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Dry leaf is silvery grey, covered with downy hairs and very fluffy. Whole and broken leaf that hasn’t been twisted or rolled, lots of small leafsets of two leaves and a bud. Dry leaf has barely any smell, just a hint of fruitiness. I measured out 3g, which overflowed my 1oz tea cups.

Steeped in 85C water for 5min. Steeped leaf is yellow green and has less volume than when dry. Faint sweet fragrance.

Liquor is honey coloured, clear. Almost no fragrance, but delicate notes of honey, brown sugar and maybe summer squash – something almost fruity but without a lot of its own sweetness. Very mild, with a fairly long finish that’s slightly tangy and is reminiscent of fennel bulb.

Medium body, quite smooth. Better as it cools.

A very interesting tea. I wish for a little more flavour from it, but it’s still quite enjoyable.

You know, every time I drink this, it’s perfect. We’ve almost finished up the bag, and even though we both have more tea than we know what to do with, I think I will need to order more very soon.

I think I maybe also bump up my rating every time I drink this, and I’m going to do it again, because it’s just so damned good.

An excellent Darjeeling. Notes of spice, pepper, muscatel, and then malt and hops on the finish. Distinctly Darjeeling, but none of the char notes I’ve picked up in many that I’ve tried.

Woah, I cannot imagine steeping these Teabox Assams for anywhere near as long as is recommended in the directions. I steeped this for 3 minutes, and hot, it was extremely bitter. As the cup cooled a bit, the bitterness mellowed out and it became quite pleasantly malty. Only a hint of astringency.

Not an exceptional cup, but a good morning tea.

I want to like this, but I don’t. Everything about it is cloying – the sweetness, the perfumey aspect, even the tart. I was having a really hard time identifying the flavours in this, beyond just berry, but yes, grape. It’s all just overwhelming and kind of sickly to me.

I can see how others might like this, but it’s definitely not for me.

Another Glendale tea!

The dry leaf smells incredible. Lilac, peony, orange blossoms – it’s like walking through a garden in full bloom. There’s also a note of cool cucumber in there. The leaf is light brown, in small curls.

Steeped, the leaf unfurls into medium yellow green pieces. The floral fragrance sticks around, but is joined by a strong umami, which is an interesting combination.

The liquor is clear and the colour of honey, and smells very similar to kukicha – sweet, a bit buttery, notes of cooked vegetables and umami.

This tea has amazing flavour. Lightly spiced (pepper and something else), umami, sweet, muscatel, hints of floral, malt and green vegetables. Vegetal tangy on the finish. It reminds me of a combination of Japanese green and a Darjeeling.

There are so many different layers to this tea, but it doesn’t taste muddled – they all somehow compliment each other and work together. Very complex and unique.

I felt like having an Assam so I went and riffled through my pile of Teabox Assams. They mostly have very similar descriptions, but this one jumped out at me, because on the package it says, “produces a liquor with a crystal lemon like colour”, which sounded very intriguing and very different.

The dry leaf is small, dark and twisty, with a few tips. It smells like malt and baked bread. I steeped 1tsp in 93C water for 3 minutes, though the package recommends 5.

Well, unless “crystal lemon like colour” means something totally different to whomever wrote that description, I have no idea what they’re going on about. The liquor is a dark, reddish brown. Not quite coffee coloured, but closer to that than any lemon I’ve ever seen.

The liquor smells sweet and slightly fruity, like stewed prunes, with a hint of grain. The flavour is sweet and malty, with a touch of bitterness and very mild astringency. There’s not quite as much of a full mouth flavour as I was expecting, but I’m also hesitant to steep it longer and bring out more of the bitter and astringent notes. A bit of a fruity note at the tail of the sip, and then a finish that’s grain and makes me think of milk.

Toward the bottom half of my cup, as it cools, I’m also getting a hint of cardamom, but I’m going to chalk that up to imperfect cleaning of my steeping basket.

A pleasant but not exceptional Assam.