LuckyMe Send Message

Did not care for this one. It smelled and tasted like wilted flowers mixed with a pile of leaves. There’s a pungency to it that reminds me of a low quality TGY. Judging from the seaweed like smell, I’d say this sample was likely past its freshness peak.

After my initial “meh” experience, I’ve come to enjoy this tea immensely. I blend it with a straight black – in about a 1.5-to-1 ratio – add a pinch of sugar and frothed milk to make the perfect London Fog latte. It’s pretty potent so a little goes a long way. Blending it with another black tea helps balance the tea and lets the lavender, vanilla, and bergamot shine through gently without hitting me in the face. Makes for a nice dessert tea or afternoon pick me up. I don’t normally add milk to tea (that’s for coffee and matcha) but this is one tea that’s totally made for it.

I got a sample of this tea from my dad of all people. He’s a big fan of Tea Geschwender’s Irish breakfast blend and that’s pretty much all he buys from there. Whenever he visits, he comes back with random tea samples which often get passed on to me.

I finally pulled this one out of the cupboard after nearly 6 months. No idea of when the tea was harvested or how long it sat in storage. Appearance wise, there was a higher ratio of brown rice kernels to leaves as compared to the genmaicha I buy which made me suspect this wasn’t top-shelf. The tea brewed up pale green and had the familiar nutty, toasted rice aroma and taste. I couldn’t taste anything from the underlying green tea, but that’s not surprising considering the paltry amount of actual tea in this blend. Not a big deal though because that can easily be remedied by adding sencha leaves or a pinch of matcha.

This reminded of the bagged genmaicha from the Asian supermarket I used to drink many moons ago. It’s a serviceable, unfussy tea but not as remarkable as the stuff I get now from online shops.

Here’s the last high mountain oolong sample from my Tillerman order. I was underwhelmed the first time I brewed this tea. The flavor was a little weak and it didn’t have much oomph. Slight upping the leaf to water ratio really gave it a big boost in flavor.

This tea is packed with lots of bright flowery notes. It opens with sweet pea and orange blossom before giving way to narcissus, daffodils, and a hint of vanilla. Aromas of meadow flowers, butter, and something like clover honey waft out from the gaiwan. The tea has a thick body and a creamy mouthfeel, leaving behind a nice little tingle on the tongue as it goes down.

I’ve been impressed overall by the quality of the teas I’ve had from Tillerman Tea. The bao zhong was good, and the Ali Shan and Li Shan were both stellar. Oddly enough, as a jade oolong enthusiast, it’s their “Sweet Scent” Dong Ding that I find myself craving the most.

This is a solid, if not spectacular, baozhong. It does better gongfu’ed than grandpa style, which is my usual method of brewing this type of tea. Dry leaf aroma is a sweet medley of lilac and hyacinth. The first steeping was thick and TGY-like, brimming with heady lilacs and orchid. Second steep was more or less the same with a little egg yolk in the finish. At the third steep, the tea softened and gave a rush of wildflowers that lingered on the tongue. The tea faded in the last 2 steeps but still had good flavor. An enjoyable tea, but I’ve been so spoiled by drinking so many great baozhongs that this one just doesn’t excite my taste buds much.

I can’t remember the last time a white tea impressed me as much as this one did. Most of the ones I’ve tried recently were pretty forgettable, either bland or tasted like dry autumn leaves. But this Silver Needle tea has such a sublime flavor, layered and nuanced without any of the earthiness or barnyard funk of other white teas. The dry leaves have a pleasant, inviting aroma of linen, dandelions, lavender, and hay. The flavor of the brewed tea is delicate and refined. It has a soft texture and undertones of cotton, cream, vanilla, and marshmallow along with a touch of nutmeg and green apple. A slight hay-like earthiness creeped in later as it continued steeping but nothing off-putting.

It was bedtime so I steeped this grandpa style with just a smattering of leaves in an 8oz glass. Water temperature was 175 F to start and then I topped off twice with boiling water. I used to brew whites at low temperatures around 160 F, but hotter water brings out a lot more character. For the price it’s an incredible value and I’m looking forward to seeing how this tea ages.

Another impulse buy from Murchie’s Tea Room when I visited Victoria, BC this summer. I’m a sucker for flower scented teas and having tried (and loved) TeaAve’s magnolia oolong, I didn’t have to think too hard about this one. Turns out this is very similar to the TeaAve oolong. The magnolia flavor is lush and fragrant, complementing the base tea nicely. It’s accompanied by notes of gardenia and a touch of perfume. The scenting on this tea is just right. It’s not cloying or fake-tasting.

I steeped this in my tumbler and had no problems with oversteeping or bitterness even after it sat awhile. When cold steeped, it’s refreshing and has even more flowery sweetness. This is the rare flavored tea that merits a rating of 100 from me because it’s just that good.

This is really hitting the spot today. I had relegated this tea to my work stash as it just wasn’t doing it for me. Here at the office, I don’t have the benefit of my fancy clay kyusu, gram scale, or precise water temperature. So I’m basically winging it most of the time and end up brewing more or less western style.

I reckon I brewed this close to 180 F and with a lower leaf to water ratio. It’s astonishing how dramatically different it tasted after tweaking just a few variables. Instead of the usual muddled flavor and astringency, I got an intensely sweet and floral cup. Reminded me of some high mountain oolongs. Resteeps were good, but not as amazing as the first steep.

A finicky tea that can be rewarding once you figure it out. Bumping up my rating for this one.

My Verdant spring pre-order finally arrived last week. It’s August now but hey, better late than never. This is a new experimental tea that I’ve been really looking forward to. Never heard of dragonwell black tea before but the name alone intrigued me enough to forego my usual Laoshan Black in lieu of this one.

You wouldn’t be able to tell what kind of tea it was from merely looking at the leaves. There’s really no resemblance to the flat blades of dragonwell green tea. All that processing and oxidation turned it into long, dark strands that look like an ordinary black tea. The leaves have a powerful aroma of molasses and cocoa. I brewed it grandpa style in my 10z glass tumbler, 1.3g of leaf at 200 F. Like most Laoshan blacks, chocolate is the dominant note here. It’s a silky smooth chocolate though with brown sugar, a rich mouthfeel, and no bitterness. Exactly as described in Verdant’s tasting note.

Though I enjoyed this tea, it failed to distinguish itself from Verdant’s other blacks. That’s been my experience with the majority of Laoshan black teas – they taste predominantly of chocolate and not much else. Delicious but one dimensional.

It’s been an exhausting week and a half. I’ve been busy cramming for a certification exam that I should have started studying for 3 months ago except life and summer got in the way. In the process, I’ve gone through a lot of different teas to help fuel my long study sessions.

This is the first dong ding I’ve had in a long while. Normally I am not a fan of dark oolongs with the exception of fruity dan congs and some yanchas. When I bought this, I misread the description and thought it was a light roast. Turns out that although this tea has an assertive roast, it was anything but charcoal-like. Out of the bag, the aroma was very mouthwatering. I smelled roasted nuts, baked bread, flowers, a little spice and a hint of hazelnut. After a rinse, the aroma became s’mores like. First steep greeted me with toasted nuts and a little char. The second steep was a green/dark hybrid with baked and floral tones. The roastiness softens by the 5th steep and I get pleasant spice notes. When grandpa steeped, it’s smooth and warm. Starts off woodsy and popcorn like before turning into a nice graham cracker taste.

True to its name, this tea has a fantastic aroma and excellent flavor. The fact that it grandpa steeps so well is an added bonus because it’s another tea I can throw in my tumbler for work or while studying.