solstice15

Well, as the rating indicates, I thought this tea was simply amazing. This tea reminds me a lot of a eucalyptus “tea” my mom use to make, but without the medicinal aftertaste. It had a soft “cloudy” sweetness, with eucalyptus and raisin notes in the aftertaste. There was also a pleasant tingling sensation that came through towards the end of the first cup and almost dominated the second.

Upping my-already high-rating! After the second steep, this tea is coming dangerously close to disturbing my light oolong wheelhouse. The sweeter notes that were a bit hidden in the first steeping really came out in the second.

I’m not sure if this is the right word, but I felt this tea was very substantial compared to other greens I’ve had. This was surprising to me because the color after steeping was fairly pale. The overall flavor profile was sweet with a slight fresh steamed broccoli after taste. But, under that umbrella there a few different flavors that would pop up every few sips. If this tea is representative of other Laoshan greens, I look forward to trying more of them. I’m glad I got some of this before it was sold out :)

I kept getting an intensely medicinal taste with this one, I’m assuming I did something wrong, but I can’t figure out what..

I enjoyed this one, It’s a light (in color) sweet oolong with a slight roasty/savory flavor that adds a bit of complexity. Also, it’s fairly affordable when compared to similar teas.

This tasted like a typical high quality dark oolong. That’s not a bad thing since I’m starting to love oolongs, but I was expecting a bit more given the description.

This tea seems to change with each sip (let alone each steep), so I can’t really give a definitive explanation, but I can say it’s a great tea. I think a good blanket statement would be that it tastes like “candied vegetables” (after my default addition of sweetener).

I really enjoyed this one. The first few sips (plain) had a rich malty vanilla flavor that was begging for cream and sweetener. After the additions I had a cup that was indistinguishable, in taste and appearance, from coffee (sans aftertaste) with vanilla creamer.

First jasmine tea (a lot of firsts in the past week), the aroma of this tea-at every stage-was strong and very familiar. As a resident of the south (U.S), I get this scent quite frequently, but until a few minutes ago I had no idea what the source was. The flavor of this tea (even before my default addition of 2 splenda packets) was sweet and almost overwhelmingly floral. This is one of the few teas I’ve had where the aroma of the dry leaves transfers directly to the actual flavor of the tea.

After trying this, I can tell that floral teas probably won’t be a staple in my cupboard, but I think “floral tea drinkers” will really like this one. So, the rating is more a reflection of the quality of the tea, not my personal taste.

Wow, this was an interesting tea. It had a fairly simple buttered spinach aroma, but the flavor was very complex. In my bid to find words to describe it, I came up with this:
Lightly sweetened buttered spinach, with caramel in the aftertaste and a bit of astringcy towards the end of the cup.

I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’d order more of it. I’m starting to see that I have a preference for the unflavored when it comes to greens and oolongs.

My first assam, not liking it at all. I suppose I’ll try a caffeinated one before I rule them out completely, but I found this one to be uninteresting.

This tea is simple, yet satisfying. The aroma of the brewed tea is lightly grassy, but the taste is surprisingly sweet with a slight hint of grass in the aftertaste. I could see myself ordering more of this.

I really like ginger, and I love Harney’s regular formosa oolong, so I thought this would be a perfect combination. But, that didn’t turn out to be the case. The ginger in this tea is very faint (no bite at all), so for me it was just an unsatisfying element that was tempering the sweet woodsy flavor that makes me love their unflavored formosa. This felt like a “diet” version of the original with a tiny bit of ginger flavor.

My first loose oolong, but I know I’ve experienced this flavor before. As Susan said before, this is the Classic Chinese restaurant tea. Its sweet, with a light woodsy aftertaste. This isn’t a very sophisticated description, but I think this flavor is similar to a Raisin Bran cereal in smooth liquid form.

One of my early favorites! The aroma at every stage (dry leaf – brewed tea) is almost overwhelming, and the taste is the same. Obvious cinnamon, very sweet, and noticeable spice. I like to add additional sweetener and even cream to this tea, so it’s definitely not something I can drink too often.

Everything about this tea was mild for me,
Citrusy, but not tart
Creamy, but very lightly so
Vanilla, but only in the aftertaste
It was decent, but I wasn’t blown away.

I could see myself turning to this when I just want a “stock” unassuming cup of tea.