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This was another tea I kind of forgot I had. Fortunately, this was a roasted oolong rather than a green oolong. Aside from this tea being roasted and processed in a strip style, I do not know much about it. I don’t know whether or not it was a baozhong. All I know is that it was both very unique and very good.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of char, roasted grain, and roasted vegetables. After the rinse, I noted stronger aromas of roasted vegetables coupled with emerging impressions of flowers and nuts. The first proper infusion brought out scents of wood. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of grass, wood, roasted grain, char, and roasted vegetables. There were hints of flowers too. Subsequent infusions brought out rather subtle impressions of nuts, cream, butter, blueberry, blackberry, elderberry, minerals, lilac, violet, lily, banana leaf, and cattail shoots. It was an interesting mix of aromas and flavors. The tea liquor most definitely offered something of a heavy, broth-like umami presence overlaid with unique floral, nutty, fruity, woody, and vegetal tones. The later infusions offered lingering touches of minerals, butter, cream, wood, roasted grain, banana leaf, grass, and roasted vegetables.

A super unique Taiwanese oolong and also an incredibly tasty one, I found it difficult to compare this tea to many of the other oolongs I have tried recently. Furthermore, I noted that it held up very well in storage. Prior to brewing this tea gongfu, I had experimented with it as an iced tea and also tried a couple of Western preparations. All worked quite well. I would recommend this tea highly to curious drinkers, but unfortunately, it has been out of stock for some time, and since no newer harvests have been offered, I get the impression that a newer version may not be offered in the near future, if at all. Should that end up being the case, it will be a shame.

Even though it has been less than a week, it feels like forever since I have posted a review. Where have I been? I took some time off to visit friends in Lexington, KY. I am very likely moving there in a month or two. I guess I’ll have to change my Steepster name since I won’t be living in the eastern part of this state anymore. Anyway, despite the fact that I haven’t been posting, I have been drinking tea. Yes, the backlog is once again full. Yes, I still have notes from October I need to post. Getting back into the groove of regularly posting reviews, I wasn’t sure where to start, so I just randomly chose this tea. I finished a sample of it late last week. I found it to be a very nice milk oolong.

Naturally, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 12 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 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, I noted aromas of cream, butter, and vanilla coming from the dry leaves. After the rinse, I noted an emerging custard scent. The first infusion began to reveal aromas of steamed rice, grass, and flowers. In the mouth, the liquor revealed delicate notes of cream, grass, butter, and vanilla with floral impressions that reminded me of daylily, Narcissus, and orchid. Subsequent infusions brought out the custard and steamed rice on the palate. I also found new notes of coconut milk, spinach, mango, pineapple, daylily shoots, pear, lettuce, sugarcane, minerals, seaweed, and honeysuckle. Later infusions mostly offered hints of cream, butter, steamed rice, lettuce, grass, spinach, minerals, and daylily shoots.

This was a much softer, subtler, more refined tea than I was expecting. The aromas and flavors were masterfully integrated. Nothing came off as being uneven or heavy-handed. Normally, I find flavored oolongs of this type to go way too heavy on the milkiness, but this one (thankfully) did not. Despite the fact that I would not turn to this over a good Taiwanese milk oolong or a traditional, unflavored Jin Xuan, I found it to be a very good tea. If you are into milk oolongs at all, this one is definitely worth a try.

This was a tea I had been wanting to get to for a while. I ended up doing a gongfu session with it yesterday evening after I finished exercising. It made for a good companion during the Stan vs. Evil marathon I stayed up late to watch. Hey, I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere and we hardly ever get any trick-or-treaters, so drinking tea and watching television beat waiting on children to show and eating tons of candy out of boredom.

Obviously, I gongfued this tea. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced a blend of nutty, vegetal, and floral aromas. After the rinse, I picked up more distinct scents of cream, violet, damp grass, gardenia, orchid, watercress, and some sort of nut. The first infusion added additional aromas of vanilla, butter, and tea flower. On the palate, I noted surprisingly pronounced notes of cream, butter, vanilla, gardenia, orchid, nuts, grass, watercress, tea flower, and violet. Subsequent infusions brought out the watercress on the nose. I was also finally able to place the nut aroma and flavor. I had read that people often get walnut impressions from Da Wu Ye, but I couldn’t pick up any walnut notes myself. At one point, however, I recall thinking, “What in my kitchen smells like walnut oil?” I then realized it was the gaiwan. The power of suggestion most likely played a role in that realization, but whatever. New impressions of pomelo, lemon peel, candied orange peel, peach, cattail, plum, cinnamon, osmanthus, almond, pear, anise, and minerals also emerged. The later infusions mostly offered notes of minerals, cream, and butter backed by hints of grass, watercress, almond, and walnut, though there were also some ghostly floral and stone fruit notes coupled with an equally vague citrus tanginess in places.

The very little bit of research I did regarding the origins of Da Wu Ye suggested that this particular cultivar was originally a hybrid of Shui Xian and Ya Shi Xiang. That makes perfect sense considering that this tea offered the slight spiciness and mineral notes of Shui Xian with the floral, savory, and nutty characteristics of Ya Shi Xiang. While I very much enjoy Shui Xian, my continued experimentation with Dancong oolongs has given me the impression that Ya Shi Xiang is not my thing and likely never will be. I do have to say, however, that I found this Da Wu Ye to be deep, complex, and exceptionally approachable. I greatly enjoyed it and have no doubt that I will be seeking out other Da Wu Ye oolongs in the near future.

One thing I like about Harney & Sons is that they source a number of unique black teas from all over mainland China. This one, in particular, was produced from Anji bushes grown by monks in southern Zhejiang Province. In my mind, Zhejiang Province is synonymous with green tea (gunpowder, Long Jing, and the like), so a black tea from there was automatically going to pique my interest. I found this to be an exceptional black tea, almost as chocolaty as the Laoshan black teas I love.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a flash rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 212 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced lovely aromas of dark chocolate, honey, and ripe plum. After the rinse, I found rather subtle aromas of black cherry, blueberry, mulberry, malt, wood, toast, and roasted chestnut. The first infusion brought out a hint of something like elderberry on the nose. In the mouth, I immediately found clear notes of dark chocolate, honey, malt, wood, toast, and roasted chestnut. Subsequent infusions brought out all of the fruit notes in the mouth plus notes of caramel, cream, marshmallow, orange zest, vanilla, and minerals. I could also pick up soothing, cooling herbal impressions after the swallow. The later infusions were very mild. I could just pick up lingering impressions of minerals, cream, marshmallow, wood, and malt with some even fainter dark chocolate and herbal notes.

On one hand, this tea faded very quickly, and I felt like I did have to ding it a little due to its lack of longevity. On the other hand, the earlier infusions were spectacular and the tea’s fade was quick, yet rather graceful. I kept going after I probably should have stopped simply because I enjoyed the texture and color of the mostly spent tea liquor. It’s also somewhat rare for me to find a traditional Chinese black tea that packs such tremendous amounts of flavor into the early goings of a session. Definitely try this one. In my opinion, this is one of the best unflavored black teas Harney & Sons currently offers.

I’m continuing to clear out the backlog with this one. It took longer than expected for me to get to this tea. I was aware that it was very popular and had a great reputation here on Steepster, and I think that may have played a role in my initial lack of desire to review it. Everyone had already said so much about this particular blend, what, if anything could I add? Well, now I am finally getting around to reviewing this blend and I have to say that I found it to be incredible. I have long felt that some of the best offerings from Whispering Pines Tea Company are their blends and my experience with this one only further reinforced that opinion.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a flash rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose blended material in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of vanilla, chocolate, honey, spices, and stone fruits. After the rinse, I found new aromas of raisin, malt, orange, leather, and wood. The bouquet of the first infusion was practically identical. I found mild notes of vanilla, malt, cream, wood, and chocolate in the mouth. Subsequent infusions brought out orange, black cherry, raisin, toast, leather, honey, plum, and mineral notes. I also found touches of camphor on the finish. When I focused in, I could detect additional notes of baked bread, clove, anise, nutmeg, menthol, and eucalyptus as well. The later infusions primarily offered mineral, baked bread, toast, cream, malt, and wood notes underscored by fleeting impressions of vanilla and calming, cooling herbal notes.

When I first tried this, it took me a couple minutes to adjust to it. I think I was expecting it to be much sweeter than it was, but fortunately, this was a very balanced, complex blend with a wonderful mix of aromas and flavors. The vanilla never came close to overpowering what the tea base had to offer. Instead, they complimented one another beautifully. Furthermore, I greatly appreciated the fact that no artificial ingredients were used in this blend. Overall, I have a hard time imagining that there is a much better vanilla black tea blend on the market. Definitely make a point of trying this one.

I’m still plowing through some of the oolongs I acquired earlier in the year and toward the end of last year. This was one of them and I have to say that to this point in my life, this was the absolute worst oolong of this type I have tried. Normally, Four Season oolongs are very floral, sweet, smooth, and pleasant, but this one was thin and watery with an uneven mix of flavors and little staying power.

I gongfued this tea. After a flash rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 12 additional infusions that I had to more or less force myself to get through. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 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 produced subtle aromas of sugarcane, violet, and orchid. After the rinse, new aromas of cream, butter, vanilla, and grass were revealed. The first proper infusion more fully brought out the floral character on the nose. In the mouth, the liquor offered hints of grass and spinach on the entry before giving way to subtler hints of cream, butter, vanilla, sugarcane, and orchid. Subsequent infusions brought out vanilla and spinach on the nose and violet in the mouth. I also discovered notes of green apple, Asian pear, lettuce, lily, lilac, seaweed, and minerals. There was a slight graininess to these middle infusions as well. It seemed more than a bit out of place in a tea like this. I noted that the floral aromas had a tendency of turning pungent before suddenly fading, leaving me with a thin, uneven, and unpleasant mix of savory, fruity, and vegetal characteristics coupled with something of a gritty graininess. The later infusions were buttery, though mineral, grass, seaweed, and lettuce notes remained in play. I could detect no lingering fruity or floral sweetness.

I may be being a bit harsh here, but I found this tea to be nothing short of a disaster. I kind of think this was a bad tea to begin with, but I also think it had started to fade by the time I got to it. I even noticed that the leaves looked a bit weird when I first opened the pouch, as the dry leaves were an unusually bright, dusty green. In terms of aroma and flavor, there was surprising complexity, but none of it ever came together and there was little depth. A horribly uneven drinking experience and also a flat-out bad one, I would recommend that curious drinkers pass on this tea. There are plenty of better Four Season oolongs on the market. In my opinion, What-Cha, Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company, Taiwan Tea Crafts, and Floating Leaves Tea all offer much better examples of this type of tea.

I have to start cleaning out the backlog again. Fortunately, it’s not nearly as bad as it was in September and the first part of the month. I was starting to make good progress on it, but being out of state and also not having consistent internet access for a couple days put me a little behind schedule. Anyway, I purchased this tea shortly before Tealyra discontinued it. I know virtually nothing about it. I don’t know what the leaf grade was supposed to be and I have no clue what the date of harvest was. I went into this one not knowing what to expect. I found it to be oddly mild for an Assam. I could not determine whether it was due to the tea being a bit stale or it just being naturally mild.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped one teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves emitted mild aromas of prunes, figs, red apples, and spices. After infusion, I picked up on stronger red apple and prune scents as well as emerging aromas of malt and wood. On the palate, I noted somewhat muted flavors of cream, malt, oatmeal, wood, toast, caramel, anise, nutmeg, prune, fig, clove, red apple, and molasses. The finish was short, smooth, creamy, and malty. There were some lingering red apple and spice flavors once the cream and malt notes began to recede.

I’m not certain this tea was all that stale. I figure that it was a bit on the old side, but it seemed to have a little too much life left in it to be all that stale. Maybe this was a very mild Assam. I’m still not entirely sure. I enjoyed the aromas and flavors the tea offered, but they just came across as being weak and somewhat flat. Overall, I suppose this was not really a bad tea, just a somewhat boring, overly timid one that was not representative of most Assam black teas.

This was a tea I was excited to try. Vahdam Teas gifted me a 10 gram sample of the 2017 production of this tea a little earlier in the year and I promised to review it in return. Going into this review, I was at least vaguely familiar with the Arya Estate’s line of offerings, but to be completely honest, I knew more about its reputation; the Arya Estate has developed a well-deserved reputation for producing truly exceptional teas. I was aware that their black and white teas, in particular, are considered to be some of the best on the market. So, all of that being said, I was looking forward to trying this tea and even made sure to set aside a large block of time to conduct a review session with minimal distractions. Unfortunately, I never quite came to grips with this tea.

I opted to gongfu this tea. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material (which was absolutely beautiful, by the way) emitted subtle aromas of hay, herbs, grass, and pine. After the rinse, I detected touches of malt and lemon. The first infusion brought out impressions of nuts. In the mouth, I found notes of pine, lemon, grass, hay, straw, malt, and nuts underscored by a hint of spinach. Subsequent infusions brought out the spinach on the nose and in the mouth. I also found impressions of lettuce, lime zest, seaweed, grain, and minerals. There was kind of a broth-like umami note that fully emerged as well. Brewing the way I did, the tea faded quite quickly. The later infusions that actually did have any amount of aroma or flavor mostly emphasized notes of minerals, grass, and spinach, though hints of corn husk arrived fashionably late and did what they could to liven things up a bit. Very distant notes of lettuce and malt could also be found on at least a couple of these infusions.

This struck me as being a very soft and clean tea. Having now taken the time to process my feelings about it, all I can say is that I can see why some people love it and I can see why it is so highly rated, but it was not for me. I like white teas that display more fruitiness and this tea did not offer enough to satisfy me. I could tell this was a quality tea produced from a quality picking in a good year, but again, it was not quite my thing. If you are a fan of more delicate, vegetal white teas with a strong umami note, I could see this being up your alley.

This was the third of the 2016 autumn flush Darjeelings I recently finished and I have to say that it was a tea I greatly enjoyed. This seemed to be the favorite of the folks at Teabox, and for me, it would come down to either this one or the tea from Gopaldhara if I had to pick a favorite. Truthfully, the teas from Gopaldhara, Jungpana, Goomtee, and Giddapahar were all so similar in terms of quality that I could probably make an argument for any of them being the best if I were to put my mind to it. What this one offered that was rather unique was a quirky, fascinating combination of aromas and flavors that highlighted a unique melon rind note.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 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 wood, herbs, raisins, tobacco, and roasted nuts coming from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I picked out new aromas of earth, tree bark, and malt. In the mouth, I initially found pleasant floral notes that gave way to a combination of malt, roasted almond, raisin, earth, wood, tree bark, herb, tobacco, and plum flavors. I could also detect slight vegetal tones that were accompanied by subtle hints of spiced pear, red apple, and watermelon rind. The finish saw the vegetal notes take more shape. They began to remind me of cooked green beans. Simultaneously, notes of wood, malt, watermelon rind, and flowers lingered after the other notes began to fade.

This was an incredibly interesting and complex black tea, yet it was also approachable and easy to drink. It was somewhat more challenging than the other autumn flush teas I have recently tried. I definitely found it to be a quality tea that rewarded patient, focused sipping. If you are looking for a unique autumn flush Darjeeling black tea suitable for afternoon and/or evening consumption, this would certainly be a tea to try.

This was the final autumn Darjeeling sample I finished. I found this to be the softest and arguably cleanest tea of the bunch. It was a very mild, mellow tea with extremely subtle aromas and flavors. In some ways, it was similar to the tea from the Goomtee Estate that I recently reviewed, but simultaneously displayed greater complexity and a gentler, subtler nature.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 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, I was able to detect subtle woody, floral aromas from the dry leaf material. After infusion, I detected only slightly stronger impressions of flowers, wood, and malt on the nose. In the mouth, I noted delicate flavors of wood, malt, roasted almond, herbs, and some sort of flower (I could not identify it) on the entry that soon gave way to impressions of cream, raisins, grass, birch bark, Muscatel, and plums. The finish was gentle, offering vague, lingering notes of flowers, raisins, roasted almonds, and malt.

This was yet another really nice autumn flush Darjeeling. Like the others, it was subtle and easygoing, yet also had a lot to offer. I am definitely glad I tried this one.