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Second Review:
After trying this gong fu style and not being blown away by it, I tried this again, western style. Much more to my taste. Brewed it 2:30 at 180 degrees. Almost a buttery mouthfeel, light grassy notes with floral overtones. Delicious.

First Review:
I’m using this tea to try gong fu style for the first time. All steeps at 205 degrees with 3.5 grams of tea and ~4-6 ounces of water.

1st (30 seconds): Light-bodied with floral notes.
2nd (45 seconds): Still light-bodied but with more vegetable overtones. Just barely sweet. Almost silky in my mouth.
3rd (60 seconds): The liquor has a more intense color, which I find more aesthetically pleasing than the pale liquors. The aroma is stronger and more grassy. The flavor is more grassy and full-bodied. Of the three so far, I like this one best. It’s just a more satisfying cup of tea.
4th (75 seconds): The liquor is about the same as the 3rd steeping, and the aroma is similar to the 3rd but a bit weaker. Flavor is a bit weaker than the 3rd.

Conclusion: The third steeping was by far the best. I should either tweak my gong fu style, or stick with western style.

This tea makes an amazing chai latte. It’s delicious straight, but I do love my chai lattes. This is the most spice-balanced chai I’ve found. None of the spices jumps out as too heavy or too light. Easily my favorite “all-around” chai.

This is my first green rooibos, and I was very anxious to try this since I enjoy red rooibos. Its liquor is a pretty yellow-green and tastes like summer and happiness. The “leaves” are fairly small pieces so I had to use my finer tea infuser. I believe the longer this is steeped, the better.

Second review:
This is amazing iced, y’all. I got the iced tea press from DAVIDsTEA, and it’s like this tea was made to be iced. My new goto for humid summer mornings.

Today, I drank the last of this that I had in my stash. I did 2 teaspoons in 500 mL water at 190 for 3:30, which is more tea than I normally use. This is a light oolong with good floral/grassy flavors, and it brews up to a light golden color. I like this one a lot, and will probably get some more at another point in time.

I finally got back around to this tea in my morning-tea rotation, and it is every bit as good as I remembered it being. The comforting buttery texture and the slightly-earthy taste are the perfect start to the weekend

I’ve had three cups of this today, testing how the leaves handle multiple steepings. The first steep (190 degrees for 2:30) was quite lovely – full-bodied, earthy, and I may have detected a small hint of sweetness, not sugar-sweet but almost the natural sweetness of white tea. The second steep (190 degrees for 3:00) had less body and more of a bitter taste than the first steep. The third steep was actually quite disappointing. It was bitter and incredibly weak, and the liquor was so close to clear that I actually double-checked to make sure that I had actually added the leaves to let it steep! Since the first steep was quite good and the second was acceptable, I can let a less-than-desirable third steep by.

Overall, I was very pleased with this tea, which I got as a part of Upton Tea’s sampler set “Introduction to Oolong Tea”, but I will definitely only do two steeps with the leaves.

My first words after tasting this tea for the first time were “wow, that’s good.” It’s a bit earthy, but has an almost sweet or mint-like aftertaste. Medium-bodied, with a smooth texture. I like to almost slurp it, because I think that pulls out more of its earthy tones that I love in a good oolong.

I got this in a sampler pack, and I have a sneaky suspicion that this will become a staple in my cupboard.

Update: I tried this at 185 degrees for 3:30 and I believe it was much better. More earthy (which I love) and a bit thicker.

I brewed this according to package directions, and it is delicious! It’s a less oxidized oolong, but still has good body to the flavor. It has a bit of a buttery texture, and a lovely light green color. I’ve gotten three steeps out of these leaves with no diminished taste, though I did increase the steeping time to 2:30 for the third steep. Since I got this in a sampler, I will definitely be buying more once my sample is gone.