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This tea is very ugly. However, we do not drink beauty pagent winners so into the pot she goes. The leaf is incredibly compressed with strong notes of bitter greens, oak, parchment, and slightly sweet raisan-y tobacco tang. I warmed my pot up and tossed the rock inside. I nice sauna yielded some intense tobacco scents along with melon, apricot, and a sweet/spicy medley. I washed the leaf twice and began my boil. The taste is very nice and sweet. The leaf opens up, and I get some brown sugar in the forefront with a nectar sugarcane aftertaste. The ta progresses with sweet corn, tobacco, and fruitiness in the cup. The huigan is beautiful and lasting; I am really enjoying this brew. The body is amazingly full, and the flavors continue to be complex and transfer about. The next steeping move into a wood base with the familiar intense sugarcane aftertaste. The qi begins with a steady flow of energy that emits a calm focused power. The last steeping jump over to hay and peat moss with an undertone of daffodils. This tea is superb, and I should probably get more of it. I can’t stress enough to not judge a tea by its appearance. I’ve noticed that some of the ugliest are the best!

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I am not a big shou drinker, so I have been picking away at what I had of this for a couple years now. This past session took up the last chunk that I had left. This is a really great shou. The leaves are heavily compressed and give off no fermentation stank, rather they have high notes of spiced wood and earth. I warmed up my zisha, broke the chunk in half, and threw in both pieces. The warmed shu smells great with burly nuttiness, sweetness, and damp wood. Honestly, I was picking up a definite nutella tone. I washed the leaves three times and proceeded with brewing. The taste is somewhat thin with a slight dryness at first, but it builds in thickness and smoothness as the session goes on. The tones start with a great nutty base along with a great sweet syrupy background. Due to compression, this session lasted for quite a long time. The dark leaves became sweeter and sweeter with more pronounced earth, hazelnut, dry dark cacao. The qi is an intense warming sensation in the face and lower abdomen. I can feel brief bursts of energy the ebb and flow with the session. This is a great tea, but I think its a bit too high priced for me. I couldn’t see myself spending this kind of money on shou. However, it is a stellar tea, and it will always please!

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I heard a few mixed reviews on this tea. I’ve heard people saying it’s 100% damn good, and others sayin nah. I’m sorry to say it, but I am leaning towards the latter. The leaves are long darkened tendrils with a strong aroma of buckwheat honey and apricot. I brought out my shibo and warmed it up, and then I placed some leaves inside. The aroma moves about and expands into some fig newton with an undertone of sour kale. I washed the leaf once and prepared for brewing. Now the taste is what drove me away. Quick anecdote, a loooooooong time ago I acquired some “rare” tea from a foreign friend of mine. They instructed me how to brew said “mysterious tea”, and that after I brew it I can sun dry the leaves and resteep this “mystical” tea. Me, giving benefit of the doubt, believed my foreign friend and did just that, I brewed the tea, drank, and then put the leaves outside to dry, so I can steep again. I feel you can see where I am going with this if you know tea. The “rare” tea was bad, and the sundried version was not good as well. The taste was foul, sour, and badly fermented. Now, back to the review, this tea’s background notes taste just like that sundried pre-steeped leaf. The forefront is heavy honey tones, but the base and undertones are sour and cloudy. I’m not sure what it was, but when you taste what I’ve tasted you don’t forget a tone. Maybe it was a bad sample, maybe someone gave me their steeped leaves, maybe it was poor storage, I don’t know….

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I got this merely out of curiosity, and there was a sale going on, ha. The leaf is moderately compressed with notes of sweet plum and a tobacco tang. I took up a chunk and placed it inside the hot pot. The scent opens into some sweet cherry candy (jolly rancher), and a mix of sweet/sour tobacco. I washed the leaves once and began sippin away. The taste begins good with a fig ending. The fig moves about the tongue; however, it ends with a bite on the palate. The tea turns up the sweetness in the next steeping with a comforatable base. However, I noticed this tea dropped rather quickly. the sweetness is the first to fade as its space in consumed by bitters, tobaccos, and smoke (light on the smoke). The mouth-feel was still semi thick, but the great flavors were gone. I peeked in the pot and noticed that leaves are still pretty green, which explains the lively feeling in my mouth. I continue drinking a bit more, and it soon diminishes to a basic sweet/bitter mix. The qi is not too noticeable with some heat in the face that stays put. The tea is a big “eh”, so its not terrible, but it’s not great. I don’t think it fits the price. Afterwards, the qi did come back at me with a very relaxed stoned feeling, but that was the extent.

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I haven’t had hongcha in awhile, so I pulled this out. The dry leaf is long fuzzy gold and black tendrils with a smooth light milk cocoa aroma. I take another inhale to grasp at salted caramel and malt. I warmed my gaiwan up and placed what I had inside. The scent deepens to Hot dark cocoa and marshmallow. A burnt sugar note peeked through alone with grapeskins. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste is very smooth and sweet. The brew is a little thin, and the tones are not as powerful as I had thought, but it was good hongcha. The tones and smooth malt with some cocoa and base of caramel. A good tea, but I wouldn’t call it great.

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I really enjoy Korean green tea; they have wonderful aromas. I don’t remember where I got this, but I discovered it a little bit ago. The leaves are vibrant and loosely rolled with a warm scent of dried seaweed, roasted chestnuts, almonds, and kale. I warmed my kyusu and scooped some inside. The directions said really light and really short steeps, but I disagreed. The drink was a nice pale jade with a roasted aroma. The taste is very very thin and sweet. The brew lasted about two steeps and yielded a cup of light grassy notes and slight florals. The base was starchy and roasted corn, but it was very faint. This is a very easy drinker, and it is nice for night time sippin, but I wouldn’t get any more of this.

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I’ve had this for some time, so I picked it out of the rucksack to steep out. The leaf has long delicate tendrils with no discernible scent. It was incredibly light, so I couldn’t quite place what I was sniffing, but I would say a light hay-y aroma. I brought out one of my English tea pots and brewed away. The taste was nice and subtle. I am not a huge fan of white tea, but this one was decent. The liquor is a rusted orange with a slight earth green aroma. The taste is smooth, light, and sweet with tones of hay, cane sugar, vanilla, and wood. Also, this brew has a delicious base of lemon grass that follows to the nose. I liked this tea, and it was an interesting steeper.

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Yabao has always interested me, for the colour of the liquor is IMHO the most beautiful. These buds are large with a lemon zest scent. They have sharp herbaceous tones and hay with some oats mixed in. The mixture is a pleasantly sharp sour. I warmed my shibo and placed them inside. The tones open up to heady floral and zesty herbs alike thyme, rosemary, and tarragon. I washed the buds once and prepared for brewing. The stepped white nubs give off a fragrant scent of granola drizzled in honey with some nutmeg spice. The taste is smooth and filling with prominent lemon basil, tulsi, and soft wood. The next steeps bring on hay and sugar water with the same flux of herbaceous medley. This is a great easy sipper. The liquor is the classic translucent aquamarine color that stuns me. I was not able to pull too many steepings, and yabao always leaves me unsatisfied, but it was a nice and peaceful session.

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This piqued my interest solely on the fact it was from Hawaii. The leaf is very pretty, for it is a cross between gunpowder green and bi lou chun. The leaf is rough yet vibrant. The small dark emerald curls have a scent of fresh spinach leaves, roasted chestnuts, and almond. I warmed my kyusu and tossed some in. I steeped this away as the bag instructed me, and it yielded a clear jade soup. The flavor is a sweet rough grassy. I grab at some asparagus, roasted veggies, and a good base of sugar water. That is about as interesting as the tea became. This is a very easy drinker. The leaf is basic and plain. I feel this best depicts the “starbucks” of tea. A tea that is smooth, sweetish, and plain, so as to suit the masses tastes.

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I’m going to keep this one short. The leaf is heavily compressed and carries a bbq briquette scent. The tone is brown sugar sweet with a smoky waft. I warmed the yixing and put em in. The scent was still smoky but sharper, more of a mesquite smoke. I washed the leaves twice and brewed away. This tea is decent. It reminds me of a well done soft zheng shan Xiao shong. The smoke is present, but it is not bitter or overwhelming. Rather, the smokiness is meaty and savory. The smoky profile comes in waves and the tea performs in a woody, smoky, black tea manner. The tea took forever to fully open up, and even after the whole session it was still pretty compressed in some spots. I didn’t find this incredibly complex or great, but it was interesting and cheap. This really is a smoky lee.

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