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A good cup of tea to have on a Saturday night, watching an episode of Merlin when I should have been studying.

Something really awesome just happened. My husband loves this oolong! Imagine that, one who likes a select few flavored teas and drinks mostly coffee really loves a simple delicious unflavored oolong. He will be converted soon >)

As for me, I like it quite well enough. It smells both floral and vegetal (exactly how I like my greener oolongs). The flavor is smooth, vegetal, slightly floral and I think I pick up a little lemon too.

Thanks again moraiwe for helping me to find some fantastic oolongs :)

EDIT:
I just tried a second steeping (I figured I’d try to get the most out of my sample). I steeped it 4min30sec (first time was 3min).
I liked the first cup better. It lost a lot of flavor the second time around, but maybe only because I steeped so long the first time. Although, a longer time was recommended for this tea, so I dunno. It’s still a pleasant cup though. Not much floral, but a bit mineral-ly. Not sure if thats the right word. I’ve hear it used to describe other teas. It’s the same flavor I’ve often associated with second and third steepings of mostly japanese greens. I always call it a flat muddy flavor, like dirt almost (but Ive yet to hear anyone else describe it as mineral…) However, in this tea it’s not an entirely unpleasant effect. There is still just a hint of the original flavor left too.

I’m supposed to be getting sweet potato out of this? not happening. It kinda tastes like a weed. Well, not that I know what a weed tastes like really, but you know…

It’s a tolerable drink, but the flavor is a bit boring. Oh well. But thank you moraiwe for giving me the opportunity to try this!

EDIT: as this cools down. I think I might be getting some of that sweet potato. Still not exciting though ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Got this tea as a sample with a recent order. I made a small cup of it so that I would have left over to share with my mother.

I brewed this according to recommended instructions (5 min with boiled water). The chocolate flavor came out really strong. I think that it over powers the mint just a bit. I wouldn’t mind so much except that the chocolate here isn’t so tasty for me. I can’t complain too much as this is a vegan company after all, but vegan chocolate has never been my thing.

I wouldn’t mind another cup and if my mother ends up liking it, I may have an occasional bit from her stash. I like to have a mint tea once in a while, esp. after dinner. I like this better than Moroccan mint, at-least.

Thank you KiwiDelight for this generous sample of Kenyan black tea.

I wasn’t expecting a CTC tea. I didn’t know they ever came in un-bagged form. I was surprised to receive a bag of what looked like ground coffee. I was hesitant to use my tea infuser as I wasn’t sure that the small bits would stay contained. I thought this a perfect opportunity to use my new fillable tea bags that I got from my local co-op (I got them to give away samples during a class presentation).

This is a good and bold black tea. A bit sweet and malty with a slight powdery texture. It’s certainly better than the CTC black teas I’ve had in the past. It might become an occasional visitor to my permanent stash.

I didn’t log this one last time I had it (but I did post an empty place holder and mentioned it in a review for the Caramel Vanilla Assam).

I steeped this longer than I did the first time. It must have been around 4min, but I don’t know exactly because I let it over-steep as I was tending to some chores. The first time I brewed this, I thought it was somewhat fruity and I didn’t make an obvious association between it and the caramel flavored one. This time I could definitely recognize it as the base tea for the other. The longer steep time made it sweeter, smoother, and with a creamier texture. In my review of the Caramel Vanilla Assam, I said that I might need time for it (the caramel one) to grow on me, and I think the base tea might be the bridge to this end. I appreciated today’s cup of Taiwanese Assam much more than I have previous black teas that have similar smooth/creamy attributes.

There are a select few teas that I know I will never like but, as for the rest, my tea palate is in flux for the time being.

Backlog

Another oolong from my swap with Moraiwe. Thanks Moraiwe!

I made this tea before class this morning. It was my last day of class this semester and I had to give a presentation in my German class. I talked about tea (in German) and gave out samples to my prof. and all 4 of my classmates (not many students left by the time 3rd year German comes around!). So much fun to share tea with people (^^)

1st steep 2min30sec
A Very delicate flavor. Floral with a hint of vegetal. I like when floral notes are delicate, but I prefer the rest of the flavor to be stronger.

2nd steep 3min30sec
floral flavor is almost non-existentant. The strongest flavor is now in the after taste and is mineral and pepper-like. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I didn’t like it.

Didn’t have time to try another steeping, but I don’t think I would have anyway. The first steep of this was palatable, but not enough so that I’d want to have this tea again in the future.

This oolong is sooooo yummy! I never knew oolongs could be aged. Now I am sad to find out that they are ‘rare’ and might go extinct. I sure hope not!!

I don’t even know where to begin with the description. . .
It brews up really dark and smells like a roasted oolong. I wasn’t expecting much. Dark-roast oolong wasn’t a favorite as it was all roast and nothing else. But this is roasty and creamy and sweet and so much more! It’s like a sweet, creamy houjicha but with an aftertaste and texture like Verdant’s Laoshan Black or Butiki’s Caramel Assam (both of which I wasn’t thrilled about mostly, I thought, because of that texture). The flavors,texture and smell of this gem all come together nicely.

And gosh darn-it to me for trying Butiki samples only days after I place an order. Soon I’ll be spending more at Butiki than at the grocery store (^^)

Thank you Emily M for this wonderful oolong.

I finally found an oolong with floral notes that I might have to purchase. The floral notes in this one are very delicate, but they are a welcome addition to the more vegetal and creamy flavor of the tea. This oolong has a savoriness about it that I haven’t found in other oolongs.

Also, my husband, who previously said that he has no interest in trying teas of the floral kind, came into my room an asked what I was drinking. He said it smelled really good. That’s something coming from a coffee-drinking resistant-to-conversion guy.

Not all flowers are my enemy after all ;)

I used the last of one of my bags of this today. There was a bit more left than I needed for a cup, so I just made it strong. Much of what was left included spices and pumpkin powder. It was a very pumpkin-y brew! I went all out and added rock sugar this time, but I don’t think I noticed the difference with it. This tea hardly needs anything extra anyway. (^.^)