379 Tasting Notes
Busy morning so I went ahead and followed their recommended first steeping of 2 minutes and added 1 minute for each subsequent infusion. I can do a little more work with 2 minutes to 5-minute infusions versus 15 seconds :D.
The liquor is pale and the flavor is lovely. Fresh pine needles, with fresh and light fruity notes, white peaches, stonefruits, hints of spice. Mildly sweet and floral notes. Refreshing, peaceful, clean, it changes slightly through infusions with gentle, soothing delicious flavors. No bitterness, no astringency, just a wonderful serene mood changer in a cup of tea.
175˚F, 110ml, rinse, 4 steeps, 2m, 3m, 4m, 5m
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Pine, Stonefruit
Preparation
Free sample of this (Thank you Alistair!) and wow, I feel like I’m repeating myself over and over (I am :P)… But another great oolong from What-Cha.
There is already a very thorough review of this that I love. Although I couldn’t pick out all the notes, I really enjoyed this Vietnamese GABA Oolong. The wet leaves smelled so fruity and laced with a light roast aroma. The medium dark amber liquor smelled delicious, like baked apple pie! I’m currently bringing it through my typical gongfu repertoire (Yixing pot, 5g, 203°F, 110ml, rinse, 7 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s) and am currently on the 4th infusion. So fruity, so flavorful and very smooth. It’s a keeper. I’ll be trying the Taiwan version of this soon as I have it on my shelf.
Flavors: Apple, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Fruity, Malt, Raisins, Roasted
Preparation
The third of four free samples. The liquor is dark and has a nice bergamot aroma. It has sunflower and cornflower petals in it. The taste has a very nice slightly spicy sweet clove taste with a citrus zest notes. It’s not sour nor bitter and not perfumey at all. It is a very warm and comforting cup of tea, and I’m feeling good energy from it.
Solid flavorful Earl Grey with citrus fruit and zest notes. Creamy mouthfeel and balanced taste with a nice finish.
195°F, 3 steeps at 2min, 3min, 4min.
Flavors: Bergamot, Clove, Orange, Orange Zest
Preparation
Another awesome What-Cha oolong. After the rinse, the leaves smelled of a wonderful aroma of light roast, sweet honey, some unique notes already stated in the previous great reviews. The aroma alone can put it on another level. It’s lovely. Light amber liquor also with a unique aroma.
Very smooth, sweet and creamy, a fragrant roast but light toasty roast with floral, honey and stonefruit notes. Long lasting natural honey sweet finish. Thick. The balsam menthol is very nice and makes it quite unique.
gaiwan, 6g, 203°F, 110ml, rinse, 7 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s
Flavors: Creamy, Floral, Honey, Menthol, Stonefruit, Sweet
Preparation
Do you have a recent harvest of this? I think mine is from 2017. Curious how they compare. I absolutely love this oolong.
I have the Spring 2018 harvest. I can send some to you. :D
You know, I think I’ll take you up on that, thanks! Moving tomorrow, so I’ll message you when I’m settled.
Yay. Sounds good!
Another free Mystery sachet. I had this last night. I read the other review on this and was expecting the horrible lol. I liked it. The main note was spices, masala like. The base was red rooibos, and it had cassia, peppercorn, cardamon, a little clove notes. It was creamy, sweet-spicy, nice mouthfeel, relaxing before going to bed type of tea. The sweet taste didn’t taste artificial. I couldn’t taste the marigold petals but probably because I have no idea what marigold tastes like :P. I read that this is the same blend another of their teas, Bollywood Chaïpur, but instead of black tea, it’s red rooibos.
185 °F, 2 steeps: 4 min., 5 min.
Flavors: Cardamom, Clove, Cream, Creamy, Fruity, Peppercorn, Spices
Preparation
One of four free samples from Theodor called Mystery Sachets. I’m not fully qualified to grade black tea but this is their “Strong Breakfast”. Their site said it is a blend of Indonesia and India tea. I believe “Strong Breakfast” is a blend of Assam and Darjeeling.
It was a medium to dark coppery colored liquor, full-bodied, strong character, light spices, slightly fruity and had floral notes. It’s stronger than most breakfast teas I’ve tried at the hotels :P (I don’t have hardly any experience with black teas) and had malt and honey notes. I enjoyed it.
150ml, 185°F, 2 steeps: 5 min, 6 min
Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Honey, Spices, Tannin
Preparation
Updating my notes. I read this was Scott’s blend. Revisiting this daily drinker. So, on this quiet Christmas afternoon, I dropped the temperature down a bit and it was far less bitter. I also don’t have a stuffy nose this time from allergies so maybe I could enjoy it a bit more. :P
Floral, fresh grass, honey sweetness, green wood, sugarcane, stonefruits, peachiness, umami, brothy, medium to thick mouthfeel, little bitterness with astringency but balanced, pleasant. Longlasting finish.
Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 190˚F, 15 steeps: rinse, 10s, 13s, 16s, 19s, 22s, 25s,28s, 31s, 34s, 37s, 40s, 43s, 46s, 49s, 52s
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Green Wood, Hay, Honey, Peach, Stonefruit, Thick, Umami
Preparation
Took advantage of the Kusmi sale in December. I got a can of this and the regular Detox (the lemon one). I’m going to bet more people prefer this taste over that one. I love grapefruit but there’s a little too much peppermint in there for me so I think I’ll stay with the lemon one.
During the sale, I just chose the largest can of the original green tea-lemongrass one since I do start the day off with it for water retention… Etc. and when it arrived…
Omgosh it’s as big as a baby. lol I sure hope this stuff stays fresh for a long time.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays :D
Flavors: Citrus Zest, Citrusy, Grapefruit, Herbs, Peppermint
Preparation
Ah, another Vietnamese Tea. :D Great reviews on this so I will put in my two cents. ^^
They were small tightly rolled green leaves. No tea dust. The dry leaves had a nice vegetal aroma. After the rinse, the leaves had a orchid, fruity (?), slightly floral aroma. The liquor is a very pale amber. I love the creaminess, the natural milk-buttery-like flavor of a good unflavored Jin Xuan and this one was very smooth and brothy too. It was slightly different to me to the ones that I normally drink (TeaVivre, Mandala, and Theodor), it’s almost like a hybrid of the creamy Jin Xuan combined with the familiar honey-like taste of a good TGY. Vegetal, orchid, creamy, buttery, floral and umami notes. Solid, a little different and good Jin Xuan.
Porcelain gaiwan, 5g, 194°F, 110ml, rinse, 7 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s
Flavors: Broth, Floral, Fruity, Honey, Orchid, Smooth, Umami, Vegetal
Preparation
Each flapjack is roughly 7 grams, with 7 flapjacks in each short stack. Although the wet leaves smelled of earth and wet wood, it was deceiving because the first infusion was more light chocolate with a subtle sweetness. Then kaboom, on the 2nd infusion, it fully opened up, super dark espresso colored liquor with much stronger flavors of more earth, slight bitterness, and a little dark chocolate. On the 3rd, I got mushrooms, stronger earth, but bitterness dissipated completely by the 4th.
By the 6th infusion on, it was a lighter color liquor, medium amber, and it transformed in a more mellow, but earthy, daily tea type. The sweetness, maybe vanilla, and chocolate no longer hidden, it came back. Milky, smooth, creamy, with subdued almost absent fermentation flavors. The 9th infusion was especially chocolate-like, reminded me of the chocolate covered coffee beans. 10th on similar. I liked it so much better after the 5th infusion.
7g, 110ml, rinse, 13 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s, 65s
Flavors: Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Molasses, Mushrooms, Vanilla
