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This is my first Red Robe. The description is rudimentary because Bonsai Hill is not on Steepster, their website doesn’t have a description of products or anything aside from store hours, location and the types of products sold, so I can’t retrieve any information. I can look up Red Robe on line, as can you. I don’t know much about Bonsai Hill’s Red Robe so I can’t in good conscience make stuff up and pass it off as legit.

This reminds me a lot of Tao Tea leaf’s Shui Xian Lao Cong. A lot.

It smells roasted, has long dark twisty leaves, and it brews pale brown. I suck at describing oolongs and I think I overstepped this one a bit because there’s slight bitterness. And the nice thing about it is that it does taste like you would expect it to after smelling the dry leaf. A nice cup, will likely restock for those days when I feel like straight tea. I can’t do straight blacks yet (shudder) and straight greens don’t do much for me.

I had this bag since summertime and I barely touched it. I had tried one cup while camping, it was not good, so I left it on the shelf since. Its sister, the “butter brandy cake” was terrible. So terrible, in fact, that I …. Got rid of it. It was so chemical and awful. So there’s a few bucks I’ll never get back. I even tried airing it out, as someone suggested (suggestion was based on feedback and comments from here) and still no go.

Given this butter brandy cake experience I am sure nobody would blame me for fearfully avoiding this bag. Well, it seems I avoided it long enough for it to get to the point where it is ok tasting. Reading through notes here I see someone mentioning “curing” the tea. I’m assuming curing is kinda like airing it out?!?

I’m glad the bag is finally working because I’m out of all butter rum from DAVID and I’m running really low on SoHo blend from Harney, so now I have an entire bag of butter rum just in time for winter.

It still has a hint of something I don’t like but it really is just a hint, I can easily ignore it especially with a fixin’ of Demerara and vanilla creamer. Fixed just so it is indeed a good cup.

Used DAVID’s perfect spoon for 8 oz water that I allowed to cool to 204F after boiling. Just over two minutes. No astringency and good aroma.

(ETA: wow factor increases with a splash of Gibson’s Finest rye)

So the difference between this and just caramel matcha is what?!? I think it’s sugar. When I added sugar to this, it was too sweet to drink it, I had to dilute it. I add the same amount of sugar to caramel matcha and it is fine. Also, the sample they sent me with purchase was way more than I normally would add to an 8 oz cup of cold matcha latte.

It is also a little chalky. But hey, it was free sample with purchase and if you let it sit a bit, the “chalk” settles and you can enjoy this decadent drink.

I added the matcha to a travel bottle and added a little warm water and a tsp of sugar. I shook the bottle to dissolve. I then added 8 oz cold milk and shook the bottle again. Poured over ice, stuck in a straw and …. Sluurppp!

I received this as a free bag with purchase during a promo. I should have just left it for someone else to have. Even the dry leaf smelled so off putting — like bad milk chocolate — sour almost. Yes, I smelled coconut and Cinammon but the acrid chocolate smell was prevalent.

I finally forced myself to have a cup to satisfy a craving for something I couldn’t put my finger on. I looked at my cupboard and wanted nothing (well, really, I wanted a Starbucks’ tall salted caramel mocha with whipped cream and sprinkles) so I sighed and decided it was time to stop avoiding this bag.
You know, " #%^} or get off the pot", right?

It brewed orangey brown, had a ton of floaties, like A TON and I couldn’t make myself do it. I didn’t even waste my yummy creamer on it, I took a tiny sip and dumped it. The only thing that tasted worse to me was a sort of Tulsi chai I got a sample from someone — won’t name names :)

THis stormy night is the stuff nightmares are made of. Sorry, DAVID, I’m a fan overall, but this one needs to go away.

First off, who is Tali and why is there so much chai named after her? :p

Second, maybe I should give up my quest for chai, it is doomed, since I can’t stand milk and it seems chai and milk go together like, well, you know. I tried steeping Tao tea leaf’s masala chai in straight up milk — good spices but oh god, warm milk assaults my nostrils and I nearly barf so I boiled some water and tried to calm myself with this. If I am not careful with the milk I will develop an aversion to chai by association.

Back to this one though…The spices are quite good, balanced, but it is thin tasting. There’s a hint of ginger and clove, they do not steal the show. It wouldn’t be a good show if they did. Good overall but not essential.

Many thanks to Dexter3657 for all the chai shared with me, practically almost all the chai I’ve had. I’ve been a little gun shy in buying myself. Alas, there are two favourites still, the Laoshan Village Chai and something else I can’t quite remember. I’ll have to go through my notes but I think it was from Tealux. (Edit: yah, it was Oo Nutty Delight from Tealux)

Sipdown. And just in case anyone wants to try, it goes amazing with bacon. I was making lardons (and caramelized onions) for my pasta tonight and I popped a few remaining lardons (bacon bits for those not in the know) in my mouth. Then I sat down and absentmindedly took a sip of this tea. Woot!

No, I am not here to request a bacon tea. I’ve tried them and I know how it goes, but man, maybe just fry yourself some bacon when you’re wondering, and sip at your tea. Taste buds party!

Also this is not as astringent now as I thought it the first time around. Bump!

I get to try this courtesy of Dexter3657 . Thank you!

The dry leaf smells so good that it was the first one I’m having out of all the other ziploc bags I got. It smells sweet, not just spice. It tastes quite close to what you’d think it should taste like after smelling the leaf. That is always nice since you’re choosing tea based on its smell sometimes and it’s quite the disappointment when the brewed tea tastes NOTHING like the dry.

I added brown sugar but no dairy (or dairy substitutes). I had a cup at work this morning and am finishing off the sample tonight because it is good enough to have more than once in a day.

This is so good, you guys. So beautiful to look at, too. I know some of you might think that Dexter3657 and I should probably start some mutual adoration society or something but I’m going to say this anyway: Dex is an amazing friend. You see, it’s my birthday (soon) and since I was lusting for this tea that I would have likely never bought, or not in the foreseeable future, Dex sent me some, among other things.

I had this as a sample with purchase last time and I wished for more. The leaves are gorgeous so I brewed it in a glass gaiwan to see what’s up. Very pale brew and I still can’t tell what it tastes like any better than last time. Uncooked peaches and cream corn. Or something like that, sweet and green.

It seemed like 94C would be a bit high for a white so I did 190F (which is about 87c). No additives.

Thank you, Dexter3657 for this tea, for your thoughtfulness and for making me feel special.
Now I gotta go drink me some more tea :)

Bought this for my partner who is a fan of apple pie. Tonight when I asked “what tea do you want?” The answer, not surprisingly was “whatever you’re having”. So I’m having this even though I knew I didn’t like it, just so she can drink it.

I can’t get too eloquent about a green tea that tastes like watery apple cider. If you leave it too long, well, it’s green tea, it will punish you. I did ok with just under three minutes at 180 but the resteep was forgotten, was more like 5 min and made for a bitter tea.

But really, on the whole, apple cider. Long aftertaste, probably because of the lingering cinnamon.

So far “lime gelato” is DAVID’s most enjoyable green tea and “Kokomo green” their worst. "North African mint (organic) " is so unlike green tea that you can be surprised when you read the label and see “green tea”