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This is a decent morning tea but doesn’t quite compare to some of my favorite yunnans.

I got one yunnan black at a hole in the wall store in Oakland that blows this out of the water. ha!

Anyway I feel that is tea is pretty strong even after steeping it for only 2.5 minutes. I may cut down on that time and see what happens. It’s malty and has definite spicy and peppery notes. Other folks remarked on the muscatel flavor and there is something about it that’s reminiscent of a darjeeling. It has a strong aftertaste. It’s missing the sweet and chocolate notes some other yunnans have. I probably won’t buy anymore of this when the tin runs out though I’ve enjoyed trying it. It’s better with soymilk.

Sipdown!

I am finishing this off today. It’s enjoyable, especially as a cold brew. Still this probably won’t be a repurchase for me, I think I’d prefer a plain/straight Moroccan Mint tea.

This is one of my favorite senchas to date… of course since I like this one so much I haven’t been motivated to experiment and buy a whole lot of others. It’s very vegetal but definitely on the sweeter and more mild side than some I’ve tried. My allergies are going crazy today so I am just drinking a big glass of this.

check out the beautiful color:
http://instagram.com/p/x2BR-RILUs/

I’ve had Oriental Beauty teas in the past but I don’t have any right now. I was happy to see this in my Lupicia happy bag especially as it’s one of their expensive teas.

I steeped this around 205 at one minute, according to the package instructions. This is definitely a nice afternoon tea, it’s mellow and rich. Has woody notes with peach and a sweetish honey finish. This is one of those teas that needs leafhoppers to bring out the flavor, I think. It’s quite tasty! Glad I have some of this around… I think I will try a slighter longer steep at a lower temperature soon.

I am really enjoying this one as my breakfast tea. It has that yummy sweet potato, sugary flavor that is gentle and tasty. This is really good too with soymilk, as a latte type drink. Goes well along with my mango for breakfast today :)

I am not liking this blend too much this afternoon. Most rooibos teas can be steeped for a long time but when this is steeped for a while it tastes artificial and ashy. I really need to stop buying things from David’s tea, I have no idea how they are so popular. I would say 50% or more of their teas are so bad I just end up throwing them away after I buy them. I am just ditching the remainder of this bag. Snickerdoodle was worse.

Sipdown….

I’ve had this for a while and finally drank the last of it today. Even though it’s a green tea and I was worried it might be stale, it still seemed fresh and sweet. I don’t normally go in for flowery teas but this is an exquisite orchid scented tea. Would probably get more if I placed another order with Seven Cups.

I have been seriously struggling with anxiety these past few weeks. Not that this is anything new, but it seems to have gotten worse now that I am back from vacation. One nice thing is that my Dad got me a $40 gift certificate to Dragon Tea House which I have already spent, mostly on pu-erh samples and one batch of yellow tea.

Anyway I thought I’d drink some of this today and get a nice theanine boost. It is such a sweet and luscious green tea. I steeped it for 90 seconds and it seems very soothing at the moment. I’m so glad I have some of it around.

I’ve been enjoying this tea this morning while cleaning my apartment. Lately I watched a few episodes of Hoarders and that show is really scary! I wonder how many of us are tea hoarders? At least I have no problem getting rid of things I don’t like but 2015 seems like a good year to focus on paring down the collection. I’d like to 1/2 the teas I have now and stop buying so many more.

So… on to this sample. It’s a little rolled ball of sheng puer. For such a young tea it is fairly mellow when you keep the steeping times short. When the steeping times are a bit longer (like 45 sec to 1 min) it gets very assertive and somewhat bitter. I guess it depends on how you like your tea. Around 15 seconds it is nice and earthy, mostly sweet with a bit of lemon. If I was in the market for another sheng to drink immediately, I would definitely consider a beeng. I did get a package of their mao cha which will suffice for now.