World of Tea

I don’t generally like silver needle tea or other fuzzy young whites, so I probably shouldn’t have bought this, but those little buds were too cute to pass up. Sadly, my first instinct was correct: this tea tasted like licking a popsicle stick.

I did a fairly standard gongfu brew in a thin porcelain gaiwan. I tried brewing it at the recommended 90 degrees at first even though it raised a brow. Once again, my first instinct was correct: hitting it with boiling water like a silver needle yielded a note of delicate sweetness that the lower temperature didn’t. Not enough to make me love the tea, but enough to improve it.

A very nice Japanese black tea with all the qualities you can expect from a high quality Japanese black tea, at once delicate and bold. A great morning or afternoon tea, the astringency is relatively low. The first infusion, bring some slight note of coffee, dark chocolate and baked apple. The second infusion, stars with a baked potato taste. At the second and third sip, after tasting the baked potato, the dark chocolate and baked apple flavours are revealed but with subtlety. Finally, everything is mixed together at the same amount intensity, the coffee notes are coming back and others flavour are now stronger.

this is a good strong cup of tea. i can taste several flavours. weird to say, but the taste makes me think of a black walnut tree. not that i’ve tasted that but i imagine its bark. there’s a buttery aftertaste. a small amount of astringency. delicious!

Loose leaves put in a tea bag then poured in a glass tea cup. Liquor is medium opaque and like a brown sugar colour.

Brew #1 3 minutes: A sweet cocoa dark chocolate taste with a slight malty flavour. It is a smooth tea with just a bit of dryness.

Brew #2 4 minutes: A little bit citrusy with cocoa notes. Sweeter as the tea cool down but more dryness than the first brew. The citrusy notes disappear quickly as the liquor cool.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

A pale yellow-lime colour a bit cloudy with a little of small particles. A pleasent gentle creamy peachy vegetal smell.

Poured into a glass vessel

1st step 3 min. and 2nd step 3 min. 30 sec.

A juicy green mouthfeel, smooth and grassy-vegetal sweet-bitter tea. At the second sip, there is a trace of a nutty flavor. The tea change into a marine like taste and the grassy flavour doesn’t overwhelm — lightly dry.

At the second brew, it makes my hands, arms, chest, stomach warm and sweaty.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

15 seconds rinse.
1st stepping 2:00 minutes; 2nd steeping 3:00 minutes and last steeping 4:00 minutes.

Taste good, a light creamy sweet vegetal fresh salty marine tea. I can feel an after toasty taste. As you brew more of it, after swallowing it, I can taste a very light grassy citrusy flavours that disappear quickly. At the last cup I had, it taste vanilla with a more citrusy flavour.

It feel first warm on both my arms and then in the middle of my chest, very comforting.

It is way better than the Gu Zao Oolong Organic but not as good as the Jin Xuan Oolong (both are from World of Tea).

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

15 seconds rinse.

1st stepping 2:00 minutes; second stepping 2:30 minutes: Begin with a sweet vegetal-fruit taste, almost no bitterness. Flavour of this tea is a little bit too strong, not as good as the Jin Xuan Oolong sold by World of Tea.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

“The ‘Jin Xuan’ Oolong, aka Milk Oolong”
Oolong need to be rinse once, so that the tea leave can open up. This is a high quality tea without any flavourings that you can find in some “Milk Oolong”. First stepping, 2:00 minutes: It smell and taste lightly milky and vegetal with a touch of sweetness. As it cool down there is a light peachy flavour. It taste eventually like butter turning to a creamy tea. This tea is slightly dry as you drink more of it. Second stepping, 2:30 minutes: The milky flavour is starting to disappear, now it is more buttery and creamy. The vegetal notes of the tea is getting more present when it cooling down with a slightly bitterness starting to show up. WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life.

perhaps i stepped too long at 5 minutes. i wish the rose was stronger. it is sweet and somewhat astringent, almost lemony. the wood taste is not as prominent as i would have liked. i’d love to explore oolongs more.

this is a creamy robust tea with a sweet aftertaste. even its scent is milky. delicious.

still my favourite tea and i’ve had a lot of different black teas over the years. it’s smokier than any other irish b i’ve had. it can handle a long spoon stiffening steep. it is flavourful from the first sip to the last. it is strong and full of caffeine. i like it with milk. this is my desert island tea.

this is my favourite tea and my fav version of this tea. it’s delicate smokeyness almost rivals lapsang souchong, but it’s not quite as smokey as that. this is a strong and hearty tea. i get disappointed by all the sweet-tasting teas. there’s nothing sweet about this tea unless you add sweetener. i drink it with a dollup of milk and it goes down smooth as silk for a good morning mug. this is the tea i drink first thing daily and the tea i go to when i’m feeling upset and it soothes me after a good cry. i have never had a tea as robust and satisfying.

A lightly fruity taste black tea from Darjeeling district that is sweet with a touch of bitterness that change into a flowery forest. It reminded me (when I was a kid), while I was at the cottage with family during our summertime vacation, at St-Louis De Blandord near Victoriaville and Quebec City – Memory playing near the forest in an early morning. At the subsequent brew a pepper-citrus flavour appear. Subsequent brew: +30 sec from the last brewing time. WATER USED: Nestlé Pure Life

A slightly sweet powerful strong Oolong that taste like baked apple, honey and slightly sour. WATER USED: Nestlé Pure Life

This is my second review of this tea using different water type with same brew parameters. – A tea that I like to drink on a rainy day -

1st brew (3:40 Sec.): A medium sour and bitter dark chocolate tea. This brew is stronger if you using Naya Natural Water than the Nestle Pure Life bottle water.

The bitterness, sour and dark chocolate flavours are less pronounced as you drink it, and cocoa flavour is starting to reveal itself. If you like more the cocoa flavour than the dark chocolate, you should use Naya Natural Spring Water instead of Nestle Pure Life.

2nd brew (4:25 Sec.): It taste sweeter, less sour and bitter with dark chocolate and cocoa notes.

WATER USED: Naya Natural Spring Water

1st brew (3:40 Sec.) : A Bold medium bodied tea that taste like a dark chocolate camphor mix with sourness and bitterness. As you drink it, the bitterness and sourness decreased, however the dark chocolate notes increased. The 2nd brew (4:25 Sec.) : everything taste the same as the first brew but stronger at the start but fade out and change to a sweet malty flavour with slightly dark chocolate taste. At the end of the second cup the teas is really sweet. Finally, 3rd brew (5:10 Sec.) : Smooth, slightly earthy and sweet.

Water Used: Nestlé Pure Life.

Spring is here, let drink sencha, this one feel watery and juicy in the mouth. Bought from World of Tea in Ottawa, this one is better for me than the sencha Yakushima since it is less grassy. It kick off with a sweet nutty flavour that end with vegetal and grassy notes. This tea has a good balance between the sourness, sweetness and grassiness. This is the only two sencha that I tasted so far, so I can’t compare much with the other ones. WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

I have been drinking this tea daily for a few weeks now and think it is rather good for the price. I mostly have to brew it western style to throw in my to go mug before work. I steep it 5-6 grams in a large mug for about a minute and don’t notice very much bitterness at all, just a slightly sweet earthy flavour with a bit of camphor and floral flavours. The few times I have had the chance for a proper gong fu session it really opened up by the 4th or 5th steep and lasted about 10 steeps. The liquor is fairly thick with a dark red colour. This is a great everyday tea!

This was a sample Christina gave to me some time ago and I didn’t get around to trying it until now.

I did two quick rinses on this tea and brewed 10sec. This puerh is very sweet and creamy tasting and stayed that way for a few infusions (or at least as many infusion as I could drink , which is only 4). This is one I would like to have a cake of but it’s sold out AND I have too much puerh right now. I am trying to go through any samples I have to reduce my quantity. I plan on trying to get my count down to 15 or less for puerh in my collection.

Nice tea iced. Not quite as good as chrysanthemum hot as the sweetness isn’t as prominent. Very refreshing.

Very nice tea. Floral, sweet, delicate flavor, pleasant aroma. Can be steeped multiple times and flavor still very present and not overly changed. a very pleasant tea.

This month I’m going to start doing something that I have been thinking about doing for a quit some time. I’m going to pick all the teas I have from one vicinity & drink them on alternating days. I’m starting with this nan nuo mountain gu she, which I got from Sil, because I will also be accomplishing a sip down simultaneously, & that’s good too!

I have 4 other Nan Nuos in my collection, 3 from Jalam (from separate years, & maybe separate villages) & a 2006 from Life in Teacup. This one is from 2011.

So, mild, green, vegetal. It tastes kind of like a Kombu broth, with a pale hint of citrus in the aroma, not in the taste. It’s a nice follow up to the matcha I was drinking earlier.
However, it’s a little rough on my stomach, so I’m taking a break for now, and will revisit for more steeping action after lunch.

Hmmmm….nobody has reviewed this?
Well, this is one of the teas Sil sent to me awhile back, & the main feature is the aroma of Kombu. I mean it really smells like seaweed to me, and even tastes like it. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a different thing. Anyway, not really a taste I’m attracted to today, and it’s a little rough on my tummy. I only made it through 2 steeps so far, & will try for a few more after lunch. I have enough left for one more session, so the last of it goes into my sip down box, unless somebody on here wants me to send it to them?

Despite being old, this green tea brewed up fairly well (greens, in my experience, turn metallic and gross when too old, which ruins any flavouring that might be left). No astringency or anything here, just a lightly flavoured, creamy cup. The pear is quite weak – I’m not even entirely sure I’d identify it as pear anymore – but it’s smooth and generally fruity, so still fairly pleasant to drink.