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I’ve brewed this two times now, using two of the different suggested methods. Both produced nice tea. This is a briny gyokuro, for sure. I love the sea-fresh oyster-liquor aroma and first taste that hits hard. Really salty. The umami picks up but is immediately counterbalanced by a spinach-like, chlorophyll-heavy sweetness. It’s really balanced and really delicious. The first brew of this tea is insanely viscous. It’s like sweet kelp candy coating the tongue. Later infusions develop a grassy astringency that plays nicely with the glutamate-infused sweetness. In the very end, a whisper of tangerine rind. Stunningly complex tea.

This has got to be the lightest tea I’ve ever drunk. The first time I brewed it, following the guidelines for the tea, I could hardly believe I was drinking tea. I get very little floral quality and just a nip of pungent grassy character. Turning up the heat and increasing the time added depth, but it also added astringency. I’m not sure I’ll be pursuing too many more yellow teas. The post-steeping buds were very beautiful and fresh-looking.

This was a decent tea, with a real juicy pale fruit and floral character. I was surprised, upon inspecting the leaves, that it was such an interesting mix of very broken pieces along with intact, beautiful and fuzzy budsets. Anyway, a nice slightly above average green.

Still a solid, super-floral, lilac-heavy delight.

A complex buttery cup. There’s overtones of chestnut, warm spinach, and some edamame. A kelpier cup than I’m used to with Chinese greens, but still very pleasant. Has an incredible, smooth velvety mouthfeel that holds.

This twisted leaf lightly oxidized oolong is decent, but not quite the lilac-blossom I expected from teas that have Jade in their name, or that are from Taiwan. It’s a solid, daily drinking tea, but it doesn’t have quite the floral punch I would like. Juicy. Otherwise, pleasant.

My first tea for La Societe. This is a solid green, with extra layers of complexity. The standard grassy, hay-like profile deepens and develops mulberry, distinct red currant tartness, and a lingering of almonds and hops. Excellent!