This is the feed of all tea reviews by Alex Zorach on RateTea.http://ratetea.com/profile/?account_id=1http://ratetea.com/review/1787/http://ratetea.com/review/1787/Mon, 14 May 2012 08:44:42 ESTI brewed a cup of this tea and set it down to go do something in the other room, and when I came back, the whole room was full of a wonderful aroma. Brews a very clear cup with a golden or light amber color. Flavor is very smooth, with no detectable bitterness or astringency. This seems a lot like what I've seen sold as an "Amber Oolong"; it is presented as greener style but it seems slightly more oxidized than most traditional greener oolongs. Very aromatic, but the aroma is gentle and nuanced: it...http://ratetea.com/review/1782/http://ratetea.com/review/1782/Thu, 10 May 2012 15:09:44 ESTThis is the green leaf, or Rama Tulsi. I prefer the red-leaf, or Krishna tulsi, but this is actually my favorite example of the green-leafed variety that I've tried. I find green tulsi can sometimes have a metallic quality, and this quality is thankfully greatly diminished in this sample. This tulsi is smoother and just a tad warmer, and less edgy. But it also has a slight skunky quality (which I like), almost reminiscent of some oolongs. It also has a slightly greater licorice or anise quality, ten...http://ratetea.com/review/1781/http://ratetea.com/review/1781/Thu, 10 May 2012 14:31:34 ESTThis was the first traditional Lapsang Souchong that I've tried, and I must say, I'm a tremendous fan. It is among my favorite Chinese black teas that I have sampled. Yet another impressive tea from Life in Teacup. Although there is a hint of pine evident in the aroma, the overwhelming smokiness characteristic of the British-style Lapsang Souchong is completely absent. The aroma is rich and chocolately, almost like dark chocolate or a lightly-roasted coffee, or some roasted Yerba mate. The tea is fu...http://ratetea.com/review/1778/http://ratetea.com/review/1778/Thu, 03 May 2012 08:41:20 ESTI have been curious about this tea for some time, and I had no clue what to expect, as it is the first tea I have ever tried which was grown in the Americas. Broken leaf (CTC) and infuses quickly, but does not become bitter if steeped for a long time. Shanti Tea recommends a 2 minute infusion without milk but I think you can even go as long as 3. It brews a very rich, dark-colored cup, but produces a surprisingly mild cup. The aroma suggests a strong, more powerful tea, with tones of malt and spice...http://ratetea.com/review/1776/http://ratetea.com/review/1776/Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:29:22 ESTShort summary: very smooth, extremely pleasing flavor, not the strongest aroma, and picky on brewing temperature. Exceptionally smooth for this price. Dry leaf is intensely aromatic, and packed very loosely. A lot of leaf (by volume) is needed to produce a normal-strength cup. I found this tea was picky about brewing, and that there was a very narrow range of temperatures in which it tasted good, but it was worth figuring it out, because "in the zone" this tea tasted fantastic! Below 180F it was t...http://ratetea.com/review/1690/http://ratetea.com/review/1690/Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:43:00 ESTI got some of this tea in a trade from a friend, and it was enough that I have been able to experiment with brewing it a bit. I've been enjoying it quite a lot; this tea is versatile and pleasing to drink. This is a greener oolong, but not among the greenest. I think this might place it in the zone where it is more accessible to western tea drinkers than some of the greenest oolongs. The aroma is strongly floral, but with woody tones as well. Compared to Foojoy's Monkey Picked Ti Kuan Yin, this one ...http://ratetea.com/review/1688/http://ratetea.com/review/1688/Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:03:22 ESTI unfortunately only had the opportunity to sample this tea once, but I was impressed. This tea lives up to its name! Aroma is strongly floral. The mouthfeel and overall experience of drinking it is buttery, but not overwhelmingly so (this quality can get a bit overwhelming to me in some oolongs). Complete absence of bitterness or astringency. I was served this tea only once, so I did not have much of an opportunity to experiment with brewing. However, I will say, from what I tasted of it, it see...http://ratetea.com/review/1686/http://ratetea.com/review/1686/Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:15:02 ESTI was surprised to find that I strongly preferred the slightly less expensive Keemun Grade 1 from TeaVivre to this offering. While this was a very good tea, it did not wow me as being outstanding, or even higher quality than a typical Keemun. It was just different. I was surprised at the strength of the cup, the darkness of the liquor, and the edginess present in the first cup. Much darker in color than most Keemun...more blackish than reddish. Second cup is much smoother. Both cups have a "deep" s...http://ratetea.com/review/1685/http://ratetea.com/review/1685/Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:05:26 ESTI found this one interesting as it is a Jasmine-scented tea that also contains other ingredients and flavorings, but also because it contains two different base teas. I tend not to like blends like this, but I found this one to be relatively well-executed. The overall character is mainly of Jasmine: the Jasmine is strong, but not completely overwhelming, and one is able to detect the other ingredients in the blend as well. Overall, I find the base tea, jasmine, and other flavorings blend very well t...http://ratetea.com/review/1683/http://ratetea.com/review/1683/Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:01:07 ESTI normally like Teavana's fruit-flavored blends, but this one had an overpoweringly artificial-seeming cherry quality to it. I liked the rose, and I liked the flavor imparted by the base tea (which was much folder than typical for white tea, yet still greener in character and less like the darker while teas like shou mei). But there was just too much of the cherry aroma (or other fruity aromas) for me to really enjoy this tea...it bowled over the other characteristics, and I found I was not able to ful...http://ratetea.com/review/1682/http://ratetea.com/review/1682/Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:01:57 ESTNormally I would not seek a tea like this out; I tried this tea in the cafe at a Barnes and Noble, whose selection only included Harney and Sons' flavored teas, and I thought I'd try something new. I can't say I liked it a whole lot, but I did find this tea pleasant, and I was impressed with its execution, even though it's a style of flavored tea I tend not to like. I find it interesting that the green tea used as the base tea in this blend is from India; this surprised me. The character of the unde...http://ratetea.com/review/1679/http://ratetea.com/review/1679/Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:06:57 ESTI really like this one, especially after drinking it on multiple occasions. This black (red) tea was only vaguely similar to others from China that I've tried; it was quite different from anything I have tried yet. Its aroma was more like Yunnan teas than anything else, but much milder and smoother, and with a very different flavor and finish. Brews a rich, dark cup. Deep and very full-bodied, with a muted flavor. Aroma is mostly of dried fruit, with a bready quality. Perhaps a bit malty too, but...http://ratetea.com/review/1678/http://ratetea.com/review/1678/Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:23:26 ESTI was really interested to try a silver needle tea produced in Tanzania, and I am glad I tried it as it was quite interesting tasting as well. Fairly light in color, but full-bodied flavor. I like this tea significantly more than most Chinese examples of silver needle that I've tried, which tend to be too mild for my tastes. Less floral than most white teas, but otherwise similar aroma. The flavor profile is bolder, and a little more like a green tea. This tea is priced quite reasonably for a silv...http://ratetea.com/review/1676/http://ratetea.com/review/1676/Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:01:18 ESTOutstanding! I tend not to like Vanilla teas at all; my experience with vanilla-flavored teas is that the majority of them range from somewhere between bland and vacuous, to artificial and unnatural-tasting. But I like this one, fitting into the overall trend of Rishi producing teas that I tend to like, in styles that I tend not to like. Very strong, powerful base tea. Vanilla tastes very natural, and, unlike some blends, is less suggesting of sweetness. Very complex aroma that I find hard to descri...http://ratetea.com/review/1674/http://ratetea.com/review/1674/Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:03:09 ESTI think it's a great idea that Harney has chosen to create a high-end breakfast blend, combining two high-quality teas that are usually not used in blends. Although I'm less familiar with Keemun Hao Ya B, only having sampled one example of it, I can see how it would be a natural pairing with Assam as the two teas both have a certain strength to them, while being complementary (Assam tending to have more edge or sharpness to it). This blend is very rich and malty, but also very smooth, much smoother t...http://ratetea.com/review/1673/http://ratetea.com/review/1673/Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:17:05 ESTI liked this tea right from the start, but the more I drank this tea, the more it has grown on me. Very full-bodied, intense flavor, smooth. Fruity, with a fair amount of smokiness. Relatively little leaf is needed for a bold-flavored cup. Surprisingly, I like this a lot better than the Keemun Hao Ya from the same company, TeaVivre. This is a lot like the sort of Keemun I think of as forming a high-grade, traditional (old-fashioned) English Breakfast tea. It is also a very accessible tea that I thi...http://ratetea.com/review/1667/http://ratetea.com/review/1667/Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:45:17 ESTThis is the type of green tea I like most: strong, dark, and complex, producing a bold and rather bitter, but very clean and refreshing cup. The dry leaf was very wiry, and intensely aromatic, with an aroma suggesting sweetness, but with some deeper, darker tones as well, a sort of deep fruitiness. I found this tea worked best for me if the water was slightly hotter than TeaVivre recommends (~185F as opposed to 176F). If the temperature is too low, the cup is sweeter, and much less bitter, but bland,...http://ratetea.com/review/1666/http://ratetea.com/review/1666/Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:38:16 ESTThe dry leaf of this oolong looked and smelled heavily roasted, and frankly, smelled more than a little boring to me. But when I brewed this cup, I was pleasantly surprised. The aroma is complex and a bit edgy--there are some fairly strong skunky, herbaceous qualities, tones of celery, and a few floral tones in the background. Overall character is completely unlike Wuyi Shui Xian; I don't think I would recognize these as being from the same varietal, not comparing it to a Wuyi tea nor to the green Zha...http://ratetea.com/review/1664/http://ratetea.com/review/1664/Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:16:11 ESTDry leaf is strongly aromatic, with a slight smokiness and a strong dried fruit quality. Surprisingly little leaf is needed to brew a flavorful cup. I find it hard to gauge the amount of leaf necessary, because the thin, wiry leaf occupies a lot of space, but also expands greatly upon brewing. The brewed cup has a chocolately aroma, strongly resembling unsweetened hot chocoalate. Initial aroma is reminiscent of large-leaf ceylon (OPA) teas, but the end of the cup is more warming and more complex, wit...http://ratetea.com/review/1662/http://ratetea.com/review/1662/Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:58:20 ESTI'm a man, and I know this is usually marketed as a women's health product, but I really like raspberry leaf, and I drink it mainly for flavor. The package says "Strengthens the female system." and, at least from my experience, I think this assertion is true--I like drinking this herb and I certainly have a lot of strong women in my life. Back to the drink: raspberry leaf is one of the few caffeine-free herbal teas that I find to be a lot like black tea, the other being rooibos. But raspberry leaf and...http://ratetea.com/review/1661/http://ratetea.com/review/1661/Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:39:38 ESTThis Chun Mee had a subtlety and sweetness that I have never encountered in this type of tea. Dry leaf is very aromatic, typical of this style of tea but more suggesting of sweetness. Like all the teas I received from Teavivre, it smelled extremely fresh. Compared to other chun mee I've had, this one was sweeter, smoother, and less crisp and tangy. The aroma was grassier, and moderately fruity. Aroma is not quite as complex as Upton's Chun Mee Dao Ming (less of the floral qualities), my favorite tea...http://ratetea.com/review/1657/http://ratetea.com/review/1657/Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:24:09 ESTI find white teas tend to darken with age, and this one is darker than current-year samples of shou mei I have tried in the past, but it still had quite a lot of green leaf. This was one tea that I really had to brew before I noticed its quality...the dry leaf looks and smells relatively unremarkable, but upon brewing I found this tea to be top-notch. Aroma is complex, with tones of spice, vanilla, autumn leaves, caramel, and dried fruit. Flavor is very clean, with a slight bitterness, and consider...http://ratetea.com/review/1654/http://ratetea.com/review/1654/Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:20:49 ESTThis was a fascinating tea for me to try. It was completely unlike any other oolong I've tried. The loosely-packed leaves separate easily and infuse quicker than I'd expect for their tough texture. After steeping I noticed that the larger leaves are mostly whole, but the smaller leaves and buds are mostly broken. If you are used to tightly-rolled greener oolongs from southern Fujian, I advise you to use a briefer steeping time for this one. Overall character is floral, but with more depth and body t...http://ratetea.com/review/1649/http://ratetea.com/review/1649/Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:13:58 ESTComplex and smooth, a bit on the weaker side though. Dry leaf has a strong aroma, characteristic of Yunnan red teas. Aroma is complex. Moderately smoky, resembling tobacco smoke and smoky green teas (like gunpowder) more than most smoky black teas, also moderately fruity, almost like a Keemun. Flavor unusually smooth. I found that more leaf than I normally use was necessary to produce a cup of adequate strength for me. However, the price is low for a tea this smooth and with this much complexity....http://ratetea.com/review/1636/http://ratetea.com/review/1636/Sun, 01 Apr 2012 08:43:51 ESTServed in a restaurant. An above-average Earl Grey, with a strong, fruity bergamot quality, and a base tea with a rich, malty character. I think the loose-leaf version of this tea is very reasonably priced, but the boxed, wrapped sachets are pricey. I suppose you pay for the packaging.