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I have the Spring 2015 harvest, and this is almost a sipdown already but I’ve been drinking and loving this tea so much especially in the past year now that the flavours have fully developed.

Dry leaf: Powdered cocoa, sweet passionfruit

Liquor: Smells divinely floral, like sweet creamy gardenia or orchid. The tea tastes sweet and tangy, tangy like coffee or fruity Madagascan dark chocolate, with the typical Yancha notes of chocolate but less pronounced ones of mineral and wet rocks. Amazing.

I remember when I visited Tea Drunk in NYC and the cheapest Wuyi oolong on the menu was this Qi Lan, so I thought of it as an “inferior” Wuyi. How wrong I was! While my favourite Wuyi oolong is probably still Da Hong Pao, Qi Lan is a gorgeous lighter, floral alternative on days when you don’t want something so heavy or roasty. I like the Qi Lan even more than the Shui Jin Gui and Rou Gui varietals I’ve bought from Yunnan Sourcing, but since it has been a while I should revisit those to see if they’ve aged as beautifully as the Qi Lan has.

Served this yesterday at my afternoon tea party as the caffeine-free option. It was a total hit, and I had to make three pots of this! Pairs well with any high tea food (scones with lemon curd and clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, pumpkin muffins).

It smells amazing. Personally I like this with milk as it’s a bit flavourless on its own. Doesn’t need sugar but I might try adding sometime.

Rating: 87 for being a crowd pleaser.

Drinking this again but it’s a couple years old at this point. The best thing about this tea is its aroma. The flavour is completely underwhelming, and completely disappears under a bit of milk and sugar. I can’t see myself ever repurchasing this tea.

Brewed at boiling water for 5:00 in my brand new English teapot, one sachet for about 15oz of water.

I have the Spring 2017 harvest.

Dry leaf smells really fruity, like tart cherries. The wet leaf and liquor smell divine, like sweet young woodsy incense (I’m not describing this well). Delicious, delicate flavour but slightly green. I think I should let it age, to mellow and sweeten more.

This tea as of Apr 2018 does NOT go well with even a splash of milk; milk totally overwhelms the subtle flavour. The Classic Bai Lin Gong Fu 2015 (my rating: 90) went well with milk, so I’ll rate this an 87.

Finally, two years later in my tea journey, I’ve returned to this tea. Brewed at 200˚F, but I think 195 or 205 would’ve worked too.

I had to venture out into the world of Indian teas and British high teas to appreciate this tea: like a CTC, this NEEDS to be drunk with milk and sugar. It is robust enough to hold up to these additions, and then it becomes a lovely companion to any high tea of sandwiches and pastries. I will finally be finishing this tea and enjoying it!

Will probably purchase more Assam teas in future to fill this role, but some of my guests really love the smokiness of this tea so I’m glad I have it.

Sipdown! Though I brewed this at the correct temperature of 195˚F, it was slightly bitter (perhaps due to the tea dust at the bottom of the bag). Still smelled divine though. I added milk to this tea for the first time and it was great, sweetness restored. No need for sugar. Perfect for a “high tea” tea when you don’t want to drink this tea as a purist.

I already bought the Imperial Grade of this tea (2017) from Yunnan Sourcing so am interested to compare them tomorrow.

I love the ginger almond fragrance. The tea tastes quite bitter using my steeping parameters, so it needs milk and sugar. Lovely breakfast drink.

Brewed at 194˚F for 5:00.

Rating: 76

Smells divine, malted candy with that funky earthy smell similar to a Yunnan black tea, but with even more complex floral notes.

Unfortunately the flavour of the tea is slightly bitter and astringent. It tastes floral in the sense of chewing on a flower, not sweet but instead getting the bitter juices of the plant that is not meant to be eaten.

Brewed at 176˚F for 4:00.

Rating: 66

Brewed at 178˚F and it’s not as aromatic or flavourful as I remember. Probably should brew at 185˚F next time. Still one of my favourites from Teabox.

This is my first ever Nilgiri tea.

The dry leaf smells like Chinese green tea, sweet and vegetal. Tea liquor smells more like white tea, fruity and slightly floral, with steamed corn (as it says on Teabox’s website). It tastes fresh and sweet, no bitterness, a lot like sweet corn, maybe corn soup?

This tea is very good, and I am a huge fan of corn, but I am being very selective about how much green and white tea I buy every year now so I doubt I’ll buy the full size of this.

Brewed at 177˚F for just under 5:00.

Rating: 83