Phoenix Tea

Lots of tea, lots of work, too little time! Despite that, it's time to give a brief summary of the ordering process at Phoenix Tea (link: http://www.phoenix-teashop.com/store/en/)
Based in America, Phoenix Tea is not only an online retailer, but also a physical store, run by Virginia Wright (a noted blogger in the tea world) and Brett Boynton. During the ordering process, I managed to get into contact with Ms Wright, and she was very lovely to deal with! Some of the best dealings I've had with the internet tea shopping have been those where I've been able to chat to the very friendly owners, ask them advice, etc. It's these people that you want to shop with again.
So, the site is well set up, the teas are accurately photographed, and many have descriptions of the flavour profiles, which is always a bonus. Phoenix Tea stock a wide range of teas, sourced from a number of different locations, including China, Japan, Korea, India, Sri Lanka and Taiwan. They also have a very good Kenyan tea selection, and one tea from Malawi. Most importantly, I've tried a range of the teas so far, and the quality is certainly good.
You can order a range of weights of the teas, but I love the 2oz tins you get, which are perfect for re-use. There's a number of differently priced teas there as well, so if you're not wanting to spend as much, there are options available there. Having said that, if you want premium, expensive tea, Phoenix Tea have that too. The only criticism I can make is a lack of brewing instructions for the beginner. It's just something that I like to see, to give a newcomer a bit of a hand, so he or she is not eternally put off tea after attempting to drink a sencha brewed with boiling water. Having said that, with the range they have, it would certainly be hard work to write brewing instructions for everything.
There's a little bit of seasonal variation to the teas available, which is to be expected from a boutique tea store. Recently, they've had an influx of Taiwanese oolongs that I'm very much looking forward to trying.
There are a range of payment options available (paypal, credit card, plus a few others), and if you live nearby (Seattle), you can go to the store to pick up your order to save on postage. For those of us who don't live nearby, you get free international priority shipping on orders over US$85. Otherwise, the international shipping rate seems to be a flat rate of $15. My order took 10 business days to arrive, which is pretty good for getting to Australia.
Overall, Phoenix Tea was great to shop with. My order was processed quickly, the tea was of a very good quality, and the owners were certainly friendly! I'm a happy customer indeed.

And did I mention that their Taiwanese oolong was delicious? I may just have to have another cup now...

The Worst Tea Ever: Golden Teahouse Da Hong Pao

The first of our Golden Teahouse reviews does not make for a good start. I've put it up despite not completing what I call the 'website experience' of dealing with the people selling the tea, because the quality here deserves to be known. There's a big lack of reviews out there for this place, so I feel a responsibility to get this one out. The first brew, done according to the website's instructions, tasted like death. It was literally like having a campfire, letting it go out, then eating what was left over the next morning. At US$30 per 100g, I was extremely unimpressed. When you're paying that sort of money for tea, you want decent tea.
After research, I decided to do this "Gong Fu Cha" style. This involves lots of tea in small volumes of water for very short periods, and the 'correct' method of making Chinese tea.

Brewing Instructions: If you like charcoal, brew 1 to 2 tablespoons of leaves per cup of boiling water for 30 seconds. I used 4 tablespoons of tea in 180mL of boiling water, rinsed first then brewed for the following times per steep: 6 seconds, 4 seconds, 6 seconds, 8 seconds and then 10 seconds.

Leaf Appearance: Dark, well roasted whole leaves.

Dry Aroma: Vaguely sweet, raisin notes. Upon smelling each leaf individually, I noted some smelt sweet and others smelt charcoaly.

Brewed Aroma: Smokey with only the vaguest hint of that sweetness. My teapot now smells of campfire with notes of bad houjicha.

Flavour: Significantly better brewed in this shorter style, but that doesn't say anything really. The first steep tastes unremarkably bland, with a charcoal/smoke finish. The second steep tastes the same. By the third steep, we're beginning to shift more towards a bland, lowest-quality houjicha. The fourth steep has slight astringency and increased bitterness, with notes of burnt coffee. The fifth steep initially has no flavour, then more burnt coffee notes.

Rating: 0.5 out of 5 (for gong fu cha style)
              0 out of 5 (for their suggested brewing style) - as prepared through their recommended process, this is easily the worst tea I have ever drunk. Even with Gong Fu Cha style, it's still incredibly bad, made worse by the cost of the tea. It's $30 per 100g! You want at least passable quality for this! I specifically looked up a review of a 'very average' Da Hong Pao (link:  http://puerh.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/china-cha-dao-da-hong-pao.html) from Bearsblog, and it seems that Bearsblog's sample at $23 per 500g offers a superior quality to what I have here. Other than that, there's nothing more to say except that I need to soak my teapot to get the smell out.

New Teapot and Other News

 The new Yixing Clay teapot from China Cha-Dao (link: http://china-cha-dao.com/) arrived the other day, and I love it. From what I can gather, it's semi-handmade, which seems to be the main way that most of the mid-priced yixing pots are made these days. However, I'm still waiting on the pu-erh from China Cha-Dao (china post seems to be a lot slower than hong-kong post, or customs got it), so the full website review will have to wait.

As for Golden Teahouse...... let's just say that things are 'ongoing'. Once everything is sorted there, I'll start posting the website and tea reviews. Until then, I *suggest* that you look at other, already reviewed or well known suppliers. *cough cough cough quality issues cough cough cough*

In other news, I've placed an order with Phoenix Tea (link: http://www.phoenix-teashop.com/store/en/) for a variety of teas, including a few oolongs, some hunan hei-cha (read: chinese black tea), sheng pu-erh, and a green tea. I've also contacted one of the owners, and she seems very nice! The thing I love about almost all of the internet tea companies that I've dealt with is the passion for good tea, plus the good customer service/communication.

Chado Teahouse Premium Sencha SenRyo

Well, it's finally time to start reviewing the teas from Chado Teahouse (link at the bottom of rhe page). First up is one of their premium sencha offerings. The origin of the tea is Kagoshima, Kyushu Island, and it is advertised as having a clean fresh aroma upon opening (I'd be worried if it didn't). I must say that I love the packaging (it's the dark green one in the earlier post here: http://drinkingallthetea.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/chado-tea-review.html). Also, the price was US$21 per 100g, which isn't too bad, depending on the postage costs.

Brewing Instructions: The Chado Teahouse factsheet recommends brewing 5 grams of tea (approx. one tablespoon) per 360mL of water at around 75 degrees celsius (167F) for 40 seconds.

Leaf Appearance: Dark green and mostly broken with very few to no stems present (as would be expected!).

Dry Aroma: Big, rich, sweet and seaweedy.

Brewed Aroma: Much milder - only vague seaweed hints are present.

Flavour: What instantly comes into my mind when I drink this is 'smooth'. This is a seriously smooth sencha, and it's not exactly easy to explain why. I think it's because the umami/nori flavours integrate very tightly into the grassy notes, rounding out the flavour profile. At the end, you only get a very mild bitterness, evern when brewing a little longer/stronger. The second infusion holds up well (at a 45-55 second steep), with the third starting to taper off a little (if you give the third steep about 1 minute 30 seconds, you should get a nice cup). I didn't get any floral notes coming out on the last steep however, which was interesting.

The used leaves have a brilliant emerald colour - yum.

Overall Score: 4 out of 5 - this is an example of a solidly performing, high quality sencha. Just for that smoothness, it's definitely worth a try at some point. After some experimenting, I can say that you should not use more tea, or brew for much longer (on the first steep) than recommended, because it just gets too powerful and loses that smooth integration of flavour, leaving you with a big, bold nori taste. Trust me on this one. The beauty of this tea is that you can brew it more mildly and be rewarded. Also, from a value perspective, while it's more per gram of Hibiki-an's Sencha Superior, you use less tea per brew, so at the end of the day it's a matter of preference, rather than money, to what you buy. As with all things, it's best to try everything, then settle on what you like best.


Link: http://www.chadoteahouse.com

Chado Tea Review

The tea stocks had been non-existant for several days. Even the flavourless green tea bag was considered in the last few days. Things were looking grim. Fortunately, relief came today, inside a US post priority mail box from Chado Traditional Japanese Tea Store (link: http://www.chadoteahouse.com/).

Chado Tea exclusively stock a large variety of Japanese teas from a number of locations, done in a number of styles. They aim to provide "only truly tasty Japanese teas from reputable estates", superior to that found in stores. From a preliminary tasting of one of their senchas, I'd say that their mission statement is accurate.

They stock a wider range of tea types than other exclusive Japanese tea retailers, and offer a variety of price points (ranging from about US$13 for their basic senchas, to $43 for their best gyokuro, and well beyond for some of the premium matchas). For my review, I ordered a premium sencha, a guricha and a gold-prize winning sencha (lucky me!).

The website is easy to navigate and the purchasing process was simple, although it was recommended that I contact Chado to confirm shipping costs due to my Australian location. So I emailed for a quote on shipping beforehand, and received excellent customer service from Fumi Shimano, who was incredibly polite and helpful! I was guided through everything, and got reduced price (and faster) shipping plus a free sample of a very good tea as a bonus.

Upon arrival, the tea came nicely wrapped with brewing instructions. In my opinion, the brewing instructions are an essential for any good internet retailer, because not everyone knows or is willing to research good tea brewing for each type, and it helps you get the most out of what you've bought. Oh, the packaging for the individual teas is fantastic.

So the overall experience was excellent, the extras were very appreciated, but the customer service provided by Fumi was definitely the highlight.

Golden Sail Brand Bai Hao Ying Zhen

Well, it's cold, wet and rainy over here, plus the internet tea stocks are a little low, so I've decided to go for a slightly different tea available from the local shops. It's a white tea called 'Bai Hao Ying Zhen' (also known as Bai Hao Silver Needle) from Golden Sail Brand. This 'premium grade' tea comes in a foil bag inside a silver cannister, so it is most certainly well sealed. Advertised as having a "mild and refreshing flavour" with "rich sweetness", this certainly looked worth a try.

Brewing Instructions: 1-2 teaspoons of tea per 180mL of 85 degree water for 1 to 2 minutes. I've used a little more tea than suggested to get a bit more flavour out.

Leaf Appearance: Grey/white whole leaves with lots of fuzzy white hairs.

Dry Aroma: The aroma is powerful, dominated by very sweet floral smells with some mandarin in there.

Brewed Aroma: Floral with mild apricot and peach notes. The brewed aroma is very weak, especially when compared to the dry aroma, or even that of the wet leaves.

The spent leaves smelt fantastic - mandarin, and a peachy
jammy flavour all featured. Pity it didn't taste as good as it
smelt.

Flavour: This is quite a change from the greens I've been having recently - the flavour is very mild, and reveals itself over a short period of time in the mouth. Initially, you get a clean but slightly plain sweetness with a hint of apricot. Some astringency coats the sides of the tongue. After swallowing, light peachy/citrus notes linger, potentially with a very mild bitterness at the end.

Rating: 3 out of 5 - this only just made the cutoff for the three, but only because of that lovely aroma. Why is this a 'barely three' tea? The aroma of the leaves suggests that there's so much potential there, but it never fully carries over to the tea itself. Yes, I do know this is intended to be a very mild tea with subtle flavours, but the initial astringency (which remained even after cooler brewing) disrupts what should be a clean, vaguely floral initial taste. If you want something different, this may be worth a one-off shot, but I wouldn't recommend this to those looking for a fine white tea.

Sencha Fukamushi Superior from Hibiki-an

It has taken me so long to work out how to get the best out of this tea. Two weeks, in fact. It seemed that only small differences in temperature resulted in a lack of flavour, or excessive bitterness. However, once I sorted out my brewing technique, the tea most definitely rewarded me with a flavour similar to, but distinctly different from the standard sencha.
Hibiki-an’s sencha fukamushi uses sencha leaves shaded “five to seven days” before harvest. Additionally, the leaves are ‘deep steamed’ (= fukamushi) for longer than the standard sencha tea. Plus for US$30 per 200g (7.05oz) and Hibiki-an’s quality and service, this offers value for money.

Brewing Instructions: 8 grams of tea (1.5 tablespoons) in 80 degree celsius water for 40 to 45 seconds. IMPORTANT: I brewed this more towards the lower end of 70 degrees for 40 seconds, and had far tastier results. Feel free to comment about what you’ve found best, or any recommendations you have!

Leaf Appearance: Dark green, very slight yellowing on the occasional leaf, leaves more broken up (I’m guessing the deeper steaming breaks the leaves down more than a light steam).

Dry Aroma: Distinctly sweet and seaweedy.

Brewed Aroma: Mild grassy notes – fairly typical of a Japanese Green.

Flavour: What we have here are flavours with similarities to both gyokuro and sencha, but far these are far more integrated than in the blended sencha (see earlier post). You get this mild, mellow savouriness accompanying the grassy notes of the sencha, with a very vague bitterness on the aftertaste (as expected of a good sencha). It’s smooth! You could almost say that there’s a hint of cocoa in the flavour. Almost. Also, the brew is cloudier than a sencha, but I’d put that down to the deep steam process. The second steep is notably milder, with most of that initial savouriness gone, leaving behind something quiet and mellow, with no bold notes in sight. The third infusion has only the slightest sweet and grassy flavour, but otherwise tastes of boiled water.

Rating: 3 out of 5 – while the first steep is an example of well integrated flavour, this isn’t the most complex of teas, and I found that anything after the first steep becomes something to quaff rather than linger on. So if you want a well made, good quality Japanese green tea that’s more mellow in flavour than a sencha, but less savory than a gyokuro, this is it. Plus if you’re in a rush, you’ll only have time to drink the best bit!