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I don’t think anyone can understand just how much I have been looking forward to reviewing this tea. One of my favorite desserts is sticky rice and custard, and my love of oolong teas is common knowledge. The idea of two things I adore seemingly combined was a dream come true. But would this tea stand up to my high expectations? Fortunately, it was excellent. I was not disappointed in the slightest.

I opted to prepare this tea gongfu style. After a flash rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by infusions of 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of custard and sticky rice. After the rinse, the aromas of custard and sticky rice grew stronger. They were joined by scents of cream and fresh flowers. The first infusion released some subtle scents of grass and spinach. In the mouth, the liquor was very light, though I still detected relatively clear notes of cream, butter, grass, custard, and sticky rice. Subsequent infusions better brought out these flavors. They were accompanied by delicate impressions of lilac, honeysuckle, orchid, coconut milk, minerals, mango, and pineapple, as well as hints of pastry and seaweed. The spinach notes finally emerged on the palate too. Later infusions offered lingering notes of minerals, sticky rice, and custard that were underscored by traces of butter, grass, and seaweed.

I know I have said it before, but I am normally not one to go for flavored/scented oolongs. I may be steadily softening on that stance, however, since I have recently discovered a number of these teas that I like. I can safely count this one among that number. This was an exceptionally enjoyable oolong with a great mix of aromas and flavors. If you are a fan of similar teas and/or sticky rice, you owe it to yourself to try this tea.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. No subsequent infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted malty, woody aromas. After infusion, I found scents of malt, smoke, wood, roasted nuts, cocoa, molasses, and caramel. In the mouth, the liquor was fairly astringent and tannic. I noticed heavy notes of oak wood and smoked pine accompanied by notes of spruce, cedar, wildflower honey, hazelnut, roasted chestnut, and black walnut that eventually gave way to softer, subtler impressions of cream, malt, cocoa, caramel, molasses, nutmeg, and black pepper. The finish was woody, malty, smoky, and nutty, though I could still detect impressions of molasses and wildflower honey.

This was a heavy, punchy tea that had a ton to offer in the flavor department, but it was also not the most drinkable Assamica out there. I found the mouthfeel to be a bit harsh, and at times, it was a little too astringent for my liking. As much as I enjoyed getting to a try an exotic New World tea, I cannot see myself ever reaching for this over a good Indian or Yunnan Assamica. I’m still willing to bet, however, that Assamica fans would enjoy this tea on one level or another.

Having recently tried the Darjeeling 1st Flush Pasabong Small-Holder Black Tea, I realized that I had a second sample pouch of the 2016 second flush squirreled away in a tote, dug it out, and set about doing a comparison between the two. I also felt like I may have been a bit hard on this tea the first time I reviewed it and wanted to give it a second chance. After polishing off the pouch, all I can say is that my opinion of this tea remains pretty much unchanged.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any subsequent infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noted spicy aromas reminiscent of clove and anise coupled with scents of raisin, straw, wood, and herbs. After infusion, I found aromas of Muscatel, wood, cherry, almond, and menthol. The tea liquor offered notes of tart cherry, clove, anise, nutmeg, and menthol on the entry, but by mid-palate, notes of Muscatel, butter, straw, honey, lemon, malt, toast, wood, and almond emerged to provide some balance. The finish offered fleeting impressions of almond, straw, Muscatel, malt, and menthol.

I got more out of this tea this time around. I was hoping for that, especially since I vaguely recalled being rather stuffy and exhausted the first time I set about reviewing this tea. Furthermore, I think allowing this tea to sit for a while allowed it to open up and develop a bit more. There is also the undeniable fact that all of the work I have put into developing my nose and palate has allowed me to get significantly more out of the teas I review. Still, I did not find this tea to be all that impressive. Perhaps it was just a bit better than I initially thought it to be (note that I have bumped up my rating by a couple of points), but something about the two Pasabong teas I have tried has just struck me as being off. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s almost like those responsible for processing the raw materials try to avoid producing teas that adhere to the standards of classic Darjeelings, but rather than producing something new, fresh, and innovative, these efforts work to the detriment of the overall product. I don’t know. I’m still just not impressed.

This was the second black tea from Pasabong that I tried this year. Back in the first half of the year, I tried the second flush Pasabong black tea offered by What-Cha and came away from it puzzled and not exactly impressed. Unfortunately, I had the exact same reaction to this tea, though of the two, I think I may have preferred the second flush tea. This just came across as being very dark and muddled for a first flush Darjeeling black tea.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas that reminded me of a combination of chili leaf, hay, and wood. After infusion, I found aromas of malt and orange blossom. In the mouth, the oddly dark tea liquor provided me with notes of wood, toast, malt, hay, grass, chili leaf, orange blossom, herbs, roasted almond, and raisin. There wasn’t much of a fruitiness to this tea, though I did note something of an odd, pungent floral note accompanied by hints of cooked greens and green beans just prior to the finish. Speaking of the finish, it started off rather malty, nutty, and smooth before briefly turning vegetal and then drying out almost entirely, leaving previously absent impressions of chalk, beechnut, and raw chestnut in the mouth.

Well, as stated above, this tea did not impress me all that much. It was a very up-and-down, hit-or-miss drinking experience. I found the leaf quality to be a bit lacking and also felt that this tea did not really demonstrate many of the best qualities of typical first flush Darjeeling black teas. In a sense, it was unique, but it was also not all that appealing. While I’m sure this would not qualify as the worst example of this type of tea in the world, I feel that there are better options that are very readily available.

What do we have here? Could it be another review from the endless backlog? Why yes, it is. I tried What-Cha’s India Assam Halmari GTGFOP1 Clonal Black Tea and this tea pretty much back to back and ended up surprising myself. Halmari’s GTGFOP1 clonal tea has an excellent reputation among Assam drinkers, and while I found it to be very good, I also found it to be slightly overrated. I ended up enjoying this tea somewhat more. I then discovered that this tea was also a second flush GTGFOP1 grade black tea produced from the same clonal plants as the other tea. Assuming the difference between these two offerings was the hand processing, I found this tea to be smoother.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, I noted mild aromas of malt, wood, and molasses coming from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I found aromas of roasted chestnut, walnut, orange, and herbs. In the mouth, I noted a gentle sweetness on the entry followed by notes of wood, cream, butter, caramel, malt, molasses, golden raisin, brown toast, orange, date, roasted chestnut, walnut, and wintergreen. There was a surprising, but most welcome lack of astringency to the tea liquor. The finish was mild, smooth, and short, leaving notes of malt, cream, and roasted nuts that were underscored by subtle touches of caramel and fruit lingering in the mouth.

As mentioned earlier, I found this to be the smoother, softer, and more approachable of What-Cha’s two Halmari offerings. It was just a more pleasant tea overall. Though both were very good examples of clonal Assam black tea, I would pick this one if pressed to choose between the two.

Here is yet another backlogged review. I finished a sample of this oolong last month (on October 30th, to be exact). This tea was part of the experimental Tieguanyin series Master Zhang first released through Verdant in the autumn of 2016. Prior to trying this tea, I had tried three of the other teas in this series and found two of them very enjoyable. With that in mind, I was somewhat eager to see how this one stacked up to the others. Overall, I found it to be a respectable tea, but I have had more enjoyable traditionally-styled Tieguanyins over the course of the year.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I started with Verdant Tea’s recommended brewing guidelines and then modified them to fit my preferred approach. After a quick rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 208 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cedar, roasted grain, and light char. The rinse brought out scents of flowers, spices, and toasted rice. The first infusion introduced clearer hints of violet and saffron on the nose. In the mouth, I discovered mild notes of toasted grain, toasted rice, and cedar accompanied by hints of violet and saffron in a tea liquor that was smooth, creamy, and somewhat buttery. There was a pronounced sweetness and grittiness to the aftertaste. The subsequent infusions brought out impressions of watercress, caramel, minerals, orange peel, cream, butter, and darker fruits like blueberry and/or raspberry. The sweetness and grittiness of the aftertaste remained and began to remind me a bit of ginseng. There were also some muddy vegetal notes that reminded me of both damp grass and cattail shoots. The later infusions surprisingly introduced a hint of marshmallow, but were otherwise mostly dominated by notes of cedar, cream, damp grass, toasted grain, butter, and minerals that were chased by subtler impressions of cattail shoots and watercress.

Not a terrible tea, but also showcasing a rather muddled and awkward combination of aromas and flavors, this was not one of my favorite traditional Tieguanyins of 2016 or 2017. That being said, I can see why some people flipped over it. It was challenging and complex, yet never came close to being overwhelming. The roast was also very artfully applied. It came across as restrained and subtle while creating some necessary contrasts with the tea’s more floral, fruity, and vegetal properties. Honestly, there wasn’t a ton wrong with this tea, and I’m likely being a bit hypercritical in my evaluation, but it just didn’t strike me as being quite on par with some of Verdant’s similar offerings.

If memory serves, this was the second of the 2016 autumn flush Darjeeling black teas I finished and reviewed last month. Unfortunately, it is the last one to get a write-up on Steepster. I’m honestly not sure why that is. Most likely, I simply put it off and then forgot about it. Anyway, I did not expect much from this tea. Teabox’s description of it seemed to betray that it was not their favorite of the 2016 autumn flush teas, as it was simply described as being “for those who seek out lighter teas,” the sort of tea that you could get something out of “with a bit of coaxing.” I pasted their description into the tea information section when I added this tea to Steepster. Take a look at it. They sold that one super well, didn’t they? Nothing says we think this is a quality offering like more or less stating, “if you fiddle with it, you can get something out of it.” Naturally, I did not find that to be the case at all. Like most of the Gopaldhara teas I have tried, this was a high quality offering that was not finicky in the least. Honestly, it and the Jungpana Classic Autumn Black were my two favorites of the 2016 autumn flush teas I purchased from Teabox, and I do not feel that I am exaggerating in the least when I say that this one was just as good as the other.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, I picked up rather distant aromas of fruit, wood, and nuts from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I noted aromas of dried flowers, apricot, cherry, wood, and roasted nuts. In the mouth, the liquor expressed subtle, delicate, refined notes of wood, rose, dandelion, dried chrysanthemum, roasted almond, cherry, apricot, pear, elderberry, and blackberry with touches of watermelon rind, malt, nutmeg, and raisin lurking around the fringes. The finish was soft and relatively clean, offering pleasant, lingering impressions of almond, dried chrysanthemum, pear, and watermelon rind.

I can see why this was described as being appropriate for people who like lighter teas, but to me, this tea was less light and more subtle. Its smooth texture, lean body, and well-integrated aromas and flavors betrayed considerable depth and complexity for this type of black tea. Because of this, I think this is the sort of tea that would be more appropriate for seasoned drinkers of autumn flush black teas or those looking for a challenging tea that is never less than enjoyable.

Here we come to a blast from the past. I finished a sample pouch of this first flush Darjeeling black tea back on 10/19, took notes for a review, and apparently never got around to posting anything. Obviously, I am remedying that now. I tend to be a big fan of the teas produced by the Margaret’s Hope Estate, so it should come as no surprise that I liked this one quite a bit.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, I noted aromas of herbs, grass, and wood coming from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I found aromas of green pepper, wood, grass, and citrus. In the mouth, the liquor offered interesting notes of almond, grass, hay, green pepper, lemon, malt, violet, dandelion, and field greens. The finish was very smooth with lingering floral tones coupled with malty, vegetal notes. Oddly, I thought I caught hints of menthol, bay leaf, nutmeg, and something like galangal very briefly at this time. I know that Teabox’s tasting note mentioned notes of white flowers and ripe pumpkin, but I did not get any of that. Of course, I am also generally ambivalent towards pumpkin and have not eaten it recently enough to have an accurate recollection of what it smells or tastes like.

This was a very nice first flush Darjeeling black tea. While it was somewhat subtler and smoother than I anticipated, it was also spicier and more vegetal than any other Margaret’s Hope tea I have tried to this point. On that note, I had a first flush black tea from Margaret’s Hope last year, and of the two, I think I enjoyed that one a little more. Still, this was a very good tea. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quality first flush Darjeeling black tea for regular consumption.

What-Cha seems to have gone heavy on the first flush black teas from Gopaldhara this year, as this is the fourth one I have tried. In my opinion, there hasn’t been a bad tea in the bunch. This one seems to have been the consensus favorite with the folks at What-Cha, and though it was not quite my favorite (the AV2 Clonal Wonder just barely edged this one and the China Special out for me), it was an excellent tea.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material produced aromas that strongly reminded me of a combination of chili leaf and straw. After infusion, I noted emerging aromas of grass, almond, Muscatel, apricot, orange blossom, and something like corn husk. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of chili leaf, malt, grass, straw, almond, and orange blossom that were smoother and somewhat softer than expected. When I began to seriously dig, I noted subtler notes of corn husk, smoke, apricot, Muscatel, and cream lurking around the fringes. The finish was smooth and slightly creamy in texture, offering lingering notes of cream, grass, malt, orange blossom, and almond.

Though it arguably was not quite as complex as some of the other Gopaldhara first flush teas What-Cha has made available in the past year, this tea more than made up for it with an interesting and surprisingly harmonious combination of aromas and flavors and a wonderfully textured liquor in the mouth. Like the other teas, this was a quality offering, and I could see why some people would absolutely fall in love with it. If you are a fan of first flush Darjeeling black teas, this one is definitely worth a shot.

It seems that I am starting to reach for Vietnamese green teas more frequently when I am in the mood for green tea. I suppose that is not all that surprising since I like a lot of Yunnan and Guangxi green teas, and I find that the aromas and flavors offered by a number of Vietnamese green teas are somewhat similar. This was a tea I rushed to buy simply because of where it originated. I have had a couple of wild black teas from the tea forests of Ha Giang and I enjoyed them, so trying a green tea from there was a no-brainer. Apparently, this tea and What-Cha’s other Shan Tuyet offerings are made from Camellia Sinensis var. pubilimba, a unique tea varietal native to Vietnam. This was an interesting tea, full of vegetal, nutty, and malty notes with a hint of what I can only describe as a sheng-like funk and unexpected fruit and flower impressions.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I decided to forego a rinse in this instance, as I do not always rinse green teas. I started with a 5 second infusion in 167 F water. This initial infusion was followed by infusions of 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

The dry tea leaves emitted somewhat pungent malty aromas with hints of vegetal character. The first infusion brought forth aromas of grass, spinach, kale, and corn husk. In the mouth, the liquor offered faint, delicate flavors. It started with a hint of sweetness on the entry before giving way to something of a young sheng funk with some brothy umami character and hints of grass, malt, and corn husk right before the finish. Subsequent infusions better brought out the grass, malt, and corn husk notes. The spinach and kale also started to impress themselves upon the palate. New notes of straw, hay, chestnut, hazelnut, asparagus, squash blossom, lettuce, wood, sour plum, tart cherry, and seaweed emerged too. At times, I even briefly detected entirely unexpected floral notes that reminded me of a combination of geranium, chrysanthemum, and marigold. The later infusions saw mineral notes emerge in a big way, though fleeting notes of lettuce, grass, chestnut, malt, spinach, and sheng-like funk were detectable until pretty much the end of the session.

Odd, yet aromatic and flavorful, this was a very satisfying green tea. Though it peaked rather early and faded quickly, it yielded a session that was more or less simultaneously enjoyable and fascinating from start to finish. I could see this tea appealing to adventurous green tea drinkers or Pu-erh fans looking to try something new.