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Azzrian’s tasting notes made this sound so good that I had to brew this tonight!

I did no rinse for this, and the first steeping (5 seconds) was my favorite. I did smell the banana strongest in this steeping and maybe some other kind of fruit smell, but I can’t say what.

In the second steeping (7 seconds), more roasted nutty aromas and flavors are came out, also caramel.

My third steeping was a 3 minute steep. It was pretty awful. The tannins became way too strong. All I could taste was strong caramel and the bitter tannins. This cup also made my throat very dry.

I need to use more patience and moderation in my brewing. If I’m going to brew western style, I need to learn to use less leaf, and when I brew gongfu style, I need to learn to have the patience to do 10 or more steepings. There are just too many teas to enjoy and not enough time!

Having this mixed with Original Vanilla Almond Breeze this morning with a Dagoba “Beaucoup Berries” bar for breakfast. Life is good.

First, thank you ToiToi for this tea!

I brought a teabag of this with me to breakfast this morning, but the water I was given was not very hot. This resulted in a weak, slightly sour and fishy cup. I wanted to give it a fair review, so I brewed another cup this evening.

Many people said that this reminded them of a Darjeeling, and this in certain ways this was true for me too. It was brisk and woodsy but it did not have any floral or muscatel notes at all as far as I could tell. It had a little bit of unidentified citrus zest to it as well, but maybe this was more of a texture I was picking up on- the tannins are strong, but they don’t dry my throat as much as they cling to my tongue and roof of my mouth. There is a sweet aspect which almost tastes like skim milk was added.

What a difference the water temperature made! I really enjoyed this second cup!

I’m sure this will sound familiar to many Steepsters…

I had completely forgotten that I owned this tea. I only found this when I was going through my black teas last night because there are now too many to fit on the shelf that I devoted to them. I now have one shelf for Chinese black teas one for those grown elsewhere.

I am really excited to find this because I have two samples of Jin Jun Mei from The Mandarin’s Tea Room and I wanted something to compare them to.

This is a really good tea, but I wish I knew what foods to pair it with. I ate a piece of chocolate with this and it just didn’t go well at all. I’m going to try to pair this with something savory next time.

I brewed this alongside the original tonight, and I can’t decide which I prefer. As I was first drinking this, I was finding it harder and harder to go back and taste the original. I almost decided to stop brewing the original so I could just enjoy this. But in later steepings, my preferences reversed.

The original is bolder and more dark-chocolatey to me. This one is smoother and more subtle. The only more unusual note I pick up is that of mashed sweet potatoes. I’m looking forward to drinking this one again.

I’m backlogging this one from yesterday.

I’d been avoiding trying this sample for a while now because it’s a “chai”. I spent a few weeks in January experimenting with my own chai masala blends and getting headaches, as far as I remember, every time I drank one. I never get headaches, and it’s still puzzling to me what was going on.

First, I’ll say that this did not give me a headache. Even though for the second steep I poured the boiling water into my gaiwan and promptly walked away and forgot about it.

This is a really good chai, and I hope they bring this one back! While their chai spice is good, I think they also should carry a chai for people like me who are often too lazy/intimidated to make a decision about which tea to blend said spice with…

First, thank you ToiToi for this sample!

I’m backlogging this one. This is a nice black tea. It was very “clean” in that there were no unpleasant notes. I did find that it lacked flavor. I tried and failed to brew a strong 4 oz cup with this.

I decided to brew up this tea today since I was about to pack up the rest to give away/swap. I read so many of the reviews complain that this tea was flavorless. I went a little overboard to compensate and used about two teaspoons for a 4 oz vessel.

The tea is fine. I like it more as it cools. I brewed this in a tiny glass teapot so I could watch it unfurl. At first it was fun watching as the pearls bob and then sink down to the bottom as they begun to unravel. Later, they seemed like an ugly expanding sea creature from a horror movie. I’m feeling pretty un-Zen tonight…

What teas would be appropriate for a John Waters movie marathon?

I don’t drink a lot of flavored tea now, but growing up we always had Celestial Seasoning’s Sleepy time stocked in the cupboard. I can’t help but make the connection here with the minty-chamomile flavor. If I reorder this, I’m going to label the canister “Wakey Time”. And, yes, I’m aware that I am the only person who thinks I’m funny…

I’m actually shocked at how much I like this, because I am usually someone who is about 100% camellia sinensis, but this is a great blend.

Thank you to Courtney for this sample!

The dry leaves smelled really buttery. This was cause for some concern. For whatever reason, I think of milk oolongs like Chardonnay. And I was worried that this one was going to be the equivalent of an over-oaked butter bomb…But it wasn’t.

I liked this tea pretty well. It is extremely creamy and sweet with a hint of floral. Milk oolongs usually smell like peaches and cream to me. This one really only had peaches in the aftertaste, and that same kind of aftertaste that actual peaches leave (a little bit acidic or something).