Tea Notes
Contents
- All teas are brewed with approximately 5.1 grams / 400 mL
Upton Tea
Superior Bold Leaf Formosa Keemun (Taiwan)
- 100 °C
- 5 minutes
- 2x sweetener
- Pretty good tea, but I don't see how it's any different from the China Keemun
Yunnan TGFOP (Yunnan)
- 100 °C
- 4 minutes
- 2x sweetener
- This is just a solid go-to tea for all occasions
Russian Caravan (Blend)
- 100 °C
- 5 minutes
- 2x sweetener
- Brews to a very mild flavor
Season's Pick Himalayan Bliss (Nepal)
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- A blend of teas from Nepal
- Decent flavor - definitely stronger than the Russian Caravan but not too harsh
- Good all-rounder tea, but I'm not sure I like it as much as the Yunnan
Season's Pick Singtom Estate First Flush Darjeeling 2021 (Darjeeling)
- 100 °C
- 4 minutes
- 1x sweetener
- Beautiful golden color
- Mild, almost floral flavor
- Don't use as much sweetener as you would for Keemun
- I like this tea, but it's a Season's Pick tea, which means that availability is limited and it's expensive
Fujian Minhong Gongfu Congou (Fujian)
- 100 °C
- 5 minutes
- Brews very dark, with a nice orange color
- A more classic tea like flavor than the Singtom Darjeeling, but not as strong as I was expecting
- Smells wonderful
Lumbini Estate OP 1 (Sri Lanka)
- 100 °C
- 5 minutes
- This is an okay tea
- Not the best, not the worst
- I think I prefer Keemun or Yunnan, though
Hao Ya "B" Superfine Keemun (Keemun)
- 100 °C
- 4 minutes
- Brews really strong — recommendation is for 5 minutes but I don't go for more than 4
- I'm not sure I like it as much as the Formosa Keemun
Yunnan FOP Select (Yunnan)
- 100 °C
- 5 minutes
- A pretty solid tea
- Smells vaguely floral
Margaret's Hope Second Flush FTGFOP1 (Darjeeling)
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- Has a "spicier" smell than the Yunnan FOP select
- Smells good, but has a weaker flavor than other teas
- Use less sweetener
Tie Guan Yin Oolong Special Grade (Fujian)
- 87 °C
- 5 minutes
- Brews a very pale yellow
- Weak flavor, don't use much sweetener
- Don't really like it
Balasun Estate First Flush FTGFOP (2023 DJ-7) (Darjeeling)
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- Also brews golden, just like the Singtom Estate Darjeeling
- Another relatively mild tea, but a bit stronger than the Singtom Estate
- Has a bitter aftertaste that I'm not especially fond of
Champs De Lavande White Tea
- 82 °C
- 3 minutes
- 1x sweetener
- White tea is weird
- When it brews, there's barely any color at all — looks like water
- Yet it still tastes like tea
- That said, I'm not really a fan of the flavor of white tea
Chocolate Mint Chip Keemun
- 100 °C
- 10 minutes
- 2x sweetener
- Tastes mostly of mint, barely of chocolate, and hardly any of tea
- Even though it contains tea, it tastes more like an herbal tisane
- Has a ridiculously long brew time — 10 minutes is the minimum, can brew for up to 12 minutes
Victoria's Peak Estate First Flush SFTGFOP1 Darjeeling
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- 2x sweetener
Yunnan Golden Tips Supreme
- 100 °C
- 4 minutes
- 2x sweetener
Adagio Tea
Chestnut Blend
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- Ceylon black tea flavored with chestnuts
- Very strong chestnut flavor, tastes almost like chocolate
- Definitely what it says on the label
Brigadoon black tea
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- 3x sweetener
- Very strong
- Requires additional sweetener compared to other black teas
- Even though this is supposed to be a really special tea, offered only once every four years, I'm not really enthused by it
Other Tea
Trader Joe's Mango Black Tea
- 100 °C
- 3 minutes
- 2x sweetener
- It's good, but it doesn't really taste like tea
- It tastes like a warm mango drink
- It's not awful, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this one
