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This tea isn’t half-bad iced. It’s a little bit on the grassy, vegetal side, but it’s very refreshing and thirst-quenching. Maybe I’ll add a touch of agave nectar to bring out the fruitiness more and counteract all the ‘green’ – I have enough leaves for one more cup.

You know? It’s been awhile and I have to say that I don’t like this tea as much as when I first tried it. The flavouring tastes a bit harsh and artifical, even with judicious amounts of milk and agave nectar. It not horrible – but now I can’t help thinking “I’ve had better” as I sip it.

The first thing I noticed was that the dry leaves smelled like a bag of fresh peat moss – earthy and tannic – which as a gardener isn’t something I find unpleasent. I gave the leaves the standard 30 second rinse to hopefully get rid of any dust or debris and then I brewed it for three mins – the lower end of Adagio’s steeping reccs but I know how dark pu’erhs brew up so I wasn’t worried that it would turn out weak. Unfortunately the brewing tea took on less of a peaty scent and more of fishy scent, which didn’t exactly thrill me.

Thankfully it didn’t taste like fish but it was very earthy, almost like a mouthful of dirt. At first I couldn’t decide whether to gag or enjoy it but as I drank more I found that the flavour became smoother and less jarring to my tastebuds.

I’m still not entirely sure if I like pu’erh or not – it definiatly falls in the category of being an aquired taste but it’s interesting and I enjoy having variety in my teas.

I’ve been eyeing this tea with some degree of trepidation since I got in a trade. Anyone who knows me knows I hate hibiscus, but when everyone started raving about RoT’s hibiscus-based flavoured teas I was curious enough to give it a shot – benefit of the doubt and all that.

The tea of course turned the usual bright red colour when I poured the water into my mug. Initally the steeping tea smelled like pineapple but after it had a few minutes in the water it started to smell more like lychee.

The tea itself…wasn’t half-bad, somewhat to my surprise. Yes, the hibiscus is readily apparent but it’s not as horribly tart as it could have been. It’s paired with a slight sweetness and the fruity flavours of pineapple and lychee are both easy to pick out and they distract my tongue from the evil red stuff. :D

I’m glad I cut back the steeping time a bit because I like this cup better than the last one. It’s still grassy in flavour but not as overwhelmingly as it was before and the sourness isn’t as pronounced either. The sweetness is a bit clearer, and I actually can taste a bit of fruitiness that could be interpreted as the plum flavour people talk about with this type of tea.

I drank this tea with milk this morning and it does taste a bit like an English Breakfast with a hint of malt. It’s not really anything special in my opinion, neither extraordinarily good nor abyssmally bad, it’s just kind of…flat and uninteresting.

I drank this cup with milk which went very nicely with this tea, emphasizing its sweet character and giving it a very smooth quality.

I had another go at the whole matcha-making thing. This time I used less water – 6 oz as oppose to 8 oz (it amounts to about 3/4 of a cup) along with 1/4 tsp of matcha. The result is less watery than before although I’m still not getting that frothy matcha texture I’m used to seeing with ‘real’ matcha tea. Maybe this particular kind just isn’t suited to that sort of thing or (more likely) I’m just doing it wrong – oh well.

I’m finding that the tea tastes mostly like plain matcha – clean and grassy with that faint trace of bitterness, the strawberry manages to sneak onto the end but it’s not as strong as the (wonderful) odor of the tea suggests that it should be.

One thing I’ve noticed with making matcha in an ordinary bowl like I’m doing is that it cools off very quickly. I’m surprised the Japanese monks had time to meditate over anything while they were busy chugging their tea before it got cold! XD

De-cupboarding this tea as well. I’m glad I found a good Russian Caravan that isn’t too astringent or smokey; I’d definitely buy this one again the next time I’m in Vancouver.

After reducing the steeping time I noticed that the tea tasted less tannic and astringent, though it loses a bit of that sweetness as well. I’m still not tasting the pepper people talk about when they describe Yunnan teas.