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When I spilled those small tea balls to small tea saucer, I noticed raisins. Which is far away from all the notes that Leafhopper mentions and thank you for this tea!

I have watered those balls in gaiwan with prepared water, which had 86°C and completely different notes apperared. So, this rinse-not rinse; it was rather like hitting them with water and then spilling it out.
I got the dry aroma stronger. Raisins, but also other notes: roast, flowers and nuts. I will steep it similar to Leafhopper, so first steep being 25 seconds long.

By the way, it’s a while since I got Ding Dong, so, honestly I don’t remember much.
This first steep is so sweet. Always happy to find naturally sweet teas, because they fill my sweet tooth. Nutty, grains, tasty! But that floral aftertaste, with orchids, that’s something I haven’t been expecting at all. And it was quite strong. Stronger than I would expect from roasted oolong.

Second steep was 20 seconds long and it produces very similar notes, but stronger, there is no char for me there. It’s indeed quite nutty and grainy in taste, again with heavy floral and sweet aftertaste, with a little bit grassy notes too.
Third steep, thirty seconds. I definitely get sweet scented descriptor. It’s indeed quite sweet, grains got strogner too. Nutty note weaker. A little bit of drying note here too.
Fourth steep, again 30 seconds, it’s somehow standard roasted oolong, with floral notes, some grains and some grass, quite smooth and enjoyable, though a bit boring.
Let’s make a jump, 60 seconds steep (running out of water in thermos), and let’s see the results: sweet grass notes, with floral aftertaste and overall, I feel the best is the past.
A few following steeps were longer, but same in taste.

Other news: I bought today tickets for my very first tea festival! It will be in June, two days long. Can’t wait! Last year photos here: https://swietoherbaty.pl/pl/galeria/ So far only one tea vendor is listed, TheTea.pl; but I assume the list expands soon!

Aboslutely not-amazing and thus very boring green tea. I kept the steeping temperature lower as recommended: Infusion Temperature: 65 to 71℃ to avoid astringency and bitterness, steeped for 3 minutes and well that’s it?

I know my senses could be affected by my cold or whatever this sickness is (not Covid).

It was grassy and mellow. But that’s all. Many other green tea bags or sachets do the same. Maybe even a bit better. There is nothing that I would say, yes, this is specififc for Vietnamese tea. But yes, it has got promised golden colors. But if that’s all that this tea offers, it is not much.

Not recommended for its price.

A sipdown! (M: 2, Y: 30)

An office tea is gone. I just used very last bag in my mug today and I am sad. This was, considering it’s a tea bag, great Earl Grey. Nice level of citrusy notes, great and robust tea base from Rwanda. Yes, two minutes steep is sufficient.

Now, I need to get plain Rwandan tea to try that too.

It seems I caught some sickness. Sore throat all day and when I swallow anything, it’s like a saw in my throat. Yuck.

So, I opened my box of herbals and I have been checking the teas. Many of them are having relaxing properities which is something I don’t need right now (though work is stressful as well); but then I found this one. Ginger tea is helpful while having those symptoms (at least it’s said so, here), and lemon certainly won’t hurt either.

It doesn’t color the brew much, but certainly the ginger kicks in aroma as well as in the taste; and the lemon isn’t luckily too sour and it is making rather a citrusy background for the ginger.

I have no idea where I got this tea bag (it was only one), but honestly I think it’s one of free samples I got from my CGFoods order.

Leafhopper sent me this tea, so thanks!
Apparently, it’s quite old tea, but two of those three notes are “quite new”. And I almost never toss tea out, and never without trying it first.

I had almost 5 grams (4.75 gr to be exact); used all leaf for single gongfu session. Steeped as Daylon did, that’s: 25, 35, 25, 45, 50, 70, 90 (seconds), 3 min.

I read also his note as well Leafhopper’s, and I agree with both of them. But one more year in this tea and flavours were a bit more faded I think, or my leaf/water ratio was different, as I was steeping that 5 grams in 125 ml gaiwan.

First notes were indeed fruity, not sure if I point out papaya, but tropic fruits were there for sure. Second steep made those notes even stronger, third was weaker again and in fourth it was gone completely.

Instead those fruits a chocolate notes apperead. However again, they were quite flat, and while longer steeps produced more darker chocolate, some steeps were like a milk chocolate and as well a little waxy chocolate for me, which is something I really don’t like. Maltiness in those later steeps were stronger and stronger and in the last steep it was just malt and nothing else.

Sadly, I don’t noticed any pastry notes which I was looking forward to.

I can imagine it was awesome tea, but sadly it seems it has suffered by age a lot and as well as my not so perfect storage did not helped either. I have checked a few shops which carry it out here — two of them not showing harvest year (which seems to be crucial), two of them are having prices out of my range.

A sipdown! (M: 1, Y: 29) Prompt: A finicky tea
Well, yes, technically I still have something. But decided to put all the P&T teas to TTB, which will be a few weeks till arrives to me, but anyway… Maybe it is because I don’t drink them that often as I have hoped and green teas tend not to age well.

And this tea is certainly finicky. It needs proper temperature, 70°C is absolute maximum, it’s better to go even a bit lower, like I did today. Maybe 60°C? Yes, then it steeps longer.

But today it was so yuzu. Citrusy, somehow between grapefruits and lemons, but with pine twist, and lovely grassy flavour of green tea.

I would like more of this tea, but 50 grams is too much for me.

Dry leaves were so pungent. I don’t recall such pungency recently. And also so complex. I noticed a lots of florals. Can’t point out any particular flowers, but it was strong. And then there were some different aromas too, as well very strong. Those aromas were white grapes and muscatel. When I did a rinse, which maybe wasn’t needed at all. But afterwards I got another dimension — with stonefruits, mainly ripe peaches, very fuzzy and juicy in aroma.

First steep was 10 seconds long, brewed it has got that fruity note, but along with white grapes for sure. It reminds me a few good FF Darjeelings, but with extra stonefruit note. There were a bit of black tea qualities too — malt noticed. Smooth and round flavour, medium-long aftertaste.

Second steep was 15 seconds long. There is still very prominent fruity line, the malty note became much stronger as well. I don’t get cacao as desrcribed by vendor, though.

Third steep was 20 seconds long. Again a very sweet tea, with less of muscatel, white grapes; but instead stronger note of stonefruits.

Fourth steep was 30 seconds long. Malty notes dominate in this steep, along with fruity, but not stonefruits mentioned, notes.

Fifth steep was around 45 seconds long. Still tasty, however I notice that it is going slowly done. The flavours are actually weaker by a loty, but in terms of flavours it was like a fourth steep.

Sixth and last steep was really long. Well, it’s gone. I tried so hard to coax more from this tea, but in was in vain.

In conclusion yes, I want more of this tea. I will get more than this 10 grams sample. However, I think it is a wonderful tea for western steeping. A few, even long steeps can make (I suppose, it needs to be tried) wonderful flavours, but it doesn’t last long when steeped many times.

A sipdown! (M: 5, Y: 28) — yes, a backlog from April.

If there was a prompt — your weirdest tea, this would be a great fit.

I don’t know what was different that day, but:
Yes it had salty licorice taste.
It was a bit chewy somehow.
My smell sense detected a tarmac a bit.
It was somehow true to name as it was indeed like a motorsports paddock. Can’t explain that at all. Maybe a little smokiness from it? But no gasoline in aroma (haven’t tasted that, so can’t say that about flavours).

Would I re-order? Probably not. But fun to try.

A sipdown! (M: 4, Y: 27)
Sometimes I like tea bags or sachets for its easy using. No need to measure amount of the blend, easy cleaning up, and sometimes even great flavour.

The last thing is also valid for this tea. Lovely cocoa/rooibos/honeybush flavour, mostly complemented with warming spices as cinnamon and cloves. It says it doesn’t contain any ginger, but I was pretty sure it is there :). My tastebuds shouldn’t be off.

Well, also I am not sure if I would call it a chai afterall. It doesn’t contain any piquant spices. Not even that ginger, which I notice somehow. No peppercorns either.

But it was lovely and would gladly drink another cup of this.

March sipdown promopt, so, a month later — March 25 – The end of American Chocolate week

I was surprised how fast I finished this tea in the office.

Lovely chocolate tea. Chocolate tea base + cocoa nibs; a little smoky to add some complexity and now it’s gone.

Will I reorder this one? Actually, I am not that sure about it. It is indeed lovely, however not sure if I need to grab it often. I think I finished it that fast because I was craving something else than EG in the morning.