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Received this cake in the January edition of White2Tea’s monthly club. Before I even tried the tea I was grinning at the wrapper.

This is my second time trying it and it’s got amazing tea mist! I’m really enjoying watching the beautiful patterns forming at the surface of my cup. I get a nice bittersweet flavour that ends with a bit of lingering sour tartness. The first time I drank it I thought it was an aftertaste from something I ate before. To be clear, the sourness is not unpleasant or even very strong. Some people might not even notice it unless they’re looking for it.

Old Reliable is a solid shou with a name that suits it. Definitely a solid daily drinker with strong flavours that don’t give out too quickly.

This is the best Keemun out of the 3 I’ve ever tried. It’s pretty smooth and has a nice fruity and sweet flavor. I got a couple samples of this during the teavivre anniversary sales.

I got a cake of this in July and it’s already more than 2/3 gone! If I’m honest I bought it because I like the goat on the wrapper..but I wasn’t dissapointed!

I think this tea may have changed a bit since I got it because I broke the cake up and put it in a earthware jar to air out.

While there is still a bit of the fermentation flavor, the dark chocolate flavour and creamyness of this tea overpowers it pretty easily (and I hardly notice it anymore). A good candidate for gong fu or grandpa style although I find it doesn’t stay strong enough for very long as grandpa style. A very easy to drink quality shou.

This was a sample given to me for review. As posted on Zen Tea’s review section:

I brewed this one Gong Fu style, keeping the temperature at about 80C for all infusions.

The first infusion was very light and seemed to have notes of coconut accompanying the green tea flavors. The expanded leaves are really beautiful (as are the dry ones but you can see those here)! Most of the leaves are whole with a bright green color.

The second infusion had more of a bitter background flavor that I personally really like in green tea. I think it happened because I steeped it for longer, creating a stronger brew. At this point there is an aftertaste that lingers and the coconut notes are gone.

The third infusion has had the bitterness recede and give way to sweetness.

The fourth and fifth steep were really weak and only had the lightest of flavor so I probably wouldn’t do a repeat of those but 3 infusions is pretty good for a green tea.

Thanks Zen Tea!

I got this in the $1 Box from Simple Loose Leaf Tea. I’ve had it a few times now with different brewing methods.

A lightly roasted oolong that starts off with a robust roasted/raisiny taste and dies down quickly into a mellow sweetness.
I enjoy this tea but I would say it’s not really worth it to brew it Gongfu. I could only get 3 solid infusions from it before the flavor was quite weak. Still pretty tasty for those first 3 infusions though.