Keemunlover Send Message

Just a so-so dragon pearl tea. Least impressive dragon pearl tea I’ve had. The base pouchong/green tea doesn’t seem to have much character and the jasmine is not very happening. I probably should have bought the classic giant orange tin of “chun hao” jasmine tea instead.

Well, this is the last of my initial White2Tea order. I was pretty impressed by the selection. Some very good teas in the mix, and way more winners than losers. Bumping my score on this Gas mini up to an “80,” as it has continued to grow on me. I can’t really say why, as my descriptions of the flavor etc are pretty much the same as my previous note. But I like this tea for some reason.

Difficult decision where to buy my next batch of tea – Mainly between Yunnan Sourcing USA and White2Tea again, but also considered Silk Road Teas (San Francisco, not the Canada one), TeaSenz, and even Vahdam Teas (I like a good first flush Darjeeling).

Ultimately, I think I’m settled on ordering a bunch of tea from Yunnan Sourcing USA and continuing to explore their catalog, along with a few old favorites. Maybe the selection doesn’t seem quite as tightly curated as White2Tea, but overall I think you probably get more bang for your buck through YS. I’ll probably revisit W2T again soon, though, as definitely some good stuff.

Had an Amazon gift card. I realized some of the Amazon tea vendors I’ve relied on in the past are kind of sketchy – Goarteastore, Fullchea, and the like. I will attest, however, that I have had pretty good luck with Goarteastore. Only a couple of bad buys out of quite a few over the years. Which Amazon vendor to buy from, then?

I decided to go with Tian Hu Shan, as they seem to be pretty reputable. Know more for gigantic tins of low-priced jasmine tea, maybe, but an established brand with some street cred.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Bai Mu Dan to be more than decent. Of course, at $19.99 for 4 ounces it is not exactly a budget buy and I would expect it to be pretty good.

A little minty, a little fruity (mostly grapes, I think), some grassy notes giving a slightly bitter edge, and finally, a surprising amount of toastiness. Every Bai Mu Dan I’ve had previously is of the fairly light and more delicate sort, and I’ve never noticed any toastiness in the mix – but I like the addition. Makes it a bit more substantial. Maybe a slightly lower grade of leaf than others? I don’t think so, as the leaves look pretty comparable to the fragrant, intact, and lovely leaves I’ve sipped in the past. Maybe a slight variation in processing technique, or just a garden with more toasty flavor notes? I don’t know, but I like it! I lucked out and scored some good tea on Amazon.

Green grapes, with a hint of fermented fruit strength/alcohol, and maybe some osmanthus florals as well. Reminiscent of the Schedule White minis I recently tried, but much much much weaker. I really needed to search for these flavors. This is some weak and not very memorable tea.

I was sad to remember that I had a second mini to sample after I tried the first one, but I figured maybe the tea would redeem itself as they often do – My first impressions of a tea don’t always last. But now I think I can proclaim this tea as a real dud.

The potential is there, maybe, as like I said it shares characteristics with the wonderful Schedule White tea (which costs like seven or eight times as much but seems at least 20 times stronger). Maybe this is just a weak undesirable picking/flush or a bad growing season or something.

Beautiful and light black tea. Light black teas can sometimes seem awkward to me, as the lightness seems to defy everything I might want from a black tea. First flush Darjeelings and a few Yunnan black teas I have tried would be exceptions to this line of thinking. Anyways, that isn’t the case with this one.

The peachy stone fruit and nice syrupy sweet liquor impresses, and makes you forget how light it is. Light but still with some body to the tea. Some malty notes, but they sit mostly in the background. This is a black tea that drinks more like an oolong, for sure. Actually, I thought my first and second steeps (at 2 minutes and 3 minutes, respectively) were more like a white tea.

By my third steep at 4 minutes, the tea has thickened up and darkened quite a bit and I would say is more oolong-like. Also, a small amount of vegetal bite came out at this stage.

I grabbed this one because of the promised “cotton candy aromas,” and, while I don’t quite find cotton candy here, I am still enjoying the peachy fruit notes. At least we are in the right neighborhood.

I didn’t like it at first, but it grew on me. Strong tea that is smoky with a pretty typical apricot fruitiness, but also with savory/brothy notes, some minty herbal tingles, and some osmanthus florals. A good amount of vegetal bitterness, too. It was kind of overwhelming at first and these various elements seemed to be kind of at war with each other, but as I continue to drink it I’ve kind of gotten used to it and found I can enjoy it pretty well.