T.C.

This does indeed have a clear coppery-red infusion. Very appealing appearance. Smells like a mix between an assam and a pu-erh tea; earthy and a tiny tiny bit fishy. The infusion feels soft, yet complex. Muted spicyness and subtle maltiness. Goes down easy, very enjoyable. It would be very easy to drink quite a few cups of this.

Day 6 of the Journey into Black Teas

Wow, this is very different than the Indian black teas I’ve been drinking! Spicy and malty, with a taste that quickly vanishes after swallowing. Very surprising, very enjoyable.

Had this one again today – still so good! More earthy than I remembered it.

Has a coppery hue in the cup. A fragrant darjeeling with mild astringency. It has a very appetizing smell, and an aftertaste that reminds me of a Chinese green tea.

Day 4 of the Journey into Black Teas

Visually, this tea is a pale orange glow in the cup. The aroma is faint, and almost reminds me of a high quality Japanese green tea (surprisingly). A delicate yet full-bodied darjeeling, with mild astringency and a wonderful, distinctive primary flavor that I can’t quite name. It seems maybe slightly floral, but I’m not certain of this. It has a delicious, somewhat savory aftertaste.

Seems like a good standard ceylon. Definitely a good tea for waking me up in the morning – nothing strange or overwhelming, just a strong foundation.

Definitely a nice coppery darjeeling. The description is spot on with the almondy and buttery aftertaste! And it does have quite the intoxicating aroma.

Day 3 of my Journey into Black Teas!

This one is definitely unlike the darjeelings I’ve had so far, probably because it’s fully oxidized. Very slightly astringent, a little nutty and savory. Nothing floral or fruity about this darjeeling. Great for if you’re in the mood for a darker tea.

The infusion smells very slightly fishy. But the taste is sweet and malty. It’s nothing very attention-grabbing, but it seems like a great go-to decaf black tea. I enjoyed it.

Day 2 of my Journey into Black Teas!

The infusion has a mild, nutty scent. This tea has a perfect level of astringency for that palate-cleaning sensation. It has a roasted, somewhat nutty and woody taste. Very much unlike the last Darjeeling I had. There is something unique and “clean”-seeming about the aftertaste; perhaps its slightly lemony.

Had this one again today in a larger quantity (a few cups rather than one small one), and decided that some aspects of the taste remind me of gyokuro! Certainly not a bad thing.

Day 2 of the Journey into Black Teas!

The first thing I noticed is that the smell of the infusion is incredible. It’s savory and sweet – almost reminds me of banana bread or gingerbread. The taste is subtle and complex – it’s hard to pick out any specific notes. It has a mild astringency, and a satisfying (somewhat buttery) aftertaste.

A wonderful tea! I feel like I’m starting to understand the appeal of white teas. This infusion has a roundness and ‘purity’ to it that is magnificent. Delicious floral and fruity notes, not a hint of astringency. Would certainly be worth purchasing.

This is a very fine sencha – thin small leaves and powder, really. Smells very tangy dry.

The infusion is a cloudy bright green. The taste is focused around a savory ‘umami’ flavor – rich and matcha-like. You could probably get away with using more tea leaves than you would for normal japanese green infusions without having to worry about too much bitterness.

Day 1 of my journey into black teas begins!

This is an incredible tea. As mentioned by the description, it has delectable fruity and floral undertones – a gentle and complex Darjeeling for sure. Very enjoyable overall and surely worth savoring. I’m excited to have enough left to try this tea again once I’ve developed my appreciation of black teas more.

I should note that this is a fairly old sample, so it may not be entirely representative of the fresh Yen Bai. I ended up steeping this one for longer than I usually would to try to make up for any lost flavor.

It has a smell that reminds me of a mixture of a black tea and a pu-erh, and a taste that reminds me of a Wu Yi oolong, because of the nice gentle sweetness to it. It is a fairly sophisticated black tea – I’ll need to come back to this one in the future when I’ve further developed my taste for black teas.

I’m finally going through a black tea phase, so I cracked this one open! I like it a lot – went great with breakfast. The bergamot is lovely, and not too overpowering. This one is probably my second favorite Arbor Teas black tea so far – my favorite being the Irish Breakfast.

Nothing in this world makes me feel quite as good as a nice cup of matcha. And this one delivers.

I had one of these after lunch today (much thanks to my girlfriend), and was blown away. This was my first tea-chocolate, and it was delightful. All of the tastes were fairly well-rounded, nothing overwhelming or obnoxious. Quite subtle, but very delicious. I feel like it gave me a slight caffeine buzz, but this could just be placebo (or just the warm feeling from eating chocolate!)

I’ve never had a green yerba mate before! It was pretty interesting to taste yerba without so much tangyness. Sometimes yerba mate gives a headache (not sure why), but this one didn’t, which is a huge plus.

Auggy’s post inspired me to try this one again. Usually pu-erh helps settle my stomache, and I’ve been feeling a bit queasy today, so when I read her review the idea to drink some pu-erh popped into my head. Pu-erh teas are one of those strange things in life where I’m not sure why I like it or love it, I just know that I do. Maybe like rainy days.

Anyways, the tea definitely did the job, feeling much better now.

No notes yet.

Drinking this again now – very enjoyable.

I agree with TeaEqualsBliss – the dry leaves look very unique, grey-ish, and fine! I was very excited to try this tea. It’s quite vegetal and savory like all the greens I’ve tried from Life in a Teacup, and at least as delicious. It has just enough astringency to cleanse the mouth, and nothing more. I could see myself picking up a bag of this one day – it’s an all around great Chinese green.