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Okay. Again, a bit too artificial for me and Cherry is iffy with Sencha. The marzipan almond flavoring actually goes nicely with the green tea and rooibos since those teas tend to have that kind of nutty taste anyway. Cherry kinda clashes with the almond, but it might be nicer for other people. It is pretty green and probably would be better with fresher leaves.

Planning a trip, and trying to pick the most portable leaves for my tumbler, and had to try. It does taste like a nougat, and it does taste like caramel with a buttery hazelnut finish. Not a bad flavor combo, but like all Tea Forte Teas, the flavoring is replicated. It’s almost alcoholic. Cream and sugar does well and it is pretty nice, it’s just weird to drink on it’s own. It is sweet, smooth, and nutty, but it is so, so, so boozy. The color is gorgeous brewed, almost like a syrup, but so is the tea. It’s like someone took a piece of caramel out of a Bailey’s Irish Cream.

A little bit too much for me personally.

Wow, this makes for an awesome morning. Same notes with one extra one and that note is a strong Pear note. That is practically the flavor along with the florals and intense creaminess. I really am on the greener side of oolongs, though my love of some Darjeelings, Qi Lans, and Dan Congs won’t end. I’m also not getting tired of this one any time soon. Wish I had some more.

Thank heavens Andrew sent me a green tea. I’ve had so much oolongs, blacks, and pu-erhs that I’ve started to get a bit overwhelmed. That is especially true this morning. That Wu Yi varietal was starting to give me a massive headache. The astringency started to follow really badly too.

This green goodness saved my palette. Super fresh, green, and yummy. It distinctly tastes like spinach, asparagus, umami, avocado, and sea weed in a really nice way. Plus I’m personally getting a bit of a creamy, almost oily mouth feel. My stomach is starting to settle. That could just be psychological-veggies can have the tendency to do that to me. It’s so GREEN. I especially like the later steeps. All of them were incredibly short, the longest being 30 sec toward the end. 5-10 sec was the average.

Same cup from last night, down to 200 degrees F for my whopping 5 grams at 10 seconds. It finally tastes like the Yan Chas I like with some Guava. More chestnut notes like a darker TGY. Still on the medium dark spectrum. Certain mineral taste and a bit of a kicking astringency. It’s especially pleasant when it cools down. Between 190-200 is the ideal heat for me.

Finally upped the rating because this is a good tea. I just had a hard time figuring out the way I liked it. I personally would not buy this again because this tea even with less leaves can be a bit overpowering for me although it’s an oolong. However, I would highly recommend this to more experienced drinkers and connoisseurs. This is a pretty complex and unique tea. I think they would appreciate it more than I have. It may be because I’m starting to prefer more delicate oolongs (if you can call them delicate) like Dan Cong, Qi Lan, and green Taiwan High Mountain Oolongs like Dong Dings, Shan Lin Xi’s, and Milks.

Followed boychick’s recommendations and it’s more pleasant but feels a bit over leafed for me. I still get salty cookie dough or graham crackers and I like Yan Cha style teas.I actually prefer it at a lower temperature because it is sweeter and more graham cracker like then. One review on the website compared it to a Da Hong Pao and I can see that. Because it’s so similar to a mega dark TGY or a Da Hong Pao, I’m having a hard time with it. I think I might like more delicate teas. It is certainly thick, but too thick and salty for me. I do think it’s a good tea, but it has yet to scream at me. I’m tempted to swap or sell it.

Lauren, you don’t need to worry now. The magic is back: full fledged cherry goodness with nice chocolate coffee accents and a great base tea. I got more hojicha, cherries, and oolong in this cup and the combo is awesome. Even the nice, smooth mouth feel ending with roast is back. I will always recommend this tea and enjoy it.

Based off all of my experiences of this tea, the only real problem is the different consistencies I get from each cup, which ENTIRELY depends on the ingredient ratio. That’s why my reviews for this are ad hoc.

Got to try some, finally. It does taste like a sugar cookie, but a little bit on the artificial side for me. I’m actually surprised at how strong the orange peel is making it a bit more citrus than expected. I am glad I tried it, but I like Bengal Spice and Tension Tamer a lot more.

With that said, this is a definite desert tea that could go really well with milk and or cream and sugar.

Another lovely tea from my dear friend and dealer Andrew. A Dianhong cake that is making me pretty happy.

This is by far one of the softest Dian Hongs I’ve had. It is darker than most and does have a stronger malt taste verging on the borders of an Assam, but not nearly that thick. More bready like rye. Overall, it’s closer to a very thin cocoa. Not chocolate, powdery hot cocoa. There’s a little bit of caramel, but also a slightly stronger tobacco and maple. I’m enjoying the crap out of this texture. The occasional astringency, not so much.

This is better in shorter steeps. At first, i tried it at fifteen seconds, but it was very soft and faint so I upped it to thirty. Still a bit too soft, so I went to 45. Malt overpowered the other notes just a little bit, but the shorters steeps got better in the later ones. I’m currently on eight and could probably do three more. It is similar to French Toast Dianhong’s specific base, but I prefer that base because it has more maple.

Holy crap. This feels so good right now. OMG. Teagasm.

I used the rest of the bag. So, probably two tablespoons (the leaves are longer on this one) or 4-5 grams. 6 might be an exaggeration. And Gong Fu’d at 5 seconds. Holy crap. Chocolate and muscats. Another 10. Mooorre malty goodness. Another 15. Holy F#$(! Another five with 4 ounces. FRICK. This one is staying strong. REAL strong. Another fifteen at 6 ounces. MULTIPLE TEAGASM!

Okay, enough lewd language. I’m tasting the same notes that I recorded on here before but now in full force. It has a bit more of a muscat aftertaste which feels really great on my tongue and my throat in cold weather. And I had grapefruit before I had this, so that might be an unusually great compliment. Though what do I know about pairings? The taste has to be due to the sheer amount of leaves I used. The last cup of this had a ginger amount of leaves. This one had the leftovers. I wanted to finish this one off and I was craving a chocolaty dark tea…some vanilla might be dangerous with this.

With all that boasted, I’m not sure if I want to increase the rating. I certainly recommend it and would try more in the future. I’m just not sure how often. All of the teas from What-Cha on the chocolate spectrum have been pretty frickin’ similar and I could probably enjoy the same type of mouth feel and taste with the other teas. This one just had a dark chocolate note that I prefer because I like dark chocolate and muscats. Some of you might find a few bread notes in here too. I still place this as one of the best teas of the giant sampler I got from What-Cha. The Qi is strong with this one.

Though I really haven’t fixed a standardized rating system and it will be subjective no matter what, know that this is a good tea and my prior notes are probably better if you’re shopping for it. This was a single moment of need that you suffered reading. Or enjoyed. I don’t know; was it as good for you as it was for me?