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I had a friend over this weekend for a tea party and an excuse to catch up. As we discussed tea, she told me how one of her greatest favorites is a nice Lapsang Souchong. Knowing that I had just received a sample of this tea, I showed it to her and she immediately wanted to try it!

I enjoyed the smell of the dry leaf quite a lot. It’s mildly smoky and chocolatey. I could tell it would have a hearty flavor. It reminded me of camping trips with my family and standing around the fire as the tenuous breeze would blow the smoke onto each of us in turn.

Once I brewed the tea, I was a little less optimistic. The smokiness had become a much stronger aroma than it was with the dry leaf. Like when the wind puts the smoke from the fire on you alone for too long, to the point where you have to move. Unfortunately, the flavor, for me, was much the same. Almost like I had inhaled too much smoke. It reminded me more of liquid smoke than tea. So, personally, I wasn’t a big fan of this.

My friend with me loved every sip and refilled her cup 3 times. So it’s definitely still a nice tea, but just doesn’t fit my tastes. If you are interested in it or have a particular love of Laspsang Souchong, definitely give this a try!

I got this in the Box of Chocolates sampler pack and was immediately excited to have a chance to try this tea. The dry leaf smells just like Andes mints, you can even distinguish a more dark chocolate smell than milk chocolate. It has a great scent!

Once brewed, the mint aroma really comes to the fore. I was a little worried that it might overpower the rest of the flavors, but that concern was for naught! The flavor is well-balanced and sweet. The mint adds a coolness to the flavor that is very refreshing.

I tried it further with a small amount of sugar and then some milk. While it still tasted very nice with these additions, the milk made it, well… milky! More like milk chocolate than the dark chocolate flavor it had before. I was surprised to find that I prefer this tea plain. With many black teas in general, and especially flavored teas, I usually like them a little better with a dash of sugar and a splash of milk. But this was the exception.

I definitely will be getting more of this in the future!

I tried this again a second time and was able to focus a little more on getting the timing and temperature right. As was noted, the astringency dropped right away with shorter infusions. I did still taste the slightly roasted undertone, but not as thoroughly as my first time round. Otherwise, the flavor was much the same, but more mild and consistent.

I recently ordered some samples from the Tea Spot and, on a whim, decided to throw in this flavored tea as well. As I’ve noted elsewhere, I don’t usually care much for flavored teas. The dry leaf was a bit malty and sweet, but didn’t leave much of an impression.

I first tried this plain, with no sugar or milk. The flavor was very nice like this, but I wanted to see where it could take me. I added a small amount of sugar and suddenly the caramel was much more prominent (as tends to happen when adding sweetener). It wasn’t until I added a splash of milk that I felt the tea was fully rounded out.

I think the reason I enjoyed this as much as I did is due to the flavoring being mild and in coordination with the flavor of the tea itself. So much in the past, I have encountered flavored teas where the flavor vastly over-writes the tea itself. This has primarily been with the various Teavana teas I’ve tried. And I guess it’s biased me against flavored teas in general.

I just got the chocolate tea sampler from 52teas and am looking forward to exploring the world of flavored teas in a nicer capacity where the flavor of the tea itself is a considered component in what flavor it is and how flavorful it is.

I very rarely care for flavored teas. And when I do, I have to indulge in them in serious moderation. While the vague concept of moderation will still be required with this tea, I think I finally found the exception to the rule.

I have been hearing about this tea for a while and finally had the opportunity to try it during a tea party with FyreTyde and another friend.

I was so eager to taste the brewed tea that it fell out of my mind to smell the dry leaf, so I’ll have to skip that part just this time. My first impression of this tea was maple syrup. It was pretty remarkable, really. Just the aroma of the liquor was enough to set my mouth to watering.

My first sip was pretty magnificent. The flavor of the black tea was clearly present and simple melded with the flavors that conjured the magical image of a plate heaping with pancakes. It wasn’t until I added a bit of dark brown sugar that the maple syrup really came into play. I know part of that was the brown sugar itself, but I’ve also found that if you use a minimal amount of sweetener (as I did in this case) that the natural sweetness is simply brought to the fore.

This is definitely a flavored tea I plan to order for myself sometime so I won’t have to meet up with FyreTyde each time I want a cuppa!

A friend gave me a sachet of this tea to sample. She received a tin of it from a family member and found it was going to be too sweet and fruity for her (simply not to her taste). I had been thinking of trying a Pomegranate Oolong from somewhere else, so jumped at the opportunity to try it quickly and easily.

The scent of the dry leaf is very sweet and the pomegranate tang overpowers the scent of the leaves. Once I steeped it, however, everything changed. The liquor is a nice light yellow/green and the aroma clearly displays the Oolong as well as a light amount of the pomegranate.

I was still a little worried that the pomegranate would overpower the Oolong, but I could not have been more pleased with the result! The balance of sweet tanginess from the pomegranate is perfect with the earthy Oolong. Both flavors are clear and full, while working complementary with one another.

Well done, Harney & Sons on this one!

When preparing tea for the day today, I figured I’d give this another try. Unfortunately, I enjoyed it a little less this time than the first… The dry leaves smell pleasant and green. But the wet leaves were almost more like wet socks (not necessarily gym socks, but socks nonetheless). The first sip reminded me too much of the wet leaves. After that, it was a little nicer, but I still probably won’t be drinking this much. I think I’ll give it another go after a little while to see if my opinion of it changes.

When I tasted this tea, it was by accident. I meant to grab the shou cha cake from the same year and factory, but picked up the sheng cha by mistake. I prepared the tea as I would any other pu-erh, with a quick 3 second rinse, then a 30-45 second first steep.

The aroma was stark and rich. My first sip assaulted me with astringency that I couldn’t help but think was out of place in, what I thought was, a shou pu-erh. I remember thinking that it didn’t taste like it had been cooked at all. I was definitely entertained later when I realized that I had grabbed the wrong cake and had, indeed, just tasted this raw specimen.

In regular fashion, I prepared further infusions and each successive infusion was milder and less abrasive on the sense with astringency. In the end it was a very pleasant experience. Not what I was planning on tasting at the time, but it did end up providing something of a small challenge for someone such as myself, who is still relatively new to the world of really understanding the tea I’m drinking. In my own way, I won a contest I never knew I was a part of, so it was definitely a victory in the end!

This was quite a pleasant tea! The scent of the dry leaves is nice and roasty. With the first infusion, there was a nice bitterness and astringency. The roasted flavor was particularly strong the first infusion, enhanced by the bitterness. There were grassy notes, almost like grass that’s been cut and has been sitting and drying for a couple days. Still pleasantly sweet, but mild.

I’ve got enough of this left to try it once more and, depending on how my tastings of the other Dong Ding Oolong samples I ordered from Life in Teacup go, I’ll make a decision about which one to order more of first!

I love the name of this, because the shape and size of the leaves are, indeed, very eyebrow-esque. Each individual leaf is quite small, but it’s extremely fun to see and smell them. The scent of the dry leaf is lightly sweet, with a hint of the distinctive smell of a Yunnan red.

The first infusion yielded a nice amber liquor and the aroma was particularly sweet. It started out like the scent of damp hardwoods, lying out in the morning after a night’s rain. With the first sip or two, it became a high, clear floral scent, bordering on rose. This first infusion was becoming a bit overpowering for me, personally, but my friend enjoyed it quite a lot.

With the second and third infusions, the floral tone grew milder and no longer overpowered me. At the same time, the red tea flavor started coming out of the woodwork in a very subtle way, mostly as an after-taste. I have to say, I greatly preferred this tea after the first infusion was consumed. Again, this speaks more to my personal taste than anything else.