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(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

I’m all fan girly over the teas from Jun Chiyabari Estate at the moment. I had a tea from this estate (via a different tea company) a few days ago and loved it. I’m thinking I like this one even more. This tea has a light body with notes of rose, lemon, and toasty bread. There is also a muscatel note that has a sharp wine like finish. This isn’t just good, it’s incredibly good. As the tea cools there is a bit of a clean hay flavor, and while there is some astringency it is much less than I was expecting.

The rose/floral notes in this one set it apart for me. They aren’t in-your-face strong, but they are present throughout the sip as the other flavors slip in and out. It gives the tea balance and a bit of playfulness. I think I could drink this tea all day and be very happy.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

So this tea threw me for a loop. I think I may have under steeped it the first time. The taste was very faintly honey with a bit of floral. I tasted nothing that reminded me of chestnuts the way so many others did. The second steep I upped the water temp a touch and added 45 seconds to the steep. The result was a buttery sweet pea flavor. Both cups were really nice, and I’d be happy to sip on this again, but I can’t help but think I missed something with this one.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

Tea of the morning. This was a luck draw from the UTTB. I steeped it knowing nothing about the tea, but it turns out that it is an excellent breakfast tea. This lovely is hearty and bold with great chocolate notes and a roasty toasty thing going on that I like. A lot. At the end of the sip there is a strong fruit note that finishes with just a touch of dryness at the back of the throat. Very cool. Very nice.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

I actually had this one last night but was too tired to type up my tasting note.

If this tea is anything, it’s smooth. It is also fairly sweet. Lots of fruity notes as well as some caramel and a hint of cocoa. Because the smokey notes are dialed back so much I had to remind myself that this is a Keemun. It’s very different from what I’m used to, but sometimes different can be a good thing.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

I think this tea was too subtle for me. I kept thinking that maybe I taste lemon, or maybe there is some sweetness, or maybe a malty note. I had no trouble drinking it. It just didn’t impress me too much.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

This tea is outstanding. I knew it would be given that North Winds is the base, but I’m still impressed with the layers of flavor here. The sip starts out mildly fruity and then morphs into dark chocolate and sweet vanilla with a bit of a crusty bread note. Every now and then there is a hint of cocoa. It’s not bitter but a deeper chocolate note than the dark chocolate. It’s so good, and even though there are all of these heavy flavors the body of the tea manages to stay light which I find charming. As the tea cools I get another hint of the fruity, cherry like note. Love, love, love it.

I had this tea earlier today. My Harney order arrived, and that combined with the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box has put me in tea heaven. Angels singing and everything.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve had this tea, but it is as good as I remember. Wonderful vanilla and caramel flavors with the bergamot giving the tea a shininess that is down right delightful. I’m so glad this one is back in my cupboard.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

MzPriss wrote a tea note earlier today saying this tea took her to her happy place. Since she was kind enough to add some of this to the tea box I thought I’d give it a try and see if it took me to a happy place, too.

Whoa… this is crazy good. MzPriss recommended a 7 minute steep, but I wussed out at 4 minutes after doing a quick rinse. The resulting liquor was very dark and the smell was earthy. The first few sips I drank plain. The taste was unsweetened cocoa and earth with maybe a hint of something nutty in the aftertaste. After adding a bit of sweetener I tasted dark chocolate and stone-fruit. There was still some of the earthy flavor and a definite nuttiness in the aftertaste. Like I said, crazy good.

I did a second steep of the leaves for 8 minutes. It was longer than I intended, but I wasn’t as worried this time. Since I was experimenting I added sugar and milk to my cup. Now I taste chocolate and caramel. As the tea cools I get more of the earthy, kind of spicy notes in the tea.

So, here is another tea I’m going to buy. This tea is begging to be experimented with. I want to try much shorter steeps, very long first steeps, all day sessions… this is a tea of wonderful possibilities.

(From the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box)

The UTTB arrived today, and after much oohing and ahhing at the amazing teas I get to taste I chose this one as my starting point. I’ve never tried a tea from Vietnam before, and SOT’s description of it intrigued me.

This tea is good. Very good. The color of the infused tea is a medium amber, and the smell is a mix of spice and leather. It’s an appealing and very comforting smell. It makes me think of a nice study with deep leather chairs to curl up in while reading. The taste also has a hint of cinnamon as well as some malt. It’s not as malty as an Assam, but there are similarities. There are also notes of raisin as the tea cools a bit which I’m really enjoying. I also like how full this tea is. It has a thickness and a richness to it that makes me want to stop everything and just enjoy it. I think this could be either a breakfast or an afternoon tea, but I see myself reaching for it more in the afternoon when I’m really needing a nice tea break.

Well, if this is any indicator of the kinds of teas I’m going to be drinking for the next few days then I am a luck girl. This tea is going on my shopping list.

Tea of the morning. I’ve been drinking cups and cups of this as the weather gets warmer. It’s has a great coconut flavor, just a hint of pineapple, and then the buttery flavor of the Oolong. The combination makes for a great summer tea.