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Last one that I may have overleafed, but it was very satisfying.

I usually go crazy for every Tieguanyin black I drink. Pretty much every review I’ve done of one from anywhere I rate a 90% minimum. This one, I need to get to know more. It’s very good and has a lot of layers, but was more brisk than I expected. I need to play more with the parameters.

The fruity and floral components are there western after 2:45 and maybe too many leaves, giving off more purple and orange fruit vibes compared to the red ones I’ve gotten from previous TGY blacks. Passionfruit, baked peach, and rose are their notes. I get the passionfruit and baked peach for sure. The rose, not yet. I get more gardenia personally.

The malt overpowered the other notes a little bit into a thick fruity and viscous drink. Sometimes, I got breakfast tea vibes from this one even though it’s medium in caffeine. That could be psychological since one of the reviewers is a breakfast and Earl Grey person that ranks this one above those two, and it has a lot of qualities in a good breakfast black. It’s malty with a fruity edge and a nice energy. This one has more muscle to the malt tones, whereas the other two teas I got were more luxurious. This one woke me up more.

Hence why I need to reevaluate the tea with less leaves. I likely put 8 grams in my pot, and got a briskier result that was not totally unwelcome. Some of the florals were kinda heady though, so I’m curious if they’ll be just as heady or oily when I use less leaves, tumbler style it, or gong fu it. Not regretting buying this one at all, though.

I’ve wanted to try this one for years, and this is easily one of the most decadent Taiwanese Black teas I’ve had yet. This is what I thought Sugar Glider would taste like.

I expected it to be sweet for sure, and maybe fruity like Nectar from Whispering Pines, but this stuff….is like a Lishan Black. Funnel Cake notes come up. It’s sooo sweet that I thought I added brown sugar to it. It’s what people want their vanilla blacks to taste like because it’s soo smooth and sooooo sweet, even though there’s no vanilla in it. It’s a sugar flavor bomb, and weirdly, it’s not fruity. Their notes do it justice. It’s like a vanilla extract sugar water concoction. I got 4 brews out of it western before it got more woody. The sandalwood, I can kinda see. Sometimes, I got kinda a bamboo feel in some of the wood notes. Malty though, a touch astringent, but barely. This one had no tannin in the taste.

I got a little tea drunk from this one after the Jin Jun Mei. I’m a light weight.

Craved Jin Jun Mei, and then I got a bunch with a few other black teas I stared at for over 2 years from this website. They just so happened to have them at the same time. FINALLY!

Insanely good. They describe it having pomegranate, caramel, and peated scotch notes, and I can get them. Every time I brewed this tea, it’s sweet, malty and buttery. I’ve western brewed it for 3 minutes a few sessions with a minimum rebrew of four to five really pushing it, and 2 tumbler fuel sessions. More leaves, more red, more color, more malt and cocoa/bready qualities. Less leaves= way more caramel notes bordering on toffee or peanut brittle. I usually don’t get pomegranate outright, but there’s a sweetness that reminds me more of rose. Definitely a red tasting vibe when brewing heavier.

Either way, I kind of wish I got more than 50 grams of this one. There are other really good quality blacks I’m going to describe, including Hugo’s Jin Jun Mei in comparison to this one-hence me not getting more. We’ll see how long it stays in stock. I think Jin Jun Mei style teas are my deep, cold winter pick.

When the weather drops, so increases my fermentation craving. Plus this had my favorite kinds of blacks. Will add notes soon….

Now for the notes.

Lapsang Souchong (Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) 4/5 Stars
I wasn’t sure if this was a smoked tea. Tasting it, maybe, but it’s got more vibes of an unsmoked one. Fruity, smooth, malty, silky with red plum notes, maybe a little bit of smoke and citrus. No astringency western. Brewed 3 times. Very good.

Golden Peony Black Tea 3-4/5
I’ve had this one in its own review. Extremely buttery and floral.

Earl Grey-3/5
Earl Grey typical bergamot. Bordering on a lime taste, but more bitter and malty. A little smokey. Couldn’t get past steep 2. Very good, but way more brisque.

Golden Eyebrow (Jin Jun Mei) 4.5/5
Easy favorite. Scotch, malt, cocoa, caramel, bready notes, and smooth florals. Soooo goood.

Lychee Black Tea 4/5
One of my favorites I have my own box of.

Osmanthus Black Tea 2/5
Peachy and floral. I’m not a huge fan of osmanthus black teas. I tried to get into it, but this kind of scented tea tastes like hot sprite to me. Smooth and floral and great black tea base, but not my preference.

Rose Black Tea-3/5
Very similar to the lychee tea. Fruity, but heady and almost perfumy. The black tea balances it out with silky malt like the osmanthus tea, but I like the rose more, almost higher than the jasmine black that I also really like.

The jin jun mei was the top. All of these teas were sachets, and I feel like I was drinking what I crave in a black tea with the Jin Jun Mei. I’d get a box of this one. I highly recommend this sachet sampler for Chinese Black Tea Snobs.

This one worked for me better than expected. Nice with honey to bring the mint and jasmine together. Even without honey, this tea actually did not clash in the way I thought it would. Will have to write more notes on it.

Okay, I’m being a picky jerk about this one. It’s really tannic and easily bitter with boiling water. I only did this for a minute and it’s still to heavy on the tannin for me.

The cream and bergamot ratio is good, but the aftertaste is something I really don’t like. I’m going on full teasnob with it. It needs cream and sugar. I wouldn’t be so bitter if I didn’t pay six pounds for it. I could have gotten Harney and Sons for much cheaper at this rate.

Tea in the UK was a bit of an experience, though one I was surprisingly disappointed in certain ways. It’s weird because I know in general UK culture leans more towards coffee at the moment, and What-Cha with Alistair is easily the best loose leaf vendor in the UK, but I was expecting more loose leaf shops than there was. The cultural heritage/museum cafes in every undercroft in every cathedral and castle had amazing Earl Greys and Elderflower teas that were insanely good with a few good teas at some of the coffee shops like the Blueberry Matcha at the Black Sheep Coffee chain, but a lot of other places were mostly the same of what you’d see in the US.

I managed to go to Whittard of Chelsea and Bird and Blend, but Fortnum and Mason was really hard for me to reach since it was just off from the sites I was going to. It was also in a different terminal altogether at the airport, so I decided not to go.

Bird and Blend was hugely disappointing. I’ll go on a mini rant on that later.
I was pleasantly surprised with the teas from this company, beginning with this one. It was a round bagged tea in the Discovery collection box sampler that was a little overpriced, but this assam was exceptionally smooth for a round compostable tea bag. I’d easily rank it above Twinings, Numi and some Republic of Tea blends (though not all).

This was a straightforward assam, but not too astringent after 3 minutes. Had a really nice malt body that wasn’t overpowering, a little bit of a cocoa and toffee vibe in the aftertaste rather than flavor. It’s simple, but effective and easily better than most teabags and way smoother. I was surprised with how good it was for a teabag. Color me happy after a persnickety rant.

I was craving a good black tea for the winter, so with the infused chocolates they sold, I got this tea. I thought about the sampler, but I’m iffy with minty black teas and I had a feeling the choice of magnolia may have been too heady for me in a black tea….even though I drink floral black teas often.

Anyway, I’ve had this one western and tumbler style, and it’s very, very good. Bourbon, vanilla, oak, nutmeg, and woody qualities come through easily with a little bit of malt. I didn’t expect how sweet this tea would be. Sometimes, the woody tones meld into a raspberry tone. Even smelling the sample of the plain black tea base I got, there’s a very raspberry quality in the smell, and I got it in the taste for this one.

I peronally couldn’t get much more than three true rebrews of it, while the 4th is weak. I’m going to have to try this one gong fu. I really enjoy it, but it’s just rich enough that I may slow down on consuming this one.

I’ll need to make a page for it, but I’m low on time. Magic Hour recently started selling more straight up tea blends with no flavor this year, and they sold a Dong Ding that they use for one of their green oolong bases for the Yuwa Goddess Blend. It’s floral, creamy green oolong that’s pretty solid. It’s notes kinda lean towards lily territoy that you’d get in some high quality Jin Xuans, but there’s enough depth in the body that makes me think MAYBE Qin XIn. I’m almost done with it and not bad to have around at all.

I do need some tea peoples thoughts-I’m visiting Edinburgh, Oxford, Reading, Isle of Wight, and London this year during December.

SIPDOWN! I’ve had this one for over a year. I had high hopes, but the cinnamon and other spices dry this tea out. Preparation on their website usually turns this into a latte, but I like it better with honey and no other additives. It gets more of a cidery or spiced mead vibe with honey and is much more enjoyable. The ginger is also much more prominent. I personally recommend the White Marzipan and the Cake Batter Pumpkin Spice teas from this collection personally.

I was really excited about the currants for this one, but it clashed a little with the spices despite liking it. Overall, it was a disappointment, but really approachable with honey. Magic Hour has other better blends imo. I honestly prefer the Capricorn if you want maple/fall vibes.