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There is something about roasted teas. Especially hojicha. A mellow and pleasant taste and aroma experience. The dry leaf is quite different. Looks more like a bancha than a sencha. Which, in all honesty, it could be any of the varieties or cultivars so I’m not saying bancha like that’s a bad thing just that it reminds me more of other bancha than it does other Japanese tea types. It is fairly tightly twisted into long shapes with some twigs. The aroma is very nice. Roasty, toasty, slight charcoal, and a bit of chocolate. The wet aroma of the leaves is unique with charcoal maple notes. And creme brulee. Someone needs to make that dairy free. Man, I miss that desert. The main flavor… not quite as strong as I was hoping. A very mellow hojicha. One minute was not enough. I did at least three. The charcoal notes mix well with the toasty and roasty notes. And slight woody notes but other than that I don’t find it to be that inspiring.

This is the first white tea cake I’ve bought. I do not have a proper pu er knife so hopefully the pieces I break off with my hands/ kitchen knife work just as well flavor-wise. After doing a quick rinse there isn’t much to the aroma on the wet leaves. A bit disappointing. The first two steeps have been the same. I’m not finding much to rave about. In fact, this is a rather boring rave. You showed up to the silent rave and they have no more headphones boring. Perhaps I am doing something wrong. I guess I was expecting something more, even the usual farm notes. But like any good tea drinker, you know you must have patience. Tea takes time to fully unfold sometimes. Sometimes it needs to wake up. Wait. I think this is the third steeping now. I’ve left it in for a bit longer. There are some sweet notes. Peaches. Maybe a bit of mangos. A slightly sweet bread aroma. And now on the 5th… maybe 6th?… CITRUS! Lemony and slight candied orange. What is going on? This was unexpected. And a bit of ripe tree bark. A bit of creamy notes in this next steep. Not heavy but an almost buttery note that comes at the end. Sweet lemon candy aroma on the wet leaves. Truly fascinating.

Feel like crying? Tea
Sick? Tea.
Throw an angry tantrum? Tea.

Tea calms. It uplifts. As I sit here saying a few prayers and smelling the wet leaves I am so thankful for being a tea drinker. The wet leaf is bready, hints of rye, wheat toast, and freshly baked raisin bread. I feel the need to bake something now. The dry leaf is absolutely gorgeous. I wasn’t sure of what I had bought other than the fact that it was a red tea. The trichomes are a beautiful golden color. And 90% of it seems to be that color so I would guess that this is a bud and maybe 1st leaf picking. The flavor is also bready. Notes of wood. Varnish appears when steeped longer than 4 minutes.

Sidenote: Someone rear-ended me at school drop-off. Luckily no one was hurt. Guy said sorry and it was his fault. I knew it was already because I had come to a stop and then a few seconds later he ran into me. Now a few weeks later he has changed his tone and is trying to blame me. I have witnesses. Without me asking they also have said to me that it was his fault. I just want to get my car fixed and get this done with. _

Milk oolong. The story and myths around this tea are as thick and interesting as its liquor. Anyone who grows oolong could try the techniques the Taiwanese and Chinese use in order to bring out the specific notes, however, the terroir will still play a role in determining different flavors. But one thing should be noted if you ever see that tea has natural or artificial flavors added in order to make it milky it is just a flavored tea and not a true Milk oolong. While they say a true Milk Oolong should be of the Jin Xuan variety, (also Jin Shuan) I have also seen delicious pure Milk Oolong from China.

The flavor is quite incredible. Buttery, milky, a bit creamy, and mineral. The steeping leaves have a slight buttered popcorn note. More like homemade than a movie theatre.
A longer steep time reveals some bitterness and a bit of astringency but also some unique charcoal notes and a bit of dark (80%?) chocolate.

Wanted to make sure I get a review in before I drank it all even though I am unsure of what the real name is.

If you are ever in Las Vegas forget the casino and head west. Instead of gambling with uncertainty, gamble with picking out a few teas you’ve never tried before. You will be in tea heaven. And the teaware is gorgeous. I picked up a few things on your visit but decided to start with this one. The nuggets are so unique looking. Dark brown with a bit of a dusty-looking note. Kind of like chocolate that has been scrapped. This one is a sample that she was kind enough to gift me. Everything about it reminds me of sticky rice. The moment the hot water hit the nuggets for the rinse the herbals notes of Nuo Mi Xiang drifted up. If this isn’t a sticky rice tea I am going to be really surprised. The wet leaf smell not only has notes of sticky rice but also creamy notes like a thick cream and cream of wheat. The mouthfeel is very smooth. No astringency. I think I will be drinking this for the rest of the day. So nice.

Forgot to smell the dry leaf. But Henrietta does a fantastic job of sourcing so I trust this will be good. A deep brew. Bit of malt here, dash of wood tones there, and all wound up with a slight hint of malt o meal. This is very nice. And a perfect amount of astringency. Enough to wake you up but not enough to set your tongue clicking.

Terrible weather and things happening this past week. I just wanted to lay aside part of my note for all the lives lost.

Bottom of the bag. The dregs. This will steep differently than the top. The leaves are quite a bit more broken compared with other Wang Family Oolong. Which isn’t a bag thing but it then does require one to have an infuser nearby to catch the extra leaves. Aromas of plum, tropical fruits, minerals. The flavor is mineral. It does get a bit tannic if left for too long. The mouth feel is smooth but has astringency. Appreciated with blacks but not with oolongs, not even the roasted ones. Perhaps I got a bad batch. I would be willing to try this one again to see if my batch just ended up as a mistake or soemthing.

2.5 grams. Exactly. Never done that before. Water at 185F. Timer set for 3 minutes of infusion. The difficulty with tasting expensive things is not in how the taste actually is but based on how the dollar amount shapes your perspective. Oftentimes product marketers will say a product is worth more than it truly is to see how differently people react with it. This can really skew things. Like the coffee that is pooped. It fetches a high price but most people say it doesn’t taste good.

Dry aroma: Woody. Slight floral, rose. But is that the suggestion in the name speaking?
Dry appearance: Golden buds and dark chocolate leaf. Tightly twisted.

Wet Leaf appearance: Mostly chocolate brown but a few are olive green.
Wet leaf. Slight rose aroma. But not your general rose, more specific. Like walking though a flower garden and smelling each one.

Flavor. The first sip had some roasted vegetal notes. An undertone of decaying wood. Honey and rose notes.
Mouthfeel: Silky. A bit of astringency to finish but not an offensive drying sensation.
Liquor aroma: A bit bready. Not quite as bready as other Nepal teas I’ve had.

2nd Steep:
Ooo. The second steep is coming out quite a bit more floral. Perhaps it was also the longer steep? Slightly more astringent but still in a good way.

3rd Steep: Perhaps it was the longer infusion that was needed to draw out the floral notes. Quite good still. Honey notes in the sweetness present themselves a bit more as well.

My parents were in Charleston so I asked them to pick me up some tea if they saw some. Unfortunately, the only thing they found were tea bags. While it isn’t astounding, it is much better than I expected. The dry leaves do not look like dust from the floor. There is a fair amount of stem and leaf it appears. We’ll play with it later to verify. The liquor aroma is decent. Slightly reminds me of some Indian teas. Slightly bready, a bit metallic, and somewhat woody. The taste is mid-range for tea bags. Not the best I’ve had but better than Lipton. You could drink it with milk/sugar. A lemon would probably be nice. The taste is somewhat like the liquor aroma I was correct in my assumption about the stems. They aren’t big but their color is quite noticeable against the darker leaves. IT is CTC but it seems different compared with India CTC. A decent brew but probably wouldn’t buy again.

There is a lot going on with this tea. My brain didn’t fully process what I bought until just now. I purchased it thinking it would be good for my mom who has digestion issues but she is also not good with tea infusion. I will teach her. When I first opened the bag I was hit with Mint and a medicinal note… dentist’s office. Maybe a slight hint of nilla in the background. But when you infuse the tea the profile changes. Suddenly the back of the dentist’s office bursts open into a fish market. FRESH FISH! It’s so strong! Had to push it away as I was steeping it. But as I bring it back the mint aroma comes back. But it is not dentist mint anymore. Now it’s just peppermint. Almost reminds me of those chocolate peppermints. Not the York with the white in the middle but the green one. Hmm well, maybe the York too. The liquor color is deep and dark brown. Hickory. As you sip it down it turns to a bit more of a rosewood shade. Strangely, the mint isn’t overpowering in flavor. They all kind of meld into one… meh. It’s not terrible it’s just not nearly like anything I was thinking it would be. It’s all fishy and minty and vanillay and woody all at the same time and my brain is going wtf…