This is the feed of all tea reviews by Alex Zorach on RateTea.http://ratetea.com/profile/?account_id=1http://ratetea.com/review/7045/http://ratetea.com/review/7045/Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:04:26 ESTI really enjoyed this tea, although it was not my favorite-of-all-favorites. It grew on me somewhat as I drank it more. I'd put it towards the category of "my least favorite among my most favorite types of tea" if that makes sense? Like it breaks into the top category but only barely. The leaf is quite beautiful, I'd say unusually so for a tea in this price range. It also smells nice, not an explosively strong aroma but pleasant, and even in the dry leaf I get the honey notes a bit. The brewed cup is...http://ratetea.com/review/7037/http://ratetea.com/review/7037/Wed, 21 Aug 2024 13:06:52 ESTThis tea is absolutely sublime. It is by far my favorite Assam I've sampled. Ghograjan Tea Estate got my attention years ago, when they brought some STGFOP tea to a tea expo I was attending, and it impressed me, but I did not order from them until recently, and now that I have, I honestly regret not ordering sooner! The dry leaf is incredibly aromatic, a strong, rich, and complex aroma, with the dominant tones malty and bready, with fainter notes of dried fruit and spice and perhaps a hint of wood. T...http://ratetea.com/review/7036/http://ratetea.com/review/7036/Tue, 20 Aug 2024 14:25:48 ESTThis is one of several teas I've ordered from Amazon recently, throwing them into an order to get over the free shipping threshold. It is also the first tea I've ever tried from Chota Tingrai estate, although I've tried a number of other teas from other gardens in the Tinsukia region. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The dry leaf has a pleasing aroma, and was very fresh when it arrived. Relative to other Assams, it smells more bright and cool. The smell of the dry leaf suggests a cup that will be...http://ratetea.com/review/7035/http://ratetea.com/review/7035/Mon, 19 Aug 2024 12:53:30 ESTA very good black tea that exceeded my expectations especially for its price. However, this tea is not for every moment: it is bold and sharp tasting and strongly caffeinated. This was one of several teas I have bought recently, throwing into Amazon orders to get over the free shipping thresholds. The dry leaf, which looks quite dark but well-formed and mostly intact, has a surprisingly strong strawberry aroma, alongside typical deep Assam notes. The smell of the dry leaf leads me to expect a tea tha...http://ratetea.com/review/7033/http://ratetea.com/review/7033/Sun, 18 Aug 2024 13:24:34 ESTWow, what a find! I discovered this tea when looking for loose-leaf black teas to throw into an Amazon order to get over their free shipping threshold, and I was pleasantly surprised. I love wild arbor tea from Yunnan province, which I often buy from Yunnan Sourcing, and I've had it from Mengku, Jingmai, and Da Hu Sai. This tea was similar to all of those teas, but was, amazingly, about half the price, and nearly as good. The dry leaf is strongly aromatic and the aroma is complex. It has deep spic...http://ratetea.com/review/6950/http://ratetea.com/review/6950/Wed, 27 Sep 2023 14:35:13 ESTThis was one of the better teas I've bought in-person in a long time, and was quite delicious, but was still disappointing, especially in terms of value, relative to similar teas I have bought online, particularly in that it did not resteep well. I bought this tea at a Local Vietnamese Grocery Store. The dry leaf looks typical for a Jin Jun mei of relatively low grade. It is mostly dark brown but does have a few hints of golden tips. The dry leaf is aromatic but perhaps slightly less so than typical ...http://ratetea.com/review/6901/http://ratetea.com/review/6901/Sun, 08 Jan 2023 10:32:39 ESTI tried this tea right when I ordered it, but did not like it. It had few objectionable qualities, and was actually quite smooth, but simply seemed a little boring. However, I set it in my cupboard for quite some time and sure enough, it has started tasting more interesting after about a year and a half. Still, it is not my favorite and I thought it was expensive relative to how much I enjoyed it. The dry leaf has a rather different aroma from most of the Yunnan red teas I've tried. The smell reminds me...http://ratetea.com/review/6898/http://ratetea.com/review/6898/Sun, 01 Jan 2023 13:06:31 ESTThis is my first black tea that I've ever tried from Wuyuan county; prior to this I have only had green teas, which I've tended to like. The dry leaf has a fine texture and looks slightly greyish with reddish highlights. It has a pleasing aroma that strongly resembles the lighter examples of Keemun, but is rather different from the darker Keemuns I've tried. The aroma of the dried leaf is a bit more subtle than Keemun and seems perhaps more complex or nuanced, with more vegetal or herbaceous notes. T...http://ratetea.com/review/6896/http://ratetea.com/review/6896/Fri, 30 Dec 2022 15:14:57 ESTI've tried what I'm pretty sure is this same exact grade of tea from the same garden, but sold by Upton Tea Imports, a while back, and I loved it. I loved it this time too! The brewed cup has a strong and complex aroma. It has a moderate toastiness to it, with notes of cocoa and strong notes of wintergreen, which I love. The flavor is naturally quite sweet, tasting as if honey has been added even when drinking it unsweetened, but there is enough astringency to give it body. As when I sampled this tea...http://ratetea.com/review/6892/http://ratetea.com/review/6892/Sun, 18 Dec 2022 09:34:09 ESTSimply exceptional! This is one of the teas that I think is much better than its commercial description suggests! This is the second tea I've tried from Rukeri estate; the first was a BOP grade from Upton Imports. This tea was similar and I loved both. The dry leaf is finely broken, much more so than I expect for the OPA grade, but it has a potent aroma, rich, fruity, and spicy. Upon brewing, even more aromatic notes come out, including earthy, malty, and floral notes and a hint of wintergreen, on to...http://ratetea.com/review/6886/http://ratetea.com/review/6886/Sun, 04 Dec 2022 14:18:01 ESTThis was one of the higher-quality teas I've tried from Tanzania, pleasing to drink, unique and interesting, also extraordinarily value-priced. The dry leaf has a pleasant and potent aroma, malty and with a hint of caraway and fruity notes. The leaf is on the intact / whole side of what I would expect for the FOP grade. It's refreshing to get orthodox teas out of Tanzania as most of what they make is finely-broken CTC stuff that is not as complex aromatically. The brewed cup is rather brisk, with a n...http://ratetea.com/review/6882/http://ratetea.com/review/6882/Thu, 24 Nov 2022 09:44:25 ESTThis was a rather strong, but high-quality Assam sold for an exceptionally good price. The dry leaf has a potent aroma, spicy and fruity. I already notice the raspberry notes even in the dry leaf. But the aroma somehow betrays a slight harshness: I can tell this is going to be a tea with a bit of an edge, even before I brew it. The brewed cup is exactly what I expect from the aroma: bold, strong, sharp flavor, moderately tannic and also bitter, with an undertone of savory, sour, and slightly sweet fl...http://ratetea.com/review/6878/http://ratetea.com/review/6878/Sun, 20 Nov 2022 11:52:44 ESTI have been wanting to try a tea from Georgia for a long time; the past few times I've gotten teas from Simpson & Vail, this tea has not been available, so I was excited to see it come back into their catalogue. This tea was also really fascinating, very different from other black teas I've tried, even different from the teas I've tried from elsewhere in the Black Sea region, notably Russia and Turkey, although there was some resemblance to Turkish tea. What makes this tea so different is its aroma. ...http://ratetea.com/review/6875/http://ratetea.com/review/6875/Fri, 18 Nov 2022 15:15:45 ESTI was really impressed by this tea. I found it delightful, and also easy to brew and easy to drink. Smooth, aromatic, and pleasing in flavor. I've only ever tried one other black tea from Japan, but this one was by far the better of the two, and ranks among the top-tier black teas I've sampled from any region. The dry leaf is relatively plain, but pleasing looking, and it has an intense fragrance of sweet baked goods, like pastries. The smell strongly reminds me of the Kenya Milima tea from Harney & Son...http://ratetea.com/review/6873/http://ratetea.com/review/6873/Fri, 18 Nov 2022 08:15:07 ESTThis was a smoother, higher-grade Assam that had a much lighter character than is typical for an Assam. The dry leaf is pretty aesthetically pleasing, it actually looks much nicer than the picture S&V provided on their website: lots of tip, which looks more pale and less golden than some. Its aroma is rather fruity and somewhat floral. When I started drinking this tea the first thing that jumps out is how clear and light and low in astringency it is. It's a change of pace from the usual deep, malty A...http://ratetea.com/review/6737/http://ratetea.com/review/6737/Sun, 07 Nov 2021 14:14:53 ESTThanks Dewey for sharing this with me! This was a smooth, mellow, mild green tea that was easy to brew and enjoy. The leaf of this smells very fresh, a sort of sweet fragrance, almost floral, typical of high-quality, tippy Chinese green teas. It's pleasant but also hard to anticipate how it is going to taste, so I went into this one with pretty open expectations. The brewed cup is less aromatic than I had hoped. The flavor is balanced and rich, with a mix of sweet, sour, savory, and slight bitter fla...http://ratetea.com/review/6727/http://ratetea.com/review/6727/Thu, 23 Sep 2021 09:16:00 ESTI found this a pleasant tea to drink but it was not among my favorites. It was surprisingly different from its organic counterpart. Of the two, I strongly preferred this one. The leaf is tightly rolled and quite beautiful. Compared to the organic version of this tea, it looks a little paler in color and slightly looser-packed. Aroma is stronger, a sort of grainy, cereal smell, reminiscent of cheerios, more resembling the smell of oat than the usual malty or rye smells I get from tea. I don't know how to...http://ratetea.com/review/6718/http://ratetea.com/review/6718/Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:59:21 ESTThis tea was quite singular, unlike most of the other teas from Yunnan Sourcing. I thought it was a good tea but it was a bit too much for me. It's strong, both by flavor and caffeine. I am reviewing the Spring Harvest from 2020. This tea took up a lot less space than most all the other Yunnan Teas I've tried. The dry leaf is tightly rolled and has a muted aroma that is soft and pleasant, almost resembling jasmine rice, with hints of malt and dried fruit. I liked the density of this tea; it made it easy...http://ratetea.com/review/6717/http://ratetea.com/review/6717/Tue, 07 Sep 2021 08:55:45 ESTThis was a straightforward tea that I found easy to like; I became a fan from the first sip. It's robust, easy to brew, easy to drink, and pleasing in both flavor and aroma. Overall, it is more flavorful than aromatic though. The dry leaf is beautiful, a very bright yellow color, not as orangeish as many of these tippy teas, and has a rich aroma that is fairly complex, with notes of malt and chocolate. The intact needle-shaped leaves though, are incredibly long, making it a bit annoying to measure out a...http://ratetea.com/review/6716/http://ratetea.com/review/6716/Sun, 05 Sep 2021 22:26:06 ESTThis was a really enjoyable tea that also had a lot of depth and complexity. The dry leaf is made exclusively of luscious, thick, fuzzy buds that are kinda rolled on themselves; the picture does not really do it justice. Although it seems to be pure buds, they look a bit more mature than on some tippy teas, and they're thick and robust and have a character a bit more like some mature leaves, which I liked. The dry leaf is only slightly aromatic, you can get some interesting notes but only if you real...http://ratetea.com/review/6715/http://ratetea.com/review/6715/Sat, 04 Sep 2021 15:26:25 ESTThis was a robust green tea that was challenging to brew, but rewarding when I got it right. Thank you to Dewey for sharing this one with me! The leaf is beautiful, wiry, slightly curly, and diverse in color, from dusty dark green to silvery-gray with a yellowish tinge. It has a potent fragrance, with a hint of camphor and smokiness, and some spicy and vegetal notes. Fresh and strong smelling, suggesting a strongly savory flavor. I found this tea was highly sensitive to brewing temperature, more so t...http://ratetea.com/review/6714/http://ratetea.com/review/6714/Thu, 02 Sep 2021 16:08:07 ESTThis tea heavily underwhelmed me, and particularly, it was too weak. My favorite aspect of it was the fragrance of the dry leaf, but after that, it disappointed me. The dry leaf has an unbelievably potent and incredily pleasing aroma. To me it seems more malty than anything else, strong smells of grain and baked goods, with hints of cocoa or chocolate. It's less fruity than I expect from the description. The leaf smelled good. But it was, unfortunately, the best aspect of this tea, and out-of-step with ...http://ratetea.com/review/6669/http://ratetea.com/review/6669/Tue, 25 May 2021 13:45:02 ESTA mellow and balanced, easy-to-brew tea that had a lot of aromatic complexity, and an overall character somewhat intermediate between large-leaf Assam and Yunnan teas. The dry leaf, which looks a little darker than in the picture from Yunnan Sourcing's website, has a wiry and kinda dusty appearance, and consists of large, almost entirely unbroken leaves. It is fragrant, but not quite explosively so: you really need to stick your nose in the bag, but when you do, there is a lot there. There is a lot goin...http://ratetea.com/review/6667/http://ratetea.com/review/6667/Fri, 21 May 2021 07:12:30 ESTI found this to be a subdued, but intriguing tea that seemed to have a lot of depth and complexity. Although it doesn't jump out at me, I found that it seemed a little different each time I drank it. It's also another tea that in many respects resembles some of the large-leaf Assam teas (not just Assamica cultivar, but actually from Assam, India) that I tried from TeaOrb a while back. The leaf is large, dark, and wiry, but not quite as intact as some of the teas from Yunnan Sourcing, as there are qui...http://ratetea.com/review/6661/http://ratetea.com/review/6661/Fri, 16 Apr 2021 15:18:58 ESTI was curious to try this higher grade of a tea (the "Classic Robust Jin Jun Mei") that has become one of my favorites for daily drinking. The dry leaf is similar but more curly and also visibly lighter in color, with a greater portion of golden tips. The aroma is very strong, initially of dried fruit and then very intensely of malt, and also with floral notes throughout. The smell leads me to expect an aromatic, strongly savory cup. The cup is exquisite. Rich, thick, and naturally very sweet and sav...