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I have to say that this isn’t at all what I was expecting. From the smell of the dried leaves, I was expecting a strong vanilla flavor and the sweetness of a maple syrup perhaps. It’s my first dianhong, so perhaps it’s not fair of me to review a flavored one when I haven’t tried it plain.

Once brewed, the tea smells and tastes very strongly floral, with hints of vanilla lingering on the edge. Is it rose? Lavender? I don’t know. The base seems nice and light, and I can taste a bit of malty chocolate if I try to penetrate the floral. Every once in a while, I can kind of taste the eggy toast in the background, but it’s faint.

Now that I look at other reviews, I can see that some people experienced this, but most didn’t. I’m a little sad that I didn’t get the sweet, syrupy custard flavor that the others tasted. I still enjoyed this tea, but as I was in the mood for something desserty, it wasn’t what I would have picked for this afternoon.

Edit: Oooh, chocolatey third steep, but still very floral.

I decided to brew this western style, as I didn’t feel like running up and down the stairs all day refilling my tiny gaiwan.

The first steeping of this tea tasted predominantly of corn. As a matter of fact, my husband said that it tasted like the water you have at the bottom of a corn on the cob container at a buffet. While it WAS very similar to drinking corn water, for me, it was a pleasant corn water. There were also some hints of beans and hay in there. It kind of reminded me of a very light gyokuro at times.

The second steeping was completely different. So much so that I wondered if I didn’t accidentally brew another tea. The corn was almost completely gone, and it was replaced with a roasted barley sort of flavor. Then as the brew cooled, that toastiness started coming back.

The third steeping was a completely different color from the first two, and I am starting to wonder if this tea has multiple personality disorder. It’s all hay with a little bit of mushroom. As it cools, it tastes oddly like cucumbers.

First of all let me just say that I think I put too much tea in. I used the entire 4ish grams for my little tiny gaiwan. As a result, the first four brews of this were extremely strong and bitter. As the water cooled and I did faster steeping times, the tea started to mellow out.

Regardless, I enjoyed this tea best at a lower temperature than the “factory recommendation” of 208. 195 seemed to pull better flavors out. These included a woody sort of toasted barley. Sometimes I would get hints of cinnamon or chocolate, but not often.

This is one of those teas that I can appreciate, but not love.

I got this as a free sample with my Soleil order. It looks and smells a lot like the gyokuro that I loved so much from Tehku, but there is something spicier about the aroma of the dry leaves.

Followed the instructions for brewing, and I have to say that the Mountain Dew (my husband’s preferred brand of “tea”) colored brew is more than a little disturbing. Still, the smell is nice, like an earthy cheese or a fatty bean.

I don’t really know enough about Kabusecha and Gyokuro, but if the two I have tried so far are representative of their classes, then these two teas must be related. This tea has that same buttered bean sort of flavor, of which I am apparently a fan. There IS a slight bitterness that I could do without, but it’s barely noticeable. It also tastes a little grassier than the gyokuro.

As this is about half the price of the gyokuro I currently have, I’d say it’s definitely worth it!

There was just something odd going on with this tea. Did a sipdown starting at 195º and 30 second steep and working my way down. After the first steep, I never really got much flavor out of these leaves. I even did a western brew for the last steep, and I still didn’t get much.

The first steep was nice. It was light with a little honey and minerals. Toward the end with the lower temperatures, there was a little vegetal flavor. It was mostly like drinking water though. I never did get the plum that most people described.

This is another one of those opportunities to compare and contrast. My first loose leaf tea after Twinings was Churchill’s Peachy Black. I liked it so much that I drank it pretty often, and I thought that my eyes would never stray to another peach black tea. I was engaged to this tea.

Of course, so many things have changed since then. And I found myself wanting to see what was out there—play the field, you know. I picked up this peach black blend by Prestogeorge on a day trip to Pittsburgh just so I could compare the two.

The differences are apparent just by smell alone. Churchill seemed to opt for a more floral peach flavor, so that the tea was more like peach blossoms. Don’t think I didn’t notice the dried fruit pieces in there as well; I appreciate your dedication to the idea that fruit, and not fruit flavors, are giving this tea its taste.

Prestogeorge seemed to go for a peach nectar/juicy flavor. And while both flavors are very nice, I have to say that I personally prefer Prestogeorge’s. It’s a little peachier, a lot more audacious. The tea itself is less drying and a little toastier. It makes my palate tingle.

Even though I am going to Cincinnati this weekend, I decided not to pick up more of Churchill’s Peachy Black, which makes me a little sad in a “lost relic of childhood” kind of way. But I look forward to the new adventures this tea hobby is taking me on regardless.

There’s nothing at all special about the base of this tea. Except for a slightly dry taste at the back of my throat and an aftertaste of pennies, I could almost be drinking water. There may be a slight toasty flavor, but I’m thinking that is coming from the toasted coconut.

Now the flavoring on this tea is excellent. I love coconut so much that I don’t mind a sheen of oil at the top of my tea in order to taste it. The vanilla mixes well with the coconut to give the cup a creamy, coconut pudding kind of flavor.

I won’t mind drinking the rest of what I have in my cabinet, because the coconut flavor saves this tea, but it’s not something I will get again.

I’m really big on comparing. It’s fun. So today I am comparing my Asian grocery store jasmine pearls against these, which are almost 3 times as expensive. How does price factor in to the taste of tea?

First of all, I chose not to believe the steeping instructions for this one. 212º for 4 minutes seemed like way too much. So I stuck with the same as I did for the other jasmine.

As much as I wanted to cheer for the cheaper underdog, this tea is better. There are some underlying peach notes in the base, and it’s leaving a pleasant tingling on my tongue. There are some rice and grape notes in there as well. The jasmine isn’t beating me about the head anymore; it’s making itself known, but in a more subtle way. I’m not getting even the slightest bit of bitterness—this is one smooth tea.

I may have to rethink my stance on jasmine.

I’m not sure how authoritative my opinion is on judging this tea, as it’s my first pearl type tea, as well as my first jasmine. However, I would say that considering this tea is about half the price of other jasmine pearls I’ve seen in shops, this is a decent Asian market find.

The base starts out nice and light, and it deepens into something toastier on the second steep. It’s a little grassy, a little hay-like. There’s no bitterness until it starts to cool, and even then it’s pretty slight. The jasmine is strong and perfumey, which is not something I am used to. Actually, I’m not sure jasmine green is the flavor for me at all, but I can still cognitively appreciate the flavor of this tea.

Opens up by the third steep quite nicely. The jasmine is a bit more balanced, and the green turns vegetal.

This is the last of my Liquid Proust puerh sampler, and I have to say that it’s been an interesting ride. Thank you so very much LP!

If this experience has taught me anything, it’s how to identify a shou and a sheng by sight, taste, and smell. This one’s definitely a shou. Its fermenty flavor seems to have mostly aged out. The flavors I am getting are slightly tangy, a little old leather, and wet, earthy leaves. Actually, it tastes pretty similar to how it looks, which is a first for me.