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I have to say roasted oolongs are fantastic on rainy days.

- Dry, the tea smells to me of dark chocolate with fruit?
- First cup (okay, really more of a rinse) has a really light texture and dark, toasty flavor. It’s an interesting contrast.
- A couple cups in, the tea still feels really light and creamy but is pretty smoky and woodsy. I’m not a big fan of smoke + tea, but this is fairly mild. Tiny campfire in the woods, not a giant bonfire. Underneath the roast there’s a little sweetness I can’t quite place. Is it toffee? Is it apricot? I’ll have to think about it a bit more.
- The longer I drink it the more the smokiness mellows. The last cups I drank felt a bit more nutty and desert-like than at the start. Reminds me a lot of the Dong Ding Cui Yu oolong from a couple months ago, only more roasted.

It’s really a nice warm tea when it’s gloomy out. And could certainly last for several more cups.

I was excited to see this one because I really liked the honey oolong Eco-Cha sent previously. Here, the honey is less strong, and balanced out by florals, which gives it a little more complexity, if making the overall effect a lot softer and less attention-grabbing. Will write more on this one next time I sit down to enjoy it, but note to self that I did, in fact, try this one.

Desperately needed a real weekend but had too much work to do, so I just squeezed in an hour or so at the teahouse for a quick escape and reading break. I try to make a point to try something different when I go, and this was the pick this trip.

It’s a really wonderful tea. Clean and sweet, super-drinkable with nothing that might turn you away. I guess there was sort of a date thing going on, but mostly just brown sugar sweetness. Uncomplicated but not boring, which made it a good tea to sip while reading a somewhat attention-demanding book. Admittedly the very soothing teahouse atmosphere tends to amplify the effects of anything consumed there, but definitely felt more energized/calm (and not slightly spacey like sometimes happens to me with too much tea in too little time) when I left than when I arrived. It’s the kind of thing I wish I had for late night creative endeavors, or long days reading.

A small bag of this might have followed me home. So much for not buying more tea this month.

For what it’s worth, finally found the eucalyptus. Maybe it only comes out while eating risotto with your tea…

Otherwise, a solid and frequently returned to black tea for me.

I’ve had this one twice (?) now, and am still trying to decide what to think about it. It’s pleasant enough, but doesn’t have a whole lot of depth. Got it because I wanted tea while traveling and was intrigued by the little squares its divided into – breaking off a square seemed like a tidy and unobtrusive way to enjoy puerh at work (I work in a lab, so my tea set up is fairly minimalist so I can grab a cup between experiments). Takes a while for the squares to break up on their own, so if you don’t have a way to manually help it along, the first few cups are fairly light. Sort of nondescript woody flavor with some chocolate undertones and some brown sugar sweetness. There’s nothing offensive about it, but also nothing that really excites me either. Serves its purpose, but probably wouldn’t go out of my way to acquire more.

I just found the first blueberries of the season at the market the other day, and to celebrate the beginning of my favorite season of produce, I went for this tea to go with my breakfast for its berry-like flavor…

I’ve made it before and found it to be fairly tart and fruity (definitely berries, probably raspberry), but not unpleasantly so. I’m not a huge fan of the tartness that can go with fruit flavor in tea, so this wasn’t initially one of my favorites. Experimented a little with leaf/water ratio and times in my little gaiwan and was a lot happier with it today! First couple steeps were nice and light, sort of sweet and spicy (or herbal? something warm to tone down the berry, but it keeps shifting on me) with a little bit of a floral aroma. Later cups had a lot more tart/berry, but still retained the other interesting qualities. It’s nice, kind of like a trip to the farmer’s market in summer or a fresh pie. I guess this tea’s growing on me.

I had to try my sample of this one to make up for my unfortunate lack of waffles, and it did the trick? I kept trying to think of something other than waffles to rule out me just being hopeful from the name, but no, it’s sweet and sugary and makes me think of waffles covered in butter. Doesn’t hurt that the tea’s the color of maple syrup either. :) Going on my list of things to acquire more of once I’ve worked through more of my stash.