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Decided to drink this earlier because I wanted a mug full of something to get through a meeting. Followed the steeping instructions that came with it…sort of. Steeped one pearl in probably close to 10 ounces of water.

Result was a liquor light in color that had the light flavor I would expect early in a white tea session. Vague sweetness and spices. Not enough to really stand out or be engaging, but enough to keep me going.

Came back to this one a day later and hit it with some boiling water to get through a meeting I got called into last minute. Just left the leaves in the mug the whole time. Stronger sweetness, nice spice and some of that syrupy mouthfeel action going on. Still not particularly impressive, but not bad!

So, Yunomi threw this in as a free sample in one of my orders, but I’m not sure if it’s #1 or #12. It came in a brown tear bag with a foil interior and contains two teabags, but they don’t look like the #12 bags.

I don’t usually do teabags, but trying to sipdown greens I’ve opened or green samples that I have in the morning. Sort of chose this one at random. Steeped in probably somewhere around 140 ml of water heated to 70C, but then it took me a bit to actually pour, so probably cooled a bit, and steeped a bit longer than 2 minutes.

The resulting flavor is nice and light. Has a sweet chestnut aroma and flavor with a hint of creaminess and a bit of umami in the background. Pretty good. Second steep at 80C and probably about a minute max. Very light and smooth, creamy with a vegetal aroma. Not going to try for a third steep, but this wasn’t bad!

Got this from Roswell Strange in the slack secret santea exchange! Thanks again!

Brought one of these in to have at work today, since one was already broken up, I wouldn’t have to worry about damaging it bringing it here. Quick rinse, let it all sit in the gaiwan, quick first steep.

The liquor is super dark. The aroma is definitely that of shou, but the mandarin skin is definitely in there as well. The texture is extremely smooth. Thinking I should have maybe done another rinse or two to start, though. rhinkle likens the first steep to shoe polish, and in the second steep I can start to see where she’s coming from. Then I see w2t recommends tossing the first couple of steeps for some. There is an enjoyable creaminess behind it all, though, and I get the mandarin rind coming through, as well.

After a couple of steeps, the mandarin aroma really starts to explode out of the gaiwan, and the flavor pushes to the forefront more, as well. A blend of smooth earth and citrus bite. Definitely one to sip on slowly for me. I’ll continue with this one for the rest of the day and update notes accordingly.

So it’s been a couple of days, but I had saved these leaves so I decided to give them another try this morning. Basically seeing how far I can push leaves I’ve got laying around from earlier in the week before tossing them. Mellow and smooth with an up front sweetness and a persistent aroma. The liquor has lightened up but is still dark. I would say the flavor of the mandarin is pushing into the forefront more and more.

Thanks for deleting my note, Steepster. That was really awesome of you. Let’s see if I can recount what I was saying.

Didn’t drink any green this morning and rhinkle came in earlier than usual, so we opted for hong for our morning tea session together. I don’t usually feel well if I try drinking them in the same day.

This was a single 7g sample that I got from someone—I no longer remember who it was—and tossed it all into the gaiwan. First steep smelled immediately of cocoa and yielded a nice, deep red liquor. The taste was of rich, earthy cocoa with just a bit of a tannic bite and the slightest bit of acidity.

The flavor deepens in the second steep, and letting it cool results in a much smoother flavor and texture, almost as if it has a creaminess. I get hints of smoke, as well. Steeped and sipped on this one on and off over a few hours. It was enjoyable.

Bronze grade.
Have had this for a while and been meaning to try it. I got the podium, which has a sample of each grade, and decided to try the bronze grade first. The sample consists of a few black shards wrapped in bronze foil. 1 gram goes into the gaiwan, and after a flash rinse, matter from the shards begins to release, collecting at the bottom of the gaiwan.

The liquor is an orange brown as expected. I do get a familiar, shou-like aroma, and the first steep tastes of iron to me, kind of metallic and salty. rhinkle gets giggly pretty much immediately.

For the second steep I use my puerh pick to scrape the bits away from the surface of the gaiwan a bit and stir for about a second. By the time I sit down to start sipping from this steep, I’m definitely feeling the caffeine. The taste is completely different. No longer getting the iron, more of a light, clean earthiness. I can feel the energy coursing through me, but not in that disturbing jittery way that I really don’t like.

Sweetness really comes through in steep three. I have to take a break from it after this one as the effect is strong. When I come back to it I do a more concentrated round and finish it off it ends up cooling down quite a bit before I get to drink, resulting in an iced coffee flavor.

Overall a very interesting experience. Can’t wait to try silver and gold!

Ending the day with this because I accidentally opened it earlier. Licorice doesn’t come through much, so it is definitely pure ginger up front with a hint of turmeric. Fairly clean and straightforward flavor profile. I do start the taste the licorice a bit at the end.

Not bad overall.

Got this to see how we like it, as we love the one from YS but it’s out of stock on US site. Threw the whole sample into the gaiwan, which includes a 2g piece of bitter melon. Interesting, the aroma kind of reminds me of the bug bitten oolongs we’ve had. Did a quick wash to get rid of some of the fannings and dust.

The flavor also reminds me of some of those oolongs, and it has a distinctly roasted flavor. I like it more than I’ve liked some other heavy roasted oolongs, which are not usually my thing. Has a thick sweet aroma that clings to the cup once emptied. Definitely getting some plummy notes. The longer I steep this, it starts to become a bit reminiscent of some of the heicha I’ve had.

Third steep I think was done too cool at 90C, but had a returning, syrupy sweetness. The longer I drink this, the more I realize that its age is increasingly apparent to me and that along with the heavy roast certainly set it apart from what I’m more accustomed to.

A couple more steeps, really start to get that fruity sweet and sourness really starts to come through and the liquor gets thick and viscous. I do feel like I can feel this tea coursing through my body in a sense.

Got a good few steeps out of this one but the flavor died down pretty quickly. This was good. I would drink it again, for sure, but it probably wouldn’t be my number one go to.