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About what you would call a tablespoon in 10 ounces on the go to work, grandpa style x4, and I get the lovely cocoa and malt. But this is a lighter, more sophisticated tea than last time. There’s actually a bit of what I might over describe as sweet potato, rose, and a weird honeydew melon type of creamy texture. Not really honeydew, but more like the honeydew you get from a white tea. And it’s pretty wonderful.

WAY OLD BACKLOG. Okay. With 5-6 leaves, this works well Western AND Grandpa. And it tastes a lot like a Darjeeling, which should be no surprise considering how close they are in terms of fermentation. I find myself craving this one, so, cause I can remember it and distinguish it, I’m raising the rating. It also lasted me a while.

Sip down…holy crap I want more of this tea. I had voracious yan cha oolong cravings last month if you can crave a tea. Now, I’m craving chocolaty, rosy, muscatel Darjeelings and Earl Greys like a cigarette addict.

Thank you Brenden for spoiling me at my request! And I KNEW I should have snugged some Jabberwocky for myself. Oh well. Callooh callay there’s only three before it goes away.

But I knew I had to at least try this tea. I hesitated with this one because Ben Shan is a green oolong, and green oolong+spices is a risky mix because green oolongs have delicate flavors and are usually buttery or floral if strong. But I knew that the cedar would be the central actor for this tea, and Brenden’s description are telling.

Brewing, started out with three minutes and I get the evergreen he writes about. The Ben Shan itself is on the greener side: green oolongs are really just creamier, fruitier and often more floral green teas. At least to me, or that’s what they are like to a newer drinker. This indeed has the creamy, slightly buttery and floral background. But they are the back ground, and thus the canvas. The chai spices are the paints and hues, with the spearmint and tulsi dripping into the foreground like dew on the eventual cedar. There’s even a little bit of a caramel texture going on, but again, that’s the cedar beginning to open up.

The second brew at four minutes continues the first one’s tastes with a more noticeable cedar, tulsi and spearmint combining into a very distinguishable eucalyptus no matter the palette. Quite green, and very, very fresh. Like a breeze from the Upper Peninsula without a doubt.

And finally, the third brew at five minutes and beyond, and the cedar with the oolong take over. So fresh, and crisp. It becomes the same lingering eucalyptus as Rivendell, but with a spicier finish. Technically, this tea is done but I can brew this even more for the notes of the cedar.

I am very glad to have tried this tea. The cedar, mint and tulsi blend incredibly well with the chai spices. My main criticism is that the oolong fades a little bit too much for me in the background, but the oolong really shouldn’t be that strong for this blend anyway. The other big hesitation is price and I’ve unfortunately had green chais pretty similar to this tea, but the cedar makes the biggest difference. Personally, I prefer the Harvest Chai to this one, but I do like that I get the best aspects of Rivendell save the vanilla in this cup.

This tea is for mint lovers hands down. Actually, it’s like turning an Altoids into a tea and drizzling it with honey.

Dripping grey clouds coat the sky in chilling wetness and muck. No rain, snow or hail for now, but the wind blows tenaciously to get water on someone. If it doesn’t, then it can savor the accomplishment of keeping the fine people of Michigan State University cooled and determined to profit Starbuck’s. I, however, am an agonizing nonconformist with his glass travel mug and an over sized tea ball. And thus, Harvest Chai becomes the Excalibur against this weather and the horrendous onslaught of blind consumerism. It aids me well and tastes so, so good.

This is officially my favorite Chai. I really hope that Brenden releases this tea again, and I would highly recommend it to chai lovers or people wanting to try something from his company. My mom actually liked it and she is not exactly a chai person. I can only see people being detracted by the price and how mellow this oolong is compared to the vivid descriptions you get on the website….or what I’m writing. In short, it tastes like a chai with a smooth, crisper tea that is closer to a black, but not too robust. It is as mild as fall, which is the season this tea caters to. It’s also the bane of winter rain.

I have one last serving before this tea is gone. Yes, I’m being melodramatic. I’m a 20 year old Social Studies major reading Plutarch and Livy in a modern art museum, all while wearing a grey heathered cardigan, black, glossy workout pants, a black and grey designer scarf, and a black v neck lounge shirt one size too tight. What more pretension can you expect?

I got it today, and I overleafed my cup this morning for Gong Fu. But I have a lot of this tea, so I’m much freer for mistakes. Chesnut, coffee, honey, salt, and dried fruit are what I’m getting. There’s also a weird astringency that is not sitting well on my stomach. I was hoping for something kinda like WP’s Tie Guan Yin Dark Roast, but it’s a lot closer to the Roasted Osmanthus I have from Mountain Tea. I loved that one the first time I tried it, but later, I could barely drink it because of it’s fatty after taste and intense amount of caffeine. It also had an astringency that distinctly reminded me of salt. I’m currently drinking this on an empty stomach. Salty and caffeine= bad idea.

Nuts and roasted nuts is the taste I get throughout, and as it cools down, a very strong vanilla note pops out. This is a HIGHLY complex tea. It is also WAY too strong for me right now. Granted, I wanted fewer leaves anyway. So I’m really lowering the amount of leaves next time Gong Fu, and I also need a very few leaves western or grandpa.

Lament and sipdown. I wish I had more of this because it really changed my perceptions of Darjeeling. Never before would I think a black tea to taste so much like a fresh oolong or green tea. It is herbaceous, nice, and invigorating. Considering it cured my headache and my caffeine withdrawal symptoms, this is one of my personal favorites. It also made me want to try even more of Teabox’s teas: namely, the Glendale Silver Needle Spring White. I love rosy teas, and I’m actually a bit of a white tea drinker.

Yet there’s the shipping and budget to consider. And the sheer amount of teas I already have. And the few teas that are coming. But. My eyes will be on that one the next time it goes on sale. This one and the Giddapahar Special Muscatel included.

I tried it Gong Fu, but I had very few leaves, between2 and 3 grams. So western it is. And it is so, so smooth. I didn’t get quite as much flavor, but the fudge qualities remained definite. Even the smooth, disappearing sugary mouth feel was there and unmistakable. For that alone I enjoyed it. Honestly, teas that yield great results no matter how strong or weak you make them are really the best. The more fluid the brew, the better the fluids you chug.

Not a bad tea, and I really couldn’t add anything further other than what has been said. Too much on the artificial side for me personally, but still enjoyable. Think of a spicy apple cider followed by a chocolate powdery kick. I would not mind trying this again and I think it deserves a decent rating. I’m just a little bit harder to please with rooibos. For newbies for sure or a guiltless apple cider. Would recommend very lightly because I’ve had better apple like blends before.

Not bad on its own, but even better with honey. I’m personally iffy with chamomile. Since this has a few whole flowers in it, I’m inclined to like it. Chamomile really isn’t hard to mess up anyway as an herbal, but to me, the taste from a whole flower is fuller and thicker. I get that stronger body sensation here. Chamomile, lemon, and the subtler florals dominate with the rose and rooibos more in the background. The rooibos is the herb providing a lot of the tea’s body and color, but it is so similar to the chamomile that it’s hard to notice.

I’d honestly recommend a try and to drink this after long steeps and portions of honey. One of my friends might like this blend for how mellow it is. My mother likes it for this reason herself. Meadow is a name that certainly fits this floral nectar.