Tiny rolled leaves and a malty aroma distinguish this tea before preparation. It brews to a dark amber, profoundly red at its deepest point. The flavor is bold and slightly smoky, but it tastes most of malt. There are some very subtle floral notes and an extremely long finish.
If you are looking for a very bold, smooth, and malty tea, this may be the one for you.
Dragon well vegetable taste, pleasantly bitter. Crisp flavor. The leaves aren't flat like a dragon well, but it definitely tastes like one.
A second infusion is also nice, just a slightly weaker version of the first.
This short review belies the excellence of this tea. I like it a lot, and will definitely be keeping it around for daily drinking.
Refreshingly bitter!
It's nice to have a tea that isn't so refined as to lose its bite in favor of smoothness or sweetness.
The color is a very pale green. It has a crispness on the tongue and a full vegetable aroma that hits right at the bridge of the nose. Unfortunately it loses its punch early - a second infusion is very weak. It has a crispness on the tongue and a full vegetable aroma that hits right at the bridge of the nose.
This is a great tea for daily drinking.
Light olive in colour, this tea smells like it may be a little more full-flavoured than the Wen Shan Bao Zhong. The flavour has apricot notes and a very full, sweet finish. It's a very floral tea.
I think it's too sweet for me to drink daily. Maybe a longer infusion would balance that out a bit.
It gets sweeter on further infusions. You can get at least two out of this tea, probably three.
This tea has a light, green flavour. It's a little sweet. The nose and taste both have some floral notes. Its colour is a pale jade. Josh thinks it has a sour (not in a bad way) finish.
The second infusion is rounder and sweeter. I think I'd like something with a little more bitterness for daily drinking, but this is an excellent green oolong.
This tea produced three infusions.
While the Imperial High Mountain Green Oolong doesn't really inspire off colour text messaging, peter has promised to send such messages to my phone. With that kind of incentive, I feel somewhat inspired to write this review.
Not really.
Well, the part about being inspired, since peter has promised text messages of a disturbing nature, and I have the chat logs to prove it.
The off colour nature of the afore mentioned, to be received, text messages, really doesn't affect the rather nice golden colour of this tea. Couple that with a slightly bitter, but ever so mild taste, and a sweet aroma, and it results in a rather refreshing beverage, much in the way that off colour text messages can be rather refreshing.
Definitely a good afternoon tea, though I'd probably not drink it in the morning. Not sure how it would be paired with food -- my instinct would be to take this tea some time after having eaten a tasty lunch (perhaps an hour or two) around the time you'd normally want to take a nap.
A nap would be pleasant, though, with things to be done, this tea will do just as well.
Elisabeth was in the mood for a jasmine tea, so we dropped by Tealuxe in Harvard Square to see what was available. I like jasmine in general, but it seems like most places only ever have jasmine pearls.
Now, I'm a big fan of those, but in moderation. I don't like to drink them every day. I'll have them every once in a while, but for daily drinking the teas you'll be prying from my cold, dead hands are dragon wells and green oolongs.
So I wanted to find something a little different, if possible. I think we were successful. We found their Yin Hao Special Grade Jasmine.
The leaves are dark - it looks like a black tea, or at least an oolong. They say it's green, but I think it's partially fermented. The jasmine flowers are in small pieces.
It brews up to a nice copper color, and the flavour is bitter underneath the jasmine. I taste a little chocolate. It's a refreshing change from the usually sweeter scented teas.
I can recommend it.
This tea handled three infusions with no trouble, and I'm too full to try another.
Next tea from Imperial: the Wu Xi Hao Cha. This the last in the green tea sampler.
It's excellent. Full-flavoured, yet subtle.
It has large, white-downed leaves, and very clear brew. It's sweet on the tongue, with an extremely long, bitter finish. It has a slight vegetable flavor, reminiscent of a dragon well. I can recommend it highly.
This tea produced three infusions.
This is Imperial Tea's Keemun Mao Feng.
It's a good tea, and a little sweet. Milk would make it too rich. I feel like I'm eating something - steamed rice maybe?
It has a very long finish that doesn't turn sour or bitter.
Next up from Imperial: the Mao Jian. I got this tea with their Green Tea Sampler.
It's loosely packed - 1 oz. is a lot of volume.
Crisp and clean, it tastes a bit like a mild dragon well. It has a smooth finish, with a little of the airiness of a white tea. There is a very slightly smoky flavour.
The first time I tried it, I only got two infusions, and the second was very weak. I think the volume of the tea caught me off-guard, and I didn't use enough. Adding more produces three solid infusions.
The Imperial Dragon Well is the finest dragon well I've tasted. The flavour is delicate, and without distractions. The finish is extremely long.
This tea produced four infusions.
The Osmanthus Dragon Well from Imperial Tea.
Osmanthus is a flowering hedge, related to the olive tree. I had never heard of it before trying this tea. It smells and tastes primarily of apricot, which makes this a refreshing, yet sweet tea.
Overall very nice, but not something I'd drink on a regular basis.
Josh and I are trying out the Imperial Breakfast from Imperial Tea.
It's a blend of black teas, intended for breakfast use. It is both hearty and full-flavoured.
I taste a few different things in here. It has a hearty maltiness that is probably an Assam, an underlying sweetness that might be Ceylon, and a smokiness that could only be Lapsang Souchong.
I like the idea of Lapsang Souchongs, but I'm rarely in the mood for the flavour. The smokiness overpowers any taste of tea in the cup. This tea offers a nice compromise, and I can recommend it. Personally, I still wouldn't consider it a daily tea, though.
We tried three infusions, and it became progressively sweeter and less smoky. There was still some smoke in the nose, but it lost most of the smoke flavour.
Next on the tea tasting list: the Everyday Jasmine from Imperial Tea.
It's a green tea base, with subtle jasmine flavouring. It has a full fragrance. Some jasmine teas are too overwhelming for regular drinking, but this one is (true to its name) good for everyday use.
This tea makes me hungry. Maybe it should be paired with a genmaicha for balance?
The second tea we've tasted from Imperial Tea is their Superior Darjeeling. This is a tea with very bold flavour and a refreshing bitterness. The coppery darjeeling flavor doesn't dominate the drinking experience. I think this tea would ice well, if brewed strong.
This tea produced two infusions. The second was milder and slightly sweet.
Notes on 2004-03-12 from j:
I found this tea to be better enjoyed black rather than with milk and sugar. It somewhat mutes the bitterness of the tea, which detracts, in my mind, from some of its charm.
While I'm sure I could find something food-wise which would be well complemented by the bitterness (likely something sweet, possibly a pastry), I tend to prefer black teas without food.
Peter and I are drinking Organic Dragon Well from Imperial Tea.
It's a very nice whole leaf green tea. It's an overall gentle flavour that seems to go well both with, or without food.
I'm currently of the mind that this would make a very nice everyday tea, though, it is the least expensive of Imperial Tea's Dragon Wells, so I'm under the impression that my mind will change, but for now, I'm enjoying my tea.
Notes on 2004-03-11 from peter:
Dragon Well has been my daily tea in the past, and this is a fine example. It balances the crisp, vegetable flavour of Dragon Well with a pleasant bitterness, and it has a nice sweet aroma.
Overall a well-balanced, flavourful Dragon Well. I'm looking forward to seeing how it compares to Imperial's other offerings.
This tea produced three infusions.