Insence&Tea

I just wanted to write this short review as an update on how some teas are responding to the pumidor. I first got this sample and the flavor intrigued me. It had a tobacco base but mainly tasted like spices and peppers. The best way to explain it is that it tasted like spilling every spice in your cupboard in some mole. I bought a couple cakes and when I tasted it, it still had the spicy flavor. According to my inventory app it says I bought the teas on February 7, 2013. Despite only having it for a month and a half a lot of change has taken place. The spicy, peppery flavors have mellowed out some and started turning into the underlying tobacco flavor. I don’t know if it’s because of being in the presence of other teas that aren’t “spicy” or just from sitting in the pumidor environment but it will be interesting to see how the other teas respond

After 2 and a half weeks in 70% humidity I am going to reevaluate this tea. It is still very smooth and moist in your mouth and when you swallow. It has gained a little thickness since I received it. There is a little bit of mushroom flavor, but overall the flavor is very mild. I usually like meaty, in your face puerh and this seems to be a much lighter puerh. I think it has the potential to age into a nice mouthfeel puerh with good qi. It is also good for someone that wants a milder tea to drink immediately. There is still an interesting minty flavor to the tea, but it has a new musty smell on top. As I keep doing more brews, due to the lack of kuwei and strength, I am starting to do longer steeps. There is an interesting, smooth waxy feeling that coats the mouth with longer steeps.

(Sorry for the mix mash of thoughts, I was writing this as I brewed and noticing things which leaded to a very scattered post)

Previous review: I just received this puerh cake, so it is probably a little flat because of the lower humidity and temp during shipping. I have it in my pumidor and will write a more extensive review after a couple weeks in better conditions. The dry tea smells very minty and sweet, almost like a mint tisane mixed in with the puerh. Once brewed it keeps the minty smell but loses the sweetness. It is very smooth and moistens the mouth. It is lacking a little thickness and staying power but that may be because of the shipping flatness. It has a deep tobacco and mushroom flavor, without the smokiness and bitterness of other young puerhs (making it seem a couple years older than it really is) I can’t wait to see how this progresses, and overall it’s a very good tea

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I just received this puerh cake, so it is probably a little flat because of the lower humidity and temp during shipping. I have it in my pumidor and will write a more extensive review after a couple weeks in better conditions. The dry tea smells very minty and sweet, almost like a mint tisane mixed in with the puerh. Once brewed it keeps the minty smell but loses the sweetness. It is very smooth and moistens the mouth. It is lacking a little thickness and staying power but that may be because of the shipping flatness. It has a deep tobacco and mushroom flavor, without the smokiness and bitterness of other young puerhs (making it seem a couple years older than it really is) I can’t wait to see how this progresses, and overall it’s a very good tea

I just wanted to write a little note on this tea because I find it extremely interesting every time I drink it. I has a nice woody, mustiness and a good qi but there is 1 particular thing that keeps me coming back. When steeped right it has this very sweet taste and citrusy smell. It just hit me that I know exactly what this flavor is. I’ll probably sound crazy but it tastes like the taco time iced tea lemonade :) In any case it is a very deep, sweet, complex tea and I highly recommend it.

I was surprised at the recommendation to only use 2.5 grams so I tried 3 and it was still too light for me. For this review I used 5 grams in a 120ml gaiwan (I usually use 7 for sheng) and it was much more to my taste.

Smell: This tea has a very strong, assertive smell when it is wet and dry. It has a mustiness all throughout combined with a deep peppery and mushroom aroma. When I close my eyes it smells a lot like a miso soup that someone spilled their pepper shaker in :)

Taste: This tea is one of the few that tastes much like it smells. It is like the broth of a very mushroomy miso soup. It still has the peppery taste and has a very creamy sensation. There is a slight musty flavor that reminds me a bit of a traditionally stored puerh but a lightness and tingling on the end.

Dry leaf: Dark, toasty. Slight greenness like a tgy. Slight burnt smell. Very tightly rolled.

Wet Leaf: A lot of the toasty smells disappear and the aroma turns into a darker tgy smell

Taste: This tea is much like a tgy. It may be slightly darker and the flavor is stronger. There are also less floral notes. Overall a nice oolong, with stronger flavor than some other low fired greens.

Dry Leaves: This tea smells very sweet. It is somewhat like dried fruit covered in sugar. The most similar smell is probably a mix of plum and prune. The leaves look good and are around an inch to an inch and a half in length.

Wet leaves: The smell of this tea after water is introduced is intoxicating. It turns from dried fruit to fruit syrup and candies.

Taste: The taste is light but delicious. It is sweet and has fruity notes, along with a light vegetal flavor.

Smell: This tea smells very doughy. It is like a raw tube of puff biscuit right after it is popped. It has a slightly salty and peppery scent but the thick doughy scent is the most noticeable.

Taste: This tea is a lot fruitier than I expected. The doughy scent is a lot lighter than it smelled. The flavor is like fresh baked wheat bread.

I may have committed a crime against the tea gods, but I figured I should write about it because it was a good experience.

Last night I decided to use the last 4 grams of my sample of this amazing tea. It was late and I had homework but I had had a long day and needed to relax. I went through about 12 steepings, right around where it starts weakening, when my brother needed help with the computer. I knew I wouldn’t get a chance to squeeze the last drops out of this tea so I threw it in my teavana perfect brewer with some breakfast black and let it steep. I wasn’t expecting to notice anything about the Golden Fleece because I had already drained a lot of it’s flavor, and I use a pretty strong breakfast black brew. I was blown away by the first sip. It had the typical deep rich breakfast black flavor that it always has, but the Golden Fleece was coming through very strong. The first thing I noticed was it smoothed out both the flavor and the mouth feel of the tea. It didn’t have nearly as much “kick” as the breakfast black normally has. It also acted almost like a tea flavored sweetener. I could clearly taste brown sugar and cinnamon, which removed any bitterness that the breakfast black had before. It was the best cup of BB I have ever had. I almost want to go looking for an inexpensive, sweet, and smooth tea like golden fleece to throw a couple grams in the bottom of my breakfast blacks.

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This tea was the sample I received from EOT with my mom’s purchase. I will be using 6 grams in 4oz of water.

Dry smell: The dry smell is nice. It has a sweetness to it but also a dark, deep aspect. It reminds me a lot of the dragonwell from teavivre. It smells very much like green tea.

Taste: Surprisingly, there is no bitterness from such a young sheng puerh. It doesn’t have the crispness of a young green but has a lot of the vegetal flavors. It is slightly darker than a green and has a smoky taste

Wet smell: Very vegetal, not nearly as sweet, like string beans

Qi: There is vey little qi present if any at all. So far the only tea I have tried that has a noticeable qi is the 2011 mansai so I don’t have much to compare to, but it does not have nearly the same feeling.

Mouthfeel: This tea is very smooth. It seems to glide all the way from first sip to the swallow. It leaves no dryness at all like some other teas do. It has some thickness but not nearly as much as the 2011 mansai. The aftertaste is very nice, sweet, and vegetal. It also lasts for much longer than any other tea I have tried.

When I first was getting into tea, I saw how popular this was and figured I had to at least buy a sample. Luckily I got some of the last tea left. Seeing as it is going up for sale again I figured I would try it out to see if it’s something I want more of.

Dry smell: This is definitely the best smelling tea I have ever experienced. It has the floral notes of the spring TGY and the lightness of the yunnan white jasmine. I was expecting it do have a very deep, dark smell but it is very sweet and light. It is almost as if the aroma is dancing around :) on smell alone this tea is a 100

Wet smell: As soon as the water hits the tea it gives of the deep black tea smell I was expecting. It still has some of the floral and I think it may have even become sweeter (if that’s possible) but it now has an intoxicating aroma like a mix between laoshan black and sugar.

Taste: This tea is incredibly smooth all the way from entry into you mouth to the swallow. It is very thick and flows nicely. There is a long sweet chocolatey aftertaste. I can hardly describe the flavor. It is very very sweet and deep yet still with a light flavor. It has a cocoa flavor and a vegetal flavor. There is no bitterness or astringency what so ever

I will never be able to do this tea justice. I had high expectations and this tea goes above and beyond. Definitely purchasing an. ounce or two

First off, thank you so much Pureleaf for giving me the chance to taste this fantastic tea.

Dry smell: It is a fairly light smell. I can sense a grassiness with a light sweetness like fresh cut plants. It also has a darker spicy not.

Wet smell: This tea has a very smoky smell. It has a light sour smell and a light vegetal taste but the spicy smokiness is by far the strongest smell.

Taste: This tea is very hard to place. I can taste the smokiness and a spicy peppery taste. There is a starchy note but also a vegetal undertone. It is nice and a lot darker than I thought it would be. My favorite part about this tea is the mouthfeel and aftertaste. It is a very smooth tea and slightly thick. The aftertaste is fantastic. The smoky flavor is left in the front of your mouth and the vegetal taste sticks in the back of your throat. Overall it’s a very nice light but deep tea. I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. Thanks again Pureleaf

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Thanks Pureleaf for this sample.

Dry smell: This tea smells wonderful. It has a slight hint of an orange oolong smell. The most dominant smell is that of cherry and chocolate. It smells EXACTLY like the cherry hershey kisses they sell around christmas. It’s a very sweet very deep smell.

Wet smell: This still has the deep cherry chocolate hershey kisses smell

Taste: This tea is really sweet. It has a creamy taste but it’s not the chocolate flavor that I smelled. I can taste a fruitiness that reminds me of how some liquors smell. It is very syrupy. Overall a pretty good tea but it is a little too sweet and fruity for me

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First I need to thank The Purrfect Cup for this great sample

The smell when you open the bag is absolutely to die for. It has an amazing citrusy punch smell with a nice spicey undertone. It is the most amazing thing I have ever smelled. This is a very good tea for a bagged tea. It has the spice like it says and also has a fruity citrusy flavor. It is a little flat but still a high quality bagged tea.

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Thanks Bonnie for the sample

The dry smell is really nice. It is very sweet and smooth smelling. I am catching hints of vanilla and the same doughnutish smell I got from the cornfield tuocha verdant tea is selling.

The wet smell is like the dry smell but the doughyness is amplified. It smells like freshly needed dough mixed with a hint of vanilla extract.

This is a quite good tasting tea. The taste reminds me somewhat of the cornfield tuocha. It has the same bread qualities to it. It is moist and goes down very easily. Overall a nice tea.

Thank you, Bonnie, for the sample :)

Dry smell: This tea smells really nice. It smells very very sweet. It has an unusually vegetal smell for a puerh. It is a moist smell like a fresh forest. I can also smell a little hint of green bean.

Wet smell: This tea smells really great after the first steeping. It still has the extremely sweet smell and vegetal taste. The most prominent smell is still something that reminds me of green snap pea’s

Taste: The taste is kinda funky. It has a sweet taste but also a starchy note and feel. There is a deep woody flavor that tastes like a freshly cut down tree.

EDIT: After 1.5 litres of my red aura cake and a litre of this I’m feeling really calm, happy, and relaxed. I’m assuming this is what people describe as qi. I’m not sure if it’s just this tea or a combination of both

Thank you Bonnie for this fantastic puerh sample!

Dry smell: The dry smell is very woody and, surprise surprise, dry. It doesn’t have a deep wet earth smell but a dry smell resembling bark and cork board. I would describe it as a cooling smell but still very deep. It also has a hint of leafy sweetness, like fall.

Wet smell: It still possesses the leafy sweetness and cooling scents. Nearly all of the cork smell and dryness, however, is gone. There is a fairly large difference between the smell of the dry leaf and wet leaf. It is a nice and light smell.

Taste: The taste is very interesting. It is fairly light but very very sweet compared to other puerhs I’ve tried. The most surprising thing happened on my first sip. The very first flavor that jumped out at me when I tasted this tea is, wait for it, MARSHMALLOW. I don’t know what it is or how else to describe it but every sip I can clearly taste marshmallows. This mixed with the typical puerh flavor makes me think of a night on the beach enjoying smores with my family. I can’t wait for christmas so I can buy some more of this tea!!! :)