Tao Tea Leaf

Hrm. Not exactly the pu-er I was looking for(been trying to get tea high for the longest time now, though I did enjoy it very much.
I think my fave steep was the first one, out of the four.
Rich and smooth, reminded me very much of coffee. It had a deep hay scent to it, and tasted the way I’d imagine earth to be… only I’m sure it doesn’t taste “good” at all. It just that when I think of soil, a certain flavour profile pops into my head, even though I know it must be horribly inaccurate. Of course, the flavour was only a top level type, and never really reached down to that happy place. Besides that, it was slightly bready, and mildly sweet.
Anyhow, not very descriptive but there you have my first steep.
In the second through fourth steeps, it became progressively less earthy/sweet and more savoury like. Brothy, and salty I’d say. A touch too salty to be honest.
Next time I’ll add some sugar and see if that brightens it up a bit!

When I pulled this out, I thought it was going to be an oolong. I mean, “Bai Chai” just sounds like an oolong-y sorta name. Surprised me that I was looking at a needle-thin green tea. I should read more.

Anyway…the liquor was clear and the taste alternated between grass and grape. Very close to Long Jing, methought.

This was the sample I took home from Saturday’s tasting. Now I regret not saving it for a gaiwan experience. Or maybe a true gongfu, as I think it really is meant to be brewed that way.
This time, I think I used too much leaf and not enough water. The first few steeps were intense!! strong and bold! So much that I had a hard time distinguishing notes. But… I did find a heavy sortof malty cocoa, it reminded me of wheat in some ways as well. In later steeps (I made it to 5!) the cocoa started to emerge more, and balance itself out with the malty wheat part.
Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I was a little surprised at how different I found it from their version of Golden Monkey!

This was my favourite out of all the teas I sampled today, and sadly also the first. WOW!! I wanted to take some home with me… but it was absurdly expensive and so I settled for something else instead. Until I drink down the rest of my teas there really is no justification in spending that much money on one tea.
Anyhow, the tea…
Tao brought out two varieties. One of them fresh, and the other from a 100 yr old bush, and then the leaves were aged. It was similar in flavour, if not a little more robust and less smooth.
The taste was sweet and deep, not laying on top or in the middle. I mean, the sweetness seemed to permeate the entire sip but not in an overwhelming way, but more balanced… it was a light tea after all. The sweetness lingered afterwards as well.
Such soft downy leaves! and that aspect seemed to translate into the tea somehow. It tasted soft, and round as well.
Second infusion was the best, a little sweeter and rounder and just oh so soooo very tasty.
Now I’m wondering if I should have just put it on my credit card… sighs

This is the other black tea I purchased recently from TTL.

Onto the tasting notes;

First steep: Goes down very smooth, slightly nutty, smoky, malty, bit of cinnamon, velvety liquor texture.

Second steep: More bite, still otherwise smooth and flavourful.

Third steep: Much the same, not too strong or weak. Pleasant and relaxing tea.

This tastes like it has a lot in common with Qimen black tea, and is even made in the same province. However it’s much gentler on my taste buds than typical Qimen tea. Which is generally why I don’t like Qimen, it has a distinct taste that I find somewhat off-putting. But I don’t have that problem with Mei Zang at all. I can’t recommend this tea to anyone that wants an out of this world experience, but it’s worth checking out if you like “Qimen types”.

100ml of water in a purion teapot, 2 tsp, 3 steeps (rinse, 45s, 1m, 1m15s)

Picked this up a while ago when I was in Toronto. The Tao Tea Leaf store is quite nice, they carry a lot of beautiful tea ware. There are a lot of places to buy tea in Toronto.. I’m sure there are a lot of stores I don’t even know about, but this particular place caught my eye because they mainly sell premium teas (not mainly just flavoured ones).

Now onto my tasting note:

I’ve short steeped this tea a few times now, and in general it reminds me of a few other black teas with similar profiles (Zhao Bai Jian, Laoshan Black Tea). Earthy, floral, malty, hint of chocolate and sweetness. Sophisticated and easy on the palate. I really enjoy how the floral notes never get too bold, there is just a nice hint of it. And out of the other teas with similar profiles, I prefer this one because of that mild floral aroma.

The last bit of this goodness

Going strong with the second pot of the morning.

Drinking the good stuff this morning

Drinking another steeping of this. This tea has just been a great, tasty, smooth green tea.

I found this tea to be quite tasty even after a cup of it had cooled for a few hours.

This artisan green tea struck my eye on account of the purported re-steep-ability. I love being able to resteep my teas, and I had been wanting to try a new green tea. This An Ji Bai Cha called out to me and I answered it.

Okay, so that sounded a bit pretentious, but it did catch my eye. The Tao Tea Leaf website is full of great information. So, in following with all of their guidelines, I measured out about a teaspoon and a half of this for a cup of water at about 170 degrees Fahrenheit. I changed it up and used a ceramic teapot, as my glass steeping cup was unavailable. I am sure this tea would look very pretty in a glass cup, as the leaves dance in the water. Preheating the teaware is important for a potentially delicate tea like this, as steeping tea in cold teaware can alter the flavor substantially.

After two minutes of steeping, the resulting brew is a smooth and slightly sweet, yet much muted version of the sweet, grassy dry leaves. While there is not a big “wow” factor to this tea, it goes down very smooth and is very enjoyable to sit and sip…and sip and sip… The resteepability and how much that maintains its flavor is an added bonus that I think makes this tea a worthwhile try. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would give it an 86/100.

This was quite nice! It has a light but tasty and natural strawberry flavour. It tended towards bitterness, though. 2.5 minutes at 175 made it a little unpleasant, though a second steep at 3 minutes was perfect. This is another one that is nice but not particularly memorable. A good stand-by, though. I don’t find strawberry flavours are usually done very well so I appreciate this one.

I basically expected to be underwhelmed by this tea based on its very subtle vanilla aroma. My world was not rocked by the first couple of sips, but as I continued I realized I actually really loved it! It’s subtle, for sure. It doesn’t beat you over the head with vanilla or with sweetness. But it’s a very nice, balanced black with an awesome creamy quality added by the vanilla.

Oh, my. This is bloody delicious. It’s also my third coconut Oolong in a week.

I’m at that point where I have so many teas that I can’t recall what’s in my cupboard, and that the less-than-stellar ones never end up getting used. So there is just a backlog of mediocre teas I try to force myself to drink while the new ones and samples pile up.

And THEN I realized that I had a Tao Tea Leaf voucher expiring March 1. Oh dear. I knew I wasn’t going to have time to visit the store in the couple days I had left to use it, so an online order it was. I’d never tried anything from them before and obviously don’t have any big vacancies in my collection, so I thought lots of samples was the way to go. This left me with the box that arrived today, full of no fewer than 20 samples and three 25 g bags. It’s also left me still never having visited the store, though their online customer service was really great. They were helpful by e-mail and my tea came very nicely packaged and quickly, with a 5% off coupon.

Anyway, this tea. I was going to save it until I finished the Tealish Coconut Bongo, I was. But when I opened my Tao package I lost all control and opened the packet for a sniff. It was so overwhelmingly aromatic that I immediately had to have some. I’d just boiled the Zojirushi so I went gong fu with this one, so it’s not really a direct comparison to the two previous coconut Oolongs I’ve had. But it’s enough to say that it is very similar. The same sweet, toasted coconut flavour on top of fresh green Oolong. These might be my two favourite flavours in the world, so I’m pretty ecstatic to see that there seems to be a coconut Oolong niche out there. I think I may become obsessed with trying every one I can.

The only thing striking me as any different about this tea, apart from its general awesomeness, is how vibrant the Oolong is. Green and (subtly) floral, and impossibly creamy and silky-smooth. It steeps a really bright yellow-green, and tastes incredibly fresh. I will have to try it Western-style soon.

It’s not the most flavorful puerh out there but it still has interesting notes associated with it. There is definite smoked woodiness there with a good amount of mellow. But it’s a pretty clean brew. There isn’t much of a lingering aftertaste and definitely pretty lacking punchiness of the flavor or thickness of the soup. Drinkable but not what I like in puerhs, it lacks the complexity.

Had this tea as a part of the sample set, so I am not sure what grade it was (as the website features several), but it was a great tasting tea. Not a hint of bitterness, just pure nuttiness (almost milkiness), mellowness and deliciousness. Dragon Well is definitely one of the easiest drinking green (or perhaps any) tea for me, it’s something that I can drink cup after cup. Good one.

A very high quality roasted oolong, actually one of the better Da Hong Paos I had an honor to try. Roasty, mellow, slight bitterness – everything is balanced in this tea. It’s hard to go wrong with a Big Red Robe, but this particular one is a sure hit. Delicious tea, very good quality. It’s not a cheap one, but it’s truly a treat for a special occasion. Your gaiwan or yixing pot will thank you :)

I found a bit of this tea after organizing my tea cupboard so I decided to brew some up. The aroma of this tea is amazing: sweet, honey, clean. The taste is much the same. This is a very mild oolong, but quite tasty.

Ok, whites are probably the last teas on my list to drink if I have a choice. I just don’t find them punchy or tea-e (yea, it’s a word) enough for me. I still bow before the gorgeousness of flavor of theirs, but it’s just not my cup of tea. But trying this tea (had a sample, steeped it for a dear friend who loves whites) on a second steep I was blown away. It is a very delicious tea. I am backlogging now, so can’t go in details of flavor, but I can say it was delicious and didn’t make me think for a second that it’s a white – I simply enjoyed it.

My relationship with Chinese blacks is a rather strange one. First time I tried it (Yunnan I believe) I was more surprised than anything. They are not like your typical black tea (or tea that comes to mind when one hears black tea, like assam or darjeeling). Aside from that, now that I appreciate the flavor more I like this one. It’s clean tasting, that’s what comes to my mind. I don’t find it very complex and there isn’t much of a lingering taste after the sip. It has loads of honey wax notes, very mellow and easy drinking. I can’t in a right mind think of putting milk or sugar in it (not that I ever do) which I guess says how really balanced this tea is. It’s a good one. But perhaps I prefer something little more complex :)

Tao Tea claims that this is award winning tea and that just adds to how good this tea is. It has just the right amount of maltiness, smells a bit like burnt sugar and provides an incredible after taste. It’s one of those teas that you have to swirl in your mouth a bit each sip to fully understand the playfullness of the flavor. Chinese blacks are very exquisite so someone used to Ceylon or Indian teas might be surprised by lack of flavor, but where it lacks in power and strength it is really multidimensional tea. Simply delicious

Three badly written haiku in honor of Tao Tea Leaf’s Phoenix Dan Cong tea:

I
Lovely long brown leaves
Hints of honey and lychee
Soft taste, whisper sweet

II
Fawn tint, floral scent
Mild taste and silky mouthfeel
Some astringency

III
Too mild for my taste
Tasty, but makes me want more
Fascinating cup

From – http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2364/tea-review-tao-tea-leaf-phoenix-dan-cong-2/ – go read more reviews!!

with omelet!