Featured & Popular Tasting Notes

Last time I had this was 5 days ago. At that time I was going to organize my tea. Yeah, I’m still going to organize… maybe. I did get two packages of tea mailed out. I still have a couple to go. With the construction going on I am not getting much else done. This was the only tea I had time to drink today. At least it good.

additional notes: I just want to say this is a great cinnamon option for me. It has a layer of that impossibly sweet cinnamon, but then also a layer of the spicy cinnamon. It’s an amazing cup. I would stock up on this as the cinnamon staple tea for the cupboard.

Jin Jun Mei… Need I say more?

OK, I will. Dry leaf scent is malt and brownies. The steeped leaf aroma is honey and molasses. The brew is a deep reddish brown. It tastes of honey and malt with hints of sweet potato. I notice a crisp briskness running through the sip but it stays out of the limelight. I also thought it neat that the more I sipped, the more I caught a citrus type fruitiness. This is a pretty solid example of the type.

This has been the best oolong from TS yet for me. I’m not even going to go read what it really is online because I don’t need to. The brew was very clean and bright from the first infusion. The taste has the mild roast with the slightest butter texture, but what made this amazing is it’s sweet nutty taste that is quite unique compared to others.

Smooth, tasting. and brews sweeter as you continue. A solid tea for sure.

Today I tried the spring harvest of this tea using short steeps and boiling water, covering the bottom of my 150ml Gaiwan with leaves. My timings were 15,20,40,65,100,120s.

This is the spring harvest of this tea and I am not sure whether the differences I found in flavour are the result of using different techniques or a different season.

I found that this time the cocoa notes were intensified over my previous tasting. The fruit notes found were longan and blackcurrant. Cashew butter and cream notes were also present. The caramel notes were present but not as distinct and I did not find the grainy notes of the last steeping. I’ll have to try my longer steeps and lower temperatures to do a true comparison with the previous season, but I did really enjoy it this way.

gulp.

Second steep in my legs have gone very warm and my head feels wavy. Its going to be one of those teas isnt it.

Proper review later if I dont lose the damn thing

Shake, shake, shake. I reach into the bag with my teaspoon to spoon the leaf into my steeper and somehow I managed to drop and fling the very last cranberry somewhere. I looked everywhere and that cranberry just would not be found. How very sad.

I love this tea. Everything about it works for me. Nice degree of tartness. Just the barest hint of cinnamon. A dash of cream.

Yes, this favourite is rapidly disappearing.

Just the right one for my 100th note.

I’ve been very interested in this company. I’ve had their shou, but I’ve yet to try any of their sheng. Luckily, a small coin of this made it’s way over to me. The small puerh coin comes in a clever wrapper in a convenient 6g amount. I unwrapped the little treat and gave the tea a sniff. The small sheng chip had a nice spring grass scent with a perfume of light floral. I took in an undertone of sweet wood and possible iris. The disk was very aromatic. I warmed up my yixing and placed the coin inside, the fit was perfect (see photo). I let the tea open a little and lifted the lid to take a whiff. The scent was thick and sweet with a light woodiness. I took in some heady maple, nectar, and the same light floral brightness. I washed the coin with colder water once, then twice more with hotter water to open in up. Then, I poured myself a nice cup. The flavor was perfect! The taste begins extremely sweet and with a lasting flavor. I taste brown sugar at the forefront with confectioners sugar at the back. The tea carries a maple wood base the easily lifts these delectable flavors up and around the palette. The next steeping yields the same sweet liquor; however, the base has moved into an interesting sap and herb taste. This is surprisingly very good. I say surprisingly because I have doubts about any compressed puerh under 100g. The tea ended with some light bitterness with a lingering astringency. The qi was very slight but in the right way. This is what I consider a happy tea. I say this because it doesn’t give me that high energy, cooling sensation, fuzzy stomach, butterflies, or sweaty palms reaction, rather; this tea puts a smile on my face and makes the sun shine. I like these kinds of teas, and I usually only experience this with northern puerh and Nepalese blacks. I will hopefully be getting more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCIKoFTGae/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCKYJuTGQk/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCtPFTzGUI/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Word on the street is that this one might come back. I certainly hope so ‘cause i’ve got exactly one cup left of this after today. So worth it, but still super sad.

Oh man, time (well, the month or so I’ve had this tea) has been very kind to these leaves. Somehow, the hot mug of blueberry justice (haha blueberry justice! I mean juice) I had this morning was perfect in its balance between cream and intense blueberry flavour, with not a hint of throat-scratching tartness. It was weird, because often when I go to bed, I think about what tea I’ll have with breakfast in the morning, and somehow I didn’t turn my mind to it last night, but it seemed like a perfect pairing with my croissant.

Besides, it’s Friday. Things just never feel bad on a Friday.

Also, Mr. Keychange and I are going up to a winter cottage resort for the long weekend, and we can’t wait. For the longest time, I’ve wanted to hole up in a winter cabin, lying by a fireplace and sipping tea while reading a book and enjoying the thick, snowy silence outside. How wonderful it will be to step outside the cabin and not hear any traffic, and to breathe in that crisp winter air. I’m no winter person—there won’t be any hardcore winter activities, but it’s more the concept and the indoor response to winter that I’m going to love this weekend.

That, and it’s a half day at work today!
Happy Friday, all!

This tea is SO GOOD when you’re not feeling well. The fennel and anise and (eugh) peppermint work together so well. Especially with a bit of honey.

Om nom nom.

Large mug last night, and a travel mug of it today.

Thanks so much for sharing, MissB!

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox – Round #5 – Tea #52
Whoa this is one of the sweetest teas ever. The perfect dessert sip! Sadly, it’s the last of it. I love the sprinkles in it and if it wasn’t the last of the sample, there probably would have been other tasty ingredients to make it an even better cup. Otherwise, it’s a cup of cakey maple sweetness. I wouldn’t call the flavor chocolate… but I can’t figure out red velvet cake anyway. I wish there was some beetroot added, so it would turn the cup even more red than just the rooibos. I have a feeling this is the one Della Terra once sold? (Never tried it.) Which means the East Indies Company has it. I wouldn’t mind having this one in stock!

Over the weekend, I came to the realization that I still have far too many tea samples lying around the house. I get bored with things pretty quickly, so I tend to mostly order samples rather than larger amounts of tea. Rather than keeping the amount of tea on hand low, however, I just end up with mountains of 10 gram samples. So, I am now working feverishly toward reducing the number of tea samples I have. I started working on this one last night and finished the last of it this morning before going to work. I found it to be an interesting oolong, but I do not think it would be something I would want to have on a regular basis.

I tried preparing this tea two ways. First, I conducted a three step Western session in which I steeped 4 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 195 F water for 2, 3, and finally 5 minutes. I was not impressed by the results. I was expecting strong aromas and flavors due to the amount of leaf I was using, but the liquor was very mild and subtle each time. I then used the remaining 6 grams for a gongfu session. After a very quick rinse, I steeped what I had left in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by infusions of 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes. The results were much more interesting this time around, so I will be limiting this review to a description of the results of this session only.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted subtle aromas of honey, cream, cinnamon, and grass. There was a floral presence too that I could not identify. After the rinse, I detected clear aromas of lilac, hyacinth, lily, and honeysuckle. The cream, cinnamon, and grass were still there, but I also began to catch hints of spring honey and vanilla frosting. The first infusion produced a similar bouquet, though the vanilla frosting, cinnamon, honey, and floral aromas were stronger. They were also now joined by hints of saffron and coriander. In the mouth, however, the liquor was extremely mild. Flavors of cream, butter, grass, cinnamon, and vanilla frosting were evident and there were traces of flowers and honey toward the finish, but not much else. Subsequent infusions saw the honeysuckle, lily, lilac, and hyacinth appear somewhat more clearly on the palate while the already noted impressions of cinnamon, butter, cream, vanilla frosting, and grass strengthened. The coriander and saffron arrived as well. I also noted the emergence of impressions of hay, cucumber, beeswax, and an indistinct nuttiness. Interestingly enough, the tea, despite its complexity, was dominated by a clean, pure honey tone that sat atop the other aromas and flavors. The final infusions briefly featured clean, pure honey notes, but were soon dominated by cream, butter, grass, and a mineral presence that emerged later than anticipated. At points, I thought I could detect cinnamon and vanilla frosting lingering in the background.

This was a very complex oolong, but the dominant honey impressions made it seem lighter and simpler than it was. Fans of very honeyed aromas and flavors would probably love it, but I was hoping to see the honey integrate more with the other aromas and flavors. Still, this was a quality tea (glancing at the lovely, full leaves was confirmation of that) and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a respectable high mountain oolong. It just was not what I was expecting. In the end, I liked it, but it did not offer what I tend to look for in Ali Shan oolongs.

Giant white tea ballz! This white tea clocks in 4 to 5 grams each, rolled giant bai mu dans. I did gongfu, 200f. Early steepings are sweet, creamy, coconut, linen, hay, honeydew rind. Later steepings get musty, medicinal and tart. 11 steepings total.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/white-pearls-adagio-tea-review/

Trying to find this tea in the steepster database and I found they have a 4 to 5gram green tea version!

Certified organic + authentic ancient arbor leaves from Pasha Mountain means that my expectations for this tea are rather high. It does not disappoint. Attractive whole leaves make up the cake and it is full of silver needle-like tips. Sweet smell comes from the dry leaves but after the first rinse, the smell intensifies. Deep gold tea liquor which is beginning to reveal a light orange hue. The fragrance from the cup is lovely. The tea is mellow and smooth with a cooling sweet sensation after the 2nd cup. Definite tobacco notes revealed in the sip but this balances out the sweetness. Nice mouth and throat feel with good staying power – 10 steeps for me before I decided it was time to move on to another tea. Haiwan produced this 2006 Pasha as both a 200g and 400g cake. I have the smaller 200g cake but YS now lists only the 400g at the high price of $110 (reportedly $50 in late 2012). I purchased my 200g cake from Angelina’s Teas (located right here in North Carolina) at the very reasonable price of $32.

The first tea in my teapro subscription box. Yep, I’ve decided to do a tea subscription to see what it’s like. When it comes to “real” tea with beautiful complex flavours and many many steeps revealing new layers… I’m kind of lacking in knowledge. I read the awesome detailed reviews here on Steepster (particularly those from Derk and eastkyteaguy) and I feel inspired to kick the supermarket/grocery store tea habit and explore more. But I’m on a budget and I need a little help with detecting flavours sometimes.

So, this “exploring tea” subscription seemed perfect. A chance to get the basics down at least. With a fairly empty cupboard (apart from the box of tea bags) it’s not like I’m going to run out of space.

Anyway, the actual tea. It’s excellent although I don’t have anything to compare it to at this point. The buds are so fluffy! They smell pretty good too, very fresh and fragrant.

I steeped 1 generous teaspoon for 3 minutes, managing to get 3 steeps out of it in total. The aroma is very fresh melon – but not quite ripe melon. It’s not sweet enough to be ripe but it’s very strong in aroma.

Flavour-wise, melon again. But it’s gentle and a little bit creamy. Slightly floral too – honeysuckle perhaps. In my last steep which lasted 9+ minutes, I had this hit of white chocolate. The description card that came with this tea (very helpful with determining flavours) has it down as “floral, melon, honey, cucumber” so I got 3 out of the 4.

I had the first cup at about 7pm and the last around 10pm. I slept very very well, this tea made me feel very peaceful.

I’m going to try the other 3 teas and then write up a combined blog review for the subscription box. In the meantime, I’m definitely looking out for more silver needle teas to try.

I should have added this earlier when it was still on the website. The Dayuling was priced at $17 per oz, which is expensive, but not bad for a Dayuling. Hopefully, Brenden or someone can edit this note page appropriately. I also wanted to get it out there that WP did sell Dayuling.

From what I remember, the website described it in very general detail, focusing on the cotton candy texture and teas inherent sweetness. “Being in the know” about this type of tea cuts off the rest of the description.

I gotta confess, I love Dayulings despite being rivaled in flavor by the lower elevation teas in my opinion. All of the Daylings I’ve had are comparably fresher and sweeter than many Alishans and Shan Lin Xis, but it’s an effervescent sweetness that’s not thick or heavy. Not bubbly, but green and light as feather. Effervescent may not be the best word since it literally means to boil up with bubbles, but it works for the green and lively energy I get from Dayulings. I also tend to find that they are not very durable on average, but if they are, the have full stamina and a monster of a commanding price.

Some of the best Dayulings I’ve had were from Floating Leaves and Wang Tea, but even those on the pricier end that tradeoff the opportunity of other teas because of their cost. You could argue the same for this one, but it’s not a bad price for what you get.

I haven’t had the luck I wanted to with this one. I was impulsive and drank it immediately after I broke the air-tight seal. I could smell it, and it did have a green grape of cotton candy sugar cane quality in the dry leaf, but even Western, the flavor was muted. Light, effervescent, and green-absolutely. Flavorful beyond those notes? No, or at least not yet.

I did try again Gong Fu, but steep three was the only pronounced one. Lemongrass was the most prominent note, or for people who can see past tasting note pretension-a light green oolong. I do think the issue lies in the prematurity of breaking the seal, but more importantly, my water quality has not been the greatest for the past few months. I do use a water filter regularly that makes a difference, but I have had to do it through my city tap water which has a little bit too much minerals in it. The chlorine taste really blocks the flavors of my better teas, so I stopped drinking them for a time being because of it.

I ordinarily refill purified water from the local grocery store or Meijer, but since COVID, I can’t refill my bottles like I used to, and the sanitized bottles are regularly out, and restock is delayed due to increased shipping times.

Are there any economical recommendations of getting better water? I’ve managed with my blacks replacing my filter regularly and relying on my more basic profiled teas that aren’t altered too much by water quality, but it’s still problem. I should catch up with my 20+ of backlogged teas anyway.

Back to this one, I can’t judge it properly yet. I can recommend Brenden’s Taiwanese teas if you don’t want to wait for international shipping times in the U.S., and while they are slightly more expensive than I prefer, they are a good medium for high quality teas.

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge Saturday, January 9th: National Apricot Day Tea #1

additional notes: Time to finish this one!  If it wasn’t for “apricot day”, who knows how long it would stick around in my stash?  It will be missed.  But by now, really I couldn’t tell this tastes like apricot.  But it’s a lovely blend to have in winter after coming in from the cold, crunching around in the snow, trying to get a bit of sun this MONTH (the sun has been drastically missing). 
2021 Sipdowns: 6

B&B Advent 2021 Day 19

This one is tasty, but Snowball has a better chocolate flavour in my opinion. I always think I want to order this one, but I don’t think it’s tasty enough to justify the price/shipping.

This is what I drink when I’ve had too much to drink, and I’m an obnoxious arse who asks their nearest and dearest inappropriate things that makes everyone laugh — too inappropriate for Steepster, I assure you. Thanks for putting up with me, friends, even if sometimes I’m a bit.. mischievous! :) And thank you, tea, for allowing me to purge myself of this lovely wino-ishness.

A little over a week ago, I was sitting here at my desk wondering what’s a good break-up puer? A quick search through my cupboard produced this marketing gem. I dedicate this tea to the person whose addiction to alcohol rivals my own addiction to tea. As far as I’m aware, tea is much cheaper, can get me social and buzzed, doesn’t leave me hungover and doesn’t swing me from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. Nor does it make me fat, turn my eyes yellow, give me gout in the foot or an irregular heartbeat. I could keep going, oh yes, but I think you get the idea. So yeah, if you’re reading this it’s too late.

The dry leaf pries from the cake without much work using my flathead electronics screwdriver and smells excellent, soft with powdered sugar, fruitiness and young grass. Warmed leaf smells kind of medicinal like cherry, pineapple and mint. The rinsed leaf has notes of apricot, powdered sugar, red cherry, candied apple and citrus fruits. The liquor starts off fragrant with an aroma that reminds me of Christmas candles: cherry, pine and beeswax.

The liquor is nice and thick with tastes of cherry, vegetal, honey, minerals and a non-penetrating alkaline bitterness. The tea remains relatively unchanging, lightening in flavor and texture as steeps progress with metallic, medicinal and tart additions along with some moss. It picks up a little in the last few long steeps with a thick, musty honey showing up. The aftertastes range from cotton candy, red plum and faint flat spearmint to cherry-pineapple, herbs and honey butter, never very strong or long-lasting but nevertheless noticeable. At some point early on, there is a faint cooling sensation in my chest.

Unlike a lot of reviewers, I experience minimal cha qi from this tea, which makes it an excellent, slightly relaxing daily drinker for me. I also don’t experience much in the way of caffeine effects. I’m able to drink it at night and still be passed out a few hours after starting a session which doesn’t last long, maybe 12 steeps.

From what I can tell, the spent material reveals that this is not a blend. It’s getting bronzing but still looks young at the end of 2018. I’d like to put the cake under a little more humidity. As of now it’s stored in a box in the hall closet which is the most insulated area of my home. It also gets the steam from the bathroom but that’s as technical as my pu storage gets at the moment.

I bought this cake blind last year? based on reviews here at Steepster. It turns out the flavor profile is right up my alley and the honey isn’t overwhelming. I don’t experience any astringency and the bitterness stays in check. It’s pretty light in taste but I’m still able to pick out distinct notes. It’s turning out to be a good cake for the price. One that is stable in delivery and that I can count on during this grieving period, lol.

ashmanra’s monthly sipdown challenge
March 2023 → a shelf staple tea

One of my absolute favorite teas, if not my very favorite (at least of those still available). I’ve already finished my first cup before even finishing my note. I’ve said this before, but to me it tastes just like Hershey’s chocolate syrup. A pure delight!

So the truth of the matter is that for some reason or other, my beloved grandma’s pumpkin pie (aka auntie’s pumpkin pie) is just not cutting it this year. I have a strong suspicion it’s a change in the tea base, but regardless, the pumpkin pie tea of my dreams is no longer available to me. And so the quest begins (continues?), and I picked up 25 g of this last night to experiment with. i also picked up:
-the new curve travel mug, which i have been lusting after so hard i can’t even explain the lengths i went to or you might think i was verging on criminal;
-A tin of silk dragon jasmine (the tins were buy two get one free, and my friend wanted two and I got the third);
-Two pumpkin chai chocolate bars (and two for the same friend so as to balance the tea tin expense);
- 25 g of spiced pumpkin;
- 25 g of spiced apple
And the free honey crisp apple candle that I no doubt qualified for with my magnanimous order. So yeah, I’m pretty happy at the moment. I’ll review the curve travel mug after I’ve had a chance to use it a few times. But so far, it might have led me to believe in god again haha.

Ok so I brewed this up this morning to have with breakfast. Mr. keychange and I make it a point to have breakfast together every Friday, and that makes me so happy. Anyway, I brewed this up for five minutes, added in some rock sugar and cream, and went about drinking it. Honestly, I keep wanting to love this tea as much as so many other people do, but it’s just, I don’t know, so lackluster. Muted pumpkin that’s not objectionable, but so, so not memorable. I could use way more in the way of spice, and I don’t know if I could taste the base at all. Maybe I’ll try it completely without additions at some point, but I don’t tend to like any of my black teas that way, so we’ll see. Anyway, I’m still going to try to coax magic out of these leaves, because otherwise what do i do?

And oh my sweet dear god it’s Friday. There needs to be a drug called “it’s Friday”. It would sell like hotcakes. Or whatever else sells fast. Ipads? I don’t know.

My general philosophy regarding chocolate tea is “when I want to drink chocolate, I want a packet of Swiss Miss with a scoop of marshmallow cream. Or a whole slab of fudge.” Hard to find a tea that replicates that.

However, this isn’t bad. The website description of “not-too-sweet-chocolate” is accurate. Chocolate hints with a little kick from the coriander. Plays nicely with milk.