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Finally, there’s real tea to be found in grocery stores! I almost never reach for bottled teas because I find the majority of them too sweet and weird tasting. The one exception however are the unsweetened bottled teas sold at Asian grocery stores. I am partial to Ito-En’s Golden Oolong so I was excited to spot this at Trader Joe’s which looks suspiciously similar to Ito-En.

This tea is very clean tasting and refreshing. It has a full yet delicate peach flavor balanced with a slight bitterness in the finish. The mouthfeel is velvety smooth and silky. There’s definitely some flavor differences between this and the Ito-En Golden Oolong. I remember the latter being stronger with sandalwood tones and spice. The Ito-En bottle notes that it’s made from Tieguanyin and Huan jin guei . However this one doesn’t say what variety of oolong is used leaving one to speculate. My guess is it’s a dan cong due to the peachiness and light body. Those who enjoy darker teas may prefer the Ito-En. But as a green oolong aficionado, I liked the Trader Joe’s variety better.

This bottled tea really exceeded my expectations. At $1.19 a pop, it’s a good value and about a $1 cheaper than Asian grocery stores. I hope Trader Joe’s keeps this around as it’s a great on the go option and hopefully will help introduce the masses to quality tea.

Holy orange blossoms, this tea is amazing! It’s sweet and flowery filled with a lovely orange blossom flavor. The tea starts off somewhat weak but with an interesting Korean melon like fruity flavor, corn husk, and a slight sourness. The florals really come out after the first steeping. I detected notes of osmanthus, orange blossom, and cream. The floral notes soon flattened into perfumey orange blossom water for the next several steeps. I brewed it fairly hard, at temperatures between 200 F to boiling , and there wasn’t a trace of bitterness.

I can see this replacing one of my favorite teas that’s now discontinued: Taiwan Tea Craft’s Citrus Scented oolong, a Taiwanese oolong scented with pomelo flowers. I was astonished at how much it resembled the TTC tea despite being unflavored. Compared to What-Cha’s Li Shan, this had less depth of flavor. The orange blossom, though enjoyable, becomes the dominant note. I would have liked more of the osmanthus and fruity flavors that I tasted early on but faded quickly.

This was my first baked baozhong and I liked it lot. The light baking caramelizes the florals into rich baked fruit and honey. I get baked apple, fig, and occasionally a hint of apricot. The sweetness reminds me at times of pancake syrup and brown sugar. Some hints of almond appear in later steepings.

The baking level here is perfect. It doesn’t add any roast to the tea, rather it transforms the tea’s texture and sweetness. I preferred this tea grandpa style. Not much complexity, but it’s great for easy sipping.

I’ve been wanting to try this Li Shan for while since it has gotten such rave reviews on Steepster. After finally getting my hands on a sample, I have to say this was worth the hype. Love it when that happens :-)

The leaves of this tea are rolled into giant green nuggets that have a fresh orchid scent. Wet leaf aroma is extraordinarily sweet with florals reminiscent of hyacinth and daffodils. The tea started off fairly thin and light with a bit of sugarcane. Figuring the water temperature was too low, I upped it to 200 F from 190 F to help bring out more flavor in the second steep. Out came a thick nectar of wildflowers and honeycomb. The following steep I used just under boiling water and got more pastoral flowers, minerality, and a fairly viscous mouthfeel that was very soothing. I was really beginning to feel the cha qi at this point.

From there on out, I used straight up boiling water for the next 6 steeps. It went through a complex taste evolution going from buttery to brothy and then fruity; all the while maintaining a distinct gao shan flavor. Interestingly enough, this tea was mostly fruity in the later steeps with little to no vegetal tones unlike other Li shan’s I’ve tried. I loved its sumptuous fruitiness and powerful cha qi. Also impressive was the incredible staying power that lasted through 9 steeps without any bitterness whatsoever.

After 2 sessions with this sample, I had slightly less than 2 grams left which I brewed western style. Though lighter, the western steep brought out more of the tea’s floral aspects into play.

Really impressed with this offering from What-Cha. It’s complexity and evolution of taste over infusions was quite nice. Definitely going to get some more of this tea with my next order.

This will be my last Verdant sampler tasting before I give Verdant a break for a while to focus on the What-Cha samples I just received.

This tea basically reaffirmed grandpa style as my brewing method of choice for yanchas. Steeped in a tumbler, I got a smooth blend of chocolate, cinnamon, woodsy notes, and wet rocks. Gongfu brings out some of these flavors as well but these were too aggressive for my taste. There was lots of wood spice and black licorice. The texture also became very thick and oily. I feel some of its subtleties of the tea are lost by steeping it gong fu.

This mini toucha was my first ripe puerh and a nice intro to shou. I used half of the 5-6g cake in a 110ml shibo. Following a rinse, I steeped the first infusion for 20s. Subsequent steeps were between 10-30s. The initial steeps had a bit of fermentation flavor to it. Once it cleared, the tea had a dried prune like fruity flavor and some black tea malt. I was pleasantly surprised by the clean flavor. There was no bitterness like some of the shengs I’ve had recently. For a less than $1 little tea disc, the taste certainly exceeded my expectations.

This is a rather atypical oolong. It looks and tastes more like a green tea. You have to look real hard to find any trace of oolong in it.

It has a very similar profile to Verdant’s other laoshan green teas. In the nose and on the palate, I get toasted soybeans, nuttiness, and grain. Around the 5th or 6th steep, the mouthfeel becomes fuller and you get the barest hint of some light fruitiness and butter. For the most part though it’s vegetal and doesn’t distinguish itself from a green tea. There’s none of the floral, fruity, or mineral flavors that characterize oolongs.

Backlog.

I was expecting a dark TGY and was surprised by how green this was. This is a jade oolong with a gentle roast that gives it a distinct taste from regular green TGY.

The leaves are loosely rolled pellets with a faint smell of molasses. It reminds me of the cheap gunpowder green tea I used to drink back in the day. Wet leaf emits aromas of graham cracker, spice, camphor, and some wuyi minerality. The color of the liquid is pale yellow with a tinge of green.

First steeping is quite green with lots of floral and undertones of baked bread. The floral notes become brighter and sweeter as the steeps progress. Along the way, I pick up notes of caramelized sugar, minerals, and some orchid with a soft underlying roast. Around the 4th steep, the tea becomes more buttery, develops a thicker mouthfeel, and a nectar like fruitiness. The taste profile at this point is similar to a lightly roast Gao Shan and Verdant’s fruitier oolongs like Ruan Zhi.

This was my kind of roasted oolong. The light roasting maintains its fresh green character while bringing out interesting fruity and baked flavors.

Finished off my sample pack the other day and this is easily the best Mi Lan Xiang I’ve had so far. It’s thick, nectary, and intensely peachy. It needs lots of leaf and flash steeps to express itself and tastes best when the infusions are compounded.

I steeped 5g of tea in a 150ml gaiwan. Following a rinse, I did a 10s steep at near boiling followed by two flash infusions. The three steeps were combined in a cha hai. Sniffing the wet leaf, I get yummy aromas of honey and roasted peaches. The taste is very much true to the smell. In the mouth, I taste juicy peaches, saffron, and a touch of minerality. This is rounded out by luscious honeyed florals in the finish with a prominent note of rose.

I lost count of the number of infusions I brewed, probably around 10 or so and later cold steeped the half spent leaves. The flavor dropped a bit after the initial steeps but the tea held up remarkably well. Cold brewing coaxes out even more subtleties in texture and flavor. The taste becomes softer and allows other flavor notes to come through including apple, white grape, and jasmine. Some might say cold brewing a reserve tea is a waste, but it may just be my favorite way.

This was a very nice dan cong and a step up from the mid-grade stuff I’ve been drinking before. However, I’m reluctant to buy more because it’s quite pricey. I plan to check out YS for something similar at a lower price point.

Almost near the end of my sampler pouch and I’m kinda sorta beginning to like this tea. I start off with tepid water around 125 F for 2 minutes which produces a crisp, umami-sweet infusion. Then I up the temperature to 195 F for about 20s for the second steeping and maintain high temperatures for subsequent steeps. The flavor is a kale vegetal and it still has the earthy grassiness but it’s a little toned down.

This is pretty mellow and soothing tea. I don’t care for the earthiness but I like it for a change of pace from grassy senchas.