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Dry leaf smelled like roasted mate, marshmallow, and something inedible that reminded me of an old house. Luckily, the smell of the brew smelled amazing, like sweet milky butter. I was surprised that it didn’t smell like mate.

The brew didn’t taste quite like the smell. It still had a creamy mouthfeel and flavor, with a little bit of sweetness. However, the predominating flavor was more like a green mate. It wasn’t bad for a mate flavor.

I feel like this tea presented itself as a series of dessert flavors. What I got first was a strong brown bread flavor—the bitter earthy kind. There’s a figgy, raisiny kind of flavor that lends sweetness to the entire mix. I also got dark chocolate, but the creaminess of the brew made it taste almost like a chocolate fudge topping. Sometimes I got marshmallows, which switched my mindset from bread pudding to s’mores. . .fun!

As it cools, the vanilla makes itself more well-known, and many of the other flavors drop away. Now I’m drinking a creamy vanilla pudding, but that fig-raisin flavor is still hanging around.

Last of the LP teas! It’s been such a chocolatey, desserty kind of day for me. Happy Birthday LP!

Now that I’ve brewed it, the liquid smells like burnt chocolate pudding and yams, which sounds disgusting, but I am a fan of. I love overcooking chocolate pudding and eating the skin off it.

The brew actually tastes pretty simple. It’s sweet, with a strong flavor of sweet potatoes. These sweet potatoes have the skin on, as that earthy flavor is pretty strong. The cocoa comes up next with a sharp buzz on the finish. A sweet, very strong raisin flavor comes back up the palate after swallowing. I was surprised not to get any of the nuts or rice in the flavor.

My first thought on the first sip was “WHOA, complicated.” There are a lot of layers to this tea. This is an introspective tea, something to spend a quiet afternoon on, thinking.

I like to call teas like this traveling teas—the teas whose different flavors light up the regions of the tongue as you swallow. The dark flavors are the ones that hit first, which are sweet potatoes and cocoa. Then the tea hits the middle of the tongue with brighter flavors, like sugary red fruits. I’m going to tell you now that I suck at identifying fruits in teas, so red is as close as you’re going to get. As the brew fades in the back of the mouth, there’s malt, a little bit of astringency, and a honey-like sweetness. I also got some vanilla caramel flavor.

Though I couldn’t find the nuts in the first brew, subsequent steeps yielded a sweet, creamy pecan flavor, while most of the chocolate and fruits fell away.

The tea itself is beautiful, with cocoa-colored curls of leaves and bright pink petals. It’s an interesting choice, as the bougainvillea-colored petals combined with the creamsicle aroma of the blend suggests a tropical experience is to come.

Once brewed, the liquid has a honey smell that comes out strongly in the flavor. The base tea is sweet and vibrant with honey and floral overtones. I’m not sure if the floral flavor comes from the flower petals or the base, but it’s light and not soapy at all (which is how I typically tend to perceive florals). The bergamot is fresh tasting and bright. It may be a little on the light side for some people, since I didn’t consider it too much. And believe me, I was looking out for it.

The bergamot does get too powerful as the tea cools, however. It’s like I squeezed a full lemon into the cup. So that part isn’t for me.

Otherwise, this tea is a major home run for me.

It’s not often that a blend hits so close to what was intended for it. Often, I find that names do more to disappoint the drinker than describe the flavor of the blend. Why is that? Does the blender start with a name and stick with it, or do they actually name the tea once they have tasted it?

Anyway, this blend hit rather close to its name, but not quite…for me at least. The base was sweet and creamy, combining well with the buttery vanilla flavors. It actually tasted like a poundcake, which was awesome. There may be a bit of egginess, but rather than contributing to an eggnog flavor, it lends itself further to the cake flavor of the tea. There’s a hint of artificiality to it, but it’s well within tolerable parameters for me.

I didn’t really catch any of the eggnog. It might be because of the age of tea, but I didn’t catch any of the nutmeg and cinnamon notes. Since I’m not really a fan of eggnog, that’s okay with me.

I may have to get more of this.

Tangy with some fermentation flavor, but not like a shou at all. The sheng flavor is still prevalent.

Depending on the steep, the leaf sometimes had a tannin and bitterness flavor of a light black. On other steeps, it was light and maybe a little fruity.

Toward the end, it got cooling on the tongue, with an almost minty feeling coming out my nose. It became mineral tasting. The taste reminded me of autumn.

Hard to review this, as this is the first matcha I have ever had. On it’s own, and not comparing it to anything else:

It’s a little seaweedy, green tea tasting, umami, and surprisingly creamy, considering I am drinking ground up leaves.

It’s definitely something I will finish.

Catching up on some tasting notes, so I’m not going to be too loquacious…

The brew is toasty like hot brown bread and the jam of some kind of red fruit. I can’t really put my finger on what kind, but it adds brightness to an otherwise dark tea. This is a sweet, tangy, and malty tea—very enjoyable!

There is a very light bitterness and astringency as well.

This review isn’t really fair. From the description, I didn’t think I would like this tea, but I had already chosen the other two free samples that you get with any order from Soleil. I figured I may as well give it a shot.

From the smell of the leaf, I have nicknamed it bacon earl grey oolong. It has that applewood smoke aroma and that orangey smell of the bergamot.

The flavor of the brew is tangy and toasty, with a mild smoke flavor of applewood (which makes my brain fill in with bacon). For the later steeps, the floral of the oolong comes through—I’m thinking jasmine? The bergamot hangs in there, but the smoky flavor disappears. This smokiness seems to be brought out again at lower temperatures.

It was all right, but the smoke and bergamot flavor together were odd, and not my thing.