mtchyg Send Message

My brother in law brought this tea for me from France. He doesn’t know much about tea and asked someone there to recommend some good teas for a family member. Unfortunately neither he nor the person selecting the tea knew of my disdain for hibiscus in teas.

From the dry scent, I could tell it would be a tart, fruity tea. I prepared in advanced by mixing in some honey before I drank it. It helped a bit but that devil dog we call hibiscus still is prominent. I cannot fault a dog for being a dog. But I don’t think this tea is on any of my favorite lists.

The smell upon the water first meeting the tea elicits the smell of roast and char but not in a smokey way, as unlikely as that may seem.

First steep in the gaiwan, 15 seconds, produces a surprisingly sweet, almost tart, fruit with only a faint hint of roast. Second steep, 20 seconds, is more of the same with maybe a little more roast flavor. It feels simultaneously juicy and drying in the mouth.

The subsequent steeps were taking down while caring for a 4 month old but what I will say is that it stays fairly consistent in terms of quality with slightly varying levels of that fruity and char flavor until it fades near the 7th steep.

A very nice mild puerh. Delicious nutty and earthy notes linger in the early steeps. A very nice daily drinker that I’m glad I let mellow out for a couple of years.

This tea is something else. I’m not sure how you managed to make a green toasted rice tea taste like a sweet marshmallow dessert but… here it is. This is really fantastic. I sipped on this one all day and it is good warm or cold.

Brenden, you magnificent son of a bitch. You really did it with this one.

I remember specifically having tea with Brenden and listening to him talk about the field of jasmine he rode past on his bike and how it triggered this whole adventure of his into blending. I connected with that because I also adore the scent of jasmine and jasmine scented teas.

So, I know that this has to be a special blend for him. And it really, really is a special blend. It takes two of my favorite things in tea, a glorious golden snail tea and the scent of a high quality jasmine, and blends them beautifully. Seriously, between the visuals of the golden snail and the smell of the jasmine… this is one of the more perfect teas I have had.

Brenden, please. PLEASE. Keep this in your rotation.

Really tasty white tea. If you have had a good moonlight white tea before, you know what you are going to be getting with this tea. A little earthy, a little sweetness. Solid overall.

An interesting mix of vanilla and mint. I did try to add a little bit of honey, per the suggestion of other reviewers but didn’t find it to add much to the flavor. I definitely felt a bit of calm relaxation despite the claims of high caffeine content so that was nice.

Big no from me. I kinda got some of the sherbet flavors on the aftertaste a little bit. But that was after I fought through all of the bitterness of the green tea along with what tastes like an acrid rose petal flavor. I just dumped out a full tea pot.

I’m not normally a huge green oolong fan. Probably explains why I’ve taken so long to try this one.

And while the tropical notes described are faint and more prominent on the aftertaste, this IS a very creamy and drinkable oolong. My son keeps stealing away sips. I’m pleasantly surprised.