Tea of the Week – Wuyi Dark Roast Oolong

Oolong Tea

Name: Wuyi Dark Roast Oolong

Type: Oolong

Region: Wuyi mountains, Fujian, China

Bought At: Samovar

Price: $4 for a “one pot” sample

First Impressions: Dark, very earthy smell

Review:

The first thing that was interesting to me was that the instructions said to rinse the leaves with boiling water to “awaken” them.  I had heard that some people do this, but have never seen it on the instructions of any before.  Regardless, once brewed the tea was a dark cup, with a very heavily roasted smell (hence the name I suppose…)  Given the darkness and roasted smell, I was expecting something with a fairly bitter aftertaste, not so.  It actually was quite smooth, very full, and good.  I was expecting a lot more powerful taste but it is actually very mellow. I also enjoyed that you could make multiple cups from the same leaves, I think it helps justify the higher cost. Overall very good, not really what I was expecting, but good!
My Rating:

3.5 / 5

–brent
(Teageek.org Founder)

Tea of the Week – Mocha Nut Mate

Herbal Tea

Name: Mocha Nut  Mate

Type: Herbal

Region: Brazil

Bought At: Adagio.com

Price: $2 for a ten cup sample

First Impressions: Chocolaty, hazelnut aroma

Review:

The last of my mate sampler, mocha nut mate was a pleasant surprise.  I am not sure why, but I didn’t have very high expectations going into this tea.  I was expecting something earthier, but to my surprise, this was a very sweet and pleasant tea.  The mocha and hazelnut flavoring is quite strong, and I suspect fans of those flavors of coffee would very much enjoy this. I did notice the caffeine was a bit higher than normal, definitely not something to try before you go to bed!

My Rating:

3.5 / 5

Tea of the Week – Sencha Vanilla

Green Tea

Name: Sencha Vanilla

Type: Green

Region: Unknown, Probably Japan

Bought At: The Seasoned Home

Price: $2.49 per ounce

First Impressions: Wonderfully sweet, vanilla scent

Review:

I recently have been trying several teas from a local tea shop – The Seasoned Home, located in Holland Michigan.  I received a few of their teas as Birthday and Christmas presents and so far they have all been very good.  Sencha green is a mild green, mixed with just the right amount of vanilla to give it a nice sweet taste without overpowering the tea.  It lacks any bitterness and has all of my favorite qualities of a green tea.  It’s very smooth, very sweet, very good, and I will be buying more!

Note: If you go into the store to buy this it will be labeled Green Tea Vanilla  not Sencha Vanilla – but it’s the same tea.

My Rating:

3.5 / 5

–brent
(Teageek.org Founder)

New Year Resolutions

Misc.

I started this blog about a year ago partially as a new year’s resolution.  Since it is another new year, I thought it fitting to set some new goals.  Originally I wasn’t sure what I would do, I thought about changing the focus of the site and stopping the weekly reviews entirely, but I really enjoy trying new tea, and it is a good way to make myself find different kinds.

Over Christmas vacation, my family learned about this blog, and I was surprised how many of them were interested in it.  Mostly they had questions about tea.   Does it have health benefits?  Which one has the most caffeine?  Do black and green tea really come from the same plant?  I realized that a lot of people are interested in tea, but don’t really know anything about it.  So, in the coming year I will be trying to answer one common question about tea a month.  If you have one you are interested in, leave it in the comments and I will try to answer it!

–brent
(Teageek.org Founder)