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Yup, this is smokey. And had bitterness & astringency in my first steep (after a rinse in hot tap water and another rinse for 10s in boiling water). Deep golden colored brew and very aromatic. The leaves were still quite green as you can see in the right-hand dish of the photo, which belies the teas youth and drier storage. By the 3rd steep, the smokiness had diminished but the astringency remained potent. Perhaps this tea will age to a smoother and sweeter brew in 10 or 20 more years, and if so, perhaps my heirs will be enjoying it.
UPDATE: I continued sipping this, now on infusion number 6 (five minutes). The bitterness and astringency have tempered, but the soup remains a beautiful, clear, deep golden color. Nice, round mouhfeel. Bumping up my rating by 5 pts. though the tea still needs more age. This, too, was part of the “smokey tea lovers sampler set” and I’m glad to have tried it.

NTT describes this Oolong as: “Bold | Earthy | Complex | Malt | Toasted Pecan | Brown Sugar” and I can partially agree. Definitely bold and complex, but I’m not getting earthiness (thankfully), nor do I get malt or brown sugar. There is a roasted flavor and aroma that is reminiscent of nuts which, I suppose, could be called pecan—but not a strong pecan. Maybe pecan shells. The oxidation is heavy and there in no grassy or buttery or honey flavor to my tongue, but the brew is surely tasty. Second steeping satisfied too. Overall just not exciting to me. I’ll finish off the bag and move on! Nevertheless, I was very happy to be able to try this offering from Nepal, and I have been enjoying a number of other Nepalese teas as well!

2013 Cha Yu Lin “Hua Mei” Hunan Tian Jian Tea. I have no idea what the name means, but I can attest that this is a dark tea. Both the leaf, which is rather stemmy, and the soup, which was clear and oak-brown in color. I’ve never tasted smoked peat, so I don’t know if I can concur with that part of the YS description, but I sure don’t get fruit or chocolate. Instead, the first impression in my initial three steeps was of seaweed, reminiscent of nori used to wrap sushi. Both in aroma and flavor. No compost or fishy notes, but definitely a taste of the ocean! No astringency or bitterness or undesirable notes, but nothing really appealing either. A longer 4th steep smelled faintly of dirty socks and both color and flavor were petering out. Not complex at all. No lingering flavor either. Someone put in the listing that this is a pu’erh? Okay….

Here we have a pretty uninspiring but drinkable 12 yr old puer with Taiwan aging. It’s a blend of ripe & raw. Not fishy or dank, pretty clean tasting. Not astringent, little bite, faint aroma. Steeped up as a bright golden infusion that has some complex woody notes and a lingering finish. Found a 1-cm black round seed floating in the pot. I enjoyed my 10g sample but wasn’t compelled to buy a full cake which is good since the cakes are now sold-out.

I believe a big part of this tea’s excellence comes from the terroir as well as the skill of the teamasters involved. Because another very similar tea (also sold by Tealyra) is called Black Beauty #8, which also comes from the Sun Moon Lake region. But Teapedia describes TTES #8 as “a assamica varietal from Jaipur (India, Assam)”. So a completely different cultivar, with very similar flavors. It is my second-favorite. The TTES is a formal research station, so their pedigree designations are authoritative.

So, yes, Brandy Oolong Ruby 18 is, in my estimation, outstanding. Please also find other tea notes listed for this tea under the company’s prior name, Tealux. This is also among the more expensive tea I’ve had, at $8/25g since I get only one pleasing steeping out of it, thus it rivals good pu’ers, on a per-cup basis. But it handily beats all of them in flavor and aroma! YMMV.

Drank this again today and was reminded how good it is! Smooth, good in the mouth, easy to swill. Mild astringengy but not tannic tasting. No buyer’s remorse for having bought the 5-tuo bag (500g).

The dry leaves had a faint wintergreen aroma, and I was so eager to get into this brew! I used a mere 1.5g in an 8-oz cup of boiling water for 2 min. Got a lovely gold-brown liquor, but with a very off-putting aroma! Only after I kept reminding myself that this was a wintergreen smell did it become more pleasant. And that same flavor dominated the entire session. The leaves were fairly well spent, and a second steeping of seven minutes produced a week tea with cardboard box flavor. I dumped it. Ultimately, I have decided the tea tastes more mediciney—think BenGay—and not something I care to drink for a while. On the upside, it might be perfect for times when sitting at home recovering from a cold. I would try adding some lemon, honey, and milk. Totally changing the flavor profile! We shall see… . For now, not well-appreciated. (But still much better than Rooibos.) At least it was an inexpensive experiment!

Postscript I’ve updated the Harney description by adding their “details” section, which is more comprehensive. Especially in that they’ve don’t say just “mint” but now explain it as a wintergreen flavor, which is technically more accurate. Some of the older reviews note not tasting the claimed mint, and this may be why.

An interesting blend; fairly astringent possibly because I used a big spoonful of leaf for the mug. But also flavorful with apricot notes coming through this morning. Seems to be doing the job of waking me up! Lingering malty assam flavor in the back of my mouth between sips, to stimulate both the senses and and the mind.

Postscript: Makes a superb iced-tea, sweet or unsweet!

Although it’s a CTC, don’t look down your nose at it. Quite delicious, very fast to brew (1 minute is enough). This is what I want tea to taste like when I just want it to taste like tea! Except when I want it to taste like keemun, or Earl Grey, or dragonwell, or cinnamon spice, etc….you get the idea! Okay, It’s just one song in the album— but it’s a good song!