TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

Puerhshop.com (review)(product link) . $2.99/100g/3.5oz = ~13$/lb is really cheap.

Leaf: Aged in CNNP factory storage since 2000. Jim recommended to wash it before proper infusion. I tried with and withoot wash and don’t remember any significant differences in taste (maybe less astringent with a wash, but not by much. The subsequently infused washed leaf did produce a slightly less cloudy liquor.)

This tea comes in a box, inside a paper bag, not sealed, no lining.

Method: 10sec swirled wash, then 3 min @ 200F.

Flavor: Thump of astringency/tannin on the tongue bordering on bitterness, follows a …”generic” yunnany black flavor but it does not hold much power in itself (~1/3 of total taste). Astringency is strong with this one. Maybe the expression is “brisk” not sure. Seems to remind me of breakfast teas… the bagged kind. Might have some good caffeine levels or maybe its just the HEAT IN THIS ROOM …melting my brain cells.

Overall: Not that interesting in flavor - low yunnanness. Baggy feel.

Puerhshop.com (review)(no more available). $4.99/100g/3.5oz = ~23$/lb is cheap.

Leaf: alright, not many gold tips but its got a little gold ‘dust’ in the package…

Method: boiled filtered water/200F stream hitting the cup.

Taste: yunnan black but sort of …”generic”?, not really wine, not really caramel, some very distant smoky? More flavor that the other yunnan black from Puerhshop & much less astringency 1/3 compared to 2/3 or more in the other one. Not really tea bag flavor…Interesting part seems to leave a sweet aftertaste feel. Interesting part #2, on 2nd infusion seems to get a greenish sensation as i remember from this keemun maofeng tasting… not “black-ened” enough?

Overall: its ok. not enough flavor. not sure i’d get again.

$1.49, found at Sunrise Mart (NY)
tho it says on the label its made with Black Tea….

If i’ve tried American peach teas (Peach Tea .Lipton, Giant Peach Juiced Tea .Tazo, Summer Peach Iced Tea .Snapple, Peach oo-la-long .Honest Tea) why not see how Japanese tea people do it…

^ i am big, just click on me

Taste: … FRUIT ! i am pretty sure this is the closest of the bottled Teas to a real fruit taste i’ve had (Giant Peach from Tazo is my favorite of the bunch, but i can’t remember details to compare which was the fruityest)….remembering childhood …having peach compote (fruit boiled in water + sugar).(note: the word is compote, no relation to compost.)

so, Fruit + fruit tangy/tart in the mouth, sugar is medium-low = can feel sweetness but its not dominant. It feels very fruity-real to me (haven’t had peach in a while tho).

I don’t taste/feel anything weird (citric/strangeness.)

Some aftertaste, some from sugar, a fruity sense on the palate, tongue… its not watery, and i feel i want to drink more (or maybe its the heat).

Almost forgot: no tea taste :\ …. maybe its in the aftertaste feel combined with the sugar, but very not present at all.

very satisfying on this hot day…

Out and about NYC, stop at “Central Perk” (Whole Foods/Columbus) get some snacks and drinks, head to Central Perk to bask in the sun.

Disappointingly, Whole Foods had a really bad stock of bottled teas this day, just itoen green-white, the others were mixed bullcrap sweetened and herbal bs energy bs vitamin boosting health organic natural crap. Of which i did get some - bottled yerbamate.

I did want to try something new so… got this which looked more “normal” even tho it had a little tiny bit of “sugar” on the label, and i don’t have such a good experience with Honest teas.

Taste: cold. mmm. well. not that bad on the citric additive - doesn’t taste that lemony. As for the black tea taste… uhm… there is …some… black tea taste… barely perceptible tho, couldn’t really say “assam yes !”, more like… “oh, this is probably black tea”. … didn’t sense any sugar. not much astringency.

Overall: not that bad, not nasty as others, but not much flavor either. pick between this and water? … water.

click it for bigger pic.

part of the drown my sorrow with three bottles of tea day.
iced tea with lemon .teany,
Morrocan Mint Green Tea .Honest Tea,
green tea with ginseng .teany.
see the level- thats how much i could drink from them.

label is simple, somewhat retarded looking. i coulda done better.

aroma: faint but : lemon + some black tea

taste: 3/4 lemony + 1/4 or less: black tea taste + faintness sweety in the aftertaste.

the frikin fudgepackin definition of american bottled tea= LEMON SUGAR WATER. and a label with natural organic f**** antioxidants that will keep away all of mankind’s diseases plus whatever your dog gave you when you kissed it(more like whatever you gave the dog- since the human mouth is the filthiest of all… except that big lizard thing) …SH** ….alright. i’m calm. shit. i was about to go off again.

again. why do i even try? curiosity? just hope. oh well. its just how i dont like it. u might.
obviously it dont goes on MYF*KN LIST OF TEAS *I* LIKE. (not narcissistic or self absorbed.)

Having had their bottled “green tea” i wasn’t expecting much,
and much wasn’t found.

Looked nice, thick (3.78L=1gal), and more cost effective (around $3.7) next to the awesome Tejava bottled tea ($1.70, 1L), also the “kettle brewed” sparked some minor interest.

Opent bottle, whatcha think it smells like? yeah, the lemon smell of citric acid.

Whatcha think it tastes like? yeah, the ****ing lemon taste of whatever makes it taste like lemon…citric acid?

This is some watery brown colored lemonade with some shitty ass watery black tea scraped from the bottom of long lost barrels arrived on the tea ship from friggin who knows where.

tea taste…? well, if you’d distillate the entire gallon, then you’d probably get about 1 cup of black tea. the shitty black tea they used to make this shitty dirty ass waterylemonade shit. >

having said that. i’ll drink the whole bottle, just to see if my pee turns brown.

update: couldnt guzzle more than 1/3 of it. if i look at it one more time i’m gonna be sick.

ps. my pee . - still yellow.  then, . my liver just destroyed caramel color of 1/3 gallon. thx. i’d rather drink cola for that.

Ito En $7/oz (ok, i just read that, i read that right, yes $7, …112/lb… damn! thats one expensive oz i bought.)

Leaf looks black, i see 1 gold tip. */* overly critical
but do you see the rightmost 2 pics? thats all gold tips… picture shadows make some look darker, but in reality theyre all gold , GOLD BABY GOLD.

this should be called Yunnan Gold Tip.*/* now i’m just mean
Where is gold tips ??!!!
Show me gold tips ! … yeah i like seinfeld

sortof blind testing - i already know taste of 2/3 (bias) but tried it anyway,
lined up the cups, tried to measure similar quantity of leaf with my dispenser, marked all the cups on the bottom,
poured water ~200F , less than 1/2 cup so about 5oz(i think i shoulda used less), took pictures, figured some time passed,
maybe 2-3 minutes. strained in bottom marked cup, took to another room, and switched the cups around.
marked the cups with their reviewing #, and started teasting: (at end i put the actual tea in the paranthesis next to the #)

please excuse the lack of ability to describe in better detail someone else could relate to

#1 (Yunnan Gold Tips .Ito En)
aroma: fermented? black + astringent +”vegetal”
taste:
not very “defined”,
most astringent,
sort of a generic black +vegetal? sourish?-pinches-”stings” the mouth cheeks
very mild and faded honey, not smoky, nothing that interests me…
not a yunnan i’d like to drink.

#2 (Premium Yunnan Black Gold (Dian Hong Cha) .Yunnan Sourcing LLC)
aroma: maybe black? …triggering memories …cant describe, chicken farm…?!
taste:
similar astringent,
taste not as powerful honey-wine as #3,
very mildly smoky (i think this is the memories stimulant). i like this one.

#3 (Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips .Yunnan Sourcing LLC)
aroma: strong “honey wine”
taste:
some mild astringency,
a dark black honey malty,
like the taste.

found at Ito En’s Flagship Store.

Aroma: mild smell, maybe DJ

Taste: wow, this is very very nice. I’m not your usual fan of DJ so this is kind of surprising to me(i liked it!)
A good, well defined flavor. The taste has a couple components, so its not monotonous. It reminds me of the darjeeling base from my favorite earl grey.

This is not overly infused as most bottled teas thus you get almost NO astringency/briskness !! just a clean tea flavor.

Ofcourse this doesn’t taste as strong as a fresh infused loose leaf tea, but they managed to create something very good.
i wouldn’t have guessed this is a bottled/rtd tea!

Overall: Wonderful ! pricing aside ($1.9/can (245ml)…!!), i would definitely get this. I hope they can package this in larger sizes, and make it cheaper. anywho, it goes on the list.
Too bad they had to put Weil’s name on it. This would have sold without it. ok, maybe not as much. maybe it will help to getting it in more supermarkets? i hope so.

Flavor: alot of “stuff” in this liquid: citrus front of mouth, straight down the tongue in the back some berry-like sort of bitter-sour, “foody”, licking the palate and tongue can feel a lingering sweetness from the added sugar (but there is almost no other sugar feel), cant really feel the honey as in their bottled Black Tea.

Alot of aftertaste around the mouth-palate: mostly a sort of sourness like after drinking black tea with sugar + the berry flavor, + a little more citrus leftovers… = unpleasant to me, feels like mouth is dirty. Only in the empty mouth, can i feel some vague distant reminders of some sort of black tea flavor.

i dont know what currant is, but i read its some kinda berry. anyway. this is some kinda black tea.

Overall: alot better composition and flavor than Snapple’s Acai thing (surprisingly i now read almost the same words in that review), but i dont like it, mostly due to aftertaste, and no tea flavor.

oh yeah, price like their other: 2.4$ (this time found at Au bon pain)

found at Myers of Keswick - Manhattan’s only British import store;
they also make some good pork pies
They have yer bunch of English teas such as Taylors, Typhoo, Twinings, PG Tips and more
(their tea list, call for availability).
I got the box of 80 tbags (13$ (good price)) .

Package: does not have any covers for the teabags; if most of the companies are doing this am i to assume the teas wont’t spoil ? (i doubt it, and i placed the bags in an airtight box).

Liquor: a very nice dark orange.

Method: 1tbag + 8oz 200F 2min.

Taste:

added milk: wow, this is so very nice! i dont usually drink tea with anything, even the pg tips i drank it clean, but this tea works so well with the milk! - there is no more astringency, and the tea flavors are combined in a very pleasing milky way.

very nice, brisk?, complex mix of flavors unlinke most others that are rather monotonous in profile.
The astringency is here, alot, but its not as strong,deep and penetrating like ex: PG Tips. It works very well with the rest of the tea. Not bitter.
The flavors i cant really describe maybe say some caramely? black tea ? … in any case its just calling for MILK to be added to it - when i first drank it i thought ?huh? wheres the milk? i shall have to add some…

Overall: very good tbag. i see i buy, i lack i find.

My preference now stands at: Taj Mahal < PG Tips < Yorkshire Gold

found at Whole Foods Market . $2.4 … !

flavor: black tea, some faint sweetness, not much astringency (i suppose from the sugars that cover it), and some mild honey flavor (i thought the black tea tasted like honey, but it was on the strong side- so i looked on the label, and yup, there it was….it pissed me off, along with all the sugar and other shit it has). It finishes with some citric/lemon in the back/backsides of the mouth. But no more other weird tastes…

lets count the words on the front label:
master tea blenders
fine teas
harney & sons
master tea blenders
organic black
crisp pure
energizing black tea
made from fresh brewed tea
16floz 473ml

ok, now… crisp & pure fresh brewed, i then imagine the contents are ‘pure black tea’ and ‘citric acid’…right… lets see:
triple filtered water
contains less than 2% of organic cane sugar
organic honey
brewed from select organic black tea
ascorbic acid
citric acid
sodium citrate

alright. so. wtf… can i just get some of that “PURE” BLACK TEA ???… gd bullshit.

overall: not bad, not bad, not sugary, but deceptive front label. It will go on the bottled tea list.

Methodical: 1tbag + 8oz @ 200F x 3-4min

Taste: maybe low keemun, smoky, some woodyness, and more astringency than flavor. Astringency doesnt quit, keeps going and going. Dryness, dusty on tongue/throat. I like to say that it reminds me when i was in middleschool, and used to chew on the No.2 pencil, which had a sortof crusty glaze on the wood - thats how this tea tastes to me - like chewing a No.2 pencil.
Ofcourse, astringency is the main “flavor” here, these, above, are detected while trying to ignore the astringency.

Again? No.

The black Yunnan tea from Royal King Brand (while not keemun, tho i dont know for sure it is yunnan and not some sort of blend)- has better flavor, so if RKB made keemun i’d like to try that.

Methodman: 1 tea bag + 8oz @ 200F, some minutes …around 3.

Taste: cant really distinguish. feels like a blend of black teas. teabag astringency. maybe ceylon blended with something. can feel that ceylon flavor i dont quite like on my tongue. Lots of tannin/astringency sticking to tongue, throat, feel dusty-dry-rough on tongue now. Astringency doesnt quit like in the PG Tips, and unlike pg tips, astringency is not replaced by a sweet aftertaste.

Overall: flavor of …anything is mild-low, astringency is more potent than flavor.

Again? no.

Will do it “English style” soon … not “Irish” ‘cos its early in the morning and drinking alcohol in the morning is considered a sign of addiction… I’ll make it Irish…later…in the afternoon

Adagio Teas 2$/ea or 24$/case of 15 + s&h
anteadote Black, Oolong, Green, White… i dont know what anteadote means, obviously a play on the Tea word, but to me it just sounds related to a medical drug or something. antidote is a substance used to neutralize a toxic substance.

Package:

Product of China.
no “organic” wording on this one… OMFG !

nice packaging: the label is really crooked, rotated on a corner… (if its the chinese packing plant, they should slap them around with a large trout.)

Liquor: dark-brown.

Smell: a little sweet, reminds me of assam.

Taste: black tea taste about medium strength, astringency is low! feels like a sortofa mixture maybe, assam-ish something. *** apparently after a little live chat on their website, they say its just Yunnan gold black tea (oops, its there too, on teh label…i should clean my glasses, …i should buy some glasses to have some to clean) … i really have to wonder where my tea tongue is at… oh yeah, here it is:

to me it tastes like an assam/sortof wine-y, maybe if i stretch it i would place it with this Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips from Yunnan Sourcing but this bottled tea i dont feel any tobacco-ish-ness-y in it.

The bottle label says something of ’smooth peppery taste’ <– what the * that means i dont know. there is no pepper of any kind in this tea, i’m pretty sure, i just went and sprinkled some on my tongue.

…after tasting, i find there is a weird little flavor i cant describe-maybe faintly medicinal, but i think its there, like in their green tea bottle.

Not much aftertaste, but doesn’t feel completely watery, some remnants on tongue and back of throat.

Overall: taste is medium, ok, not bad, if found in a store i’d buy it, but if Tejava was there… i pick Tejava Premium iced tea bottle-which is more crisp, strong, defined, astringent. should i put this one on the Favoritea Bottled tea list… well ok, there isnt much choice out there…

Following is a post by Nigel Melican, founder and Managing Director of Teacraft Ltd.
Post is originally found at rec.food.drink.tea, with his permission reproduced here.

As an antidote to the wishful thinking about the decaffeinating
effectiveness of a 30 second wash I proposed the data presented in
“Tea preparation and its influence on methylxanthine concentration” by
Monique Hicks, Peggy Hsieh and Leonard Bell which was published in
1996 in Food Research International. Vol 29, Nos 3-4, pp. 325-330.
Hicks et al measured the caffeine and theobromine (total
methylxanthine) content of six different teas (three bagged and three
loose leaf, including black, oolong and green types). They measured
caffeine extraction in boiling water at 5 minutes (69%), 10 minutes
(92%) and 15 minutes (100%). They replicated all their extractions
three times to eliminate error.
I extrapolated their data below 5 minutes which gave the following
caffeine extraction percentages (averaged over all their tea types and
formats; note while loose tea extracted marginally more slowly than
teabag tea it made only a couple of % points difference):

30 seconds……….9%
1 minute………….18%
2 minutes…………34%
3 minutes…………48%
4 minutes…………60%
5 minutes…………69%
10 minutes……….92%
15 minutes……….100%

This was very much at odds with the mythical “30 or 45 second hot
wash to remove 80% of the caffeine ” advice - as a 30 second initial wash
ofthe tea will actually leave in place 91% of the original caffeine!
Subsequent to that posting I rediscovered a paper by Professor Michael
Spiro whose group did some ground breaking physical chemistry on tea.
In “Tea and the rate of its infusion” Chemistry in New Zealand, 1981,
pp172-174, they disclose caffeine concentration diffusing into water
(4g loose leaf - it will have been CTC small fannings type - in 200 ml
water held at constant 80 deg C, and stirred with a magnetic
stirrer). First data point is at 90 seconds and shows 49% caffeine
removed from leaf (i.e. into water). Extrapolating from Spiro’s plot
gives:

30 seconds……….20%
1 minute………….33%
2 minutes…………64%
3 minutes…………76%
4 minutes…………85%
5 minutes…………88%
10 minutes……….99%
15 minutes……….100%

Thus while a 30 second “wash” under Spiro’s rather extreme laboratory
conditions (small leaf, loose in the “pot” rather than teabag, at
constant temperature and stirred vigorously) leached 20% caffeine
rather than just 9% under Hick’s more normal steeping, neither of
these findings anywhere near match the 80% decaffeination claims of
the wishful thinkers perpetuated as an Internet Myth.

Nigel at Teacraft

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

for the boys and girls without time to read and engulf the information:

30 seconds does NOT REMOVE 80% of CAFFEINE in TEA.

good for me anyway i never followed that weird notion. i will continue with my
3 minutes, in fact i’ll continue to drink my teas following the test of tongue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

supermarket (well, you know, where all the great quality all natural antioxidant fresh organic teas are found)

aye had nothing to drink, thought to lick on something new,

^click for big picture

supposedly contains fresh brewed/as opposed to stale brewed black tea (originating from south america- everyone knows southamerica is where the good black tea is made)…heres the lipton (i like them, they really try to stock every goddamn supermarket with their brand, hey ITOEN WTF ARE YOUR PEOPLE WAITING FOR???)

flavor: the citrus/lemon sensation around mouth dominates, sweetness, astringency, some tea flavor but low- still tasteable tho. some cruddy aftertaste from the sugar. the diet version has splenda if you care to know.

compared to Tazo’s Black Tea Lemonade, Lipton’s has little more black tea flavor, and less pronounced citrus.
compared to Snapple’s black tea (the earl grey), Lipton’s has little more black tea flavor, but its a small difference.

i must say, it didn’t hit like swallowing a porcupine- doesnt have such a horrible citrus /lemon spike in the tongue as i expected. overall the taste is mellow, it didnt turn out so bad. not bad mr vaseline. im still not going to put you on my list until you come out with a no sugar no splenda/other sweetener tea.

^click for big picture

all natural… ok? …alright?…but…
..i dont see… wheres the ECGC …?
……. i dont see ECGC ON THE LABEL !!! OH MY GOD WHAT HAS COME OF THE WORLD MAKING LABELS WITHOUT ECGC… yeah you know you’ll get fired.

after sticking tongue down many similar ‘tea’ drinks you know what to expect

1: lemon taste up the wazoo, citrusy all over the mouth, i admit it does taste a little better of a lemonade, maybe because its “NOT FROM CONCENTRATE”
2: it has sugar 20g/8oz so its a sweet lemonade
3: there’s Waldo?… uhhh… i mean somewhere in the citrusy depths of the liquid one can find with difficulty the taste remains of tea. more like can feel some faded tea flavor after the liquid is swallowed. swishing it around in the mouth i cant really feel anything tea-like due to the strong citrus experience.

buy again: i didnt want to buyit the first time, so i stole it from a little child who cried afterwards from not getting the daily dose of natural organic antioxidants that will counter the effects of the 2 slices of pizza 1 hamburger and 2fists of re-used oil deep fried fries, …and the 3 donuts at breakfast (no. thats not a metaphor of what i had to eat, i ate all natural organic fair trade broccoli, picked by low paid dirty&diseased illegal border-crossing spanish-speaking residents-of-Mexico. oh well, it wasnt that healthy, topped some with cheese, melted, just to make sure the antioxidants have work to do.)

Jagertee definition: “black tea” + rum (it might be some mix of black teas, likely assam?), also maybe its supposed to have sugar in it, as most mixes of tea do….ok…here goes

UPDATE: 2nd try

Yorkshire Gold 2 teabags + 5-6oz water @ boil x 3-4 minutes, remove tbags, squeeze tbags a little. waited to cool (not long enough, and you can see on the glass some of the condensation)

Rum [Malibu Carribean Rum Coconut Flavor]
1 tablespoon (eye’d…)
Sugar (the rum is sweet, but i added 1 tablespoon sugar for my taste).

Taste: much better: malty, black tea taste similar to the original component tea, some of the nuances are covered/mixed with the alcohol & sugar. The “briskness”/astringency of the tea can be felt in everydrink, but its less strong than the tea without alcohol&sugar. At the end can feel the alcohol “burning” the buccal mucosa (mouth). the coconut flavor i forgot to notice it, heh, there’s another reason to re-try this again… and as you notice it was daylight…. this is not my usual routine - alcohol in the morning - but i had to wake myself up with somethin! right? right?

Overall: tea taste was present and very apparent, alcohol blended very well in this “recipe”. None of the flavors seemed to dominate the other- are able to enjoy a variety of tastebud tinglings, so i think it turned out good.

*PS: alcohol is bad, damages liver, stomach linings, direct toxic effect on some cells, hepatitis, cirrhosis, pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, etc etc. Alcohol+ smoking a major cause of esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer and more. I don’t like mind altering substances, i enjoy reality as it is… Oh, you’re wondering why i had the rum… Shit. you got me….Oh wait, i know, its for educational purposes only. not that it means give it to students, students should not drink in class.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st try:

yunnan black [Yunnan Pure Small Bud Black Tea Gold Tips .YS] (i dont have any assam right now)
(infused a tad longer to give it some astringency)
quantity: ~ 1/4 of 4oz gaiwan (so thats 1oz ?)

rum [Malibu Carribean Rum Coconut Flavor]
quantity: i’d say ~1 teaspoon.. maybe it was too much.

result–> surprisingly most of the tea taste is gone… i dont think i sense any astringency…!… i dont know… tastes alcoholic somewhat watery… tea? what tea?
ok i think i might have had too much alcohol to tea ratio… i just dont like to spoil 4oz of good tea… ah.

Tavalon Tea Bar

12oz $2.5 …5 minutes like they said…

gonna get right to it: very astringent. wow. that was some slap on my tongue. really, i just could not take it too much… couple sips i threw it away. i confess, i am a little baby. i rather more preferred the other black i tried there - yunnan.
Either thats how its done, and i dont like it, or was steeped too long,

either way, they should have suggested some milk or sugar when i got it. (at least for the people who dont know what assam is).

Tavalon Tea Bar
12oz cup at $2.50 +1.50(uhm… “premium tea” extra bonus price? special water? royal cup?)

they sell this on their website for … 108$/lb …!

waited like 5 minutes for the cup.

12oz hot water + tealeaf bag.

taste: uhm… mild yunnan, minor astringency, watery-not much aftertaste.
yeah. i didnt feel too royal after drinking this, except by having the money to throw around…

in contrast to this watery thingy i ‘enjoyed’ some assam…

Yunnan Sourcing LLC $24/250g = $2.72/oz
Production period: Spring 2007
“Early spring tea is picked when the buds are still young, the tea is then rolled, briedly fermented and then wok-dried by hand. The flavor is the smoothest… “

Dry leaf: leaf smells pretty medium-high like apricot+honey
theres little hairs on the leaf, and leaves behind plenty of golden dust on the paper.

Method: 1 blk dispenser ‘tbsp’ 3min 190F, also tried 200F

Liquor: probably the same golden dust makes a contribution to liquor being cloudy, and adds some frothyness on the margins of the cup(when it dries you can see the gold dust particles), also the gold dust adds texture in the last sips (when most it is settled around the bottom of the cup). [the picture here is from 2nd or 3rd infusion].

Flavor: mmmm yunnan, id say flavor is more strong/prominent than the premium yunnan from them maybe its the young leaf it has stronger flavor to be extracted= there is a more prevalent sort of mild astringency feeling, not very harsh, aftertaste does not stay long. but its not watery as some of the cheap crap yunnan from WHF.

i’m not going to say smoothest flavor. i’ve had smooth, this does not fit that.

i’d say this taste profile goes towards my ‘foody’ sensation, and wine-y. some tobacco-ish sensations?! ,,, …not my liking. i think im about to say it feels …confusing… might be due to my feel of the astringency and the prominent flavor - i think they wine-y part reminds me of keemun/qimen. no, i think its sort of …darjeeling-ish, from that tobacco sensation. oy.

this definitely has caffeine. yup… not felt that in a while from a tea. i think its rather strong. good for me, i need it at the moment.

Overall: i like it. but i personally prefer yunnan with a touch of smokiness, not the wine-ceylon-foody (as i sense it).

Yunnan Sourcing LLC

info added after tasting:
16.4/250 g = $1.86/oz :O :O
“Fall 2006 tea * Aged just enough
liquor is mellow, smooth but with a depth of flavor that is not to be missed. Other black teas don’t stand up to this!”

Dry: This smells good from 1 meter away (thats 3 feet). I’ve not seen a black tea with such long intact leaves in my last year of tasting teas! (or maybe i have, what do i know, i’m getting senile anyway…)

Method: 1black scoop “tbsp” 4oz @ 190F

Liquor: little dust/residue in the liquor. smell hint of smoky.

interruption: Ohhhhh sooo goood…. mmmmm…
…ok… i’m back…

Tongue: so good… “full taste” (fills mouth with flavor), chocolaty aftertaste with a little tiny astringency, oh so nice

not bitter, not wine, not watery, not “foody” (personal sensation)

i want to say ’soft’ but not lacking flavor, soft as in not rough, no unpleasant astringency, everything melts very nice on the tastebuds. i think as they say it ‘mellow‘ is better.

good, longlasting aftertaste.

i so want to describe the flavor in more detail but i dont have any other words to match…

Compared: to the yunnan gold from Jing Tea, Jing’s was more caramel (but it had what i call “foody-ceylon” flavor which is not my preference). another comparison with Yunnan Gold Tips looseleaf tea .Ito En

Overall: lets just say… friggin’ awesome (imho) three thumbs up (thats all the thumbs i got).

why no tea delivery why? see what you maked me do?

today we’ll implement our Tgrade rating system. just for fun.

metal box with freshness preserving seal.

Tgrade start: 7

(-1) diced up 1mm leaf bits and pieces. ok with strainer.

smell: (-1)
1/3 tobacco
1/3 hot meat
2/3 hot vapors of green bellpepper

taste:
BITTER ASTRINGENCY FROM HELL !!! i think its a new record ! yay ! MOTHER OF VIRGIN JESUS SLAP ME WITH A DEAD PORCUPINE (-1)
1/3 tobacco
2/3 green bellpepper skins
ok lets just stop right there.

lets see, i’d categorize this as… “taste of ass” (Tgrade paragraph 7 line 12), which conforming to the Tgrade rules earns you an extra + (-10).

Tgrade = (-6) (7 -1 -1 -1 -10)
not bad…. not bad at all if used for compost or having a dumpster space filler.

blend, pyramid teabags, bad packaging just like the taj.

^ largest teabag picture ever! sorry

I think the English (people who live in England) fancy this T quite a bit/ not everybody thank goodness: Twobs
I wonder how the English drink their PG tips?
1. milk , milk + sugar
2. lemon, + sugar?

as the debate goes milk in first or milk in last (Cha Bei)?
i decide im in the mif category: lazy, dont have to stir

What can i say, mixed with milk totally removes astringency, but even so not my taste- so i add some(ok,alot) of sugar. I think taste is then pretty good and strong. Compared to Assam Taylors of harrogate that had a bit more funk to it, id say more kindof a fermented-tangyness, but flavor wasnt as strong (unless i did it with too much water.)

1 tbag + 7oz + 208F + 3min = flavor kind of slaps your mouth: STRONG ASTRINGENCY,
black tea taste sort of assam, rather a wine-y & feeling of fermented ?flavor - sour?
strong aftertaste, numbs the tastebuds (covered up with tannin, but can feel some astringency in the back) after which it lets taste a medium strength sweet-winey.

not bad… i thinks more pleasant experience than the brooke bond taj mahal which seemed bland? ill have to check with lost memories… yeah the bb taj was just a bland assam maltiness

on second try, @ 1.5min, still too astringent-bitter-sour whatever, need to put milk or sugar in this shit to calm it down.
dont like it.no.

some brooke bond commercials bideos on you-tube

Overall: My preference now stands at: Taj Mahal < PG Tips < Yorkshire Gold

Dobra Tea ~$2.5 /oz

4min 190F 8oz 1′tbsp’ dispenser (blk one)
mild* assam flavor*, malty*, caramely *
astringency

*I dont remember the exact flavor and astringency levels of the assams i had -which did not get more of since going the chinese tea route discovered teas with low astringency allowing more pleasant cups of tea- so i dont know exactly how mild the flavor is in this one, thus i am unable to give it a fair rating….

ah who am i kidding, i’m not the tea oscars judge: –> 4/7 dont like astringency, might be put down with some sugar & milk which i’ll try next!

thank the beejeesus i never paid money for this, or its posesesed black tea ‘decaf’ !!? bretheren
some kind of shiteous black tea astringent blend combined with chemical-hospital-like-taste
nowhere remniscent of any earl grey flavors i’ve tasted before.

… its craptastic ! ! ! !
keep away this devil food

I really messed the
picture before this
post, so it is a weird
coincidence. Shall we
try to express the
horror that is this ?
Here goes..
!!!      HORROR      !!!
a narrow astringency
of black tea tanins,
maybe its cinnamon?
tangyness, tartness,
just horrible horror …

CEST PAS BON, OK?

a chemistry person
once told me the way
they decaffeinate
coffee creates chemicals
which are carcinogenic
i wonder if that goes
the same with decaf T.

if youre wondering why i said i dont like breakfast blends, but i keep drinking them… the answer is: my trash is empty, and i need to feel like i’m paying the garbage pickup for a reason. this seems to have better ‘quality’ than the Darvilles of Windsor blend; still…

flavor: 3/4 strong black tea astringency, i think more of a wine-y assam flavor. strong aftertaste, coating, with a touch of sweetness at the end of a couple minutes. yup better overall than the bland DoW English Breakfast.

it deserved to be rated: 2.25/7

oh yeah, roadtrip landed in Springfield Mmaassaacchhuusseettss (thats right, i didnt win the spelling bee.)

Marriott in downtown Springfield. 2 tea bags one of which was this. 2? 1 breakfast, 1 chamomile, i say room was for 2, that shoulda prepared 4tbags, but its probably standard hotel procedure, i mean its not like it costs 150$/nite.

town had a creep-y quality to it, maybe its just the downtown (crime statistics, ah numbers, what do they mean anyway?).

on a 2 digit numbered floor, the hotel being rite next to the freeway on high heels & bridge(s) imparts a somewhat vibratory quality to the floors which requires (me) an accommodation time as i unnaturally fear the wonderful vibratory qualities while encased in large man made structures.

Had some trouble aquiring alcoholic type beverage needed to quench a drunkards cheap thrills. supermarkets didnt sell alcohol, we had to drive to the nearest liquor store… alrighty then, weirdos.

Bored in the T-J-Maxx.. what am i supposed to do 1 hour while someone else plays with 3 clothes for 1 hour? huh? huh?
i guess… buy some ‘tea’ if one is to believe tea is to be found in a tj maxxx.

the package really convinced me of the quality, they’re appointed by the Queen of England you know.

flavor: 3/4 black tea astringency, 1/3 some black tea blend non-foody assam.

now, what am i to do with 49 tea bags ? huh ? HUH?

if a hobo is to dumpster dive my trash he’ll be really happy to enjoy some ‘quality teas’ from a company that “has been blending and supplying teas since 1860… the oldest established business in Windsor”

with tea like this it must be the english hobos that keep you in business.

maybe its supposed to go with some milk and shoogha’ but that gives me diarrhea.

//dont mind me, very groggy from waiting on a chinese tea delivery, stuck with drinking Tbags.

had this at the Essex Inn, Vermont (nice place, location of the New England Culinary Institute.)

tea seems to be a chopped up (not dust) black tea blend, in a plastic tea bag.

received 1 teabag in what looked like ~16oz water.

needless to say: flavor 1/3 = low, smell was stronger than flavor. some astringency but low - nice part.

Not bad, but not too good either.

but much better than the horror Stash English breakfast tea bags they have in rooms.

If this is the company that produces the tea: http://www.vtartisancoffee.com/objects/30.itml/icOid/30
looks like theyre very busy in the tea business- oolongs!?

found at whole foods nyc columbus circle

whole foods has a coffee & tea place inside, starbucks like, pay there not at the exit checkout.
it houses a variety of Rishi teas (of course fair trade antifloxidants organic usda angus beef natural ecgc et c . e tc.)
for sale as loose leaf tea in containers, or to buy in a cup of boiled water.
large cup of tea is 1.95$, but they just put it in more water.

between concrete, grass, tea… and … can you spot the owl?

this keemun wasnt bad, good taste, strong keemun flavor. not bad. good purchase 1 of 3 (1bad green t, 1bad black t).

buy again: yup. if you’re at the whole foods AVOID the bottled teas and get some of these teas instead. much better choice.

didnt take a pic of this cos it didnt deserve it.

bad boy.

let me down after that good Giant Peach …

ehhhh….

brown poo: mild + weird sweet taste 1/3 black tea taste, weird tea blend i think dont know wtf it is…

unfortunately i drank it, along with a “green” poo from honest tea

PLEASE STOP ME FROM BUYING THIS SHIT, or…this shit

this is horrible, citrus/lemon, COLORED WATER !

this is their regular yunnan black, the cheapest one. yeah, indeed.

2.25$ for 1/4lb (4oz)

leaf smells good. thats the only good part.

and so it does smell good after infusion: thick creamy soft yunnan black,

taste: … ~2/7 low flavor,
if my tongue is not messed up this is “thick”, low flavor yunnan, astringency medium, maybe low smoky.
good aftertaste.

.
feeeling confused… the smoky sensation, lack of flavor.

T-score: .NO. definitely.

“lightly sweetened”

new? first ive seen it anywhere, got this and another they had in the fridge: Orange Pekoe

kinda hurt my wallet, ~2$ (incl NY tax)

very hot days of ny/long island, full of wonderful humidity

lets see:…
cold, watery,
lemon/citrus sensation
washed-super-diluted tea taste, very faded earl grey flavor
cant really sense the sugar,
annoying aftertaste probably from any sugar combined with the citrus sensation.

T-rating: 1.5/7 = hell no , got better ways of wasting money.

… and then i get really pissed off, with tasting their orange pekoe 

so i thinks… lets try some mixing today…. hoping to make snapple iced tea TASTE LIKE TEA,

but i was wrong.  dont know what snapple puts in its drink, but its so strong it blocks all other tastes… this sweet citrusy/lemon, mildly astringent liquid…

8oz snapple + 1 tbsp yunnan black loose tea (now i feel kinda wasted it…and it was gold tip too…)

result: 1 snapple flavor with a totally separate perfumy creamy yunnan black flavor (blunted by the strong snapple flavor).

this totally does not work.

i dont even think ill try to mix it with anything else, it obviously will block out any real tea taste.

local store NY: ~2$ /1.41oz /20 tea bags

“organic, no preservatives” (…says Royal King from the Republic of China), i do believe them… really… seriously… i swear

Method 2: 2 teabags ~ 8oz ~3? min, 190F–>

Taste: better, more familiar tho still …rather mild yunnan black tea flavor, and somewhat watery,
mild astringency/tanninic, some very low aftertaste - coating the tongue, palate.
but i have to say: better than lipton :O :O (@_@)

hot the liquid tasted ok, but some minutes later, the about room temp liquor tasted almost like nothing, i had to wash my mouth to retaste and most of the flavor was astringent.

Method 3: 2teabags and then stirred around, stressed them a little, and there is a little more taste, more astringency, and prominent cruddy tea bag taste. NASTY.

Method 1:1tbag/4oz … not even 4oz of water could concentrate some f* damn flavor…

taste: watery, faded, yunnan black tea flavor, no astringency.

poor results thusfar.

will try 2 teabags in 6oz water…
i figure more infusion time or more tbags will throughly ‘astringentize’ this infusion… oh well, we’ll see…

Overall: final score 2.0/7 … no… thats not a good score= i would not buy this on purpose… damn, its getting rather depressing with all this tasteless stuff…

aka Breakfast Americana

found at Corner Bakery in Pasadena

this tea sux. dropped 1/2 the hot water then infused the tea bag.

bland, boring, tasteless. threw in a ton o sugar and that gave me some incentive to sip this liquid.

again: no.

(their website contains some of the most abundant bullshit ive seen.)

tbags

1/2 cup 3min or more

ok flavor, the pleasant kind of bergamot, went down good without sugar, low astringency

3.5/7

tbags

ok 1/2 cup water, 3 min or more

flavor assamy with some minor ceylonish flavor ,

not bad: 3/7 , low astringency

at The Coffee Bean

loose leaf bagged & infused in store

flavor: pretty strong flavor, assam regular malty, astringency quickly follows extra time spent in the hot water,
some throat dryness from the tannins - i did not mind , am familiar with the feeling.

dont remember any sweetness in aftertaste tho…

Was having a really bad headache… figured caffeine withdrawal

Ralphs has a really excellent tea selection *sarcasm*,
they were out of the Teajava black tea bottle so had to go with powdered tea…

but i did pick this because it had somewhat good details on the box: Assam and Kenyan black tea, and indicated a medium flavor, individually packaged teabags for longer freshness

yes indeed well below 1/2 the flavor of the Brooke Bond Taj Mahal
flavor ~1.1/7, low-mild astringency

did not relieve my headache, so not sure if it has alotta caffeine

definitely not, .no ,this is shit.

sample from Jing Tea

opened the bag: good smell, black Yunnan - with a bit of flowery.

testing here being compared to local shop’s (WHF’s Yunnan GTR 1105).

leaf: very nice, long, soft, golden, with tiny hairs (guess: which break off and create the gold dust-the third image which is very close-up zoomed picture). Leaf is much nicer than WHF. Jing wins 1-0

infusion: just boiled water dipped for 3min.

liquor: brownish, WHF’s cloudier but red in color… Jing wins 2-0
liquor: smells winey, it seems to remind me of a ceylon, WHF’s smells smoky.

dont know why i couldnt get the liquor to come out as i see it, but WHF is more red in color, Jing’s is brownish. Difference is minor. The picture is a combination of both therefore not a true representation of either.

flavor: the specific yunnan taste, malty, CARAMEL but in my taste its got a touch of what i call ‘ceylon’ (from last time i drank a ceylon black tea). While WHF got a touch of SMOKY flavor (not disgusting gasoline like that lapsang i had).

Conclusion: excellent yunnan, handsome leaf, yes. id go for a couple pounds.

well what you gonna do when you have a free giftcard??? SPEND IT!

had this tea at The Coffee Bean with a big glazed muffin thing, went down good.

flavor (of tea): medium , astringency medium & alot of aftertaste-by which i mean alot of tannins (which give it the astringency) left all over my mouth.
tea tasted mostly like an assam with a bit of “ceylon” flavor.

review sample from JingTea.com (UK).

this is a nice keemun, an interresting great keemun. … its got a little suprise.

Leaf:

LEFT: Keemun Mao Feng: leaf is longer, more delicate, with a curly appearance.

RIGHT: Keemun Hao Ya (regular keemun).

.

Method: 3min @ ~90C/198F (yes. who brews black tea @ less than boiling…. yes… who… me that’s who.)

Taste: Infusion 1, 2 : smells like keemun, tastes like keemun, woody-chocolaty-keemuny yup, …but there is a little extra flavor somewhere there… @infusion 4 -> here it is: the flavor turns to a mao fengish green tea…(?) Might be that the tea is not enough oxidized/fermented to a ‘perfect’ black tea status. not sure.

so, taste overall: 4.7/7.

Overall: its an ok tea, not to my liking though.

When drinking black tea with moderate or more astringency the tannins that remain in the mouth actually kinda inhibit my sense of hunger (unless my stomach is already growling).

forgot to add this to my ‘article‘

Russian are the biggest importer of black tea (which does still contain ‘flavonoids’ aka ‘antioxidants’)

russian life expectancy: 61 years (men), 73 years (women) …

This is a black tea grown in Java, brewed in California (as per their website).

its unsweetened yay!, a US made tea that keeps it real!

and look no bullsh*t on the label (sofar) … no ‘organic’ , no ‘all natural’ ,  no ‘