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I love Earl Grey and I love Darjeeling. This seemed to be an interesting combination of the two so I opted to try it.

The tea leaves have heavy smell of bergamot, which is to be expected.
The brewed tea has the aroma of a traditional Earl Grey as is the flavor, except that it finishes with a Darjeeling flavor at the end.

It’s a decent, every day tea, when you want something traditionally English. I paired this with cookies/biscuits and it complimented the baked goods well. I probably won’t use this tea as a “tea tasting” or for when I just want to experience complex flavors of a tea.

Brewed: Western Style
1st infusion: 2minutes @ 208F. A medium gold color with a sweet aroma tinged with grape/muscat. It has a sweet taste of grape with a mild astringency.

2nd infusion: 2.20 @ 208. A light yellow color. It smells of smoke with a more muted scent of grape. When tasting, it starts off smokey followed by grape with a slight mineral finish.

Gong Fu brewing:
1st infusion: 12 seconds @ 208F (1tsp). Color: very light green. There’s a nutty flavor & aroma to this tea that isn’t present in Western Style Brewing.
2nd infusion: 15 seconds — The aroma is sweet & nutty. The nutty flavor is more present with a mineral aftertaste and peppercorns.

I’m very surprised at the very different taste this tea has between gongfu and Western Style Brewing. It’s not even the same tea. I need to test this out more and will update this review as I go forward.

I was curious about this tea. I love oolongs, but it’s the soil that helps bring out specific oolong flavors when the tea is made. What type of tea would a different soil produce?

This tea doesn’t quite taste like oolong. It’s aroma is of smoked wood and earthy smells — not something I expect out of an oolong. There are hints of nuts & chocolate, but nothing very distinct. It has a medium mouthfeel, and taste surprisingly like a generic, but decent black tea.

This is a decent “run-out-of-the-door” tea, or a tea that might pair well with a slightly sweet cookie/biscuit, but nothing I would take time to rightful savor.

I brewed this Western Style. Surprisingly, this tea is not as good as the Lupicia Darjeeling Second Flush.

First attempt: 1st infusion: 208F @ 2.5 minutes — Bitter! I’m unsure if it’s because it’s the last of the bag from a friend or the water is too hot.

Second attempt: First infusion: 2 minutes @ 195F. The aroma is slightly sweet, smokey, with a touch of astringency to it. In tasting, it has a bitterness & astringency without any real flavor.

Second infusion; 2.5 minutes @ 195F. The 2nd infusion was much better than the first one. The astringency is not as noticeable in taste, and more of the traditional Darjeeling flavors are coming into play.

3rd infusion: 4 minutes @ 195F: Okay, NOW I am tasting a traditional Darjeeling flavor. The astringency has declined.

Overall, this tea is much better the more you infuse it. Or if you just want something hot and tea-like to drink as you run out the door.

I’m still developing more complex taste buds, so bear with me.
Brew style: Gong fu

First infusion: Aroma is very sweet of molasses and malt. The first notes that hit you are very sweet — sugar cane and malt with a slight viscosity on the tongue but clean finish. It’s almost too sweet for me — reminiscent of a first sip of American Southern Sweet Ice Tea!
By the 3rd/4th infusion, the sweetness has subsided with more of a very light malty / very mild smoky undertone. However, I don’t really taste any additional complexity to this tea.

I plan to re-attempt a gong-fu style tasting to see if I change my mind, but if it proves the same, will brew Western Style as “run-out-the-door” drinking tea.

I’m reviewing the Spring 2018 Batch of tea.

The first brew was about 2.5 minutes @ 208F.
The aroma is light smoke with a somewhat earthy undertone (leather? wood). The flavor follows the same genre — it starts off with a light smokey flavor with hints of nuts. There’s a mineral finish. Frankly, the 1st infusion reminds me of a very mild whiskey. It has a very mild mouthfeel.

I checked the Yunnan Sourcing notes on this, and it describes a flower aroma, which I didn’t smell at the 1st infusion. The 2nd infusion brought out more of the floral flavor although the aroma remained the same. I’ll try this again at much longer brew times.

Overall, it’s not a bad tea. I think there are better out there from this region.

This is most excellent tea.

I brewed this both GongFu style & Western style.

Western: I brewed it lightly @ 208 F for 2 minutes on the first infusion. There’s an aroma of rich honey and either a jasmine or orchid. The taste is similar. The honey taste is delicate but not overpowering and a very light touch of fruit with a very clean finish. The second infusion was similar to the first but a tad lighter. I want to try this again at a longer brew time.

Gongfu: First infusion @ 20 seconds/1TBSP/1 cup water @ 208F. Subsequent infusions @ 5-7 additional seconds. The honey & lychee aroma & taste stand out far more in this style of brewing. The flavors are more pronounced and distinct. It’s sweet but not overpoweringly so. This is an even more amazing tea brewed in the Chinese Gongfu style.

This is easily one of my favorite teas. I read the other reviews before writing mine, which is probably a no-no, but my tasting notes are a bit different, so take it for what it’s worth.

When drinking this tea, it reads to me of roasted nuts, malt, caramel with a wonderful clean finish. The tea has a medium-deep taste. Its aroma reminds me sweet nutty tobacco leaves of a really good cigar. I’ve done 2-3 infusions at slightly longer times and each time it’s wonderful.

This is a delicate tea. The aroma is a little bit fruity and sweet — notes of lychee and honey. The taste is similar to the aroma with little to no aftertaste. This is a wonderful tea if want to just sit back and enjoy yourself in quiet reflection. I wouldn’t drink this tea for “running out the door”. It’s really meant to be enjoyed since many of the flavors are delicate. I did multiple infusions with different brew times. Slightly longer brew times deepen the flavors without making it bitter.