Alex
Tea Reviewer
Member since May. 6th, 2018. Reviewed 45 teas.
Reviews of Teas & Herbal Teas
Page 1 2 of 2 pages with 45 results
Ti Kuan Yin (Oolong Goddess) from Adagio Teas
Style: Tie Guan Yin – Region: Fujian, China68 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 11th, 2018
I wrote a review of this before, but I accidentally deleted it while trying to edit it. Now that I've had a few better examples of Tieguanyin, I don't think this is as good as I initially thought. It's fairly mediocre, actually, with little to distinguish it from other oolongs on the lighter but not quite green end. Br...
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Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun) from TeaVivre
Style: Bi Luo Chun – Region: Jiangsu, China93 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 10th, 2018
This is the most complex green tea I've ever tasted. It has a very fresh nutty and floral aroma and bright, slightly tangy (but not sour like some cheap gunpowder and chun mee) taste with notes of nuts, fresh herbs, citrus fruit, and hints of vegetables.
It resteeps well, brewing at least three good cups as long as ...
Ancient Yunnan from Octavia Tea
Style: Yunnan Gold – Region: Yunnan, China83 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 9th, 2018
This is a very enjoyable tea. The twisted, tippy leaves have an aroma of raisins, wood, cocoa, and malt. When I added water I was initially disappointed to see that the leaves were broken, as I've paid less for full leaf Yunnan. Fortunately, the taste doesn't seem to suffer from this fact, with no bitterness and only a...
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Superfine Taiwan Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea from TeaVivre
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: Taiwan / Formosa82 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 8th, 2018
I wasn't as impressed with this as I was with the roasted version. It's pretty good, but nothing really stood out to me, and it lacks the complexity of the roasted version. Without the roast it's just another floral oolong to me. However, roasted Taiwanese oolongs are among my favorite teas, so maybe someone who loves ...
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English Breakfast from Twinings
Style: English Breakfast – Region: ?????55 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 7th, 2018
This was my introduction to black tea, so it was interesting to try it again recently. It has that specific malty, woody aroma that makes me think "English Breakfast". The flavor is rather bland compared to everything I've been drinking lately, but I did notice a mild dried fruit note that I never picked up when I used...
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Jasmine Green Tea from Twinings
Style: Jasmine Tea – Region: ?????33 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 1/5 Value: 2/5
Jun. 7th, 2018
I got this before I got into loose leaf tea, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. As with most cheap jasmine green teas, it smells better than it tastes, but that's especially true for bagged jasmine. It has a sour vegetal flavor that barely resembles a decent loose leaf green tea. I used a few bags to scent some gunpow...
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Lapsang Souchong Wild Black Tea (Ye Sheng Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) from TeaVivre
Style: Lapsang Souchong – Region: Wuyi, Fujian, China84 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 7th, 2018
This is a weird tea. The dry leaves smell like chocolate and flowers, but as soon as water is added it smells like baked potatoes. It takes a while to brew: I usually end up brewing it for 6-7 minutes the first time and even longer for the next two infusions for a total of three cups.
The flavor is somewhat unusual...
Superfine Anxi Qing Xiang TieGuanYin Oolong Tea from TeaVivre
Style: Tie Guan Yin – Region: Anxi, Fujian, China87 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 6th, 2018
The aroma of the dry leaves is very floral, more so than any other Tieguanyin I've had, and the wet leaves are even more aromatic. I'm brewing this in my gaiwan, and after a quick rinse the first infusion is floral and vegetal, with a coolness in the finish that I usually find in Taiwanese oolongs. The second infusion ...
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Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant from TeaVivre
Style: Black Tea – Region: Fengqing, Yunnan, China85 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Jun. 4th, 2018
It took me a few tries to get something I liked out of this tea, but I'm really enjoying it now. It seems to turn out best steeped for around 3 minutes with water just below boiling. The aroma is mostly floral and malty, with some dried fruit and a slight scent of potatoes in the background. The flavor is slightly malt...
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Superfine Taiwan Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding Oolong Tea from TeaVivre
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: Nantou, Taiwan95 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 3rd, 2018
This was one of the free samples I picked with my Teavivre order. I put most of the sample in my gaiwan, leaving just enough for a later western style brew. The dry leaves smell quite roasted, but also floral and somewhat woody. The first infusion has an aroma much like the dry leaves, but a bit more floral. The taste ...
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Pu-erh Classic from Rishi Tea
Style: Ripened (Shou) Pu-erh – Region: Yunnan, China65 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
May. 17th, 2018
This is my first unflavored puerh, so I don't have anything to compare it to. Mine was aged for 3 years so it might be slightly different from the normal version, but probably not that much. I had to air it out for a week to get rid of the smell of fish. Once that went away, the aroma of the dry leaves became earthy in...
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Iced Classic Black Tea (Loose) from Pure Leaf
Style: Black Tea – Region: Kenya72 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
May. 16th, 2018
The dry leaf is floral and malty, just as Pure Leaf and the other reviewer describe it. Once brewed, there's a hint of dried fruit as well as wood; otherwise it's pretty similar to the dry aroma. Despite this tea coming from Kenya, the taste reminds me a bit of all three of the main tea growing regions of India: the ma...
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Matcha iri Genmaicha from Harney and Sons
Style: Genmaicha – Region: Japan78 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
May. 14th, 2018
I should really stop posting first impressions. I often end up rewriting the whole review. This tea took some time to get used to. I disliked the toasted rice at first and wished it was just bancha and matcha, but then I realized that it's the combination of everything that makes this tea work: the bancha provides a ni...
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Nilgiri Blue Mountain from Jasmine Pearl Tea Company
Style: Black Tea – Region: Nilgiri, India70 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
May. 13th, 2018
This is an odd tea. Very mild aroma, extremely mellow woody flavor, but then there's the most wonderfully fruity finish if you brew it just right. I feel like it would be better in a blend than on its own, with something else adding more body and flavor and this tea providing its lingering fruity finish. I did try blen...
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English Breakfast from Benner Tea Co
Style: English Breakfast – Region: ?????25 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 1/5 Value: 2/5
May. 12th, 2018
It smells sort of like an English Breakfast blend, I guess. Sort of woody. Far from the most aromatic tea. It tastes like cardboard, very thin, and it's extremely astringent even when brewed for only 3 minutes. The only use for this I can think of is cold brewing it and adding lemonade. It's terrible on its own, and th...
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Keemun Concerto from Adagio Teas
Style: Keemun Mao Feng – Region: Anhui, China60 / 100 Aroma: 2/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
May. 7th, 2018
I'm having a hard time rating this tea. It smelled pretty bad to me, like burnt pine. I guess that's the smokiness. The flavor was nicely earthy and slightly chocolaty with the occasional subtle fruit note. I enjoyed the flavor, but hated the aroma. I always knew it was done brewing and would taste the way I liked it w...
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Chinese Oolong from Bigelow Tea
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: China50 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
May. 7th, 2018
A dark oolong with a nutty and buttery taste. It lacks the complexity of a higher quality oolong, but it has the advantage of being cheap and available at grocery stores. I actually prefer it cold brewed, and the ease of putting two bags in a water bottle overnight to take with me the next day is the only reason I'd ge...
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House Blend Oolong from Jasmine Pearl Tea Company
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: Nantou, Taiwan86 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
May. 7th, 2018
This is a blend of Gui Fei and Jade oolongs, since the website doesn't make that clear. It has a very floral aroma, as expected. The first cup is clean with a honey-like sweetness, but it's more aromatic than flavorful. The second cup is more interesting: mild stone fruit notes appear, and the mouthfeel is thicker comp...
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Royal Golden Assam from Octavia Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Assam, India85 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
May. 6th, 2018
While the dry leaves have a more mildly fruity generic black tea sort of smell, the brewed tea has a wonderfully sweet aroma of figs and raisins, and a similar taste. It's actually hard to taste anything else because of the strength of those notes: there's a background earthiness or something to add some substance and ...
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Guizhou Twist from Adagio Teas
Style: Green Tea – Region: Guizhou, China80 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
May. 6th, 2018
This is an unusually fruity green tea. The dry leaves have a strong floral and stone fruit aroma. The first time I tried it I used too much tea and brewed it for too long, and the result was overly sweet and astringent. The second time I used a little less tea and brewed it for around 1:40, resulting in a more complex ...
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