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If you didn’t tell me there was oolong in here, I probably would have never guessed it. The perfumey jasmine is all I could taste. It didn’t taste very different from other jasmine pearl teas I’ve had, but nonetheless had a lovely jasmine flavor. A perfectly acceptable tea, but nothing to write home about.

A good quality about this tea is unlike green jasmine tea, it can withstand higher water temperatures and steeping times without becoming bitter.

Move over jasmine and rose, I’ve got a new favorite floral tea and it’s osmanthus! After being somewhat underwhelmed earlier by an osmanthus scented flowering green tea, this tea won me over with its creamy, sweet floral taste and aroma. The tea’s natural floral notes are perfectly balanced with the osmanthus flavoring. Unlike jasmine scented teas which often dominates, the osmanthus flavor is subtle and complements the base tea beautifully.

Only knock on this tea is most of the flowery notes are gone after the first infusion. But the green oolong really comes out on the second steeping with just a lingering floral aftertaste.

I love floral teas but prior to this, I’d never had osmanthus scented tea nor did I know what it’s supposed to taste like. The dry teaball has a rather unpleasant hay smell and if you steep it with boiling water as Teavivre instructs, you end up with a bitter and astringent brew.

So the next time I made this tea, I used 170 to 180 F water and it turned out much better. The hay odor thankfully didn’t make it to the brewed tea and I was able to pick up a subtle floral flavor which really shines through though on the 2nd infusion (I got 3 infusions in total out of 1 tea ball). While enjoyable, I was expecting a more flowery tasting tea and the osmanthus flavor was too mellow for my liking.

I made this side by side today with an osmanthus green oolong and the oolong was the hands down winner. The natural floral notes in the oolong pair better with the osmanthus than the vegetal green tea.

Still, this tea was tasty iced and fun to watch bloom in a glass teapot.

If you like Teavana’s fruity teas, you will enjoy this blend. It tastes like a hibiscus spiked fruit punch. The hibiscus is clearly the dominant flavor in the brewed tea and if you drink it straight, that’s all you will taste. Although I don’t usually don’t sweeten my tea, this one does benefit with the addition of a little sugar. It tempers the sourness of the hibiscus and brings out the other fruit flavors, which aren’t really discernable on their own but meld together nicely. If chilled, this would make a fantastic iced tea.

Oh man I tried so hard to like this tea. I brewed it in so many different ways, in a glass tumber, in a gaiwan, cold brewing, mixed it with other teas, etc. but alas this tea could not redeem itself. Compared to other dragonwell teas I’ve had, it’s more vegetal than sweet and prone to bitterness. Not Yunnan’s best offering…

A fantastic scented tea from Verdant. The dry leaf is fragrant and big chrysantheum flowers, cardamom, and lemongrass are visible in it. It smells quite similar to their Earl of Anxi tea, a an otherwise great tea spoiled by frankencense. This tea is a different story though. The floral notes of the tieguanyin pair beautifully with the chrsantheum flowers and accented with lemongrass and a hint of citrus. The cardamom is absent though. I think giving the cardamom pods a whack with a pestle and mortar before brewing will help release their flavor.

My first white jasmine and as a long time green jasmine drinker, I am impressed with this tea. It has a sweet, mellow jasmine flavor that really shines through thanks to the mild white tea. It’s also more forgiving than green jasmine which can easily become bitter.

Of all the different brands of matcha I’ve tried, this one is by far the frothiest. The resulting brew is robust, thick and bright green. Flavorwise it’s quite grassy and vegetal tasting. I have to dilute it in order to drink it straight. But it’s great for matcha-based drinks and in cooking where you want the green tea flavor to stand out.

Another free sample courtesy of Teavivre. I loved the smell of the dry leaves, reminded me of sweet strawberry mochi. I brewed the tea with some trepidation expecting this to have an artificial and/or overwhelming fruit flavor like most flavored teas. I’m happy to report that my fears were unfounded. The first steeping was creamy smooth with a gentle strawberry flavor. You actually can taste the base oolong and the strawberry complements it instead of competing with it.

Those that prefer fruity teas might find it underwhelming but for me the flavor profile of this tea was on point. Unfortunately the strawberry flavor is mostly lost after the 1st steeping so all you taste on the 2nd steeping is the oolong itself.