Genmaicha is one of the more easily identified teas, thanks to the noticeable presence of toasted rice among the tea leaves. To the uninitiated, this might at first seem slightly peculiar. But, as Genmaicha lovers know, these little pieces of toasted rice are the perfect complement to the sweet, grassy flavour of Japanese green tea. …
Continue reading Review of Genmaicha Green Tea from The English Tea Store
Gyokuro is a Japanese green tea of the highest quality, and one that I always look forward to drinking. It is considered one of the highest grades because the processing of this tea is complex, including covering the tea trees with shades during growth. This reduces the tannin content of the leaves, which is responsible …
Continue reading Review of Gyokuro from the English Tea Store
When I drink tea, I like to taste the tea and nothing else. Everybody has their own preferences and I'm not saying my way is better than anyone else's. But I like my tea untainted by any such substances as milk, sugar, lemon, sauerkraut (just seeing if you're paying attention) and the like - the …
Type of tea: Black Loose or bagged: Loose Recommended steep time: 3-8 minutes, depending on preferred strength One of the teas featured in a list of teas I would like to explore more, Scottish Breakfast tea from the English Tea Store is a bold, strong black tea without flavouring or scenting. It can be brewed …
Continue reading Review of Scottish Breakfast Tea from The English Tea Store
Most of us have probably heard the term terra incognita, but perhaps you've never thought much about where it comes from. As the story goes, once upon a time the phrase was inscribed upon those areas of maps that were an unknown. Nowadays, of course, these areas don't take up as much space as they …
Continue reading Tea Review — The English Tea Store’s Organic Ceylon
I haven’t made a thorough study of the matter, but I’d venture to say that if you’re looking for information on the gardens that produce your Indian single-estate tea you’re likely to come up dry in many cases. Take Tarajulie Estate, for instance, who produce the fine Assam tea that’s the subject of this review. …
Continue reading Tea Review — The English Tea Store’s Tarajulie Estate
As I noted recently in a tea review at my own site, the final few months of 2012 were quite a bonanza to a black tea-loving fellow such as yours truly. A pile of samples came flooding in (okay, just a slight exaggeration), and some of them were quite good, thank you very much. Among …
Continue reading Tea Review: English Tea Store Borengajuli Estate Assam
In my recent review of the English Tea Store's Golden Heaven Yunnan, a Chinese black tea, I may have spoken a bit rashly. After many years of enthusiastically banging the drum for Assam tea, I made the comment that "I'm starting to wonder if I don't like Yunnan better." Which wasn't exactly a definitive statement, …
Continue reading Tea Review: English Tea Store Organic Assam TGFOP
If pressed to choose my least favorite type of tea, I'd probably have to go with Lapsang Souchong. For those who may never have heard of it, it's a Chinese type of black tea whose leaves are cured/flavored by exposing them to the smoke of a pine wood fire - or at least "real" Lapsang …
You could probably spend a lifetime studying the topic of Chinese tea, if you were so inclined, and still not get to the bottom of it. All of the major types of tea are grown there and the sheer number of varieties that fall into those categories are enough to put a strain on your …
Continue reading Tea Review: English Tea Store’s Nine Bend Black Dragon
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