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Dinosara was so nice in sending this one along with a bunch of other nice teas! (It was so thoughtful that you remembered I was looking for this one.. I’m not sure how you did! thanks so much!) I had been checking their site (californiateahouse.com) to order some for months, but they have only been selling it in four ounce packages. I certainly don’t need that much of one tea if I have so many other teas. I was initially interested because someone told be this one was similar to my beloved but extinct SpecialTeas Vienna Winter Green (I had to look though my messages to see who told be about it and it was Mercuryhime — thank you!) So I’m so happy to be able to try this one and see if it is the same!

…And it does seem the same! I asked someone at CTH if it was the same blend and they said “not quite” but this seems pretty close to me. It has all the same ingredients… and man is it a rare list. The steep color is a buttery yellow, just like the flavor. This one really can’t be steeped over two minutes or it will get bitter. Definitely my favorite green tea with such a great mix of toasty, nutty flavors. It is so nice to find a replacement for the SpecialTeas blend! I wonder if their other blends are the same or similar? Hopefully this one will still be there when I need more… and I might even get the four ounces.

The SpecialTeas blend has such a nice Steepster history for me:
1) Nichole sent me some of the Vienna randomly when I first joined Steepster, and it became a surprise favorite for me.
2)Mercuryhime sent me some more of the Vienna when I ran out and also suggested the California Tea House blend, so I knew to look for that one.
3) Dinosara sent me some of the California Tea House blend after remembering I was l was looking for it!

I will never stop being amazed at the kindness and generosity of Steepsters! It is very appreciated!

Additional notes: Not to rain on Ovation’s parade… but I’m pretty sure this is the same as the Yunnan they were selling. The leaves look the same. The flavor tastes the same. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe my palate isn’t refined enough. I certainly don’t mind it if they are the same — I love them. But now I have about six ounces of the same tea! I think these two teas being the same would only affect me anyway.. it looks like I’m the only one who bought both!

The first matcha that I’ve tried! Apparently I just found out how matchas are so easily flavored. Some of this was included in a traveling tea box. I had it stored next to a super cinnamon flavored tea in a tiny ziplock. The ziplock was not very high quality and I know there are much better quality ziplocks out there (and I’ll definitely be buying some of those next time!) The only thing I can taste in this is the flavor in the other tea it was stored next to: cinnamon. No gingerbread. I added a bit less than a 1/4 teaspoon to a bit less than 16 ounces of bottled water. (I have no idea if that was the right amount.) The other tea better not be doing that to my other teas… though I have all my cinnamon / chai samples stored together for that reason. At least I learned a lesson about matcha today, but I’ll leave off the rating. I would have much rather have learned about storing matchas properly with the first one I tried, rather than after getting a ton more and finding out the hard way. Let this be a lesson in matcha storing! Because yes, I plan on getting a ton more matchas. I just found out how healthy matcha is! Matcha lowers blood pressure, helps your concentration, has tons of antioxidants, plenty of vitamins, fiber, protein and calcium. That sounds to me like everything healthy! (If I drink matcha regularly, it may just become the healthiest thing I eat — plus it would start making me drink milk more.) The price may seem a bit high compared to some teas, but even tea doesn’t have quite so many health benefits!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/

Thanks so much Steep City for sending me some samples! Very appreciated! I love the packaging and logo of the samples. This one sounded amazing. With it being the first day of spring and still snowing, I think I’ll try this tea and hopefully be transported to somewhere tropical (spring weather-wise was so early last year!) There was a HUGE mango chunk that fell into my infuser, so they aren’t lying! After a three minute steep, the color is orange hued, almost like the mango itself. The black tea doesn’t overpower the flavors, and there is just enough hibiscus to make this taste perfect. I can always tolerate hibiscus if it is the perfect amount! It definitely tastes like mango, but how couldn’t it with that huge piece? The cup even maintains a bit of starchiness that a mango has. I really like this one! It’s nice if you want a bit of caffeine with a fruity flavor. The second steep is just as good. Very genuine and authentic mango. It’s juicy, refreshing, thirst quenching, and everything I was hoping this tea to be!

Thanks so much Dinosara for sending an awesome package of teas my way! It is definitely appreciated! This one is lovely!

Steep one // 4 min // The steep color is a medium yellow. I can tell just by smelling the cup before I taste it that will have mostly a floral flavor and it does — it’s like a flower shop.. or maybe orchids. There is also a sweetness to it that could rival the milk oolong I had the other day… even though this isn’t a milk oolong. It is so smooth and silky! Definitely one of the better oolongs I’ve tried.

Steep two // 3 min // I think the first cup was better than this one. It is rare that the first cup is the better one! This didn’t have as much of the sweet & floral flavor. It was a bit drying.

Steep three // 4 min // This one oddly tasted more like the first cup, just not as pronounced. I wonder what happened! The longer steep time?

This one is a great oolong!

thanks so much Nina’s Paris for these samples! I really wanted to try a sample of the Nina’s Japon as soon as I saw someone else’s tasting note for it, then later that day I saw an offer for samples! I thought I’d try the straight assam first, so I can try the base of the others by itself. There was maybe a teaspoon and a half in my sample, so I just used every last leaf for this steep. Four minutes later, I get a reddish brown color and quite the kick! I might have used too much tea or steeped too long, but this is brisk and a bit astringent, yet still a bit above medium bodied. I’m reminded of a dark rye bread.. so this would have been perfect for a couple days ago on St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a bit malty, but less than I would expect from an assam. It’s very delicious! The second steep at just boiled for four minutes tames the briskness down a bit. Now there is more of that assam sweet, and a bit of a unique fragrance. Now it kind of seems like it would be a chocolate rye bread. I really love this one… can’t wait to try the others from Nina’s!

I thought I would like this one more! I’ve heard such nice things about it… but this one tastes just like the cough drop flavor that I didn’t like in the Raspberry White Melange. I didn’t get much of a blueberry flavor either. It’s odd that there were flowers in the blend, but no flowers listed in the ingredients on my bag. I really wish this one didn’t have that cough drop flavor, as I know I would have liked it. Oh well, just not my thing I guess!

thanks starfevre for sending some of this in our trade! The only other Fujian tea I’ve had that I remember is an oolong that I really didn’t like because it was so charcoaly. It was too much for me! Luckily, this one is much better. The dry leaves are mixed — some are longer, twisty and black while some are yellow. The flavor is a lighter black. It does have a bit of a charcoal flavor, but just a hint, and also something like tobacco. This one is very good for a light black tea (and much better than the Adagio Irish Breakfast that I tried recently), but I like my black teas super dark and strong! It’s almost like I’m either craving a strong black tea or something like an oolong, but I’m sure sometimes I will want a lighter black tea and I will have this one! It’s kind of simple while also unique. If that makes sense.

I opened my sample bag and I have never smelled a tea so sweet…like candy!! I was surprised to read on the bag that they do not do anything to flavor this, but grow it in a specific way to make this so sweet.

First steep // 4 min // I set the leaves free in my new infuser! The leaves are pretty big and a nice jade green color. The first sip, I was surprised at a pineapple flavor! Not as much of a milky taste as I would have expected from such scented leaves, but still sweet and buttery. The color is a pale yellow

Second steep // 3 min // This was still juicy sweet pineapple and not so much milk. But it is so good!

Third steep // 3 min // This one is more of a floral and a bit of pineapple. It’s nice to see these leaves actually are LEAVES. Sadly, I think when I took the leaves out of the dipper infuser before, they were still mostly little bundles. These almost filled the entire infuser.

Overall, a very nice oolong, especially for the pineapple flavor. I wouldn’t mind getting two ounces of this one.

Thanks so much Azzrian for sending a bit of this along! I was in the mood for a pu-erh and this is the first tea I was able to try in my new Bodum YoYo infuser and mug! I have no idea why it is called “yoyo”. (It matches my vintage Bodum electric kettle!) The mug is clear so I have a nice view of the steep color. This one has the color of a draft of beer! So I’m not sure how much caffeine pu-erh has if the color is so light. (I’m assuming the darker the steep color, the more caffeine it has? I don’t know.) I like this mug though.. it’s either because the bottom of the mug is slanted or because the mug is clear, that when I’m sipping it, it looks like the mug has less tea in it than it actually does. I get a bit sad, but when I set it down, I can see that there IS a ton of tea left in the cup!

All of these steeps were for two minutes after two 10 second rinses (not sure if I’m doing that right!) Autumn is what the tea reminds me of. The leaves look like autumn leaves. The fragrance is smokey, like there is a burning pile of leaves in the yard. I wouldn’t guess that this is a pu-erh, because it doesn’t have that typical pu-erh flavor profile. It kind of seems like the flavor of tree bark, in the most appetizing way… so I guess you could still call it earthy! The flavor is smokey.. it most reminds me of a russian caravan. The flavor is smooth, silky, woodsy, light, and a tiny bit spicy… The second steep gets even smoother. It’s interesting that pu-erhs have such a wide range of flavor. I pity the fool who doesn’t steep their leaves multiple times. All three steeps were very consistent! I’m sure I could have steeped many more times. But I’M the fool who only used those dipper infusers until now (those I still will, especially for teas like rooibos that don’t need expanding). I knew for a while that the leaves were being strangled… so it was nice to see these leaves breathe. I like this tea! To sum up: it’s an autumn pile of smokey burning leaves and branches. It made me really miss autumn, even though it’s March (well, I miss autumn the first day it snows anyway.) Very unique… but I’m sure all of Verdant’s teas are unique.

Also, I read some of the tasting notes after typing mine up, and it seems I’ve said a lot of the same descriptions that others have. It seems my palate has improved too! Nice!