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It’s chamomile, it’s lemon myrtle. Surprise! The smell of the dry bag and brew seem to be about 1:1. The taste leans more chamomile with the lemon myrtle providing a fair amount of herbal-lemon excitement to keep it interesting. On the Chamomile Flavor Spectrum®, this tea is dead center floral, not earthy, not appley. The tea was smooth on the sip but surprisingly drying. Something that threw me for a whirl was an aftertaste of yellow peach. How in the hell?

A congratulatory caffeine-free beverage after taking my Linear Algebra and Differential Equations final exam this evening. I needed something just like this. Bumping up the rating a little because it’s almost perfect and impossible to oversteep.

I bought a box of Ahmad Linden Flower bags and also some bulk loose flower from the co-op. It would be convenient and light on the money clip if one of those compares to this Dammann Frères because it’s not cheap and neither is shipping :(

I can’t believe I went from hating all math my whole life to loving a little bit of the higher level stuff. Whew. One more final exam to go!

A cave of time immemorial. The outline of the falcon above. A sinking of the body into cool mineral soil. Libraries of worn braille in stone. Thick, smooth creases in the mumbling, shifting faces. Blind? No, I can see.

Do you remember? How could you forget.
It’s in your blood, it’s in your bones.
In these wet leaves, I know my home.

I purchased this Large Leaf from Old Trees Pu-erh from the bulk tea section at Rainbow Grocery. I was surprised to see several puerh from the Phoenix Tea Collection as well as a few daily drinkers, green and black. I’m not sure what prompted me to purchase this puerh since the dry leaf looks like it’s had better days, like an ancient pile of dry autumn leaves, ragged and with several large stems. Curiosity again?

It smells like what I imagine the best of aged puerh smells like. There are notes of clean soil and a very particular savory and spicy medicinal smell that I’m close to placing but just can’t get there. A hint of date syrup lies underneath. Warming and rinsing really brings all those notes forward, no new additions. The wet leaf shimmers like velvet under the light.

The first steep of 10s is a clear dark orange-red, thick, oily, and so smooth with a really pleasant soil note backed up by a strong minerality and savory quality. Silky, astringency and bitterness nowhere to be found. It retains this strength in character for many steeps. Right before I substantially increase the steep times, a very persistent and strong returning date sweetness emanates from my throat. I lost track of the number of steeps because I was in such a relaxed state, but the tea just faded away nicely, not leaving me wishing there was more to the session. Perfect.

I am so grateful to have tried a puerh with so much age. It’s an incredible tea and I’m regretting not purchasing more than one session’s worth. Though that does make for a good excuse to go on a day long bike ride from my new residence up north to the Phoenix Tea Collection and Museum in Lagunitas where I can hopefully purchase more.

Recommended for experienced puerh drinkers. This might be overwhelming or too strong of a flavor for a lot of people.

More reviews of what I think is the same tea can be found here: https://steepster.com/teas/chicago-tea-garden/10957-large-leaf-from-old-trees-pu-erh
As you can see, it has mixed reception.

A name has never been so appropriate for a tea, one that transports me through environments and time. Ancient Spirit hits all the right notes and feels. Complex (see the other reviews!), substantial yet light, stimulating yet grounding. Performs well gongfu, western and grandpa and oversteeping is not disastrous. Good for breakfast, lunch or dinner if you don’t mind staying up past your bedtime.

I’ve had two harvests of this so far. The one I’m currently sipping on is 2017. I so, so hope Brenden continues to carry Ancient Spirit!

A little update on Quince Eucalyptus.

I prefer 2 tsp over the recommended 3 (1 Tbsp) as that reduces the tart quality which allows more delicate flavors to come through. This tisane is good for 2 steeps western, and while the second steep gets a little drying, it also develops a sweet nectar-like note that complements the tartness. Bumping up the rating 9 points. I’ve never had a tisane like Quince Eucalyptus and it fills a gap in my preferences that I didn’t know existed until trying it.

Received as a sample from Togo. Thanks :)

Dry leaf has some good age on it and smells as such, with other notes of dirt, dates, faint florals and apricot. Warming and rinsing releases aromas of ash, light dried apricot, bitter black olives, sawdust, clay and old dry dark wood.

The taste of the liquor is distinctly different from the smell of the leaves. It’s light-bodied and very clean with mostly minerals, grass, herbs, green wood and light dried apricot. The flavors and some astringency peak in the first few steeps and slowly fade from there. Toward the middle of the session some complementary bitterness comes in, adding some depth to the liquor and then fades away. Sweetness was never present for me.

I really enjoyed the clean character of this puerh. It would be a great daily drinker, especially for green tea lovers looking for an aging sheng.

A nice, high quality straight rooibos more bold in flavor than others I’ve had. Sweet red rooibos taste with cedar, woody vanilla, minerals and not a hint of medicinal or tobacco flavors. A tad drying but nothing that would keep me from purchasing this again.

I really love the addition of allspice here. The bag smells strongly of that and clove with the cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and nutmeg lurking underneath, all very fresh. Not only can I smell all the spice ingredients, I can taste them, too, in about the order listed above. A very spicy and very warming cup. Buuut, I can’t taste the rooibos which I’m a little sad about. Its mellow quality is probably just a nice tame base for those fresh and flavorful spices.

A good bagged tea strong enough to accompany a breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy, eggs, avocado and spinach. Cuts through that heaviness while still shining in flavor. Mostly malty, a little woody, and a little sweet with a substantial citrus tinge.

Upon arriving at my coworker’s apartment, one of the first things I noticed was a collection of beautiful English-style tea cups on a shelf in the kitchen. Her roommate is a tea head! I was shown the stash in the closet and the selection screamed ‘Steepster Member!’ at me. So much loose leaf. She said I could drink anything I wanted, but I remained modest in my selection and only had one of her teas over the weekend. I picked this Douglas Fir Spring Tips because I’ve never seen it around.

We have Doug Fir here in California, but in most of the forests I’ve been in Northern California, Doug Fir is mixed with other tree species. This tea had a damp, dewey quality that reminded me of a moist Cascadian pure Doug Fir forest. It had a sweet fir aroma and tastes of fir, light earth and citrus and nectar sweetness. Wow, what a comforting and refreshing treat for a cold morning on the coast. I have to find this tea.