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This is a really tasty tea. It was one of the best oolongs I have ever had. I would have to describe it overall as sweet and buttery. There were some floral notes to it but no real vegetal taste. There was a fleeting bitterness in steep one that was gone in steep two. This one was outstanding. As close to perfect as I have had recently.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml Yixing Teapot with 7g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is another winner from Menghai Tea Factory. Because they hold onto their ripes for a year or so it does not have that just fermented taste. There was a fermentation note to the tea but it was on the sweet side, not unpleasant or fishy. Another good note took over when the fermentation was gone. A strong taste, I am not sure how to describe it, perhaps deeply fruity would suffice. In any case this is a good tea.

I steeped this twelve times in a 200ml gaiwan with 13.5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

Bought this recently in a stash sale. It was such a good price I couldn’t resist. This is an excellent tea. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor this being from 2014 but that flavor was neither fishy nor unpleasant and was somewhat sweet. The fermentation lasted about four or five steeps and what I was left with was a nice sweet ripe. This is the highest grade of ripe in normal production at Menghai Tea Factory and you can tell, it tastes that good. There was a bit of a fruity flavor at the end but not really sure what to call it.

I steeped this ten times in a 100ml teapot with 8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. I could have easily gotten a few more steeps out of it but ten was enough caffeine.

Today I drank the May 2017 offering from Global Tea Hut, a 2015 Sheng Maocha. This was a reasonably nice teae. It was not as good as some of their previous tea I think. It was sweet initially until the leaves opened up. Then it got more of a bittersweet note to it. The bitterness lasted only a few steeps and it was back to sweet. Not sure that I would use the term apricots to describe the sweet note. It was not quite that strong. Maybe more of a sweet grass note. In any case it was good but not phenomenal.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 50ml Teapot with 3.5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

This is a very good tea for the price Chawangshop gets for it, I believe for $5 a 100g bing. Yunnan Sourcing has the same tea which I also bought before I saw it at Chawangshop. While I would not call this tea phenomenal, it was very good, a nice solid ripe. It had a fair amount of fermentation flavor left, that flavor was a little unpleasant at first but not fishy. There were some notes of dark bittersweet chocolate in there. After a few steeps the bittersweet notes left and a sweet note was there. Not sure as to how to describe this note. This tea is definitely worth buying at Chawangshop’s price if you put in an order.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 220ml Yixing Teapot with 15.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes. It waspretty much finished at twelve steepings. If I had used more leaf I am sure it would have gone a little further.

Bought this last week at Puerh Brooklyn and it was quite good. No picture because they do not have it on their website. Initial notes were sweet with grass, apricot, and stonefruits the main flavors. It got sweeter as I resteeped it. This was nnot cheap but I think was worth the price.

I steeped this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 6.5g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is a fairly tasty ripe brick from Chawangshop. It had a fair amount of fermentation flavor. Neither unpleasant nor fishy tasting. There was no bitterness, just a sweet note from the start.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml Silver Teapot with 12.2g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec,7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

Not sure how this compares to last year’s tea but this one is good. There is a light malty note along with a certain nutty flavor and some chocolate notes. This is definitely one of my favorite black teas.

I brewed this one time with 4 pearls or about 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 3 minutes.

Bought this recently when Tea Ave was having a sale. I generally like floral, green oolongs. This one was quite nice. It was somewhat vegetal and had notes of sweet grass to it. It was very good. I gave it eight steeps and I think it would have gone a couple more. But I figured it wasn’t puerh that can usually be pushed to twelve or fourteen steeps. I bought several more teas from Tea Ave and I hope they are all this good.

I steeped this eight times in a 110ml teapot with 7.1g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.