Odysseus

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The mix of black leaves and golden tips brews up copper red in the cup. Aroma is malt and leather. Taste is malty, roasty and and sweet. Mildly astringent.

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Brews up a pale amber with a slight greenish-yellow cast. Smells of the ocean – salt and seaweed. Taste has a mellow sweetness of grapes. Seaweed returns in the finish. Smooth mouth feel. Very little astringency.

Brewed tea smells complex like pepper and sandlewood. The taste is mellow honey, pepper and oak. mildly astringent. light amber in the cup.

Smells cloyingly sweet, candy-like caramel vanilla. Tastes much milder – almost neutral with a hint of a vegetal spinachy taste. The vanilla is most prominent in the finish. Mild astringency. Brews up pale amber.

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Brews up dark amber. Malt and baked apple in the nose. Mild honey taste with a bit of a peppery bite. Moderate astringency. Mildly bitter. Leaves are medium size but broken and dusty with fannings (maybe due to sample size packet).

Another sample from Erin. Thank you again!

Brewed this as normal tea and added soy milk and sugar. The spice mix is appropriate and well balanced. The vanilla is subtle and smooth. Rooibos doesn’t seem to have the body of black tea to hold up to a lot of milk and sugar, so go easy.

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Brews up an intense lemon-lime green color. Smells roasty. Silky smooth mouth feel. Tastes liked puffed rice and sea weed with a little vegetable sweetness like carrots.

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Smells intensely lavender with a bergamot zing. Tastes smooth and sweet like honey with neither the lavender nor bergamot overpowering. A little more bergamot in the initial taste and more lavender in the finish. Brews up deep copper.

Smells earthy and raisin sweet. Tastes of cocoa and sage. Not as sweet as the fragrance suggests. Mildly astringent. Liquor the color of cherry wood.

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The aroma is like a citrusy solvent or cleaning solution. Intense and almost overwhelming. The taste is much smoother, like a very mellow earl grey. Rooibos and bergamot flavors are bright and fresh. Very little black tea flavor and only a hint of the lychee. No noticeable astringency. Medium copper in the cup.

Edit: I need to lower my rating as I’m having trouble finishing this. The aroma is really overwhelming for me. While the taste is pleasant, I just can’t get past the aroma. I think I’ve figured it out: Bergamot + Rooibos + Lapsang = Pinesol (for me anyway).

Brews up dark reddish brown. A sharp pine smoke aroma tickles my nose. The taste is dominated by a fine balance of smoke and lychee. The finish is cereal and resin.

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Fairly mild for a breakfast blend. If I didn’t know it was a Yunnan, I would have guessed this was primarily a Sri Lankan tea. The aroma is salty and vegetal. The taste is a mild bread and butter taste like a buttered dinner roll. A gentle, neutral sweetness. Moderate astringency. Medium amber colored liquor.

Another sample from Erin. Thank you!

A pleasant vanilla taste that dominates. There is still some tea taste as well, but not enough to pick out any subtleties. Rich amber in the cup.

The vanilla flavor is light and very well balanced with the natural tea flavor. Beneath the vanilla, the taste is earthy with currants. The aroma is mild vanilla and oak. The vanilla is dominant in the aftertaste. Mild astringency. Liquor brews up copper colored.

Brews to a medium amber color. Smells like bread and honey. Tastes mild and malty with a little something like cooked collard greens and a little honey sweetness. A hint of bitterness. Moderate astringency.

Rich cocoa aroma and taste. It is not a one note tea, but the cocoa impression is so strong that I’m having trouble sussing out the nuances. A little charcoal, maybe a little cherry. Very smooth with only a hint of astringency and no bitterness. Coppery orange in the cup.

Brews up a medium orange color. Aroma of fresh biscuits. Robust mouth feel is almost chewy. Solid malty taste with a fruity sweet finish like grapes. Moderate astringency that is not overpowering.