Reviews of Black Tea
Page 1 2 3 ... 8 9 10 11 12 ... 18 19 20 of 20 pages with 496 results
Orthodox STGFOP from Ghograjan Tea Estate
Style: Assam – Region: Assam, India88 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Dec. 21st, 2014
Singular among Assams, in its smoothness and unusual vegetal characters.
Dry leaf is not very aromatic, having a faint aroma of malt and fruit, but looks beautifully formed, with intact wiry, twisted leaf with golden tips.
Upon brewing, becomes pleasantly aromatic. Aroma is highly vegetal among Assam teas, remin...
Golden Monkey from Octavia Tea
Style: Yunnan Gold – Region: Yunnan, China63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5
Dec. 19th, 2014
A pleasant, drinkable tea, but on the boring side. I usually associate the name "Golden Monkey" with golden, all-tip black teas from Fujian province, not Yunnan. This tea is from Yunnan.
Dry leaf is very pleasantly aromatic, suggesting dried fruit, and a slight hint of malt.
Brews up a beautiful, light brown cu...
Nilgiri SFTGFOP from Octavia Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Nilgiri, India90 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Dec. 19th, 2014
An excellent, light-bodied black tea that was new and different for me. Prior to trying this tea, I had tried a handful of Nilgiri teas, but none had wowed me; most tasted a lot like generic black teas. This tea definitely stood out.
Brews up a light-colored cup, with a clear color, a lot like a second-flush Darje...
Himalayan-Imperial Black from Octavia Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Nepal87 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Dec. 16th, 2014
A mellow, mild, yet fascinatingly novel tea.
This tea tastes a lot more like an oolong than a black tea. The leaf is huge, unusual for teas grown in the Himalayan region. I found it very complex and very enjoyable, but I could see it disappointing if I were expecting a black tea. Most lighter black teas from Nepa...
Keemun Congfu from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Keemun – Region: Fujian, China97 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Dec. 15th, 2014
Something fascinating and wonderful...a Keemun of top-quality produced outside the traditional area, yet in an area with a tradition of artisanal black tea production. Seems to combine the best qualities of Keemun with qualities of Fujian gong fu / congou black teas. I saved this tea review for last, from the recent ...
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Classic Chinese from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Zhejiang, China94 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Dec. 8th, 2014
This was an exceptional tea, and I think its name does not do it justice. It didn't taste classic, it tasted extraordinary!
The dry leaf is black, with very wiry, crinkly leaf that is quite long. The leaf is pleasantly aromatic, and the aroma complex and toasty, suggesting fruit, nuts, wood, caramel, and malt.
...
Dian Hong Congfu from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Yunnan Gold – Region: Yunnan, China57 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 2/5
Nov. 27th, 2014
Dry leaf has beautiful, intact wiry leaf with golden tips, and a mild aroma of rye malt and fruit.
The brewed cup is very dark, but not as aromatic as I'd like. The aroma is mostly fruity, and also suggests rye malt, but the aroma is weak, and the flavor is also somewhat weak. Although this tea is smooth, I think ...
Assam from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Assam – Region: Assam, India56 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 2/5
Nov. 26th, 2014
I gave this tea a poor review back in November of 2014, but my brother picked up some more for me, in Detroit, and I gave it another try. It still was my least favorite of the Joseph Wesley teas.
My old review:
The first tea from Joseph Wesley to truly disappoint. The disparity in quality from the other teas is...
Lapsang Souchong from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Lapsang Souchong – Region: Fujian, China91 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Nov. 25th, 2014
Excellent.
This is the traditional Chinese Lapsang Souchong, subtle, not the British-style stuff with the overwhelming smell of campfire smoke. I love it. I've only ever tried one other Lapsang Souchong on par with this, the Lapsang Souchong Superior Grade from Life In Teacup. This tea was equally exquisite, yet ...
Ancient Yunnan from Octavia Tea
Style: Yunnan Gold – Region: Yunnan, China80 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Nov. 22nd, 2014
Sampled in Velvet Sky Bakery in Jenkintown.
A smoother-than-average Yunnan black tea (Dian hong) with a classic character, slightly nondescript, but with a hearty, warming quality that makes it very pleasant to drink. Not quite as mind-blowingly awesome or weird as some of the ancient-tree Yunnan teas I've had, but...
Bai Lin Congfu from Joseph Wesley Black Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: China91 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Nov. 16th, 2014
I sampled Joseph Wesley's teas at the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Festival, and they were exceptional. I've been excited to brew them up and give them more attention; this is the first I brewed, and it was outstanding.
Dry leaf is beautiful: fine, twisted, golden-orange leaf, and very aromatic: smells intensely lik...
Red-Tailed Hawk from Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Teas
Style: Black Tea – Region: India80 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Nov. 16th, 2014
Sampled at the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Expo, but I took some home too to brew up.
I feel like the bar is set pretty high, with this tea's name. I'm a birder, and the Red-tailed hawk is a pretty badass bird. But it's also a rather common bird--now that I'm good at spotting birds, in a typical 1 hour trip on the...
Honey Black Tea from Health & Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Taiwan / Formosa94 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Nov. 13th, 2014
A sample from the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Expo, and wow does it deliver on its name! An extremely smooth, naturally sweet, and somewhat peculiar tea, unlike any other.
The leaf is big, thick, and twisted, and takes up a huge amount of space relative to its weight. The leaf is completely unbroken, except for a ...
Spring Keemun from Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Teas
Style: Keemun – Region: China94 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Nov. 11th, 2014
I sampled this tea at the Philadelphia Coffee and Tea Festival, and it was mind-blowing! I'm now writing an extended review after brewing it myself at home.
The dry leaf has a unique aroma, vegetal, suggesting sweetness, and with a hint of smoke.
Brews up a rich, dark cup which is surprisingly smooth in flavor, ...
Assam SFTGBOP Tonga Second Flush from TeaGschwendner
Style: Assam – Region: Assam, India73 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5
Oct. 31st, 2014
A sample from the store in Regensburg, Germany. Thank you for the sample!
Dry leaf has a remarkable aroma, strong, spicy and fruity, reminiscent of potpourri. The smell of the dry leaf is incredibly pleasant, and is what I liked most about this tea, although the rest was enjoyable too.
The brewed cup is much mo...
Bio Ruanda OP from Teehaus Bachfischer
Style: Black Tea – Region: Rwanda100 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Oct. 29th, 2014
Purchased at Teehaus Bachfischer's storefront in Regensburg, Germany.
Wow, this tea is amazing! Definitely the best Orange Pekoe grade tea I've ever tried...and competes with the best of the best, things with those long labels like TGFOP and FTGFOP and the like.
Dry leaf, dark, wiry, and nondescript looking, has...
Tee Pyramide Assam BOP Bio from Heimbs
Style: Assam – Region: Assam, India77 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 2/5
Oct. 26th, 2014
Served at the Carolaschlösschen, the cafe on the Carolasee in the Großer Garten, Dresden, Germany. The most expensive cup of tea I had in Germany (at 4 Euro) but a contender for the best.
This was a very potent Assam, edgy, but with a rich aroma. Strongly malty, with notes of dried fruit. This would be an excel...
Fine Aromatic Darjeeling from Pure Tea Selection
Style: Darjeeling Black Tea – Region: Darjeeling, India87 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Oct. 26th, 2014
Served with breakfast at the Hotel Alt-Görlitz in Görlitz, Germany, an exquisite breakfast, I might add, and this top-notch tea was an excellent addition to it, on par with the rest of the food served there.
A high-quality sachet, filled with large pieces of relatively high-grade tea. Aroma is strongly fruity, of...
Darjeeling from Meßmer (Messmer)
Style: Darjeeling Black Tea – Region: Darjeeling, India70 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Oct. 26th, 2014
Served with breakfast at City Herberge, Dresden. A middle-of-the-road Darjeeling tea bag, not very complex, but recognizable as a Darjeeling, and a couple steps up from a typical black tea (definitely far ahead of Meßmer's regular black tea (Klassik), which did not impress me.
Light-bodied for a black tea, dark am...
Vietnam Yen Bai OP Organic from TeaGschwendner
Style: Black Tea – Region: Vietnam67 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5
Oct. 22nd, 2014
Purchased in the TeaGschwender shop in Regensburg, Germany.
Dry leaf is not very aromatic; it faintly suggests cocoa.
Brews up a very typical cup. I used TeaGschwendner's recommendation of 4 minutes, but used less leaf than they recommend, and this produced results that I liked. I was able to make a second stee...
Ostfriesische Teemischung Broken from Eilles
Style: East Frisian Tea (Ostfriesentee) – Region: Assam, India83 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Oct. 20th, 2014
Purchased in the Eilles store in Regensburg, on my recent trip to Germany. I really enjoy this tea; it's a potent black tea blend, but with a very different character from Assam-based Irish breakfast blends. I drunk it unsweetened and with no milk.
Aroma is rich, malty but also vegetal, slightly roasty, suggesting...
Darjeeling Royal Second Flush Blatt from Eilles
Style: Darjeeling Second Flush – Region: Darjeeling, India80 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Oct. 18th, 2014
An excellent tea served in the cafe of the Hotel Altstadt-Engel Regensburg, Germany, with breakfast. Served in a glass teacup, which was nice because I could see the color as it was brewing.
A smooth, balanced Darjeeling. Light in color and character for a second flush, possibly even passing as 1st flush after bre...
Klassik from Meßmer (Messmer)
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend47 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Oct. 18th, 2014
One of the many teas I tried on my recent trip in Germany. A weak tea bag that was somewhat underwhelming, but that had some interesting complexity lurking in there. I'd be curious to try a loose-leaf version of this tea, and use more leaf, because I can see it producing much better results.
Aroma is weak but rath...
Gold Blend from Barry's Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Aug. 10th, 2014
Sampled at the coffee hour at a Unitarian Church in Northwest Philly. I didn't expect much, because it was just a humble cardboard box filled with unsealed, paper tea bags, and each tea bag was filled with fine dust.
But this tea impressed me.
Steeped 3 minutes. Produced a robust, full-bodied cup that was low i...
Charleston Breakfast Loose Tea from Charleston Tea Plantation (American Classic Tea)
Style: Black Tea – Region: South Carolina, United States77 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Jul. 21st, 2014
A light-bodied, smooth-flavored tea which was pleasant to drink.
Thank you to Nikki and Korbett for bringing this one to me from Charleston! I expected this to be more of a novelty, but it was surprisingly good quality!
Dry leaf is coarse and looks mechanically processed, but with bigger, more intact leaf pieces ...
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