This review has been a long time coming, and I hope to do this tea justice.
Founded by Sky White, of the band Foxy Shazam, Wendigo Tea Company seeks the be a seller of high-quality teas while also having a theatrical flair not seen by companies hawking similar product. It’s also interesting to note that on their website, one of the first things I noticed was that the listing for each tea does not immediately mention what kind of tea it is, and there is a reason for this.
A lot of times your average shopping mall tea shop does a great job using flashy marketing to get new people to try tea, but the quality of tea can often be mediocre. Wendigo’s goal seems to be to draw you into trying some new, approachable tea, and then saying “Fooled you! You’re actually drinking good tea! Good luck trying to drink a McDonald’s iced tea ever again!” I definitely see this working in their favor.
But all that aside, let’s get down to business. How is the tea?
The big tin I received of Bigfoot Tea, a Golden Monkey tea, is what brought me back to black tea. For a long time, even after I got into tea as a hobby, I didn’t care much for black tea. It was either too bitter or too light. I’m an oolong man for that reason. This tea has completely turned me around. After a five-minute steep, the flavor is bold and slightly fruity but it lacks the heavy astringency that I am used to in a black tea. This tea is also very forgiving–seven minutes is unheard of for a lot of black teas, but this takes it like a champ. This makes it perfect for iced tea, which I think is my method of choice for this tea.
My tea collection is large enough that I rarely drink the same tea two days in a row. Even at work I have a drawer full of tea. I have been drinking Bigfoot Tea almost exclusively for weeks now.
I also had the opportunity to try their “Nessy” tea, which is a Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea. It, by contrast, was very light and delicate. A quick steep produces a very fragrant brew that is light on the palette–a very pleasurable tea, but one whose flavors are a bit more nuanced. This one is very susceptible to oversteeping, so this isn’t one for those who are either heavy-handed with their steeping or aren’t used to teas without strong flavors. This is a great tea for relaxing at the end of a long day.
This tea is fabulous. Bigfoot is the runaway favorite for me. I will be signing up for a subscription as soon as I’m out. Definitely give this a try.
If I had’t been warned about the lack of identification, I may have been annoyed by the absence. I’m often in a rush to get informatioin and they definitely make you wait for it. Given the right mind set, it is a delightful story that unfolds.
Without the cache of the founder, and the recommendation from Tony, a trusted source, I might not have given them a try however. I might have written them off as not sufficiently “professional” or serious. Not sure why I’d need a “serious” tea seller but I would question their quality some how. As I write this, I see the prejudice that comes along with my initial impressions. I guess I want to be sure that I’m getting very high quality tea from a responsible and reliabe retailer. Without a referral from a trusted source, I look at the web site to attempt to establish credibility. Ultimately taking a chance and sampling some tea is necessary. The lesson here for me is, RELAX, slow down and be open to innovative experiences.
I was just telling someone that I think black tea might become more popular at some point. Tea bloggers run across different black teas, typically, but the range of what’s out there now doesn’t get much attention. I’ve had some pretty good black teas from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Nepal this year, and less luck with Japanese and Korean versions, but that was probably just bad luck. It’s not a natural end point for tea preferences like pu’er or better Chinese oolongs (and I’ll admit I am hung up on Wuyi Yanchas), but I could see it getting more attention at some point.
Of course there are traditional black teas like the one reviewed here, already favorites for some, and I just ran across a nice jin jun mei. About this post, 5 to 7 minutes seems awhile for steeping black tea (both times). The other typical factors relate, proportion of tea to water especially, but in general I have better luck with adjusting all of them and going with shorter infusion times, using modified Western brewing for three infusions. Of course all of that depends on a specific tea and preferences.