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I really do enjoy pu-erh teas and this one is pretty high on my list. Especially of the ones that I can identify, seeing as I have a few at home I just can’t figure out what company made them!

In any case, it’s been another long, stressful day at work and I felt the need to relax. I had just eaten a large lunch and clocked back in when it became eminently clear that I needed some nice pu-erh to help keep my stomach settled and my senses alert.

Once it was brewed, I smelled the tea and actually said out loud, “Yes! This is exactly what I need!” It was sort of silly. I guess it’s a good thing there aren’t too many people near my desk.

What I love most about a good pu-erh like this is how it transports me. I smell the tea and have a sip and I’m camping in the woods, huddled in a warm sleeping bag as a fallen tree falls apart eaten by termites next to my tent. * sigh * This is where I want to be right now. And this is where I feel like I am when I enjoy this tea.

Delicious!

This is actually my third time drinking this tea. The first was in the Vital Tea Leaf shop with Kenny in Chinatown. After that, I purchased a decent amount of it. The second was just yesterday with a small group of coworkers and we all sat around enjoying this tea very much.

Today, I am enjoying this tea once more and the light, springy aroma of the liquor is perking me up nicely! The liquor itself is extremely light in color, even lighter than most green oolongs I come across. The tea itself is somewhat vegetal and mildly grassy. Most of all, it lightly plays in the mouth with a simple, pleasant, and almost sweet flavor.

I’m definitely fond of this tea and perhaps will like to try other Iron Goddess options from Vital Tea Leaf someday. When talking with Kenny, he described this as a good “everyday” oolong. I think he is exactly right about that!

Upon seeing the opportunity to get an early release black tea from a plantation that specializes in Oolong… I couldn’t resist the offer and spent perhaps a few dollars more than I ought to have in order to be a part of this.

The leaves are large, dark, and gorgeous to me. The scent of the dry leaf is full-bodied and sweet. But not sweet in a sugar or fruit sort of way to me. It’s sweet like a handful of grain.

I opted to brew this gong fu style first in a 100 mL gaiwan. Each infusion was around 1-2 minutes (depending on the infusion), so perhaps I will try this again gong fu style with shorter infusions.

The liquor is a deep amber with a surprisingly mellow aroma. As Dorothy noted, it definitely is malty with a touch of barley. Drinking the tea is smooth. There is no astringency or bitterness to my palate. At first, I couldn’t quite identify what I was tasting. It was robust but mellow. There was a heartiness without being too much.

After a while, I realized that tasting this tea reminds me of tasting craft beers. There are a lot of the same flavors working their way through the tea as I have experienced in beer. It’s almost like there’s a very light hoppy after-taste that I find especially pleasant.

I’m looking forward to trying this again with shorter infusions and again in a western style pot.

I’ve been on something of a “light and mild” tea kick lately. This is very odd for me considering my normal tastes (pu-erh, dark roasted oolong, and black teas). Yet all day yesterday while I was in the office, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of this Bai Mu Dan sitting lonely (okay, maybe not so lonely) in my cupboard at home. Remembering how the caffeine from the white tea is more likely to send a jolt of electricity (in a good way) through me, I decided to pull out the tea, freshen the water in my electric kettle, and leave it all in plain sight for the morning!

I prepared this tea gong fu style once again. My senses were a bit dulled by having just woken, so I won’t describe the aroma and flavor in as much detail as before, but you can see my previous log on this tea for those details!

As I expected, this tea provided a fresh clarity to my morning and the briskness of the flavor brought my palate alive! I definitely enjoy this tea still and even brought some to keep in my tea drawer in the office so I can utilize its inspiring flavor while stuck at work!

My first whiff of the dry leaf in the pyramid bag was a little strong. The bergamot is perhaps stronger than I would prefer (a non-regular Earl Grey drinker). The brewed liquor is a nice deep amber and the aroma is similar to that of the dry leaf.

My first few sips were when the tea was freshly brewed and pretty hot still. The lemony bergamot really packed a wallop and I wasn’t particularly fond of it. It had a vaguely soapy, almost Pine Sol-like after taste for me. I let the cup sit a bit and the tea cooled. Once it was in the “pleasantly warm” category, I tried it again and basically all of the bergamot overkill had passed into history.

I think this will make a nice iced Earl Grey in the summer months, but I think I’ll pass on future hot cups.

Thanks again to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample for me!

I used to drink this tea very regularly. In general, I find that Mighty Leaf tea is a solid brand that can be found locally most anywhere. If it’s not in your main supermarket, it can typically be found at a local co-op or natural foods store. After drinking the Goji Green Tea from Two Leaves and a Bud yesterday, I remembered this tea and wanted to try it again for comparison.

However, it has been quite a while since I’ve partaken in any and I must admit that I’m a bit disappointed. Maybe my tastes have been too highly tuned and become too used to more natural teas, but it’s sort of bland to me now. There is that light sweetness from the “tropical” aspect of this tea, and I do still think it’s a pretty solid tea for being in a bag as it is, but I guess I’m just a bit underwhelmed.

I know I’m comparing it in part to my previous opinion of it, which was quite high. So that has bearing on this rating, absolutely. I’m sure I’ll be having more in the future in either case. It still is a nice tea!

This is actually the second time I’ve tried this, but I was unable to write a review sooner.

The liquor itself is very light in color, even lighter than many of the greens I’ve had in the past. The aroma of the tea in the cup was very mild, almost non-existent. However, the wet leaf aroma is pungent and almost earthy. I’m having trouble finding just the right word to describe the this scent.

As for the tea itself, it’s a very mellow green tea. A very light background note of roasted flavor, but it’s almost not even noticeable.

This tea is very nice a subtle, but I’m not sure I’d drink it too regularly. I don’t care too much for green teas and usually enjoy a heartier flavor, so this may be in part related to the fact that I’ve had a lot of green and white tea today and none of the stronger flavors I normally consume in such vast quantities.

This is a backlogged tasting note of this tea, which I got from LiberTeas.

I very much enjoyed the lightness of flavor on this one. It unfortunately did not make a particularly strong impression, so I cannot provide many more details beyond that. I have enough to try it again a couple more times, so I’ll provide a more accurate rating/review then. In the meantime, I’ll leave it without a number rating!

This tea bag looks like it had received a little rough treatment at some point. Probably just when it was in transit, from what I can tell. Inside the pyramid bag most of the leaves were whole and fine, but some clearly had been crushed at some point inside the bag, so there were a bit more, well… bits than I would prefer.

However this did not result in a bad tea at all! I perhaps lessened my steeping time by a small amount to prevent from over-brewing with the smaller pieces, but that’s all.

I was a little worried about the flavoring on this tea, since I have experienced some teas that just overdo it. Thankfully, Two Leaves and a Bud do not fit in that category with this tea! The goji and tropical flavors are very mild and pleasant. It just adds a sweetness to the tea. The liquor has a nice light yellowish color and the aroma is a bit sweeter than the tea itself (which was in its favor).

This is a tea that I would enjoy on a morning where I need just a mild wake up and something sweet instead of hearty. Not sure if I’d pick up too much at a time, but a few on hand would not go amiss!

Thank you to Two Leaves and a Bud for sending along this sample!

As I was adding a selection of teas I had just received to my cupboard, I couldn’t decide what tea to try first. All of a sudden, I accidentally clicked the “Log” button on this tea and decided it was fate to try this one first!

First and foremost, this tea is in a bag. However, it’s a lovely, compostable pyramid bag that is not over stuffed in the least. When I added the tea to the hot water, whenever this is the case, the first thing I do is watch the tea inside the bag. In this case, I was able to see each piece of leaf (sort of like a cut whole leaf, but clearly no harsh process) expand to its fullest potential. The pyramid was mostly filled, but even with full expansion, there was still a small amount of space to allow the leaves to expand more if they needed.

Definitely a good start for a tea bag!

The liquor turned out a bit darker than I anticipated, but the aroma is still light and sweet. It is mildly floral in a richer way than a jasmine tea. When it came time to taste the tea, I was a little surprised, as the flavor was a bit lighter than I anticipated, especially with the color of the liquor.

Yet the flavor is very like the aroma in its floral features as an undertone to the simple natural sweetness of the tea. While I think I still prefer the loose, full leaf Bai Mu Dan tea to this, when I am not able to sit and enjoy a nice gongfu tea making, this will not only suffice, but fulfill the need for a pleasurable and delicious tea!

Thank you very much to Two Leaves and a Bud for the sample! I look forward to tasting more!