Auggy

Thanks to sophistre, I get a chance to try a new Bohea. Yay! I just had Teas Etc’s Bohea this morning, so I can’t help but make comparisons. If I didn’t know better, I would swear they aren’t the same type of tea. This one is much milder (in color, smell and taste) than the Teas Etc Bohea. The smoky flavor – which is rich and thick in the TE version – is mild here, somewhat of an afterthought. The first descriptor that crossed my mind with this one, both when smelling and tasting, was ‘sweet’. Because it is. It’s sweet, soft, gentle and has a hint of smoke in the aftertaste that kind of poofs up my sinuses after a sip.

But that makes it sound like, compared to TE’s Bohea, ToT’s version is lacking. It isn’t. It’s just totally different. TE’s version reminds me of lapsang with the edges smoothed out and no tar. ToT’s version reminds me of TeaSpring’s Tan Yang Te Ji with less oomph and MPD-esque complexity. I have to be in a smoky tea mood to drink TE’s Bohea. This one, being milder, wouldn’t require a smoky mood.

So even though they are the same type of tea, they really are totally different. I could see keeping both in my pantry without feeling I was duplicating teas. I could also see using this one as a tea to ease a newbie into smoky teas. It’s really quite tasty.

The second steep (5min) is a little milder than I hoped for (still tasty though) so I think next time I’ll extend that steep a bit for a touch more flavor.

You know what? This is pretty okay. I generally have difficulty with the syrup-y sweet dirt taste is cooked pu-erhs, but this one seems a little muted. It has the same notes but doesn’t feel as thick. I really think it is the orange rind that provides this counterbalance.

I’m giving this a tiny bump simply because I used the whole orange (broken up) and about half of the rind for a 10oz cup and, while more intense than my previous cups, still isn’t too thick for me to enjoy. And I am enjoying it. Not like huge enjoyment or anything, but still some enjoyment.

So apparently New Zealand can make some tea. Who knew? But yeah, this is some seriously tasty stuff.

Normally I’m not one for using boiling water on greener oolongs. However, the directions printed inside the tea’s packaging say use boiling water and, given that Zealong’s packaging is pretty serious (a vacuum-sealed bag of tea inside a matte black square tin which sits snugly in the foam bottom of a large, magnetic-close box), I’m going to take their directions seriously, too. Zealong also says you can take this up to 8 steeps. I’m not sure I can make it that long, even if the tea can, but we’ll see.

The dry leaves have a very faint smell to them. Very faint. Even the liquid is fairly lightly scented, but it is a delicious smell anyway.
Steep 1 (1min): Sipping is kind of wow. It’s rich – dark, heavy, sweet, floral at first. Slurping a bit makes the flavor lighten up more and becomes like a fresh lemongrass flavor. As it cools, that almost-lemon-candy note comes up more and more. There’s a little dryness left behind after each sip, along with a lovely sweet, floral/fruity taste.

Steep 2 (1min): The main reason I don’t use boiling water on oolongs is that it seems that the leaves can get easily cooked and that smell and taste is kind of gross to me. After pouring the tea, these leaves now have a bit of that cooked scent about them, but instead of smelling like over-boiled collard greens, it’s like toasted bread… with some lemon preserves smeared on top. The tea, though, doesn’t have any overcooked-ness to it but there is a darker note to it that wasn’t present in the first steep. Also, the fresh lemongrass note has turned into a more lemon preserves note. The astringency is still there and adds a bit of texture at the end of the sip.

Steep 3 (1min): The flavor is darker now. The lemon note is gone and replaced with an almost honey note. Slurping brings out a woody flavor. There might be a hint of something almost spicy, or I might be insane.

Steep 4 (2min): Heavier again with the nuances and light notes of the first steep kind of muddied up a bit but still not overcooked. And is the lemon back some? And maybe something that reminds me of cream… (Though that could have been the sip of half & half I took while making the hubby some EG, but it continues to stick around so maybe it’s the tea.)

Steep 5 (3min): The leaves are smelling pretty done now but the done-ness hasn’t come into the tea. It’s darker, heavier, thicker and a little more one-note tasting than previous steeps but there’s still a faint hint of lemon/lemon preserves.

Steep 6 (4min): Might be tasting a little overcooked now? Still has a lot of the same tastes as steep 5, though.

Okay, I’m done. Seriously, I’ve had a lot of oolong – it might be coming out of my pores at this point. Could the tea take a couple of more steeps? Maybe. Can I? Nope. But I will say that this is seriously good stuff though. Congrats, New Zealand, for making good tea!
^5g/5oz

PS – Just watched the documentary All in This Tea. Definitely recommend it to any tea lover out there!

This tea, take 12. Okay, it’s more like take 3 but whatever. This time, I’m following JacquelineM’s suggestion of lower temp water. She recommended 195° but my Zojirushi was set on 208 and I was lazy so I did 208° → cup → pause → teapot. That leaves me a bit iffy on temperature but whatever it was totally worked because now the astringency that previously camped out on my tongue and did it’s best to turn into bitterness is now just a crisp dryness throughout the sip.

It’s still froufrou but better blended – I can almost actually pick up some bergamot! There’s a better balance of flavors and it seems a bit stronger. Well, stronger isn’t quite the right word because it is a soft tea, but it doesn’t seem like a weak third steep anymore.

I still can’t fully get behind this because I feel like it is still a bit heavy handed on the floral tastes but this is worlds more enjoyable than my previous additive-less cup so I’m giving the rating a nice bump.

Dude, I don’t know what it is, but this tea has made me so caffeinated this morning. I don’t remember this one being all that powerful caffeine-wise so maybe something else is at play? Or maybe just the fact that I had 12oz instead of a smaller cup? Or perhaps because I didn’t have enough tea to finish out my cup so I did a 50/50 blend with A+D’s Nepal? (Though I don’t recall Nepal being a big caffeine rush either.) Regardless, my hands are all shaky and I’m feeling obnoxiously bouncy. And I might have been singing something about caffeine in my bloodstream when I came in to work today. Maybe.

Anyway, yeah, decupboarding this one which is kind of sad. It’s a Darjeeling-flavor that I can totally get behind, I think because the Keemun smooths it out some and keeps that tannic, sometimes super-bright, citrusy end taste at the end of most Darjeelings from being jarring or unpleasant for me. Today’s version of this was interesting though because I did have to do a 50/50 blend with Nepal. I added a little sugar (because I’m forever scared of being stuck with a bitter tea in my travel tumbler) and ended up with the overwhelming taste of honeyed green beans.

Seriously. Ceremony + Nepal + 1tsp sugar + travel tumbler = honeyed green beans.

It was weird and I had some flashbacks of bad Silver Needle experiences with a flat soybean water taste, but this had a nice sweetness and distinct honey taste, so it wasn’t a one note green bean wonder. Instead, it was really quite pleasant. Still a little weird for black teas to make me think of a white tea, but whatever.

A different sendoff for this tea, but a fun one. And a caffeinated one. WHEE!

Trying a different brewing method for my second try of this. This time I’m doing a lazy man’s sencha-style brewin because anything else required too much thought. 4g/6oz/ 175°/pour started at about 30s.

Yum. Each sip tastes a little different – sometimes I get a pungent, sweet, vegetal sencha, then other sips give me a sweet, hay-ish taste that makes me think of Rishi’s Snow Buds but richer. Sometimes it tastes very much like a Japanese green. Other times I think I’m drinking a Chinese green. But not a dull green, salty Chinese green. Fresh, bright green with nice sweetness and no salty/mineral-y tingle. I’m also not getting the astringency I was previously, which is fine by me because I’m kind of a wuss when it comes to that.

I’m upping the rating on this just a bit because this is very tasty. I could see myself buying more of this.

Aww, somebody brought me tea! I mean, sure, it’s tart and hibiscusy and oddly makes me think of cinnamon, but dude, somebody brought me tea! Yay!

Honestly, I’m not feeling all that great today so it’s not the best time for me to try a new tea, but my order from CTG just came in and it had this interesting little beastie in it and I just couldn’t resist.

There are two different ways to prepare this, plus I’ve got my own sort of default prep method, giving me three different ways I want to try this tea at to see what it gives me. For this first attempt, I decided to go with the ‘high flavor brew’. 4g/4oz, 175° for 45s. The tea smells very vegetal with a hint of buttery. The first part of the taste is refreshingly astringent with a very vegetal/green and a little sweet and buttery flavor. The aftertaste is astringent but sweet. And now my cup is empty.

4oz almost isn’t enough to figure out what I think of this tea. I could probably do without the astringent aftertaste, but I kind of like how it shows up at the front of the sip. The other flavors in the tea are also very promising but I’ll have to have more of it to figure out how much I like it. And that will give me a chance to play with parameters, too. So right now the rating is tentative, subject to change with more parameter playing and when I’m feeling more chipper.

ETA: I messed up the second steep (too much water) but it ended up nice anyway – the vegetal taste of a Chinese green, the sweetness of a Japanese green. I did a 5s steep, treating it like I would a Japanese green and I probably could have given it a touch more time since it tasted a little thin, but at the same time the shorter steep time probably kept any astringency down.

I’m performing a test. Today, I had some of CTG’s super-awesome Keemun at work and it was just okay. Not the stellar-ness that I love so. What’s up with that? So I looked around a bit and noticed that CTG suggests using 200° water. Well, at home I use my Zojirushi set on 208°. But at work I use an electric kettle and, in my impatience, usually end up using water that has just finished boiling. Could that perhaps be the difference?

The logical next step would be to try the CTG Keemun again at home with the Zojirushi but otherwise using the same parameters. So naturally, I pulled out Rishi’s Keemun. Okay, not so logical but in my defense, I’ve had horrible luck with this Keemun. Though I keep it at work so perhaps it really isn’t the tea’s fault but rather my work tea-making set up. Maybe if I try this at home with the Zojirushi, it will be awesome. (Afterwards, I’ll try out the CTG Keemun again. It’s Friday. It’s not like I actually need sleep.)

You know what? It really is better. The smell is very malty. Strong. Faintly sweet. Tea-like (go figure). Not overly complex, but not as flat as I recall from the last time I had it. The taste, though, that’s the big difference. The flat, cardboard-ness is missing from it, giving it more depth. Oh, it’s still not as complex as CTG’s version but it’s not bad. There’s a little malt, a little sweetness, no real toasty but there is a bit of an acrid ending that I think is the Keemun smoke coming through. That ending does edge unfortunately close to unpleasant but all in all, a much rounder flavor that what I was getting it work with boiling water from an electric kettle.

I’m still not in love with it, but I no longer feel like it is torture drinking it. I’m adjusting up the rating on this one a bit to reflect the better result from Zojirushi-dispensed water.

You know those teas that you kind of build up in your head? You have one really great steep from it so you think it’s like the best tea ever. You find yourself thinking of it at random moments during the day, craving the taste. But when you have it again it just makes you think, “Eh, not so hot”. You know those types of teas?

This is not that kind of tea.

Oh sure, I’ve been daydreaming about this tea and wanting more since I finished my last cup. I’ve been daydreaming about this tea at work. I’ve been looking for a good time to have it again. I was craving it so much that I finally decided to bite the bullet and make it my after work tea. And normally my after work tea is strictly non-black. But I needed this tea.

And how was my second experience? Did I built it up in my head too much? Did it disappoint?

It was fantastic. In fact, I think this tea is possibly even tastier than the first time I had it. Such beautiful complexity, flavors and smoothness. But now I have a problem. I’m finding myself craving the tea while I’m drinking it. I have the desire to go to CTG’s site and buy the largest container of this tea right now even though I’m not close to running low. But just the thought that I might one day not have this tea makes me want to stock up. The only tea I’ve ever felt like this about before is Tea Hawaii’s (super awesome) Makai Black.

Previously I had given this tea a conservative 92. But with such easily consistent fantastic-ness and for not disappointing me after I’ve been daydreaming about this tea for three days? This tea deserves full points.
^3.8g/10oz

This? Is so good. First off, the dry leaf smells amazing. It’s pretty much one of the most fragrant (and delicious smelling) Anxi oolong I’ve ever sniffed – fresh, floral, sweet, rich… And the taste? OMG. I vaguely recall having an almost otherworldly experience with a Red Blossom oolong (their Alishan, I think?) much too long ago. This rates right up there with that (utterly divine) experience.

First steep (30s) – Rich and buttery but also fresh, light and floral. There is a great mix of light/sweet and dark/heavy notes. Seriously wow.
Second steep (30s) – The smell of this literally made me close my eyes in delight. The floral notes make me think of orchid. Though the floral smell is more distinctive this steep, the overall taste is heavier and richer than before. It’s very fresh tasting. The creamy/buttery taste is really coming through and there’s a nectar/honey-like sweetness that’s very strong. Have I said wow? Because it is.
Third steep (45s) – Sweet, sweet, sweet! Like a sugar glaze over unopened orchid blossoms. Or, as it cools, perhaps like a very light kettle corn.
Fourth steep (45s) – The smell is heavier now, more green/vegetal notes than floral ones. The taste is darker too, reminding me a bit of Samovar’s Four Seasons (which I rarely had luck with) but with a slightly more present floral top note.

I think the second steep is by far my favorite with the first steep coming in second. Since those were so tasty, that’s what I’m rating this on. (Though I reserve the right to bump the rating up when the second steep is fresh in my mind.)
^4g/5oz

I swiped this teabag from a hotel I was staying at a bit ago and am only now getting around to trying it. It’s actually not bad for a bagged tea. It doesn’t have too much depth of flavor (shocking, I know) and there’s some astringency at the end of the sip that tries to build into bitterness but (thankfully) doesn’t quite make it, but the bergamot flavoring is gentle and nice, not soapy or perfume-y. Not great but not horrid.

Silver Needle and I have had our disagreements. My first real experience with it created the (as yet) unalterable association of Silver Needle = Soy Bean Water. Not cool. So while I appreciate the free sample in my CTG order, I wasn’t all that thrilled with what the sample actually was.

But this tea could change my mind. The first steep (1min) was very delicate; I couldn’t pick out a whole lot about it. In fact, my only tasting notes were “Delicate. Sweet. Pretty aftertaste.” It was intriguing and I drank it quickly so it was obviously quite tasty, but it wasn’t enough to make me go wow.

The second steep (2min), however, was wow-worthy. It was so pretty. I actually liked it so much that I made the husband try it. (His reaction? “If that’s just a sample, I’m thinking we need to buy some.”) There is a bit of vegetal taste, but it doesn’t make me think of soy bean water. There’s also some very sweet and floral (or maybe fruity?) notes. The aftertaste is really quite gorgeous.

Steep number three (3min) is bolder, not as soft. As it cools, however, the lightness and sweetness begin to come back and bring with them an unexpected spiciness. Pepper, perhaps? It’s a bit like peppered flowers with a hint of vegetal-ness, but just a hint.

In the fourth steep (3min), the flavors start to muddy a little; it doesn’t taste as fresh and clean as the previous steeps. All of the tastes – sweet, peppery, floral, vegetal – are still there but they seem less crisp and clear.

This is definitely the type of Silver Needle I wish I had been introduced to first. I’m pretty sure that regular exposure to this one will remove any Silver Needle = Soy Bean Water associations I have. For this reason, I’m also pretty sure that whenever I place my next CTG order, a tin of this will find its way into my cart.
^{4.8g/8oz/175° → cup → teapot}

I was very close to having CTG’s Keemun again this morning (it’s that good) but I decided that I really should try my other teas, so I grabbed this one. The dry leaf smells malty-bakey-sweet and that smell carries over to the brewed tea.

The taste is sweet and creamy, like a Yunnan that has been gentled with a little milk. It’s very smooth but with a hint of a stouter Yunnan underneath. I wonder if increasing the steep time would bring that out? Though actually, I don’t think I want it stouter. It’s not weak tasting by any means, just smooth. And I wouldn’t want to mess that up. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say I’m getting vanilla notes but the creamy isn’t too far off base from that, just milder than what I’d identify as vanilla. There’s also a freshness about it that makes it seem almost roasted-vegetable-like. The aftertaste is sweet and bakey/toasty and very yum.

There’s not as much depth or awesome-ness as yesterday’s Keemun, but I don’t regret starting my day with this one.

I’m a little nervous about this tea but it seemed too weird not to try so I tossed it in my CTG order. I do love oranges. Moldy oranges that have been stuck in a cave for years though? Not so much. Full disclosure, I bought this tea with the expectation of not liking it so this has a bit of a science experiment aspect to it.

I truly have no idea how to do this, but CTG mentions a slight orange taste when “part of the rind” is used. I figured that meant to brew with mostly just the tea, so I broke apart the little orange, dumped the tea in my pot and then added bit of rind in there, too.

The leaves smell a bit like dirt. Dusty dirt. With a slight hint of clean freshness. Like the smell of an attic that no one has been in for 20 years, but when they were up there two decades ago, they dusted with Pledge. So yeah, that’s a bit weird. And not entirely pleasant. But not entirely unpleasant either. Just… interesting.

After a good rinse, things started smelling like pu-erh normal. In other words, like a barn. This particular barn had a good bit of sweet hay smell going on and the dirt smell was of clean, wet dirt.

The taste is nicely mild. One thing I tend to dislike about pu-erh is that the barnyard sweetness can be so thick. It makes me feel like I’m drinking syrup made of farm and it’s just too rich for me. But this doesn’t have the syrupy super-sweetness to it. Very similar taste profile, just not as thick feeling. I don’t know how much orange I pick up from the taste, but there is a cleaner ending than what I’m used to and I’m going to attribute that to the orange rind. As it cools, the sweet barnyard dirt taste moves to the front of the sip and some dry hay starts coming in on the back. Still has a clean but mostly sweet end.

The second steep (30s) brews up very dark but otherwise is pretty much the same as the first steep. There’s a little more sweetness-cutting cleanness (which I’m guessing is because the orange rind is staring to soften and steep a bit more) but that’s about it. I do like that increase though.

The third steep (45s) is tilting back a bit towards barnyard especially on the tail end, but overall it is very similar to the first two steeps.

Overall, this isn’t bad. It’s not going to make me into a pu-erh fan but it’s one of the easiest drinking cooked pu-erhs I’ve had; it’s rather mild and inoffensive. Not something I’ll avoid finishing off but not something that I’ll need to get more of once it is gone.

Can I just say? Receiving my first order from Chicago Tea Garden made me very happy. All the teas came in tins, each with little tasting cards and all neatly packed. It’s nice to see prettily presented tea. Of course, as pretty as it is, nothing can compare to the smell. Not of the package itself (that just smelled like box, so no leaking tea flavors) but once I opened up the tins and stuck my nose into the tea… Seriously yum. Across the board.

Last night I naturally had to bust open the Sticky Rice Pu-erh, something I’ve been craving for-freakin-ever since I had my sample. But this morning, I get to delve into something new. It was a tough choice but ultimately the smell of this one won me over. Because, really? The smell is crazy. There is so much going on I can’t pick it all out – sweet, smoky, bakey, tart, acrid, flowery… I can’t stop smelling it! The leaves are so pretty, too. Tiny, wiry little delicate-looking things. Brewed up, the smell has changed and mellowed, but it’s still pretty wow. It’s mostly bakey with some sweet and floral and toasted thrown in.

Oh man. What to say about the taste? It’s awesome. Just as complex as the smell, it is by far the most complex Keemun I’ve had. Sweet, bakey, smooth, bright, tart, floral… all of these words popped into my head while I was sipping. Each sip brings me different flavors. Sometimes it makes me think of grilling a flower then drinking the nectar out of it. Other times I think of raw sweet potatoes with a bit of honey.

This is not a fast sipping tea. Because of the complexity and how the taste seems to change and expand from sip to sip, I find myself taking slow sips, just enjoying the flavors for a while. I can’t help but roll the tea around in my mouth, making sure ever surface is coated, before swallowing. Because there is this beautiful aftertaste when the air hits my mouth – very floral.

I would say that this is not a tea for everyone. The husband is not a big Keemun fan in general because of the smoky/roasted taste it has can come across as sour or acrid. And this one has those same notes – they are soft and smooth, blend beautifully with the rest of the tea and I read them as more of a sweet & sour or raw potato taste and I kind of love those flavors in this (and typically in Keemuns in general). So if someone doesn’t like Keemuns for that reason, I’m thinking this might not change their mind (I will have to use the husband as a tester sometime to confirm). But for someone that likes Keemuns or someone that would like them if perhaps they had more depth, this one would be a winner. It’s truly fantastic.
^3.8g/10oz

Orange, vanilla and… cactus? Really? So weird! And the smell is kind of weird, too. It’s simultaneously herbal, vegetal, citrusy and a little… crisp. I can’t tell if mixed in with all that is the sour rooibos smell that I detest so much or if it’s something more pleasant that I just don’t know how to properly register.

And now I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say. The sour rooibos taste is there but it works. It somehow blends into the orange, is softened by the vanilla and matches oddly well with the cactus (or at least what I recall cactus tastes like from the one time I’ve had it). It’s crisp, natural, smooth and fresh in a sharp, clean way.

This is definitely a different tea. I never would have thought that the flavors would work based on the description but it does. It’s pretty outside the norm but I could definitely see it growing on me. I’m kind of on the fence about whether I’d order it or not but the more I think about it, the more I think I would get it just to see exactly how much it would grow on me.

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for this share!

It’s a tea bag (and not even a fancy one at that) but it is surprisingly unhorrible. Very raspberry-y and sweet, there is a little hint of bitterness that I’m assuming comes from the broken leaf bits in the bag (which was the only thing in the bag). But it’s only a little tang and really not bad at all.

It’s actually a pretty bold tea for a fruit flavored white. Lots of flavor, even if most of it is raspberry. There’s some bean-ish tasting tea-ness in there to round it out. Raspberry isn’t my favorite flavor so it’s not something I’m in love with or would really even pick up, but it is much better than anything I was expecting!

Freebie teabag from Lupicia. This is fruity. Like FruitStripes gum (what I remember of it) fruity. I can’t really pull out any individual fruit tastes – it’s just one big flavor of sweet, almost candy-like fruity. It doesn’t taste synthetic or anything, so points for that. But there’s an astringency from the green tea base that I just don’t love. Maybe that dryness would work better with the sweet fruit flavor if chilled, come across as a crisp & refreshing type taste, but hot it just doesn’t mesh great for me.

Ultimately, this is drinkable and not horrid but it’s not something I’d pick up for myself. If they had this flavor with a black tea base… now that I’d probably give a try.

I forgot I had a teabag of this, a freebie thrown in to my Kusmi order. So sure, why not? Which means that this log is a review of the teabag more than the tea itself (because I already know I like the tea).

This teabag is funky. It’s a rectangle and made of a not-very-tight-mesh muslin-like material. It doesn’t really give the leaves room to expand; theoretically the leaves could expand into the top of the rectangle, but they don’t. Instead they clump down at the bottom of the rectangle and form a pretty hard-packed ball o’ leaf when steeping.

The smell is simply delicious but the taste is a bit harsher than the loose leaf version – not quite so smooth and silky. The caramel also isn’t hitting me as strongly as it did in the loose leaf version so it’s coming across more fruity than caramel-covered fruit. It’s still a tasty tea though and doesn’t require any additives to smooth it out.

Is the loose leaf better? Yes. But not by a ton.
Would I buy the teabag version? No. The loose mesh of the bag material lets little bits of tea scatter about my counter top which means that the bag really isn’t all that neat or convenient, the only real reason I’d go for bags. Also, the lack of expansion room available kind of makes me frown, though I suppose since that doesn’t really seem to impact the taste of the tea, I can’t hold it against it. (Of course, I am assuming that the increased harshness and slight flavor change is due to broken leaves in the teabag, not a lack of room.)

Based on this single bag experience, Kusmi seems to do (weird but ultimately) decent teabags. Don’t think I’d go out of my way to get something in bag form but I wouldn’t turn it down.

Yeah, I know this is a Steepsterite favorite, but I just don’t love it. Actually, I’m not sure how much I even really like it.

It is a pretty darn frou-frou cup of tea. I’m not against frou-frou or anything (hello, pink monkey) but it really seems like that is all this is. Predominately jasmine with a hint of rose, this isn’t very Earl Grey-y. In some ways it reminds me of Mariage Freres 1854 (another mild and jasmine-y EG) but in other ways… not so much. It doesn’t seem as full flavored as 1854; I think 1854 had a woodsier taste to it that gave it more depth, and depth is something I’m just not finding in this tea.

There is an astringency that has camped out on the tip of my tongue and refuses to leave. It is pretty much requiring that the next time I have this tea, there will be additives (which I have had it with before but was unable to give it my full attention). Though I am a little concerned about that though since this tea really doesn’t seem strong enough to hold up to creamer. I might end up with jasmine flavored hot milk.

As it cools, there are hints of Earl Grey, but it blends into the astringency at the end of the sip making this just taste a bit bitter. The EG does hint at a more solid tasting tea but it doesn’t save it from overall tasting like a weak third steep.

Eventually I suppose I’ll give this one another try to see if milk and possibly sugar saves this but I’m thinking that this one is just not a match for me.

Yay! Grown up peach gummy tea! This makes me happy! A great celebration tea for what has been a great celebration weekend – today is my birthday (and it’s been fantastic) but even cooler – yesterday the husband and I paid off our house! So yeah, I’m pretty happy with life at this moment and this super-sweet, tasty, floral and fruity gummy-like tea keeps the happy going! YAY!!!!

I’m giving this a bump because apparently this is the tea I crave when I want a toasty, darker oolong. It’s sweet and roasty but doesn’t make me think of cigar smoke. There’s a lot going on in this tea. I’ve already mentioned the sweet and roasty but there’s some stone fruit, some honey and even some raw-sugar-like notes. It’s woodsy and somewhat autumn-y with slight notes of rawness that remind me of Nilgiri but in a smooth way I can totally get behind. As the tea cools, the flavor continues to develop, getting more and more complex. I don’t normally go for darker oolongs but this one is worth being the exception.

ETA: Gave some of the second steep to the husband and he said that it reminded him a bit of genmaicha. And now that he says that, I can see it. It’s got a similar roasty, toasty, smooth taste.
^5g/10oz

It’s been a while since I’ve had a Chinese green so this was a bit shocking to my palate, especially because this seems like a pretty bold Chinese green – I just wasn’t prepared for it! It’s very fresh and vibrant tasting – very grass/hay tasting with a spike of something sharp that I sometimes read as mineral-y and sometimes read as nutty. Even reading that note as mineral-y, this still isn’t briny/salty which is a note I get from a lot of Chinese greens. Instead, it’s more sweet with almost a fruity taste to it. It has lots of flavors going on and has a great fresh and bold taste (for a Chinese green). Quite lovely! Thanks so much to TeaEqualsBliss for sharing this one with me!