loose tea for multiple infusion as the flavor will become more nuanced with each steeping.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea consists of large balls down to small fleck. This is probably the first oolong that I have seen with this degree of size variance. The leaf is a spectrum of light green to a dark green.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 208F, 45s, 5s rinse

1st Infusion: There was quite a bit of sediment in this cup. The tea is a pale clear green color. The tea has a very light green oolong aroma. The tea flavor matches the aroma in being a typical green oolong. It has the normal green oolong tanginess, and it finishes with a light sense of astringnecy.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 208F, 1:00

2nd Infusion: This infusion has a clear yellow-green color to it. The aroma is richter and more full bodied in flavor. Again it has alight sense of astringency. The flavor is still quite distinctively green oolong. It's hard to describe the flavor more than this. It seems to have the same bitterness and tanginess as before.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 208F, 1:45

3rd Infusion: The color is still a strong yellow green hue. It has a very ful bodied and bold flavor. The flavor is starting to show signs of emptiness. The strength is a bit sharp for an oolong.

4th Infusion Parameters: 208F, 2:30

4th Infusion: The color switched to a darker yellow hue thi time. The aroma was all but gone and the flavor started to lighten up. It felt full bodied, but empty. The flavor was very light and still characteristic green oolong.

Used Leaf: The spent leaf was rather small leaf for an oolong. The leaves themselves were very thin and had a lot of tearing around the edges. This was probably the source for the significant amount of dust / sediment.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: This tea is a very generic tasting green oolong. It feels hard to distinguish it from other green oolongs. The price seems a bit steep, but as with most oolongs it turns into a rather nice price per cup. The leaf seems to have been handled a bit roughly, and the sorting seems a bit lax. The tea was flavorful and enjoyable, despite being a bit mundane.

Four Seasons Mengjian Winter Tea

Tea: Four Seasons Mengjian Winter Tea - 6339
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Source: Nantou, Taiwan

Leaf: The leaf for this tea consisted of rather small leaf balls. They had a characteristic light green oolong aroma to them.
1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 208F, 5s rinse, 45s infusion

1st Infusion: The first infusion greeted me with a light crisp green oolong aroma. It almost reminded me of a menthol aroma, but not in a bad way. It was the crispness associated with it. The flavor was very smooth and ended with an almost fruity aftertaste. The initial onset of the flavor was very light and snappy, somewhat characteristic I'm finding of a green oolong.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 45s, 208F

2nd Infusion: This infusion was yellower in color and had an aroma more akin to a TKY. The flavor was light, and it didn't seem as much like a green oolong. The flavor was very long lasting, but something started to give me a headache while drinking this tea.

3rd Infusion Parameters: 1:30, 208F

3rd Infusion: This time the aroma was very light and the flavor had lightened up even more. This oolong didn't really hold up to more infusions very well. The headache continued with this infusion.

Rating: 3/10

Conclusion: I'm not sure what it is about this tea, but it reminded me very much of a TKY. Probably the headaches that it generated. The first infusion was quite good, but past that it started look a bit worse. The flavor is quite characteristic green oolong, and enjoyable on the first infusion.

Hojicha

Tea: Hojicha
Vendor: Ippodo
Price: 500 Yen / 100g
Vendor Description: When you drink hojicha for the first time, you might be surprised that it is one of the Japanese green teas. Dark amber in color, this roasted bancha releases an amazingly rich aroma that completely permeates the room. The savory flavor is very distinct; it is rich but light-bodied, without much astringency.

Leaf: The leaf for this tea is lightly twisted and rolled. The color is somewhat uneven, there is a spectrum of lighter to almost black shades of brown. The aroma is rich and smooth with the characteristic roasted sweetness.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 208F, 90s

1st Infusion: The tea produced a rich caramel color. It has a strong smoky aroma to it. It is stronger of an aroma than most hojicha that I have tried, the roasted is pushed toward being a smokiness. There is a little bit of sediment in the bottom of the cup creating a small black dot in the center of the caramel. The flavor almost feels burnt. There is a long lasting aftertaste. The flavor starts with a sharp bitterness on the tip of the tongue, and this leads into a thick flavor of the hojicha which leans into a different bitterness. There are hints of astringency that pair with heavier roasted sensation that fades away.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 2 min, 208F

2nd Infusion: This infusion was very solidly brown. The aroma is not the characteristic roasted aroma of tea, but a lightly stingy aroma. The flavor feels much lighter in this infusion and has a much cleaner feeling. The flavor feels a bit empty though, where the central strength of the flavor is gone, but the more delicate aspects remain. There is a medium sense of astringency in this infusion.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This is a very bold hojicha. It produces an enjoyable cup, but it is a bit too heavily roasted for my taste. The flavor borders the roasting on burnt. Because of this though there is a different and unique flavor to the tea. At it's price though, it's a very good price, but again the shipping. Always the shipping when it comes to Ippodo.

Uji Shimizu

Tea: Uji Shimizu
Vendor: Ippodo
Price: 300 Yen / 150g
Vendor Description: An original Ippodo creation, Uji-Shimizu is a matcha-based beverage developed in 1924. It combines matcha powder and sugar to provide an easy to prepare, easy to drink tea for those who prefer their matcha a bit sweeter.

Leaf: This is a very lightly colored powder. It is very light and fluffy with a pale shade of green. There is a light sweet aroma to it. The color is light enough that it was very difficult to photograph well. (Hence the lack of photo for this tea)

Infusion Parameters: 3 Tbs (37g), 12oz water, Refrigerator temp

Infusion: Despite the very light color of the powder the infused tea is actually very dark in color. It is a deep shade of green (which happens to blend quite well with my tablecloth, again no good picture). It is very sweet, although it is in a good combination with the matcha powder creating a good mix for a matcha latte type beverage. The flavor is very smooth, which is not unexpected considering no steeping involved.

Rating: 6/10

Conclusion: This is a pretty good tea beverage mix. It doesn't feign to be anything grander or anything less. The price is appropriate for what it is, although the price of shipping from Ippodo is a bit steep. If you like things like matcha lattes order a lot in one shipment, it'll be cheaper. This won't be replacing a nice warm bowl of matcha, but it's a nice quick drink to have when you're in a hurry.

Ryokucha

Tea: Ryokucha
Vendor: Samovar Tea
Price: $16.00 / 4.5 oz
Vendor Description:

Origin: Organic Sencha, Matcha powder, and Toasted Brown Rice from Japan. Blended in San Francisco.

Flavor Profile: Forward notes of toasted brown rice crisps met with sweet green flavors that suggest grass and kelp. This tea is roasty delicious, full bodied, milky, and slightly malty.

Tea Story:Our version of the classic Japanese Genmaicha. This tea is a converter. It converts non-tea drinkers into devoted followers. Check out this infusion and you will be mesmerized and delighted. A stunning green color, this brew is like a meal in itself, a quintessential breakfast green tea.

House blended, we make this grassy, milky, roasty, malty, sweet, and smooth tea by blending organic matcha powder, organic toasted brown rice, and organic asamushi sencha.

Leaf: This tea is best described as a genmaicha blended with matcha. The color of the matcha powder is a bit offputting. It has a very pale yellow-green color to it. There is quite a bit of lightly toasted rice to it, but the dry leaf has a very unusual aroma. It has a very dry and powdery aroma to it, almost dusty. There is also a very vegetal aroma, almost pumpkin like.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5 oz, 185F, 90s

1st Infusion: The tea produced a murky green brown infusion. There is al ight rice aroma. The rice aroma is mixed with a dry dusty aroma still. The flaavor is full bodied, but there is not much intensity behind it. It is smooth with a medium sense of astringency, but the flavor feels muddled and clouded.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 30s

2nd Infusion: This infusion was still murky with a yellow-brown hue to it. The flavor was again light, but there was a stronger sencha flavor in it. There was a medium sense of astringnecy, but it felt like a very unimpressive sencha

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This was the first tea that I have tried from Samovar, and I had expected something a bit more impressive from them. This may have been partly due to my expectations from them, but this tea was in a word; disappointing. The matcha did not seem fresh, it was downright a hindrance to the tea. The underlying tea itslef was not terribly impressive when it showed thorugh in the second infusion. Still, my thanks to Jessica over at Authoritea for providing me this sample.

Genmaicha

Tea: Genmaicha
Vendor: Ippodo
Price: 400 Yen / 100g
Vendor Description: One of the more popular banchas, genmaicha is a mixture of yanagi and roasted genmai (a variety of brown rice). The genmai is roasted at two different levels: lightly roasted and deeply roasted until the rice grains puff. The result is a unique savory flavor and a strong popcorn-like aroma. The quantity of genmai is purposely kept to a minimum while there is an ample amount of leaves with a light bitterness. This provides a perfect balance between the roasted aroma of the genmai and the refreshing aftertaste of the yanagi.

Leaf: The leaf consists of large uneven leaves. The rice is very lightly toasted and in a relatively low concentration. Most genmaicha that I have seen recently have been much more rice:tea.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 185F, 90s

1st Infusion: There is a heavy bancha aroma to this tea, it is a very distinctive bancha sharpness. The infusion has a light murkiness with a light yellow color. The flavor is best described as empty upfront with a certain sense of smoothness. There is a bit of bitterness on the backend. Due to the low concentration of rice, the rice flavor isn't very prominent. There is a smoothness ot the flavor of the tea, it seems like that's about all that the rice component could add. The elaves are mostly expanded on the first infusion, having opened rather rapidly for this tea. Considering the 1g:1oz ratio, this is a rather light / weak flavor.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 185F, 2 min

2nd Infusion: This infusion had a mucher darker yellow color. The aroma was more distinctively bancha in nature. The flavor had a much more rounded front end, but there wasn't a very disticntive flavor in it. There was a light sense of bitterness, but it feels like the tea only added color and texture to the tea rather than a disticntive flavor.

Rating: 2/10

Conclusion: This is definitely not one of the better genmaicha that I have had, but there is one thing that is going for it, at its price it is a very price conscious tea. Unfortunately ordering from Ippodo involves expensive shipping from Japan. The tea itself is ok, you would probably enjoy it if you like bancha.

Pumpkin Chai

Tea: Pumpkin Chai
Vendor: Tea Chai Te
Price: $2.50 / oz
Vendor Description: All the spices in your typical pumpkin pie are called upon here to recreate the same effect in liquid form. This chai has cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, clove, nutmeg and black tea.

Leaf: The leaf consists of small orthodox looking black leaf. There is a noticeable amount of clove in the mix. There are lots of small other bits added in that I couldn't as easily identify.

Infusion Mix: 6 oz milk, 6 oz water, 6g chai, 2tsp honey, 3 minute boil

Infusion: The chai has a very sweet chai aroma to it. The cloves are very prominent and the flavor is very sweet and milky. There is not much of a pumpkin flavor, but there is a light amount of pumpkin in the aroma

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: This doesn't show the pumpkin side of the chai very well. Aside from that it feels like a clove dominated chai. Most of the flavoring feels like the milk and the honey, as opposed to the chai spices and the tea. Personally I would prefer a bolder chai that is less dominated by chai.

Houji Fruits

Tea: Houji Fruits - 8505
Vendor: Lupicia USA
Price: $7.00 /50g
Vendor Description: Aromatic Houjicha is blended with Muscat and apple flavors. This simple and refreshing tasting tea is very popular. Enjoy as iced tea in summer.

Leaf: This leaf has a nice hoji brown color to it. There are bits of black leaf mixed in as well as small pieces of fruit. The leaf gives off a very nice and sweet fruity aroma.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5g, 5oz, 1min, 208F

1st Infusion: The produced tea is a very dark deep brown. It is dark even for a hojicha. The tea has a very sweet and fruity aroma though. The fruit aroma seems well paired with the hojicha aroma. The hojicha aroma is noticeable and identifiable, but blends well. The flavor of the tea is dominated by a smooth and subdued hojicha flavor with a light clean feeling. There is no astringency and a light sense of sweetness.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 3min, 5oz, 208F

2nd Infusion: This infusion was even darker brown than the first one. It still has hints of the fruity aroma of the first infusion, but it is weaker than before. The aroma of the hojicha is stronger than the first. It seems more like a roasted flavor. There is a sweetness up front in this one which leads into the richness of the hojicha flavor.

Rating: 7/10

Conclusion: This tea makes for a wonderful hojicha. The price is it's downfall though. At $7/50g it's pricing well above many other hojichas, and the fruit flavoring isn't adding enough of an allure to the tea to warrant the price difference between this and a pure hojicha from another vendor. The tea itself is quite wonderful though.

Lu'an Guapian

Tea: Lu'an Guapian
Vendor: Swan Sisters
Price: $10.00/oz
Source: Anhui, China
Vendor Description:
Luan melon seed, English for the Chinese "Luan Guapian" is named for its tightly rolled seed-like shaped leaves. This emerald green tea made in Luan county of Southern China's Anhui province is one of the great bargains of the green tea world. This is because Luan Guapian is largely ignored in the Chinese tea market, though only prime spring leaves are used with a painstaking hand made process. Melon seed is roasted longer than most green teas which gives it the longest shelf life. Try this tea in winter when other green teas are losing their luster.
Harvest Date: 04/ 2008

Leaf: The leaf has a very uniform shape to it. The leaves are twisted and curled and have a dry, dull, and matte appearance to them.

1st Infusion Parameters: 5oz, 5g, 185F, 45s

1st Infusion: The tea has a yellow hue to it. The aroma is quite sweet, it is quite light and subdued though. The flavor is quite bold and shows some bitterness and a medium sense of astringency. Some of this flavor reminds me of a dragonwell.

2nd Infusion Parameters: 20s, 185F, 5oz

2nd Infusion: This infusion was yellow in color again. The flavor was lighter and crisper than the first infusion. It reminds me of a dragonwell yet again. It has what seems like a light woody taste as well. There was the bitterness once again.

Rating: 4/10

Conclusion: There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about this tea, and at $10/oz it doesn't seem to compare well to teas in the same price range. This is possibly influenced still by my general distaste of Chinese green teas, I have yet to find some that compare in flavor to a Japanese green tea. While the two are different entities, I don't see any appeal on the Chinese side over the Japanese.