Featured & New Tasting Notes

I got an email from Zen Tea saying they’re having a sale right now, which made it the perfect excuse to start drinking this.

And so far, my hopes have proven correct: this is pretty similar to the Coconut Pouchong offered by Golden Moon Tea! I’m so glad to have found a domestic version.

Now, the big question is: do I really need more of this in my cupboard, considering I have a ridiculous amount of tea already and I’ve got a fairly sizeable Teavivre order coming my way? Hmmmm….

Puerh Tea TTB. This was really good tea. The year wasn’t labeled on the packet so I didn’t realize how old it was. It seemed to have some fermentation flavor but not too much. That flavor was neither fishy or unpleasant though. There was little bitterness in this one and a lot of sweetness. Even perhaps the flavor of dates to go out on a bit of a limb. This was really good. Gave it twelve steeps and could have continued but I have to get ready for a job interview.

I steeped this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 11.5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I’d say if I had the time to continue there were another four or five steeps in the leaves. This was really good tea. I wonder if it is still in stock.

Sipdown!

I really really love this tea – the coconut flavour is so true-to-life without being thick or cloying. I was very happy to have an ounce of this in my cupboard.

However, Golden Moon tea’s shipping options to Canada aren’t the greatest, so I’m going to have to bid this tea farewell. I’m hoping that Zen Tea’s Coconut oolong turns out to be just as good, so I can have a domestic option for such tea deliciousness.

Puerh Tea TTB. This is a very tasty tea. It had a moderate amount of fermentation flavor but it was neither fishy nor unpleasant. It was sweet with very little bitterness. Unfortunately I think this is long sold out at Mandala or I would buy one.

I steeped this twelve times in a 110ml Yixing Teapot with 9g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I’d keep going with this one but twelve steeps is enough caffeine for me today.

This was from a tea swap with Whiteantlers.

Today I’ve been busy with rearranging the house for new furniture and our home study in three-four weeks. So, to start the day with a solid cup of tea was a necessity. I must admit that I’ve been slacking on drinking more than Sencha lately, but that’s mostly due the fact that I’ve got nearly 2 pounds of it in the cupboard, and that it’s quick to make in the morning….

Now, to the tea:

I figured it was overdue to have a cup of this Nepal Moonlight from Whiteantlers, considering that it has been a while since I’ve received it. I have a tendency to be distracted from sampling teas, since there are oftentimes moments when I either choose something else, join group buys, or buy more tea.

Anyway, this was pretty good. I’d compare it to a Darjeeling. It has that malty quality, but it’s lighter. I get a little nutty flavors in the back of the mouth, but it’s mostly that malt taste. I’d compare it to dark chocolate, or perhaps a weak dark beer—however that works. After a few steeps in the gaiwan, it becomes slightly astringent. I hadn’t changed the temperature or the amount of seconds steeped (I gave it a 15s steep each time, with one 5s rinse to open the leaf a little bit; therefore, with the rinse, there were 4 steeps total).

The liquid has a nice orange hue to it; which was surprising since the tea leaves appear to be green-ish.

All in all, this was pretty good. I’m picky about WHAT type of black tea I drink. I usually steer clear of the malty flavors, or if I drink them, I usually add sugar/cream. However, I drank this without any added ingredients.

P.S. The soundtrack for this session was Electric Light Orchestra’s “Eldorado.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze3p-WeLCGk&list=PLB-99rPb6xnpLp9QgW_YtUE9EYsX93Hjw&index=2

GCTTB V1

Last tea of the night for me; I’ve had a day of mixed tea drinking success so I picked something from the box that seemed like a really safe choice.

And I have to say, I know my palate pretty well ‘cause this is delightful! Mostly it’s a lot of sweet, tropical coconut just like advertised/promised. There’s a nice fruity undertone to it though: a little bit of pineapple and a little bit of apple? Maybe something just a touch extra, like a hint of mango? Whatever it is, it works. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it this reminds me a lot of all the elements I really enjoyed in DAVIDsTEA’s Tropicalia blend. All the flavours are kind of classic pairings: nothing out of the ordinary here. It’s the balance between them that sort of sets this apart though.

It’s a perfect way to cap off the night, though!

Puerh Tea TTB. This is a fairly nice raw. It was bitter at first but got sweeter. Not sure if I would call it apricoty though. It was good. Had some color to the infusions once it got started. No qi to speak of. Enjoyable to drink.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. The tea was not finished at eight steeps but I want to drink something else.

Sipdown, and its always with a sad smile when its a Da Yu Ling/Pear Mt Oolong, with the area being conservated by the government I’m bothered what will happen to the prices of the real Oolong.. Theres already fakes about & this will get worse..

But anyway, i digress -

Seriously, how nice is this tea? Da Yu Ling, Li Shan, Ali, all these mountains have a serious place in my heart. Got to be the some of the nicest, most subtly vegetal-y fragrant, soft, buttery ‘green-tasting’ tea available. Its such an accessible tea for when you dont want something with punch..

This bag was getting on a bit, I think its two years old now, and has lost some of its presence & I didnt get any apples or pears, but still has a lovely vegetal flavour & huigan, although a lot more watery in the soup. Chaqi is nice as well, relaxing.

Noms

GCTTB V1

Daily Cold Brew!

I was looking for something fruity in the box to try cold brewed and low and behold there was this both oddly specific and at the same time nondescript tea kickin’ around so I figured why not.

I had a really, really hard time placing the fruit flavour in this. At first I thought maybe some sort of strawberry (or other berry) and currant combo? Then I was thinking more on the stonefruit side of things. Turns out it’s passion fruit!? I mean, this was tasty and I guess looking back on it I sort of see that but it’s definitely not any sort of defined passion fruit flavour nor anything comparable to other passion fruit blends I’ve tried.

The base was pleasant enough; I’m gonna guess Ceylon black tea just ‘cause of the overall floral flavour and sort of mild/almost neutral malt sort of flavour that’s just barely present and mostly lends itself to be an non-intrusive canvas for the added flavours.

Nice enough to try; enjoyed the brew but overall I’m guessing will likely be forgettable.

EDIT: Apparently the base is some sort of Chinese black; curious what type because the profile is much like Ceylonese blacks – but ultimately doesn’t change my opinion of the tea.

Bought this a few weeks ago and am just getting around to trying it. This is a bitter tasting tea that also has a somewhat interesting taste to it. It was also somewhat sour initially. The bitterness is certainly the dominant factor. I only gave this three steeps. Both because that’s all I could handle and this is a caffeinated herbal and I am at my caffeine limit. In the end this is not a tea I can recommend to others, or for that matter not recommend. It is interesting to have tried it. I had tried it before a couple of years ago. This makes a bitter sheng puerh seem sweet. That is for sure. It’s bitterness is abiding. I also can’t give this a number. I don’t know what to compare it to. Some people may like this tea and it is supposed to be very good for you. I did not use very much of the tea, only 3.7g for 120ml gaiwan. I had vaguely remembered you didn’t need much of this tea. In fact I may have used too much.

I steeped this tea three times in a 120ml gaiwan with 3.7g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 20 sec, and 30 sec.

I picked this tea up several months ago, during the big sales event, and am just finally getting around to it. I haven’t been in the mood to write reviews for several months, plus I wanted to sipdown some of the already opened teas that had already been reviewed multiple times, so now that’s coming along nicely, and I feel like I can open some of the newer packages. My friend Lisa came for breakfast yesterday, and it seemed like the perfect time to do so! Lisa fell in love with this tea immediately, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, so I’m sampling it again today, using the gongfu recommendations of:

5G + Gaiwan X 5 sec (+ 3 sec per each additional steep).

The dry leaves are tiny & very dark, with a faint aroma of tart fruit. I heated up my Gaiwan & let the leaf warm up and was rewarded with a richer, fruitier aroma, bringing memories of when I used to cook overnight wholegrain cereal in my crockpot, spiked with chunks of dried fruit, back in my Vegan days (yes I was a vegan for a long time…) The perfume is rich and sweet, tart dark plums, lychee, honey and a grainy malty toast. It rises thickly into my sinuses and lingers. There is also a peppery quality, but not enough to make me sneeze.
On with the steepings…
I’m not sure how to describe what I’m sipping, and I’m actually not sure if I like it. The first round is kind of bitter & peppery, like nasturtium leaves. It’s not what I expected at all, however by the end of the first cup a sweetness has begun to layer into my soft palate & throat with each sip, that has my mouth watering like Pavlov’s Dog. Gradually the steeps get sweeter: Lychee, dried plum, sorghum essence, a sweet incense like aroma that rises into the sinuses almost like some oolongs, but not as lingering. The color throughout is a beautiful dark orange.

The name of this tea translates as Concubine’s Smile, but this isn’t some girly girl. She’s bold, sweetly perfumed, but a little on the bitter side … like maybe she’s carrying a little vile of poison up her sleeve… you know… just in case you piss her off…

This is a sample for review.

i received box of samples from Totem Tea. I really like they included samples two of each. its very thoughtful in case I want to try different parameters.

Im quoting from their website. "Taiwan is world renowned for its oolong tea but little is known of its phenomenal Black tea which is often referred to as Sun Moon Lake Black tea due to the location of its growth and production. This black tea is as unique and special as the oolong produced on the special island.

Ruby #18 is relatively new tea cultivar developed in 1999 at the TRES (Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station) by crossing Assamica with a wild Qing Xin. In the production process the tea is brought to full oxidation, where it develops a rich and sweet brew that has some mi xiang (honey taste) qualities."

The leaf is gorgeous, full, not broken, long and spidery kind
I used my own parameters. and since i have another packet i will try Totem tea parameters next time.
5g 100ml glazed teapot 200F
i dont rinse Taiwanese teas anymore, i find the rinse is so flavorful and hate to throw it
10/10/15/20sec etc
The aroma is intoxicating. the brew is dark reddish amber color.
It is honey sweet with plum notes, raw nuts and unmistakable minty cool freshness, lasting long after ive finished the session. That makes this tea welcoming in a heat of summer.

Thank you so much Totem Tea for the chance to try it, it was very enjoyable morning session

https://instagram.com/p/BGFWtbzhwlC/

https://instagram.com/p/BGJ2ehehwis/

https://instagram.com/p/BGJ5WdAhwpr/

Bagged and herbal teas are usually not my thing these days but I’ve been suffering some unfortunate physical effects from caffeine late at night and wanted to try something to calm me down more before bed. Picked this up because I love lavender and the list of ingredients was nice.

The lavender scent is most evident on the dry tea bag unfortunately, and in the pouch after you take the bag out. After you steep the tea, the lavender blends with all the other herbal aromas and is hard to discern. It also doesn’t have anything that I’d call a honey taste or aroma. Mostly I taste mild sweetness from the stevia leaf, a bit of the woodiness of the rooibos that’s in there, a hint of lavender, and some mint.

Unfortunately, when there is mint or holy basil (tulsi) in an herbal tea blend they have the unfortunate fate of all tasting rather the same to me, albeit with slightly different character. This one is really soothing and lightly sweet and does have a very relaxing taste and aroma, even if the lavender doesn’t stand out. I feel a noticeable calm and sedating effect whenever I drink this tea, similar but opposite to how caffeine hits me. I think this blend of herbs may actually have a good combination to biologically induce this, rather than just through enjoyment and aesthetic, as I feel the similar body shift into a more relaxed and lulled state every time I drink it.

The effect part of the tea’s name (stress relief) is a bit more accurate than the flavor descriptor (honey lavender), but I actually really like this tea. I can see myself buying it again. It does what it says it does, for me at least, and that is why I bought it, so I’m a happy big cat.

Still looking for a wonderful herbal tea that soothes and has no mint or tulsi though. I really love things with lavender, but maybe I should veer away from lavender a bit and look for something on the rose flavor spectrum.

I first tried this ones ages ago, as a sample from Shmiracles. Not long after Harvey Nichols started stocking it, and I loved it so much I bought a full tin. I’d not opened it until today! As soon as I removed the ring-pull seal, it smelled amazing – pure salted caramel! I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in boiling water. I added a generous splash of milk, but no sugar because I can tell from the scent that it’s going to be pretty sweet.

To taste, it’s a lot stronger than I remember it being. The initial sip is soft, rich caramel with hints of vanilla and salt, really decadent and dessert-like. Dark chocolate emerges in the mid-sip, along with thick, sweet malt. It’s like drinking chocolate sauce poured over caramel – a rich, high-cocoa dark chocolate that’s leaning towards being bittersweet. The bitterness gains a little prominence at the end of the sip, but at this point it’s actually quite a welcome distraction. How often do I get to say that?!

When I added the milk, I was slightly concerned that it would drown everything out, but there’s no chance of that happening. The flavour is so strong and intense, but I guess it’s freshly opened and it might dissipate a bit over time. A little of intensity fades as the cup cools, so maybe it’s also a hot water thing. Trying this as a cold brew has just become an appealing idea! I love the fact that the base tea here is an Assam. I adore Assam, and I feel like it’s a bit underused in blends at the moment – particularly chocolate or caramel blends, which IMO it’s perfectly suited to. It does make for a strong cup overall – quite tannic in some ways, and thickly malty, but done well (and it’s done exceptionally well here) it can be a great thing.

This one is pretty much the ultimate dessert tea. If you’re looking for a chocolate or caramel black tea, look no further. I could take this one a little less intense, so I’ll probably fiddle around with my brewing parameters a little, but there’s no question as to what this tea is about. Chocolate. Caramel. Malt. I wasn’t sure how our reacquaintance would fair, but it looks like it’s still love at first sip.

I am excited! Currently on Coursera (my go-to site for online free courses) is offering three courses on Paleontology! The University of Alberta is the college presenting them, they were the same who offered Paleontology 101 I took a year or so ago, so I was pleased they were continuing the series. The current course I am taking is about early Vertebrate evolution, specifically the lecture I am listening to is about Placoderms, everyone’s favorite bony faced fishes! Gotta love the Dunkleosteus! The other courses are on Cretaceous Theropods (my personal area of specialty) and ancient marine reptiles, another favorite area of study.

Two of my favorite things in the tea world are bug-bitten teas and hong cha (though depending on my mood the location where said hong cha originates changes) so is it any real surprise that I just freak out over Honey Black Tea? No, it really isn’t, and Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company’s was super high on my list of ‘to-try’ so I am super glad I got a sample at the Midwest Tea Festival. Mixiang Hongcha (or Honey Frangrance, that Xiang shows up a LOT in tea, especially Dancongs where all their different names are ‘something’ fragrance) is nibbled on by adorable little green leafhoppers which causes the tea plants to release an enzyme, in turn making it super sweet. The aroma of these curly long leaves is unlike any other tea, it has the rich yammy and malt quality associated with Hong Cha, but with underlying raisin, pumpkin, chestnut, and of course honey notes I associate more strongly with teas like Oriental Beauty, clearly the little buggies have done a wonderful job! It is sweet and rich, and the notes seem vaguely autumnal to me.

Into my clay pot the leaves go, because of course I have a pot dedicated to specifically Taiwanese Hong Cha (though not Red Jade, that gets its own pot!) The aroma of the leaves is yummy, strong notes of malt and pumpkin with underlying notes of honey, peanuts, yams, raisins, and chestnuts. At the end is a note of cumin seeds that have been roasted in a pan, it adds an almost savory quality at the finish and no joke, makes my mouth water. The liquid is almost sweet cream, it smells creamy (but not milky, more vanilla creamy) with strong notes of honey and raisins and a finish of malt and pumpkin. Keeping the sweet and still reminding me of autumn.

My goodness that first steep is sweet! I even went a bit heavy handed with the leaves, expecting a tiny bit extra briskness, but nope! The mouthfeel is thick, almost syrupy, like warm honey water, and honey is a fair comparison since the taste has strong raw honey notes. There are notes of yam and pumpkin, with accompanying notes of chestnut, and a finish of rich raisins and brown sugar. I feel as though I am drinking a dessert!

I wasted no time to move to the next steep, the aroma of the tea has a stronger pumpkin note, along with a slightly stronger malt, it is still very sweet though. Again, no briskness to be found, just smooth thick mouth and sweet rich taste. It starts with warm honey and vanilla sweetness, then moves to more rich yam and raisin, with a finish of chestnut and brown sugar. The blend of nuttiness and sugar reminds me vaguely of nut brittle, and I want chestnut brittle to be a thing now!

BTTC is not wrong when they say you can get three good steeps from this one, after steep three it really starts to pitter out, but the three steeps you get are pretty wonderful. Aromatic and flavorful, and never brisk, bitter, or watery…just sweet, smooth, and thick in the mouth, though this steep is a tad less sweet. This steep takes on the notes of yam and adds oats and stronger chestnut, the honey taste is replaced almost entirely with brow sugar, and there is a touch of pumpkin at the finish that lingers into the aftertaste. One thing I found surprising was this tea’s Qi, it is very mellow and I am so chill after drinking it, it is also a bit cooling in the chest which is nice on a warm day.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/06/beautiful-taiwan-tea-company-honey.html

I woke up feeling great. You know that conquer the world feeling?

Yeah, that one. Since I’ve been ill the past few years, I don’t get that feeling very often. The first year or two, almost never, so waking up feeling that everything is magnificent and all things are possible is just wow for me. Really wow. Such immense gratitude for these moments.

One of the first things on my agenda today is to spread the joy and that means to initiate a surprise for someone. I love surprises, big or small. And because it is a surprise, that’s all I am going to say about that.

I have always loved the idea of this tea: hazelnut brittle, caramel. Truly, what is not to love?

That said, it is a tricky one. I find I need to be careful to not add too much leaf or the mineral element overwhelms.

This cup is all hazelnut brittle and mineral. Really enjoying my first steep today. I wonder what the next one will bring.

I hope everyone’s day and tea is glorious.
Spread the joy, people.

Puerh Tea TTB. This is a fairly nice and slightly bitter sheng. It did not have an abiding bitterness that some sheng has. It developed a sweet note but I am not sure if I would call it apricots. It was pretty good. The leaves looked like good quality leaves from what little I can tell from appearance.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

I seem to be amassing red/black & green teas at the moment so I’m trying to sip them down. This was one of those mornings that a cold snap in the night, and lack of decent sleep had made everything cold & I was dozy. So, I broke out these wonderful soft golden furls & stuck them in my Gaiwan & had three quick steeps before stopping. I used a small pinch in my 160ml & did 10/20/45 seconds just off boiling.

This one is interesting as its a Mao Feng which has been processed into something like a Dian Hong

By the 2nd steep I had that caffeine hit that is like tinnitus in your head, and was up running around trying to tidy everything at once while showering myself :D

As for taste, I agree with CCR that there is some fruity something in the aroma, I actually have found this one quite soft. All the standard malt & chocolate hints, but also this other note which is definitely like tomatoes. Thick & soft mouth.

I always give my red/black/gold teas to my friends who as for an English breakfast blend as its the closest I have, this one is perfect for that. Great pick-me-up tea for the cold mornings

I didnt get much floral notes, probably need a different steep parameter but its a bit strong caffeine-wise for me even flash steeped like this

Sipdown! Last night’s cup was SO chocolatey, I really had a hard time convincing myself it wasn’t flavoured. Beautiful dry cocoa notes, with a good dose of malt. Totally delicious stuff, and a very, very sad departure from my cupboard.

Woke up with a massive killer migraine. In mulling over all potential causes, the final possibility was not having drunk enough tea. Ah, maybe that’s it.

I bought this tea at the tea festival here at the end of January. The first several times I had this, I really quite enjoyed it: classic genmaicha. Today, however, I dipped further into the bag, so my dry leaf was far more powder tea and far less roasted rice. Then, despite aiming for a very brief steep, my steeper clicky thing got stuck and didn’t drain properly or quickly enough, resulting in a far longer than optimal steep. So, today, the tea is too strong and a bit bitter. Not the tea’s fault.

My migraine seems to be slowly subsiding. I hope. If so, despite the bitterness, it’s a win.

I will refrain from rating.

Later in the day reflection…
I think I had used far too much leaf when I made this tea today, owing to the fact that it was mostly tea powder and few rice grains. That and the prolonged steeping time resulted in a poor-ish first cup. However, steeping two and three were lovely.

Puerh Tea TTB. This was an interesting tea. The taste of the rum was very strong at first, too strong to my taste buds. It lessened after a few steeps and I liked it better. The ripe tea itself was good, not having too strong a fermentation taste and not having any real bitterness. Overall I liked this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 100ml gaiwan with 6.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

As promised, I tried this cold. I had it hot first and liked it. Wow, that’s a lot of cardamom! Second steep was about ten seconds and the cup was inky black so I figured I would go for two more steeps and put them in the fridge.

Steep three was the normal orange black tea color, while steep four was getting rather pale. As strong as the flavor was, though, I figured it would work. And it did.

I poured both of those steeps into a mason jar and put it in the fridge. I had some with supper that night and the rest with lunch the next day. It was good and refreshing and I love having a flavored cold drink with no guilt, because part of me still wants to reach for the sugary things we used to associate with summertime. (Kool-Aid from my childhood, and my mom always added EXTRA sugar cuz she said it tasted better that way! Southern sweet tea that was so sweet it should have been called Tea Simple Syrup. Ice cold Coke in a glass bottle…okay, I still do that one sometimes, but we buy the Hecho In Mexico ones at Sam’s Club that are made with real cane sugar.)

Going to finish this box quite easily! Took some to Superanna and she liked it, and now need to share with my son and his fiancée, ChelseaR.

After I finished my oolong session this morning, I knew I needed to open up one of the reserved sheng samples I have. Being that it was nice outside, I wanted one with no smoke and little to no age on it. The selection was down to about 12 things so I kind of just grabbed this one at random, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is quite odd but I learned something interesting" The word ‘fecked’ means stolen. I hope one day I can tell a girl she fecked my heart because that’ll be witty :)

At first I looked at the leaf and there was a mixture of dark and light colors to it. Also to note, there were no silver hairs or white leaf within the piece. The first brew came out much lighter than I thought it might. I was expecting something strong, like ‘THIS IS MY LAST THOUGHT, YOU GONNA REMEMBER IT’ but it was nothing like that. Interestingly enough this tea wasn’t that complex and I nailed it down pretty quickly which to me says that this tea exemplifies in one area: clarity.

At first I thought there were notes of sugarcane, but then I quickly realized it was more of the sweet notes you get from a pickled vegetable. The theme for this was asparagus for me. Bang Dong has always been a zucchini tasting sheng and now that I am tasting something like it I am able to say that this has more of that texture taste that asparagus has; with a little more of a distinct sticky taste. Now this liquid is lip smacking which you’ll hear said about sheng that has some syrup likeness to it; which this has. While some may say it’s like honey, for me it’s like syrupy with the main difference of being a runnier sweetness rather than a honey which is thicker and for me sticks around longer.

Now the taste was great, very light which agreed with me 100%. Still taste quite new without that bitterness coming through as the leaf opens and settles. This leaf doesn’t open for a few steeps and was a little unique. At first I thought it was smaller and then I noticed as it opened up it almost looked like some wet dancong leaf. Some of the veins were twice the size of others which looked funny next each other.

My first session with this tea last about 90 minutes and then I went and ate some jalapenos and drank some Irish cream soda to reset my taste buds. Came back to the tea later on to see if it was the same. The sweetness was as I thought because it wasn’t near sugar, but clearly had some sweetness you find in a pickled mango (which I dislike); but no sour notes. Liquid still brewed out pretty clear. The sharpness was faded when I came back and it was dying out as I could tell which sucked, but I was at around 22 steeps by time I realized I didn’t have long before I said goodbye. I probably ended at 26 steeps, but this was meant for the clarity and taste for me rather than the longevity so I was quite pleased with it.

Price. Yes, that’s a thing as many have remarked on.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCmSa1RYHQ/

How have I not rated this yet?

Anyway, I love the Laoshan Black/Oolong tea from Verdant very much. I think I’ve shared that thought many times. But this tea, it adds so much more to already superior teas. The base really comes forward in the cup, but the added ingredients make these two teas work stupendously well together.

The cocoa nibs add a little more of that chocolate note to the base. The rice gives it a slight nutty flavor, which progresses after a while. Unfortunately, I’ve stopped drinking the tea alone after the fourth cup, since, after all, it IS Memorial Day, and there was food going around after the first few cups, so I had a lot of other flavors going on with it (I’ll most likely write a second review later on).

I will note here, though, that if you’re looking for a solid tea for the morning, this is one I’d grab. It’d make a great afternoon pick-me-up, too. And as far as Liquid Proust’s teas go, anything made by this guy is quality—even my wife is starting to drink tea (or least try it). So, with that said, go get ya’ll-selves some!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCaEw_A-4R/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCad5yA-5O/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

Oh yeah, I’d totally go out and buy a large amount of the Laoshan Black, but it’s incredibly expensive, so it wouldn’t be the ideal ‘daily drinker.’ However, it’s on the long wishlist of “These will be the ‘guests only’ drinkers; that, or, ‘holidays only’ tea.”

https://www.etsy.com/listing/288562613/laoshan-chocolate-genmaicha?ref=shop_home_active_3