Blind Oolong Tea Tasting with Evan, Brandon, and Others

I recently had the pleasure of attending a blind tea tasting, hosted by Evan Draper, who runs the not-so-active blog Pluck Tea. Incidentally, Brandon of Wrong Fu Cha also attended.

Pictured here is the setup at the very end of the tasting:

In addition to the tea, there were bowls of figs and concord grapes to snack on.

There were seven of us, and Evan proceeded to brew up 7 teas, each of which had been packaged with a mystery label that we opened after the fact. We drank four infusions of each tea. We each took note of all the teas while drinking them, and discussed them before revealing their identity. I took separate notes on each infusion.

I think this sort of setup is a great exercise, because it forces us to pay attention to the tea itself, without allowing us to bring preconceptions based on the tea's origin. We knew nothing about the brands or types of teas, although it was quickly evident that they were all oolongs. Evan used a gaiwan for brewing, rather than an Yixing teapot, which allowed for a purer experience of each tea, rather than having it be influenced by the seasoning of the pot.

Brewing for richness of experience instead of consistency:

One thing I liked about how Evan approached the brewing in this gathering was that the way he brewed these teas brought out different characteristics of the tea in each infusion, which I think helped greatly in the blind tasting setup. By contrast, some people (Evan has done this before) often carry out Gong Fu brewing in such a way that the tea keeps a more consistent character through each infusion. Although this can be pleasant for enjoying the tea, I found the approach Evan used here was more fruitful for actually understanding the tea.

The difference between these two approaches? I'm no expert at Gong Fu brewing but I tried to pay attention to what Evan was doing, and from comparing to my own experience, using a briefer second infusion, and a slightly longer first infusion, often seems to result in a more consistent character, whereas keeping the first two infusions closer in length seems to result in more of a difference between the two cups. The difference usually manifests in the first cup being more aromatic but the second being more flavorful, which I find helps to separate these two characteristics of the tea. However, it also can bring out different qualities of aroma between the first two cups.

Brandon's knowledge impresses:

If you are a die-hard tea enthusiast living within driving distance of Wilmington, Delaware, and have not yet had the opportunity to meet up with Brandon, I would recommend doing so. His knowledge and expertise of teas is uncannily impressive...it reminds me of my Ornithology professor, Greg Shriver, who can walk out in a salt marsh and hear a tiny, brief buzz noise, so quiet or distant that most people in the group did not even hear it, and he would immediately identify the sparrow to species level, long before anyone was able to actually see the bird.

Brandon not only pinned down the variety, county of origin, and style of production of most of these teas merely by sampling them, but was also able to identify the production date of the aged teas with a remarkable degree of accuracy. This level of tea identification skill not only shows that he has sampled a great number of teas, but that he pays attention to nuances of the tea's character enough to identify them with such specificity.

My thoughts on the teas:

I have not yet posted reviews of all the teas, but you can find my reviews of the first two, both from Seven Cups: Old Style Tie Guan Yin 2011, and Old Style Tie Guan Yin 2012. I liked the 2012 tea better, although I did not dislike the 2011 tea quite as much as the others present did, nor did I like the 2012 tea as much as the others seemed to.

The other teas were from the small company Floating Leaves, and I have yet to write up and post reviews.

To be honest, I was not wowed by any of the teas. The first two Tie Guan Yin's were in a similar style to a tea that I gave a 100/100 rating, Life in Teacup's Tie Guan Yin Traditional Roast Master Grade. That tea, granted, is pricier, but I thought it to show a world of difference. I've also had cheaper Tie Guan Yin's that I enjoyed more. The 2011 tea had too much sourness and too little flavor, and the 2012 tea had too much astringency, for my tastes.

There were a lot of oolongs from Muzha in Taiwan, which had been aged in various amounts, and one that was fresher, from 2011. None of these really impressed me. The only tea from Floating Leaves that I really liked was a Dong Ding Select, from Spring 2012. This tea had some interesting complexity, suggesting caramel in the aroma, but with a hint of mint in the finish, something I have never before encountered in a Dong Ding. But at $10 an ounce, it did not seem to compare with other teas in this price range.

The whole experience started to make me wonder if I perhaps have developed somewhat different tastes from the group gathered for this tasting. This morning I'm drinking a rather inexpensive Chinese green tea from Zhejiang province, Mountain Rose Herbs Dao Ren Tea, and I am enjoying it much more than I enjoyed any of the oolongs, in spite of Evan's greater skill at brewing (I've nearly always enjoyed a tea better when Evan brews it than when I prepare it myself).

How about you?

Have you ever participated in a blind tea tasting like the one described here? Have you tried teas from these two retailers? Have you experienced drinking tea with someone who has an insane level of tea identification skills? Have you noticed or thought about the distinction between brewing tea so as to retain consistency between different infusions, vs. brewing it so as to bring out different characters in each cup?

Green Tea Soap from Trader Joe's

Back in January, I wrote about the tea selection in Trader Joe's. Today, I want to highlight a completely different tea-related product from this company. This is the green tea soap sold in Trader Joe's:

I do not know the exact composition of this soap, but the label claims it is 100% vegetable based (a matter of concern for vegans), and contains shea butter, one of my favorite plant-based oils, and a great moisturizer in its own right.

I'm normally not a huge fan of most packaged bar soaps widely available in supermarkets and drug stores. Many of them smell a bit too much like synthetic chemicals to me, and some of them I find to be harsh on my skin. I rarely find bar soap sold in one of these stores that I like and become a fan of, and this particular one is one exception. This is the only widely available commercial soap (as opposed to artisan soaps created and/or sold by small, local businesses) that I've tried that I would recommend.

What do I like about this soap?

There is a lot about this soap that I like. It smells wonderful, pleasantly aromatic but mild and suggesting sweetness. Its aroma reminds me of some of the higher quality Chinese green teas, ever-so-slightly suggesting floral aromas. It is also quite inexpensive, at $3.29 for a 200mg bar. And, I find it mild on my skin. The soap is soft enough to cut easily when slightly warmer than room temperature, which I like because it is quite a large bar, and I find that cutting it into 3 or 4 smaller bars makes it more convenient and helps one bar to go a little farther.

Interestingly, Trader Joe's also sells a similar soap with a lemon verbena fragrance, and another that is lavender-scented. I find it notable that both of these herbs are frequent ingredients in herbal teas. Interestingly, although I love lemon verbena as an herbal tea, I found their lemon verbena soap a bit harsh; not only did I not like the smell as much, but I found it was not quite as easy on my skin as the green tea soap.

What do you think?

Have you tried this particular soap? Have you tried other soaps or personal care products which are scented with green tea? Have you ever tried the trick of cutting large bars of soap into smaller bars, in order to conserve resources?

Reading And Writing Tea Reviews: How Many Teas Like This Have You Tried?

This post is about reviewing teas, and more specifically, about the question of how many similar teas the reviewer has reviewed, when writing a review. I find this question to be of key importance both when writing tea reviews and when reading reviews that others have written.

When reading reviews:

When you are reading reviews, trying to decide whether or not you want to buy a particular tea, or trying to decide what tea to buy, it can be important to know how experienced the reviewer is. As an example, I would trust a review of aged sheng Pu-erh on Bearsblog, or The Half-Dipper because both of these bloggers have been reviewing these teas for a very long time. And similarly, I trust what Gingko writes about Chinese green teas on the Life in Teacup Blog.

This may seem like just common sense, but it flows into a rather nifty (and to my knowledge, unique) feature on RateTea that many of you may not know about, and that I highlight below.

When writing reviews:

When I write tea reviews, I usually include at least a brief mention in the text of the review that communicates how experienced I am at reviewing a tea. The statement can be direct, or it can be indirect, such as by comparison to other teas (implying that you have sampled these other teas). Examples of these sorts of statements include:

• This was the first green tea from Sri Lanka that I have ever sampled. It was similar to a number of Chinese green teas, and rather unlike any of the green teas from India that I have tried in the past.
• This is my all-time favorite among the dozens of Darjeeling first flush black teas that I have sampled.

The first statement clearly communicates that the person is inexperienced with green teas from Sri Lanka, yet is quite familiar with Chinese and even Indian green teas. I write these sorts of statements in my reviews mainly because I find it helpful when reviewers share these sorts of statements, and I want to write reviews that can be useful to others.

Something useful that RateTea does, that you may have overlooked:

Because a reviewer's level of experience when reviewing a tea can profoundly change how you read the review, I've added a feature to RateTea that clearly displays on the page for each tea review how experienced the reviewer is at reviewing teas, both in general, and teas of the particular style, as well as teas from the particular company in question. The following screenshot shows this feature:

The reviewer box on this tea shows that Sylvia has reviewed 4 Ceylon Black Teas, 3 teas from Upton Tea imports, and 72 total teas. The box also shows that she has been a member of the site since March of 2011. Note the level of specificity: the site identifies the number of Ceylon Black Teas, not just any black teas, which the reviewer has reviewed. The same goes for any specific style or variety of tea.

This feature is of particular interest to serious tea drinkers, as, when buying a specific variety of tea such as silver needle white tea, or golden osmanthus (Huang jin gui) oolong, it is more important to know if the reviewer has reviewed any of these specific teas, rather than just reviewing a lot of generic white or oolong teas. Also of interest to serious tea drinkers, RateTea keeps pure teas and flavored teas completely separate, so reviews of flavored teas will not count towards the count of pure teas of a given type (green, white, etc.). This feature is one of the places where RateTea's detailed and deep database truly shines. It would not be possible to even implement this sort of feature without this sort of level of depth, a level that has made RateTea more labor-intensive to develop and maintain. I am truly hoping that this effort will pay off in terms of recognition by and participation from the people who are most interested in promoting the culture of single-origin, pure teas.

If you like it, then use it!

If you like this sort of feature, I would encourage you to use it! Review pure teas of specific varieties on the site, and become viewed as more authoritative on the site, for reviewing these specific kinds of tea. Sadly, the teas getting the bulk of the reviews are still tea bag teas from mainstream brands, mostly blends. I think the true strengths of the site show through only on single-origin teas of named varieties, and I would really like to see more participation by people who are enthusiastic about drinking these types of teas.

What do you think?

When you read tea reviews, how important is it to you to know how experienced the reviewer is at drinking or sampling similar teas? How much of this info do you share in your own reviews? What do you think about the RateTea feature I highlighted, which shows the number of teas of a specific style that a reviewer has reviewed?

Side-by-side Comparison: Teavana Monkey-Picked Oolong vs. Life in Teacup Bai Ya Qi Lan

I recently engaged in a tea trade and tasting with a few friends who are casual tea drinkers, in which I brewed up Life in Teacup's Bai Ya Qi Lan alongside Teavana's Monkey Picked Oolong Tea, which is a Tie Guan Yin. I found this comparison very interesting to me because the two teas were actually quite similar to each other in certain ways, but the companies selling them were about as dissimilar as one could find. I have already reviewed both of these teas on RateTea, and you can find them here: Life in Teacup's Bai Ya Qi Lan, Traditional Green Style, Superior Grade, and Teavana's Monkey-Picked Oolong, along with some other people's reviews as well.

Although the two teas were from different varietals, both teas were greener oolongs, traditional sytles (not the modern green style), from Anxi County in Fujian province of China. Teavana is the biggest loose-leaf tea retailer in the U.S., a publicly traded company, with stores in high-end shopping malls. Teavana does carry a number of pure teas, like this one, but the company's focus seems to be more on blends. Life in Teacup, on the other hand, is a tiny company, run by one person, which focuses on pure teas, particularly Chinese teas.

People liked both teas a lot:

The reaction to both teas was generally very positive. People seemed to like the Qi Lan more, but the general feeling was that the teas were quite similar to each other.

My impression:

When I drink greener Tie Guan Yin on its own, I often feel that the aroma resembles orchids. However, drinking it side-by-side with the Qi Lan, I will say, although the Teavana Tie Guan Yin did smell strongly floral to me, it struck me as much less orchid-like than the Qi Lan. Qi Lan is sometimes translated as "profound orchid", so it makes sense that its aroma would be more orchid-like than the Tie Guan Yin. This is the first time I ever sipped two similar teas side-by-side like this, and it was interesting to see that the varietal named for orchids actually did smell more like orchids to me.

I found the Teavana tea to be more multifaceted. Its aroma was not just floral, but also had more woody tones. However, in the end, I liked the Qi Lan better.

Price comparison:

I thought these two teas were similar in quality; by taste alone, I preferred the Qi Lan from Life in Teacup, but only slightly, and there were aspects of the Teavana tea I liked more, notably, that it seemed much more complex whereas the Qi Lan was a bit simpler. Both produced multiple infusions, and with a similar amount of leaf and similar steeping lengths, they produced cups that were about equally flavorful and aromatic.

However, Life in Teacup's Qi Lan sold for $3.99 for one ounce, whereas the Teavana Monkey-Picked Oolong sold for $25.00 for 2 ounces, well over three times the price. Is this because Teavana is overpriced? This may be part of the story, but another possible explanation, to share my own personal opinion, is that I think Tie Guan Yin tends to be overpriced relative to other varietals. Life in Teacup sells a Tie Guan Yin of the same grade as this Qi Lan for $9 for one ounce, still less than this Teavana tea, but only slightly so.

Notes on other teas:

As a side note, I brewed up some other teas, including Harney and Sons' Sungma Second Flush Darjeeling, and a 2009 Shou Mei from Life in Teacup, and they were generally well-received, with the exception of Teavivre's Mao Jian green tea, which people found too bitter. I must partly take responsibility for the brewing of this tea, as I think I brewed it on the bitter side, but on the other hand, I really love the bitterness. I recently had enjoyed a cup of this, brewed Gong Fu style by Evan of Pluck Tea. This tea, even when brewed with great skill, has a bit of an edge to it. I like this, but I understand it does not appeal to the broadest tastes, especially here in America where there is a pretty strong tendency to avoid bitter flavors.

What do you think?

Do any of my remarks here surprise you? Or do they seem to fit with your experiences?

Teas From Rare Tea Republic, And On The Consistent Character Of A Company's Teas

One thing that I have noticed fairly consistently over time is that different tea companies tend to have certain trends about what characteristics their teas tend to have. These trends are both evident in the choices of which styles of tea a company chooses to carry, and in the particular examples of each category of tea that a company sells. Thus, in trying a particular type of tea from different companies, I have observed differences which will often fit into a broader trend indicative of that company.

For example, Adagio Teas, from my experience, has tended to stock teas that are lighter, smoother, sweeter, and milder. Rishi Teas, on the other hand, has tended to stock teas that are a bit darker, stranger, and stronger tasting.

Rare Tea Republic:

Recently, I received four samples of teas from Rare Tea Republic. If you want specifics of each tea, you can read my detailed reviews of each of these teas by visiting RateTea's page on Rare Tea Republic. But here I want to comment on the company in general, and then on the trends I observed about the teas.

Here is a screenshot of the company's website:



As I have been writing about websites lately, I want to comment on this company's website: I like it very much! It is visually pleasing, with a clean but somewhat formal and elegant look, and it has its own unique character that immediately stands out from other tea companies. Showing consistent branding, the packaging of the tea itself fits with the look-and-feel of the website. I think this is a good marketing decision!

But visual things alone do little to impress me: what I like most about the company's website is that it provides a lot of information about each individual tea. In particular, it gives the specific region (not just country) in which each tea originates, as well as the plucking date. There's not a huge amount of information, but there's the information that I want. The company also offers some interesting teas, and, while it is focused on artisan teas, it has a fairly broad range of prices among its offerings.

And perhaps most importantly, the company seems to be interested in providing detailed information on where their teas originated, and in the broader context, promoting artisan tea culture in general.

Trends of this company's teas:

The catalag of Rare Tea Republic shows a clear focus on teas from the Himalayan region: all of their teas currently offered are from India or Nepal, with the exception of a single offering from Kenya. However, the offerings of teas from this company are quite atypical for the regions it covers, including numerous green, white, and oolong teas. This alone gets my attention. But the black teas they sell are also unusual. Of the four teas I sampled, three were black teas:



Can you even tell from the look of the leaf which of these teas are black teas? The tea on the right is the green tea, Jun Chiyabari Himalayan Evergreen. The leaf did not look much different from black teas from the same region, but upon tasting it, I will say, this tea was the most like a Chinese green tea of any tea I have ever tried from the Himalayan region of Northeast India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

How do the teas tend to taste?

So what are the trends I observed about the actual characteristics of this company's teas when drinking them?

• They were all complex in aroma and smooth, but full-bodied in flavor. None of the teas I tried were strongly bitter, harsh, or astringent, nor were any thin: all were rich but somehow mellow.


• They were all highly vegetal and herbaceous, but, not in a way I found objectionable. I often find that green, oolong, and some first-flush black teas from Darjeeling and surrounding regions like Nepal can have aromas that are too vegetal for me. I liked the quality of these teas more.


• All the teas struck me as more similar to each other than they were to other teas from the region that I've tried from other companies. This company seems to be selecting teas for particular characteristics, so I imagine it will find a niche market of people who like those qualities.


• They all perform well under multiple infusions. In some cases, even brewing western-style with a long (5 minute) infusion, they produced a second flavorful cup. From my experience, this is particularly uncommon among black teas.


• The teas from Rare Tea Republic, I found, were quite versatile with respect to brewing: although some of them (like the Jun Chiyabari Himalayan Evergreen) produced radically different results when brewed in different ways, they all tasted pleasing regardless of how I brewed them. This contrasts with my experience of Himalayan teas with a highly vegetal character--I've found that these teas tend to be picky about brewing.

My one disappointment about these teas was their similarity to each other. I've tried a lot of teas, including some very interesting and unusual black teas, like the ones I described in my recent post top 5 most unusual or interesting black teas. If I had sampled one of these teas from Rare Tea Republic two years ago, when I did not have as much experience with tea in general, I undoubtedly would have described these teas as unusual, but now, I don't think they stand out quite as much. That said, they are high-quality, complex teas that I found very pleasing.

I also want to make one final note on price...the teas from this company are on the pricey side, but I also found that they are so flavorful that less leaf is needed to produce pleasing cups of tea. Considering that the teas worked well for multiple steepings, and that the leaf went quite far, and the quality is consistently good, these teas offer much better value than their price alone might lead you to think.

In conclusion:

I was quite impressed with this new tea company, Rare Tea Republic.

Have any of you tried any of their teas?

Top 5 Most Unusual / Interesting Black Teas I've Tried

This top 5 post focuses on unusual black teas, black teas that have something novel, exciting, and different about them.



One of the reasons behind this post is that I sometimes read and hear the idea, expressed by enthusiasts of Chinese and/or Japanese teas, that the most interesting teas are green, oolong, Pu-erh, and white teas, and that black teas are somehow not as interesting, or do not represent a fully rich, deep, or complex tradition worthy of the same sort of focus or interest as the other types of teas. While I find it hard to argue with some points (like the complexity of Pu-erh), I think that some tea enthusiasts dismiss black tea without ever seeing what it can offer. People have different tastes, and I think it is completely legitimate to prefer these other types of tea, but I think that if you seek out interesting black teas and approach them with an open mind, you will find they offer a lot of diversity.

There is a difference between a tea that I consider interesting and a tea that I consider good. This list is not a collection of favorites. When comparing ratings on RateTea, I ranked a number of black teas higher than some of these, but for this list, I did not consider the teas with what I would call a "classic" profile of a well-established style, like a classic Assam, Darjeeling, or Keemun. These are the teas that defied classification, had surprising complexities in their aroma, and were totally unlike anything I had tried before:

• Putharjhora Estate FTGFOP1 Tippy/Cl First Flush Organic from Upton Tea - From the Dooars region of India, this tea stands out as the most interesting black tea I have ever sampled. I experimented with brewing it extensively, and I found that multiple infusions were required to fully experience it and bring out its diverse characters. This tea had elements in common with Darjeeling and Assam teas, and exhibited nuances of wintergreen, fruit, malt, celery, citrus, and caramel in the different infusions. One thing that really struck me about this tea was its resemblance to sheng Pu-erh and high-grown green oolongs in later infusions. The flavor and mouthfeel were also very complex, with peppery sensations like a Yunnan dian hong, and a significant savory or umami presence as well.


• Royal Tajiri Tea from Royal Tea of Kenya - This is the only black tea so far that I gave a perfect score on RateTea. It has a fresh, vegetal quality I usually only encounter in Darjeelings, yet is stronger overall. Aroma has suggestions of asparagus, honey, malt, muscatel, and wintergreen. Eminently pleasing to drink!


• Livingstonia Estate GFBOP from Upton Tea - A Tanzanian orthodox tea, also with wintergreen in the aroma, and rice, malt, and floral tones. The floral tones are reminiscent of Queen Anne's Lace, a flower with a distinctive aroma that I have not before noticed in tea. Very unlike other teas I've tried, but also very balanced and enjoyable.


• Kuwapani Estate Makalu Tippy Spl from Upton Tea - This tea from Nepal, which Upton described to be Oolong-like, I found to be vaguely reminiscent of Panyang Congou. The aroma has tones of sandalwood, smoke, wintergreen, cocoa, and muscatel. This tea had a dry, peppery finish as well.


• Singalila Estate SFTGFOP1 from Upton Tea - This tea, which I did not enjoy quite as much as the others, but still liked, was just outright bizarre. It was from a very new tea garden in Nepal; Upton described it as being oolong-like. The dry leaf appeared Darjeeling-like, but upon brewing, the aroma had a burnt quality, suggestive of candle wax. Nuances in the aroma included peppermint, vanilla, and chocolate, with hints of muscatel grape, smoke, and dust. This may not have been my favorite tea on this list but it certainly is up there among the most interesting black teas I've sampled.

One interesting observation I made after compiling this list was the fact that four of these teas exhibited wintergreen in the aroma. This signals the presence of methyl salicylate, which I explain in my post on wintergreen tones in black tea. While I haven't liked all teas exhibiting strong wintergreen tones, I think that in general, this quality tends to correlate pretty strongly with other qualities that I like in black tea.

What do you think?

What are some of the most interesting or unusual black teas that you've tried? What companies other than Upton Tea Imports would you like to recommend for these sorts of teas? Have you tried any of these teas?

Top 5 Individual Tea Reviews on RateTea

This week, for the top five post, I have chose to share the most often viewed individual reviews on RateTea. This is not necessarily the same as the most often-viewed individual teas, in fact, all five of these reviews are of somewhat esoteric teas that are not particularly well-known and are not particularly often-viewed on the site.



The list:

• 1. Review of Rituals Orange Pekoe & Pekoe Cut Black Tea by Ernie


• 2. Review of Dong Suh Brown Rice Green Tea by Me


• 3. Review of Typhoo Tea by Sir William of the Leaf


• 4. Review of Wild Harvest Fair Trade True Green Tea by Me


• 5. Review of Badia Linden Leaves Tea by Me

Why are these the most often-viewed reviews? Your guess is as good as mine. They're not the longest or most detailed reviews on the site, and they're not even the ones that have been most shared or talked about. I do find it interesting that they are all tea bags, and all brands that are relatively low-profile in the U.S.

Top 5 Favorite Black Teas Of The Moment

People often ask me: "what is your favorite tea?", and those who know me a little better may ask the more open question: "Do you have a favorite tea?", to which I usually answer "not really, although I have a few favorite teas at the moment". My tastes in tea change frequently, so it's hard for me to pick universal favorites. However, at the moment, there are five black teas that I can pick out as favorites. These include teas that I've tried recently as well as ones I have not had in some time, and am simply remembering:

• TK18: Livingstonia Estate GFBOP - I've tried a few Tanzanian teas now, including a very good one from Teas Etc, and I've liked all of them. This one, however, is my favorite, and is one of the most interesting / unusual black teas I've tried yet, with tones of wintergreen and a suggestion of Queen Anne's lace in the aroma. It is a high grade of broken-leaf orthodox tea.


• Makaibari Estate Darjeeling First Flush from Arbor Teas - As I've written about before, I love everythig I've ever tried to come out of Makaibari estate. This was not my favorite tea from theirs (this title goes to a long-leaf green tea), but it is the favorite batch of black tea I've tried.


• The now-discontinued Himalayan BOP from Upton Tea Imports. I have tried a number of similar teas Upton added after retiring this one, but I haven't found one I like as much as this one. This tea is inexpensive, Darjeeling-like, but very edgy, with a greener character for a black tea, yet considerable bitterness. My next-best bet for a similar tea is one from Jun Chiyabari estate in Nepal, provided by Imperial Tea Garden, but I have yet to find a tea in this genre that I like quite as much as Upton's discontinued one.


• Panyang Tippy Golden Needles Imperial - A tippy black tea, also from Upton, this tea was remarkably light for a Chinese black tea, and had an aroma suggestive of pastry crust, yet with considerable complexity.


• Darjeeling from Hampstead Tea - This tea is also from Makaibari estate, and to my knowledge is a mixed flush tea, although this is not explicitly stated. It is my second-favorite black tea from that estate, richer and with more depth and bitterness than their first flush but still with some of the first-flush character in the aroma.

I also want to add that I think all of these teas are reasonably priced, but the Livingstonia Estate GFBOP is a particular bargain.

As a disclaimer, Upton Tea Imports is my favorite tea company, which biases me to order and sample more teas from them than from any other company. I'm sure there are many other outstanding sources of black tea out there. These teas mentioned here are simply the ones that got my attention the most.

My Top 5 Favorite Flavored Teas

This post continues my Sunday series of top 5 posts; we'll see how long I can keep this up! I usually prefer pure teas to flavored teas, but from time to time I encounter flavored or scented teas that I really like, including a select few that contend on equal ground with my favorite pure teas. This post highlights five of such teas, my five favorite flavored teas.

• Rose Green Tea Organic, from Upton Tea Imports - This tea surprised me in that it is flavored with "natural flavors", meaning extracts or essential oils, and that I still liked it. I rarely find teas flavored with extracts in this manner, that I still like. This tea is edgy: dark and rich, and not particularly floral. It has a very strong rose presence, and the base tea blends very well with the rose.


• Osmanthus Oolong Se Chung from Upton Tea Imports - I love osmanthus-scented tea, and greener se chung oolong (particularly huang jin gui) can strongly resemble osmanthus in fragrance. This is an example of a scented tea that blends seamlessly: although it is obvious that this tea has been scented, it is impossible to me to tell where the osmanthus ends and the tea begins. This tea is simply a joy for me to drink.


• Jasmine Green Tea (Jasmine Yin Hao) from Rishi Tea - I do like Jasmine tea, although I wouldn't say that it is my favorite style of flavored tea across the board. This particular tea, however, my favorite Jasmine tea, is one that I especially like. It has a classic jasmine tea profile, but it is less perfumey and I find it exceptionally smooth while still being full-bodied and deep.


• Earl Grey Leaf Green Tea from Hyson - This tea literally blew me out of the water. It is a whole-leaf green tea from Sri Lanka, with rather large leaves. It is completely unlike any other Earl Grey, totally lacking the strong bitterness, and instead, having an overall character more similar to a good Jasmine tea: smooth and very aromatic. The base tea is like an exceptionally smooth gunpowder green or chun mee.


• (Tied for fifth) Rishi Masala Chai - This is my favorite pre-blended masala chai, and evidently, all other reviewers on RateTea also agree that it is their favorite commercially available masala chai blend. It's the only masala chai blend on the market that I like better than what I can blend on my own at home. The other contender is Vanilla Mint Pu-erh from Rishi Tea, a tea that sounded quite unappealing from the name, but which impressed me quite greatly when I actually drank it. This is a very smooth, earthy tea with a cocoa-like character (although, contrary to what the aroma might suggest, it does not contain any cacao).

What are your favorite flavored teas? I am especially interested in hearing from people who, like me, have a strong preference for pure teas, as these are the people who are most likely to share my tastes.

Lipton Tea - Brewing and Attitude Recommendations

This post is inspired by an interesting observation. I was reading Steven Knoerr's 39 Steeps, and in the post Drink Cheap Wine . . . and Tea? (which is a great post, by the way), I noticed something interesting.

The first is a positive remark Steven made about Lipton tea. The second is (gasp!) a positive comment *I* made about Lipton tea. Here is a humble bag of Lipton tea, to get you in the spirit of this post:



Picking on Lipton:

Often, I think Lipton gets a bad rap. Because it's the dominant brand, it is the default tea for connoisseurs to "pick on". Ironically though, picking on it by default may actually help this brand maintain its place as the dominant brand in the market...but that's another issue. I was picked on a lot as a kid, and it's not terribly pleasant or constructive, not something I would ever wish on anyone, so rather than doing the same to Lipton, I'll share my genuine opinion about what I really think about this tea.

What do we expect from Lipton?

I think tea is influenced a lot by how we perceive it, which is one of the key aspects that Steven gets at in his post above. If we order a whole-leaf oolong tea with a steep price tag on it, and it just tastes bad, where does our head go?

• Maybe I didn't brew it properly.


• Maybe the tea was not stored properly.


• Maybe I just don't know how to appreciate this particular tea or style of tea. (especially if the tea is an unfamiliar style that we do not regularly sample)


• Maybe this particular batch is no good.

But if we have the same experience drinking a cup of Lipton tea, our head usually goes to a different place:

• This tea is low-quality, mass-produced junk.

Is this justified? Objectively, we can look at Lipton and say: the tea bag contains finely broken leaf, fannings or dust. That means it's low grade. That means it's bad. But this logic does not hold.

Broken-leaf tea is not necessarily bad. For example, I tried a broken-leaf orthodox tea from Tanzania a while back, Upton Tea's TK18: Livingstonia Estate GFBOP, and one of my favorites was their now-discontinued Himalayan BOP Blend. These are not just "decent" or "passable" teas, these are teas I consider truly outstanding, and would gladly drink over any number of whole-leaf selections.

Lipton puts a great amount of care and resources into quality control, selecting teas and blending them to maintain a consistent quality of their tea as conditions change from season to season and year to year. Objectively, there's no reason to expect Lipton to necessarily be bad. And, if we do not enjoy it, it makes sense to at least ask whether or not we stored it properly, and brewed it so as to bring out the best in it.

My recommendations about Lipton:

If you are going to drink Lipton tea, treat it like any other tea:

• Make sure it's fresh and has been stored properly.


• Put some care into brewing it: make sure the water is boiling, heat your brewing vessel up so you're actually steeping the tea with boiling water, and carefully watch the steeping time (I recommend only 1 minute for a single cup).

My original comment on 39 Steeps was that I once gave this advice to one of my friends who was complaining about Lipton tea being bad. She told me after following the advice that she was very surprised, and that she really enjoyed the cup of tea. She told me that the resulting cup of tea was both less bitter and more flavorful than what had resulted when she had brewed the same tea haphazardly.

I want to make one final remark. I've tried a lot of teas, and Lipton's plain black tea is a lot better than a lot of teas out there. It's not the lowest of the low, nor is it really anywhere close. I've tried relatively pricey whole-leaf teas that I enjoyed much less, not to mention any number of other mainstream tea bags from the common brands in the supermarket, that I also think don't quite compare. Objectively, I think of Lipton as being somewhere in the middle in terms of quality, which is pretty impressive given its price scale of production.

What do you think?

Do you bash Lipton, or use it as an example of low-quality tea? Or do you enjoy it, and think it's actually pretty decent quality? Have you ever drunk Lipton, or any other mainstream, inexpensive, mass-produced teas, while putting care into properly storing them and preparing them, as you would expensive loose-leaf tea? What were your results?

You can read and share reviews of Lipton's Black Tea on RateTea if you are curious what others think, or want to chime in for yourself.

Cheap Tea: Loose-leaf Teas Offering Outstanding Value

I'm a bargain shopper, and a highly cost-conscious person in nearly all aspects of my life. I believe in spending money wisely. This post is about loose-leaf teas that are really cheap. This is not the first time I've written on this topic: back in April of 2010 I wrote about three unusually good inexpensive teas...but that was a long time ago, and I've discovered more deals since then.

The word "cheap" often has a negative connotation..."cheaply made", or "cheap quality". That's not what I'm getting at. By cheap, I mean that the price is really low, lower than you can typically get in tea bags. The teas in this post are not just inexpensive, they're outright cheap, bargain buys. But they're also remarkably high-quality. They offer, in my opinion, outstanding value...the best you can get for your money.

Ahmad Tea's Kalami Assam:

Pictured here is the loose-leaf of Ahmad Tea's Kalami Assam:



Price: $6.15 a pound. Wow, just wow.
Summary: A strong Assam black tea with remarkable complexity.
My full review.

Tradition's Oolongs: A-Li-Son (Alishan) and Dong Ding:

Picture here is a tin of Tradition's A-Li-Son (Alishan) oolong, with the loose-leaf brewing in a glass mug. This tea is a little pricier relative to the others, but it is a whole-leaf green oolong tea, with mostly unbroken leaves, and it's still really cheap:



Price: $7.95 for 100 grams.
Summary: Two offerings: A-Li-Son (pictured), and Dong Ding. Both are intensely aromatic, greener, high-mountain oolong from Taiwan. Unparalleled quality for this price.
My review of Tradition's A-Li-Son Oolong, and My review of Tradition's Dong Ding Oolong.

Starway's Green Teas: Huangshan Mao Feng and Bilouchun (Bi Luo Chun):

This brand is a relative newcomer (at least to my eye) in Asian markets, but is now widely available. I'm less impressed with their oolongs, but these two green teas offer amazing deals:



Price: $2.95 and $3.95 for 6 ounces (170 grams).
Summary: Two single-region Chinese green teas of unparalleled quality for this price. The cheaper of the two is in the mao feng style, the other is a surprisingly passable bi luo chun.

My review of the bi luo chun, and My review of the huangshan mao feng.

Have you tried any of these teas? And have you found any deals lately?

Let me know! Share your insights into teas that are both cheap and good!

Review of trYeh & trYeh Heritage Blend

When I attended World Tea East, I picked up numerous samples. Many of these I have reviewed and continue to review on RateTea, but since RateTea is only for ratings and reviews of teas sold to the general public, there were quite a few samples I picked up from companies that only sell wholesale. TrYeh was one of these companies. Since I know many tea company owners and employees read this blog, I wanted to write some reviews and posts about companies that are only in the wholesale or supplier business.

Here is a sample of loose-leaf tea from this company, that I review below:



Before we proceed to the review, I want to write about this company as a whole, and my impression of it.

TrYeh: About the Company

TrYeh is based in Berkeley, Ca, and is primarily a wholesale supplier of teaware, but also supplies a small amount of loose-leaf tea. The company had a stand in the middle of the exhibition hall at World Tea East, and their stand featured some beautiful pottery, including Yixing teapots in many different styles, simple and ornate, traditional and modern. I was struck by the affordable prices of these items, relative to their quality and appearance. The company keeps their prices private, so I won't share details, but I will say that the prices were set low enough that they could be sold with a reasonable markup, but still at a fair price offering good value. I did not brew tea with any of these pots, and I can't truly testify to their quality without having done this, but I will say that the company got my attention, and might be worth looking at if you are looking for a supplier of this sort of teaware.

According to their website, TrYeh designs all their pottery, and outsources production to China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Their target audience is small retailers, which includes both tea shops as well as other sorts of small businesses. TrYeh also sells a few teas, which leads into my review.

Review of TrYeh Heritage Blend:

This tea was marked as TrYeh Heritage blend, Oolong tea, grade AAAA. According to their website, this tea has about a 30% oxidation level, and a mild roast, and is a blend of teas harvested in spring and winter.

The dry leaf is intensely and pleasingly aromatic. The aroma of the dry leaf is very middle-of-the-road among greener oolongs, with a moderate amount of roast but also floral and herbaceous tones.

I brewed this tea western-style, and have not yet attempted gong fu style brewing. Brewed with the typical teaspoon of leaf, for a few minutes, it produces a beautiful light greenish golden infusion. The aroma of the tea is very strong and much more pleasing than the already enjoyable aroma of the dry leaf: airy, light, floral, fruity, like a garden in spring. The floral aroma is boldly present, but gentle and less intense than in most greener oolong. The flavor is mild and sweet, almost no bitterness or astringency. It lasted through four infusions, with western style brewing, making each infusion progressively longer, which is impressive.

This tea definitely got my attention. It's a very balanced tea that I think would be likely to please connoisseurs and yet probably be accessible to those with less developed palates as well.

What do you think?

Have you ever had any experience with TrYeh? And did you find this sort of post useful or relevant, or would you prefer for me to focus on reviews that are more accessible and oriented to the general public?

Disappearing Tea Companies: Fresh Darjeeling Tea

This post is about a tea company that, unfortunately, has disappeared...presumably it is now closed.

In late fall of 2009, I received three samples from Fresh Darjeeling Tea, a company, started and run by Sonam Paljor Lama, selling exclusively Darjeeling tea. The company shipped directly from India, and specialized in what I would consider to be true artisan tea: carefully-selected, single-estate, single-harvest teas of unusual varieties and with unusual characteristics. Pictured here are all but one of their offerings:



This collage, which I constructed from the thumbnails saved on RateTea, shows the astounding diversity of teas offered by this company. Although some of these teas look a little bit like other Darjeelings, many of them do not. Of the company's 13 offerings, 5 were Darjeeling oolongs, two were Darjeeling white teas, one of which was in the silver needle style, and one was a Darjeeling green tea. But even the black teas were unusually interesting.

I corresponded with Sonam Paljor Lama, and he was very friendly; I was also very impressed with his level of knowledge of Darjeeling teas.

My experience of the teas:

When I opened the three samples from Fresh Darjeeling Tea, shipped directly from India, I was immediately struck by the freshness of the aroma; although green tea, especially fresh green tea, often smells grassy or vegetal to me, these teas had a certain freshness that I usually only ever encounter in actual live plants...a sort of smell of leaves and plant juices.

Upon brewing them, I was initially a bit overwhelmed by the vegetal character of all three teas. But the sample sizes were large, and I soon acquired tastes for two of the three samples (one I cared a bit less for). You can read my reviews of Golden Wire - GhopalDhara, Monk's Reserve - Castleton Estate, and the Soureni Organic Oolong. To this day, the Soureni organic oolong remains my favorite Darjeeling oolong.

The tea gardens and the traditions of them still exist:

I have not seen or heard from Sonam Paljor Lama in a long time, so I have no idea what happened with this company. It is a sad fact of business that an overwhelming number of businesses close or go out of business during the first two years of operation (usually during their first year). Although I was very sad to learn some time ago that this company was not still in operation, it gives me peace of mind to know that the tea gardens that produced these teas still exist. There are a number of companies that sell single-harvest, single-estate Darjeeling teas, including special batches of unusual teas like the ones pictured and described here.

How about you?

Did you try any of these teas? Do you have any information about what happened to this company? Have you ever tried these teas, sold through other companies? Which companies do you prefer to buy artisan Darjeeling teas from?

Yunnan Gold: More Expensive. Better?

This weekend I attended World Tea East, and it was wonderful. I hope to write more about this event soon, but for now, I've been catching up on more routine tasks, including reading blog posts that I was behind on well before attending the expo.

One recent blog post that struck me as notable was Lahikmajoe's post you pay more for appearance. If you haven't yet read this, I recommend at least glancing at it, as it will make this post make more sense. This post talks about the appearance of tippy Assam teas. A comment on the post then brings up Yunnan Gold or Golden Yunnan teas, a tippy type of Dian Hong or Yunnan Red, the style of black tea produced in China's Yunnan Province. In the spirit of this subject, and in case you don't know where Yunnan province is, here is a map of China with the province colored in a rich golden color:



When I first started sampling and researching Yunnan teas, I was under the impression that all tips were golden in black teas, and that the golden color corresponded in a fairly straightforward way to the portion of buds. According to the post above and the conversation it references, this correspondence is not so simple. I had seen tippy Assam with golden tips as well, and I had read that the Yunnan Pure Gold teas were made exclusively of tips. But if you are a Yunnan enthusiast, as I am becoming (the more of these teas I try, the more this becomes one of my favorite styles), or if you are experienced with trying a wide range of tippy black teas, you will likely know from experience that the golden color does not always correspond perfectly to the portion of tips, nor to the character or quality of the tea.

But it does seem to correspond fairly well to price, which begs the question:

Does Golden = Better?

I was curious to see if I had been roped into the idea of golden = better, so I looked back to my recent ratings and reviews on RateTea to find some Yunnan Gold teas that I had tried recently. The three teas I most recently sampled, starting with the most recent, were Adagio's Yunnan Gold, Life in Teacup's Yunnan Golden Bud, and Rishi Tea's Golden Yunnan. These links will take you to my reviews.

Keep in mind, these companies also sell other Yunnan teas (Rishi has a less golden and more golden one), so I'm not necessarily comparing teas of similar grades. But that's the point. These three teas are pictured from left to right, Adagio's, then Life in Teacup's, then Rishi's:



These photos were not taken side-by-side. Although the lighting and composition of these photographs is obviously different, and it's hard to get an exact comparison of the way the leaf looked, I will say that having seen all of these teas up-close, Rishi's looks the least golden of them, as the picture suggests, and the other two teas are similar in color and appearance.

Interestingly, Rishi's got the highest rating from me. The other two I gave identical ratings. In my review, I noted when trying Adagio's that I think I prefer the darker teas somewhat.

How do they compare by price?

Rishi's is $4.00 an ounce, or $14.75 a quarter pound. Adagio's is 1.5 ounces for $12. Life in Teacup's is $7.99 an ounce. It looks pretty clear...golden is more expensive. And at least from my limited sample size, I do not necessarily prefer the golden color, and at this point, I do not think it is worth paying for. This impression may change as I sample more teas and/or as my palate develops, but for now, I'm thinking it's at least possible that this golden color is more for show than anything else, and does not adequately reflect higher quality as manifested in the flavor and aroma of the brewed tea.

What do you think? I'd be curious to hear your opinions and experiences on this matter.

Tie Guan Yin, Modern Green Style, Everyday Tea

Recently, one of my friends gave me a canister of tea that he brought back from China. He told me that he isn't sure exactly what it is, but that he's pretty sure it's a low-end modern-style green Tie Guan Yin. I can barely read any Chinese, but I did not recognize any of the characters on the canister...not tea, not oolong, not Tie Guan Yin...I'm pretty sure this is one of those generic canisters that doesn't contain any useful information about the tea:



Everyday tea?

I am interested in learning about many different facets of tea culture. While I naturally seek out higher-quality teas, teas that offer outstanding value, and teas whose aroma and flavor I most prefer, I also like being exposed to the teas that people most commonly drink. There is a pretty big disconnect between the tea culture in the U.S. and Western Europe, and that in China and other countries in Asia. Most people in the U.S. who are seriously into Chinese and Japanese teas focus on the artisan teas, the best teas to come out of these countries.

I was particularly interested in this tea because, at least from what I've heard from people who have travelled in China, and from Chinese people I've met in America, these modern green-style oolongs are extremely popular nowadays, and much of what people consume would be considered low-quality by connoisseurs. It can be hard to find teas in America that correspond to everyday teas that people would drink in China, as in western countries, the low-end of things is dominated by British-style teas, the standard black breakfast tea. When low-end oolongs are available, they tend to be darker roast, as the American palate is not particularly accustomed to greener oolongs.

Here is a photo of the tea itself, with a nickel for size comparison:



Note the large size of the rolled leaves...although it's not true as a strict rule, higher-quality oolong teas often have more tightly rolled leaves. These leaves are very loosely rolled, more so than any other oolongs in my cabinet right now.

The Review:

The dry leaf, upon opening the canister, has almost no aroma. This is usually a pretty bad sign. What aroma there is is pleasant though: weakly herbaceous and weakly woody.

I brewed the tea using a generous amount of leaf and a long steeping time (5 minutes). I have since experimented with brewing and found that this tea is not particulary picky about brewing temperature, but being mild in aroma, does require longer infusions or generous amounts of leaf to extract good flavor.

The resulting cup is mild in aroma, but more aromatic than the dry leaf, and surprisingly rich in flavor. This tea is more flavorful than aromatic, which is rather unusual among teas, and the flavor was actually very pleasant.

The tea's aroma is mostly herbaceous tones, with a hint of woody qualities. There are tones of celery and fresh leaves. There is no floral aroma, unlike most green oolongs. This tea, brewed on the first infusion, tastes a lot like the later infusions of a higher-quality greener oolong (of any varietal). Often, some greener oolongs, when you steep them multiple times, will eventually lose their floral tones and become more herbaceous, with tones that I like to describe as resembling celery or parsley. This tea is very similar.

The flavor however is richer than these later infusions of other oolongs. It is fairly bitter, and pleasingly so, and with a moderate astringency, but not too much. Not particularly sour, which I like, and not at all sweet.

Could I drink this tea every day?

Actually, yes. It's really not bad. Although the aroma was a bit flat, there was little unpleasant about it, and I found it brewed a flavorful cup. I also liked how I felt after drinking it. I'm not sure how accurately this tea represents the everyday teas consumed in China, but I can definitely see how people would be content drinking this style of tea every day. Compared to low-quality darker oolongs and green teas, I would take this one any day. And it's really not that low-quality, it is still a mostly-whole-leaf tea.

So please tell me...is my impression of this tea and its relationship to everyday teas in China at all accurate, or am I way off here?

Anise Hyssop Herbal Tea

The other day I bought some fresh Anise Hyssop at a farmer's market. It was quite inexpensive, $1.50 for a massive bunch. Unfortunately, I did not think to write this post until after I used up the last of the leaves, so I have no photograph of the actual bunch that I bought. Here is a photo courtesy of Wayne Ray at Wikimedia Commons:



Anise hyssop is a plant in the mint family. Although it looks a lot like "regular" hyssop (Hyssopus sp.), hence the name, it is not closely related; both of these plants are in the mint family but are not closely related beyond that. Anise hyssop is interesting in that it is one of the aromatic, mint-family plants that is native to North America.

Why native plants?

As I have become interested in ecology, I have started to seek out native plants from the mint family, such as Monarda, for use in herbal teas, in contrast to the non-native, introduced plants from Asia and Europe. Most of the herbal teas widely consumed in the United States, such as chamomile, mint, and numerous others, are non-native plants here. Although mint (spearmint, apple mint, peppermint, etc.) and chamomile can both be grown in the U.S., they are not native; in some cases, these plants and other herbs have actually become invasive species, escaping into wild ecosystems and causing problems. Anyone who has grown mint in a temperate climate will testify to the way it can take over an entire garden, often choking out other plants. This same effect can happen in wild ecosystems. Part of the reason for this is that there are few native insects adapted to eat non-native plants.

There is a wealth of native plants available in North America that can be used to make herbal teas, both for beverages and medicinal purposes. Growing native plants is often better for local ecosystems, as they are eaten by native insects and thus help feed birds and create habitat for all varieties of animals, and are less likely to act as reservoirs for invasive pests and diseases. And, perhaps most importantly of all, native plants do not become a problem if they escape cultivation and seed back into a wild ecosystem--quite to the contrary, growing native plants in your garden can help provide a healthy population of these plants so that the population remains strong and diverse in nature.

I am sharing this info to explain what has motivated me to sample this herb and some of the other herbs I have been exploring for use in herbal teas.

The Review of Anise Hyssop Tea:

The leaves of this plant had a very mild aroma, so I steeped a very large quantity of leaf to make a single cup. I brought water to a boil, added the leaves, and then let it sit on very low heat for about 10 minutes. This produced a cup that had a light green color, paler than most green tea, and a moderately strong aroma.

The aroma was predominately licorice, with a strong suggestion of wintergreen, and other more generic vegetal tones. Licorice and anise are similar aromas, and the name anise hyssop suggests anise, but I found that the aroma resembled licorice more than anise. The vegetal tones are probably due to the fact that I brewed this herbal tea from fresh leaves; I suspect that if the herb were dried it would be significantly less vegetal in aroma.

The flavor is extremely smooth, and unusually sweet, so sweet it even tastes sweetened, as if honey had been added. There is almost no bitterness or astrigency. This is among the sweetest, smoothest infusions I have ever sampled from a plant. An informational page on anise hyssop run by the government of Manitoba, says that this herb was used as a sweetener by Native Americans, and I can believe that!

I also tried making an iced herbal tea from the anise hyssop (without blending it with anything), and I found it very pleasing. When iced, the vegetal tones are diminished somewhat, and one is left with a mild, sweet, drink that tastes like honey and licorice with a little wintergreen thrown in.

How does it make me feel?

I have had several cups of the brew from this plant, hot and iced. It seems to have a somewhat dampening effect on my body as a whole. I notice that it tends to fairly strongly suppress my appetite, giving me a sensation of fullness even after drinking a single cup. It does not necessarily relax me, but I felt slowed down and less energetic after drinking it. My stomach felt very calm and settled, but I felt uninterested in eating much food for some time after drinking it.

I wasn't crazy about the effects of this tea, given how I was feeling for starters, but I imagine that in some cases, it might have a positive effect. I also think it would make an excellent choice of a minor ingredient in an herbal blend, for people looking to sweeten a blend, as it adds sweetness without adding bitterness or astringency. I suspect that anise hyssop has some possibly potent medicinal uses, however, I was not able to find any scientific research on it, and the information on traditional use by Native Americans that I was able to find in a quick web search was brief and conflicting, not painting a clear picture of this plant's medicinal properties. This would be an interesting topic for further research, however.

Concluding questions:

Have you ever tried anise hyssop? And do you have any other suggestions about herbs, native to North America, that I might try infusing in my quest to discover more plants for herbal tea?

The Best Teas, or the Most Diversity? The Value of Diversity

The illusory search for the "best" teas:

When I was younger, I used to believe that the purpose of sampling and reviewing foods, products, businesses, or anything, was to distinguish good from bad, and to help identify the "best" ones, or at least my favorite ones (which could be defined as the ones I like best). As I began to learn about business and economics, I started to think that the role of reviews in business is to guide shoppers to the best products, so that the businesses creating or supplying a higher-quality product for a reasonable price thrive.

But whenever I have sampled anything, whether it is restaurants, teas, or anything, I find it very difficult to pick a single favorite, or even 10 favorites.



As I began to learn more about both ecology, culture, history, and current events, my worldview started shifting. I realized that in many aspects of life, there is no such thing as "best" on the level of individual products, people, cultures, foods, or businesses, species, and indeed, the best results for society as a whole often emerge when there is a great deal of diversity.

In many aspects of life, there is no such thing as "best"; when you look on a broader scale, diversity is usually better than uniformity.

The picture above shows a deciduous forest in Delaware, much like the forests in Pennsylvania where I grew up. I chose this picture because natural ecosystems were what most helped me to understand the true value of diversity.

An example from ecology:

As an example from ecology, the total biomass (mass of all living things) in an area will tend to increase as you increase the number of different plant species in that area. For example, if you have a garden plot with a single species, and you carefully exclude all other plant species, and let the plot grow to its maximum size, it will tend to grow less total biomass than if you allow two species to grow, and that will tend to grow less total biomass than if you include three, and so forth. It's not always true as a strict rule, so much as it is a strong correlation or trend. Biomass and biodiversity are two different measures, and are independent to some degree, but they tend to be strongly related.

If you are a gardener, this concept is important. You can often achieve a higher total yield by mixing many crops in a small plot, than you could by growing the same crops separately. This higher yield comes as a result both of increased productivity and biomass as a whole, and decreased pest problems (pests spread most quickly through a monoculture). While this complicates commercial harvesting, it poses little problem for home gardeners who harvest by hand.

Back to tea:

I have noticed that I tend to prefer different teas at different times of day, different times of the year, in different weather, or when in different moods. I also sometimes tire of certain teas, while at the same time becoming more enthusiastic about other ones. Most people, even those who are strongly habitual in their food or drink habits, experience some degree of these shifts or changes.

Diversity in tea gives us the ability to better match the tea we choose to drink, to what we want to experience, both in terms of taste and the effect of the tea on our mind and body. It also helps us to experience a broader range of aromas and flavors. It also helps tea to appeal to a broader range of people: people inherently have different tastes, and when there is more diversity in teas, tea as a whole will reach and satisfy more people.

Back to the world again:

I would encourage people to think about diversity in other aspects of your life, as well as in tea. How is your community enriched, culturally and otherwise, by people from different cultures and backgrounds? How is your yard or garden made more beautiful or more productive by the biodiversity in what you plant there? How is your health sustained or enhanced by eating a diverse diet? How is your workplace driven by the diversity of skills and abilities of your different coworkers? How is your life enriched by the diversity of personalities and experiences of your friends and family members?

Diversity is not a politically correct buzzword; it is more like an essential fuel that we require and cannot do without. It is necessary not only for us to live rich, interesting lives, but even necessary for ecosystems to exist and sustain us, and for our society to function at all.

Multiple Infusions of a Tea Bag: Novus Tea's Dragon Well Green Tea

Many casual tea drinkers resteep their tea bags, but people who are into more serious, gong fu style brewing, generally do not apply their art to tea bags. But there is no reason that tea bags cannot be brewed in this fashion, so as to bring out nuances and subtleties in the same way that these qualities emerge when brewing loose-leaf tea with multiple, brief infusions in a gaiwan or yixing teapot. While I agree with die-hard tea enthusiasts that brewing loose-leaf tea in a small brewing vessel is preferable to using tea bags on many counts, it is still possible to bring out the qualities of a tea bag more or less, based on how you brew it.



An Aside: Why am I drinking tea from a tea bag?

I frequent coffee shops where, out of politeness to the business, I generally drink whatever tea is served. One coffee shop that I like for its quiet atmosphere and reliable wireless is Cafe Clave, located in West Philadelphia. A musicless shop (unless live music is playing), the soundscape in here is much like a library. I like to go here when I have highly technical things to work on that require focus. It is actually significantly quieter than my apartment, which is on a busy corner and often has nearly constant truck traffic.

The brewing experience:

Infusion 1, 1 minute: Aroma strongly suggestive of chamomile, with similar fruity and grassy tones, a pleasing hay or straw-like quality. However, cooler, crisper, and lighter than chamomile. Seems strongly caffeinated.

Infusion 2, 2.5 minutes: Aroma similar to first cup, fruity and suggestive of chamomile, less of the grass or hay tones. Darker infusion, deeper flavor. Still cool and crisp. Finish still very similar to chamomile; still seems to have significant caffeine.

Infusion 3, 3 minutes: very similar to, almost indistinguishable from the second cup, but with slightly less-evident caffeine.

Infusion 4, 5 minutes: Surprisingly strong tones of mint, reminiscent of peppermint or pennyroyal, emerge in this infusion. Chamomile-like qualities are gone, very slight, almost metallic grassiness lingers on the tongue in the finish. Overall character is thin and watery, and flavor is muted, but the flavor seems to sink to the bottom of the cup; flavor at the bottom of the cup is noticeable stronger. Afterwards, the tea is spent and the tea bag has almost no aroma left.

Final thoughts?

This tea was surprisingly complex, and lasted surprisingly long (with less leaf than one would typically use for gong fu cha). I am impressed...and eager to try the process again next time I am confronted with a tea bag with reasonably high-quality tea. I also briefly summarized this experience with my review and rating of this tea on RateTea. It goes to show you: I may not like tea bags, I may write about how I don't like them, and I still believe this. But I think that even with a tea bag, you can definitely have a better tea experience if you approach brewing the tea with as much care as you would if you were brewing loose-leaf tea, especially if your tea bag contains high-quality tea.

If I have an opportunity to do this particular tea over again, I will use a much briefer first infusion. I will also say, I hope to try more of Novus' teas when I return to Cafe Clave. This is the third that I've tried; the other two were solidly good, and I wonder if I would like them more if I took more time to experience their nuances through careful brewing.

Reviewing Teas to Give Useful Feedback to Tea Companies

People review teas for many different reasons; one of the many roles or functions reviews fill in the world is that of giving feedback to tea companies on their products. Whether or not you intend your review to function as feedback, it is feedback. If you publish your reviews online, people within tea companies are able to read your reviews, and whenever a tea company comes across or reads one of your reviews, they will see it through the lens of customer feedback.

Reviews as customer feedback:

From the perspective of a business, reviews can be immensely valuable as feedback on one's product or work. In the realm of tea, this feedback can sometimes be simple, such as "I did not like this tea.", which, if enough customers express it, may guide a company to retire the tea more quickly than if they had to rely solely on sales figures. However, it can also be a sign of offerings being more or less similar. But the problem with this sort of feedback is that tastes are highly subjective, and most tea companies already put a great deal of effort into sampling, tasting, and selecting their teas before offering them. So, in a sense, this sort of feedback is not particularly useful. A tea company likely to put out enough effort to respond to customer feedback is probably already doing a pretty good job of selecting good teas to begin with. But there are other things to be learned from customer reviews.

To draw an analogy, I occasionally receive feedback on RateTea of the form: "I love/hate the site." or "I find the site easy / difficult to navigate." or "I think the design looks good / bad or professional / unprofessional." This type of feedback is never particularly useful, because it is not specific enough for me to know how to act on it. There is no "why", and there are so many possible confounding factors (maybe the person just loves or hates the color green, maybe their opinion is skewed by being in an unusually good or bad mood). And, as a webmaster, I have access to detailed statistics showing me how much people are visiting the site, how many pages they view, how likely they are to return, who is sharing or linking to which pages, etc. Simple positive or negative feedback, for all practical purposes, is almost useless. Similarly, when writing a tea review, simply saying that you love a tea does not necessarily provide much useful feedback to a tea company. The company may benefit if, over time, lots of people love a tea (or can't stand it), but the company already has access to this information because they can tell how much of a given tea people are ordering.

More specific feedback is more useful:

For example, with tea: "I felt that X tea was almost indistinguishable from Y, which was lower in price." or "X tea is similarly priced to Y, and the name and description makes them sound similar, but I found them to be quite different, and I enjoy both." or "I can definitely notice the hints of cocoa in the aroma." or "I liked this tea, but I did not detect the malty aroma and I found it more smooth and delicate than robust." So, reviews can also provide more nuanced feedback to a company, than just a coarse "good vs. bad" rating...they can communicate information about value, how similar or different a tea is from the company's other offerings, and perhaps, how a tea compares to a tea in a similar style, offered by a different company.

This can help guide business decisions, such as finding a niche, diversifying one's offerings, writing catalog descriptions of teas, and guiding the selection of teas with different price points.

To those involved in the tea business:

What types of feedback are most or least useful to you? If you could give some advice to tea bloggers and others publishing tea reviews online, advice that would benefit your business in terms of getting useful feedback, what advice would you give?

Pokka Canned Green Tea Review

I recently tried something that I normally would not drink, while at a hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant in Newark, Delaware, Mayflower. You can read my review of Mayflower on Yelp. At any rate, what I tried was green tea from a can, from the Pokka brand:



People who know me or read my writings will know that I am not a big fan of bottled or canned teas, and I prefer, when drinking iced tea, to brew it from scratch. But I do like seeing unsweetened products for sale, and I was intrigued by the fact that it was unsweetened, originating from an Asian (not American) company, and available for $1. I had to try it out of curiosity.

The Review:

Like most things from a can, especially drinks with a more subtle flavor, the aroma and flavor was highly metallic. However, I could notice the tea. It had a mild sour flavor, and a hint of bitterness, sweetness, and umami. The aroma was very vegetal, with more of the cooked vegetable and seaweedy tones, and less of the grassy tones, than I expect from a typical Japanese green tea. It was drinkable, and, in my opinion, much more enjoyable than soda, but it was nothing compared to fresh brewed iced tea, even a typical generic black tea.

This tea was produced by Pokka corporation, based in Singapore. I could not find much more information about it. I'm glad I bought it and tried it.