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I must say that this one is a lot better than I expected it to be. Overall I consider Twining China Oolong to be a passable oolong tea just like the oolong at Chinese buffets is passable enough to be performed to ordering a soda instead. This is a light oolong which is good and perfectly fine in my opinion although I’d recommend it as a travel or work tea when one does not have the access to or the time brew a better quality oolong in a gaiwan.

I’m not sure if this tea is the freshest or not and quite honestly I only have it because it was thrown in for free with an order from an online Chinese grocery store I placed. Not sure if this tea is the freshest as it has a light floral taste that is not overwhelming like most floral oolongs that I’ve had before. If anything this tea even when brewed gongfu in a gaiwan has a bit of a washed out taste (for a green oolong) to it and even longer brews just make it bitter. So while it is not really bad to say I definitively will not be picking it up again unless it is given to me for free again as it is not worth the $7.50 they were charging for me. Like most cheap and not so good oolongs this one will follow suit in being sent through my ice tea maker as a semi-don’t care ice tea oolong, although unlike others this is not a cheap oolong that I would buy for the sake of sending through my ice tea maker.

Wow the description of this tea having a unique peppery taste was right on. The first time I had this brewed with a mug infuser I wondered if I had forgot to wash my infuser basket after having the Thai Chai I last used it for. So I brewed it again with a gaiwan to ensure a clean brew and the taste was still there. I’ve never encountered a black tea that is naturally spicy like this one before which was a nice change for something different although quite honestly while it is a good tea I am glad that I only bought a sample as I don’t think I will be ordering any more of it.

Overall a well balanced ripe puerh with a slight earthy edge to it. It makes me think of the good cheap bricks of ripe puerh that while it is clearly not the highest quality is still good tasting and a satisfying tea to drink. While I really enjoyed the free sample of this cake, the cake itself especially now 9 years old is not worth the price that it is being sold for in my opinion.

Given that it was an oolong I treated it like a Chinese/Taiwan Oolong and gaiwan brewed it. Contains the familiar grape and dried fruit floral notes that one would expect to find in a first flush Darjeeling black tea of quality. While I really enjoy it, it has gotten me thinking about how much different brewing a Darjeeling black tea in a gaiwan would be from what I am brewing now from the many observations of others about first flush Darjeeling black teas being a more oolong like black tea. Regardless it stands out as a nice tea that is a very enjoyable change from what I normally drink although I highly doubt it will become a staple tea for me.

The first words that come to mind for this one are light, sweet and mellow. Pretty much a light easy drinking ripe puerh with a nice clean taste.

This sample comes off to me as a very good young sheng puerh to be drinking now and coming from a person who generally avoids sheng. Overall the taste is smooth and sweet without any traces of harshness or smoke. While the tea has a floral taste to it, the floral taste is not overwhelming nor is the other strong “puerh” taste overwhelming either so the description of it having both strength and depth is a pretty good way of putting it. The tea holds out very well and consistently for more infusions than I could drink and did not result in any stomach issues for me which says a lot to one that is more sensitive to too much young sheng puerh.

Wow this has to be the best Chai tea that I have ever had. Personally I’ve never really liked Masala styel Chai as it always seemed too spicy to me. This Thai Chai has a much lighter and smoother taste to it which is wonderful plain. The lemongrass and coconut adds enough sweetness and creamy smoothness to make the tea able to stand on its own which I find to be quite rare among flavored teas to which generally demand sugar to be added in order for the flavor to taste right. For the second half of the cup I did an experiment and added some of the rock sugar sample that I had to the tea and I think the added sugar actually hindered more than improved the taste of the tea as it dulled the edges of the spices that were in the tea a bit too much to the point that I don’t even want to find out what a splash of milk would do to the tea.

Not too much to be overly impressed by in this Dayi ripe puerh brick. A typical ripe puerh with a slightly malty taste to it. Well suited as a cheaper everyday casual drinking ripe puerh, that falls into the good upper middle range but falls short of the exceptional upper end ripe puerh.

I’ll admit that going into this that I had a slight bias against the cake as my experience with Rongzhen has been mixed. Sure their ripe puerh cakes were not bad but they were not really that good compared to others that I had either, just a safe midrange cake. The brew of this one was different as it is the best Rongzhen puerh that I’ve had yet. It has a sweet mellow taste as one would expect from a Menghai area ripe puerh. Yet what impresses me the most with this sample is that despite being under a year old for a ripe puerh there is not even a trace of any off factory odors or flavors. I just looked up the price for a whole cake and it was $12.98 which makes it a rare gem among the cheaper ripe puerh cakes in my opinion.