If anyone remembers my tea haul post from about two weeks back, well… I have tea reviews from that haul for you! Also, the second part of my tea haul came so I get to talk about lots and lots of tea today!

More Tea Incoming

You know, when I initially bought the teas, I didn’t think there would be so much tea to drink! Well, I’m now on a tea purchasing diet which I intend to strictly keep.

I cannot remember how many tea samples are in this bag (which is so cute!) but they are all from the Yunnan area. Yunnan is famous for its puer, but I think there should be a few types of tea in this bag – white tea for sure, and I’m hoping some black tea as well!

This one tube of tea is actually a tisane – they are all floral teas! Which theoretically I should be able to drink at night but they are so cute that I’ve not been able to bring myself to do it. I probably won’t be reviewing these, since they aren’t strictly tea and I already have too much tea to drink and review.

Last is this container of white tea samples (it should be 3 types x 5 pieces) and a bag of 20 blooming teas. Blooming teas are so expensive in Singapore and I know pretty much everyone gets them from China so if I can find a decent source, my mum and I will be happy!

Quick Tea Reviews

I was actually expecting to spend a longer time getting to 5 tea reviews, but I had a few unexpected days at home and they let me drink a lot more tea than expected. The following five teas were chosen based on… well I just didn’t think their wrappers looked as nice so I was more willing to open them first.

晒荒红山 (Shai Huang Hong Shan)/Sunshine Red Mountain

From the tea name, I was thinking that this might be a black tea (since black tea is red (红茶; hongcha) in Chinese). It’s a sweet tea, but the sweetness is not very well-rounded, it ends rather abruptly for me. There’s a woody scent to this tea, and the tea liquor is a reddish brown. The leaves unfurl pretty quickly and once the pressed tea has come apart, the tea liquor is very dark. I wouldn’t say this tea is astringent but it’s definitely drying!

To be honest, after drinking this I wondered if it was ripe puer instead of black tea. There’s something about this that isn’t very much like a black tea for me.

糯香龙珠 (Nuo Xiang Long Zhu)/Glutinous Dragon Ball

This is a raw puer (生普洱; sheng puer) if I’m not wrong. The first cup is very light, very sweet with a little extra note. That note tasted herbal and it reminded me of the leaves we use to wrap rice dumplings. sThe herbal note got stronger in the second cup and it started tasting rather savoury. I left it a bit too long in one of the later steeps and there was a bitter note that complemented the savoury herbal note.

A note for those who are sensitive to tea: I found this one to be a bit harsh on the stomach. I wouldn’t recommend having this if you’re hungry.

茉莉普洱 (Mo Li Pu Er)/Jasmine Puer

When handling the tea ball, I can see some lighter things that might be jasmine leaves but it just smells like 熟普. The leaves unfurl quite quickly, and the second steep produces a very dark tea liquor. To be honest, this one tastes like a normal ripe puer with its smooth earthy notes and I didn’t really get a jasmine note no matter how long I steeped it.

陈皮普洱 (Chen Pi Pu Er)/Mandarin Peel Puer

As with the Jasmine puer, this tea ball became loose very, very quickly. It tasted like a regular chenpi puer – smooth earthy notes with a hint of citrus from the mandarin pull. The leaves were completely loose after the third steep, which let me see that quite a bit of mandarin peel was mixed it – probably why the citrus note was more distinct.

菊花普洱 (Ju Hua Pu Er)/Chrysanthemum Puer

I’m on a roll with the riper puer tea balls, probably because they all have similar packaging. This one is a chrysanthemum puer but like with the Jasmine Puer, I couldn’t really taste the chrysanthemum notes. I know I drank the chrysanthemum petals, though – I was making this using a gaiwan and the petals were accidentally poured into the cup! I’m thinking that in general, ripe puer needs something stronger to have an additional, complementary note.

So far, I liked the first tea I had (the one in my previous post) and the chenpi puer the best! I should be making my way to other types of tea, like black tea, soon so stay tuned for more quick reviews!