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“thanks so much to elyse for this sample! blunt saves time i find…. i recently completed a months long study into the operations of fairtrade international. i got a very high mark, much to the...” Read full tasting note
“Appearance: This medium roast Dong Ding is on the greener side. The tight pellets are brownish green in the middle, like boiled spinach, and lighten inwards with the stem a copperish brown. Dry...” Read full tasting note
“The trading card says “sweet roasted barley” and that comes through right in the bag. It’s similar to the Black Pearl smell, with a hint of veggie green. Interestingly, this morphs into a a great...” Read full tasting note
Dong Ding teas have a longer oxidization period and are also slowly baked at high temperatures, with careful attention to how the flavors and aromas are changing throughout the baking process.
The slow roasting of this tea gradually caramelizes its natural sugars and sweetens it, imparting notes of caramel, sweet roasted barley, and brown sugar.
Buy this tea now —> https://www.tealet.com/mountain-tea/medium-roast-dong-ding
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thanks so much to elyse for this sample!
blunt saves time i find….
i recently completed a months long study into the operations of fairtrade international. i got a very high mark, much to the chagrin of my prof, by uncovering the fact that the company (via the knowledge i have access to, which is limited) is about as dirty as they come. i found myself thinking that fair trade was echoing communism: the theory and sometimes even the intention were good….. but the systems are too easily corruptible. the endless polls which my fellow steepsters happily contributed to confirmed their agreement FOR THE MOST PART.
different gear, same engine: elyse does not work with fair trade farmers. she works with farmers who have LESS money. i wondered: how would that taste like in a tea? would it reflect? what could i expect? an unexpected conclusion followed: if this is how tea can taste without the added cost of fair trade certification and inspections, then what do we need the stamp for?
this tea is exceptional. it is brown sugar and baking bread with a thick brown crust. it is smooth with no astringency…. literally the possibilities for this tea are endless! by itself, by itself with a bit of sweetener, as a smartypants base mimicking baked goods or cake.
now i am insanely tired, and offering up more of my own personal politics than i normally would in a review but this is how it breaks down for me:
tealet works directly with farmers and sells to us. 1,2,3.
fairtrade international and other Larger Corporations work directly with the farmers, certify the farmers (levy a fee), inspect the farms for compliance (levy a fee), administer a brand stamp which charges a higher amount at and to the grocery store level. okay, a bit of unfairness there adding in the extra steps but: Fairtrade 1, farmer 2, grocery store 3, us 4.
i’m getting better quality, the farmer’s getting more money…. i should support fairtrade (THE COMPANY…. not the philosophy) why again?
elyse, i will buy this from you. not just for myself, but also as my personal calling card this upcoming semester while working with not for profits.
Appearance: This medium roast Dong Ding is on the greener side. The tight pellets are brownish green in the middle, like boiled spinach, and lighten inwards with the stem a copperish brown.
Dry leaf aroma: fruity (peach, apricot) with a but of a charcoal overtone
Covered the bottom of gaiwan, water at 190F. 1st steep 2 mins. 2nd steep 1 min. 3rd steep 2 mins. 4th steep 3 mins.
First rinsed with boiling water for 10 seconds and discarded.
First Steep:
A light first steep. An aroma of stone fruit (peaches, nectarine, apricot) and not a whole lot of body. The leaves have opened probably 40%.
Second steep:
More full bodied. Coppery color with a more savory taste. The fruit is still there but the flavor of the roasting is much more pronounced. Noticing a light drying astringency but it is balanced. The leaves are probably open 70%.
Third steep:
Getting more of honey note on this one…like a lighter honey. A bit of a floral note as well. The roasted character of the tea remains but is less noticeable. Also getting a very small amount of a wood-sy note, like a sawed piece of lumber…i like it!
leaves have opened probably 85%.
Fourth steep:
Still going…this steep resembles the 2nd, savory with a pronounced freshness.
Take Away:
Nice tea. Not the deepest or most fragrant Dong Ding/Tun Ting I have ever had, but a nice example of a Nantou oolong. Taiwan certainly makes some of the best oolong on the planet. The price seems reasonable so give it a try.
The trading card says “sweet roasted barley” and that comes through right in the bag. It’s similar to the Black Pearl smell, with a hint of veggie green. Interestingly, this morphs into a a great nutty-smokiness once steeped, some baked apple in there as well–and some dates, even. Already, this tea could go well with Middle Eastern cuisine (Shawarma, anyone?) or Mom’s homemade cooking.
When you start sipping, it’s really those roasted apples all the way. Surprisingly, not half as much nuttiness as the smell would have you think, so it ends up as just a comfort food kind of tea. The more it cools, the more the darker flavors come into play, and we come back to the dates, along with some raisins in there for extra oomf. But this isn’t that kind of date tea. It’s more of a, “Hey, being single is pretty cool,” kind of tea. Drink it and be merry, and just nod and smile when your friend tells you for the nine thousandth time that you need to settle down with a nice yoga instructor and make lots of babies…
Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/05/11/snooty-tea-review-tealet-teas/
This is so interesting. If you have your research/links you like/etc that you’d share, I’m all ears. We have a lot of farmers at our farmers’ market who grow organic but can’t afford/don’t think it’s a good use of $ for certification too — I see the parallels w fairtrade…
i will pass on as much or as little data (cause we’re talking months here, lol) as you wish. i have simple links, i have evaluations, and i have analyses of fairtrade specifically. elyse petersen, founder of tealet has a unique perspective having come from the peace corps and seen things from a perspective that many don’t. i find her to be an excellent resource and well thought out representative of fair trade PRACTICES.
pm me…. let me know what you want, how much you want! =0)
i can honestly tell you that i thought my project was going one way, it all sounded so good! and then i asked the question: how much do third world farmers get charged for licensing. they stopped taking my calls. in toronto, in london. in berlin? i got an A+ man was i let down at my discovery though….
Fairtrade is a topic my husband and I debate from time to time. It actually started when we were looking for a new place to purchase coffee. The price difference between the fairtrade organic wholebean and just the organic wholebean was almost $5/lb. I felt that it was worth paying the extra money. He believed it was money the farmers would never see, so it was a waste. We have both done quite a bit of reading on our own, but I’d love to hear more about your research.
That is so disheartening. Thanks for sharing. I mean, I kindof knew this unofficially but to see it confirmed again, and to know that you’ve done the research really solidifies my stance. I’m glad people like Elyse are doing something to help!!
Ignorance is the worst enemy, Thanks for shedding some light on a dark subject.
Thanks for sharing James! If anyone has any questions about Tealet’s growers and teas please feel free to contact me directly at elyse@tealet.com and visit www.tealet.com
the old statement of your friends being reflections of your is very true in this case— some of fairtrade’s biggest partners? nestle and nescafe among others!
but changing the angle: tealet, justea who are out of vancouver, level ground for coffee. the smaller companies i saw less problem. the problems arose when there was mass amounts of money at stake.
there are lots of people doing lots of good work…. but how often, really, are good works both branded and free?
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11372/The-Bitter-Taste-of-Tea
Oh, I remember that film! The Max Havelaar representative comes across as a right …you know what. I kept thinking that either she had NO idea what was really going on out there or she just didn’t care. Someone once asked me to transcribe the film for them for an article they were writing on their site and hadn’t been able to find a subtitled version. I never actually wanted to watch the film, but I spent a really long time transcribing the damn thing, only to be told after I emailed them that they had found the information elsewhere, so the film was referenced and all my hard work (it took most of a whole damn day!) wasn’t even mentioned with as much as a syllable. I didn’t think I took that long to do it either, I thought they could have let me know not to waste my time.
not cool…. i despise doing citations, but if someone else makes your life easier by doing the grunt work, then you credit them. period.
i had three pages of citations. my prof nearly cried, lol. in my preliminary thesis i actually LOST MARKS and got an A+ crossed out and put down to an A with ‘THIS IS TOO BIG. NARROW. IT. DOWN.’ and then he gave me three options.
brutal, lol.