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For its price, this is a pretty good tea. It’s strong in maltiness with a little bit of raisiny sweetness and hints of cocoa.

Thought the tea itself isn’t astringent, there’s a dry, woody sort of flavor of this tea that reminds me of a shou.

You can’t seem to overleaf or overbrew this tea, which is interesting.

Cream, floral, and some grass. Nice and thick mouthfeel. While it was a pleasurable experience, I didn’t feel like this was anything special.

Nice, creamy mouthfeel, thick in the mouth.

Flavor is not my favorite for an oolong. There’s a little roast flavor, which is nice, as it doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the tea. There’s also something like rice or barley.

There’s something weirdly fruity about the brew…red fruit? It may be cranberry or red grape skin. Kind of a dry flavor, like a wine.

Amazing value for the money. These little things are pressed so tightly that it takes a good 12 steeps or so just to get the damned things to open up. But the tea treats you with great flavor until then, so enjoy the ride.

It’s sweet, raisiny cocoa in the beginning, growing more sweet potatoey, malty, and earthy as it opens up.

Amazing value and a good experience. Would make a great daily gongfu drinker.

Well, I typed up a whole thing for this, then lost it when I closed the window for some strange reason.

Anyway, starts out medicinal, which I didn’t really understand the description of until this tea. There was also a lot of autumnal leaf pile. To be honest, I didn’t really like it at all until the fourth steep or so.

It started to change with some cinnamon with a touch of honey, autumnal leaf pile still being the base flavor. As the brew itself cooled, I got a hint of green apple, which is a first for me in any kind of tea. Am I getting better at this? I hope so.

The tea seems to mellow out to vanilla, honey, and dried flowers. I kept alternating between 200 and 212 because I was trying to decide which temperature I liked better. I liked them both really.

I may cake this.

No matter how I brewed this tea, I couldn’t get it to not taste like the chemical smell of a clean diaper.

I felt like a gongfu tea session, even if it was already way past my bedtime. So I pulled this one out of the cupboard.

The dry leaf smells of black tea and something spicy—cinnamon and anise? I hate anise, so I’m a bit worried at this point. It’s also smelling honey sweet.

I’m a bit underwhelmed by the flavor coming out in this oolong. It’s pleasant, but very light. It’s sweet and spicy, just like the aroma of the dry leaves. I got honey, cinnamon , luckily no anise.

Double the leaf and up the temperature to 205. That’s better! The aroma coming off the lid is peaches, honey, and cinnamon, and it’s intense! The aroma is echoed in the flavors to a lesser degree. There’s a bit of tannin and astringency, but not much.

Here’s a pour and a shot of my new turtley setup: https://www.instagram.com/p/BM-idVah0QW/

The roast looks and smells heavy on the leaves, but it comes out lighter in the brew, by far.

Mouthfeel is buttery and smooth, which makes this tea very satisfying. The roast, which usually tries to assert itself on my tongue in most roasted oolongs, is light and toasty. It simply adds to the flavor of the tea rather than dominating it. The flavor is highly floral with a light sweetness.

Very tasty. Thank you tea trade friend!

Even half strength, tastes like sheng.

I thought I didn’t have any sheng samples left in my stash, but I was wrong. Perhaps this one is the last.