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Hmmm…first to review…

Thanks again to Angel at Teavivre for these free samples.

The leaves are long and flat. The dry tea smells of cabbage and sea salt. The brewed tea scent is very strong cabbage, with a hint of sour notes. Not sour in a bad way, but sour as in delicious sour cabbage.

I made this one as an iced tea as it is super hot here today. I brewed a cup as normal and just poured into a water bottle filled with ice.

This is a delicious green tea. It is very smooth, slightly creamy. I think all the ice watered down what would have been a thick feeling liquor. There is no astringency. It is really not that cabbage-y tasting at all. It is definitely more of a vegetal tasting green tea versus a seaweed tasting green tea. There is a very slight sweetness to tea but also a slight bit of saltiness. Not enough to for it to make you feel more thirsty but just enough to make the flavours pop. It was very refreshing. I think this was much better than drinking ice water today.

New favourite green tea.

I have to apologize to Angel from Teavivre, I received these free samples over two months ago and I am just getting to them now.

As always Teavivre and Angel were so generous to offer to send me free tea samples, which I do greatly appreciate.

I did a kind of mixed gongfu and western style. Lala style I guess. Ha ha. I used the whole 7g package and steeped it for about 45 seconds.

The tea is sweet, thick, bready. There is no astringency or bitterness. It is somewhat malty. Very fresh tasting. This tea is very fragrant, definitely has a strong smell of roasted sweet potatoes. It is very distinctively Yunnan in its flavour.

It does get a tiny bit astringent as it cools, but not in a bad way.

Thanks again Angel!

Last one I snuck from the GCTTB5.2.

Assam if my favorite tea, but keemun is a close second.

This one smells smokey but it does not taste that smokey. There is a briskness to this tea. Even though it is brisk, it is not bitter at all. There is a bit of astringency at the end of the sip. Maybe there is a bit of a mineral flavour. A slight bark flavour, I think. It is bold and somewhat thick. There is a creaminess to the tea.

This one is a decent keemun, just not my favorite.

GCTTB5.2

This one has a very strong vanilla smell. There is something sweet about the vanilla. The taste is quite strong vanilla. It is not bad though. Just a bold vanilla flavour. I feel like there is some fruity type sweetness to the vanilla. It makes me thinks cherry. The black tea base is moderately bold and slightly malty. There is definitely a light floral flavour to the tea. The tea is very milky in flavour as well. As it cools the vanilla mellows and there is definitely a strong tea biscuit type flavour.

I liked this tea best when it had cooled enough that it was still quite warm, but no longer hot, and not yet luke-warm. Hope that makes sense :)

GCTTB 5 Box 2

This is a very delicious, smooth green tea. It definitely has notes of cantaloupe, melon and peach. It is super creamy. Very much reminds me of ice cream. There is a slight metallic tinge with a bit of astringency at the end of the sip.

The flavours of this tea definitely are very strong and linger. I agree with some of the previous reviews that this is one of the fruitiest green blends I have ever tasted.

GCTTB 5 Box 2

I haven’t really been around on Steepster a lot recently. I have just been busy with other things. And I have also settled into drinking the same old teas. The ones I really like. And I am ok with that. So I have struggled a little bit with getting reviews posted of the teas from this box.

I mis-read this one to be la cerise. So I was expecting cherry. But it is definitely not that. So my brain and my taste buds were in this little ninja fight because the taste wasn’t matching up with what my brain was expecting. Then I figured it out.

The tea smells very rich. There are notes of sweet vanilla and some dark cocoa notes. The liquor is very thick feeling. There are flavours of vanilla mixed with cocoa. It is sweet but not too sweet. There is a very creamy texture and flavour to this tea. Even though this one is a black tea base, I feel like it could definitely be a green. There is a very slight grassy note to the taste.

GCTTB5 Box 2.

After trying this tea, then reading the reviews, I definitely get a different taste then most other people.

The dry tea and brewed tea smells like creamy blueberry. Which I was not expecting at all.

The brewed tea is very thick, milky and creamy. There is a definite cornflower petal taste. The black base is very light and smooth. The only fruit taste I am getting is blueberry, no strawberry. The blueberry may be a bit of the rhubarb but I wouldn’t have guessed that without reading the description of this tea.

It is definitely good. I like the creaminess of this tea. It feels like a very luxurious tea.

GCTTB5 Box #2.

This one has been on my wishlist forever so I am excited to try it.

The dry tea smells very light, slightly floral, with a bit of sweet citrus.

The tea brews up moderately dark. The black tea base is light and creamy. There are subtle floral hints. There is a candy-like citrus profile. I don’t get much bergamot flavour though. The tea is just the tiniest bit astringent at the end.

This tea reminds me of a tea you would serve at a party or something. I quite like it and I am glad to have had the opportunity to try it.

So in my first tasting note on this tea, I only had a chance to try the first steep. And as it got cold, it got really bitter. I have had a few more chances to try it.

2tsp in boiling water.

First steep of 15 seconds- remains the same as my first review. Very roasty nut and buckwheat flavours. Does get a bit bitter as it cools.

Second steep of 30 seconds- pretty much the same flavour as the first steep. But no bitterness as it cools. I think I might like this one better cold. Very similar to a buckwheat cold brew/iced tea. But there is a more in depth roasty flavour profile and it is somewhat sweeter.

Third steep of 45 seconds- this one is holding out really good for a third steep. It is starting to mellow a bit but the flavours are still quite strong. And it still brews up quite dark. The roasty flavour profile is subsiding and it is a bit more nutty tasting. There is more of a sencha type buttery green tea flavour that is starting to emerge.

I am sure I could do more steeps with this but I haven’t had the chance to try yet.

This is for the superior version of this tea.

The tea appears to be a lot of little twigs and stems and long spirals of rolled tea leaves. It smells very roasty, almost burnt.

Hibiki-an recommends double the amount of usual tea you use, boiling water for 15 seconds.

It brews up a light brown colour. It tastes super roasty. Definitely both buckwheat and roasted nut flavours. There is a lot of popcorn scent and flavour. It is very smooth. There is a slight sweetness. The liquor has a moderately creamy taste and texture.

I am super impressed with this one. I bought it on a whim in order to hit the free shipping threshold

They recommend at least 3 infusions but I only have time for one is afternoon at work

Edit: This tea got quite bitter once it cooled. It also developed quite an earthy flavour that reminded me a bit of pu-erh. I don’t know if this would make the best work tea as I often don’t get to my tea when it is hot.