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This tea is weird for a black, but no less pleasant for it.

It’s very light, without the slightest hint of bitterness or astringency. I even brewed this at 205 with no troubles.

The flavor is just…odd, but pleasant. It’s honey caramel, with a fresh tree sap flavor. Interesting.

This was a lovely and smooth black tea, but I’ve had better.

I had to look up Mengsong to see if this was a Chinese or Taiwanese black, as it strangely had elements of both, flavor wise. It’s smooth and caramely, a bit like A&P from W2T. That’s the element that made me think of Taiwan.

There’s a bit of malt and floral, which is what makes it Chinese tasting.

I’ve had deeper and more complex from both countries, but that doesn’t make this any less pleasant! Thank you for the sample, tea friend!

The aroma of this tea is very strong, of roast, roasted nuts, even a little cocoa and dirt. When drinking it by itself, these flavors come out quite distinctly, especially the roasted sweet nuts.

I started drinking this tea and later added some ramen for lunch. When drinking with ramen, it tastes strongly of roasted seaweed, which was an interesting additional layer to my lunch.

The green harvest this year is making me rethink the schedule for which I buy tea! I typically buy greens with all the major sales in the autumn, but I’m starting to see the appeal of buying them fresh and springy.

I got this as a sample from a tea friend. It seems a lot of teaple I socialize with aren’t into the greens, so it’s nice to have a green friend to trade with. Thank you tea friend!

The dry leaves of this tea are so beautiful—green, silver, fluffy, with little silver hairs. It reminds me of the softest, newest growth on an evergreen tree first thing in spring, which is almost exactly what this is, minus the evergreen.

The tea itself steeps out almost completely clear, and I would know! The cup I’m using today is glass. I even oversteeped it once to see what it would do. It never got bitter or astringent.

Either my palate is suffering from multiple personality disorder, or this tea is exceedingly complex. Then again, it may just be the fact that I haven’t yet eaten anything this morning. I’m just going to list them here in order of descending dominating flavors: fresh white grapes, grass, honey/bee pollen, chestnuts, umami, pine, honeysuckle, and hay. The brew is thick, sweet, and thirst quenching.

It’s a sweet refreshing tea that reminds me of sitting on a porch somewhere on a farm in Georgia on a cool morning that’s about to heat up. Someone’s cutting the yard and trimming the bushes.

Creamy, woody and sweet. It’s the perfect way to spend this afternoon working from home. Sometimes I get a little dark mulch, sometimes a little raisin. Sometimes, I get a little cocoa.

This poor old leaf was getting up there in age, so I felt as though I had to overleaf to get it as strong as I liked. Still, once it brews up, it has decent longevity for a hong, and a nice flavor.

I am mostly getting sweet, earthy malt, but there is also some cocoa and floral in there. Excellent price, even with the overleafing, so would make a good daily drinker!

I have a bit of time this morning, so I thought I might do a fuller review for this. It’s been a while. Let’s start the review in the tin, shall we? I never do that, but I feel it needs covering.

The aroma is incredible. It wafts right out of the tin and slaps me in the face, making my mouth water in anticipation. It’s such a strong green bean, sweet buttery aroma that I feel as though I am standing INSIDE the jar. I’ll admit to opening my tea cabinet once or twice just so I can stick my nose in that jar. Once a bit has been separated from its fellows, however, the dry leaf isn’t strong enough to omit much of an aroma.

Once it’s wet, the brew and the leaf exude a strong, sweet chestnut and grassy aroma. It’s almost a bit matcha like in character.

The flavor of the tea actually hits the mouth in stages. The first part is on the front of the palate, where it is sweet, bright, and grassy. On the back of the palate, I get the darker flavors, like chestnuts, umami, and butter. The aftertaste is the tiniest bit astringent, but not in a way that bothers someone who dislikes astringency. I mostly get a slightly toasted matcha-like flavor that lingers on the palate for a while after swallowing.

One of my first fresh greens for the year, and a great experience to start off with!

This is kind of odd, and not what I expected. I normally don’t get a tea with these kind of notes, but it was a free sample.

Jasmine, obviously, hits you in the face as you sip it. It’s a little too strong for me. But then there’s a bit of honeysuckle and melon.

Probably a really good tea for someone who enjoys these flavors, but not for me.

I needed to recover from yesterday, so I decided to stay away from anything flavored. I got this sample from a tea friend…thank you tea friend!

As a hong lover, this was a little on the light side for me, but it was still scrumptious. It’s honey, pollen, and flowers. Does that make it the perfect spring tea?

What? Just…what? There’s no tea in this tea. It’s nuts. That is a food. I mean, I can soak a ham sandwich for 4 minutes and then drink the water, but is that ham sandwich tea? Why can’t people leave well enough alone?!

Ohhhh, but it gets worse. IT’S BLEEPING PINK. WHY IN THE EVER LOVING NAME OF GOD IS A “TEA” THAT CONSISTS ENTIRELY OF NUTS THE SAME COLOR AS MY RASPBERRY LEMONADE?!

All that being said, it smells kind of nice, especially mixing with the strawberry yogurt smell that is STILL hanging out in my kitchen like a friend at a party that just doesn’t know when to leave. It’s like a pecan roll, with caramel, cinnamon, NUTS, SO WHY THE HELL IS IT PINK?!

As with everything red by DAVIDs, it’s a little sour. The nuts have that bitter kind of overcooked skin flavor to them. While it is drinkable, unlike the rest of the ones I have had today, it’s not exactly pleasant.

And after I have calmed down now, the sourness has disappeared as it cooled. It’s kind of drinkable! Weird. It’s just weird AND WHY IS IT PINK?!