The flat leaves of the sweetest green tea in the world, Dragon Well!

Our host, Red Leaf Tea, is often able to get extraordinary teas at very good prices, and a new bonanza has definitely hit American shores, thanks to this Chicago-based vendor.  The premium Dragon Well Tea of Hangzhou has arrived in good supply!  A member of China’s traditional Famous Teas List, Dragon Well is grown from a limited selection of tea trees in the province.  Dragon Well Tea is reknown for its sweetness and light body, and it is served to heads of state when they visit.  Once, the Emperor Qinglong carried some leaves home with him by scooping them into the sleeves of his gown, pressing them flat, and today the tea is still prepared with this distinctive flat look.  Try this premium tea soon, here at Red  Leaf Tea!

Pu Erh tea contains a heavy measure of earthy umami flavor

There is a quality, or flavor, in many foods called umami.  You probably haven’t heard of it before, and the flavor was only discovered in 1908 by a Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikeda.  Since his initial work, the discovery of taste buds on the human tongue designed specifically to respond to the presence of umami has confirmed the existence of the flavor.  Umami has been described as earthy and meaty, and the best examples of it are probably found in mushrooms and Parmesan cheese.  Tea lovers will recognize the flavor from the “earthy” qualities of many white teas and Pu Erh teas, found here at our host’s online store!   Compare the grassy and astringent flavors of green tea to a good, strong, meaty white tea, all available from our host, Red Leaf Tea, and learn more about umami today.

A more delicate look and flavor than "First Love" cannot be imagined

We wanted to give you a look at the absolutely beautiful visuals of this floral blend from our host Website, Red Leaf Tea.  This tea is a 1-to-four mixture of fine Silver Needle White Tea and delicate pink rose petals, and it is inspiringly named, “First Love!”  The delicate look of this tea is matched only by its subtle flavor.  The scent of rose is very easy to recognize, and it is surprising to see how often the flower appears in cooking.  Rose petals are very easy to use as sweeteners, although they don’t work whenever a floral effect would create a problem.  Floral flavors are also easily overwhelmed.  The flavor of white tea, less grassy, earthier, and much deeper than green, is a perfect match for rose petals.  Between visual presentation and supreme delicacy, this tea is the perfect brew for a late spring get together!

Brew this tea for 5 minutes to get a great coffee!

Lately we added a post praising a German stainless steel filter, adding that it worked equally well with coffee or tea.  And while we would never give coffee a front and center place in our kitchen, we do think it has a place in the cupboard somewhere!  If you have problems with coffee as it is found in stores, we can actually recommend this herbal blend very highly!  A carefully balanced blend of roasted dandelion root, roasted chicory root, chocolate barley malt and crystal malt, Herbal Jahva Tea makes an incredible facsimile of regular coffee.  One reviewer thought that when mixed with milk, the liquor was actually a very good iced cappucino!  Get it at Red Leaf Tea today!

Citrus Green is a good example of a sweetener lightening the astringency of a green tea.

When tasting a variety of teas it is important to remember the base flavors of each of the basic tea types, which are black, green and oolong.  Black tea should bring a strong flavor of rose, rose petals, or even rose hips to mind.  A good green tea such as the Citrus Green, pictured here, always evokes a strong sense of grass.  Oolong tea sits somewhere in between the two.  Every tea made from the Camillia Sinenesis plant has an astringent element in it, which is to say a faint and slightly bitter flavor that causes a barely perceptible puckering effect.  The most interesting flavors associated with good teas is called earthiness.  Earthiness is highly valued in a tea because it tends to replace the astringent elements of a strong brew, common to all the basic types.  Pure sugar and other sweeteners generally work well with most teas, although a tea with a strong element of earthiness loses something when oversweetened.  Keep these notes in mind when shopping for a new, imported loose-leaf tea at our host’s website, Red Leaf Tea!

Jasmine and green tea are two of the most popular flavors of the Orient.

We’ve written several times in this blog about the popularization of black teas and rooibus tea in the U.S., and we wanted to return again another interesting part of tea history: the emergence of green tea from the Orient to Western awareness.  Black tea was always easier to ship around the world than green.  Today, we’ve seen green tea exceed it’s oxidized cousin in many parts of the world.  In the Far East, green tea is an essential drink, and it is usually combined with the beloved jasmine blossom, such as this blend here.  This creates a delicate and sweet brew that many feel is the ultimate expression of Eastern civilization.  Order soe online today, from our host, Red Leaf Tea!

Green Rooibus tea is less nutty and sweeter than regular red Rooibus.

Rooibus is Akrikaans for “red bush,” the name of the South African shrub that gives us the leaves that roast so beautifully into red tea.  When rooibus leaves are simply picked, dried and chopped up, with no roasting invovled, they remain greenish-yellow in color, and they brew into a great tea called Green Rooibus, shown here.  Green rooibus is sweeter and less nutty in flavor than red, and in South African it is often flavored with tropical fruit like papaya or mango.  Like it’s better known red cousin, green roobius is caffeine free and full of nutrients.  Order some today from our host, Red Leaf Tea!

The Ta Hua Bloom is shaped like an ancient ziggurat!

We’ve earlier written abut the Blooming Tea phenomenon.  Blooming Teas are little balls or pellets of woven green tea leaves.  When immersed into hot water, they slowly unravel!  As they expand, they reveal beautiful flowers like the amaranth or jasmine, and form themselves into incredible shapes.  The base of green tea leaves are from premium harvests, and the floral aromas and flavors of the decorative flowers add an incomparable sweetness to the brew.  We’ve recently discovered the Ta Hua Blooming Tea at our host’s web pages, here! The Ta Hua Bloom is woven to resemble the shape of a mountain topped with a Buddhist temple.  The AMaranth blossom releases a wonderful flavor into the brew.  Visit Red Leaf Tea today and try this beauty!