Review: thepuriTea.com’s Hong Jing Luo Chinese Black Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

The Subject:
Hong Jing Luo

Company:
thepuriTea.com. [More info]


Rating:

Water temperature: 212° F

Steeping time: 5-7 minutes

Tea type: Black (Chinese)

Scents, flavorings added: N/A

Aroma, dry tea leaves: Apricoty, planty

1st Infusion (in the cup):
Aroma, plain — Rich, not very fruity
Taste, plain — Background fruitiness, toasty, mild, not bitter, slightly astringent
Aroma, enhanced — N/A
Taste, enhanced — N/A

Additional Infusion(s):
2nd Infusion — Lighter aroma, not bitter, little bit more astringency

Comments:
This tea company is on a true winning streak. All I can think is that when owner Nav Nouhi decided to start selling teas, he didn’t go into it with his eyes shut. Despite the poor Website design that is built entirely with Flash and is therefore quite annoying, at least to this Usability Engineer, the teas have all been stand-outs so far.

The dry tea is not black in color, but dark with some golden highlights. The leaves after steeping are very dark green and reveal that this tea is comprised of the ideal arrangement of two Camellia Sinensis leaves and a bud from the stem tips.

The company Website recommends steeping for 3-5 minutes, but the package label says 5-7 minutes. I hope the discrepancies I’m seeing between the labels and the Website get corrected in future. Flashy design doesn’t matter if the content isn’t accurate.

The liquid is a medium orangey brown. The flavor is mild but with a slight astringency. As it cools a bit, it takes on more fruitiness and even a slight floral quality. To get two infusions of somewhat equal strength, we infused the 1st time for 5 minutes and the 2nd time for 6 minutes. (We chose to go by the package label, not the Website instructions.)

Hubby tried the tea with a bit of milk and sweetener but didn’t find the taste one to recommend. I enjoyed the tea straight so much I didn’t even want to try it with the milk and sweetener. If you are the kind who likes your tea straight, you’ll really like this. If you prefer milk in your tea, go ahead and try this one that way, but you’ll miss the subtle flavors. Milk is more for strong, bitter, highly astringent teas.

Their packaging of these sample sizes were rather interesting.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: The English Tea Store’s Czar Nicolas Russian Caravan Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

The Subject:
Czar Nicolas Russian Caravan

Company:
The English Tea Store


Rating:

Water temperature: 212° F

Steeping time: 3-5 minutes

Tea type: Black

Scents, flavorings added: See comments

Aroma, dry tea leaves: Mainly smoky

1st Infusion (in the cup):
Aroma, plain — Strong smokiness
Taste, plain — Coffee-like quality, malty/smoky, not bitter, surprisingly tasty
Aroma, enhanced — Slightly smoky
Taste, enhanced — Smooth, light caramel with smoky undertones

Additional Infusion(s):
2nd infusion was weak, not recommended unless you steep the first one longer or start with more tea leaves

Comments:
I had to get the vendor’s steeping instructions off of a video on their Website. It would be easier to include this information in the tea description area, like they have for many of their other teas. Ok, enough griping, on with the review. :-)

This tea combines the strong smokiness of Lapsang Souchong (see our review) and a malty Assam. It’s a flavor that hubby and I wished were more to the malty Assam side and quite a bit less to the smoky Lapsang Souchong side. The tea was still quite pleasant, both straight and with milk and sweetener. We could almost imagine ourselves around the campfire of the caravan as they stopped for the night from their travels to Russia with their load of teas.

You can see in the leaf pieces after steeping the two types of teas, with the larger Souchong leaves and the smaller pieces of the Assam.

The smokiness in the straight tea is one that tends to linger in the nose. Maybe it’s just my sensitive sniffer. This isn’t a negative, but I wanted to let you know. This smokiness is mellowed with the addition of milk and a touch of sweetener.

Overall, we consider this tea to be different tasting from the run-of-the-mill tea, a special and exotic flavor that’s rugged, one not to have every day (the smoky flavor could quickly become tiresome), and somewhat of an acquired taste, just as straight Lapsang Souchong is. You might try some with a sweet treat such as baklava, especially if you are drinking the tea straight. In fact, one of the best things about this tea is its flexibility. We liked it both straight and with milk and sweetener.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review Rankings

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

 

Little Yellow Teapot here. As an added feature for my readers, I had my humans put together a ranking for the various tea vendors we reviewed teas for so far. This is an average of the ratings for their teas tested so far. A company with a high average based on only a few samples, though, is not as good as a company with a slightly lower average based on more samples. I would say that a ranking based on 10 or more samples is more reliable. This table will be updated monthly, especially since the fun never ends (my humans have 10 more samples from The Puritea, 8 from Thunderbolt Tea, and a bunch from The English Tea Store and The Boston Tea Co. to try yet, so who knows how the rankings will change). There were a couple of rules:

• True teas only (reviews of herbals were not included in the rankings).
• Minimum of four tea reviews done for the vendor (we’ve done only one or two for some). 

The Rankings (High to Low): 

Tea Company	No. Teas Reviewed	Avg. Ranking
Thunderbolt Tea	7	5.00
The Puritea	5	4.90
TeaGschwendner	9	4.72
Shui Tea	7	4.50
California Tea House	5	4.50
The Boston Tea Co.	9	4.44
The English Tea Store	30	4.32
Adagio	11	4.18
Two Leaves and a Bud	6	4.00
Obubu Tea	4	4.00

Review: The Royal Tea Company’s ImmortaliTea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

The Subject:
ImmortaliTea

Company:
The Royal Tea Company [More info]


Rating:

Water temperature: 140-160° F

Steeping time: 3-4 minutes

Tea type: Blend of Green Tea and Jiaogulan vine leaves

Scents, flavorings added: N/A

Aroma, dry tea leaves: Green hay, nutty

1st Infusion (in the cup):
Aroma, plain — Grassy
Taste, plain — Grassy, buttery, lightly smoky, mild, not bitter
Aroma, enhanced — N/A
Taste, enhanced — N/A

Additional Infusion(s):
2nd infusion — grassy aroma; flavor not as buttery, still grassy, smoky, mild, not bitter

3rd infusion — flavor faint, not buttery, still smoky, some chalkiness from tiny pieces breaking off from tea leaves

Comments:
The package has good steeping instructions. We steeped for 3 minutes to avoid bitterness.

The description on the Website wasn’t quite precise. Only after I steeped it did I realize that there were two different plant leaves in this: Camellia Sinensis (the darker leaves in the right-hand picture) and an herbal vine called Jiaogulan (the lighter leaves in the right-hand picture).

The company stresses the health benefits of this tea/herbal combo but doesn’t cite studies. Hubby and I aren’t too concerned about this since we drink tea for the pleasure of it. This one certainly fits our goal. It’s very Asian in character and great for a quiet tea moment, sipping on a smooth-tasting green tea.

Get the most out of your fine teas by determining the best way to get several tasty infusions. One tip is that if you want to do multiple infusions, start with more tea leaves at the beginning. We did 12 ounces of water per infusion (to give each of us a 6-ounce cupful) and 3 teaspoons of tea leaves. Increase that to 4 teaspoons per 12 ounces of water and you should get even a 4th infusion with sufficient taste satisfaction.

Store this tea out of the light, since the package has a translucent side. This will help preserve the tea flavor, especially if you are keeping it on hand from a few months or longer.

Little Yellow Teapot wanted his buddy, Matruska (the stacking doll) and her 6 “offspring” to be on hand as a tribute to the tea company owner, Alex, who is originally from the Ukraine.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: thepuriTea.com’s French Vanilla Black Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The Subject: French Vanilla Black Tea from thepuriTea.com. (More info on the company.)


Rating:
Water temperature: 212° F
Steeping time: 3-5 minutes per package label

Tea type: Black
Scents, flavorings added: Vanilla beans
Aroma, dry tea leaves: Vanilla, robust tea smell
Aroma in the cup, plain: Vanilla, roasty tea, combine to an almost maple syrup taste
Taste in the cup, plain: Vanilla, roasty tea, no aftertaste or bitterness
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: N/A
Taste in the cup, enhanced: N/A

Additional Infusion(s): Did one, not recommended

Comments:
Once again, the little tea company that could presents a tea that contradicts all our preconceptions, this time about vanilla-flavored black teas, which in the past have been poor quality tea doused with vanilla flavoring. Internet Marketing professional Nav Nouhi, company owner, has another tea to rejoice over. Other tea vendors (such as Shui Tea) whose teas we have tried have presented this consistent quality, too. We hope, as avid tea drinkers, that this is a sign of things to come, that is, smaller tea companies focused on exceptional teas.

This is a Ceylon black tea with sweet vanilla beans. It steeps up to a reddish brown liquid (sorry my photo doesn’t show this color better). This time we were smart and ignored the vendor’s description of the taste. That way we wouldn’t be disappointed if our experience differed. It turned out that the tea was so good that this wouldn’t have mattered anyway. The flavor is so apart from other vanilla teas we have tried, mainly because it is not overly vanilla nor overly sweet. Yet, there is no bitterness. Both hubby and I liked it so well plain that we didn’t even bother trying it with milk and sweetener. Also, the tea is a bit light (we may not have used enough tea leaves) and as such would have been overwhelmed by the milk.

Typical of black tea, this one is broken leaf. Since it is a flavored tea, the second infusion did not retain the vanilla flavor. We thought we’d give it a try anyway. We saw no reason to downgrade the tea because of this. Just bear in mind that we were comparing this flavored tea to other flavored teas, not to teas whose flavors occur naturally.

The tea vendor’s preparation instructions on their website were in agreement this time with the package label We followed the package label, except that, since there was a time spread here, we steeped the tea for 4 minutes.

This is a great Fall tea. The roasty vanilla flavor lingers and goes great with Walker’s shortbread. I suggested it, so hubby got some out and we tried it – yum!

Their packaging of these sample sizes were rather interesting.

Hubby and I don’t fall for the organic mumbo-jumbo nor assume that something labeled “organic” is going to be better quality (often, it’s just more expensive).

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: The English Tea Store’s Pumpkin Spice Black Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The Subject: Pumpkin Spice Black Tea from The English Tea Store.


Rating:

Water temperature: 212° F

Steeping time: 5 minutes

Tea type: Black
Scents, flavorings added: Rooibos, cinnamon, pumpkin flavor
Aroma, dry tea leaves: Cinnamon, vanilla, apple-ish
Aroma in the cup, plain: Cinnamony
Taste in the cup, plain: Not bitter, cinnamony, roasty, apple-ish, vanilla-ish
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: Cinnamony
Taste in the cup, enhanced: Sort of egg nog like, I would swear there’s nutmeg

Additional Infusion(s): Didn’t do

Comments:
This blend is mostly true tea (from the Camellia Sinensis plant) with a touch of rooibos and some cinnamon and real pumpkin flavoring. The good part is that the pencil-shavings (hubby calls it “woodsy”) taste of the rooibos is muffled. We didn’t do a second infusion since flavored teas usually don’t do well in the second infusion (the flavorings are usually gone).

One caution here: Do not try this tea with the expectation of it tasting similar to pumpkin pie. If you do, you will be disappointed by what is really a very pleasant and flavorful seasonal tea. We set aside our own expectations and tried the tea from a straight on perspective. We were rewarded with a tea unlike any we have yet tasted, including Adagio Pumpkin Spice, which we tried almost a year ago. There was no bitterness, but there was a flavor from the cinnamon similar to those little Red Hot candies, but not too hot.

The best part of this tea is the flavor it takes on with a bit of milk and sweetener (not needed, since this tea has no bitterness, just a pleasant tang), which we tried just to see what it would be like. Something about the combo said “egg nog” to us, not strong, just an impression. Maybe we just have egg nog on the brain as Winter approaches.

Hubby likes this tea with a nice slice of pecan pie. Try it with your favorite treat.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: The Boston Tea Company’s Lemon Honey & Chamomile Premium Green Rooibos

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The Subject: Lemon Honey & Chamomile Premium Green Rooibos from The Boston Tea Company.


Rating:

Water temperature: 208˚ F

Steeping time: 6 minutes

Tea type: Not tea, is herbal infusion
Scents, flavorings, etc.: Chamomile, lemon peel, osmanthus flowers, honey flavors
Aroma, dry tea: Honey first, then chamomile, then rooibos
Aroma in the cup: Honey, chamomile, rooibos
Taste in the cup: Honey, chamomile, rooibos

Additional Infusion(s): Didn’t do

Comments:
Yeah, I know, we said we weren’t going to do any more reviews of things that weren’t at least mostly true tea (from the Camellia Sinensis plant). The explanation here is simple. We hadn’t noticed that this was a Rooibos-based blend. We thought it was Chamomile with honey and some other flavors. In other words, we didn’t read the label closely.

One great thing is that the chamomile is the good kind, that is, big pieces (big in chamomile terms, not in Mt. Everest terms) in a nice yellow color. Unfortunately, because it also contains real honey and I’m allergic to real honey, I had to let hubby solo on the taste test. He was happy to oblige.

The instructions on the label were written for both bagged and loose versions, making them a tad confusing. I am very thankful, though, that they sent the loose version. We followed the instructions when preparing the herbal.

Hubby likes to smell the infusion as it’s infusing and said it smelled strongest of honey, but there was plenty of chamomile and rooibos smell too. When done, the liquid was orangey-yellow with a faint honey flavor, a chamomile flavor, and under both a woodsy rooibos flavor. He enjoyed the infusion but prefers chamomile by itself with or without honey.

For those of you avoiding caffeine, though, this infusion will be a good one to keep around for some variety, especially if you like rooibos.

There’s something about the whole idea of “organic” that makes us cringe. I know, a lot of you out there accept the story that organically grown items are better since they don’t contain any of those nasty chemical fertilizers. Some facts on organics.

NOTE: This pouch is what the Boston Tea Company uses for samples. Their normal pouches are opaque, not clear, and block out light, very important for preserving your fine teas.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

My Buddy, the Pie Pumpkin, Visits

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.


My humans are holding a Fall “Yank” Teatime. Of course, I’m the star of the show, thanks especially to that tasty Devonshire Tea.

Visiting us all is a pie pumpkin. We’ve become best buddies. He’s a little bigger than me, but I’m a lot smarter. (Don’t tell him I said that!)

Some other great teas for a Fall Teatime I’ve helped my humans test over the past year:

English Breakfast Blend No. 1 (The English Tea Store)
Borengajuli Estate (The English Tea Store)
Scottish Breakfast (The English Tea Store)
Barry's Gold Blend (The English Tea Store)
Irish Breakfast (The Boston Tea Co.)
Bombay Chai (The Boston Tea Co.)
English Breakfast (The Boston Tea Co.)
Assam Numalighur 2nd Flush (TeaGschwendner)
China Yunnan Golden Downy Pekoe (TeaGschwendner)
Assam Boisahabi Malty (TeaGschwendner)
English Five O'clock Tea (TeaGschwendner)
Pu-erh (Shui Tea)
Act Normal (Shui Tea)
Black Ruby (Shui Tea)
Butter Baroness (Shui Tea)
Assam Tea (Two Leaves)
Mountain High Chai (Two Leaves)
Darjeeling #1 (The Puritea)
Assam #1 (The Puritea)
Ceylon #1 (The Puritea)
Instant Black Chai (Tipu’s Chai)
Original Chai Slow Brew (Tipu’s Chai)

Pick a tea, any tea. If not one of the ones above, one that you really like. Above all, respect your teapot, big or little.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Gingham Girl Tea Cozy Design Inspired by Little Yellow Teapot

My buddy, Gingham Girl, has designed a tea cozy inspired by yours truly. She let me post a photo of it here:

This is for a larger teapot than me. I’m a 2-cupper and this is for a 6-cupper, like my buddy, Blue Betty. Buy one and have the smartest dressed teapot on the block!

Review: The Boston Tea Company’s White Peony

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The Subject: White Peony from The Boston Tea Company.


Rating:

Water temperature: 175˚ F

Steeping time: 2 minutes

Tea type: White
Scents, flavorings, etc.: N/A
Aroma, dry tea: Raisiny, apricotty, nutty
Aroma in the cup: Planty
Taste in the cup: Mild, not bitter, aromas not present

Additional Infusion(s): Did one, slight tang, still mild, not bitter

Comments:

This is a large tea leaf tea, so even if you prefer bagged teas, be bold and try some of this steeped loose. You will find the bit of effort well worth it.

The instructions on the label were written for both bagged and loose tea, making them a tad confusing. I am very thankful, though, that they sent the loose version. We followed the instructions when preparing the tea. As it steeped, we sniffed the liquid a couple of times.

This is a tea that needs to be treated with respect, not just because of its quality (which is very good), but also because this is not a tea to steep and then let sit around until you could get around to drinking it. Steep it with the clear intention of consuming the tea liquid fairly quickly before it has a chance to become tepid and the taste goes flat. You also should let it cool enough (about 15 or 20 seconds) after steeping so that it doesn’t scald your lips and tongue. The tea is at its flavor best when hot but not scalding. Tricky, but if you sip it once or twice after pouring, you’ll know when it’s right. Because of the tendency of the tea flavor to be fleeting, we rated this a “4” but don’t mean that in any way to indicate lower quality. On the contrary, we highly recommend that you include this in your supply of “sipper” teas.

Price per cup calculations make this tea not as out of range as you might think at first. At the time this review was written, the price on the tea vendor’s website was:

$13.99 for 50 grams (about 1.76 oz.) tin
$21.99 for 1/2 lb. pouch

Based on using their recommendation of 1.5 tsps. per 8 oz. of water and guessing that we used 1/20th of an ounce (about 3 tsps.) of the tea in our 16-ounce taste test, the price per cup is:

40 cents per cup if you buy the tin
14 cents per cup if you buy the larger pouch

Despite the economy of size, don’t go for the larger package unless you are prepared to indulge your drinking of this tea a lot.

NOTE: This pouch is what the Boston Tea Company uses for samples. Their normal pouches are opaque, not clear, and block out light, very important for preserving your fine teas.

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: thepuriTea.com’s Ceylon #1 Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The 3rd of 3 Ceylon teas I helped my humans review recently.

The Subject: Ceylon #1 from thepuriTea.com. (More info on the company.)


Rating:

Water temperature: 212° F

Steeping time: 5-7 minutes per package label

Tea type: Black
Scents, flavorings added: N/A
Aroma, dry tea leaves: Jammy/raisiny/malty
Aroma in the cup, plain: Rich malty/raisiny
Taste in the cup, plain: Raisiny, malty, slight tang
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: See comments
Taste in the cup, enhanced: See comments

Additional Infusion(s): Did one, not recommended

Comments:
For a guy who made his career in Internet Marketing, owner Nav Nouhi’s foray into tea sales is a boon to tea aficionados everywhere.

This is a full leaf loose tea that we steeped loose in pot. The leaves would never have a chance to fully impart their flavor into the water if confined this in an infuser basket or teaball.

The liquid was a reddish color with a malty/raisiny aroma and a rich flavor with a slight tang. As it cools, the tea develops a hint of floral.

Milk seems to increase the maltiness while sweetener seems to give the tea a floral note (just a hint). Still, the tea was a bit too weak for the milk. Hubby and I recommend, therefore, that if you want to add milk to this tea that you steep it up stronger, using more tea leaves than the usual teaspoonful per 8 ounces of water and steeping about 7 or even 8 minutes instead of just the 6 minutes we did.

You will most assuredly get only one decent steeping this way, but don’t worry about being wasteful. Even when we did the regular 6-minute-steep, the 2nd infusion was weak, tasting like lightly-flavored water. Not recommended. Go ahead and make yourselves the best 1st steep and enjoy it with whatever you fancy.

Some Issues We Had:
The tea vendor’s preparation instructions on their website differed from the package label:

…Traditional Steeping: 3 to 5 minutes…

This was true of the Assam #1 and the Darjeeling #1 tea samples we tried.

We followed the package label. Actually, since there was a time spread here, we steeped the tea for 6 minutes.

Our taste experience differed from their description, shown here:

…Dark brown, highly aromatic leaves brew into a coppery, bright brew with a citrusy, woody, floral scent. The flavor is deceptively simple. Each sip reveals new flavors of white flowers, stewed plums, lemon zest and cloves. The overall taste is smooth, but our Ceylon No. 1 also holds a light astringency that gives the flavor a beguiling spark and depth. The aftertaste of lactose sugar and mild astringency makes Ceylon No. 1 suitable for drinking on its own or sipping with a bit of milk, sugar, lemon or honey.…

Hubby and I realize that it can be difficult for tea vendors to write a description of the taste of their tea that agrees with what their customers experience, so we weren’t at all put off by this. We detected a wonderful jammy/raisiny/malty notes, quite different from this description but quite in line with the other two Ceylon teas we tried as part of this “trio of taste.”

None of this stopped us from giving this tea a top rating. We are so blown away by the wonderful flavor of the 1st infusion, which is delightful plain. We’re sure that a stronger steeping would take the milk better.

Their packaging of these sample sizes were rather interesting.

Hubby and I don’t fall for the organic mumbo-jumbo nor assume that something labeled “organic” is going to be better quality (often, it’s just more expensive).

Disclaimer: This tea was provided by the company named. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: Baktat’s Ceylon Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.
The 2nd of 3 Ceylon teas I helped my humans review recently.

The Subject: Ceylon Tea from Baktat.

Rating:

Water temperature: 212° F

Steeping time: 5 minutes

Tea type: Black
Scents, flavorings added: N/A
Aroma, dry tea leaves: Raisiny/malty
Aroma in the cup, plain: Rich malty/raisiny
Taste in the cup, plain: Raisiny, malty, not bitter, no aftertaste
Aroma in the cup, enhanced: See comments
Taste in the cup, enhanced: See comments

Additional Infusion(s): Did one, not recommended

Comments:
This is a full leaf loose tea that we steeped loose in the teapot. The leaves would never have a chance to fully impart their flavor into the water if confined in an infuser basket or teaball.

One thing to note is that we bought this 250g bag about 3 or maybe even 4 years ago at a local market that specializes in items from the Mideast. Since the bag has 2 transparent panels, we’ve kept the tea, bag and all, inside another bag that is wholly opaque and made sure that both are sealed to keep out air. As a result, the tea leaves yielded a liquid that we were quite pleased with and equaled what we experienced back then.

The directions on the side of the bag, which I couldn’t manage to get a decent photo of, are for preparing in a samovar. Not having one handy, we stuck with our teapot method. We also used the guidelines we follow for most black teas: boiling water and steep for 5 minutes. This did well enough, but I think it could be improved upon. First, I tell the results of this way of preparing.

The liquid was a reddish-brown color with a rich malty/raisiny aroma. The raisiny flavor hit the sides of my mouth as I swallowed. There was no bitterness or aftertaste, even as the tea cooled. It did tend to weaken in flavor, though.

While milk and sweetener blend beautifully with, but do not suppress, that raisiny/malty flavor, the tea was a bit too weak for the milk. Hubby and I, therefore, prepared more using a bit more tea leaves than the usual teaspoonful per 8 ounces of water and letting it steep for 6 minutes instead of 5 minutes. This was much more satisfying and took the milk well.

You will most assuredly get only one decent steeping this 2nd way, but don’t worry about being wasteful. Even when we did the regular 5-minute-steep, the 2nd infusion was weak, tasting like lightly-flavored water. Not recommended. Go ahead and make yourselves the best 1st steep and enjoy it with some lightly flavored cookies or whatever else you fancy.

In summary: For drinking straight, use a bit less amount of tea leaves and steep for no longer than 5 minutes. For drinking with milk and sweetener, use a bit more amount of tea leaves and steep for at least 6 minutes, perhaps even 7 minutes. Don’t expect to get a second steep either way.

Disclaimer: This tea was purchased by the reviewer at a local Mideast market. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.

Review: World Market’s Ceylon Kenilworth Tea

© 2010 A.C. Cargill photos and text – All rights reserved.
No copying, posting on other sites, or other uses allowed without written permission of the copyright holder.

The 1st of 3 Ceylon teas I helped my humans review recently. Nos. 2 and 3 coming later this week.

The Subject: Ceylon Tea from World Market.


Rating:

Water temperature: 200° F

Steeping time: 4 minutes

Tea type: Black

Scents, flavorings added: N/A

Aroma, dry tea leaves: Malty and slightly raisiny

Aroma in the cup, plain: Rich malty/raisiny

Taste in the cup, plain: Raisiny, malty, not bitter, no aftertaste

Aroma in the cup, enhanced: See comments

Taste in the cup, enhanced: See comments

Additional Infusion(s): Did one, not recommended

Comments:

This is a full leaf loose tea from the Kenilworth Tea Estate in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). We steeped it loose in the pot (the leaves would never have a chance to fully impart their flavor into the water if confined this in an infuser basket or teaball) and followed the temperature and steeping time directions on the side label of the tea tin. This did well enough, but I think it could be improved upon.

First, the results of this way of preparing.

One thing to note is that we bought this tea about 3 or maybe even 4 years ago at World Market and regret to say that it is no longer available there. (We’ll be taking a look on the Tea Time blog later about why this is happening with good loose teas.) We wanted to do a review here anyway, since it makes a good comparison with two other Ceylon teas we’re reviewing.

The liquid was a reddish color with a raisiny/smoky/malty aroma. The raisiny flavor is not sweet, though. There was a slight edge but no bitterness or aftertaste.

The tea was a bit too weak for milk. Hubby and I recommend, therefore, that if you want to add milk to this tea that you steep it up stronger, using more tea leaves than the usual teaspoonful per 8 ounces of water and steeping about 6 minutes instead of just 4. You will most assuredly get only one decent steeping this way, but don’t worry about being wasteful. Even when we did the regular 4-minute-steep, the 2nd infusion was weak, tasting like lightly-flavored water. Not recommended. Go ahead and make yourself the best 1st steep and enjoy it with your favorite treat.

Disclaimer: This tea was purchased by the reviewer at World Market. However, the rating of the tea and any opinions concerning it are always strictly objective.