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The leaves are small and appear broken.
There is good typical warm, roasty flavor, but the tea is thin bodied and doesn’t give more than one steep. Sadly, disappointing.

From Dark Matter. The first time I tried this tea I didn’t use nearly enough leaf, and was left with just 2 grams for a second round. Poor leaf management on my part.

So I tried western style steeping in about 4 oz of boiling water for 5 minutes and had a very nice cup of tea. Smooooth, mellow and just malty enough. It’s on the sweeter end of the spectrum, but I don’t notice raisin like others have. Very comforting cup on a cloudy morning.

Finished off this lovely low oxidation low roast oolong. It is quite light and fresh tasting, with a hint of vegetal character and sweet florals. It was not buttery or creamy to me, although it was not thin-bodied either. Matched the sunny day well.

Backlog of notes. I ordered this as a sample, and enjoyed all 10 grams. I will order more in the future.

Pleasantly astringent, nicely offsetting flavors of passion fruit and mango. Not a floral oolong.

I imagine this would be great cold-steeped!

I received this tea as a sample. Thank you, Song Tea! Sniffing the dry leaf made me think of Nag Champa incense. It didn’t truly smell like Nag Champa, but made me think of it.

The theme with this tea overall is “evocative” – there are no obvious flavors, just haunting notes. It is elegant.

Notes that come to mind are muscovado, cocoa, caramel, again, incense.

It is very warming. At the end of the cup, a pleasurable tang appears.

It was beautiful.

Thank you, a Tea Story, for the sample!

The dry leaf is delicate and fine. Steeping, the aroma is buttery spring green vegetables: tender baby spinach, asparagus, peas.

In the first steep, the taste is more of steamed veggies. Clean and more crisp than buttery. Flavor builds with each sip, gaining in body. As the cup progresses, I am catching a hint of parsley and maybe mint. This tea is gulpable.

In the second steep, I forgot to let the water cool enough (around 175 was my goal and it was more 200), and bitterness is present. This tea cannot take higher heat. As I sip, a sense of cheer comes over me.

The third cup is a bit drying. There is a cooling sensation – maybe more mint.

I think I would have gotten more steeps had I not used such hot water at the second steep.

Overall, this tea was very enjoyable and was truly Spring.

Quoting haveteawilltravel here, because I can’t get any closer than this:

The flavor begins dry and with a drought earth flavor. This taste progresses to an old leather and top soil. The flavors keep a consistent smooth dry bite with some wet clay and rainwater flavors arising later on.

First shou for me! Thanks LP!

Whenever I am faced with entering review notes for a Japanese green tea, I flail about, my mental arms noodling around my head and torso awkwardly.

I have no idea what I’m tasting or why I sometimes like one tea more than another. My phone’s autocorrect wanted “tasting” to be “rafting,” and it seemed somehow appropriate to have my note devolve into nonsense. Fixed it anyway.

So, the tea tastes green and grassy, with some richness and sweetness lingering after the sip. Green beans?

It’s making me smile involuntarily, so it’s got some good theanine content.

I’m enjoying it and I don’t really know why.

Good enough.

I found this tea to be quite astringent and dry. It had notes of tomatoes, tomato leaves and bitter greens, amost an arugula taste, but without any pepper. A departure from the gently savory or buttery green teas that I enjoy.

Very fresh sample included with my order of Oriental Beauty. Thank you!

The mouthfeel was lovely, creamy and full bodied. Rich in flavor, milky and buttery. I like more dimensions beyond butteriness, so I probably won’t order this, but I enjoyed the session I had.