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I love this green tea because it’s so different. I’ve already left a review on it so not going into too much detail. It’s nutty, sweet potato , & slight smoke. I wonder how the new 2015 spring one is going to taste… I’ve had this shopping cart at Yunnan Sourcing full of sale teas for a week. I keep going in to change things but I haven’t ordered yet. Why? I have too many teas! As well, if I order Autumn 2014 on sale, I won’t be able to buy spring 2015 teas. Tough tough decisions.

Having this tea this morning. I did 3 rinses on this before starting drinking. It was a tightly compressed chunk so I couldn’t break it up. I had slightly more tea to water volume than Wymm Tea’s recommendation.

The first brewing of this tea was very light and bitter. The leaves were still in a chunk and hadn’t separated. I just didn’t pick up much flavour in this cup which would have been due to the leaves still being compressed.

2nd & 3rd brewing – This is when the leaves started breaking up from the tightly compacted tea. Both of these brewings were bitter but a sweet honey flavour was coming through on Steep 3.

4th & 5th – Bitterness was almost gone. Sweet honey flavour kept getting more pronounced. Enjoyed cup 5 even more than 4. It kept getting better!

This is a rough sheng but the later steeps make it worth it. I’ll try some more steeps on this later today and see how it goes. It has a good energy. I feel alert and clear headed but not jittery.

Between being busy and getting new samples I have forgotten to leave reviews on some of my Whispering Pines teas I got this month.

There are so few herbal blends out there (all natural with nothing artificial) for the evening that are really tasty. This one fits the bill. The cinnamon is done so good in this tea it just mixes and enhances the whole taste. Definitely not over done. Along with the cinnamon I’m getting the elderberries & marshmallow root. It’s all wrapped up with a toasty warmth, wonderful for a cold winter evening. I love this blend and do not want to be without it.

I love Japanese green teas but they are brewed at such low temperatures! I like my tea to be hot. When it’s brewed at 140F or 160F and goes from a teapot to a cup (which have been warmed)it still cools down somewhat so that I am drinking lukewarm tea. Well, that’s my only beef about this tea. Otherwise it’s good.

I botched the first brewing. Didn’t read the instructions and just brewed at my regular green tea temperature (185F) for 1 min. It came out bitter. So I threw that out and started again. This time it’s sweet and grassy. Not as much umami as sencha or gyokuro. It is lighter and with less caffeine. I am now on the 2nd infusion. It seems to have lost some of the punch (sencha & gyokuro usually get stronger in the 2nd infusion). and there’s a bit of bitterness creeping back into it. This one gets bitter really easy!

I had this yesterday afternoon. Brewed in my gaiwan. I only used half the leaves since my gaiwan in tiny . I did 3 rinses before drinking.

There was a slight bitterness in the first infusion with sweet honey & fruity notes. The bitterness would hit the tongue initially followed by the sweet honey. There was a silky creamy feel on the tongue.

I can’t remember how many infusions I had of this tea but I really enjoyed it. Definitely it’s one I would consider buying.

Another sample from the Mystery tea samples Wymm Tea so generously sent. I had this one this morning. It brewed up so dark! My little teapot had a bit less volume than their steeping instructions so I was using a bit less water to tea which made it so rich and dark. I would describe it as being very woody, earthy, mushroomy & smooth with faint cocoa notes. The cocoa notes were very faint and although I love some of the chocolate shu’s, this one didn’t have enough to make me love it. The caffeine or energy level was much more than the other shu I had (Menghai Shou Seventh Grade). There are some who would love a tea like this in the morning but I usually start my day with a green and I could only think of how I wanted my green tea so bad all the time I was drinking this.

I did 3 infusions on it and it stayed consistent and rich through out. There could have probably been plenty more infusions but 3 was a lot for me!

For those that enjoy a full bodied rich dark tea, this is the tea for you.

This is from Wymm Tea’s mystery box they were so kind to send out. I liked their simple packaging of the teas wrapped in the special pu’erh paper.

I am enjoying this tea this morning. I haven’t been a really big shu fan. It started out drinking shu but once I had sheng I wanted sheng much more than shu.

I did two 10 sec rinses on this first. I would describe this tea as very smooth. It doesn’t have the rough bitter taste in some of the earlier steeps of other shu I’ve had. It’s woody and a bit mushroomy with sweet honey notes. I found as each steep went on (I did quite a few steeps), it remains pretty consistent, but a bit less woody and sweeter in the later steeps.

Wymm lists this tea as low caffeine and boy is that ever right! I’ve had so many steeps this morning and hardly feel any caffeine at all. That’s a major plus in my books since I’m sensitive to caffeine. It has given me a good energy feeling though – very calm but alert. I’ve found that type of energy more with the sheng instead of a shu.

I’ve really enjoyed this tea and because of it’s low caffeine & mellow honey flavour it might just be one shu I will reach for a little more often than other shu’s .

Dry , this tea doesn’t look quite like the picture. It’s more to the yellow side. I compared it to my Yunnan Sourcing Soba-Cha. The grains are very tiny and yellow with this one compared to YS’s which is bigger and more brown colour. For taste I think it’s a bit lighter in flavour than the YS one but still a warm buckwheat tea with less toast. From the two I think I still prefer YS but this one is good.

Mmmm, just wanted to add that a cup of buckwheat tea is just so warm and cozy.

I’ve had this sample for awhile which came with one of my orders. I’ve had my favourite milk oolongs from other companies so I wasn’t expecting a lot. Perhaps that’s why it took me so long to get around to even trying this sample.

It was quite a surprise. I haven’t kept detailed notes on this but I brewed gong fu and it is an extremely floral milk oolong! A little bit less milky/creamy than other milk oolongs but the floral notes are amazing. And it just doesn’t quit! 4th infusion and the floral notes are still strong! It’s also very fresh tasting. Drat! I could have added this to my last order if only I’d tried my sample sooner. Right now it’s only $8.97 for 250g. So tempting!

Sip down on this tea today. It is a sad farewell. I’ve really enjoyed this tea but not looking to restock yet until my tea cabinet gets down a bit. I know it’s always an easy click away to get it from Tealux so I’m not worried.