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Bumping the rating a bit. This tea is so rich I really can’t get enough of it. It leaves a beautiful heavy caramel aftertaste in your mouth that borders on decadent. I’ve been re-steeping at 4 minutes and it’s holding up really well. Less heavy but the fruit notes come out more. I may or may not already be ordering more even though I’ve only had 3 pots…

Oh, wow, this is good. Super caramely sweet, a little plummy, entirely yummy. And this is with a slightly stuffed-up nose. I imagine it’ll be even better when I can smell properly.
I’m beyond impressed with this tea, especially for the price. Less than $5 for 50g including shipping is an absolute steal. This is the lowest grade Dian Hong they offer, I can only imagine how transcendent their Premium, Supreme and Nonpareil versions are. Can’t wait until my second order from DTH comes in, hopefully this is an indicator of all their teas.

There are two listings for this tea, both with one rating so I wasn’t sure which to use…

This tea is nice enough. It’s certainly not anything special but it’s perfectly drinkable and I think it’s something that will appeal to many palates. Probably a safe choice if you’re brewing a pot for a group. SV says this has a flowery bouquet which I don’t get at all. But it’s a little sweet, a little malty and it has nice body. Overall it comes off as totally inoffensive though not especially memorable.

Oh, wow, this is nice. Pure malt with a lovely deep sweetness. Hands down my favorite Assam of all time. Wish I’d have picked up more than an ounce!

I messed up the steeping on this one, but I’m pretty glad I did because it came out lovely. Instructions say to steep a tsp in 12 oz at 180º but I did my usual rounded tsp in 8oz at around 200º. Despite being named ‘strong’ black it is really very light. I imagine steeping as instructed would result in something far too weak for my tastes. There’s no astringency to note so I think I’ll steep an extra 30 seconds next time and see how that goes.
Though it’s not very strong it is very yummy. It’s light and sweet and citrusy. A little malty with a bit of stone fruit hiding in there and overall incredibly smooth. As the cup cooled a bit of cinnamon like spice became noticeable as well. Very nice.

Oolong day continues with this Ti Guan Yin I picked up from the loose leaf section in my local Wegmans. I brewed 1.5tsp in 10oz at about 200degrees for 3 minutes. This tea is a bit confusing. To the eye it looks like a dark roast, with very tightly rolled dark balls that have a bit of a musty roasted scent. But once brewed the taste is much greener than the appearance of the leaves would suggest. It’s a bit mild and middle-of-the-road as far as oolongs go.

Honestly I find this a bit odd. It tastes like a typical green oolong with heavy flowery notes and nice sweetness just as you would expect. But then the roastyness comes in. It’s not bad tasting, I just can’t seem to get the two together in my mind. I’m used to oolongs that sit at the far ends of the spectrum and this is confusing my palate.

I’m pretty sure this is Rishi’s Iron Goddess of Mercy

Sometimes I get so invested in my Chinese blacks I forget that there are other teas out there that deserve my attention. I’m trying to sip down all of the 1oz and under teas I have so I thought I’d kill two birds and get out a few oolongs. I randomly picked this one first and, feeling lazy, Western brewed it for 2 minutes using 2tsp leaves to 10oz boiling water.
First sip leaves me with some incredible honey sweetness. Roasted peaches (or apricots I cant tell the difference) come in and mix with a good bit of roasted wood. Very similar to the notes you’d find in a Hoji Kukicha. Strong roasty quality while still being somewhat mellow. Not one of those roasted oolongs that is entirely overwhelming. If you’ve eaten grilled peaches drizzled with honey you’ll have a good idea what this tea is like. And if you haven’t… get on it! You won’t regret giving it a try.