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I am still working up to enjoying powdered teas without additives. Almond milk and a tipple of maple made this taste like a bowl of cheerios with sliced banana.

I sat reading and clicking and deciding between puer samples (from kind and generous derk, thank you) for about an hour and half today. I loved diving into everyone’s notes. Reading and “loving” backlogs on Steepster feels way less stalky than other social media… the tea leaves keep moments relevant and timeless — at least until any particular selection is all drunk up and gone.

I went with this one because it felt important but still available to buy… some of these that will be gone once I drink them feel a bit more intimidating. Sacred.

Warming leaf smell of dewy fungus, moss, forest trees.

1. First steep was more of a rinse. Is it a rinse I drank, or a steep I didn’t rinse? Pours golden, medium translucent. Smells like lichen, with a freshness that calls up midwestern woods walks. Tastes light and bubbly, refreshing on the tongue.

2. Mild hops and pine coming off the leaves. Tastes like apricot. I pushed this steep to 30 seconds and got the tiny-good bitter of fruit skins. Cha qi already creeping in during the second steep, you kidding me? Outside with a fire going, and everything just popped. Birdsong, the orange tree that tried to die on me now flowering… being alive. Water sparkles, fire, the squirrel that just hail-maryed out of a tree. Incense. Life so glorious when it’s simple. Everything else gets to shimmer and this tea just keeps on being tea… the last sip suddenly smoothed, and the feeling while swallowing was luscious, yowza.

3. Wet leaf smells like laying in the grass a day after it’s been cut. Moist and dry, both. Clean and hazy. Third pour is more of a light caramel color. Getting warm… put the fire out, sweatpants off. Peach skin, hoppy bitterness (if I knew my hops better maybe I’d identify one… I love citra so much, but this isn’t citra), the liquor feels quite wet but then leaves substantial dryness in its wake.

4. Smell of the leaves is just really comforting, like a shirt you haven’t worn in a while, and it kind of smells stale, but loves you up and wraps your bones anyway. Unexpected tiny hint of smoke on the nose, huh. Bright-bitter in the mouth.

5. Smell feels like we’re on the same page now, this tea and I, familiar and indistinct… though I’m quite warm, I may need to go inside… yes, inside feels cooler. Refilled my thermos cause this gon’ be a while, methinks. Not much new: hoppy-bitter, drying, and effervescence persists, like beer.

6. Little bit of freshy-basement on the leaf, like green plants over-wintering down there. Easy drinking now. My teeth kinda tickle, though.

7-8. I left one of these steeps really long, pulled a whiff of shengy camphor out. Teeth still tickling. Kept riding this for a while… started petering out at 14ish steeps.

This felt comforting and friendly. It didn’t take me for a ride so much as it came along on mine. A really lovely sheng that I am so happy I chose today.

(Sometimes putting a number on these little shits feels really wrong. But also: compulsion.)

I drank this gong fu’d during the bork, and western just today. I preferred today’s cuppa by a mile. Might be a good bowl tea. “Peach” in the gong fu session tasted unripe, like bitter skins. And tomato vine — I understand the descriptor now. Western, the peach is more peachy — not overripe, but pleasant. Quintessential oolong flavor for two good steeps and a third cling-on. Not a reorder for me, but decent.

A sample from ashmanra’s cabinet — thank you <3 — that I drank during the bork. I didn’t look up what this was before I tasted it, and my notes are all over the place. I loved this tea.

Smells like minty/menthol, blue flowers (violet?), cedar/incense/wood essence. Steeped, I smell candy… as if the blue flower has turned sweet, like a peach Jolly Rancher. Tastes like fairies (what, there’s no fairies tag?)… mint but not minty, candy but not sweet… white grapes, plum… sugarplum fairies! There’s something ethereal here, and something that reminds me of a childhood thing I can’t place — some kind of translucent candy (maybe it is just Jolly Ranchers?). Lemon chiffon — fluffy without being creamy. Just really well-balanced.

Theodor almost certainly intends this to be steeped western, but I went gong fu. I don’t know why. The non-tea flavors went pretty fast, and the black tea base came up front. I don’t regret the gong fu, though, because that first steep was heavenly. Now it’s crisp, citrus, astringent.

I finally looked to see what this elixir was made of. I have pulled down so much bergamot in my lifetime that I think it’s a difficult flavor for me to pick out anymore, actually (oops). So I can taste it if I focus, but I wouldn’t have guessed this was an Earl Grey base — it makes sense that the plum and yuzu were creating most of the magic for my palate.

Y.U.M.

Got a little box full of delight from ashmanra (thank you!) just as Steepster borked itself, so this is a catch up. I was terribly excited to try this shou, as everything from Whispering Pines has positively astonished me thus far.

I think the most surprising thing about this tea is that it isn’t rich or even terribly complex. It’s just so clearly and simply and daintily mushroom. I’ve used “fungal” to describe some other shous, but woo — this just redefined the word for me. It’s a light mushroom, like white button or portobello. Clean, creamy, extremely drinkable. No compost flavor whatsoever — restraint in the piling? Feels respectful of the leaves. This might be a good introduction to ripes for a new drinker.

Oh, gmathis, your “bunny fluff and garden seeds” description of the dry tea is perfect. I just kind of want to snuggle it.

Walnut skins, green melon rind, wheat germ… there is a toastiness that makes me want to sit down to breakfast, but maybe that’s just because “quince” has always meant jam to me. Squash and green beans coming off the wet leaves.

For the second infusion, I added some of my precious: pure bud golden snails from What-Cha, as Georgian Tea recommends mixing this with black tea. Experiment’s on… I should have divided this sample into two, because my pot is now running out of room.

Mm, that’s lovely — the cocoa base of the snail, and that green-wheaty high note from the quince. If I needed my blood pressure lowered, I’d be happy to hear this was the answer.

Thank you, dear derk.

Funk and wet rocks coming off the warm leaves make me excited to try this thing. Forest floor funk and basement dampness in the mouth, with some cooling and hui gan. Just a hint of the yabao creaminess/mouthfeel, not much in the way of fruit. Camphor vapors up into the nose.

There is something that is making me feel a tiny bit nauseated, both when I smell and taste, though it’s not a flavor or scent I am picking up on, just a feeling. The qi is also not manifesting as a great feel for me today… though I’ve had sad news that might be coloring all this a bit. I’ll be back.

(Steepster-bork catch-up note)

I’ve had a handful of sessions with this now. It’s nice, though I overbought.

From the leaves on various steeps: dandelion, melon, herbs, peas, floral (gardenia?), grass, leeks, clover. Pours light tan, surprisingly doesn’t smell like much.

In the mouth: honeyed/nectar, persistent tickle at the back of the throat; lesser notes of floral and banana; pineapple at the bottom of the cup.

I’d call this a very, very solid daily drinker. Leans light black-feeling, easy, not overwhelming or tannic or with any hiding off-notes. Quite nice.

Super excited to try this, my first foray into yabao.

Warming leaf — black pepper, celery, tree fruit, figs, rhubarb jam. The leaf has far stronger notes than the soup ever finds.

Liquor is light, even with long steeps, the color of dried cornhusk. Medium mouthfeel, a little drying. Subtle. Light tree fruits, spring flower petals.

This is a refreshing and playful little thing — and interesting, though not big or showy. I can see why LP has had trouble moving these cakes — more of a curiosity than anything, probably. But — if I were looking for caffeine-free in the evenings, I might turn here instead of some gobbledygook tisane.

I probably don’t need a whole cake of the stuff, though. Looking forward to trying the 2006 yabao/sheng cake, as it seems to have had a slightly better reception.