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I just got a big order from Wang Family Tea, and I couldn’t be more excited! This was one of the teas I was most looking forward to trying. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot in boiling water for the recommended 55, 45, and 55 seconds, then had to guess about subsequent brews because the vendor doesn’t provide any instructions. I chose to steep it for 1:15, 1:30, 2, 3, and 5 minutes.

The dry aroma of these big tea nuggets is of orchids, brown sugar, and stonefruit. The first steep is surprisingly sweet, with orchid, brown sugar, butter, other florals, lettuce, and lots of peach. I still don’t really know what osmanthus tastes like and haven’t knowingly had mung bean paste, though I have had red bean buns, which may or may not be relevant. The second steep has more orchid, butter, grass, that other flower that I suspect is osmanthus, beans, and lots and lots of peach, especially in the back of the throat and in the aftertaste. The next couple steeps have a little less stonefruit and more florals and beans, but are still very smooth. I also get a hint of sap that is typical of Shan Lin Xi. The sappy character continues in the next two rounds, along with peach, beans, orchids, osmanthus, and grass. Near the end of the session, the stonefruit and florals fade and I get grass, beans, and spinach.

As Daylon states, this oolong isn’t complicated, but the flavours come through beautifully and there’s virtually no bitterness. I value these things highly in green oolongs and my rating reflects that.

I was thrilled when Floating Leaves moved their store to Taiwan, as it meant I could afford to have their teas shipped to Canada. I took advantage of their opening sale to get a free 50 g bag of this tea, then bought another 60 g bag because I anticipated the tea would be amazing based on previous SLX I’d had from this company. After some unpleasantness with DHL over import fees, which the vendor generously helped to clear up, I tore into this tea and was slightly disappointed by how vegetal it was.

I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using boiling water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of coconut, pineapple, honeydew melon, orchids, and bok choy. The first steep has notes of orchid, butter, cookie, coconut, honeydew, and lettuce. I get some slight minerality, though that could be due to the vendor description, and the tea is already somewhat vegetal, especially on the swallow. The next steep highlights coconut, pineapple, passion fruit, and honeydew, with orchids, honeysuckle, and lilacs in the background. The bottom of the cup smells like coconut fruit punch. The honeysuckle and other florals become more prominent in the third steep, as does the passion fruit, pineapple, and especially the coconut. However, this is mainly in the aroma, and the taste is becoming quite spinachy underneath all the fruity florals. Coconut and spinach are the dominant notes in the next steep, backed up by pineapple, honeysuckle, spinach, bok choy, and grass.

The coconut continues into the fifth steep, though the tea is losing some of its complexity. I still get lots of florals plus the vegetal/grassy note. In the next steep, I notice a bit of the sappy character I associate with Shan Lin Xi. By steep seven, the tea is spinach mixed with faint florals, and it becomes even more vegetal by the end of the session.

This is a very enjoyable Shan Lin Xi that still doesn’t quite measure up to the company’s previous offerings, which I believe I rated in the nineties. I love the abundance of coconut and other tropical flavours, but wish that more of them translated from the aroma to the taste and that the tea was a little less vegetal. I also wish it had more longevity, though this is typical for high mountain oolongs. Nonetheless, I’ve almost finished my first 50 g bag and won’t have trouble finishing the rest.

I subscribed to the Eco-Cha Tea Club for more than a year and generally enjoyed their offerings. (I eventually quit due to the cost and my ever-expanding tea stash.) I’m glad to be able to try this roasted bug-bitten oolong from Daylon. I steeped 6 g in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Dry, the tea smells of honey, nuts, and flowers. The first steep is indeed like a lightly roasted high mountain oolong, with honey, mild roast, violets, orchids, other florals, nuts, and grass. I get the weird impression of floral Honey Nut Cheerios! The second steep offers a slightly bitter, sappy note that I’ve found in bug-bitten teas, though Daylon is right that I wouldn’t have necessarily concluded this tea was bug bitten if not for the label. By the third steep, it begins to take on the characteristics of a roasted oolong, with strong honey, nuts, Graham crackers, and grass and a few remaining floral notes. The next few steeps emphasize honey, roast, and wood, and have a tang that could be called lemony. Like many similar oolongs, the end of the session is all about the roast.

I steeped the remainder of my sample Western style in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 2:30, 4, 6, and 8 minutes. The first steep has notes of honey, caramel, nuts, Graham crackers, violets, sap, and roast. The second steep adds roasted pecans and more caramel. The next couple steeps have those lovely floral and nutty/grain notes, but the roast gradually takes over. My strainer was also full of leaves by the end of the session, suggesting that I might have used more leaf than I initially thought.

This is a rich, comforting oolong with all of the expected Gui Fei notes and an extra dash of florality. However, I should have finished it when the weather was a bit colder. Am I the only person who prefers winter to summer?

Derk generously allowed me to take a sample of this tea during our Black Friday extravaganza. Thank you, and I promise to get to all your other samples when I’ve sipped down more of my teas! I steeped around 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 35, 25, 35, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The intoxicating aroma of the dry leaves is of honey, apricots, and citrus. The first steep has notes of honey, clover, apricot, orange, honeysuckle, gardenia, sandalwood, and sap. I find that lower-quality Bai Hao focuses on the high honey/fruit notes, while the better stuff also has lower woody/incense/sappy notes that I have trouble describing. The second steep gives me stronger fruit notes, including citrus zest, and is reminding me of an IPA. The florals become headier in the third steep, with more honeysuckle and gardenia mixing beautifully with the honey/apricot/citrus. The fruit backs off slightly in steep four, letting the honey, clover, honeysuckle, gardenia, and orange blossom come through. There’s also a tiny bit of a metallic taste. Near the end of the session, the fruit disappears and I get honey, autumn leaves, minerals, wood, and vague florals.

This is a fantastic Bai Hao that I wish I’d purchased for myself when I had the chance. As the better versions of this tea tend to be, it’s both lush and structured. This tea has made me want to revisit some of the other Bai Hao in my stash.

I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine last Friday and I couldn’t be happier. The only side effect I had was a mildly sore arm. This is one tiny step toward having a normal life again!

This is Wuyi Origin’s most affordable Lapsang, made as I understand from another farmer’s leaves on the border of Fujian and Jiangxi. It’s the spring 2020 harvest. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of baked bread, caramel, wood, sweet potato, and anise. The first steep has notes of sweet potato, caramel, honey, wood, baked bread, malt, and anise. Citrus and some astringency emerge in the second steep, and I get a nice sweet potato/bready aftertaste. The third and fourth steeps are more woody with some hay, black pepper, brown sugar, and tobacco notes, although the sweet potato/bread/citrus is still going strong. The next couple steeps are less sweet with more woody and mineral notes, with a lot of baked sweet potato in the aftertaste. The tea has a nice, viscous body, even though the progression of flavours from steep to steep isn’t too dynamic. The next few steeps become more tannic and astringent, though there’s still plenty of sweet potato and caramel. The session ends with faint sweet potato, malt, tannins, and minerals.

If I hadn’t tried Wuyi Origin’s Old Bush Lapsang Souchong, I’m sure I would have been more impressed with this tea. As it is, it’s less complex and full bodied than the OBLS. However, it’s quite pleasant and I’ve almost finished my 25 g pouch.

I bought this tea last year in my infamous Black Friday What-Cha haul. I kind of wish I’d purchased their Jin Guan Yin as well, given that I like the one from Camellia Sinensis. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of dark chocolate, peanuts, rye bread, flowers, honey, and faint, tangy stonefruit. The first steep has notes of honey, peanuts, rye bread, dark chocolate, wood, and apricot. The second is more earthy, though I also get florals, peach, apricot, and lots of peanuts and chocolate. The tangy stonefruit and slightly sour aftertaste remind me of Tie Guan Yin, though that might be my imagination. (I also need to try plain osmanthus flowers, which Derk detected in this tea, so I know what they taste like!)

The third steep gives me an herbaceous note that I could also, like Derk, describe as menthol, but is mostly honey, wood, hay, rye bread, and chocolate. The next few steeps are all about the chocolate, peanut, honey, and rye bread, with hints of peach, apricot, molasses, and florals. The body is quite viscous and the aftertaste is long. I let the seventh and eighth steeps cool to almost room temperature and I see where Derk is getting cherry, and I get more of the tangy stonefruit as well. The session ends with notes of honey, hay, peanuts, wood, earth, and minerals.

This tea offers many of the flavours I like and has the chocolate note I associate with Fujian black teas. I’m not sure why I haven’t given it a higher rating, though maybe it’s because of its woodiness or the fact that it doesn’t change much over the session. Nonetheless, I’ll have no trouble finishing the rest of the bag and would consider buying more given its affordable price point.

In my kitchen cupboard reserved for tea, I have an artificially created black tea shortage. I store my black and green teas on the top shelf and my oolongs and whites on the bottom. However, I rarely drink my green teas, and many of my black teas are either Darjeelings (which dwindle slowly because I Western steep them) or too expensive for regular consumption (SLX Black, that Lapsang from TheTea). I therefore go through my oolongs much faster, relegating many of my black teas to the “tea museum” in my closet. In an effort to change that, I’m trying to sip down some of my old green teas, notably this one from 2016.

Using Teavivre’s instructions, I steeped around 4.5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 185F for 15, 25, 40, 60, and 90 seconds, plus a few uncounted rounds at the end of the session.

I always get a kick out of these flat, fuzzy leaves. The dry aroma is of chestnuts, green beans, and umami. The first steep has notes of chestnut, butter, beans, spinach, grass, and asparagus. The second steep is even more vegetal, with lots of cruciferous (a.k.a. bitter) veggies like bok choy and broccoli, but a sweet aftertaste. The next couple steeps are sweeter, with lots of chestnut balanced by beans and cruciferous vegetables. The nuttiness fades around the sixth steep, which is when Teavivre tells me to stop, but I got another couple vegetal steeps because I’m a cheapskate.

I Western steeped my remaining 2.5 g at 185F for 3, 4, and 6 minutes. The sweet, buttery chestnut is a lot more prominent in the first steep, with beans and asparagus in the background. However, subsequent steeps are milder, with spinach, green bean, and mineral notes and a faint sweetness.

For something I’ve been avoiding for so long, this is an inoffensive, surprisingly drinkable tea with pronounced chestnut notes. I’d say gongfu is the way to go, since I got more out of the leaves this way.

Also, apparently I’ve reviewed this tea before, but have no memory of it.

I’ve had previous iterations of Camellia Sinensis’ Li Shan and enjoyed them, so I picked up this spring 2020 harvest in their September sale. I’ve had it three times now and have gotten slightly different flavours in each session. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of brown sugar, coconut, spinach, honeysuckle, and lilacs. In the first steep, I get lilac, sweet pea, gardenia, butter, coconut, grass, spinach, and pastries. It has a nice, viscous texture. The second steep is sweeter, with custard, cream corn, green apple, and honeysuckle. Steep three offers more honeysuckle/gardenia/other florals, particularly in the aroma, and the veggie, grass, and spinach notes become stronger. (I also got pineapple in previous sessions, but sadly, not in this one.) The next couple steeps display more of the cream corn sweetness, which I guess could be interpreted as custard or condensed milk. The tea is also still very floral. The steeps become more vegetal after this point, but with lots of floral sweetness to balance them out.

This tea is full of florals and is sweeter than many Li Shans, with some of the tropical fruit flavours I like when I leaf it heavy. I agree with Daylon that it’s kind of midrange, and I also prefer their less expensive Shan Lin Xi. Still, I might pick it up again if it’s on sale, simply because of the relatively reasonable price and the convenience of buying from a Canadian vendor.

This second flush is from 2020, which makes it relatively new in my tea collection. It caught my eye because Camellia Sinensis noted it was representative of the style, and even though I’ve had many SF Darjeelings, I still look for benchmarks of what they’re “supposed” to taste like. I steeped 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 5, 7, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of caramel, nuts, and flowers. The first steep has notes of autumn leaves, nuts (yes, hazelnut seems accurate), caramel, butter, wood, flowers, saline, and a hint of muscatel. The finish is rather woody and drying, especially if the tea is held in the mouth for any length of time. The tea also has some tannins. The next couple steeps are heavier on the nuts and caramel and lighter on the fruit and florals. I get some minerality in the third steep.

This tea is a good deal more restrained than the luxuriantly fruity, floral second flush Darjeelings I gravitate toward. However, I think it is indeed a high-quality, well-made example of the type, if not one that really wows me.

I thought I’d posted a note about this tea, but apparently not. Thanks, Derk, for the big pouch. I’ve had it a few times now, and while it won’t replace the peppermint from Zen Tea in Vancouver, which is sadly unavailable, it comes close. I steeped around two teaspoons in 355 ml of water at 200F for 3, 5, and 8 minutes.

The aroma in the pouch is of strong, sweet mint, and the steeps bear this out. I taste sweet, clear mint with a kick of menthol and a bit of earth. I don’t get stewy or vegetal notes as I have with some other mint teas. The flavour stays pretty consistent over the three steeps.

If I have one quibble with this tea, it’s that I have to use more leaf (two teaspoons vs. one of the Zen Tea mint) and a longer steeping time (three minutes vs. one) to get the same intensity. However, this is a pretty minor issue. Overall, this is a nice peppermint tea I can reach for at night when I don’t want any more caffeine.