365 Days of Tea - Day 39: Tea At Sea's Mountain Organic Indonesian Black Tea.

Graze saw my review of there box and they're sending me another free box, so that's pretty great news, and very nice of them. I look forward to review more of there snacks. I do have some more tea coming in the mail as well. Lots of exciting things going on!

Sadly though, this is my last tea from Tea At Sea. Perhaps I'll get more samples in the future? I guess we'll see. My experience with there tea has been really great, and I have high hopes for that company as well.

This is a black tea, so as we can tell: the leaves are very dark. The dark coloration is probably from them being rolled, and roasted.

Its brewing away. I like how my tea brewer, which is made for a glass mug, pretty much fits into any other mug, too. I don't always like glass mugs.

Its a pretty dark green, but my horrible photography does it no justice.

Teat At Sea usually offers very interesting aromas and flavors, and this is no different. It smells like a roasted mountain-side with a slight hint of sea breeze. Its carries a lot of depth, and complexity as well. The roasted flavor comes off very nutty, with an earthy under tone, and sea breeze finish.

It comes off as very dark and roasted flavor at first, but it's followed by a bit of earthiness. It almost tastes mildly salted, but that is from where it was grown. Tea At Seas's teas itself, may not be ground breaking, but where they are grown makes a huge differences. You can taste the care and love in every cup and it makes you smile.

I generally think that I had a great experience with Tea At Sea and would really hope to sample their products again in the future. I would highly recommend that anyone who is into tea, or curious about tea try out any of there products.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 31: Tea At Sea's Mountain Organic Indonesian Green Tea.

It seems like Good Earth Tea has been having issues trying to send me tea, but today they were fixed and I should get my tea by Friday. So that's cool.

Tea At Sea's Mountain Organic Indonesian Green Tea, looks like green tea. You can tell its whole leaf, too because it also contains the stems. This is usually a good sign, and often means fuller-bodied and better flavor. Tea At Sea's teas are usually slightly different in flavor profile because they are grown at higher altitudes. Believe it or not, they usually taste more earthy, and sometimes slightly salty.

Green tea doesn't require a long time to steep, and it doesn't carry a lot of magical wizard color-changing either. Thats okay though, because green tea is generally pretty awesome. What I like about this tea though; its organic, and its just tea leaves. No fruit, sugar, or junk added.

It doesn't smell like much, which is actually a good thing. It tells me what I already knew; it isn't loaded with junk. It's pure, tea. It carries a very faint leaf aroma, with a slight hint of earthiness. Its what I expect a green tea to smell like.

Tea At Sea can really surprise me sometimes, this isn't a typical green tea at all. It carries very different, and vastly complex flavor. Its almost like it was partial made from seaweed. Sounds a bit strange in text, but its quite fantastic. Its kind of like sipping a airy breeze from the ocean, with hints of roasted leaves, and earthiness tones. You can almost taste new depth each sip.

This is some really good stuff. If you like green tea, but want a bit more depth, this is for you then. Tea At Sea really produces some great products, and it shows in this tea. They don't carry a lot on their website, and that's perfectly okay because what they do carry is good enough to stand on it's own. They don't have any flashy gimmicks, just pure good tea.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 22: Ceylon Flowery Fannings Extra Special.

This one has a really long name. Ceylon Flowery Fannings Extra Special. I think at some point I'd like to organize a charity event. Tea for tatas

Also tomorrow I'm going on a day trip so I might be reviewing something different, if I can find some interesting tea, but I'll probably end up posting about my adventure even if I don't find any tea.

(I forget to realize that; with the way I take the macro shots, I need to make them as flat as possible otherwise I get a very shallow depth of field.)

So earlier, if you've been following along, we talked about Ceylon tea, and how Ceylon is actually the original name of Sri Lanka. So that being said this tea is from Sri Lanka. Though, I can't really get much information about the rest of the tea, it seems it might be a unique product for Tea At Sea. That might be good, I'm excited to try it out. As you can see it looks like black threads with some orange threads/tips tossed in.

I tried to be a little creative with my flash, but I ended up just making it look alot lighter than it really was. Its actually a shade or two darker than this. I really need to dust my desk. This is considered a type of black tea, so keep that in mind as well.

Smell - It doesn't really carry much of a scent. It mostly sells like foresty roasted leaves. Its very faint and you really have to search for it. That's okay because smell doesn't always mean flavor, or lack thereof. 

Taste - Its very interesting because it tastes sort of like a "soft" black tea, if there is such a thing. It also carries a very delicate, leavey flavor, which is almost forest-like. Tea At Sea is known for its high altitude teas, and it shows in this case. From my experience, teas grown at higher altitudes actually taste more earthy, and raw. I would assume its from the ground having more minerals at higher levels.

Overall - If you really like black teas, or something like oolong or pu'erh, I think you'd be really happy with this tea, too. Its very delicate in flavor, but still lingers on your tongue much like coffee does. It would mix well with cream, sugar, and your favor tea cookies.

Can be found @ 

365 Days of Tea - Day 18: Ceylon Sencha Green Tea.

Blogger hates me and decided to not let me post this last night. I'm considering switching to my own domain in the near future. I contacted teavana because they keep yanking my chain. Guess we'll see where that leads.

Ceylon Sencha Green Tea. Sencha refers to a whole leaf japanese green tea, as opposed to matcha, which is a powdered green tea. (I have some to review at a later date) Ceylon is actually the original name of Sri Lanka. So all that being said, this tea is a whole leaf green tea from Sri Lanka. As you can tell from the images, it looks very leafy, and not rolled or pearled. Its in a very raw state. They are lightly steamed for 20 seconds before they are dried. I suspect that this would enrich it's sweetness as well as mellow the flavor.

Its a very nice light golden color. Fairly typical of tea.

Smell - There almost isn't even a smell. Its very faint. It smells leafy, and natural. I know that sounds odd, but it smells like it came from the  earth. Not chemically or artificial in anyway, like some other teas.

Taste - I don't want to say its a weak green tea, but it is a very mellow tea, and quite smooth. Its a very relaxing, and gentle tea. This is something that could be great paired with a fall lunch, on a rainy day. Its quite leafy in flavor, with a very natural and raw taste.

Overall - Well I can't say it's my favorite green tea, I can say that it is a very good green tea. I'd like to try other versions of sencha green tea, and see what other variations on flavor there is. I think that if you're new to green tea this might be a good start. After I try matcha, I'll compare the two.

(3 and a half out of 5 tea leaves.)

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365 Days of Tea - Day 17: Wu Yi Mountain Oolong.

I did things a little differently this time, but I didn't get as much of a result as I wanted. So I might not do it again for a while. It might be more effective later on though. Basically what I did was create a poll of teas that I could review, and had people vote on it. Although I know I have quite a few readers, I didn't get many voters. (Total of 11 voters) I think that perhaps I'm being a bit too interactive for this early on.

I also made a major mistake and didn't photograph the tea before brewing it, but this is something that wont ever happen again. I was just excited to try it and didn't even think of it. (It's partial because it was such a small sample, too)

Wu Yi Mountain Oolong is a special oolong grown in the Wu Yi mountains of Fujian, China. Its suppose to be such high quality that it is usually saved for honored guests in China.  Its considered an "Artisan tea" and some variations of it are considered the most expansive tea in the world. The plants are bred from three bushes that are around 1,000 years old. Its suppose to be a very delicate, and smooth. A very different concept from regular oolong. It should still contain a roasted favor, but much less strong.

Smell - It doesn't carry a very strong smell, considering its meant to be a more gentle flavor. Its very woody, with a slight mossy scent. It smells like a very far off woods, on a windy day. Its very nice.

Taste - Its a very delicate tea, very smooth. It taste very leafy, with a nice roasted undertone. I wouldn't recommend it as an ice tea, but I think it would be a perfect mid-after noon tea with a light lunch. Its very easy on the stomach, too. Its not harsh in anyway, probably as light as a white tea.

Overall - I found this to be quite nice, although, for something supposedly being the most expansive tea in the world, I don't see it. Its very possible that the company I got this from isn't selling the same quality of product. (Considering the price on there website..) So perhaps I'll have to give Wu Yi Oolong another try in the future and compare this with that. With all that being said though, I still think this oolong is a good tea.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves.)

Can be found @ 

I have to apologize for this post, I made a lot of unusual mistakes. If I can get more of the tea, I'd like to take my own photograph for it.

365 Days of Tea - Day 14: Organic Yunnan Pu'erh Tea.

Good Earth Tea and Harney and Sons Fine Teas, both contacted me. Good Earth Tea is all tea bags instead of loose leaf, although normally I don't do a lot with tea bags, they offer some unique favors. Harney and Sons Fine Teas are up there with the high classy expansive teas, which is pretty cool. I'm hoping they are both interested in this project, and I'll update as I find out.

Organic Yunnan Pu'erh Tea.

Nothing too special to note here as far as looks go. I mean, it looks like a regular black tea. Pu'erh is actually a type of fermented black tea from Yunnan, China. Comparatively speaking pu'erh and english black tea and only similar in color, in taste they generally have two completely different panels of favors. (Minus maybe a "roasted" favor) Pu'erh also comes pressed into different shapes, bricks, cakes, and even melon shapes. Probably would try to eat if it was a shape. 

Its an extremely dark auburn color. Which is to be expected from a black style tea, since it usually gives off a much darker, roasted favor then say a green, or white tea. I suspect that it'll offer a deep, rich, and roasted favor. Though, I might also guess this could offer some surprising complexity as well.

Smell - This smells quite different, it took me a while to figure out how to explain it in words. Its extremely light, but with complexity. Its earthy but I don't want to say "dirt" it doesn't smell like dirt at all. It comes off more a rich mushroom with a tingle of moss. It smells like the forest floor, like damp fall leaves, and broken twigs. It might even smell like the rain is coming.

Taste - I want to say mushroomy, but thats a strange way to describe it. Its not quite that, its more like "it came from earth" favor. Like instead of it growing up like a plant, it grew around in the dirt, without collecting any of the dirt favor. It is probably the most earthy tea I've ever had. Its good, although my description might make it seem strange, I'd recommend it.

Overall - I imagine myself enjoying a cup of this while out reading a book under a tree. Its a very different and complex favor, but to me, it brings a whole new world of favor to the table. Its not something I've experienced before and its quite good.

(3 and a half out of 5 tea leaves.)

Can be found @

365 Days of Tea - Day 12: Yunnan Organic Black Tea.

So its been so warm here in Maine, I might start brewing everything as ice tea. There was a thunder storm warning, but it barely rained or anything. You know, veggie eggrolls are amazing.

Yunnan Organic Black Tea.

(Sample packaging.)

This is the package the tea came in, its pretty stuffed, good colors on it, too. Oh and it's resealable! Wooohoooo!  My only two real complaints are; although the tag on the other side contains the name of the tea, when opening the tea, the hole the tag is tied to becomes unusable so therefore the packaging no longer as a name on it (Which can just be taped back on or something), and that since the package is so stuffed but small its hard to scoop a teaspoon out of it.

There isn't anything in this tea minus the tea itself. Yunnan tea is a Chinese black tea from various parts of the Yunnan province. They've been cultivation this tea since dawn of TIME 206BCE - 220CE. So a pretty long time, I'd suspect that it should be nothing less than fantastic then. It can also be commonly known as Dianhong tea.Which is totally easier to say right? I really like the mix of black and orange coloring here.

It should actually be a bit darker than this, I under brewed it the second time around. I will explain this in the taste section of the rating. It usually brews as a more dark, golden color. I'd almost call it auburn. Try to ignore the massive chinchilla cage in the background. 

Smell - if you've already had English black tea before, you'd be surprised how very different this smells. Its sort of like a deep, char-roasted green tea, with a very faint hint of jasmine. The jasmine-like scent is very faint but it tickles the base of your nose towards the end. Its very pleasant.

Taste - It carries a very rich, roasted favor. I could see mixing this with a little soy milk and tiny bit of honey, or rock sugar. What's really nice is; the jasmine scent actually carries over onto the favor. Towards the end of your sip, the deep earthiness fades into a slightly sweet jasmine-like favor. Now, I always have an entire cup or two of my tea, the first time I brewed it, I did so as the instructions told me to, but it tasted a little bitter. So I thought I might have made a mistake or overbrewed, but this wasn't true. So I used new leaves and under brewed it to compare, and it still carried a very slight bitter favor. Although the slight bitterness isn't really bad, it's just unexpected.

Overall - At first I didn't know what to expect; I honestly never experience Yunnan tea before, but I' have heard about it. I have to say that it was a good first experience both with Tea At Sea and Yunnan tea. If you're looking for a more flowery, tame, black tea, I'd recommend this. It would translate really well into an ice tea as well.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves.)

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