Daylon R Thomas Send Message

This is a really good tea. As inferred by the little description, the taste begins with peach and ends with bergamot making it have a citrus finish. I partially get the Formosa, but it blends in more with the peach bringing in a woodsy taste from the peach’s seed. It’s also pretty consistent in the first two steeps and wanes in the third. Very juicy. Probably good with cream and sugar, or easily can turn into an iced tea (but I prefer it pure and it’s sweet enough on its own).

A lot of people would think it’s an Earl Grey, and Earl Grey lovers would like it. My mom likes citrusy and fruity teas along with Earl Grey; she just can’t drink black ones often because of her kidneys. I gave her a sip, and she loved it: “This is my favorite out of all the one’s you’ve given me.” And to me, Elixer #9 is the Spring, and this one is the Summer Peach.

I’m going to have to try this one again. I steeped it three times with the first being 90 seconds. I mostly tasted the rice and popcorn, and not so much the caramel, cocoa and sugar that I hoped for. The second time still had the toasted rice, but I could taste the sencha more which I love. I almost got the Sweet Sencha from LP, and I probably should have considering how good the base is in this one. I’m also not a huge Genmaicha fan, but from LP I had faith that it would be a good unique tea. It is, but I need to try it again. Genmaicha lovers would really like it, especially my friend, and it would be PERFECT with a bowl of miso soup in the winter months.

Dry leaf kinda reminded me of brownies and incense though I barely get the sandalwood. Wish it was there more in smell and taste. It’s not quite as good as the others that I’ve had from LP, but it’s one of the better Da Hong Pao oolong mixes I’ve had. The Fujian black tea and the vanilla smooth the edges and gloss the oolong. The woody notes are retained, but downsized which I like.

Darker oolongs are giant hit or misses for me, and I either love or hate the woodsy taste they have. Sometimes I love them in how they remind me of fruit and bamboo, but other times I’m put off by the wood having a char or stain taste I really don’t like. Those notes aren’t so present in this tea. The wood is not as pronounced, yet dominant in the taste. Unfortunately, the vanilla in the batch did fade in the background really quickly in the first cup. I was only able to get one solid cup with one tea spoon and three minutes at boiling, and a good second cup at five minutes, and not too much afterwards. I’ll have to experiment more with the steeping, but not a lot.

I’m not quite getting a feeling of Nostalgia, but more of a sense of time.There are elements of age and refinement that strikes me more as a European tea. Though most tea is Asian or Pacific in origin anyway, this one is what I’d imagine a British Monarch drinking with sugar and perhaps cream. I would maybe add some rock sugar to preserve the flavors, but I don’t want to risk it with cream myself. One of my friends who loves dark oolongs and Assams would totally love this tea, she having a quality of refinement herself.

Overall, smooth, cocoa like, sweet, beautiful, woodsy, and refined.

I see why this is the best seller. Honestly, this tea was what I imagined Golden Orchid tasting like, but was sorely disappointed when I had that Whispering Pines tea. This one did not disappointment me at all. The vanilla is smooth and sweet, but compliments the natural cocoa, nutmeg, and yam notes of the Dianhong. There’s no bitterness, no astringency, and no to little dehydrating effect for me. The entire tea is naturally sweet, it’s perfect straight. I was also able to steep it four times (I used the entire pearl. It was best in the first two steeps and still great in the last two, going up to boiling in the latter.

It’s one of Liquid Proust Tea’s more expensive selections, but considering that the quality of the Dian Hong is comparable to some of the higher end ones I’ve had, this is worth it. I almost bought some of the Imperial Bud from Whispering Pines for my morning routine at school instead, but this is close yet unique and beyond good enough for me to have. My mornings are now infinitely better.

Like a few other people have said, I’m not getting the bread notes from the Dianhong too much and not sure French Toast is the right name. Random ideas that popped in my head were Vanilla Pearl, Liquid Dessert, Pearl Dessert, or The Black Pearl, which are probably throw outs. (Though Black Pearl partially makes sense if Captain Jack Sparrow decided to trade some vanilla from Tahiti or Madagascar, or if the base was mixed with a woodier tea that makes you think of a boat). I smell the toast in the dry leaf and see how it’s close with the vanilla and nutmeg notes. I don’t think that’s a bad thing that it does not have the bread notes, and it wouldn’t be bad with them either. I think that this tea on its own serves as a desert tea which also serves my diabetic needs.

Oolong Spa is a great name. I imagine a Middle Eastern bath house and a dark haired, almond eye woman rubbing her hands in a lavender massage oil while burning vanilla incense…

Lavender is the dominant taste and smell, having the calming, relaxing effect that it should, at least for me. The vanilla is also really nice, sweetening and accenting the lavender rather than overwhelming it. I’ve had several lavender teas before and they have one of two problems: they are grassy and weak or they taste like a Yankee Candle soap bar. This one, though, is really well balanced. As for the formosa, I’m getting some fruitiness and woodiness, but it’s mostly fused into the lavender and vanilla like an incense that I imagine. They are not that noticeable, and this is a sweeter, more fragrant tea.

I was able to resteep it about four times, and it’s fairly consistent. Like Andrew says, this is really up to preference. If you like lavender and want some rejuvenating peace, I recommend Oolong Spa. If not, then this tea is probably not for you.

Oolong. Just seven oolong tastes in one cup. The name is exactly what it describes. It’s a blend, a shapeshifter in every sip and every steep . I brewed it three times, first two minutes, then second near to four, then third near to six. The most oolongs were in the first steep, tasting the Tie Guan Yin, Tung Ting, the nutty Charcoal Roasted Oolong and the Osmanthus. Steep two, I got more of the Lishan, Dong Ding, and Roasted. Three, more of the osmanthus and dong ding and spinach.

Anyway, it suits my oolong needs though it’s not my favorite. A little too light, but an oolong lover is sure to enjoy it for subtleties.

There are very few teas that come remotely close to this one in taste. Yes, there are Osmanthus Oolong’s out there, but very few with the full profile that this one packs. I was really curious to try this one. I’ve only had a roasted oolong with osmanthus flower petals, and even so, I’m not quite sure what osmanthus tastes like. I admit that the cream flavoring made me a little hesitant, but when I looked online, most osmanthus teas were blended with creamier teas like Jin Xuan and Tie Guan Yin. And if the cream is upped in flavor, I know that I’m going to be able to taste it. The problem I have with some Jin Xuan and Tie Guan Yin is that they can be too light and too fainted. This was not going to disappoint me, and it certainly didn’t.

The smell dry leaf reminded me of sherbet. It is creamy, but sweet like orange blossom or honeysuckle, probably coming from the osmanthus. The same goes for the taste after two minutes and a half: sweet, creamy, light, and full of that sherbert flavor. the first steep was strongest, but the sherbert sweetness is there in each steep: second after 3 minutes and 15 seconds, third after five. It’s almost peachy to me (Elixer #9 was one of my favorites by the way). Peach blossom? Bottom line, floral, sweet, creamy, and fruity.

I’d recommend this one to a lot of people, but I’m not sure who. Either way, it’s an incredibly unique tea that I think more people should have. It’s sweet enough for newbies but not overly sweet in the least. I also think that the peachiness is coming from the oolong itself, which I might guess it’s a Formosa, Dong Ding, or Huang Zhi Xiang (probably wrong on all accounts, but the Huang Zhi is described as having an orange blossom fragrance)? If you are looking for peachy, floral, creamy, and sweet, this is it. This is by far one of my favorite floral green oolongs yet.

I’m so excited to try all of the awesome blends that I bought from Liquid Proust! I had a REALLY hard time deciding, so I opted for the most breakfast-y blend I got. I smelled the coffee and the grapefruit immediately from the bag. It reminded me distinctly of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee (Yes, I’m an EX-coffee snob, though I indulge in Kona every now and then.) So I brew this up at boiling, not exactly sure the amount of leaves I used, but I had at least 2 big grapefruit pieces and maybe a teaspoon and a half of the black tea mix. I pour over the water and smell the same things and then HAHA a cocoa note in the smell! Oh, Yunnan Dianhong, you sneaky delight.

Finally getting to drink it, it tastes exactly like an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with the exact same notes. My mom also liked it, but she LOVES grapefruit…and so do I. As it cooled, it changed. I tasted more of the cocoa profile from the Dianhong and the Keemum, a little bit of coffee, and the grapefruit came through more with the Pu-Erh as the earthy background. Grapefruit is dominant, but again, it tastes like coffee. This is slightly lighter than coffee in terms of body, but it’s pretty damn close to being a lighter blend of one.

The grapefruit was a really clever addition to this one. It makes the tea taste like breakfast, like a cup of Joe and grapefruit with a spoon. It’s also really clever because the grapefruit makes the mouth feel and taste considerably acidic and the same as coffee. The black teas blended together makes this even closer to coffee-all of them are smooth bodied teas; pu-erh has an earth base like coffee; Dianhong can be subtly sweet like coffee; and keemum has a chocolate note that isn’t quite chocolate note like coffee.

Steep two, I taste all three black teas more though it’s coffee light: the Dianhong, the keemum, and the pu-erh with the grapefruit now in the background. Dianhong comes in more now with that weird malty sweet potato-I probably wouldn’t know that if I hadn’t tried a Dianhong before.

Now, the consensus-it’s a really good tea and the great breakfast tea in my opinion, though that may change as soon as I try the French Toast. This is the perfect tea for coffee lovers, hands down. More experienced drinkers would appreciate the Chinese black teas, and younger ones will have to figure out their preference on it. Sugar and cream probably would work for it in an unexpected way, but I like it as is.

Also: notes are starting to get too pretentious for me in tea descriptions. I am going to figure out a better way to describe it without being too vague or over descriptive. There are some things like cocoa, chocolate, and fruit that are definitely there to me, but to someone reading this, they’ll either think “WTF is he talking about” or “Chocolate? GIVE ME!” then “This didn’t taste like chocolate. WTF!”

I’m in a loopy mood today…

This one remains a one of my favorites. And when I thought I had no more income to spare, I found some I forgot about, and totally decided to get this tea. I said in the original review that I wouldn’t get this any time soon, but since I had the freedom to, this was one of the teas I had to have.

I actually tasted different notes this time, and different notes from day to day. Lately, I’ve been getting mango, caramel, peach, and coconut, but all of them so subtly there. I still do this gongfu, but I’ve experimented more and been steeping this a little more western style on occasion being equally good for different reasons. The flavor profile is still the same western having notes of cream, flowers, grass, butter, milk, sweetness, toffee, and vegetal. The floral aspect is now closer to a lilac. I still rinse it 10-15 seconds every time. I had some today with hotter water at about 200 F and it tasted like cotton candy in the rinse. Apparently, I prefer this one with hotter water. Who knew?

Oh, and for you people trying to decide whether or not to get this tea, look at my previous review. It’s something that you should try, but some may be turned off by the buttery aspect to it, or if you’re newer, follow the recommendations exactly on the website. It also may take some time for you to figure out the steeping parameters that you prefer to get the flavor notes you want for this tea.