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The cocoa taste has faded a little bit, but the berry is still prominant with the malt. I still have a little of this left, and it too has been subjected to my vanillafying.

I blended in a lot of vanilla beans and scented the tea for almost a month, and the results were really nice. The cocoa notes pop out with the heady vanilla, but the sweet berry notes make it creamy sweet. I only scented a few grams, but I am totally doing the rest. If I want a vanilla tea with berry notes, I can make my own.

I used less leaf and got better results, but much of what I said is the same. It is a nice floral approximate green tea that has such a strong orchid green taste that it reminds me of a high end soap. I am still very glad to have tried it, but I will stick to the Gaoshans and Dong Ding for healthy sweet teas without the guilt. Chou shi will make nice company for the mornings I don’t want to get up nevertheless.

Crap! The profile of this tea was basically what I was looking for. Flower creamer sweetened with honey is how I’d describe it. The tea actually opened really quickly compared to other Alishans I’ve had, yet the sweet honey notes developed slower. I brewed this for longer steeping parameters at first, with 35 being my first, 20 my second, and 40 my third, a minute and a half, then three minutes. Despite my overly playful parameters, I got the notes I wanted.

I really enjoyed this tea, and a part of me wishes that I purchased an ounce of this instead of the Chou Shi because it is so much closer to want I wanted. However, I still need to play around with that green oolong. My only complaint with this one might be its longevity. That is not too much of a problem for me, however. It definitely appeals to the tea snob and might not be a bad tea to introduce someone to oolong.

Here’s to my other insatiable desire for ‘chocolate note’ black tea!

And backlog. What-Cha describes it having a carob profile, and I agree for the most part. I was surprised at how much this tea reminded me of an Assam in its smooth quality. The carob like notes are closer to an Assam. It also has a fruity, chocolate covered raisin aftertaste. Oddly enough, I’ve had the same taste in some coffee from Java. Could be my imagination. More carob and malt in the overall body. It’s a little too strong for my tastes, but I will again play around with the sample. When don’t I play around with the brewing parameters anyway?

This company was very nice to me. Thanks to Amanda’s many posts about this companies teas and my insatiable desire to try every single frickin’ green oolong POSSIBLE, I got their sampler.

This was a very pleasant light oolong. This was almost the same as a silk bagged oolong I previously tried, but still quite nice. The honey and florals come together really nicely with a mildly roasted background. Is this tea even roasted or am I just tasting the medium fermentation? Either way I enjoy it. The specific profile makes me think of literal pine nuts-which is the best way that I can personally describe this tea.

The essential vocab.: light, medium, floral, honey, and pine nut. I would not reach for this tea, but it is one that I would definitely enjoy every now and then.

Man this makes one beautiful cold brew. I love how all the leaves play together. And man, are the oolong leaves HUGE.

I need to try this hot eventually, but this tea worked out nicely for a cold brew. I mostly get blueberry and delicate florals. Or a fresh green leaf that had blueberry cotton candy pass by it’s dew. This was nice with a hint of sugar or honey, but whether I wanted to add sweetener depended on my mood. Cold brews depend on my mood period. Let’s see if I make good on the making the tea hot goal.

And now, to plow through the rest of my copious amounts of tea.

I tried looking this up and the website suggested “Winter Tongue”. So if sticking your tongue out and putting it on a lamp pole in the cold were a tea, this would be it?

No. Winter Tongue is not this tea. This tea is liquid cinnamon Altoids. I like them very much. Mint teas are hit or miss for me. The mint’s got to taste fresh. Otherwise, the tea needs a few other ingredients to offset the dryness. This mint tea was not that dry because Andrew used peppermint, but its natural dryness blended nicely with the cinnamon and the occasionally roasted qualities of the Da Hong Pao. I did not taste the oolong so much the first time, but I tasted the mineral rock oolong in the far background when I’ve used more leaf. Emphasis on the profile being in the FAR background.

I think this tea would have wide appeal. One of the teachers I work with really enjoyed it and he is more of a coffee drinker, though he has his own tea cabinet in a Star Wars and Harry Potter themed class room (#my teacher goals). If you have had cinnamon Altoids, or just Altoids, then you know what this tea tastes like and weather to buy it.

I am finally getting to this tea never mind I’ve drank it for the past month. There is a long relationship I’ve had with roasted Tie Guan Yin.

Here’s the story. When I started my Steepster quest, I was an ex black coffee drinker trying to give up my old habit. Dark roasted oolongs were often recommended to such a drinker, and thanks to Andrew, I got into the world of oolong. He was nice enough to teach me with a series of samples. A few of those samples were aged and roasted Tie Guan Yins, which had the oddest taste I’ve had in a tea. I can dig some roast and some vanilla in the natural profiles of my tea, but this particular variety tastes and smells like mahogany paint stain. Ever since, there was only one dark Tie Guan Yin that I really enjoyed was one from Whispering Pines. Andrew and I both liked it, and while he was far more experienced and became even more experienced with aged teas, I was still left wanting. I continued to drink coffee anyway.

So while he is concocting his experimental blends, he decided to use some of his vanilla flavoring skills (insert white joke here) to revive something out of this old Tie Guan Yin. The antique table taste is still there with its charred texture, but sweetened by the vanilla. The vanilla might be just enough to convince a tea nooby, but a newbie who drinks black coffee. A more experienced or intermediate tea drinker who loves roast and vanilla are the best targets in my opinion. The wood and char taste might dissuade a few.

Summary: If you are one of those old souls who loves the smell of leather books, mahogany, and the taste of a warm, roasted drink in the morning, this is your tea.

Thank you so much Jeff! My Unytea order was very aesthetic and very considerate. I smelled through the bags of course and I am oddly really excited for one of the blends.

This particular was recommended for a non-stomach upsetting nuclear green oolong, and I’ve been really curious to try this varietal. The large nuclear emerald leaves smell green and clean. Tasting it, this tea is the embodiment of orchid floral from Tie Guan Yin and Bao Zhong. I was surprised that the florals were a little too strong for me. it had the World Market organic luxury soap thing going on.

So I did a five second rinse for my wopping 6 grams for 6 fluid ounces, then I brewed up the first steep at twelve seconds. I think that steep was too short because I got ORCHID and STEM. I’m not getting creamy so much. The later steeps were more enjoyable with a good balance between the green flower stem taste and some fruitier, more lemon and pineapple qualities. It also has some staying power ‘cause I’m still drinking it after steep seven. I used short steeps, however.

I have to play with this one more, and luckily, I have the amount to do so. It does not quite have the balance I’m looking for, but it is still a great quality tea and I am excited to see what else I can do with these lovely leaves. I am looking forward to other goodies I have. I also need to write so many more reviews…

Lovely tonight. Less leaves. I am so temperamental about this tea. Butter and thick coconut oil are strongest this time with some arguable spinach in the background. Of course I love it. I swear it was slightly different the first time I had it. More florals and a tad less buttered greens would be perfect. Oh well. Still happy.