Mighty Leaf Tea’s Jade Oolong is a good introduction to green (very lightly oxidized) oolongs. If most of your experience with oolongs has been with darker, more oxidized varieties, a Jade Oolong will probably be a very pleasant surprise. It has a pronounced but general floral note and is very spring-like and aromatic. Any oolong [...]
I have an odd relationship with lavender; while I don’t really care for the scent of it at all (and that’s the way it’s most commonly used here in the U.S.), I do enjoy the flavor of it, particularly combined with other flavors. Lavender and tea is a natural pairing in my eyes. When I [...]
The difference between Jing Tea’s Pre Rain Dragon Well Supreme Green Tea (Long Jing) and that green stuff available for under $4/lb in grocery stores labeled as “Dragon Well” is akin to the difference between an Elvis-themed wedding chapel in Las Vegas and the Cathedral at Notre Dame. In other words, don’t go to Vegas. [...]
The thing that initially caught my attention about DAVIDsTEA’s Reserve Collection Organic Silverback White was that part of its name referenced the top member of a gorilla troup, which led inescapably to my curiosity to try it. On a less conceptual level, I was also quite intrigued by a white tea grown and processed in [...]
Rishi’s Organic Ancient Pu-erh Classic is a very nice, somewhat mild pu-erh. I would hazard a guess that even people who dislike most pu-erhs due to their earthiness would find it pleasant. At the same time people who are accustomed to drinking pu-erhs are likely to find it perfectly respectable as well. It’s a flexible [...]
White tea is currently the darling of the tea-for-health crowd and has been for a while. As a result, inflated claims of its benefits are prevalent, most often alongside heavy-handed sales solicitations. White tea can not cure malaria or clean your fish tank, but it does have some scientifically verified benefits. I’m not particularly interested [...]
Organic Rou Kuei Oolong from auraTea is a wonderful and unusual tea. It is a darker oolong with pretty long red leaves. The dry leaves emit a nice woodsy scent, foreshadowing a nice tea liquor. The brewed tea has a rich flavor that tastes almost like it has been roasted, like mesquite coated in molasses. [...]
I hardly ever drink Ceylon tea, so when I received the sample of Broken Orange Pekoe from Plucker’s Pick, I was a little concerned that I would dislike it due to its type, regardless of its quality. I was delighted to find that my concern was completely unfounded. As most tea drinkers know, Sri Lanka [...]
Before any of the tea samples arrived, I spent some time on the auraTeas website and found it quite nicely laid out and easy to navigate. Searching for particular teas by type or by region is a pretty smooth process. There are a few errors in English throughout the site, but they’re not too distracting. [...]
I was not feeling particularly toxic, but I decided that it would be a good time to try the Organic Detox Infusion that Mighty Leaf sent us. This tisane is a blend of ingredients with known medicinal properties: peppermint, burdock root, dandelion root, spearmint, licorice root, red clover flowers, basil. There are good details on [...]
