Tea Review 115: The Art of Tea

Biodynamic Breakfast
Classic Black
Mandarin Silk
The Art of Tea

My apologies to the good people at The Art of Tea, who sent some samples a while back. I'm not sure what happened but the review got a bit sidetracked somewhere along the way. In any event, here are some thoughts on a few of the samples I tried, which include two black teas and a flavored oolong.

Classic Black
I don’t think I've ever met a Yunnan black that I didn't like and this was no exception. Never mind that it's a blend of Yunnan black with Nilgiri, a black tea from India. It was quite good, with a very smooth, mellow flavor. I would have guessed that it was perhaps a high-end Ceylon, but I guess that shows what I know. This was a winner in the Black Tea category at World Tea Expo and I can see why.

Biodynamic Breakfast
Another nice black tea, though perhaps not as good as the aforementioned. Very smooth and flavorful. I've noticed that the components of breakfast tea can vary quite widely from one merchant to the next. There's no indication at Art of Tea's web site what makes up this one but it's worth a taste nonetheless.

Mandarin Silk
I'm not a fan of flavored tea - plain and simple. But I was kind of surprised by this one. I wouldn't say it bowled me over but given my general lack of interest in this sort of thing I'd say it's not so bad. It's a mix of Pouchong tea with lemon myrtle, marigolds and natural essence of vanilla. Perhaps a little heavy on the latter but pretty decent overall.

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