Tea Review 147 - Peony Tea S. Phoenix Dancong

Phoenix Dancong - Honey Orchid
Peony Tea S.

I have to admit that Peony's Phoenix Dancong didn't really do much for me - at first. Normally that would be the end of the story but I decided to give this one another try and found out that I like it rather well after all. The difference in these subsequent tastings was that I dialed back a bit on the steeping time and temperature and I also used a bit less leaf.

What I ended up with after all of this was a tea that falls at the lighter end of the oolong spectrum - which is where I like them. It had all of the smooth and fragrant notes of those varieties with a prominent note in there somewhere that I couldn't quite identify but that was interesting nonetheless.

Here's what the merchant has to say about it:

The sweet fragrance of honey juxtaposed against beguiling orchid- what a beguiling combination. Throw in a full-bodied, viscous texture and strong 'recurring sweetness' (hui gan), you can understand why this is the most popular and well-known variety from the Phoenix Dancong family.

Image: Peony Tea S.
Sample provided by Peony Tea S.
Peony Tea S. is a former advertiser at Tea Guy Speaks
Tea Guy Speaks Review Policies

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea Business & Blogger Spotlight

Do you own a teahouse or tea store? A mail-order tea business? Are you an established tea blogger? If so we’d like to talk to you.

We've done a series of brief spotlights on tea businesses since kicking off this feature. Take a look at them here. If you’d like to take part in a spotlight we promise not to take much of your time and may even generate a little bit of publicity for you.

For more information, contact us here.

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Fannie Farmer on Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Fannie Farmer on Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

While there are said to be records of Roman cookbooks dating as far back as the first century, the most influential such works to published here in the United States in the pre-Julia Child era were the Joy of Cooking (1930), by Irma Rombauer, and The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, by Fannie Merritt Farmer, a book that first came out in 1896.

A star pupil at the aforementioned school, Farmer later became the principal there and about six years after publishing her cookbook decided to...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Lyons Tea Profile

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Lyons Tea Profile
By William I. Lengeman III

When it comes to annual tea consumption the Irish are right near the top of the heap. They are ranked third on the list of the world’s top tea drinkers, downing a rather impressive amount of tea that averages more than seven pounds a year per person.

Lyons Tea is one of the companies that’s been instrumental in helping the Irish quench their thirst for tea. In their...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Barry's Tea "Strangest" Commercial

This one goes back a few years. It's from the good people at Barry's, one of Ireland's better known purveryors of tea.

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

An Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

An Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China
By William I. Lengeman III

Once upon a time the Chinese tea industry was said to be so jealous of their secrets that when the British sought to grow their own tea they essentially had to resort to corporate espionage. It’s a story that’s been told many times – at book length and otherwise – but for a brief overview of the exploits of one such bold tea pioneer/spy, start here.

With this in mind it’s interesting to run across a book like Samuel Ball’s An Account of the Cultivation and Manufacture of Tea in China. The work was published in...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tetley Lovely Day Tea Commercial

Starring the Tetley Tea Folk, this one's apparently from 1997.

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

Novelty Tea Bags Revisited

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Novelty Tea Bags Revisited
By William I. Lengeman III

Say what you want about tea bags, but don’t say that there aren’t plenty of offbeat novelty ones to be found in the files of the US Patent Office (and probably other patent offices, but that’s another article). Our first look at this topic was an article that ran earlier this year. But since that didn’t exhaust the many possibilities, it’s time for another round.

To start with one of the more peculiar of the bunch, here’s a look at a Tab for a Tea Bag, which was patented in 1993 and which is just a graphic of a swami-type guy...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Growing Tea in Britain

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Growing Tea in Britain
By William I. Lengeman III

If the tea-loving British were only able to drink tea that had been grown on their own soil, they’d be out of luck. They currently drink about fourteen pounds of tea per person per year but there is only one producer there of any significance – Tregothnan Estate, in Cornwall. While they turn out a respectable amount for a small grower who only got into the tea business about a decade ago, Tregothnan’s estimated harvest of about ten tons a year is but a miniscule drop in the bucket when stacked up against the nation’s impressive tea consumption...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Even More Tea Gadgets & Offbeat News

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Even More Tea Gadgets & Offbeat News
By William I. Lengeman III

Did you hear the one about 900-year old cup of tea recently found in the southeastern United States? Well, don’t get too excited. First of all, it’s not an actual cup of tea – spillage and/or evaporation presumably saw to that. Second, as near as anyone can tell, none of the natives living here at the time had access to real tea, as in the beverage made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. But “tea” is a malleable word for most people, and in this case it’s one that can be used to describe a beverage brewed from the shrub Ilex vomitoria, a species of holly, which produces a concoction known as the black drink.

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Teajay Teas Preacher Commercial

More tea-inspired silliness from the people at Teajay.

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

Types of Japanese Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Types of Japanese Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

With the exception of China, which grows pretty much every major type of tea, there are tea growing regions of the world that are associated with certain types of tea. You might find other types of tea in Africa, India and Ceylon, but they’re best known for black tea. By the same token the vast majority of the tea grown in Japan is green.

Tea is thought to have come to Japan from China in the eighth century. To this day they produce almost exclusively...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Tea Review 146 - Peony Tea S. Huangshan Furry Peak

Huangshan Furry Peak
Peony Tea S.

As a general rule I've found that Japanese green tea tends to be more boldly flavored, while Chinese green tea is more subtle. I'm sure there are exceptions but if you need any evidence for the latter you might want to consider Huangshan Furry Peak, by Peony Tea S.

At first I found this to be so subtly flavored that I wasn't sure I was going to like it. But after I adjusted my palate (which is conditioned to quite a lot of heavy black tea) I found that I liked it quite a bit. I know that some people who are new to green tea have trouble with the lighter varieties and they obviously wouldn't be the best customers for this tea. But anyone who's conditioned to this sort of thing might want to give it a shot.

Here's what Peony Tea S. has to say about this one:

Perpetually shrouded in cloud and mist, the beautiful Huangshan which is translated literally as ‘Yellow Mountain’ is the origin of one of the most beloved and well-known green tea in China- the Huangshan Furry Peak. Just like its place of origin, this delightful green tea is truly a work of art, simultaneously soothing and exciting the drinker. Green teas are considered in Traditional Chinese Medicine terminology as ‘cooling’ so instead of reaching for your soda, try this sugarless all natural alternative instead. The recurring sweetness will fill your throat long after your last drop.

Image: Peony Tea S.
Sample provided by Peony Tea S.
Peony Tea S. is a former advertiser at Tea Guy Speaks
Tea Guy Speaks Review Policies

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker

The Curious (Court) Case of He-No Tea

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

The Curious (Court) Case of He-No Tea
By William I. Lengeman III

Tea sellers are probably not all that different from merchants seeking to push any other kind of product. There are the good, the bad and the ugly, though in the case of tea, I can safely say that the majority of those I’ve run across appear to fall into the former category.

But not all of them. If you doubt that there are unscrupulous types out there looking to make a buck off of tea...

read the full article here

Cuisinart TEA-100 PerfecTemp Programmable Tea Steeper

Teajay Tea's Mime Commercial

The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker