Daylon R Thomas Send Message

I finally tried this out western. I let it steep for a minute and the brew was balanced and refreshing. Had a little bit of a lemon thing going on with a slightly buttery body. I do not think it will change to much. If it does, the note will probably only have a few sentences. Light overall, but so good on this Easter morning. To think that my Birthday was yesterday on the year of my graduation, and that I was born on the day before Easter in 1995. There’s a symmetry to life right now that I’m going to enjoy.

This one grew on me. My roommate was frickin’ hooked to it. The almond flavor is very strong, and if you use too many leaves, it borders on being overwhelming marzipan tea. It actually reminded of an almond flavored bubble tea because it was so sweet. After I went for the less is more approach, I drank this one CONSTANTLY. It became a class requirement that I designated in my tumbler. Again, good gong fu, western, and grandpa with the oolong coming more naturally in terms of texture. The florals were nice, but distracted my other friend with how green they were-never mind these teas are minimally vegetal. When the opportunity arises, I’ll get some more.

I have so many backlogs to do…

Like I said in the other review, I very deeply enjoyed this one. Highly aromatic-basically smelled like peach candy. But the flavor did not detract from the oolong-the florals and fresh green profile of the leaves accented it. This was good for about 6-8 brews Gong Fu starting with 30 seconds, good for 4 brews western starting between 1-2 minutes, and good for grandpa with less leaves in my tumbler. Out of all the samples of the regular sampler on their website, this was close to my favorite with the lychee. I actually found myself craving this one.

I got these a few weeks ago, and I was very happy I did. I’ve always wanted to try the flavored oolongs from Naivetea, but considering the state of their website, and after seeing these guys on steepster, I gave them a try. Every single of these flavored green oolongs has produced at least seven brews Gong Fu with beginning steeps of 35-45 seconds. The flavors for all of them were potent as candy, but most of the flavors flowed well with the oolong as advertised.

This one with the Passionfruit and the Almond were my favorites, though all of them were very enjoyable. The Lychee flavor held throughout, but with a medium texture accented creamy florals and greenery under the fruit. That accent was in all the other teas as they all held up Gong Fu, Western with less leaves, and Grandpa tumbler style with less leaves. I wonder what the base was, and I am actually curious to try their unflavored oolongs-especially the Golden Phoinex and their Alee Mt.

As for these, I frickin loved them enough to force myself not to finish them off. I am about to soon. I have too much oolong on my hands and coming now, but I would definitely recommend this company and will buy more in the future.

Finished this western with a small amount no more than 3 grams, no less than 2, and it was incredible. Milky florals, refreshing body, and a crisp green note with a bit of the apricot thing going on. Sad to see this one go. I’m also sad to see the Premium Floral Zhangping go, dang. I wanted to try that.

Nice first flush. I did not expect it to be as fruity as it was, making me think of lychee the entire way through. It was definitely muscatel in some ways, but it had the dryness of a few white wines. Darjeeling is the champagne of teas after all, and to think of it, a lot of the “tasting notes” for whites tend to be the ones I get for oolong and white teas, and some reds for Darjeeling blacks. It reminded me more of an oolong than a black in a lot of ways, but it had the woody character that I associate with teas from this region and that I associate with blacks. I got 4 solid brews western starting at about a minute and a half the first time in 5 oz of water.

I was fairly impressed. If my budget were flowing, then I would probably get another 20 grams of this. It definitely was worth the price considering I’m luke warm about most first flushes, never mind I’ve pretty much enjoyed every first flush from this company so far and I like the Gopaldhara Estate. I would recommend this tea for anyone wanting to try a good first flush, or if your in the mood to be refined for a little bit.

I’m surprised this was not on Steepster. Like the website says, this is basically a more robust version of a silver needle, namely the other white teas that is offered by What-Cha from Kenya. It has a melon taste through every brew-western, gong fu, or grandpa. Every once in a while, it was sweet enough to have a Fruit Loop soaked milk taste. It was a little malty, but barely. It is something that I definitely recommend for a tumbler.

As much as I liked this tea, I was not as impressed with it as I was with the White Rhino. The quality of the tea is still great and one that I am very happy to have purchased, but I can get the same melon flavors with more dimension in the White Rhino. This tea pretty much stays the same throughout with its melon character and syrupy body. There is never a trace of bitterness or astringency to be found, and this tea can be difficult to over brew if you use less leaves.

This is a very unique black tea with a white tea lightness, but without a white teas subtlety. What-Cha always offers high quality teas and this is no exception. It might make some people go “What?” and it might be better for some with a little bit of sugar. White Rhino continues to be my favorite.

Thank you Alistair for letting me try this tea! This is a well done black. Think a balanced body that is not too thick or too light with a zesty orange finish. The malt of the body was closer to a Chinese black than an Assam with some cocoa similarities, but it was smooth and on the sweeter side overall.

This is a traditional black tea, but I enjoyed this tea more than the previous Bitaco Black. Western is the way to go, though Gong Fu does not yield too many differences in how it brews. Even so, I got three rebrews using the website’s guidelines.

If you are looking for something like a more balanced Assam, this is the way to go. I personally am not as big of an Assam person as I used to be, but I would turn to a tea like this if that’s what I was craving. So I enjoy it and recommend it for its overall balance and its great body.

So many teas to backlog, so many to add on Steepster.

After being spoiled by the natural teas I have, I decided to spoil myself even further and see how well a Tie Guan Yin does with flavoring. I got this two weeks earlier for a convenience tea, and figured that the blueberry and vanilla would pair well with a Tie Guan Yin’s florals. I was right, they did, and the dessert tea turned out nicely. It’s on the lighter and greener side which is more than welcomed. This tea is also difficult to over brew.

Thank heavens I served this to my TE Class instead of my other teas. This was a definite hit, and people tended to prefer it with a dash of honey. I’d prefer a little bit of sugar or some on it’s own straight (the sachets are 2 grams each), but it does nicely almost anyway. It does take a while to brew, however.

If you need a convenient dessert tea or fruity oolong, this might be a good bet. The only things preventing me from putting the rating at a 80 is the price-it’s cheaper to get online than it is to get from the local store if that store even carries it. The strength of the leaves only bothered me a little bit since I like to have some teas only twice instead of power-housing them. I definitely recommend a try, and this is something for newer drinkers getting into tea though it might please a few veterans, or otherwise bore them.

Tumbler Test: I used barely 2 grams, and that amount was slightly under what I should have used. The tea yielded a crisp, green and lightly floral bottle anyway. The temp was t 160-150 which was a little low, and the texture was slightly thick-almost like olive oil- despite the very light product. I’ll have to try it again. I say that entirely too often.