Red Blossom Tea Company

2nd note: The leaves have a woodsy aroma after being steeped. Delicious earthy taste. I’ve been able to get four to five really good steepings out it in a gaiwan.

I enjoy good earthy teas that aren’t harsh and this tea is definitely one of those. It was well said in Red Blossom’s description when they described it as “Fresh earth”. It was a fresh earth, malty, with slight hints of smooth chocolate.
The smell is pleasing and tastes even better. I am slightly biased when it comes to Shou Pu-erhs. Since they are one of my favorite teas. I recommend this tea to anyone who enjoys Pu-erh.

Wow, this oolong is delicious! The first few steepings deliver a rich buttery taste and aroma that, like cheesecake, almost becomes difficult to continue drinking. After the first three steepings it mellows out into a nice sweet, relaxing drink. While this comes from Taiwan, it reminds me of a high quality green tieguanyin.

I highly recommend this tea, but I also recommend not to expect this to be a daily tea, but rather a special treat.

Silk Oolong has to be one of the best green oolongs that I’ve had to date or at least the first infusion. The aroma of the dry leaf had me initially uneasy as it reminded me slightly of a mix of sour milk and fruit but luckily the brewed tea tastes a lot better than the dry leaf smells. This is my first silk or milk oolong and it is clearly wonderful and amazing at how much it tastes like milk cream with a sweet fruity and maybe a tad floral notes that remind me of mango. From what I understand Silk oolong is designed to imitate the taste of Jing Xuan and I must say I enjoy the “fake stuff” made with real cream over the Jing Xuan grown to imitate the taste of cream in the tea itself. For me this tea peaked in the first infusion as it came off as declining a bit in the future infusions but it still left a very good impression on me. So you do have to at least admit that real Jing Xuan does hold up a bit better for more infusions than Silk Oolong.

My first taste of Jing Xuan which comes off to me as a lighter green buttery oolong with a medium floral taste. While I do not have enough experience with Taiwan oolongs to tell between different varieties this Jing Xuan has been the first time that I have encountered a buttery and floral green oolong combined together into one instead of the either or that I’ve often encountered. This is truly a very good quality oolong with an enjoyable sweet smoothness in the aftertaste, which I am glad that I ordered a 1 oz bag with my last order. Although quite honestly I am not sure what to fully think of it as while it is unique and difference I personally do not find it worth the $100 a pound price tag but then again I generally lean strongly toward the darker oolongs.

Wuyi Amber stands out as a nice surprise of its pleasant flavor and quality as it is not only the cheapest Wuyi oolong that I’ve had to date it is also likely the best quality one as well. The brew has a pleasant burst of spicy flavor which while contains some traces of smoke is not that strong so don’t be cared away if you do not like smoky teas. The robust initial taste is hard to really describe but I think the vendor’s attempts of hints of chocolate and spicy does it justice and butter and caramel for the lighter and lingering sweeter after taste. Although without the suggested flavor profiles I would probably just say an initial robust spicy roast taste that fades away into a smoother sweeter aftertaste. A very wonderful wuyi that I plan on sticking to when it is time to reorder for as long as this one is around.

It seems like the Bailin Gongfu is a super-popular tea around Steepster these days. It warms my little Fujian-loving heart, that does.

And it’s inspiring too. And utterly disappointing when one realises there isn’t a single solitary Fujian black in the house at the moment. GASP! WHAT A HORRIBLE FATE TO BEFALL A PERSON! What is a household with no Fujian black in it? It’s truly poor, that’s what it is. This should not have been able to have happened at all.

I’ve got Lapsang, but that’s really a very different beast.

Fortunately my TeaSpring order is now in transit so I’ll only have to struggle through 7-14 days more before receiving a substantial amount of my beloved Tan Yang Te Ji and I can join you all in the Fujian black lovingness.

In the meantime, though, I have to look for something to substitute, and although this is an oolong it’s a Fujian oolong, so it’s close enough for jazz.

Oh Fujian. You are made from nom.

Get into mah belleh!

Om nom nom nom!

I have biscuits. Sugary, cinnamon-y, almond-y biscuits. And they go uncommonly well with this tea.

OM NOM NOM NOM Aijiao!

Filled the cup too much though, so I have a small spillage problem…

I have posted awesome things about this one on eight previous occasions, and this morning I’m honestly not going to bother describing the whole thing again other than to say that the cocoa note is really coming out this morning.

It makes it feel rather decadent to have this particular one so early in the day, but it’s a special occasion tea for special occasions, and today is one.

Seeing as the danish postal “service” (and I use the term loosely) has managed to misplace the FOURTH package since DECEMBER, I believe I’m more than entitled to some favourite tea.

This time the victim was my Chi of Tea order. I think. (Although if it is, that package got here at record speed!) I have complained (again) and have received reply full of apologies and nice words. I’d rather have my package, actually.

I HAS A GRUMPY AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!

I emptied the sample tin Wombatgirl sent me some months ago, but thanks to her so sweetly thinking of me recently, it’s NOT a decupboarding!

I have a whole great big pouch with some 50g of Aijiao in it, and I’m going to ration it heavily. Red Blossom Tea Company is not a vendor that’s available to me, so I can’t resupply, and even if it was available to me, I seem to recall the price of it being rather steep. Which makes my Wombatgirl all that much sweeter, because she’s probably thinking of it as being in exchange for the lemon oolong I sent her a batch of earlier. Which is a much cheaper tea than the Aijiao. (If you want more, let me know)

It’s probably a mistake that I’m making this tea on a tuesday evening. I should have waited until tomorrow, since wednesday is not a work day for me and I could have had the leaves going all day. But I wanted it now!

I’ve run out of creative ways to praise the wonderful qualities of this tea. I’ve written fairytales complete with once upon a time and happily ever after, and I’ve written an ode to it that rhymed and everything. The only thing I can think of that’s left, really, is something to do with drawing, and… my capabilities just don’t reach that far.

You’ll just have to do with me repeating for the sixth time (as this is my sixth post about Aijiao) that if you like a dark, roasted oolong and this Heritage Aijiao is in any way, shape or form available to you, try it. Please. Try it. You won’t regret it. I promise you, you won’t regret it. And if you find, after having invested in it, you do actually regret having done so, you can give me the rest of the leaves and be pleased about having been so very nice to me. :D

Good morning Steepsterites.

You’ll forgive me, I hope, for not being able to come up with a creative post for this one this morning. I’ve already done the poem and the fairy tale and my idea supply is limited.

I’ll just have the tea as it is, then. It was really easy to choose this morning. I knew exactly what I wanted from the moment I got up. The woody and cocoa notes are strong in the aroma this time. That’s a bit of a relief, actually, because I was using a little less leaf than I normally would in an attempt to stretch the supply for one more pot.

Unfortunately that does mean that the flavour is a little more watery than usual, but there is still plenty of the cocoa and woody notes in it. It’s just not quite as much in the foreground as before. I don’t mind that. The flavours are still there, it’s just like there’s one more step involved in getting to them.

I rather wish I could make this one a Standard Panel tea, but alas, this is not possible. Not unless a miracle happens and Red Blossom Tea Company suddenly becomes something within my reach.

Those of you still missing the Dawn from Simple Leaf (wasn’t it called that?), you might want to give this one a poke. I think it’s quite similar.

Ommity nommity nom.

I’m freezing my little butt to pieces and I can’t understand where the entire evening went. How can it be twenty to nine already?

Aijiao to the rescue!

That chocolate-y note is super-strong in the aroma today, and the more spicy, wood-y bottom note is almost completely covered by it. It smells like hot chocolate and warm milk and a wee bit of spice.

I could just smell this all day. Or what’s left of it, anyway.

Oh gosh, steepsterites, I just took a sip! If I could rhyme I would write an epic poem. Hmmm…

Ode to Aijiao

Oh Aijiao, you are a lovely tea,
come out of my cup and into me.

I nom your every last drop,
Please leaves, don’t ever stop

being so awesome and delicious!
It makes me feel quite suspicious

that I’ll never get over the ginormous loss
when the last of the leaves in the pot I’ll toss.

Your notes of chocolate I will miss
along with aroma of tea-ful bliss.

Your full-bodied flavour is something to try
and when it is gone I surely will cry.

I have one round left now, two if I’m lucky,
and will end the Ode here, as my rhyming is sucky.

… No, it really wouldn’t work, would it? I’ll leave the poetry to those as have the talent and just drink the tea.

Once upon a time Wombatgirl suggested to Angrboda that they do a tea swap. Ang thought that was a good idea and agreed, so they exchanged addresses.

“I’m a little broke this month, though,” said Ang. “Do you mind if we wait a little while?”

Wombatgirl, luckily, saw no fault with that.

And so they waited.

Days went by and payday came and went. Ang and Wombatgirl each put together a selection of teas from their stores and sent it off to each other. Mail between America and Europe takes many days, so they waited impatiently to receive their packages. There was nothing else that they could do. Days crawled by at a snail’s pace until finally the notification came.

There was a package for Ang in the town’s Package Pick-Up Place, a wonderful contraption where Ang could fetch packages to her at all hours of the day with the use of two pin codes texted to her upon the package’s arrival.

Ang picked up her package and hurried on home to open it. It contained a great many interesting things, but star among them was a sample of Heritage Aijjiao from Red Blossom Tea Company.

Ang rather liked the notes of leather-y cocoa and something earthy in the aroma of those leaves, so she decided to make a pot of that first.

Oh, what a revalation that was! After she had steeped the leaves in water just under boiling point for a minute, the aroma of the cup she poured was rich with cocoa, sweet and earthy and plentiful.

Massively cheered by this aroma, Ang took the first sip from the cup. A smile slowly spread out on her face as she savoured that wonderful flavour. It was everything the aroma had been. A strong earthy note that shouted out its oolong origins topped with the sweetness of a heavy chocolate-y note. What a most wonderful tea! Ang found herself sipping more and more of it, trying to determine more details in the flavour. A touch of flowers here, an aftertaste of nuts there.

Perhaps, she thought, she could even guess which region of China it came from. Ang was never much of an expert on telling these things, but she thought that a cocoa note as strong as this seemed to be typical for the Fujian Province. And indeed it was.

She sipped and sipped and sipped, until suddenly the cup was empty. Oh that happened all too soon! Unhappily, she went for a resteep, hoping it would be as good as the first one, and to her relief it was. There was a little more gentleness about the flavour, but all in all, the flavour profile of it was intact.

Wombatgirl had kindly provided with enough dry leaf of this most wonderful beverage that Ang could get another pot. Ang was not, however, willing to part with those leaves so quickly so she hoarded them away for a long time. Protected they were in their little bag at the bottom of the Bits’n’Bops Basket.

But nothing good lasts forever, and one sad day, those leaves were gone too. Steeped within an inch of their lives, they were, but inevitably they had to be discarded. There was much sadness on that day.

Meanwhile, Wombatgirl had rather enjoyed the sample of Lemon Oolong from Nothing But Tea that Ang had sent her. As Ang was, at the time of being told about this, in the initial stages of planning a purchase at that very company, she offered to buy some more of that for Wombatgirl as well. Eager she was to spread knowledge of this fine tea shop around the world. And thus their second swap was decided upon.

Another waiting period followed, for Ang to get the package from Nothing But Tea and then for the two swap packages to reach their respective destination. Ang’s package from Wombatgirl arrived in due time and Ang opened it as soon as she came home, excited to see what wonderful things might have been packed into it.

Behold! Heritage Aijjiao from Red Blossom Tea Company! A whole little tin of it. Enough for three or maybe even four, if she was thrifty, pots

Once again finding that urge within herself to hoard the leaves and never part with them, it took a long time before Ang could actually bring herself to open the tin and use some of them.

One morning in December, shortly before Christmas she felt it was time. There was snow on the ground outside, it was dreadfully cold and the sky was blue with not a cloud in sight. Most importantly, it was wednesday and therefore not a work-day for Ang.

The time had come at last to break into that tin of Heritage Aijjiao. And so she did, savouring every sip while writing the longest ever post on Steepster.

And they lived happily ever after (or at least until the leaves ran out. Again.)

I’m finishing up this little gem that Wombatgirl sent to me. I’m loving it to bits and I’m steeping the stuffing out of these last leaves. At least that’s the plan. I’m only on the second steep so far.

There’s a nice toasted flavour to it now with a touch of cocoa notes. I could have wished it a little stronger, but there weren’t enough leaves for that.

It is indeed a very very lovely tea, and very very recommendable. If at all available to you, do yourselves a favour and try it.

(Gosh, I’m so behind on the dashboard again! Been busy moving into my brand-spanking new desktop (His name is Desky), and also if there are any NaNoWriMo participants out there, I’m Angrboda there as well)

I received a package from Wombatgirl yesterday and I’m just giving the first one a try today. I was going through the selection and this one struck me as the one that best fit my mood. I was actually wondering about a black, but I thought this was close enough.

I didn’t look it up on Steepster before I tried it, so I’m really very pleased with myself for correctly identifying it as a Fujian tea.

The dry leaves had a very cocoa milk-y aroma. A really heavy one. It’s not sweet as such, but it’s very rich. If I breathed on the leaves a little bit before sniffing, it really came out. Liquid dark chocolate.

After steeping the aroma, is it tends to do with Fujian, I’ve noticed, turns a lot more spicy. It’s still very cocoa-y but on top of that is spice and spice and spice. It’s not identifiable as anything more specific than ‘spice’ but the aroma as a whole reminds me a lot of chili chocolate.

The flavour was what really screamed Fujian to me. It’s very similar to the Dan Cong I had, this one. ETA: Da Hong Pao, I mean. Sorry. Edit ends. It has an orange-y earth-y touch as well as the deep cocoa notes. I used to say that Tie Guan Yin was my favourite oolong, and maybe it’s still my favourite green oolong, but this, THIS is what I want from a dark oolong, and THIS is better than any green oolong. Any day.

Being a Fujian tea, it’s very difficult for me to avoid a direct comparison with the deeply beloved Tan Yang, even though this is an oolong and that is a black, but yes, I can see the similarities. It’s the heavy cocoa that does it, and the tiny hints of orange. I’ll have to remember to pay attention to any orange-y notes the next time I have the Tan Yang.

Fujian STRIKES AGAIN!

I have an enduring fondness for Wuyis in general, and Red Blossom’s heritage roasting is fantastic. That said, I think I have a slight preference for the Heritage Grand Scarlet over the Tie Luo Han, as this seemed to lack a certain richness. Perhaps it was just this steeping; I’ll try more leaves next time.

If this is the regular grade, I can’t wait to try the competition grade… Has a much more complex flavor than any black tea I’ve tasted, while also managing to be surprisingly sweet, especially by the third or fourth steeping.

A wonderful tea, very rich and not too grassy.

this is fast becoming my current favorite, which is unfortunate since my supply is dwindling fast.