Dinahsaur

I received a sample of this tea with my order for the early release Zealong Black. So thank you to Jo for sending it along!

The dry leaf is large and full. It has a sweet malty flavor that I find very pleasant. The wet leaf is smoky and reminds me slightly of a Lapsang Souchong. So at this point, I’m perhaps a bit concerned. I detect a semblance of the same aroma with the liquor.

The liquor is a very light amber. It is much lighter than likely any other pu-erh I’ve indulged in. The first infusion definitely carries the smoky flavor I was smelling earlier. It is woody and reminds me most of a hardwood, I would say.

I can’t say I’m overfond of this first infusion. It leaves too much of a malty, smoky aftertaste for me. With more than a moment, there is something mellower that comes out, but I can’t quite identify it.

The second infusion smells more strongly of smoke, but the flavor in the tea is certainly more mild. The maltiness comes to the forefront and this has become a much smoother tea already. I would almost say mildly chocolatey undertones are present as well.

The third infusion has lost the maltiness, but not the smoke. It is sweeter and of a more crisp flavor now.

Overall, I suppose this isn’t my favorite tea with too persistent a smoky flavor. Yet I did enjoy trying it out and can think of a few friends who will enjoy trying this with me sometime as well.

I went ahead and picked up a sample of this tea along with a number of others from Tea Era when I saw that their samples are just $2 each. I’m an absolute sucker for a tea vendor that sells samples. I’m much more likely to purchase from you in the first place, and infinitely more again in the future.

I’m not normally one for flavored teas, but that was the bulk of their offering, so I decided to give a few of the more intriguing ones a whirl. I love pomegranate, so threw this in the lot!

I decided to prepare this tea gong-fu style. Now, if you read the steeping instructions, you’ll now know that I directly disregarded them. There’s a very good reason for that…. I felt like using my gaiwan. I KNOW! Best reason ever, right?

The dry leaf is perhaps a bit too tightly packed into the sample pouch and the leaves, which are already a bit smaller than I have come to expect, have broken a bit from the pouch. They have a sweet fragrance, though. I’m pretty sure it’s the vanilla and pomegranate. The wet leaves are especially fruity. You don’t really get any of the vanilla, but all the pomegranate. However, I keep saying “pomegranate”, but without reading the description I would not have pinpointed that. It’s almost more… citrusy than that.

In any case, I did at least brew this for longer than I would a typical white tea, closer in accordance with the instructions. Unfortunately, upon tasting, I feel like that was perhaps a mistake. The liquor is a nice amber color and has re-captured the mellowing vanilla. However, it’s a bit bitter and astringent from brewing overlong on my part. For now, I’ll leave it without a rating since I clearly was the cause of the poor flavor. I’ll get it better next time!

And I’ll even follow their posted instructions some day, too!

I really do enjoy pu-erh teas and this one is pretty high on my list. Especially of the ones that I can identify, seeing as I have a few at home I just can’t figure out what company made them!

In any case, it’s been another long, stressful day at work and I felt the need to relax. I had just eaten a large lunch and clocked back in when it became eminently clear that I needed some nice pu-erh to help keep my stomach settled and my senses alert.

Once it was brewed, I smelled the tea and actually said out loud, “Yes! This is exactly what I need!” It was sort of silly. I guess it’s a good thing there aren’t too many people near my desk.

What I love most about a good pu-erh like this is how it transports me. I smell the tea and have a sip and I’m camping in the woods, huddled in a warm sleeping bag as a fallen tree falls apart eaten by termites next to my tent. * sigh * This is where I want to be right now. And this is where I feel like I am when I enjoy this tea.

Delicious!

This is actually my third time drinking this tea. The first was in the Vital Tea Leaf shop with Kenny in Chinatown. After that, I purchased a decent amount of it. The second was just yesterday with a small group of coworkers and we all sat around enjoying this tea very much.

Today, I am enjoying this tea once more and the light, springy aroma of the liquor is perking me up nicely! The liquor itself is extremely light in color, even lighter than most green oolongs I come across. The tea itself is somewhat vegetal and mildly grassy. Most of all, it lightly plays in the mouth with a simple, pleasant, and almost sweet flavor.

I’m definitely fond of this tea and perhaps will like to try other Iron Goddess options from Vital Tea Leaf someday. When talking with Kenny, he described this as a good “everyday” oolong. I think he is exactly right about that!

Upon seeing the opportunity to get an early release black tea from a plantation that specializes in Oolong… I couldn’t resist the offer and spent perhaps a few dollars more than I ought to have in order to be a part of this.

The leaves are large, dark, and gorgeous to me. The scent of the dry leaf is full-bodied and sweet. But not sweet in a sugar or fruit sort of way to me. It’s sweet like a handful of grain.

I opted to brew this gong fu style first in a 100 mL gaiwan. Each infusion was around 1-2 minutes (depending on the infusion), so perhaps I will try this again gong fu style with shorter infusions.

The liquor is a deep amber with a surprisingly mellow aroma. As Dorothy noted, it definitely is malty with a touch of barley. Drinking the tea is smooth. There is no astringency or bitterness to my palate. At first, I couldn’t quite identify what I was tasting. It was robust but mellow. There was a heartiness without being too much.

After a while, I realized that tasting this tea reminds me of tasting craft beers. There are a lot of the same flavors working their way through the tea as I have experienced in beer. It’s almost like there’s a very light hoppy after-taste that I find especially pleasant.

I’m looking forward to trying this again with shorter infusions and again in a western style pot.

I’ve been on something of a “light and mild” tea kick lately. This is very odd for me considering my normal tastes (pu-erh, dark roasted oolong, and black teas). Yet all day yesterday while I was in the office, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of this Bai Mu Dan sitting lonely (okay, maybe not so lonely) in my cupboard at home. Remembering how the caffeine from the white tea is more likely to send a jolt of electricity (in a good way) through me, I decided to pull out the tea, freshen the water in my electric kettle, and leave it all in plain sight for the morning!

I prepared this tea gong fu style once again. My senses were a bit dulled by having just woken, so I won’t describe the aroma and flavor in as much detail as before, but you can see my previous log on this tea for those details!

As I expected, this tea provided a fresh clarity to my morning and the briskness of the flavor brought my palate alive! I definitely enjoy this tea still and even brought some to keep in my tea drawer in the office so I can utilize its inspiring flavor while stuck at work!

My first whiff of the dry leaf in the pyramid bag was a little strong. The bergamot is perhaps stronger than I would prefer (a non-regular Earl Grey drinker). The brewed liquor is a nice deep amber and the aroma is similar to that of the dry leaf.

My first few sips were when the tea was freshly brewed and pretty hot still. The lemony bergamot really packed a wallop and I wasn’t particularly fond of it. It had a vaguely soapy, almost Pine Sol-like after taste for me. I let the cup sit a bit and the tea cooled. Once it was in the “pleasantly warm” category, I tried it again and basically all of the bergamot overkill had passed into history.

I think this will make a nice iced Earl Grey in the summer months, but I think I’ll pass on future hot cups.

Thanks again to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample for me!

I used to drink this tea very regularly. In general, I find that Mighty Leaf tea is a solid brand that can be found locally most anywhere. If it’s not in your main supermarket, it can typically be found at a local co-op or natural foods store. After drinking the Goji Green Tea from Two Leaves and a Bud yesterday, I remembered this tea and wanted to try it again for comparison.

However, it has been quite a while since I’ve partaken in any and I must admit that I’m a bit disappointed. Maybe my tastes have been too highly tuned and become too used to more natural teas, but it’s sort of bland to me now. There is that light sweetness from the “tropical” aspect of this tea, and I do still think it’s a pretty solid tea for being in a bag as it is, but I guess I’m just a bit underwhelmed.

I know I’m comparing it in part to my previous opinion of it, which was quite high. So that has bearing on this rating, absolutely. I’m sure I’ll be having more in the future in either case. It still is a nice tea!

This is actually the second time I’ve tried this, but I was unable to write a review sooner.

The liquor itself is very light in color, even lighter than many of the greens I’ve had in the past. The aroma of the tea in the cup was very mild, almost non-existent. However, the wet leaf aroma is pungent and almost earthy. I’m having trouble finding just the right word to describe the this scent.

As for the tea itself, it’s a very mellow green tea. A very light background note of roasted flavor, but it’s almost not even noticeable.

This tea is very nice a subtle, but I’m not sure I’d drink it too regularly. I don’t care too much for green teas and usually enjoy a heartier flavor, so this may be in part related to the fact that I’ve had a lot of green and white tea today and none of the stronger flavors I normally consume in such vast quantities.

This is a backlogged tasting note of this tea, which I got from LiberTeas.

I very much enjoyed the lightness of flavor on this one. It unfortunately did not make a particularly strong impression, so I cannot provide many more details beyond that. I have enough to try it again a couple more times, so I’ll provide a more accurate rating/review then. In the meantime, I’ll leave it without a number rating!

This tea bag looks like it had received a little rough treatment at some point. Probably just when it was in transit, from what I can tell. Inside the pyramid bag most of the leaves were whole and fine, but some clearly had been crushed at some point inside the bag, so there were a bit more, well… bits than I would prefer.

However this did not result in a bad tea at all! I perhaps lessened my steeping time by a small amount to prevent from over-brewing with the smaller pieces, but that’s all.

I was a little worried about the flavoring on this tea, since I have experienced some teas that just overdo it. Thankfully, Two Leaves and a Bud do not fit in that category with this tea! The goji and tropical flavors are very mild and pleasant. It just adds a sweetness to the tea. The liquor has a nice light yellowish color and the aroma is a bit sweeter than the tea itself (which was in its favor).

This is a tea that I would enjoy on a morning where I need just a mild wake up and something sweet instead of hearty. Not sure if I’d pick up too much at a time, but a few on hand would not go amiss!

Thank you to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample!

As I was adding a selection of teas I had just received to my cupboard, I couldn’t decide what tea to try first. All of a sudden, I accidentally clicked the “Log” button on this tea and decided it was fate to try this one first!

First and foremost, this tea is in a bag. However, it’s a lovely, compostable pyramid bag that is not over stuffed in the least. When I added the tea to the hot water, whenever this is the case, the first thing I do is watch the tea inside the bag. In this case, I was able to see each piece of leaf (sort of like a cut whole leaf, but clearly no harsh process) expand to its fullest potential. The pyramid was mostly filled, but even with full expansion, there was still a small amount of space to allow the leaves to expand more if they needed.

Definitely a good start for a tea bag!

The liquor turned out a bit darker than I anticipated, but the aroma is still light and sweet. It is mildly floral in a richer way than a jasmine tea. When it came time to taste the tea, I was a little surprised, as the flavor was a bit lighter than I anticipated, especially with the color of the liquor.

Yet the flavor is very like the aroma in its floral features as an undertone to the simple natural sweetness of the tea. While I think I still prefer the loose, full leaf Bai Mu Dan tea to this, when I am not able to sit and enjoy a nice gongfu tea making, this will not only suffice, but fulfill the need for a pleasurable and delicious tea!

Thank you very much to Two Leaves and a Bud for the sample! I look forward to tasting more!

I am not a great drinker of green teas, but I am trying more each day to see how my preferences may alter!

I got this in a box of samples and must say it’s pretty tasty. The initial aroma of the liquor was a little overpoweringly like fresh seaweed, so I let my cup set a moment before proceeding much. As it cooled slightly, the scent was less pervasive and the flavor of the tea itself became more to my taste!

It’s a very solid, general green tea. It is lightly vegetal but not overpowering in any flavor. It’s definitely a mellow brew, and that suits me right now! I’m trying to determine where to draw the line between “grassy” and “seaweedy” in flavor, but this sort of balances between the two for me.

Not my favorite tea, as I don’t drink green teas with much frequency as I noted. But it definitely is going to be considered whenever I am in the mood for a mild flavored tea.

This was delicious! Just a beginning to my review. It actually reminded me of the Da Hong Pao I recently tried from my brother, but this was sweeter and a bit more resonant with maltiness.

The liquor is a gorgeous amber shade with a sweetish, caramel-based aroma. The tea itself isn’t exactly sweet, but evokes sweetness in it. Like cinnamon. It is spicy and fun and a good cup overall!

I think this would be an ideal tea to start my day off before work. Help me wake up and perk up for the hours in the office!

I’ve had a lot of jasmine scented teas over time. Most of the time, they’re pretty nice, but I just have never been particularly drawn to them.

Thanks to TeaVivre, that has officially changed. For this specific one, at least! The floral flavor is so light and sweet. It doesn’t overpower the tea and just makes for a beautiful cup of tea! I’m drinking this gong fu style, so I look forward to trying again in the future in a larger mug/cup.

Thanks agian for the sample, TeaVivre!

I love a good pu-erh tea. I did not always, but I do now! And this one was particularly tasty.

I was a little surprised at just how finely cut the leaves are in this mini tuo, but it did allow for a hearty strong brew, dark enough to satisfy my coffee-craving brother! Most pu-erh I drink, even in mini tuo form, has somewhat larger leaves, but it did not denigrate the flavor of this tea.

As far as pu-erh goes, I really enjoyed this one. It has a distinct malty, earthiness and minimal to no astringency or bitterness.

Thanks to TeaVivre for sending along this sample!

There has been a quality to Yunnan black teas that I’ve noticed multiple times across the various ones I’ve tried. Until now, I haven’t quite known how to describe it. Every Yunnan black I’ve tasted has the same earthy quality that distinguishes it from other black teas. This earthy quality is unlike that I’ve found in other teas because it’s almost dry. Most of the time, I’ve noticed that when drinking an earthy tea, it brings to mind moist soil, a forest fresh after rainfall, etc. But with these, it’s a dryness that really comes to the fore.

I love it! And I’m not even entirely certain why. When it comes to alcoholic beverages, I tend to avoid dry drinks. Leaves a weird taste in my mouth. But with tea? Yes, please!

I received this with a few other samples from TeaVivre, and let me just say… delicious! If you couldn’t tell, I’m a bit of a sucker for a Yunnan Black/Red tea. I’ve got about 3 or 4 others tucked away in my cupboard of varying qualities. Based on the dry leaf alone, this is probably middling quality compared with some I brought back from China myself. But to be fair, I brought back some really freaking nice Yunnan Black!

I love the golden tips, and this one is particularly beautiful to behold. This tea has an interesting, almost dusty scent to the dry leaf that could give a bad impression to someone unfamiliar with this type of tea. But it was exactly what I was hoping for when I opened the package. It’s sharp and lightly floral. Gorgeous.

My first infusion was accidentally a little longer than intended, so had a mild bitterness to the end. But my successive infusions were better timed and absolutely delicious and smooth.

Delicious!

As I opened the package of this tea I started thinking about my experience with white teas… and I realized it’s absolutely minimal! I do tend to lean more towards black/red, oolong, and pu-erh teas. So it was a very pleasant change of pace and please forgive me if my description falls inadequate!

The dry leaf is light and sweet. I love the look of it, too. It just looks pleasant, for lack of a better term. The leaves were whole and unbroken, soft and downy. I was careful to use water of the correct temperature and to brew within the recommended time frame. I’ve noticed how some of my recent teas have been fixed outside of recommended methods and have fallen short for me.

The tea itself is light and springy, mildly vegetal and more grassy, I’d say. But it’s a light flavor, not overwhelming at all. I would love to try this someday as an iced tea as well, though I have a feeling I’ll still prefer it hot. I almost forgot how few infusions can be made from a white tea. As I noted, I am much more used to drinking darker teas that can withstand many infusions, so it was sort of a nice change of pace to end after just a few small infusions.

This tea is very tasty and I’m excited to try it more!

Thanks again to TeaVivre for the sample!

The first time I tried this was with FyreTyde and we drank from some of my china cups. Just yesterday I brought this with me to the office, along with some brown sugar. When making tea in the office, I have to make a somewhat larger quantity at a time and use a larger mug, since I’m limited on how often and when I am able to get up to refresh or refill.

So I made myself a mug of this deliciousness, prepared just as if I were making it for a more intimate party. It was definitely just as delicious as I remembered, but I guess what was lost to me this time around was the feeling of sitting around with my girlfriends drinking tea out of antique china cups.

The larger quantity/size of the mug did take a little from the experience for me and I think I’ll be keeping this beauty at home to enjoy in smaller, more focused settings to get the real flavor of it!

I tried this for the first time a few days ago, so forgive me if I’m not perfectly eloquent today!

First of all, the smell of the dry leaf is ricey and sweet and fun. It definitely begins to evoke the concept of a cherry cheesecake. I’m pretty fond of a genmaicha, but haven’t had a ton of experience with them. I was first introduced to genmaicha by a friend of mine I used to work with. She was allergic to just about everything except for rice and green tea (I think you see where I’m going with this). She was even unable to drink black teas. I’m not quite sure why, but somehow that was the case.

In any case, I had a small amount of genmaicha with her a while back and enjoyed it, but wasn’t blown away. To be fair, I wasn’t exactly blown away by much green tea at all. I’m pretty sure it stems from the fact that everytime I had green tea for a very long time, it was prepared improperly, usually with too hot of water.

So when I saw the Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha, I knew that I wanted to try it. After heating my water, I allowed it to set and cool for a few minutes to get water temperature more along the lines of what is needed for this kind of tea. I allowed it to steep a couple of minutes and poured myself a cup.

I wasn’t fond of the smell of the wet leaf, it was a bit too heavy on the rice aroma. But the liquor itself, well… that just smelled delicious! The tea itself was nice a lightly flavored. It was like a nice green tea with a hint of the rice (almost simulating the taste of a crust if you keep entirely in cheesecake terms) and a very mild sweetness. I think my favorite part was how mild the cherry flavor was. It was definitely present, but just sort of interlaced itself with the rest of the flavors to enhance the overall product.

Not listing my preparation details as I can’t remember them that precisely, but I definitely enjoyed this and may have to get one of the other remaining bags of it to ensure I have some on hand for a while!

I’ve tried a couple of Lapsang Souchong teas lately and I think I just don’t like it. Each time, it just makes me feel like I’m drinking liquid smoke, and not in a pleasant sort of way.

I’m giving what I have left to a friend who enjoys Lapsang Souchong, so hopefully it will go over better there!

I had this once more with a friend this weekend. This time I was able to prepare it gong fu style and had a little more control over the water temperature. It was very nice!

The overpowering rose flavor from the first steep last time was much milder to begin with. It persisted further across multiple infusions, but was a background note instead. The smokiness and undertones that remind me always of a Yunnan red were still there and felt a little more prominent this time around.

Looking forward to enjoying this tea more in the future!

I had a friend over this weekend for a tea party and an excuse to catch up. As we discussed tea, she told me how one of her greatest favorites is a nice Lapsang Souchong. Knowing that I had just received a sample of this tea, I showed it to her and she immediately wanted to try it!

I enjoyed the smell of the dry leaf quite a lot. It’s mildly smoky and chocolatey. I could tell it would have a hearty flavor. It reminded me of camping trips with my family and standing around the fire as the tenuous breeze would blow the smoke onto each of us in turn.

Once I brewed the tea, I was a little less optimistic. The smokiness had become a much stronger aroma than it was with the dry leaf. Like when the wind puts the smoke from the fire on you alone for too long, to the point where you have to move. Unfortunately, the flavor, for me, was much the same. Almost like I had inhaled too much smoke. It reminded me more of liquid smoke than tea. So, personally, I wasn’t a big fan of this.

My friend with me loved every sip and refilled her cup 3 times. So it’s definitely still a nice tea, but just doesn’t fit my tastes. If you are interested in it or have a particular love of Laspsang Souchong, definitely give this a try!

I got this in the Box of Chocolates sampler pack and was immediately excited to have a chance to try this tea. The dry leaf smells just like Andes mints, you can even distinguish a more dark chocolate smell than milk chocolate. It has a great scent!

Once brewed, the mint aroma really comes to the fore. I was a little worried that it might overpower the rest of the flavors, but that concern was for naught! The flavor is well-balanced and sweet. The mint adds a coolness to the flavor that is very refreshing.

I tried it further with a small amount of sugar and then some milk. While it still tasted very nice with these additions, the milk made it, well… milky! More like milk chocolate than the dark chocolate flavor it had before. I was surprised to find that I prefer this tea plain. With many black teas in general, and especially flavored teas, I usually like them a little better with a dash of sugar and a splash of milk. But this was the exception.

I definitely will be getting more of this in the future!