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Tea Ave Preview
(Tea provided for review along with a tasting
cup, an aroma cup and a $15 gift card to Tea Ave’s store when it opens)
I
was lucky enough to receive three samples of Tea Ave’s stock. I first heard
about Tea Ave from Reddit and it looks like they are finally going to launch
their store soon. I decided to review all three samples in one post rather than
three like I originally was planning to do. I decided to not space my reviews
out like I normally do when I receive teas to review since there are a couple
of teas from Tea Ave I’d like to look at after they launch their site.
Tie
Kwan Yin Oolong
Origin:
Muzha District, Taipei City, Taiwan
Cultivar:
Tie Kwan Yin
Elevation:
350-400m
Dry Leaves: I love how much
info Tea Ave has on their teas on each individual sample package. Although it
might be a little overwhelming to someone new to tea, I was rather interested
in what they decided to list. The origin and elevation is pretty standard for
Taiwanese oolong. The roasting level, oxidation level and cultivar are pretty
rare and I love that they included it; and then three separate brewing
recommendations (tea bag, tea pot and cold brewing), although the tea bag
recommendation wasn’t really necessary. Unfortunately I lost all my photos of
this particular tea, but the leaves were closer to a green oolong then a darker
one.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
195oF
Brewing
Time: Three Minutes
Aroma:
Roasted and Fruity
Flavor:
Roast, Fruity and Burnt Wood
Tasting
Notes:
This
was my least favorite of the three (not surprising). I am not really fond of
roasted oolongs; I have trouble distinguishing darker oolongs apart. Most
roasted TKY taste nearly the same to me. So I wasn’t surprised to taste mostly
the roast and some fruity notes, but I was startled to be able to taste burnt
wood. The burnt wood flavor was the best part of this tea for me; it
distinguished it enough from others that made it stand out for me. As to would
I buy this tea, maybe. I generally prefer aged tea over new roasted teas, but
if the price is right I may buy this once Tea Ave launches their site.
Lishan
Oolong
Origin:
Lishan Mountain Region, Taichung City, Taiwan
Cultivar:
Qinxin Oolong
Elevation:
1700m
Dry Leaves: The leaves were
the most underwhelming of the three; this had a light floral scent. The leaves had a
lot of yellow and green and not a lot of blues.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
Boiling
Brewing
Time: Three Minutes
Aroma:
Floral and Fruity
Flavor:
Floral and Sugarcane
Tasting
Notes: This has a nice thin-ish mouthfeel, not as thick as teas grown at higher
elevations, but not what I normally expect for teas grown at 1700m. Regardless
it was nice. It is a little vanilla for my taste. I could taste honeysuckle, hyacinth
and lilies, other than that I could taste sugarcane. It was very mellow. I
imagine it would brew a lot better for longer times.
Depending on the price I might buy
this again. I tend to prefer more complex oolongs.
Cape
Jasmine Oolong
Origin:
Alishan Mountain Region, Nantou, Taiwan
Cultivar:
Jin Xuan
Elevation:
1200m
Dry Leaves: The leaves were
the most striking of the three samples, mostly green, but with a fair bit of
yellow and blues running through it. Otherwise it has a strong Gardenia aroma
as well as some minor floral ones more towards orchid than anything else, but
it was a little murky.
First
Steeping
Temperature:
Boiling
Brewing
Time: Two Minutes
Aroma:
Gardenia and Floral
Flavor:
Gardenia, Jasmine and Milk
Tasting
Notes: This was my favorite of the three samples I received. Initially I wasn’t
getting much besides jasmine, but after a few seconds I began to distinguish
the gardenia notes. I wonder if this is scented with gardenia blossoms. The gardenia
is very powerful and intoxicating. I didn’t notice the milk taste till I tried
this for the second time, although if I read the entirety of the sample I would
have known this has a Jin Xuan base. I don’t think this had a very strong Jin
Xuan, it’s not that creamy and the milk notes are the weakest, but if this was
scented with gardenias it would not be surprising if it overpowered some of the
base tea’s characteristics. It was a little buttery, not too much though. I
tend to find Taiwanese teas grown below 1000m or those grown above 2000m
(especially winter harvests) tend to be rather buttery, but everything
inbetween in my experience has thinner mouthfeels.
Overall
I preferred the Cape Jasmine over anything else and the tea I’d most likely
purchase again. I am a little on the fence about the Lishan, but I’m willing to
give it another chance. Besides that I loved the amount of detail on Tea Ave’s
packaging, I know a lot of tea companies tend to favor simpler packaging, but
they often lack information like origin or recommended brewing times. I am
looking forward to trying more of Tea Ave’s teas once they launched. The only
thing I thought was really missing from Tea Ave’s packaging is the harvest
date, but the teas tasted quite fresh. Hopefully next time I try one of Tea Ave’s
teas my camera won’t delete the majority of my pictures.
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