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This is one of my all time favourite black teas. Today I’m preparing it gong fu for the first time.

2g into my 50ml gaiwan. Heated my kettle to 96C.

The fragrance is roasty and sweet.

The first steep is rich, buttery cinnamon squash with brown sugar and hints of malt. The brown sugar lingers on the finish, leaving a sweet, coated mouth feel.

Second steep, the bread notes come to the forefront – this is the most bread tasting cup I’ve ever had of any tea. There’s still cinnamon and squash present.

By the third steep, the squash is forefront, and the sugar and cinnamon have faded out a bit.

Fourth steep I only got a tiny sip of, as I knocked over my gaiwan.

I managed a fifth steep, but these leaves are too close to spent to bother with any more.

I’m really happy that I finally have a good system and tools for doing gong fu tea preparation in a way that is enjoyable and relaxing. I’ve mostly avoided it because it felt like a lot of work. Now, I have my tiny 50ml gaiwan, my tea and aroma cup set, my teaboat and chahai. I heat my kettle to my desired temperature, and then just take it off the heat and let the water cool for subsequent steeps. I don’t seriously time any of my steeps.

I’ve been getting lots of delicious tea and a much more enjoyable experience this way.

I don’t know what was up with my previous cup of this, but this one was much better. A nice balance of tart cranberry, lemongrass, apple and the level of chili heat that you feel on the back of your tongue and in your throat, without it overpowering any of the other flavours.

I probably won’t buy this again, since it’s just not my kind of flavour combo, but I really enjoyed this last cup. Raising my rating,

This is finally all gone, sipped down in a sweet latte.

I have some other matcha to get through first (quite a lot actually), but I will be replacing it. It’s delicious, and such a good value for the money. Even well past the best before date, and in a package that just wouldn’t seal properly, this remained flavourful and delicious. Great for lattes and cooking.

I wouldn’t drink this straight – it’s not as fine a grind as a higher quality matcha, and I think the texture wouldn’t be great, but for mixing, it’s perfect.

Yesterday was a day of sipdowns. I started with this, which was a delicious, rich cup of cococa, molasses and sweet potato notes.

I’m getting many amazing Dian Hongs in my cupboard, I’m not sure I actually need to restock this, but it is very good.

One of my all time favourite teas is an oolong that contains jasmine, so I was quite excited for this tea, particularly after experiencing the quality of Tea Ave’s other offerings.

This does not disappoint.

The dry leaf is in tightly rolled green nuggets that smell of sweet jasmine. I steeped 3g in my 50ml gaiwan for one minute. The steeped leaf has an odd roasty fragrance to it that I find slightly off putting.

The tea soup is clear and a very pale yellow. On the palate the tea is thick but delicate. Very smooth, complex jasmine flavour with oolong floral notes behind.

The second steep is more interesting. The soup is a more intense yellow – still fairly pale but vibrant. The scent is complex – jasmine and peach skins – that fresh, juicy, sweet but also slightly tart and bitter flavour that the skin of a ripe, fresh peach has. These notes carry into the flavour as well, and there’s some of that floral vegetal green oolong flavour backing it up.

I went for at least five steepings of this, the flavour remaining delicious through out all.

One of the finest jasmine teas I’ve tried, and one that I will be stocking.

Sample provided by Tea Ave.

The dry leaf is small, green nuggets; sweet, floral, juicy smelling. Very fresh and complex.

I steeped this in my 100ml gaiwan, and took advantage of the aroma and tea cup set that Tea Ave sent with these lovely samples.

Steeped the leaves smell floral, fruity, and have a richness of stewed fruits to them.

The tea soup is pale gold, bright clear. It smells sweet, rich and fruity, with a brown sugar note.

On the palate, this manages to taste both delicate and rich. It’s sweet, with magnolia, peaches, plums, cream, brown sugar and oats. This evokes the experience of eating peach cobbler. The finish is juicy and floral.

My first steep was for 1min. The second steep, for 1:30, had the same notes as the first, but a bit of astringency creeping in. A slightly shorter steep would have been better.

By the fifth steep there was an interesting black pepper note that developed, primarily on the nose, but also into the flavour a bit. The magnolia started to take on a more jasmine-like quality.

All in all a really wonderful scented tea. Thank you to Tea Ave for their generous sample.

Pleasant though not outstanding. Light, slightly sweet, a touch of malt and hay. I’m reminded a lot of a Kenyan white tea.

Drinking this again – I had to share some with my sweetie. They literally yelled and scared the crap out of me on their first sip. It was a good yell of surprise, at how much this tea tastes exactly like liquid Glossette Raisins. Sweet, milk chocolate and raisin flavours. So gooood.

Oh man these are good! I wasn’t expecting too much – I mostly picked them up because they looked cute and I like Dian Hong, but I’m impressed.

I steeped two pagodas in my 50ml gaiwan in 96C water. I didn’t time any of the steeps, just watched the colour of the tea. The tea soup is a deep mahogany red.

Both the dry leaf and the tea smell rich and malty.

The flavour of this is great – really strong, rich notes of dark chocolate, malt and sweet potatoes. It has that richness that’s edging into bitterness that dark chocolate has, but no unpleasant bitterness like oversteeped or poor quality tea. Super smooth. The first few steeps are quite sweet, and the sweetness fades a bit and the flavour takes on a slight woody edge in later steeps.

After a few steeps the pagodas fully open and fill my gaiwan. They’re not as pretty as blooming teas – the pagodas don’t stay oriented upwards, but it’s still lovely to watch.

I didn’t keep track, but I think I got somewhere between 7 and 9 steeps out of these before I gave up, though I could probably get a couple of more if I was inclined.

I’m so pleased I picked these up!