Reviews of Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis)
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Pure Oolong (Formerly China Oolong) from Twinings
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: Fujian, China50 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 28th, 2010
The first sip of this oolong was delightful, but upon drinking a whole cup of it I wasn't as much of a fan. Significantly lighter than a black tea, the aroma is very floral, bordering on perfumey. Upon drinking more than a few sips, however, a lot of unpleasant qualities develop...there's a sourness, and some off qua...
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Koslanda Estate OP from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Ceylon Black Tea – Region: Uva, Sri Lanka63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 26th, 2010
Upton suggests that this tea has "raisin like nuances" and I'd go even father and be more direct: it smells and tastes a like raisins, and leaves an aftertaste of raisins! Smooth but without being weak. A fair amount of the rice-like quality that I find in many Ceylon teas, and almost a hint of wintergreen. Medium-b...
Read Full ReviewPure Ceylon Tea from New English Teas
Style: Ceylon Black Tea – Region: Sri Lanka / Ceylon60 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 24th, 2010
After being highly disappointed by the English Afternoon Tea of the same brand, this was a pleasant surprise. Again, very fine dust/fannings in the teabag, so I wasn't expecting much.
When I brewed the tea though I tasted an astonishingly complex, gentle Ceylon with a distinct high-grown character reminiscent of te...

Japanese Ku-Ki Ho-Ji Cha (Roasted Ku-Ki Cha) from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Hojicha – Region: Japan77 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 23rd, 2010
Aroma powerful and enticing like a dark roast coffee. This tea foams when brewed, and the brewed cup is clearer and lighter in color than you'd expect from the aroma and dark color of the twigs. Unlike some kukicha, this tea seems to be made exclusively out of twigs with not even a bit of leaf.
Surprisingly, relat...
Green Tea from Hsin Tung Yang
Style: Green Tea – Region: Taiwan / Formosa53 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 22nd, 2010
The dry leaf is flaky in appearance, meaning it is probably a steamed tea like a sencha. But the aroma is totally unlike sencha.
Brewing as I would Sencha, this comes out a cloudy grayish green, more yellowish than most Japanese teas but greener than most pan-fired teas.
This tea is packed with flavor: a rich, c...

English Afternoon from New English Teas
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend33 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Apr. 21st, 2010
This teabag just contained dust and fannings. It was surprisingly weak, even when I brewed it for 4 minutes with boiling water, using less than one 8-oz cup with a single teabag.
Aroma weak, nondescript. Smooth...almost no bitterness, and very little astringency. But very little flavor of any sort. Highly disapp...

Irish Breakfast Tea Bags from Taylors of Harrogate
Style: Irish Breakfast – Region: Blend60 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 19th, 2010
This is what I'd expect from this style: a very strong black tea, bitter, full-bodied, and very malty. It isn't my favorite type of tea but for what it is, and for the fact that it's in teabags, I think it's pretty good.
This tea really works best with one teabag per cup. It's strong enough that you can brew it mo...

SEN-CHA Green Tea from Maeda-en
Style: Sencha – Region: Japan57 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 17th, 2010
Aroma mostly of sweet corn. There's a hint of roast in there too...but it's not always pleasant...it almost resembles the stale coffee aroma you get if you run hot water through a coffee machine that hasn't been cleaned in a while. Slightly sweet and also with some pleasant bitterness, and very little astringency. T...
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Afternoon Darjeeling Tea Bags from Taylors of Harrogate
Style: Darjeeling Black Tea – Region: Darjeeling, India47 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 16th, 2010
Fruity, even for a Darjeeling, and mellow, except for some very strong objectionable qualities that emerge. There's a harshness in the aroma that I could do without...the aftertaste is also very tannic even though at first this tea tastes smooth. Astringent for a Darjeeling.
Disappointing. Definitely recognizable...

Tung Ting Oolong from Hsin Tung Yang
Style: Jade Oolong – Region: Taiwan / Formosa63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 13th, 2010
I bought this in a 60g canister for $4 in Philadelphia's chinatown, and I wasn't expecting much because it seemed cheap for this style. This is barely recognizable as a Tung Ting / Dong Ding oolong: the leaves are broken, although in fairly large pieces, and although it's on the lighter side for an oolong, it seems to...
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Triple-Cup Extra Green from Foojoy
Style: Green Tea – Region: Zhejiang, China70 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 12th, 2010
Aroma fresh and grassy, with a hint of toastiness and a faint suggestion of mint. Very delicate flavor: I'd call this one slightly brisk but not bitter. Remarkably full-bodied given the lightness of the flavor. The astringency builds somewhat upon drinking it but even by the end it's still enjoyable.
This tea is ...

'Wu Yi' Water Fairy Oolong from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Shui Hsien Oolong – Region: Fujian, China80 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 9th, 2010
While I'm not normally a fan of "fake" teas, I'm eager to try ones that are honestly presented as imitating styles originating in other regions.
Aroma is very toasty, more like roasted Yerba Mate than other roasted teas. Nutty and earthy, with a sweet aftertaste that lingers. There is actually a lot of complexity ...

2005 Jing Mai Autumnal from The Tao of Tea
Style: Ripened (Shou) Pu-erh – Region: Lancang, Yunnan, China89 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 8th, 2010
(Lot # Bing-Autumn10612-01)
This is my favorite shu/shou (ripened) Pu-erh of all time.
I did not enjoy this tea at first but it has since grown on me after drinking about a third of the cake. I found this tea to improve considerably as it has continued to age. Interestingly, I find it tastes more like aged shen...

Pai Mu Tan Imperial from Upton Tea Imports
Style: White Peony Tea – Region: China47 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 2/5
Apr. 6th, 2010
A darker white tea. This doesn't even resemble ZW56, Upton's other organic Pai Mu Tan offering. Much darker; if you just gave it to me I'd probably guess incorrectly that it was a Shou Mei.
Aroma is mostly of autumn leaves, with only a hint of peony and a faint suggestion of some other vegetal tones. Also, unusua...

London Cuppa Loose Tea from The London Cuppa
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend57 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 5th, 2010
Very finely broken black tea--no semblance of whole leaf left in the mix. Aroma is mostly malty with a hint of rice-like tones. Fairly tannic even if brewed weakly.
The instructions on the tin said 3-4 minutes; 4 minutes yields a very strong cup, which some people may like, but I preferred 2 or less.
Overall ch...

English Breakfast from Darvilles of Windsor
Style: English Breakfast – Region: Blend70 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 3rd, 2010
This is a very strong black tea. While I tend to prefer slightly more mellow black teas, this tea is among one of the better teas of such strength that I've tried. Unusually malty for an English breakfast, and the malt is rich and fulfilling. Almost more like an Irish breakfast. Strongly bitter and strongly astring...
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English Breakfast from Hampstead Tea
Style: English Breakfast – Region: India63 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 2nd, 2010
Aroma is rice-like, and very slightly malty, with a slight hint of smokiness, and somewhat fruity. Most of these qualities are very subtle. It's hard to say whether the aroma is balanced or muddled...it somehow straddles these two possibilities. I am not crazy about how the different aspects of the aroma blend toget...
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Greenfield Estate BOP1 from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Ceylon Black Tea – Region: Uva, Sri Lanka63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 25th, 2010
A solid, if somewhat generic black tea that is dark and full-bodied but tends on the mellow side of flavor.
The aroma is typical for a Ceylon black tea, and has only mild nuances of dried fruit and nut (like Upton suggests). I'm not really feeling the "citrus notes" but I do notice a sweet aftertaste. There's much...

Huo Shan Yellow Buds from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Huangya – Region: Huoshan, Anhui, China63 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Mar. 23rd, 2010
This is the first yellow tea I've sampled and in many respects it resembles a green tea.
The aroma is fairly rich; there are some of the grassy tones that characterize many green teas, but these are weak and in the background. A bit peppery like Upton describes, and also a bit perfumey. Subtle, but with a lot of d...

Prince of Wales from Twinings
Style: Black Tea – Region: China53 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 22nd, 2010
Fairly light overall, especially compared to Twinings' other black teas. There's some complexity in the aroma, in my opinion, more than their other black teas with the exception of their Ceylon (my favorite). Smooth...less astringency or bitterness. I find you can steep this one a little longer without it becoming t...
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Luxury Blend Tea from Chai Bora
Style: Black Tea – Region: Tanzania57 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 19th, 2010
I was pleasantly surprised with this teabag; it's just fannings/dust and doesn't look like much, but even the dry teabag is pleasantly aromatic. The name surprised me--I was expecting a kind of spiced tea but then I realized that "Chai Bora" is just the brand name. And "chai" just means tea after all!
The brewed t...

Tie-Guan-Yin Oolong First Grade from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Tie Guan Yin – Region: China67 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 16th, 2010
The tightly curled brown leaves unfurl only partially when brewing...producing a tea that's completely clear and golden in color.
Complex aroma, strongly suggesting apricot, and also having some skunky tones, and a hint of olive. Smooth, mellow flavor, contrasting with the aroma, which suggests a sharper tea. No as...

Floral Tie-Guan-Yin Superior Grade from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Tie Guan Yin – Region: China73 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 15th, 2010
Aroma very much like a Dong Ding Jade Oolong, very floral, but with a faint hint of a woody quality absent from those teas; this tea tastes very slightly more oxidized. Very smooth, but leaving a tingling sensation in the mouth. The aroma is very pleasing, but not terribly complex.
Using Upton's instructions I bre...

Formosa Oolong Extra Fancy from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: Taiwan / Formosa67 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 12th, 2010
When I bought this tea it was the second-highest-priced grade of the standard "Formosa oolongs" in Upton's catalogue. They've since switched things around and discontinued this tea.
I found this tea, moving up from the lowest grades (TT11-TT17), to be the first one that offered an appreciable difference, the first ...

Tie-Guan-Yin Oolong 2nd Grade from Upton Tea Imports
Style: Tie Guan Yin – Region: China67 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 11th, 2010
Aroma is subtle and complex, but on the weak side: mostly of peach, with some weaker earthy tones. Flavor is tangy, with little bitterness. The aftertaste has a mild astringency. Thin-bodied.
Following Upton's recommendations I found worked alright--for a first cup. However, I tried to brew a second cup and ther...
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