Tea Adventure: Castleton Moonlight 2nd Flush 2011 from Thunderbolt Tea

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Castleton Moonlight 2nd Flush 2011 from Thunderbolt Tea [More company info]This is a Straight Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Another wonderful tea adventures with teas sent to my humans by our buddy Benoy at Thunderbolt Tea. This is a tea harvested after the second period of growth for the season.

The sample, like all he sends, was vacuum packed and heat-sealed. The tea inside is what’s important. No steeping instructions come with these teas, so this intrepid little teapot and his buddies go by past experience. This Little Yellow Teapot did the steeping honors and served up in a delicate bone china teacup and saucer that’s part of my humans’ small but very treasured collection. (These teacups tend to really compete to be chosen for this honor.)

Once again, a nice whiff of the dry tea leaves told us this was a premium Darjeeling tea and that Benoy had sent another winner. The aroma was fruity with a slight hay-like quality, and the broken leaf pieces were a mix of dark brown, tan, and green. We steeped twice in water heated to 190° F for 3 minutes each. The liquid was a golden color with a very fruity flavor and aroma. This wasn’t so much the typical Muscatel character but more of a apricotty and naturally sweet flavor. Hubby human said he detected a hint of lilac-like floral in the aftertaste. There was no bitterness or astringency. A second steep was overall lighter, with the flavor being still fruity but too weak.

A nice tea from Benoy, our tea guy in Darjeeling. Toot!

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

© 2011 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.

Review ― British Earl Grey White Tea from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Adventure: Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” from Teavivre

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” from Teavivre [More company info]This is a Straight Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Be cautious when ordering from this company, since there is no information available about who the people behind the company are other than some vague statements on their web site.

Teavivre has been busy sending out samples around the U.S., selecting people off of Twitter and Facebook. This little teapot received several recently and was hard pressed to select which one to begin with, since they were all teas that had a reputation for quality. I finally decided on a version of Tie Guan Yin (also called Ti Kwan Yin and “Iron Goddess”), a tea my humans enjoy quite a bit. Time to see how this one stacks up to the others we’ve tried.

True to my principles, the tea was steeped according to the vendor’s instructions: boiling water and steep for 1 to 3 minutes. My buddy little white teacup with the infuser basket that fits perfectly in it did the honors and was able to get three tasty steepings of 1 minute each. There could easily have been a fourth or fifth. (Libre Tea Mug wanted to do this, and this type of tea would have done well in him, but the tea came in little vacuum-sealed subpacks inside the large silver pouch and did not contain enough in that subpack for steeping in the large mug. So, he helped me supervise.)

The taste results: As Tie Guan Yin teas go, this was probably one of the lesser ones, in part because it had been oxidized very little and so had a greenish planty flavor that was also a bit grassy. The taste was not smooth as we were used to but was also not bitter. We ended up with quite a lot of tea leaf bits in the cup and had to strain it again. I’m thinking that my humans should have given this tea a quick rinse before steeping.

The tea leaves after 3 steepings:

A note about the package: the labeling is pretty thorough, including such as place of origin, factory, production date, shelf life, and a brew guide.

Oxidation ranking:

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

© 2011 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.

Tea Adventure: “The Armstrong” (Black Tea) from Tea and Jazz House

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


“The Armstrong” (Black Tea) from The Tea and Jazz House [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Rose flavored tea lovers rejoice. This tea is dominated by a rose fragrance and flavor, both in dry form and in the cup. Also in the mix with those rose petals was an unspecified black tea that this little teapot suspects is Ceylon, plus whole pistachios, whole cloves, safflower petals, ginger pieces, and flavorings. The mix had a wonderful aroma, mainly rose, but a bit of pistachio and the other flavorings.

I did the steeping honors here. There were no steeping instructions on the pouch nor on the company web site, so we just did what we do for most black teas: boiling water and steep for 3-5 minutes.

Like with many flavored teas, the aroma of the dry mix does not match the taste in the cup. For one thing, whole pistachios and whole cloves don’t release their flavors as well as those that are ground up do. My humans were tempted to grind this whole mix up before steeping, but wanted to do a true taste test. As a result, the aroma and flavor were dominated by the rose petals. As I said before, though, this is great for those who love rose flavored teas. My humans wanted to taste the pistachio, ginger, and cloves more, and they were disappointed at not being able to taste the underlying tea flavor.

Named after the one and only jazz great Louis Armstrong (loved him in “Hello Dolly”!) and, like him, a treat for the senses. It seems to be a fairly good flavor for this time of year, too, so we served it up in a nice holiday mug and surrounded it with poinsettias.

Check Mary’s site frequently for new flavors and site features. While there, take a few minutes to listen to her music. Tea and jazz. A flavorful combination.

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

© 2011 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.

Review ― Golden Heaven Yunnan from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

My buddy Libre Tea Steeping Mug did the supervisory honors and thus got to wear our special sash (actually, a tea-dyed headband from CrafTEA Designs).

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Adventure: Citron Green Tea from The Boston Tea Company

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Citron Green Tea from The Boston Tea Company [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

We were all abuzz about trying this tea, and selecting which member of the Tea Gang would get to steep it was an act that required all my little teapot brain’s capacity to decide. The little red and white teapot won out with his cheerful seasonal design on his exterior. Libre Tea Mug was standing close by, though, since he would have been my second choice for steeping this tea.

The label says this is a premium green tea, but doesn’t specify which. Based on the appearance and size of the leaf pieces, this little teapot is thinking it’s Dragonwell. Whatever the case, the aroma was like dry grass or hay but light and with the added fragrance of the dried lemon and lime. That little red and white teapot did three steepings (what a trooper!), using water heated to just below boiling.

The first steeping was for only 2 minutes and resulted in a yellowish liquid that had a wonderful citrusy aroma, a smooth feel in the mouth, and a flavor that was a balance of green tea and subtle citrus that gave a tangy aftertaste. The second steeping was for 3 minutes, still had some green tea flavor (grass/hay) with plenty of citrus presence in both the flavor and taste. The third steeping was for 4 minutes, with the green tea flavor definitely fading but the citrus still evident, and overall still smooth and refreshing.

One key to this and in fact many teas is to let them cool just a bit before tasting so that the flavors will be fuller and you won’t scald your tongue. Don’t let them cool too much, though, or they could grow bitter or the taste might flatten.

The Boston Tea Company gains another round of kudos from me (“Toot!”), from that red and white teapot, and from my humans. Their flavored teas are making us warm up to the whole idea of flavored teas. Next time, we promised Libre Tea Mug he could steep this tea — I could swear I saw him grin with delight at that.

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

© 2011 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 Gets a Greeting Card!

This little teapot has gotten to know some of you humans through such sites as Twitter and Facebook. One of those humans is @GinghamgrlVA, a very nice person who is the creator of my constant companion and shelter from the slings and arrows of kitchen life: the Little Yellow Teapot Tea Cozy.

The other day a greeting card arrived. It declared “Happy Holidays” and was addressed to me and my ‘she’ human (who often assists me in typing out my tweets). The sender was this same nimble fingered seamstress, GinghamgrlVA! My first greeting card! I’m sharing it with the entire “Tea Gang”.

© 2011 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.

Review ― Pomegranate Rosehip Black Tea from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Some Yixing Teapot Buddies

The “Tea Gang” and yours truly have 3 new buddies. They are less capacious than I am and are pretty special, being made of clay from the Yixing Province of China. The vendor was Draphix Corp., one of those little “shops” on Amazon.com. (See the article my humans posted about them plus more teapot designs they have.) Buying something like this online can be iffy, with fakes being offered or arriving badly damaged and unusable. My humans took a chance, and it paid off. The teapots are genuine and in great shape.

The leftmost teapot (“Dragon”) is already best buddies with me (I suspect that my father, also a Yixing teapot, was of this design, since I have a lot of spirit inspired by dragons). The pot is a dark purple-ish brown. The lid handle is a subtle cool shade of green (usually achieved by mixing different varieties of the clay) and is fitted so that it turns and also raises up slightly.

On one side are Chinese characters…

…and on the other side are flowers.

“Dragon” has his own little “home” — a lovely brocade covered box lined inside with a bright orange satin, and with a hinged lid.

The rightmost teapot (“Simplicity”) is a reddish shade of the clay, while the teapot second on the right (“Cicada”) is a warm blue, usually the result of mixing different varieties of the clay.

“Cicada” came with his own storage box, covered on the outside with a lovely brocade and lined inside with a bright orange satin, and with a hinged lid.

As you can see in this close-up, the handle and spout are shaped like bamboo, with a bamboo shoot wrapping around the teapot’s body. The handle on the lid is in the shape of a cicada, an insect that lies dormant for 7 years and then emerges to mate, reproduce, and die, with the offspring then burrowing into trees and soil to sleep another 7 years.

“Simplicity” is, well, simple. I’m thinking that this little beauty will be a more useful member of the Tea Gang, while “Cicada” is more of a decorative member.

The simple design of this teapot is good for gongfu style steeping, where the water is allowed to overflow the teapot. Over time, this teapot should take on a darker hue, depending on what kind of tea my humans use it for.

All are unsealed and unglazed, the way these teapots are. So, they will need to be merely rinsed out, with no soap used. Another important item about this type of teapot is that it is good to use each one to steep only one particular type of tea, since they are porous and will absorb some of the tea, giving future steepings a richer flavor. We’ll have to give careful consideration to which tea we should designate to each teapot. One good option is Dian Hong (Yunnan red or Yunnan black). Others are oolongs and green teas.

Look for these teapots in upcoming reviews.

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

© 2011 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.

Review ― Chocolate Mint Tea from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Adventure: Hazelnut Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Hazelnut Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious [More company info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

The third in a trio of seasonal favorites from this wonderful tea company in Utah. (The first was “Noel” and the second was “Pumpkin Spice.”) This little teapot invited Tea Gang member Libre Tea Mug (LTM) to do the steeping honors, since this is a tea you will definitely want to take along to fortify you during your gift shopping forays.

My ‘he’ human likes hazelnut flavored coffee, and my ‘she’ human who cannot drink coffee has always been a bit envious, wanting that marvelous hazelnut flavor in a form she could enjoy. Of course, she goes for the jar of Nutella now and again to get a hazelnut fix. But it’s just not the same. Then, along comes this hazelnut flavored black tea. She is intrigued. The dry tea has a most heavenly (her exact word) aroma, both nutty and sweetish. A good start.

We boiled water (while my ‘she’ human drooled in anticipation) and added some dry tea with real hazelnut pieces to LTM. The water was poured in, and the tea steeped for 3 minutes. We wanted to use a shorter steeping time, since LTM is well-insulated and a very efficient steeper. This paid off, as my humans inhaled the nutty aroma and sipped the tea straight. No bitterness. No astringency. The only drawback for many tea folks might be how the hazelnut dominates, but my ‘he’ human said he could definitely tell this is tea, not coffee, so you will most likely be satisfied.

My humans tend to like to try teas like this with milk and sweetener, so they did. Another tea that can serve very well as a low-cal dessert, especially good at this time of year.

Imagine the gifts you would receive if you were to set a cup of this tea out with the cookies for Santa!

One caution: forget doing a second steep. We tried it and found the flavor and aroma to be too weak, lacking that wonderful hazelnut character.

Oh, my humans just said to tell you the tea is awful, don’t order it… uh oh, I think they want it all to themselves! How piggish!

By the way, just wanted to let you know that the samples I received from Tea Licious were mostly premium unflavored teas. We rushed these three flavored teas into review so you could consider them for your holiday sipping! Watch for the reviews of those other teas in the New Year.

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

© 2011 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.

Tea Adventure: Strawberry Fields Black Tea from The Boston Tea Company

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Strawberry Fields Black Tea from The Boston Tea Company [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Before I came into their lives, my humans used to go out and purchase these large sized mugs. Many of them are so capacious that one potful of tea steeped in me will fill them. The mug shown here has a Christmas design on it, so we wanted to use it. She’s a real cutey!

The name of this tea can get you to humming that Beatles song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” By the time the tasting session was done, the song was stuck in my little teapot brain as well. Argh!

This is a nice black tea from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) that has been infused with strawberry essence with some dried chunks of strawberry thrown in for good measure. One whiff when you open the pouch can transport you to strawberry heaven. I steeped the tea in boiling water for 3 minutes on the first round and 3½ minutes on the second round.

As you can see, this tea steeps up to a dark liquid. What you can’t see is the fresh and fragrant strawberry aroma. The flavor of those strawberries is milder, though, with the tea flavor very evident. Adding in some milk and sweetener enhances the strawberry flavor but also smoothes and enriches the flavor. The second steeping was a bit weaker in taste but is otherwise very nice with a typical Ceylon flavor.

The Boston Tea Company gains another round of kudos from me (“Toot!”), from that cutey tea mug, and from my humans. Their flavored teas are making us warm up to the whole idea of flavored teas.

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

© 2011 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.

A New Buddy for Little Yellow Teapot

The “Tea Gang” and yours truly have a new buddy. He’s part of a tea-for-one set and is decorated for the holiday season in red and white; he also comes with his own little “house” (actually, his storage box).

There is a very good reason that I am called “Little” Yellow Teapot. I’m little. Duh! But I’m not tiny. I hold a full 2 cups (16 ounces) of liquid. The new gang member holds less than that — around 10 ounces, about the same as the littlest white teapot in our gang. We all three decided it was time for us all to step out on the town and see if we could steep up a good time together.

You might not think that teapots could get rowdy, but we do. By the time we got back home, our lids were askew! And we’re all sworn to secrecy about what went on out there!

Now that he’s been properly initiated into the gang, that little red and white teapot will be joining us in our tea adventures. Look for him in upcoming posts.

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

© 2011 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.

Tea Adventure: Pumpkin Spice Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


“Noel” Christmas Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious [More company info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Another flavored tea that’s especially popular this time of year. The name is a bit of a fooler, though, since there is no pumpkin in this tea, nor does the tea smell or taste pumpkiny. It does, however, taste rather lively and seasonal.

Carol at Tea Licious started with a nice black tea and added some dried fruit and flowers to it along with vanilla and cinnamon. Those added flavorings tend to overwhelm the tea aroma. Let’s see how the flavor works.

Yours truly did the steeping, using boiling water, for 3 minutes. The tea liquid had a lovely reddish color and a cinnamony aroma. Straight, the taste was a big tangy. With some milk and sweetener added, the flavor was more smooth with a cinnamony “bite.” Neither was produced a pumpkiny flavor, though, and the tea flavor was missing. As I’ve stated in other reviews, people who buy a tea with a flavoring like this are usually focused on the flavoring, not on the tea. To that end, you will find this selection quite satisfying and a tea that can fill in for those calorie-laden desserts so prevalent among you humans this time of year.

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

© 2011 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.

Tea Adventure: “Masala Chai” from Persimmon Tree Tea

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


“Masala Chai” from Persimmon Tree Tea. [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

“Masala what?” Masala chai. In other words, spiced tea. Traditionally, spiced tea is made from a cheaper grade Assam tea and has milk and sugar (or some other sweetener). The usual spices are things like cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, ginger, etc. This mix has all but the black pepper, and is very balanced, without one of those flavorings dominating. They are all strong enough, though, that the tea aroma is not detected. No worries, since that is sort of the goal here.

Yours truly, that is, me the Little Yellow Teapot did the steeping honors, with that little milk pitcher standing by to smooth the spiced tea. We popped open the tin and my humans took a big whiff. Ah! Wonderful, fresh, spicy, and best of all not overly cinnamony (my big beef with many such teas).

We did three steepings: 3 minutes, 3½ minutes, and 4 minutes. The first two were the best, with the third one (where we used half as much water) was too light, which we figured it would have been but wanted to give it a try. Straight, these steepings had too strong of a taste of cloves and cinnamon which a little sweetener helped. With milk, the tea was heavenly, with just the right amount of each flavoring in perfect balance and overall a smooth taste.

This is very much what you would expect from a masala chai and make a perfect holiday tea. It’s one of those teas that can be a good dessert tea, taking the place of those calorie-laden pies, cakes, and other goodies, while satisfying your sweet tooth.

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

© 2011 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.

Review ― Mim Estate Darjeeling from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Adventure: Singbulli Clonal Classic Super Fine 2nd Flush 2011 from Thunderbolt Tea

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Singbulli Clonal Classic Super Fine 2nd Flush 2011 from Thunderbolt Tea [More company info]This is a Straight Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

The tea adventures never end with teas sent to my humans by our buddy Benoy at Thunderbolt Tea. This is another tea harvested after the second period of growth for the season.

The sample, like all he sends, was vacuum packed and heat-sealed. Sometimes the writing on them is hard to read, as you can see here:

No matter. The tea inside is what’s important. No steeping instructions come with these teas, so this intrepid little teapot and his buddies go by past experience.

This Little Yellow Teapot did the steeping honors and served up in a delicate bone china teacup and saucer that’s part of my humans’ small but very treasured collection.

Once again, a nice whiff of the dry tea leaves told us this was a premium Darjeeling tea and that Benoy had sent another winner. The aroma was fruity, and the broken leaf pieces were a mix of dark brown, tan, and green. We steeped twice in water heated to 190° F for 3 minutes each. The liquid was a light orangey brown color with a pronounced Muscatel flavor and aroma. There were tangy afternotes, but no bitterness or astringency. A second steep was overall a bit lighter, but the flavor character was still there and very pleasant with no bitterness or mouth puckering aftertaste.

You could very likely get a couple more very tasty infusions out of the leaves, giving you a lot of value for the money. Another fabulous find from Benoy, our tea guy in Darjeeling. Toot!

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

© 2011 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.

Tea Adventure: “Noel” Christmas Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


“Noel” Christmas Flavored Black Tea from Tea Licious [More company info]This is a Straight Tea Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

Happy Holidays and jingle those bells! And while you’re doing that, sip on a cuppa seasonally flavored tea. Sure, this little teapot and his humans aren’t too keen on flavored teas, since most of the time the flavorings drown out the taste of the tea. There are exceptions to everything, though.

The dry tea mix had lots of real dried fruit pieces and almond slivers. The aroma was fruity but not tea-like. I steeped this tea in boiling water for 3 minutes, and served it up in a snow-white teacup for my humans to try. They reported that the reddish brown liquid had a cinnamony-fruity aroma and not much tea aroma. The flavor was dominated by the cinnamon, giving this tea a slightly bitter edge. It’s very seasonal, though, with a bit of sweetener heightening the orange flavoring. A touch of milk is possible, too, as my humans discovered, and added a dessert-like quality. A cup or two will keep you away from those high-calorie sweets so prevalent this time of year. One important note here is that a second steep is not recommended. It’s too weak and the orange dominates, making this taste more like hot Tang. Stick with the first steep and savor every drop. Keep plenty on hand for the holiday festivities so you have great flavor in your teacup!

A peek inside the tea pouch:

Bravo to Tea Licious for the great steeping instructions on the label (my humans forgot to take a photo, but this little teapot never lies).

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

© 2011 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.

Review ― Assam TGFOP from The English Tea Store

The Little Yellow Teapot is now posting his tea adventures with this vendor’s tea exclusively on their blog. The Tea Gang hopes you’ll take a moment to read the article on The English Tea Store Blog.

© 2011 A.C. Cargill photos and text

Tea Adventure: Jasmine Tea from The Boston Tea Company

Here is the latest “Tea Gang” adventure with:


Jasmine Tea from The Boston Tea Company [More info]This is a Flavored Tea [About straight teas vs flavored teas.]

My humans’ experience with jasmine teas in the past has been ― uh, well, ― to say the least, uneven. Florals in teas often tend to be overwhelming, especially to those humans with sensitive sniffers. We proceeded anyway, fearing the worst.

Jasmine tea supposedly came about because tea plants were growing in fields that also had jasmine growing in them. From that accidental beginning, tea growers began purposely processing the teas to get that unique and highly prized floral character. Jasmine teas are usually created by layering the tea leaves between jasmine petals. This tea is considered a scented tea, but since the floral is not just in the aroma but is also in the flavor, I am sticking to calling this a flavored tea. As you can see in this photo, the vendor didn’t skimp on the jasmine.

Different teas, usually green or white, are used to make jasmine teas. According to the vendor’s label, the tea used here is Chun Mee green tea (from the Anhui province of China), a very acceptable green tea with a pleasing planty flavor.

A great thing about samples I’ve received from Boston Tea Co. is the labeling front and back.

Front label:

Back label:

The jasmine aroma was a lot milder than anticipated, thank goodness. My humans didn’t have to go running away and opening all the windows. In fact, the floral was mild enough that the pleasant planty fragrance was clearly evident. At this point, several of my fellow Tea Gang members crowded around, eager to try their hand at steeping this tea, but, as their wise, yellow leader, I claimed that honor.

I steeped up those tea leaves and jasmine buds twice, the first for 2 minutes in water heated to just below boiling, and the second for 2½ minutes. Both had a delicate jasmine aroma (it made me a happy teapot) in that yellowy green liquid and a mild flavor of both green tea plantiness and jasmine floral both coming through. The flavors tended to get a bit stronger as the tea cooled.

Maybe next time, I’ll let one of the others do the steeping, but for now…

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

© 2011 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.