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Well, my sample envelope is empty. I was going to save the last of this for a bit longer, but I left what I intended to bring to work on the kitchen island this morning. Oops.

The scent of this tea reminds me a lot of milk oolong.

I wish I could train my brain to say Dong Ding oolong instead of Ding Dong. I feel like an idiot, and would never discuss this tea out loud with anyone for fear of reversing the name :D

I’d definitely like to pick up more Dong Dings and try them out. I am enjoying this one.

I have just a little bit of a sample left of this. It’s open, so I know I drank it once, but I can’t find a review from me on it in order to compare my impressions this time with what I thought before :(

The dry leaf smells nice, it’s a dark green rolled tightly into small, irregular balls. They expand a LOT when steeped.

I’m drinking it with a small amount of sweetener, and I quite like it. Mixed in with the sweet there’s this almost umami taste that I like.

I’m not out of this yet, there’s still more left in the sample envelope, which makes me glad. :)

The last new tea from the Steepster Select box (I still have the second packet of each, yet).

The leaves are pale, pale yellowy-green, like a plant that hasn’t received enough sunlight. And they are covered in golden fuzzy hair. I swear it looks like parts from tiny furry crustaceans, like it came off the Kiwa hirsuta, or wooly lobster. It honestly freaks me out a little bit!

It smells grassy, with a hint of apricot.

I brewed it in my gaiwan. If I had not sneaked a peek at the other reviews, I would have thought I underbrewed it – the liquor is pale yellow, like a white wine.

Taste-wise, I am unimpressed. A light aftertaste of grass. I’m not getting any fruit or citrus from it. I let the second steeping go longer, and I get perhaps a little more grass. The leaves don’t expand much, suprisingly. I am not going to bother with a 3 resteep – it’s like somewhat flavored water to me. I know it says it’s “mellow” on the packet, but this is too mellow – it’s like drinking hot water heated in a kettle that didn’t get washed well.

I might try heating the water a bit more if I do try the second packet.

Another packet from the Steepster Select box. Opened it up and took a sniff. Smells quite nice and the leaves are a pretty deep green that has almost blue tones to it.

Brewed it up in my all-purpose white teapot, drinking from a small Japanese cup.

Drinking it straight for now, since I have never tried it before.

First cup: it kinda just seems like black tea to me. I can’t detect a difference between it and something that’s “just” a black. I have no idea what “mahogany notes” should taste like, so ignoring that for now. Not getting any grape.

Second cup: ok, I get grape a little.

Third cup: Not unpleasant, and I’m happy to try something pu-erh related that I do not dislike (the track record has not been good thus far), but I don’t really find it to be anything unique about it.

Fourth cup: switched to a mug and did splenda and half & half. Definitely still getting the grape.

Verdict: Not bad but not something that makes me sit up and take notice. Not clicking the “would you recommend” option because it’s not a tea that I would tell anyone “Oh, you have to try this!” but it’s not something I would warn anyone away from – if offered a pot of it, I would have no hesitation in drinking it, I just don’t need it for my cupboard.

Oh my. This is lovely. I needed something soothing tonight, as I research my sudden TRIP TO ENGLAND in 2 weeks!!! So I’m simultaneously excited and terrified. I’ll be there for 2 weeks (near London), with hopefully a weekend trip in the middle to PARIS! Advice/recommendations/tea shop directions appreciated :)

I opened the packet and a took a sniff, and it smelled so nice. The leaves are long and dark and smell amazing. Brewed it up in my small green pot and one of its cups. It’s floral with a touch of honey. No astringency.

I really like this. I want to try the next packet gongfu style but I need to find a gongfu tea tray first so I can make a controlled mess.

Ok, I have gone through the entire small pot and every cup is amazing.

I grabbed this bag earlier in the week to take to work since I polished off the Tiger Assam I was keeping there, thinking it was a good way to get it used up. It’s a tasty tea, not as “hot” spicy as I had anticipated when I bought it – I was expecting something like chili powder-spicy. It’s more chai-spice spicy, but it’s not a chai. Probably not the best choice to start my day – I think it is aggravating my acid reflux :( So I may have to just give this one away. I promised a friend I would put together some samples for her, so I may include the rest of the bag with that.

Brewed in my new mouse teapot I got from Teavana last weekend. Yeah, I know, Teavana. But I love mice and rats, so I couldn’t resist.

I decided that I wanted to dedicate that pot to Keemun, and was planning on buying some from Adagio since I am out. But then I remembered this morning that I had this from a little shop in OKC.

I brewed it gongfu style in the new pot, combining the first and second brew (not counting a rinse) in a small pitcher. I drank a bit straight, which was all right, but I little less soothing than what I want this morning, so I whipped up some splenda and half and half and combined it with the tea in a nice western-style mug. The half and half bring out the maltyness and smooths the rough edges off the hint of tobacco. I can’t detect any smokiness in it, which I like in my Keemuns.

I’ve got quite a bit of this left, and it’s nice enough, I will definitely drink it, but I’ll probably try something different if I get back to T, and just order my Keemun from Adagio.

Someone gave me a tin of this as a gift. I’ve gone through it as my office tea for a bit. It’s a fairly good wake-me-up. It is the first tea with pu-erh that I have liked, but I honestly can’t tell how much of the flavor profile has been contributed by the pu-erh. It just tastes like a chocolatey black tea to me.

One small rant – the tin it came in, while cute, is very annoying when attempting to get the very last of the tea out of it. It has an indentation in the bottom so that you could stack it on top of another of the same tea tins. It’s pretty deep and the tea slides down in between the walls of the tin and the indentation. Couple that with the squarish flat top with a round opening.

So I managed to get the very last of it out of the tin after thwacking and shaking and bumping and dumping. But there wasn’t quite enough left for a full cup. I tossed in a bit of Twinings loose Earl Grey. The Bolder Breakfast is so strong that I didn’t get a hint of Earl Grey taste.

I don’t know that I will reorder this on my own, but I wouldn’t turn up my nose at another gifted tin.

Got this in the March (I think – not looking at the card now) Steepster select box.

This is quite marvelous. Reminds me of my favorite Keemun a bit, not quite as malty though, and it does have that honey-ish taste.

Made into a latte, and happily sipping away. Paired with leftover duck curry from last night’s D&D game. It’s just the thing for a lazy, very late-rising Sunday morning.

I would gladly add a tin of this to my cupboard.

Snagged from a box in the breakroom at work, because I was curious. Not generally a big fan of tisanes, but this wasn’t bad. Strong flavor, I liked the sage. Wouldn’t refuse an offered cup.