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Thank you so much for the samples, Nannuoshan! I hope my reviews do these teas some justice.. I’m not the most eloquent writer. Already, I’ve noticed there are no steeping instructions on the site for my mug/brew basket infuser/ electric tea kettle type steeping, only for teapot & gongfu methods. So I’m already not able to follow the parameters, which I would have really liked to do. But Gabriele at Nannuoshan guided me to the best way of steeping them. On nannuoshan.org, a teapot method suggests 6grams of leaves for 500 ml of water. Since my mug holds about 350 ml of water, I will use half the sample and fill the mug 2/3 of the way with water, for all Nannuoshan samples. To get the right temperature, I also boil the kettle and wait the amount of time for the water to cool, so waiting 30 minutes after boiling the water should give me a steep temperature of 176 degrees. The steep time on the site also seems a bit long for these teas… I want to follow Nannuoshan’s instructions but I really want to get the best taste possible. I won’t be explaining this every time I review a Nannuoshan tea, but I thought I should the first time. I’m not sure I’m what Nannuoshan is looking for in an official Nannuoshan tea reviewer (I didn’t know that’s what they were looking for when they sent out samples) but I would like to do the best job I can reviewing the teas they sent to me.

To the tea…
I loved the idea that this tea was planted around fruit trees and the fruit influences the flavor of the tea. The dusty green and white dry leaves are actually surprisingly fine and coiled. As I’m accustomed to a Bi Luo Chun looking, but with smaller bundles. The steeped leaves in the brew basket are actually uniform colored and sized green leaf shapes. It’s almost magic that the leaves can transform like that. I filled the mug halfway, added 1 1/2 teaspoons of leaves to the brew basket, and added some more water to make the mug 2/3 full. The flavor of this bright yellow brew is a fantastic green tea. Anything over a three minute steep for this brew method was almost too much. There was a hint of astringency, but nothing that ruins the other complex flavors. It certainly tastes fruitier and sweeter than your average green tea. At first, there is a creamed corn vegetal flavor. Then buttery and nutty notes are consistent through the cup, with a brothy aftertaste. A light pineapple note goes along with the sweet fruity flavors. I don’t think there would be as many fruit notes in the cup if they hadn’t been grown next to fruit trees. Green teas are not usually this noticeably fruity to me. I like that the flavors of this one are so complex and the different flavors are all equally represented. It makes for a delicious, unique cup! The following steeps might not have as much complexity to the flavor, but the first steep was perfect. This tea rates very high up there with my favorite green teas.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp// 12 oz mug filled 2/3 // 32 minutes after boiling (should be 176 degrees)// 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min
Steep #3 // 30 min after boiling // 3 min

Thanks for a little of this one a while back, MzPriss! I’ve tried this one before but didn’t write a tasting note… the flavor was a little elusive last time. It still is this time around. It’s interesting as this one cools, it seems to get more flavor (but I don’t mean the bitter kind.) It’s starts a little watery flavored piping hot. Then there is a sweet spot at the right temperature. The colder it gets, the tastier it gets, even what’s left in the mug the next day. The flavor is something like vintage chocolate, if that was a thing… and I’m not even sure what that means. I just realized I haven’t been comparing tea to chocolate lately, maybe because I haven’t been consuming as much chocolate… but a certain holiday lately remedied that. :D This is comparable to Teavivre’s Bailin Gongfu. I wish I had more to say on this one, and since it’s tough to pick out flavors, it’s probably not a tea I would need to stock up on. One serving left anyway!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsps. // few min after boiling // 4 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Thanks for a sample of this a while back, BrewTEAlly Sweet! The Yabao flavor profile just isn’t for me… though it’s less easier to ruin than a raw pu-erh. I’ve had the Yabao on it’s own a couple times before. I love the idea of adding spices, and it does make the flavor better for me. Not too spicy so it doesn’t overshadow the Yabao. The flavor is light: honey, sweet. Does it taste like a snickerdoodle cookie? If any tea did, this one would. I would imagine adding some sort of sweetener would help that aspect. I was hoping for more sarsaparilla flavor. The second steep had just as much flavor. I’m happy to have tried this one! It’s annoying I couldn’t find this one on Verdant’s site. I thought they have them all archived. I wish they had a search option.
Steep #1 // few min after boiling // 2-3 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min

From the Lewis & Clark TTB from a while ago! I thought there was only a teaspoon left in the sample, but it was close to two. I used both teaspoons. I have no idea how to steep this one, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone trying two tsps. for a mug in the future… it’s a little too much. I love that even when a tea disappears from a tea shop’s own website, Steepster keeps some info to act as a guide. I think two teaspoons might have been too much for this one — the flavor is a little drying and bitter. But I love the orange color of the steep. The dry leaves look like a mixture — some even look like a herb of some kind. The flavor is difficult to decipher, especially as I probably ruined it with two teaspoons. I can’t piece out any of those great Darjeeling flavors. It’s kind of just bitter and dry. It’s a shame, but that’s why steeping instructions would help.
Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 20 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 2 min

Thank you so much, Beorhthraefn! This is an odd little white tea. The leaves are actually white, green, and black in color, all very long & wiry. The description says this one almost changes to a black tea with age, so I was hoping I could save half the sample for later, but there was enough for one steep session. The flavor is great, similar to a bai mu dan at first, while the flavor is lighter: hints of sweet lemon, very very sweet. Subsequent steeps remind me of BUTIKI’S WHITE RHINO. Possibly my favorite white tea, and I would imagine many people would be looking for a replacement. Try this one! Anyway, the flavor gets a little more difficult to describe, it smooths out, becoming a little darker, losing the citrus. Maybe hints of dried grass. I really like this one… I wish I could describe it better. Happy to have tried this one, but I would have loved to try it later. Hopefully Mandala is still selling this one when my White Rhino runs out.
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // rinse // 1 min steep
Steep #2 // 25 min a.b. // 1 1/2 min
Steep #3 // 20 min a.b. // 2 min

Thank you for the sale, Ost! This one sounded good. I liked the flavor combinations. I know Simple Loose Leaf shares some pu-erh blends with Adagio. I couldn’t really see any extra ingredients in the blend until I added the water. It looks like there are cocoa nibs and small strawberry pieces with the loose pu-erh. The pu-erh seems to be the same as the one in the coconut pineapple blend. I don’t dislike the pu-erh, but it also isn’t the best I’ve ever had. It’s a little dusty and dry flavored, but it does leave a dark cup. The additional flavors are mild but tasty. I’m getting a little bit each of chocolate, strawberry and cream.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsps. // rinse // few min after boiling // 2 min steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4-5 min steep

I’m steeping this one hot… ripping open the teabag to take a teaspoon out. I feel bad ruining these iced teas! I was hoping for a stronger flavor in this one, though maybe not as strong as the gross grape from the other day! I barely get any hint of either peach or mango. The base tea is always decent for being a CTC. Not too strong or weak. The second steep was bitter due to my oversteeping. I wish I had more to say with this one! I don’t know, it seems like the SBTs can’t be as creative as the hot teas, since they are just flavoring.
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // few min after boiling // 50 second steep
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // few minutes

For Christmas, one of my not-tea people gave me a Tea Forte sampler box as a gift. I won’t say ‘no’ to tea and you can certainly do worse than Tea Forte. Three packages each of five individually wrapped servings. Really, I think this might have been two teaspoons in one “serving” but I used all of it anyway. This one is quite tasty. Plenty of apricot, something like marzipan flavor on a decent rooibos base. I expected worse!

Additional notes: I had two teaspoons left of this one so I wanted to try a Della Terra black tea with two teaspoons to see if the flavor was a little stronger. It did help the black tea be a little stronger (though that was with a few minute steep) but any time I let a tea go a little longer, I feel like the base tea takes over and the flavors disappear. This might have been the case with this cup. I barely tasted any raspberry or chocolate, but that could have been due to the age of the tea as well. At least the black tea wasn’t as weak as usual, but I wouldn’t really want to use two teaspoons all of the time due to the cost. I didn’t mind trying it this time though.

I had to try this one… lime marshmallow! There is definite lime and definite marshmallow flavors here. The marshmallow is half like meringue somehow as well, so this tastes like a key lime pie, especially when the cup cools. The lime is so strong that the flavor of the bai mu dan itself has disappeared. That’s fine though, as this is a tasty cup. Not as good as the cantaloupe and cream, but that is tough to beat.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // 25 min after boiling // 1 1/2 min steep
Steep #2 // 20 min a.b. // 3-4 min