Postcard Teas

I don’t know if I did something wrong, but I tried this Western-style multiple times at different temperatures and kept getting a tongue-cuttingly astringent brew – super strong black tea and scented oils in the worst way where I couldn’t finish the cup. I got the bag fresh in 2020 as a gift from a friend a few weeks after he received it from the UK. Ended up putting it aside for a year and when I next opened it unfortunately it had gone mouldy. And I actually felt relieved that I could throw it away.

30s(rinse)/10s/10s/10s/10s/8s/8s/8s/8s/8s/8s/8s/10s/15s/15s…

Dried leaves are tightly rolled into pea-sized balls, whose aroma is softly perfumed— hints of jasmine, orchid, and honeysuckle— when rinsed. Broth starts as a very pale yellow with red hints but emerges into a stronger honey color with green undertones as the leaves unfurl with continued infusions. As the leaves unfurl, you see some leaves and some tips (leaf/bud combos) of medium size. The green is mossy with occasional spots of a clearer emerald. Flavor is comparably soft but sweet and floral like honeysuckle in the height of summer, with a note of fresh green vegetables (asparagus?) on the back end. There is no astringency. The tea is smooth and easy to enjoy, relaxed without falling into the categories of either bright or warm. Its most comparable to those dazed moments in the sun on an early warm day, under trees and listening to the wind blow. I’m sorry I’m waxing a little overly poetic here but get this tea. Its so incredibly lovely.

Brewed in 80ml porcelain gaiwain.

This is my daytime cold tea now. With the leaves from the first hot steeps I made cold steep, and this is unsweetened because how could I ever? It is too good just like this.

I think there is almost no beverage more refreshing on a hot day than cold puerh. It is thirst quenching like cold water, but the mineral and earthy flavors make it so much more satisfying and somehow it tastes purer than water to me. Since this is made from leaves that were already steeped to make hot tea, the caffeine content should be low enough that it won’t keep me up tonight, but I will be switching to only decaf/caffeine free options from here on this evening.

My puerh prompt fulfillment created a sipdown! I had to add this tea and I can’t believe there are no tasting notes from me on this one as I have had it for many years. I was probably too lazy to add it and just didn’t review, but since it is A. still available B. fulfills a prompt and C. is a sipdown, I will make the effort.

Superanna bought this for me in London long, long ago. I am a little bit mad at myself because I decided to make this for breakfast and did not realize just how large the remaining chunk was. It really was enough for two full sessions, so I have made 21 quart pictures of cold puerh to drink over the next few days. That is in addition to the four steps I had at breakfast. Suffice it to say that this one is a great resteeper.

I did give it a quick rinse and it really could have stood two as it was a little reluctant to open up. Once saturated, it gives and gives. The water turns dark almost immediately on early post-rinse steeps. I don’t mind, I love dark puerh if it is nice and smooth like this. One carafe for the fridge is actually steeps five through nine poured quickly. The other carafe is steep ten plus the leaves added to cold water. It is already dark enough to look like sweet tea after just thirty minutes or so. As I sad, I accidentally overleafed.

All in all, it was a very good shu.

Arby Advent Day 7
I fully expected not to like this one. It just smelled so herby. I’m happy to say I was wrong! It tastes like buttery spinach, and for some reason, that is really hitting the spot right now. Thanks Arby! This calendar really is getting me to try teas I never would normally go for.

I really enjoy a good smokey tea, especially during the winter months and have found it interesting to drink this from Postcard teas. It is made of a blend of Assam, Lapsang and their Beijing Breakfast tea. I have been lucky enough to try and enjoy both their Lapsang and Beijing Breakfast and it is interesting to see how they interact with each other in this blend.

I have brewed in a gaiwan but have used longer infusions and slightly below boiling water. I managed to get 5 good infusions out of the tea, though the first 3 were by far the most rounded and full with later infusions leaning more towards a subtle smoke and mineral flavour with less of the richness and depth of the earlier brews. The earlier brews initially hit you with a good wood smoke taste which was followed by a smooth malty base to the tea with a touch of sweet brown sugar coming through as well.

Even though the tea is mostly about the interaction between the smokey Lapsang and the malty Beijing Breakfast, which is very enjoyable, it has been particularly interesting to note the mineral notes from the wuyi Lapsang coming through on later brews as the malt from the Beijing Breakfast fades away. Perhaps I will have to start making my own smoked blends as well……

Very satisfying chai tea. The spices are quite intense, and the fact that the fragments are large gives it a genuine feel.

This is a very tasty roasted oolong tea. I had a pack last year which I enjoyed very much and picked up a new pack when I passed London.

It is not as buttery as I remember it from last year but still very smooth and easily drinkable. I didn’t count the number of steeps I got out of this but I finished two thermoses of hot water before I went for the long steeps. The cooled down, infused overnight tea tasted really good as well.

The black tea that changed my mind about what a black tea could be. Intoxicating, layered with flavour, and yet not overpowering. I finished my first tin of this two years ago, and recently bought another after a visit to London. While it no longer blows me away, I am still very fond of this tea.

I served this today at tea party with iced pumpkin coffee cake. I always make three teas for tea party day and I usually drink all three. If there is a tea that someone else particularly loves, I will stick to another so they can have more of their favorite.

Today I was the one who had a favorite and I didn’t ask – after the first round of cups I kept pouring this one for me! It was even better than the first time I had it.

I think the first time I made it I used boiling water for four minutes. Today I used 200F instead. I don’t know if that is what made the difference but it is more in line with their instructions. This tea just sparkled today!

The coffee cake was spiced and pumpkin-y, but when I sipped the tea there were always lovely flavors breaking through – fruity at times, and sweet caramel. This cake could easily overcome some teas but didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for this one. We were one person low today, so I helped myself! Very nice.

What better way to start a hurricane day than with tea? I couldn’t decide what to have for breakfast. Nothing sounded good and the morning dragged on and finally I thought of cheese toast. The pooch and I love cheese toast and tea is so fabulous with it, especially on a blustery day.

This is one of the teas Superanna bought me in London. She actually bought it and had them ship it to me so I could see the adorable postcard that matches the tea and gives the shop its name.

It steeps up pale for a black tea and is somewhat like the only other Laoshan tea I have tried. They are obviously high quality teas and not your average daily drinker. There is a tingle to your mouth when you drink this one, not of astringency that needs milk to soothe it, just a sort of sparkle to remind you that you are having something special.

As for the storm – hubby is essential personnel at the military base nearby. He worked from 7 am Friday to 7 am Saturday. He came home and slept and got a hot meal and then went back for a couple of hours before the city announced a curfew and pulled all electrical crews off the streets because the winds were too strong to use bucket trucks and too many roads were flooded. Since there was nothing their crews could do, many were able to go home but he has to go back tomorrow.

Our city flooded last week from the heaviest rains in the state and roads and bridges washed out. The ground here as already saturated. We got over 14 inches of rain today. There were 72 water rescues last time I checked. Trees are down everywhere and the city has a five page list of roads that are closed. A number of dams were breached or failed. We have had more damage than the coastal towns.

Thankfully we are dry with only a small roof leak and we have power, though the pump stations have gone down so water is just a trickle and we are under a boil advisory until they get it fixed and cleared.

My daughter, Superanna, went to London a couple of weeks and brought me LOTS of tea. She sent me a link to look at this shop, and in addition to buying tea to bring home to me, she bought one tea and had it shipped from the store so I could see their adorable postcards that match the label of each tea.

When she asked me if I had tried this tea yet, knowing Keemun is a favorite of mine, I told her I was saving it for a special time. Today was time. I decided to take a morning for myself and enjoy some good tea.

I had tried one new Keemun last week that I bought as a daily drinker. I knew by the price it should be serviceable but wasn’t top of the line. I tried it and it was good, simple, not complex, no milk needed to smooth out roughness, no sugar needed to add interest.

But this one – oh, this one. When I measured out the leaves for this tea, I noticed they didn’t seem very large. What a surprise when I took out the infuser minutes later and saw big, tan/brown leaves and an aroma hit me that made me want to weep with gratitude.

There are layers of scent and layers of flavor. It has lovely, full body and it tastes of sweet molasses/honey with malt and walnut. If anything distracted me during breakfast, one sip of the tea arrested my attention and brought me back to fully enjoying the cup.

Kudos, Postcard Teas. You’re not just a pretty face.

This is perfection in a cup.

I wished i open this tea earlier. This is an absolute gem. The leaves give a delicate earthy scent. The first sip provide peace and tranquility. The aftertaste of the lotus transports you to a different time and place.

This is the tea i goes to when to sooth myself after a hectic week at work.

Note: This blend uses less leaves than most other tea. I oversupplied the first time and the tea came out bitterish, the second is perfection.

I keep coming back to this tea and each time before I start I forget that the scent of the dry leaf always gets me interested! Before it’s heated the muscatel scent is quite strong, once heated quite a malty/nutty aroma joins the muscatel which invites me in for the tea ahead (it helps that it’s a beautiful looking tea as well).

The soup is clean, crisp and with a purity that I seem to find in the offerings of Postcard Teas. The initial taste to me has a mineral/muscatel focus with a hint of maltyness, which later gives way to more floral notes. I used to mostly stick to first flush Darjeeling but teas like this make me realise I should give a bit more time to second flushes as well.

A little too mild on this brew.

I got a great batch from 2015. When opening the bag i got an intense aroma of fresh, creamy butter and fruity notes. I did my first steeping at 40 degrees for 2min to open up the leaves, then 85-90 degrees for 10s for the rest – recommended by a japanese tea farmer, seems weird, but really works. The first steeping had a lut of butter and tropical fruits in the aroma, rich and thick texture. Tasting it i also got some notes of more baked goods, tropical fruits ending with some coconut.
The rest of the steepings had more grass to them, but over 3 steepings the intensity held up well.

Didnt find it mild at all, even though it was harvested half a year ago! Seems to hold up really well.
Bottomline: Really impressed with this sencha. Recommended!

Had this one last night. Was okay. Fantastic thing about it was that you could brew it forever without it getting bitter. It stayed creamy and smooth. Bad thing about it was that it was boring. Not much going on to my palate, and not much aftertaste.

I love this tea.
This is the first single estate black tea I tasted that I never felt needing milk. I was afraid adding milk would taint this beautiful beautiful tea.
It is amazing.

Brew note: 3 infusions, first steep 1 minute, second steep 1min 15sec, third steep 1min 30sec.

This morning, I’m drinking another tea that I should have consumed much sooner. Again, though, this is still pretty good. It’s missing something in the mid-palate, I’m not sure if it’s from age or what. There is a moment in imbibing this tea that is all tactile and no taste. It’s odd. But this tea has a great, long-lasting, sweet, floral aftertaste. I’ll probably be ordering more of this in the spring if I can sipdown enough of my stock.

This is what I’m drinking tonight. The packaging says to consume before August 2014, but it seemed very well preserved in its airtight baggie. This was a lovely gift from my mother for my birthday in March of last year. I’d more or less given up tea drinking for a while there. I did a very quick steep of this one, as I am not the biggest fan of Gyokuro. I much prefer sweeter, less vegetal green teas. This one is very pleasant. I’m rating it pretty high, because it might be my favorite Gyokuro I’ve ever had, based almost solely on the fact that I love its aftertaste.

Now on to install cat shelves/hammock tonight!

First to review this tea! Always nice :)
This is a wonderfully unique English Breakfast kind of tea from one of my favourite London tea shops – Postcard Teas. If you happen to be in London, drop in, say hello to the lovely, lovely people there, and buy some delicious tea in beautiful tins or “Postcard” refill bags. I love their tins so much that I can’t help myself, and always end up buying them. They are practical, and “easy on the eyes”.
This tea is part of their new lineup of black teas and blends. The good news is that I’ve tried both this and the new Breakfast blend, and so far I love their new teas. The bad news is that their wonderful old teas are no longer available. But lets focus on the good:
This is a breakfast blend, which means Assam, of course, coupled with Kerala, which I admit, I’ve never heard of before. It takes time to open up in the cup, so be patient with the brewing time, and when looking at the reddish brown liquor one would think that this tea was mislabelled “bold breakfast”. Assams tend to brew much darker than that, especially those that are in breakfast blends.
But then this tea will do a “crouching tiger, hidden dragon” move on your mouth. It is much bolder and more flavoursome than any breakfast blend that I’ve tasted – without resorting to bitterness. Yes, you heard that right. A right powerful tea, that doesn’t taste like wormwood when brewed over a minute or two.
It takes milk beautifully, but be careful. This tea is very astringent, even with milk added, so if that turns you off, try some of the much less astringent but still very very good Breakfast blend. You will feel Bold Breakfast tea pinch you on the tongue long after your session with him has ended, like a disapproving master admonishing his unruly apprentice.

My third Postcard Tea to try today and I was impressed with the previous two, a great introduction to the company. The three I selected were towards the lower end of the scale in terms of price, I now can’t wait to try the more expensive and exclusive teas. Plus they have adorable tins that can be re used.

The tea looks like green tea, the leaves are medium sized, full and perfectly preserved. They have a rather mineral and grassy scent, much like a green tea.

Colour one steeped is a light green, yellow and and it has a sweet grass scent. Flavour it’s very sweet and honeyed with light fruit notes, I just can’t determine which fruit. Not quite peach or strawberry but a mild mix between the two….does such a fruit exist or am I making it up? I don’t know. But at any rate it’s subtly fruity. Also it has a toasted quality similar to that of a light Oolong. Yes that’s what it tastes like, an Oolong. A caffeine free Oolong like tea…now that is a special thing indeed. Plus it gets creamy the more you drink.

It’s a nice herbal/tisane, unique and naturally sweet but is enough to cure my night time Oolong cravings without the hassle of the caffeine buzz.