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I’ve sampled every harvest of this oolong since I started drinking loose-leaf tea in 2015, so you could say it’s an all-time favourite. There are teas that are more complex, last longer, and get more attention online, but I keep coming back to this one because of its approachability.

Just as the description from Camellia Sinensis promises, it hits you with strong cherry, coconut, and wheatgrass notes. (I probably couldn’t have put my finger on the wheatgrass flavour if the website hadn’t mentioned it, but once you know what to look for, it’s unmistakable.) Unfortunately, the tea doesn’t have staying power, usually losing its fruitiness and turning vegetal by around the sixth gongfu steep. Alternatively, I can get three good Western infusions out of it. At $20 CAD for 50 grams, it’s also a decent price for an oolong from this area.

This is a wonderful everyday tea—not so complex that I need to think about it, and bold enough to stay interesting.

This is an oolong from an area best known for producing black teas. The first things I notice about it are its honey-like sweetness and buttery mouthfeel, combined with a mild astringency. It has a long, floral aftertaste and seems to pack quite a caffeine punch. In later steeps, I get umami and spinach notes, but the sweetness never really goes away. This is a good tea, though it lacks the fruity flavours I look for in jade oolongs.

I agree with the high ratings people have been giving this tea. I’m drinking the spring 2016 harvest and am down to my last couple sessions.

The fuzzy golden leaves produce a copper brew that evokes rye bread with dark chocolate chips. It’s possible to oversteep this, but even when it’s bitter, it still tastes good. I’ll definitely be restocking this tea.

I wish I had sufficient experience with Dan Congs to distinguish the 53 separate aromatic molecules this one apparently has. Nevertheless, I can tell it’s good. The leaves are somewhat broken and there’s not a lot of roast. In the bag, it smells fruity and herbaceous.

I filled my pot about halfway full of leaf, since I don’t have a small enough vessel to stuff it completely. With short steeps in boiling water, this tea has a lot going on. The first thing I notice is the orange blossom aroma, mixed with something that seems to combine citrus and tropical fruits. There’s also a nutty roasted undertone that gets more persistent in later steeps, plus a long fruity aftertaste. I’m now on my tenth infusion at 50 seconds and while the tea is winding down, I’ll probably get a lot more from it.

Shan Lin Xi is one of my favourite oolong growing areas, so this tea from the top of the mountain appeals to me. It’s on the floral rather than the fruity end of the jade oolong spectrum.

For such a good tea, I’m having trouble describing exactly what’s going on. It has a noticeably heavier body than other green oolongs I’ve had recently. It’s sweet, floral, grassy, sometimes with a hint of stonefruit, and though these are the typical descriptors for this style of oolong, it’s somehow just a bit better. (The empty cup also smells like fabric softener in the best possible way.) It’s a comforting and refreshing tea for a Sunday afternoon.

This tea starts out with notes of raspberry and dark chocolate. In later steeps, the Assam character emerges, with smooth, malty, sweet flavours predominating. I’ve had this tea twice in a row now and still can’t make the more interesting (to me) flavours last much beyond the fourth infusion. Maybe it’s getting old?

I steeped it for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 80 seconds.

This is from the autumn 2014 harvest, meaning that it’s been in my cupboard for almost three years. (Time to sip down some old teas!) To be honest, I know why it’s been there so long—there’s always a more interesting option around.

This tea is a superior version of something you might find in a regular tea bag. It has a smooth, slightly sweet taste with just the right amount of astringency. It isn’t bad by any means; it’s just kind of one dimensional. I’ve had many other great blacks from Yunnan Sourcing that I’d restock before this one.

This is my first review on Steepster! And, since offbeat variations on well-known tea types tend to interest me, this black tea from Guangdong is a good place to start.

Other than having tart, berry notes and long, twisty leaves, however, this doesn’t remind me much of a Dan Cong, but instead recalls some other Chinese black teas I’ve had. It’s sweet (Camellia Sinensis’s mention of barley sugar is accurate), peanuty, slightly floral, and most importantly, forgiving. It’s comforting and balanced, and I’ll especially enjoy this as an autumn brew.

I steeped slightly more than 3 teaspoons of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 25, 15, 25, 40, 55, 70, and 180 seconds.

I bought this as part of the 2017 Taiwan Tasting Kit. While it’s not the most outstanding tea in the world, it’s well worth the regular price of $10/50g. Like other Four Seasons I’ve had, it’s tangy and floral with hints of vanilla. It also has a spicy note in the first few steeps that is really enjoyable. Unfortunately, it gets vegetal quickly, petering out around steep six. I could see myself restocking this tea, but it’s not a priority.

I steeped 5 grams in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at around 200f for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 40, 50, and 100 seconds.