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Another lovely gift from Whiteantlers.

Surprisingly enough, a part of my kinda liked the River Rain more. I tasted a lot more florals in that one which is probably why I lean towards it. Namely the jasmine like quality and the predominant spruce aroma and taste. It makes me think of the rain and the forests in Michigan.

At the same time, this had a great simplicity and clarity. And less astringency which makes me hesitate. The Xinyang Maojian was another clean green tea that wasn’t quite as astringent but still light with florals. Kale and mineral were more dominant to me-like rain on cliffs near a lake. The middle brews brought out a quality that distinctly tasted like water chestnut. This is good and it cleared up my headache quite a bit. That must be the cha qi. ``

I’m really glad to have tried these, but I like Whispering Pines blacks and oolongs more. Maybe it’s just preference for those types of teas, never mind I reap more health benefits from green tea. The cha qi balances me out more. It could also be I’m pickier with green teas now. And I eventually want to try the Sleeping Bear anyway.

Renamed Moondance, but I’m pretty sure its the same tea. Another lovely offering from White Antlers.

All the notes on here pretty much describe it and I agree with the tasting notes. It tastes like a fruitier moonlight tea with the added bonus of buttery later steeps. Cinnamon butter is a weird description, but it really does taste like you’re drinking a light glaze of it. I’m personally impressed with how the honeydew melon and peach note are stronger than the malt note.

I am very glad to have tried it, but I’m not sure if I would get a full ounce of it. If it were cheaper, I might make it into a seasonal staple.

Whiteantlers, the Red (Black) Tie Guan Yin you sent me is fantastic. The dry leaf reminded me of a Laoshan Black. The leaves themselves were black strings tipped by gold. This is exactly the type of Black Tea I prefer. 30 sec, then 55 sec, 1 min 15, 3 min, and 5 min. First, I get cocoa, malt, thickness, berries, jam, and a little bit of astringency. Second, more jam and cocoa. Third a leathery quality comes out with the berry jam. The same can be said of the fourth. The fifth just has light berry jam and cocoa in light water. This is good. Really good. Thank you so much!

Back Log

Just before I left yesterday, I got a wonderful package from Whiteantlers. She spoiled me thoroughly and I thank you so thoroughly! A package with Harry Potter stamps no less, and a wonderful sampler of a few teas that I was actually looking to try. Four of them were from Whispering Pines.

River Rain is a good name for this tea. The look and smell of the dry leaves was like a usual green tea. I gong fu’d with about 2 grams in 3 ounces, first 10 second rinse, then 5 and five again. I felt like I was drinking rain water or dew because it had a really clean mouth feel and body. It was a little bit vegetal, but not nearly as grassy and vegetal as the leaves smelled. It was closer to being crisp, more like pine than grass alone. There was a bit of a lighter creamy feeling quality to it, but a fresh snap pea creaminess. I had to stop at those three cups because this tea had a focused cha qi. As in, power clarity energy cha qi.

I looked up the instructions online and Brenden described the powerful cha qi that I got. He also recommended to Grandpa Style it which I totally did not do. Some of his notes were more accurate to me than others, but I have to finish a few cups before I make judgement. I am getting a floral quality in the tea bordering jasmine, yet nothing quite like a jasmine scented tea.

So far, I agree with Liquid Proust in that it tastes like a good version of a standard Chinese Green Tea, specifically like a Dragonwell but cleaner. It is a Bi Luo Chun after all.

The bag smells like key lime, but lime green skittles. As soon as I soak the leaves with hot water-thick, buttery cream blams into my nose with the key lime. I was not counting time, but it could not be more than two minutes and thirty seconds. Water at around 200 F, 6 ounces, a little over a teaspoon. The leaves opened up quickly.

First taste, key lime pie. Moslty key lime custard with a strong, but thinner cream note. The cream flavor blended into the oolong perfectly. It actually made me think of Mandala’s Milk Oolong in a weird way. Specifically, the first five second steep where you can taste a weird buttery creamy candiness. It was not nearly as thick as the Mandala’s Milk, but still milky nonetheless. Some might disagree with my comparison, but the creaminess is there. The graham cracker is a lot more subtle, but if you pay attention, it’s there.

More will be written. Expect me to edit this.

I can say that I wish Lauren always had a Jade blend up because she has done a good job with every one that I tried.

Sipdown and the chocolate taste came back. WTF. The past few times it’s been more like a Yancha Chai, but now, full on spice, chocolate, and marshmallow.

I messed this sample up…great. Boiling water and soaked for three minutes.

I taste the blueberry and lemon a little bit but then a flat rooibos. Really flat rooibos. I’m thinking the flatness has to do with higher temperature…

More after it cools down…

Better after it cools down and second steep at 190 in 6 minutes. Blueberry and lemon are a really good combo. Cudos to Lauren for successfully mimicking the buttery finish of a muffin and the kind of density you get with it. The lemon really fuses with the roibos making it fruitier. I’m still not too sure about the rooibos with this Darjeeling. I like the Darjeeling a lot and it makes me wonder what it really tastes like on its own. The rooibos otherwise was fairly dominant.

Good if you like lemon and blueberry, and a good tea overall, but I prefer Lauren’s other ones. Namely a lot of her limited editions. Top few: Vanilla Cider Panna Cotta, The Key Lime Pie Oolong (maybe, about equal to the next one), Eggnog Poundcake, Cherry Wassail, Cherry Chocolate Latte Oolong, and the Chestnut Caramel Keemum

Taste and smells like a mega syrupy cherry pie. Dy leaf scent is like finely cooked crust drizzled in sugared up cherry glaze. Or that’s the graham cracker I’m perceiving.

In terms of taste, it is incredibly similar to the Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong. Strong cherry with a smoother tea base. The Fujian is pretty chocolaty for a black tea base, but I kinda expected that from the description and my experience with this particular tea. I also taste the vanilla, but it goes back and forth from the cherry. Unlike the Cherry Latte, there is a little bit of a tartness similar to cherry cough syrup which I’m a little bit hesitant about. Some might consider the cherry syrup aspect to be more like pancake cherry syrup or the thick cherry sugar syrup that you cook in the pies. That tartness is really coming from the rosehip and the raspberry leaves, which is good and realistic, but an ingredient that I hesitate about personally. Sometimes, they overtake the vanilla but that could be just me.

I’m really glad that I sampled this tea and again I’m impressed with the Fujian tea base and the cherry flavoring. The thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the aftertaste from the rosehip which is just a personal preference. Rosehip IS basically the border of fruity too fruity for me despite my affiliation for fruity teas. It is also really close to cranberry, which I usually prefer in a cold drink…until I find a tea that makes me change my mind. I guess I like tropical fruit and stone fruit more in my tea. It also has the same occasional flatness that the Cherry Chocolate Latte can have if over or under steeped. I’m losing the flavor too much in those moments. Hence me having a heftier sample to experiment with.

I’ll be writing more about this tea since all I know that I like it but not in love with it as I have been with some of Lauren’s other teas. So I’m not making a full judgement yet.

Rating remains same. Gong fu’d a wopping 5 grams of this in 4-6 ounces. Leaves had a silvery grey color which kinda concerned me so I finished it off.

It tasted more like a Jin Jun Mei than a Dianhong to me. Malt, sweet potato, leather, a little bit of cocoa, and some sweetness was what I tasted. Now I can’t help but to crave Berylleb’s Dianhong. Glad I finished this off, but not my number one choice for a daily Dianhong for now. Not in the conditions of how I brewed it today or the leaves at least.