Daylon R Thomas Send Message

I don’t know if this sample is the Light Roast or what, but it is pretty good. I think my friend Chris might have gave me this or Andrew-I cannot remember. It’s a good black tea anyway on the plummy/cherry side of things. There some dryness and eucalyptus, but emphasis is on the fruit side with some malt and cocoa as lighter after tones. It kinda reminds me of some red wines. I would not buy this in bulk like I used to, but it is perfect for this cloudy day and it was good enough for my mood. I need a straight up quality black every now and then.

Thank you so much Andrew!

I was curious about these. I had a feeling they would be a cross between a Jing Mai Sheng and an Oriental Beauty, and they were. I played with this one starting out with short steeps, then lengthened time to three minutes after steep three, then five minutes. It could get a little astringent, but barely. The texture was very smooth, and the taste was dominantly floral with a sweet-sour like apricot fruitiness. It definitely leaned more Jing Mai then oolong for me, but it had the cleaner and smoother body of an oolong overall. The orb also lasted me the day, so you can play ball for it nearly as long as you like.

Sad news though: my glass gaiwan, my only gaiwan broke because the glass was cold from the forty degree weather seeping into the house going against hot water for a rinse. I rinse my utensils for the very reason of warming them up and not breaking them. Hopefully I can find a new one because Gaiwans really make the difference in the quality of my teas.

I have too much coffee and tea tea in my life, so a tisane was the way to go. Looking at the ingredients like “Organic bamboo leaves, Fair Trade Certified™ organic lemongrass, Fair Trade Certified™ organic spearmint, organic hawthorne berries, organic elderflower, organic schizandra berries, organic blueberry leaf, Fair Trade Certified™ organic ginger, organic lavender-OKAY,” I was hoping for it to be a fruity light herbal blend, but it was way too earthy. It was like drinking dirt with lemony “after-tones” to compensate. Feelings of “eck” making me present in the moment.

I will see if there is another way to brew it because I find that Numi Teas do better with more water in a pot than an individual cup, but I was not super happy with this blend.

Todays morning selection turned out to be perfect. It’s like breakfast in a cup, making me think of fruity cereal, pancake syrup, and juice. Again no bitterness and astringency. I still have plenty of the White Rhino to keep me at bay, but this is an excellent black tea on the light end that will keep on giving.

Western leftovers.

My need for green oolong is starting become more desperate. As for this, I’m not sure if I would make it my daily green oolong yet. The first steep western was grassy and bitter with a few clean florals. The later two steeps were much more my speed with florals and tropical fruit, especially after it cooled down. This is still great quality for the price and one of my favorites of the group buy, but I am biased.

Thank you for the free sample!

Glad to have tried it, and I might need to try it again. The sample was really for one serving, but I tried dividing it up in two for western. It was on the fainter side because of the way I made it, but it was very good. Think berries and cream. The florals and fresh green character were there like in every one of these oolongs, but it was not at all vegetal-only a little grassy if I over-steeped. I know that strawberry oolongs are pretty common on this website, but I cannot speak to how it compares to the others since I’ve not had them. I have had strawberry green teas, and this one far excels those.

Like I said, I’m going to have to try this again when I can afford to because it was a good tea. This is a good bet if you are looking for a good quality flavored tea.

This is one of my favorite flavored teas as of now. I can brew it multiple times Gong Fu, Western, or for long periods in a tumbler. The passionfruit flavor is strong, sweet, and punch-y, and it blends naturally with the smooth texture and the florals of the oolong. My friend who has never had passion fruit thought it was like berry. It can be a little grassy if you use too many leaves, but if you use just enough, it can be difficult to over steep.

If it were not for the price, I would buy this along with the Almond Oolong and the Lychee in bulk because I was that satisfied with this tea. The teas from this company in general wake me up and give me that happy feeling that I can only get from a good tea. They are also refreshing in their own right and very easy to cold brew. So there it goes-a good quality flavored tea that I would recommend, especially for those who like passion fruit. If only I were not two servings away from a sip-down.

I’ve been waiting a while to review this because this was the more tricky oolong to brew out of all the ones I had from What-Cha, and I swear the leaves got weaker over time. Feel free to correct me, Alistair.

I cut the cake in half the first time starting off gong fu with steeps of 45 sec and up. I got something that was certainly similar to a Dong Ding with a banana walnut thing going into each steep. I thought it was interesting that the other two reviews mentioned coconut and cherry. I definitely got the coconut in the smooth texture, and a little bit of cherry in the aftertaste, but those flavors were not the pronounced to me. The tea was on the light side, but it had a pronounced light orange color and yielded about six cups.

I kept on experimenting with it, and the results were not what I expected. I brewed a whole cake in a Gaiwan and then in a much larger pot, and both times, the tea tasted and smelled far different from how I had it before. I got a drying walnut skin mouth feel and a weird charred up banana in the aftertaste-but even then, the brew felt more like water with a slight difference.

I tried a third of the cake, and the brew was weak with little water gong fu and even western in the gaiwan. As for tumblering it, I only got a weird subtle plantain taste amidst texture water.Sometimes, I felt like I was drinking warm milk. After all this, I decided that the only ways this tea works is through Alistair’s instructions of 1/2 cake for 1-2 minutes or 1/2 cake western just under boiling in an 8 ounce cup for two minutes. I get the subtle fruit flavors I like that way, but again, the fruit notes along with any previous florals have slowly dissipated. The flavors also dissipate quickly as it cools down.

Though I was extremely critical of this tea (I do not think I’ve given to a 80 to What-Cha’s oolongs EVER), it was a good oolong anyway. The roast allowed for the tea to not have the vegetal spinach taste that so many green oolongs are apt to, and it did have some very unique subtle fruit notes that you can find in a few other oolongs.

This is the updated version with more Oriental Beauty. Fall leaves with the smell of lavender and a cream puff is right. The greater emphasis on the oolong brings out the earthy and woodsy notes more making the tea a tad bit darker, but oddly enough, the vanilla and the lavender are much smoother. It’s somehow also turned into a more European tea for me personally which is odd. This was great for volunteering this morning, and it goes well for 3 grams in the 16 oz tumbler, but I found myself curious to add cream and sugar. Funny enough, two of my students smelled it and wanted to try it, and they were able to handle without sugar for a little bit. I added sugar afterwards, but they genuinely enjoyed it enough to come back to drink the rest of it in another class. Keep in mind these kids are twelve to thirteen years old

The 100 rating is more personal than anything else because this was a time of need and comfort tea, but I still think this tea deserves a high rating because it is a unique blend. I typically get three brews out of it western and I personally prefer to go light between 2 and 3 grams. This tea really is for specific circumstances like taking a bath, but it does its job well. If you do not like lavender, vanilla, or dryness-or anything that reminds you of soap like lavender, then stay away.

This is good cold brewed. Go light on the leaves though. The buttery thing is the same, but some missed out florals and a hint of fruit notes come through nicely.