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I saw this tea while I was shopping online at Sobey’s and gleefully added it to my cart, only to discover that it was out of stock. Bah humbug! After I asked around, including here on Steepster, my mom managed to find a box at Bulk Barn of all places, and gave it to me during the holidays. I steeped two teabags in 355 ml of 200F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

This tea smells like an After Eight: strongly minty with hints of chocolate. In descending order of prominence, the flavours in the first steep are mint, cocoa, lavender, and vanilla. I tried to up the lavender quotient by using two bags, and while it kind of worked, there really wasn’t as much lavender as I hoped. Not surprisingly, the aftertaste is quite sweet. I don’t mind the milk chocolate flavouring, though it does come off as a bit artificial. The second steep is much like the first, though the mint is a bit tamer. The lavender peaks out in the final steep, though that’s probably because the other flavours are starting to fade.

This is a nice holiday tea, though not as unique as I anticipated. As chocolate mint teas go, it’s pretty good.

Happy holidays! Every year, I promise myself I’ll get a festive tea, and this time, I got two! I found this tea at a little shop that sells French chocolates, cookies, and other treats, and the other one, Christmas in Paris by Stash, was a gift from my mom. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf in 355 ml of 185F water for 3, 5, and 7 minutes.

The dry aroma is of vibrant cherry and almond. The first steep has notes of cherry, almond, amaretto, caramel, ginger, and faint malt. The cherry is a little artificial tasting, but also fresh and distinct. Combined with the cherry, the almond leans toward amaretto, and shorter, cooler steeps bring it out. The next steep has a bit more ginger and malt, though the cherry and almond are still prominent. Not surprisingly, this tea is sweet, though not as sweet as it could be. The final steep is less strongly flavoured and I can taste the black tea base a bit more, but the tea is still pleasant and not bitter.

This meets all my expectations for a French tea! I enjoy almond things (amaretto, marzipan, those hickory smoked almonds), and this very much falls into that category. Though it probably won’t convert me into a flavoured tea drinker, it made my Christmas a little brighter.

I don’t have much experience with tulsi or gotu kola and I was intrigued enough to buy a big bag of this tea for $6 or so. I might have been hoping that the flavour would be a less sweet version of Coca Cola. I steeped about 3 g of tea in 355 ml of 190F water for 4, 6, 8, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of basil, cloves, herbs, and cola. The first steep is heavy on the clove, with basil, herbs, caramel, and what I presume is the gotu kola in the background. The flavour is sweet, earthy, and spicy. The next couple steeps are very similar, though the clove fades into the background and the basil becomes more prominent. By the end of the session, the tea is grassy, herbaceous, earthy, and sweet. I probably should have stopped at three steeps, as the last one is kind of watery.

So, does this taste like Coke? Sort of, though it’s too clove heavy to be convincing and is missing a citrus element. This tea is pleasant enough to enjoy on a snowy evening. At least it doesn’t have licorice, hibiscus, or chamomile, which are ubiquitous in most herbal teas.

I bought a bunch of black teas from Wang in 2020, and I think I’m nearing the end of them. Red Rhyme is harder to find than many other Taiwanese hongcha, and I was curious to see what it was like. I steeped 4 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 40, 40, 50, 50, 60, 60, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of raisins, grapefruit, florals, and malt. The first steep has notes of raisins, muscatel, grapefruit, honey, malt, orchids, and brisk tannins. The next steep offers more grapefruit, rose, orchid, and earth, but the tannins are also quite pronounced. I get some citrus reappearing, or “rhyming,” in the aftertaste. Steeps three and four are very tannic, but still have lots of raisin, muscatel, grapefruit, other citrus, and florals. Subsequent steeps have notes of malt, minerals, raisins, honey, earth, and tannins. Cooling the water to 185F does little to make this tea less astringent.

I enjoyed the fruity, floral profile of this hongcha, but the astringency was not so fun. I might try using 3 g in my 150 ml teapot to decrease the astringency. However, I think the tannins are just part of this tea. Age might explain the raisiny flavour, but if anything, I imagine it would have softened those tannins if there was any hope of softening them. Fortunately, Wang has many other teas I love.

I’m surprised Steepster doesn’t have an entry for this tea, though there are a few entries for lapsang souchong that could be referring to this one. I’ve been buying it from Wuyi Origin for at least two years, and prior to that, I received a sample from Trident Booksellers and Cafe, which resells a few of Wuyi Origin’s products. I even found what I hope was a tea seed in my last 50 g pouch! I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of bread, malt, honey, lemon, orchid, violet, hay, and wood. The first steep has notes of bread, malt, honey, lemon, orange, orchid, violet, other florals, minerals, and tannins. The tea is on the breadier, maltier side and the florals are less pronounced than in previous harvests. Steep two adds rose, molasses, forest floor, and more wafts of citrus. More florals, including violet and jasmine, appear in the next couple steeps, though the tannins and malt also increase. Steeps five to eight are nicely floral and lemony, with the jasmine remaining prominent. Subsequent steeps are still faintly floral, but there’s more malt, hay, wood, and tannins. The last couple steeps are woody, earthy, mineral, and tannic.

This is one of my favourite black teas from Wuyi Origin, coming second only to their Wild Lapsang. It has great longevity, little bitterness, and wonderfully balanced florality. Thank you, Daylon, for introducing me to this tea so many years ago.

This tea from spring 2022 is labelled Alishan Jin Xuan, and I’m assuming it matches up with the Meishan Jin Xuan that’s currently on the site. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of milk, orchid, violet, lilac, and mung beans. The first steep has notes of milk, butter, spinach, mung beans, orchids, lilacs, and that crisp mountain air thing I sometimes get from Taiwanese green oolongs. The aftertaste is a bit grassy. Steep two is even more milky, sweet, and floral. Steeps three and four continue to be milky with lilac, orchid, and violet florals, but there’s more spinach, beans, and grass and some earthiness. The florals persist through the next couple steeps, but the tea gets more vegetal as the session goes on. I find that these longer steeps produce shorter gongfu sessions.

This tea has all the sweetness and florality I’m looking for in a jin xuan, but its longevity isn’t as great as some of Wang’s other teas. Perhaps that’s due to age, or perhaps it’s due to the lower elevation. Either way, I’ll have no trouble finishing my 25 g sample.

A few days ago, I wanted some green oolong without having to open an entire 150 g pack, so I raided my tea museum for this small sample bag. The label doesn’t have a year on it, but I suspect it’s from 2021 or 2022. This Lishan deserved a better fate! I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of peaches, orchids, other florals, cream, mung beans, and grass. The first steep has notes of underripe peach, cream, orchid, sweet pea, mung beans, and grass, with a nice, thick texture and a peachy aftertaste. I notice a bit more grass than is usual in Wang’s teas, though that could be due to age. Steep two is grassy peaches and cream. The next couple steeps are more floral, with notes of cream, custard, and sadly, more grass. The next few steeps retain the ethereal floral, peachy aroma, but the taste increasingly features spinach and grass. Still, I continued to steep the leaves several more times to extract those lingering florals.

This is a good oolong that might have been fantastic when it was fresher. I’ve added it to my list of great teas from this company, which also includes their SLX Wild Garden, Da Yu Ling, Fushoushan, Osmanthus Alishan, and SLX Small Leaf Black Tea.

This is the last first flush Darjeeling I ordered in 2023. (I have three 2023 second flush Darjeelings to go!) The name refers to the estate’s founder, Basant Kumar Birla, and “basant” is also a word for spring in many Indian languages. I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of 180F water for 2.5, 3.5, 5, and 7 minutes, followed by a couple uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of honey, lemon, peony, spring flowers, herbs, and wood. The first steep has notes of lemon, apple, honey, caramel, spring flowers, herbs, minerals, and wood. It’s somewhat reminiscent of lemon pound cake. The next steep is a little more brisk and nutty with pronounced herbaceous undertones. However, there’s still a lot of sweetness, florality, and fruitiness to enjoy. The next couple steeps lose much of the fruitiness, but are still nutty, floral, and sweet. The final steeps are a bit floral, but are predictably more astringent, herbaceous, and mineral.

This tea is lemony and sweet for a first flush Darjeeling and has a lovely aroma. I enjoyed its honey, caramel, and spring floral notes and appreciated the relative lack of astringency. I highly recommend it if it ever comes back in stock.

My version of this tea is from 2021. I bought it because the vendor said it was fruity, but I couldn’t dial in the steeping parameters and ended up letting the rest of it sit in a drawer for three years. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of mango, orchid, lilac, cream, and grass. The first steep has vaguely fruity notes of mango and pear, plus cream, orchid, lilac, and lots of grass. It doesn’t have any high notes, possibly due to its higher oxidation, and is a bit drying. The next steep has a nice mango aroma and flavour, along with some nuttiness, cream, florals, and lots of grass. It also has more astringency than expected for a green oolong. Steeps three and four have a great mango flavour, but are quite astringent and grassy. Subsequent rounds are still fruity, but the mango flavour is less apparent. By steep seven, the tea is grassy, vegetal, and astringent with some floral hints.

I commend Floating Leaves for introducing a green but more oxidized oolong in their gaoshan lineup, and at times, I appreciate the fruitiness of this tea. However, the grassiness and astringency are hard to get past. I’d blame these drawbacks on its age, but it was like this when I tried it several years ago. I think this is the first iteration of this tea and they’ve been offering it for three years now, so maybe they’ve ironed out some of the issues. I’d be interested to hear what newer harvests are like.

It’s been a while since I posted a tasting note. I attribute this lack of reviews both to having a weird form of writer’s block (palate block? flavour description block?) and to drinking teas I’ve already written about. I have at least five tasting notes I need to write before I can mark some teas as sipdowns. Not having written about some teas is also one of the many, many excuses I’ve made for delaying Daylon’s package for an embarrassingly long time. (I promise it exists, and you’ll be drinking spring Longjing in November!)

Here’s another Chanoka matcha from Nio, which I think comes from the same farm as their Chanoka Silver. I don’t have enough experience with Japanese green teas to understand what’s special about the Okumidori cultivar, so this will be a learning opportunity. I steeped 2 g of matcha in a mason jar containing around 100 ml of cool water. Once again, I got foam!

The dry aroma is an unusual combination of chocolate, cream, green veggies, and umami. Sadly, the chocolate isn’t prominent in the matcha itself, though it does retain a creamy texture and hints of cocoa. I also get kale, green pepper, grass, spinach, and umami. The matcha is sweeter than most, though with a kick of vegetal astringency near the end.

This tea gets major points for its sweetness and limited astringency. I’m beginning to understand why people might drink matcha voluntarily, though it’s still not my preferred tea type.

Until October 31, you can buy two tins of matcha and get the third one free. You can also use the code LEAFHOPPER15 to get 15% off everything on the site, possibly including Advent calendars (I get a small commission when you use this code).