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Thanks to Chuckieroy for this sample!

Nicely fruity. The flavors come out more as the tea cools. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if it tastes like lychee since I’ve never had any. :) It does have some peachy notes, though, and an overall fruitiness. When it is cold, I pick up some faint florals in the background.

I steeped my first half mug for 3 minutes, then let the rest of the mug sit and steep for probably another 5 minutes. The flavors definitely intensify with the longer steep. It didn’t become bitter, though, which was good.

I was so happy to see that iHeartTeas had this for sale! I was wanting more after my sample from Granville Island Tea but it was a little cost prohibitive after shipping from GIT.

It’s looking like Sourenee, Sungma & Mim are becoming my favorite Darjeelings. This one is smooth and quite strong on the muscatel notes. I steeped it a bit too long so these first couple of cups are a little on the bitter side. Not an entirely bad thing but I’ll be more careful next time.

Interesting. I didn’t know what to expect of this since I didn’t look up anything about it before tasting it. I assumed acai & tangerine. Beyond that, it looked like maybe a black and green blend.

Smells really good dry. Definitely berry & citrus while steeping. It’s a bit tart, but that could also be that maybe I used too hot of a water temperature assuming it was mostly a black tea.

Nice tangerine flavor and the acai is noticeable as well. Fairly smooth and light in feel. This is my second tasting of a pu-erh. Much better than my first. Nothing I’d keep around, but a nice change of pace for me.

Goes well with a sugar cookie. Good thing I don’t buy into the weight loss teas. :)

Since I know Queen Mary Tea Room does some of their own blending and some they buy elsewhere already blended, I’m wondering if this is Adagio’s Thai Chai…

It is definitely well named. It reminds me of red coconut curry. All that is missing is some Thai basil. :) Strongly coconut, with a hit of lemongrass in the mix. The smells of the spices imply stronger spice than the tea delivers with milk mixed in, though. I did sip a bit before adding the milk and this may be one that the spices are not helped by milk. They were noticeable in the forefront when I sipped it without milk and are now toned down somewhat. The sugar popped them even more but I think the milk brings the coconut to the forefront and sends the spices to 3rd place taste. Not to say this isn’t full of cinnamon & cardamom flavor! It is.

Okay, revisiting this one today.

I get none of the same oily Chinese food smell from it now. Maybe it was just something from the packaging.

I’ve steeped this twice for four cups so far. I still get no apple notes at all. But I do get quite a bit of maltiness, no bitterness at all, and wow, do the leaves ever expand! There is a fair amount of stems in this, though maybe that is to be expected with these kinds of dark oolongs. And while I’m here, Mountain Tea Co. lists this in the Dark Oolong section of their site, but the description just says “black tea.” So I’m not really sure if this is an oolong or not. But I am liking it more than my first time around.

Photos of the steeped leaves:
http://s1165.beta.photobucket.com/user/dagony/library/Black%20Pearl%20by%20Mountain%20Tea%20Co

After quietly scoffing at the husband of a friend who had one of these little gadgets (except that his was glass) a couple of years ago, the potential benefit finally hit home this past week. When I first saw one I thought it was silly – I have infusers and strainers and teapots and mugs and what do I need a fancy dump-it-into-your-cup infuser? Sure, it’s a cool mechanism but that’s it, right? I mean, I can watch tea steep in a glass teapot. So what does this do that I don’t already do?

Well, after using it for a whole evening of steeping, I get it. I can steep, see the leaves swirling around, use one less piece of equipment and still be able to use a pretty teacup. It takes up less room than one of my normal teapots and still holds enough for at least 2 full cups so I don’t have to get up often. :)

I didn’t realize when I bought it that it was plastic. This was the only kind the local tea market had and I probably could have shopped around but I tend to get in an immediate gratification mode when I have a target in mind. :) I don’t avoid plastic, but I probably would have gotten glass if they had one.

I’m glad they didn’t have glass. I can see enormous potential for taking this with me on trips and I don’t have to worry about it shattering in my luggage. Sure, it would be easier if it were still the microwavable version, but even if I have to heat water in the cup I steep in or in a hotel room coffee pot (blech), I can see this getting a lot of use.

Total Klutz Update: Be very, very careful where you set this down. I forgot it drains when the aperture is pressed upwards. I sat it down on a cluttered table while gathering some laundry. I soon had more laundry to do in addition to blotting the carpet dry. When I realized what that running water sound was, I picked up the pitcher and sat it down on a dresser that had an empty plastic shipping envelope on it. Apparently the plastic had ridges just high enough to trigger another flood. Sigh. Ah, well, there are worse things for a carpet to smell like than Santa’s Secret tea. :)

We had this today with Christmas brunch. It went very well with the food. A basic, solid black. No astringency with a weighty body. I picked up this one since I had really enjoyed the Golden Yunnan from Republic of Tea during my last vacation.

Overall, I think I prefer the Golden Yunnan teas. They seem to be maltier to my taste. I have been using Kally Tea’s Royal Golden Yunnan as my breakfast tea at work (and I’ll need to review it before it’s all gone…) and while this Yunnan is good, I don’t think I’d choose it over a Golden. I probably won’t replace this when it runs out but it has been a nice tea to have around.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas day!

The leaves are surprisingly large for being a bagged tea. Smells promising.

Steeped for the bag recommended 4 minutes and got a very dark tea, which is perfectly fine with me. Good vanilla taste, not fakey. I can see where adding cream to this might make it even more dessert-like. It wouldn’t need sugar, I’m thinking. Not that this is sweet per se, just that it has a sweet quality to it with the vanilla.

This is my first Mighty Leaf Tea and I am interested enough to probably seek out others. I usually bag my own loose leaf to take with me on trips, but sometimes it is nice to have some already made up and I think this would be a definite candidate for a morning tea to have along! Thanks, JosieJade!

Another good swap with JosieJade!

I had forgotten that I used to quite like Stash Teas. This is a good black with good peach flavor.