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This sample was given to me by Dinosara. I didn’t look this one up prior to trying it, I figured I’d just get on with it and be surprised. :D The dry leaf is mostly small black tea leaves with what looks like dried crushed mint mixed in along with a few flower petals. My nose tell me that it is indeed mint in there. I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

Well, this basically tastes like mint tea to me… I don’t really get much of the black base, but there is a touch of raspberry flavor. Looking it up, the concept definitely doesn’t fit this one. I mean, who has ever heard of a mint birthday cake…? And I don’t get any sugary or cakey notes here, just the (somewhat mild) mint with some raspberry mixed in. Not bad, not great, just ho hum. And not a cake! :P

Another Fauchon sample from the lovely Dinosara. It’s so exciting to get to try all of these teas! I’ll be at least somewhat prepared for the next time Fauchon shows up somewhere :D This tea looks somewhat similar to La Naissance – it’s black tea leaves with rose petals and what looks like pieces of pink peppercorns? It smells similar too, candylike and very floral. :(

Yep, this tea is more rose than anything else, which leaves me extremely disappointed… There’s some raspberry flavor in there, but I don’t taste anything resembling macaron or pastry in general. This tea is making me very sad. Fauchon seems to be far too heavy-handed with their florals, rose isn’t even mentioned in the name of this blend and yet it’s the most powerful flavor…

This is one of the Fauchon teas that I’ve been most curious about, and Dinosara was generous enough to send me a sample (along with several others) in our swap. Thanks dear! The dry leaf is mostly small black tea leaves with a few rosebuds and flower petals mixed in. I didn’t really see any almonds included. Dry scent is sweet and very candylike with a strong rose aroma and the smallest hint of marzipan. I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

I actually made this one twice (using up the whole sample). The first time it mostly just tasted floral to me, which was a disappointment, especially when I read other notes that mentioned an almond cake flavor. So I told myself I would wait to draw conclusions until I tried it the second time. Well, the second time I seem to have overleafed a bit because it came out with just a small bit of bitterness. I’m getting a strong floral presence in this cup as well, but I am also getting more of a almond cakelike flavor, especially in the second half of the sip. Not bad, but I’m still pretty disappointed by this one. I was hoping for more almond and less floral. :P

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I find that I enjoy this one much more with a 1-minute steep instead of a 2-minute one. That odd metallic taste is nowhere to be found and it’s lovely and grainy and hay-like. Yummy! :)

The flavored tea selection in my sipdown pile is getting frightfully sparse, so I allowed myself to have one of my yet-untried Butiki teas tonight. I decided on this one because I am always on the lookout for the perfect lemon tea, and I love all things almond. The dry leaf is quite artistic with greenish silver needles along with tiny pink flower petals and a few slices of almond. Dry scent is fantastically similar to lemondrop candies with a little bit of a nod to cake. I followed the instructions and steeped 2 teaspoons for 3 minutes at 185 degrees.

Yum, the aroma! It conjures up visions of a lovely tart lemon cake dripping with sugary sweet glaze. Om nom nom! I tried the first few sips plain, but then added a tad bit of sugar just to help the pastry side of this come out. Overall, I must say that this came out a little bit too light for me – next time I will use more leaf. I wish that Stacy included the amount of tea in grams as well as teaspoons in her instructions, since large fluffy teas like this one are difficult to measure by volume. I will say that the flavor here is really quite lovely! It tastes very similar to lemondrop candies with a little bit of cake or pastry reference in there. Very yummy, but next time, more leaf! :)

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I wasn’t planning on writing a sipdown note for this tea since I only had two servings and I just wrote about the first a day or two ago. However, I discovered a note that I didn’t notice before that I thought was interesting. In the extended aftertaste, after the lovely stonefruit and such, I get the taste of sage, and it lingers on my tongue for some time.

I might have to order some of this tea just because it’s very unique and interesting. :)

Another tea from Han Xiang this morning! I find that it has kind of become a habit for me to try a new-to-me black tea (assuming I have one) for my first cup of the day. And that’s the case today! This is the second of three different jin jun mei teas that I ordered samples of, and the leaves are so teeny compared to the first one! They’re almost like miniature versions of the same leaves. They’re quite thin and slightly twisty, and about half golden and half dark. Dry scent is mildly sweet with a hint of herbaceousness that I often find in Fujian black teas.

Brewed, this tea smells very rich with dark fruit notes and a definite scent of molasses, along with that herby smell. Yum, this tea is dark and rich with a very strong flavor. It has a very potent herbaceous note that I find similar to dill? But not quite exactly there. This note always frustrates me, as I can never identify it! :P Otherwise, this tea has a strong fruity presence, in a dark, syrupy dried fruit kind of way. Specifically, I would identify it as a mixture of raisin, prune, and dried dark cherry. Alongside this fruitiness is a lovely rich molasses flavor that goes perfectly with the dark fruits. I catch the slightest suggestion of floral in the aftertaste, which does nothing to deter me.

So I’m wondering if that herby dill-like note is the result of the roasting? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed whether other Fujian black teas I’ve tried were roasted or not, so I guess I should keep that in mind from now on!

Just tried this one using the traditional chai method on the stovetop. I used 8 ounces of water and 8 ounces of vanilla soy milk, brought them to a boil and then added a tablespoon of tea. I simmered it for ten minutes and then added some sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract (can you tell I like vanilla…?). It actually came out pretty tasty! This blend has too many cloves in it, in my opinion, and I can’t really taste the other spices aside from maybe the ginger. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since one of the teas in this blend has cloves and then the blender added more cloves on top of that. Oh well, still tasty! :D

This was one of the free samples included in my (very generous) order from Han Xiang Ecological Tea via AliExpress. I must say, so far I am quite impressed with this seller – their tea seems to be of high quality, especially for the price I paid. The samples were two bucks for two small baggies of tea, and I was actually sent three baggies in some cases, along with four bonus samples and a little tea strainer. Huzzah! Thanks to yyz for the awesome recommendation!

So, this tea itself. The leaves are quite beautiful, they’re a lovely combination of white/silver and dark grey/green colors. The contrast of the two colors makes them very striking. I don’t really get much of a dry scent from the leaf, there’s a bit of jasmine but that’s definitely just contamination from the jasmine pearls that they also sent. I was unsure how long to steep this tea, so I started at 1 minute and then kept going until 2 minutes after tasting it.

The brewed aroma is surprisingly smoky and mineral? There’s a bit of the expected vegetal quality hiding in the background too. At first taste, this tea is definitely different from what I expected! At the forefront are fairly sturdy savory smoke and mineral flavors combined with a bit of a seaweed note. The smokiness almost reminds me of smoked meat, ha ha. Somewhere near the middle, that vegetal tone starts to come out and assure me that this is, after all, a green tea. At the end of the sip is a nice mild floral taste that suggests honeysuckle to me, and a light dried apricot flavor, and these continue into the aftertaste. I am left with a fresh and sweet taste in my mouth that lingers long after I’ve finished drinking.

Overall, this tea was unexpected and very enjoyable for me! I’m very happy that the seller chose to include this sample in my order. :)

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Aw, I overleafed this a wee bit and it came out somewhat bitter. I guess in the future I should just throw out that awkward amount of leaf that would’ve been left over, since it’s not really worth it ruining my final cup. I first had this tea in my Den’s sampler and then Ost sent me another packet as a bonus sample in a swap. I like it a lot, it’s definitely one of the best senchas I’ve tried so far. Hooray Den’s! :)