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Well, the wet leaf of this tea smells vile, but that’s really not unique. In fact, I think I’ve had another tea from this very company whose wet leaf smelled like rotten hot dogs.

FORTUNATELY, the brew neither smells nor tastes like rotten hot dogs. The brew smells sweet, like gentle spring flowers. Peonies? I have no idea if peonies bloom in the spring, but just go with it. Don’t shatter my bubble. Maybe some honey in there, but mostly the flowers.

I don’t have a lot of experience with whites, so I don’t know what I am supposed to expect. The brew is sweet and floral. I’m not really familiar with the individual scents of flowers, but I’m feeling pink ones. Shall we stick with peonies? There’s also a little funk, which reminds me of a green tea. Perhaps some sweet snap peas?

I think this might be a tea best enjoyed in the spring.

If I had to characterize this tea, it would be like sitting on an old leather couch in a library filled with really old mouldering books and eating a piece of chocolate in front of the fire.

The predominating flavor for me was old leather with a hint of antique books. The cocoa flavor, which I admit to having trouble finding in a shou, was definitely there, but without the creamy thickness that was present in the 2002 Master Han’s.

A nice experience for a fall afternoon. Thanks TTB!

To be honest, besides being able to classify different shou puerhs by flavor profile, I have never had a shou really stand out. This one is no exception. It’s a pleasant experience, to be sure, but I’ve never had a shou that knocks my socks off.

This shou fits into the predominantly woodsy profile, tasting like fresh, wet wood. There’s a sweet, creamy flavor as well as mouthfeel. Overall, quite nice.

Thanks traveling tea box!

This one kind of fell flat for me the several times I’ve had it.

It wants to be one of those strong green Chinese teas, flavor wise, but instead of blooming at the back of the mouth, it sort of falls flat and sour. There’s a hint of bitterness, but no astringency, which is nice. But that sourness…where is it coming from? Instead of being grassy, it’s almost cucumbery, which makes it feel like it’s lacking depth, or strength or something.

It might be for someone, but not really for me.

…and yes, I did brew it at 195.

This tea company keeps surprising me. So much so that I wonder where they source from. After drinking Strawberry Black from Margarets, and realizing that it has become harsh and bitter to my palate, I was not looking forward to drinking another flavored tea.

But this…the base is smooth and sweet, unlike the astringent bitterness I just experienced. The flavoring is a little much for me, so I’m thinking it would make a better iced tea in the summer. The berry flavor is strong and false, like strawberry gum or Crystal Lite without the fake sugar.

It’s still not bad though.

So far I have had this tea grandpa style and gongfu, and it’s wonderful both ways.

The aroma is enticing: raisins, brown sugar, brown toast, cocoa.

The brew is also lovely, and reflects the aroma well. There’s raisins, brown sugar, cocoa, and toast. There’s also a bit of spice like cinnamon. The mouthfeel is thick, warm, and borderline creamy.

I can see all of the tasting notes being correct for this tea. Honey and barley. Someone in my office did mention that this tea tasted like pumpkin spice. The brightness could be orange. Bittersweet is also a good adjective for it. This tea is complex and oh so tasty.

I think I want to move to the Laoshan region, please.

Wow, this was my first gyokuro from this company. I picked this sample up in the Puerh Plus TTB. This was such an interesting experience, and such a wonderful tea. It’s so food tasting that it’s almost filling.

Steep 1: 140 for 2 minutes in 4oz. Holy crap, this is a buttery mushroom bomb. Creamy and umami to the extreme. Seriously, I have eaten mushrooms that taste less like mushroom than this tea. Honestly, I can’t even find anything in this flavor other than buttery mushrooms. I can’t stress this enough: MUSHROOMS. Okay, maybe I am getting a little of that fresh grass clipping taste that I get with matcha, and probably the dark green of kale or spinach, but seriously, that flavor is so muted under the mushrooms.

Steep 2: Instructions said 8oz at 176 for 10 seconds, and I wasn’t expecting so much color to come from such a short steep. It’s a dark, cloudy green. It’s less intense, thank goodness. I just had mushrooms for lunch, and it’s a little much for directly after. The mushroom flavor is subdued somewhat, allowing the dark green vegetal flavor to shine through. The butteriness remains. I’m still reminded of a really nice matcha.

The flavors don’t seem to change much through subsequent steepings. Really, an incredible tea with a huge amount of flavor. Great to drink before (or instead of) lunch.

Perfectly wonderful daily drinker, and just what I needed on a chilly morning. There’s a lot of malt, lending to that black tea flavor. There is also a bit of earthiness.

My favorite part is the complexity of this tea. It has a fruity floral kind of scent that’s carried into the flavor.

Really, this is just what I needed this morning.

This steeped out so light that I wasn’t sure there was going to be any flavor to the brew—a light yellowish green. Though the flavor itself is light and refreshing, it’s stronger than the color would lead me to believe.

It’s hard to pin this one down. It tastes green and yellow at the same time—partially dried grass and hay? The easiest flavor to pick out is the buttery bean flavor that I associate with gyokuro, but it’s not as intense a flavor.

This is a very good tea, but I would say that there are better out there.

This tea is oooold…Fall 2014. As such, it has probably lost a lot of its flavors.

This tea reminded me of a green oolong. It was sweet, creamy, and floral. There was also a hint of spice that I always get out of the high elevation green oolongs. It reminds me of Christmas.

Unfortunately, all of these flavors were extremely subdued almost to the point of being undetectable. The poor thing was flat and watery. It would have been nice to try it fresh.