Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

Here is yet another tea I totally forgot I had. I discovered it while reorganizing one of the tea cabinets and broke it open earlier in the week. With the onset of my most recent bout of sinusitis, I have not been able to drink any green teas or oolongs as my senses of smell and taste have been going in and out of focus. Black teas, for some reason, have still been able to reach me to a certain extent, so I have focused on sipping down some of the black teas I have had a little longer. I finished this one yesterday. I found it to be a solid, likable lapsang souchong.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped one full teaspoon of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of pine smoke, char, leather, and brown toast. After infusion, I noticed hints of malt, cedar, and molasses. In the mouth, I picked up strong notes of pine smoke, pine tar, char, leather, brown toast, cedar, roasted nuts, and malt balanced by touches of molasses, caramel, and light tobacco. The finish was malty, smoky, and leathery, though I could also detect touches of molasses and caramel sweetness that cut through the murk.

I knew this would be a smoky tea and it most definitely was. Honestly, I kind of expected it to be less nuanced, but the little underlying touches of sweetness made for nice additions. They made the tea more approachable while also making it seem somewhat lighter than it was. Overall, I enjoyed this one. Though it was neither the smokiest nor the most complex lapsang souchong I have ever tried, it did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of this style, you will probably enjoy this tea one some level.

Alright, time to finally catch up on some reviews. In case anyone has wondered where I have been, I have been out of commission the last couple days due to illness. My chronic sinusitis has continued to cause me a lot of problems. From where we have had such a wet summer with up and down temperatures and because there is so much pollen and mold in the air, I have been pushed beyond the breaking point. I actually finished the last of a pouch of this tea two days ago, but had little energy to actually post a review. I found this to be a rather unique green tea, but I also have to admit that I don’t think this style is my thing.

Prior to trying this tea, I had never before tried Tai Ping Hou Kui. I had read about it, but I had never tried it. I was not actually prepared for how huge the leaves were. When people say that the leaf size is impressive, they really mean it. That also presented me with a challenge. How in the world was I going to brew it? I had resolved to gongfu it, but I was concerned that the leaves would not actually fit in my gaiwan. Lo and behold, I was right. I had a mountain of fat, flat leaves sticking so far up above the rim of the gaiwan that I could not even pretend to be able to get the lid on correctly. I did, however, find a solution when I decided to rinse the leaves. I did a flash rinse of the leaves after I got them into the gaiwan and they immediately softened and curled into a mass resembling seaweed, allowing me to successfully place the lid on the gaiwan. After the rinse, I steeped the mass of monstrous leaves for 5 seconds. This initial infusion was then followed by 7 second, 10 second, 15 second, 20 second, 25 second, 30 second, 40 second, 50 second, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 second, 1 minute 30 second, 2 minute, and 3 minute steeps.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted mild aromas reminiscent of bamboo, grass, and hay. The rinse brought out some floral and nutty qualities. The first infusion saw the emerging floral scents take on more definition. They reminded me a little of orchids and violets. I also began to get more defined scents of chestnut, as well as touches of peas and seaweed. In the mouth, the tea liquor mostly presented notes of chestnut, grass, straw, and bamboo underscored by hints of floral character. Subsequent infusions brought out the orchid and violet notes in the mouth. I also began to get flavors of peas and seaweed. At various points, aromas and flavors of minerals, malt, squash blossom, nectar, spinach, asparagus, and broccoli appeared. The later infusions were mild, offering mostly a wash of grass, hay, seaweed, asparagus, spinach, and minerals while ghostly floral impressions lingered in the background.

This was an interesting tea and I did love the huge leaves, however, I am not entirely certain this style is for me. While I loved the impressions of nuts and flowers, this was also a very grassy, vegetal tea, and it became increasingly grassy and vegetal over the course of the session. For me, the first 3-4 steeps were the best and most interesting. After that, the tea held no real surprises. In the end, this was not bad, but I have had better, more consistently appealing green teas.

Alright, I’m still finishing up some of last year’s green teas. I finished the last of a pouch of this tea a couple days ago, sketched out some notes, and then forgot to review it. Overall, I found this to be a rock solid green tea.

I gongfued this one. After a very quick (on/off) rinse to wake up the leaves, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of nuts, grass, and honey. The rinse brought out impressions of asparagus and bamboo shoots. I also thought I could detect a subtle underlying maltiness. The first proper infusion produced hints of cream and fruit. In the mouth, the liquor was grassy and vegetal, but also nutty and sweet. Grass, hay, chestnut, and honey balanced by extremely subtle asparagus, malt, and cream notes seemed to be what struck me. Subsequent infusions introduced ever so slightly more pronounced creaminess and maltiness alongside stronger asparagus notes. The bamboo shoot flavors emerged in the mouth as well, though they remained rather elusive, more in the background than anywhere else. I also noted additional aromas and flavors of hazelnut, pecan, minerals, green apple, cantaloupe, honeydew, oats, and spinach at various points. The later infusions were mostly about mineral, chestnut, oat, malt, grass, dew, nectar, spinach, and asparagus aromas and flavors, while subtle melon, hay, honey, and bamboo impressions lurked in the background.

This was an intriguing green tea. I rather adored the honey sweetness and the pronounced nuttiness. I also appreciated the fact that it appeared to have lost little, if anything, in storage. It challenged me as well. The sweetness somewhat disguised the tea’s other characteristics, making it rather difficult for me to pick out aromas and flavors. I got as close as I could, but kind of doubt I was entirely successful. In the end, this was a fun tea, but I do not think I would want to reach for it regularly. Still, I could see people who enjoy sweeter, nuttier green teas being into it.

This is really good. Such a sweet smell, like lemony spun sugar. The flavor is also sweet but not as much as the smell. Which, in this case, is probably a good thing. The candied lemon flavor does come through though and it is delightful. Being caffeine free, my kids are also digging this.

That smell though… I would love a candle that smells like this.

I was impressed by Tealyra’s Wenshan Baozhong Reserve, so I just had to snag some of this too. I was also a little curious because I was totally unfamiliar with baked baozhong. Based on my experience with this one, I will definitely be trying more.

I prepared this tea three different ways. First was a cold brew using approximately 16 grams of loose leaf material in around 38-39 ounces of water in the refrigerator overnight (the steep time was about 12-13 hours). The second preparation was a gongfu session in which I started off by steeping 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 5 seconds (after a quick rinse, of course) and then followed that up with infusions of 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes. The final preparation was a three step infusion in which I started off by steeping about 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 195 F water for 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, and finally 5 minutes.

First up was the cold brew. The nose emphasized char, roasted nut, baked bread, and butter aromas. I picked up on flavors of cream, butter, char, roasted almonds, grass, baked bread, and flowers (mostly orchid and lilac) in the mouth, with hints of spinach emerging on the finish. For the gongfu session, I got aromas of butter, grass, char, baked bread, and flowers before the rinse. The rinse brought out cream and vanilla, as well as touches of roasted almond, spinach, and deeper, more detailed floral scents, while the first infusion began to bring out some fruitiness. In the mouth, the tea was initially all about cream, baked bread, butter, char, grass, roasted almond, and spinach with floral and vanilla notes providing some depth and balance. Subsequent infusions began to bring out caramel, baked apple, peach, apricot, minerals, and spiced pear while the vanilla, orchid, and lilac notes more fully emerged. Around this time, I also began to get touches of hyacinth, lily, osmanthus, and some stemmy, almost woody qualities. The later infusions were more vegetal and offered a more pronounced minerality, though savory qualities and touches of roasted almonds, orchard fruits, and flowers remained, at least in places. The three step Western session very much followed the gongfu session, though the liquor struck me as a bit more floral and vegetal and slightly less nutty and fruity overall.

I’m not certain how well this tea would compare to most higher end baked baozhongs, but I can say that, for me, it made a wonderful introduction to this style of tea. Though on some level I kind of doubt this qualified as a truly high quality baked baozhong, it still smelled and tasted great. More importantly, it remained approachable and proved itself rather flexible. In this situation, there was not much more I could have demanded or expected. For the price, this was a smashing success.

Here is another tea I have been working my way through over the past couple of days. I expect to finish the remainder of it this afternoon. I think I ended up purchasing this tea because I was going through a phase where I was obsessed with trying oolongs from each high mountain terroir of Taiwan. I don’t recall ever trying a proper Mei Shan tea prior to this one, and if this one was anything to go by, I am not certain that the Mei Shan terroir does it for me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 12 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were a follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted subtle aromas of butter, cream, and bread underscored by a vague floral quality. After the rinse, I began to pick up on hints of vanilla, custard, and sweetgrass. The first infusion brought out pronounced lilac and orchid scents as well as touches of orchard fruit. In the mouth, I picked up on mild notes of cream, butter, custard, vanilla, bread, sweetgrass, lilac, and orchid undercut by a touch of green apple. Subsequent infusions better brought out the green apple, although I also began to pick up crisp hyacinth, mineral, pear, sugarcane, spinach, nectar, cucumber, honeydew, and daffodil tones. The later infusions were very quick to wash out, as I had to focus to pick up lingering traces of minerals, sweetgrass, green apple, spinach, pear, cream, and butter balanced by ghostly floral impressions.

As high mountain oolongs go, this one was very crisp and light in the mouth. The aromas and flavors did not separate all that much until close to the end of the session, and even then, they were not as distinctive as other high mountain oolongs I have tried. Overall, this was an extremely light, sweet, and vegetal tea. It was not really my thing, but it wasn’t bad. I could see it being a decent introduction to high mountain oolongs.

I have so been dragging my feet on this review. I haven’t really had a good reason either. I just haven’t much felt like writing lately. I conducted a gongfu session with this tea a couple days ago. I found it to be a nice, light milk oolong.

As mentioned above, I gongfued this one. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 12 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted heavy scents of butter and cream underscored by a subtle vegetal character. After the rinse, I began to detect something of a grassy scent accompanied by scents of vanilla, custard, and fresh flowers. The first infusion brought out a subtle fruitiness. In the mouth, I mostly detected notes of butter, cream, custard, and grass balanced by indistinct hints of flowers and fruit. Subsequent infusions brought out the vanilla, while distinct impressions of pear, pineapple, green apple, tangerine, daylily, honeydew, coconut, and honeysuckle made themselves known. I thought I caught a hint of passion fruit at one point as well. I also began to pick up daylily shoots, minerals, and cucumber. The later impressions were smooth, offering lingering impressions of cream, butter, vanilla, grass, and cucumber balanced by gentle minerality and fleeting impressions of tangerine, pineapple, daylily shoots, and pear.

Normally I dislike flavored oolongs, but I found this one appealing. It had a pronounced fruitiness that balanced the fairly over-the-top creaminess and butteriness. It was a good thing, too, considering that I did not find this tea to be as floral as many teas of this type, and it is the floral qualities that often provide a semblance of balance in them. Though it’s still not something I would go out of my way to have regularly, this was a rock solid flavored oolong. I could see both fans of Jin Xuan and newcomers to milk oolongs liking this one.

I finally managed to finish the last of a 50 gram pouch of this tea a couple days ago and have been putting off writing a review ever since. I don’t know what has come over me, but the past couple of days has seen my motivation and focus slip in all areas of my life. I think a lot of that may have to do with me growing increasingly frustrated and restless in my current career and feeling jittery about the upcoming career change I have planned, but who knows? All I know is that I need to get myself back on track. I’m going to carve out some personal time this weekend and hopefully go into the workweek with my head back on my shoulders. With all of that out of the way, this was the tea I drank during the bulk of my current bout of listlessness. It kind of fit my overall mood and state of mind, but all in all, it was just a predictable, filling gunpowder green tea.

I prepared this tea Western style. I started off by steeping 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 175 F water for 2 minutes. Afterwards, I conducted a 3 minute infusion and stopped there. I think the next time I decide to drink a gunpowder green tea, I may gongfu it. I have yet to try that on this type of tea.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea pellets did not emit much of an aroma. I got a little bit of lemon and roasted vegetables, but that was about it. After infusion, I detected more pronounced scents of grilled lemon, grass, hay, asparagus, seaweed, garden peas, roasted Brussels sprouts, and pine. In the mouth, I picked up mostly roasted Brussels sprouts, pine, asparagus (I seem to be picking this aroma and flavor up a lot in the green teas I have been drinking over the past couple of months), seaweed, peas, hay, damp grass, and grilled lemon. I could also pick out a few other vegetal notes, perhaps something along the lines of bok choy and/or napa cabbage. There was a hint of smoke too. The second infusion was a little more robust both on the nose and in the mouth. The smokiness strengthened and I began to definitely pick out something along the lines of napa cabbage and bok choy. There were also subtle notes of cauliflower and broccoli, as well as a touch of minerals. Otherwise, all of the other aromas and flavors from the initial infusion were there in varying amounts.

This really was not a terrible tea, but I found that much like everything else in my life, it could not sustain my interest for any length of time. I do like gunpowder teas, but I often tend to find them boring, so I suppose that should not have been surprising. I feel like I got a lot out of it, but lately I have been tending to push my nose and palate more with regard to green teas than just about any other type of tea. Overall, I cannot say that this was bad, but I also cannot claim that it impressed me. It failed to offer any surprises or challenge me in any way. How much one likes this tea will probably depend on how one feels about gunpowder green teas in general.

Either the bag wasn’t that fresh or Tealyra embellishes heavily in its descriptions, since it tasted neither floral nor particularly berrylike. “Creamy and vanila-like?” Not at all. It was weak, with a tart, almost citrusy taste. I wonder if all that orange peel had any part in that. The almonds are just a decoration, and even after cracking the cardamom pods I couldn’t taste any.

I’d wanted to try this and bought some when it was discontinued. Unlike the much better Oatmeal Cookie, I won’t regret not being able to get any more.

I finished the last of a 50 g pouch of this tea Monday, but forgot to post a review. Unfortunately, I also forgot to take notes. I do remember a great deal about my last session, however, so I will attempt to work from memory. I do remember greatly enjoying this tea and found it to be a steal for the price.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected subtle grassy, vegetal aromas and a hint of corn husk. After the rinse, I began to pick up more pronounced scents of grass, hay, squash blossom, seaweed, and fresh spinach. The first infusion produced a similar bouquet with a touch more corn husk, a slight butteriness, and a hint of chestnut. In the mouth, I detected gentle impressions of grass, hay, corn husk, spinach, seaweed, chestnut, and squash blossom. Subsequent infusions brought out a nectar-like sweetness, as well as minerals, pine nuts, corn silk, asparagus, and garden peas. The later infusions were heavy on minerals, though I could detect subtle seaweed, corn husk, butter, grass, and hay notes in places.

Truthfully, I wasn’t expecting all that much from this tea, but it ended up impressing me. For the price, this was excellent. I would have no issue recommending it to anyone looking for a flavorful, unique green tea.

I know there has been radio silence on my end for the past four days, but I’ve been extremely busy. For one thing, I got a promotion and was transferred into a new position. I’m still in the hated old position part-time until my transfer formally goes through in July, but for now, I can deal with that, even though my time is severely limited due to longer hours. Despite the change, I’m continuing to grow restless in my field. I’m not happy with my employer. There is just too much bad blood and distrust between us, so at this point, I don’t know how long I will remain despite my recent good fortune. I’m investigating some other opportunities. I’ll keep everyone posted. Back to the task at hand, this was the tea I worked my way through over the last four days. Honestly, it wasn’t bad, but I found it to be lacking in oomph.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick (on/swirl/off) rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted pleasant aromas of butter, chestnut, grass, honey, and straw. After the rinse, aromas of cream, hazelnut, sugarcane, and nectar joined the fray. The first infusion brought out bamboo and a touch of nougat. In the mouth, the tea liquor was sweet, smooth, and mellow, offering up dominant notes of roasted chestnut, cream, butter, honey, nectar, grass, bamboo, and straw. Subsequent infusions allowed sugarcane, hazelnut, and nougat to shine, while mineral, cooked lettuce, and subtle pistachio impressions emerged. The later infusions were heavy on mineral, butter, cream, and lettuce notes with underlying hints of grass, nuts, and bamboo.

This tea blew me away at first, but began to lose its aromas and flavors quickly. By the end of the session, I was bored and more than ready to move on to something else. Overall, this wasn’t bad, but it failed to sustain my interest.

I had always wanted to try this one from Tealyra so when this one was part of the discontinuing sale, I had to buy some. The name won me over as Butiki’s Golden Lion Assam was probably my favorite tea of all time. Sadly, I don’t love this one at all… or even mildly like it. It’s too meek, mild, plain and boring. Ouch. I’m not even trying to compare it to Butiki’s at all. I even tried three teaspoons this time and the result was the same. I could swear it almost tastes like plain water, even though I usually can really appreciate some golden leaf teas. The picture of the tea looks much darker, the leaves I have are much more golden. I just don’t taste much here but the meekest of plain black tea…
Steep #1 // 3 teaspoons for a full mug// 13 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

I have spent the last couple of days working my way through a 25 g sample pouch of this tea. Most of my experience with yellow tea comes from Huoshan Huang Ya, so this was something new for me. Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable yellow tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 185 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected a floral aroma reminiscent of chrysanthemum, as well as straw, sorghum, and butter. The rinse brought out subtle cream, caramel, sugarcane, and damp grass aromas. The first infusion brought out marigold and a subtle nuttiness. In the mouth, I detected flavors of chrysanthemum, sorghum, butter, caramel, straw, sugarcane, cream, and grass underscored by subtle impressions of roasted nuts. Subsequent infusions brought out marigold, leaf lettuce, mineral, hazelnut, date, honeydew, and roasted chestnut aromas and flavors. The later infusions were heavy on minerals balanced by nuts, grass, butter, lettuce, and passing hints of flowers.

This was an interesting tea and I really liked it. Compared to the yellow teas I am used to, this one was much sweeter, fruitier, and more floral. I have no clue how it would compare to other teas of this type, but I found a lot to like and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet, approachable tea.

I finished the last of a 50 gram pouch of this tea a couple days ago, but unfortunately failed to take detailed notes. For this review, I worked from a combination of memory and the few rough notes I took. Overall, I found this to be a solid, appealing black tea.

I tried preparing this tea a couple different ways. For the most part, I stuck with a single 5 minute infusion of approximately 3 grams of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 205 F water. At one point, I also tried a three step infusion process in which I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 2, 3, and then 5 minutes. Of these two preparations, I preferred the single extended infusion.

I noted that the dry tea leaves emitted mildly grassy, floral aromas prior to infusion. With the extended infusion, the tea liquor emitted aromas of herbs, grass, hay, grapes, flowers, and malt. In the mouth, I picked up notes of lemon balm, hay, grass, malt, almond, nutmeg, rose, chrysanthemum, dandelion, and grapes. There was also a touch of minerality. Unlike many Darjeelings, the grape note didn’t recall Muscat grapes. It reminded me more of table grapes. The multi-step infusion yielded a liquor that was grassy and mildly bitter on the first infusion, though the second infusion was somewhat fruitier, maltier, and more floral. The final infusion was dominated by grass, hay, and mineral notes.

This was a mild, accessible tea that was somewhat reminiscent of a Darjeeling. I rather enjoyed its pleasant mix of fruity and floral flavors, though I did find it a little too restrained compared to some other teas from this region. Still, I think fans of Nepalese teas would enjoy this one. I also think that anyone just looking for a mild, pleasant tea could do far worse than giving this one a shot.

I finished up the last of this tea earlier in the afternoon. I have been trying to have at least one cup of green tea every evening for the past week, and this was the one I turned to most frequently. I cannot say that it impressed me all that much, but I did find it suitable as a no-frills daily drinker. For me, it was the type of green tea I could just throw back and not think much about, but in order to give it a fair shake, I opted to gongfu it for the review session.

After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of malt, smoke, and hay. After the rinse, I began to detect emerging hints of grilled corn, roasted chestnuts, and citrus. The first infusion produced an incredibly similar, though smokier, more citrusy bouquet. In the mouth, I picked up mild notes of damp grass, hay, malt, smoke, roasted grain, and roasted chestnuts underscored by traces of grilled corn and indistinct citrus. Subsequent infusions brought out the citrus aromas and flavors. I began to detect distinct lemon zest, grapefruit pith, orange peel, and kumquat impressions. I also began to pick up aromas and flavors of minerals, cedar, pine nuts, green beans, and char, as well as a more pronounced grilled corn impression that soon began to remind me more of corn husks. The later infusions were heavy on mineral, grass, hay, roasted chestnut, green bean, corn husk, smoke, and char notes, though I could still detect faint impressions of pine nuts and lemon zest at certain points.

All in all, I found this tea to be pleasant and drinkable, but nothing fantastic. It had a bit of complexity and was easy-going, but I did not find it all that interesting. Honestly, I cannot say that I would recommend it, but at the same time, I cannot caution others to avoid it. Others who try this tea may ultimately feel differently, but it was just sort of “meh” for me.

I totally forgot I had this Japanese black tea in the cupboard. Honestly, I couldn’t remember buying it. I bought several Japanese black teas from Tealyra last year, but thought I had finished them all. I apparently did not, so I have been spending the last couple days finishing the 25 g sample pouch of this tea. Overall, I did not care for this one as much as the others.

I prepared this tea two ways. First, I brewed it strong, steeping 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. The second preparation was 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 3 minutes. I did not attempt additional infusions with either preparation.

I noticed that the dry tea leaves produced a malty, toasty, woody, and slightly vegetal bouquet. The five minute infusion produced a highly malty, toasty, tannic bouquet with a hint of chocolate and a definite vegetal quality. The three minute infusion was similar, albeit ever so slightly milder on the nose. In the mouth, the tea was very astringent and tannic. I noted flavors of malt, bitter chocolate, walnut, leather, straw, roasted grain, brown toast, and wood with traces of stewed legumes, char, tobacco, and molasses. The finish was woody and astringent with a pronounced malt character. The only real difference between the two preparations in the mouth was that the 3 minute infusion was slightly gentler overall.

Honestly, this tea did not do it for me. It was not terrible, but it did not have the aroma and flavor profiles I tend to seek out in a black tea. If it had a little more sweetness to balance out everything else, I most likely would have found it more appealing. All in all, this was just not for me.

Here’s another tea I have been working my way through over the past several days. I only have about 6 grams left as of this time and expect to finish the remainder tomorrow morning. Overall, I found this to be a mild, pleasant first flush Darjeeling.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped a fairly heaping teaspoon of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced a slightly floral, grassy, nutty bouquet. After infusion, I noted stronger floral aromas reminiscent of a combination of dandelion, chrysanthemum, and marigold, as well as touches of almond, hay, grass, malt, and pine needles. In the mouth, I picked up notes of lemon zest, herbs, grass, straw, pine needles, wood, malt, almond, and flowers underscored by subtle impressions of Muscatel and something of a butteriness. The finish was grassy, nutty, and malty with lingering pine needle and floral tones.

This was kind of a different first flush Darjeeling. It was very malty, nutty, and floral with less of a Muscatel presence than a number of others I have tried. I’ve noticed that a lot of folks list orange, mango, jasmine, and honeysuckle aromas and flavors when they describe the teas produced by the Oaks Estate, but I did not get any of that here. Truthfully, I let this tea go for some time and I could tell that it had perhaps lost a little of its luster, but overall, I still found it to be very enjoyable.

I know I have been missing in action for a couple of days, but I wanted to take some time off in order to recharge after a stressful week. I also wanted to finish off some of the older teas of which I still had larger amounts. This was a tea I started last month, but never got around to finishing for whatever reason. I have been working on finishing it up the last couple of days. I don’t normally drink many Ceylonese teas or tea blends these days, but I must say that I greatly enjoyed this one.

I kept my preparation simple for this tea. I steeped 1 full teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes. If memory serves, Tealyra recommended an infusion of 3 minutes, but I tend to like black teas of this type brisk, strong, and tannic. That’s what I was going for here.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced subtle aromas reminiscent of a combination of molasses, sweet potatoes, honey, and wood. After infusion, the rich orange tea liquor produced strong aromas of malt, toast, roasted nuts, molasses, caramel, wood, and sweet potatoes. In the mouth, the tea liquor was lively and moderately astringent, offering pronounced notes of honey, brown toast, malt, wood, brown sugar, molasses, caramel, cream, sweet potato, orange rind, leather, and roasted nuts (chestnut and black walnut). The finish was smooth and satisfying. I noted nice lingering touches of malt, roasted nuts, toast, molasses, and honey.

This was a very nice Ceylon Orange Pekoe. It had plenty of character on the nose and in the mouth while avoiding the pronounced astringency and mild bitterness of some others. In my opinion, this would make an excellent morning or early afternoon tea. If you are a fan of straight Ceylonese black teas and/or black tea blends, I am willing to bet you will be satisfied with this one.

I was excited to try this tea, partly due to the description (it sounds exactly the kind of tea that I like), and partly due to the fact that I had great success with Tealyra’s Brandy Oolong, which is currently my favourite tea. In fact I had ran out of Brandy Oolong and placed another order especially to get some more, and I added this tea to the order as well. It wasn’t long before it arrived that I was brewing it.

Appearance-wise it looks fantastic, brewing up a wonderful rich amber colour. The smell is slightly sweet and very inviting.

As for the taste… just wow. It delivers as per the description. It shares a creamy, caramelly smoothness with the Brandy Oolong that I love so much. This is like no Assam that I have tried before; if anything I would say that it is closer in taste to Golden Monkey, which I love.

I find that it holds up to multiple steeps relatively well. I went for 2 minutes, then 3m 45, then 8m (basically as long as you want, you’re just extracting any remaining flavour here). Even at the last steep it wasn’t bitter.

A little expensive perhaps, but I imagine that I’ll be treating myself to some more of this before long.

This has been my go-to morning cuppa for much of the past week or thereabouts. I have long had an attachment to English breakfast blends, and I am happy to report that this one has consistently struck me as being a good one. It is an organic blend and is comprised entirely of Chinese material. I’m not certain what the teas used in this blend are, but I am almost certain that Yunnan black teas make up a healthy percentage of it.

While I normally prefer to gongfu Chinese teas, I am not accustomed to gongfuing blends, especially breakfast blends. I opted instead for my trusty one step extended Western infusion process. Hey, if the vendor insists on labeling this an English breakfast tea, I am going to treat it like one. Anyway, I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 5 minutes.

After infusion, the orange tea liquor produced aromas of toast, malt, wood, caramel, and sweet potato. In the mouth, the liquor was brisk, astringent, and tannic, offering notes of wood, malt, cream, roasted nuts, brown toast, sweet potato, caramel, molasses, and bitter chocolate. I got hints of camphor, orange rind, and smoke as well. The finish was mostly astringent, woody, and nutty. I found the caffeine uplift to come on pretty quickly too.

For an English breakfast tea, this was very nice. I kind of wish I had taken the time to gongfu it once or twice, but I have so little left now that I may as well just plow on through the remainder the same way I’ve been doing. It may sound crazy, but this kind of reminded me of a budget version of The Jabberwocky. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a strong, consistent black tea blend to get them through the day.

Tasting note #2,300. Yowzas. Can I just say I appreciate how much work the Steepster team puts into Steepster — thank you! I’ve been meaning to mention this in a tasting note and now seems the time. I hope all the Steepsterers had a fantastic long weekend. I got this as a sample in my order… a very generous sample and there were two samples! This is a lovely herbal blend with NO hibiscus so already it’s a win. Oh my gosh, the flavor is like a Snapple fruit drink or something. Like the strawberry kiwi drink. I could have swore there was kiwi in this tea but there is not. I’m not too familiar with guava but I would probably love it. Otherwise the ingredients lend to a perfectly tart, fruity, thirst quenching, sweet cup. I love the other extra ingredients: sunflower blossoms and rose. I can’t decide what would be making this blend so tart (is guava tart?) but it’s a very delicious blend. The brew is actually a yellow color (not deep red for hibiscus — but a little beetroot could have turned it pink!) and the lemongrass hardly makes an appearance, possibly because there wasn’t much lemongrass included. Otherwise, I think the ingredients are well thought out. I’d buy this blend! I think Tealyra knew what they were doing sending a sample. :D

I recently did a tea swap with kim and the Japanese blacks and this white had caught my eye. I’ve only ever really had green tea from Japan before. From the selection of teas from the swap to try, I picked this one, because I was not in the mood for a pu erh or a black, and some I wanted to use a gaiwan for, but I was not in the mood for a session. As it has been a decently warm day, I also wanted something lighter. So, I picked this. I may do the rooibos one later, but I have to get 2 cups of my medicinal herbal tea in as well.

So I went to the website to grab some steeping parameters, because I am totally unfamiliar with Japanese whites. The directions said to use 1-1.5 tsp per 8 oz/200 ml with 190F/85C water and steep 3-4 minutes. I was using a 10oz cup, and my sample was about 2 tsp, so I opted to use the whole lot. I steeped 3 minutes because I thought I might have used too much leaf, but then thought I could add water if it was still too strong with the 3 minute steep.

The tea brewed up darker than I was expecting, which might be the amount of leaf used, but might also be this tea, as I don’t think I really overdid it with the leafing. One of the other tasting notes says that this tea is almost like a darjeeling, and I can agree. I almost feel like it is a mix of a darker oolong and a white, because it does still have a hay type of taste, but it is heavier and a bit more bodied than a normal white (possibly closer to a white pu erh). Despite the word heavy, the tea feels a bit delicate at the same time. This tea is not bitter or astringent, and it is smooth. It is like a contrast of tastes, almost.

I’ll probably try to get one more steep out of the leaves and see how that is. This is a very pleasant tea to drink…it is very easy to drink, and I am grateful for the chance to try such a rare tea.

Getting back into all of these green teas has proven extremely rewarding. They provide me with a prolonged energy boost and a fresh, clean, pure feeling that I have been missing for months. After polishing off the last of the 2016 Cui Ming, I turned my attention to a 25 gram sample pouch of this tea. Prior to trying this tea, I had read about Liu An Gua Pian, but had never tried it. I’m not sure how this tea compares to some of the others on the market, but for the price, I found it to be enjoyable.

For this session, I chose to utilize my trusty gongfu method. I gave the tea a super quick rinse and then steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted mildly vegetal, nutty aromas. After the rinse, I detected clearer aromas of chestnut, hazelnut, grass, hay, asparagus, and seaweed. The first infusion introduced a subtly sweet nectar-like aroma and a hint of indistinct fruitiness. In the mouth, smooth notes of grass, chestnut, seaweed, hay, asparagus, and hazelnut ruled the day, though I was able to make out faint hints of some kind of fruit and nectar in the background. Subsequent infusions introduced parsley, cilantro, leaf lettuce, buttered kale, roasted sunflower seed, zucchini, and mineral impressions. The fruitiness increased and began to kind of remind me of a mixture of apple and cantaloupe. The nectar-like note also remained. The later impressions displayed a fine minerality and subtle lingering impressions of nuts, grass, hay, kale, lettuce, seaweed, and roasted sunflower seeds underscored by hints of cilantro and parsley.

This was an interesting tea and I do not feel that my description does it justice. Honestly, I kind of doubt that this would compare all that favorably to some really high grade, ultra fresh Liu An Gua Pians (for a supposedly high grade tea, I noticed plenty of broken leaves), but for what this was, it was rather tasty. I could see this making a good introduction to this particular type of green tea.

While doing some routine cleaning this weekend, I decided to take stock of my tea hoard. Initially, my plan was to organize everything by type, but that quickly fell apart. While I failed to accomplish my goal, I did make an important discovery. I have considerably more green teas left over from 2016 than I thought. All of them were still sealed, so I doubted I had to worry about any of them being stale, but I decided that it would be best to check one to see if it was worth drinking at this point. After some deliberation, I selected the 25 gram sample pouch of this tea and got on with it.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 180 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted intriguing scents of chestnut, damp grass, hay, and sorghum. After the rinse, I detected emerging aromas of hazelnut, lemon, grain, and corn husk. The first infusion produced a layered bouquet with superb integration of the previously listed scents, though I did catch touches of lime, smoke, and malt in the background this time. In the mouth, notes of chestnut, hazelnut, grain, grass, hay, citrus, corn husk, and sorghum were significantly stronger than anticipated. Subsequent infusions better brought out the maltiness and smokiness while also introducing minerals, orange rind, beechnut, sour plum, and raw spinach to the mix. The later impressions were dominated by minerals, malt, nuts, grass, and citrus, though oddly enough, impressions of buttered greens (kale and leaf lettuce) pushed through at the last minute.

Well, this tea was still viable. That much should be obvious. It probably mellowed a tad since I purchased it, but it still had a tremendous amount of life to it. It was also surprisingly good. Actually, scratch that. It was more or less excellent, even at this point in time. I’m definitely glad I chose to end my weekend with this tea.