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I drink my teas from a glass Bodum yo-yo tea cup, which shows the liquid off to fine effect. Through the glass this tea actually looks like a glass of red wine. There are notes of grape, cherry, some light spice and a slight cabernet fragrance. The assam tea used has a strong bitterness and astringency that I would normally dislike, but in this case it seems to go well with the red wine taste which is stronger in the taste than in the fragrance. It is a very slow sipper, partially because of the dryness and bitterness. On the whole, I like their champagne infused white tea better, but this has a nice pungency that I also enjoy.

The dry leaves smell sweet and fruity and make me smile when I sniff them. They are dark green with white tea’s characteristic white downy fuzz. The fragrance is hypnotic, like fruit and flowers and the slightest note of incense. It would make the perfect harem drink emerging from the fantasy world of nineteenth century Orientalist paintings. I can picture houris and bellydancers drinking this while eating Turkish delight as they recline on their silk cushions, brush each other’s hair, and tell scandalous stories.

The incense, fruit, and flowers that made promises in the fragrance come through in the taste. It is a languid sensual tea. It would make an excellent meditation tea.

Much thanks to takgoti for this lovely experience. I will definitely be buying more of this tea.

What beautiful leaves: long and fluffy with colors that vary from white to pale green to olive green and smelling of hay! When dunked in water they develop a light floral fragrance, almost an orchid but lighter and sweeter. There is a very, very slight vegetal but nothing objectionable. The taste is true to the fragrance with the addition of the very slightest nutty note. It is not a sweet green tea, which surprised me but it is quite nice.

Much thanks to takgoti for this wonderful tea!

When I heard that this tea was made by taking a white tea and then soaking it in champagne, i was intrigued. I couldn’t wait to try it. It sounded like a sensualist’s treat. I’m very pleased with the experience of smelling and drinking this tea. It feels luxurious.

The dry leaves smell so wonderful that I want to eat the leaves. They have a wonderful grape and light raspberry smell. The leaves themselves are typical white tea leaves but with a bit more green and a little less downy white than some white teas.

The scent of the dry leaves is excellently expressed in the fragrant brew along with a very light musk as one gets in some grape juices. It leaves a very pleasant aftertaste.

The dry leaves smell a bit like a keemun but not as strong as some I’ve smelled. There is another grassy barely there floral tinge to the leaves as well. Once brewed the tea loses that heavy strange keemun fragrance and I smell floral notes amid a sea of malty goodness with barely there notes of resin. It is one of the better tea fragrances I’ve experienced. The wet leaves unfold into whole green and brown leaves that are slightly more ovoid shaped than other wet tea leaves I’ve seen and the liquor is reddish brown. It is a much lighter tea than many I’ve had lately. The taste is sharp and bright with the slightest hint of floral but all the other notes disappear. Still, it is a nice tea.

This is a bagged tea that smells strongly of cinnamon and cloves with the sweet shy scent of chocolate peeping around the corner. I used two tea bags which created a rich red-brown broth tasting strongly of vanilla, cloves and cinnamon with a chocolate taste appearing toward the end of each sip. There is also a strange cool-sharp sweetness that I assume is the licorice. I do not get much of the rooibos, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned since I don’t like rooibos. It claims to be cherry vanilla but I don’t sense the cherry at all. Overall it is an ok tea for an evening sip. I will try some of their other blends to see what they’re like as well.

Update: It gets more chocolatey and less spicy as it sits. I think it needs time for the volatiles to evaporate and the chocolate to get a firmer seat.

Dry, this tea boasts twisted leaves of slate blue, dark green, and brown. The brewed tea is has a sweet floral smell with a strong vegetal component and a very slight resinous note. The strong vegetal comes out in the tea along with the sweet elements. Perhaps I need to brew this at a lower temperature.

The leaves are large, wiry, and quite dark for an oolong. The dry leaves have a slight leather fragrance along with their sweet tea smell. It brews up into a honey-gold liquor with the fragrance of honey. The honey taste is subdued in the tea itself Overall this is a very mild tea. I may try steeping it longer next time.

This is another single sourced tea from The Simple Leaf. This one is from Arunchal Pradesh in India, which is high in the mountains north of Assam and west of Bhutan along the Chinese Indian border. One of the nice things about these single sourced teas is that they are kind of an adventure in a cup. I fantasize about the beauty of these mountainous areas as I sip.

This tea has beautiful, large twisted leaves that smell of chocolate and raisins. It brews into a golden red liquor with scents of chocolate, toast, slight note of malt and the sweetness of tea. It has a very light mild flavor with chocolate notes. It is quite good.

This is a single-sourced tea from Himachal Pradesh in India. I bought it because one of the characters in my novel comes from this beautiful place. His parents regularly send him tea from home and I wanted to know what he was getting in his care packages. (Of course, now I am absolutely compelled to try all manner of Indian sweets and teas that can be placed in care packages.)

The dry leaves smell grassy. Steeped the tea brews a golden liquor that smells of flowers, honey, and a very slight note of citrus. The taste is slightly nutty with a slight vegetal and a very, very slight aftertaste of orchid. Nicely satisfying, though I wish more of the exotic fragrances could be found in the tea as well.

Update: As the tea cools the flowery taste becomes more pronounced.