Due East Tea Company

It’s been a while since I had a smooth black version of this one. Wintergreen Mint and cinnamon notes are apt. It’s fairly resilient to astringency, but it can get there. It was like a melted chocolate candy cane when I sipped it after an accidental western steep. Otherwise, it had the usual notes of tomato and eucalyptus as well. It’s a very good example, and a sample I was glad to have. I’m not sure if $13 an ounce is a good price, however.

Western cup. It took some time to develop. It was a vaguely light, Darjeeling type tea that was a little bit dry. The almond and peach notes did not develop until the second brew. It was muscatel throughout, but kinda flat. I’m glad I tried it anyway.

This is a solid one. It had the marigold lemon loaf flavor that I loved in previous Yu Shans with some pineapple notes. It was very creamy, a little bit savory and sweet like corn bread. It also had a floral vanilla in the hints, and it had a little bit of spinach notes that are so slight to give the background some body. It was more cake-ish than I expected, however, and more savory.

$13 bucks an ounce is a little much for this, however. That’s the only reason why I’m not rating it in the 90’s.

Warning: the next few notes are primarily oolong based.

This was the next sample, and the notes were keen. Orchid and lily were prominent, although this tea was light in the first steeps gong fu using these three grams in 5 oz. I was going to use less water, but used the standard 15 sec rinse, and 30 second beginning with 15 increments. Clover and honey became more prominent in steep four, and the tea became sweeter. Clover flower is a little bit more apt. After long 4 minute brews in the eighth brew, some fruity notes popped through like fruit loops in cereal, shifting my evaluation from regular to above average.

So I can safely recommend this one for its subtlety, but it is a little bit expensive for the varietal. It’s worth a try for those who are curious about the company.

This is the first time this company’s on here, so I went with the Facebook marketing machines and decided to check this company out. They got a collection of most go to’s for Chinese, Indian, and Taiwaneese teas, and their oolong was dominated by gaoshan. The sampling was limited to three grams, with the lowest price being 99 cents, so hopefully, going through a small sampler will pan out and be its money worth.

It’s nearly been four years since I’ve had a Butterfly oolong, and this tea was a pretty good example that did not want to die. I thought that this tea was just another version of a Tieguanyin, but apparently, it’s a greener Wuyi oolong. Their notes are pretty spot on since orchid and a little bit of honey dominated the flavor and aroma in every cup, and it had a caramelized edge to it that you only get in some oolongs. They describe it being like toffee and hinted by peach, which I can see. I got eleven brews of it gong fu, but the flavor did not change that much. Orchid lead the rinse, and the toffee and peach became more prominent in brew 3 and 4. The later brews became a little bit too floral and grassy.

So, this is a good tea with a good mouthfeel. I would have gotten a lot more in the days before I was converted to Taiwaneese oolongs, but now, I am just satisfied that I tried it and will not get more. It’s also a little too pricey for me in my opinion.