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I guess it shouldn’t surprise me much that this tea wasn’t on Steepster yet since it’s from this fall.

Today has been a stinker of a Monday, but this tea is making me giggle madly (in a room by myself). It’s so good, and it is changing my outlook on my day drastically.

Let me back up a minute. This is from my first Yunnan Sourcing monthly box. It came on the best day possible (a day when I was not having a great day and getting tea in the mail helped a lot). I have been really impressed with the whole process really, from Scott’s openness to suggestion from the users here, to his willingness to substitute teas that are my liking. I must say, I feel like what I got was a very good value. These aren’t just samples guys, they are bags of tea. One of them looks like a full 100g, and another is 250g of pu. The others look to be about 25g each. I haven’t weighed them but that’s my eyeball guess.

I knew this tea was going to be good when I opened the package. Fairy dust all over, and that smell. You know the one. The magic malty yummy smell.

I’m not disappointed. The tea is delicious. I definitely need to make sure I watch for this one if it’s on sale for the holiday.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/yunnan-black-teas/3136-high-mountain-jin-jun-mei-black-tea-of-ai-lao-mountain-autumn-2014.html

I am reading the past reviews on this tea with a bit of disbelief, because I loved this. It wasn’t weak at all, and the orange flavor was very foreground. Maybe they have changed the blend a bit?

Anyway, let’s get this out of the way. I love the Kusmi tins. I know, I know. Weird tin fetish. But they are so pretty and distinctive! I ordered a gift set of this because the tin was supposed to be smaller than if it was ordered by itself, so I was surprised to get 125g of it. I probably didn’t read well enough. So, it’s a good thing I love it!

You know I love all things orange, and I love that whole Christmas thing where you stick whole cloves into oranges to make a wonderfully smelling decorative thing. This tea reminds me a bit of that, although it is not heavy on clove. It also reminds me a little bit of a tea I loved when I was a kid. It was called Boston Tea Party, and it came in a little copper colored tin. It was absolutely the fanciest tea available at our small KY town grocery store (think town of 8,000 people). Unfortunately that tea is no longer made.

So anyway. I opened the tin and could smell orange, almond, and spice. There’s no bergamot in this one so the orange smell is just orange, but it smells like fresh oranges to me, not orange candy.

Brewed, I don’t taste the almond. The orange is very foreground and the clove and cinnamon is dancing in the background somewhere. It’s really nicely balanced I think. Now I am really glad I have so much of this one!

This will be a long and chatty note. Our internet went out in the middle of the night Sunday night. We had a freak ice/snow storm and turns out the neighbor’s pain in the neck willow tree screwed up the line. We have been able to tether through our phones to get on for work but it eats up our data so we have been trying to keep it to a minimum. I haven’t been on here much, haven’t been in chat, and I have really missed you guys.

Today was stressful at work. It is the 18th and all of our clients want their projects done early due to the holiday. Normal project cycle is to get it all in before the end of the month, and them nagging and pushing doesn’t make us get anything done any more quickly. It just stresses us out. And, it’s a holiday for us too so of course we would love to be done!

Due to work stress I decided to try this sheng, because I have read about how calming it can be. This sample came from a Steepster friend yesterday. I used 5 g in my fishy gaiwan and did “flash” steeps, as was recommended. I did two rinses. After that, the first couple of steeps were smoky and leathery, but not really in a bad way. After that the tea was much lighter tasting and I started to really enjoy it.

I didn’t get tea drunk like I have with oolong in the past. And to be honest I didn’t think there was much of an effect at all. But about 20 minutes later I was having kitty time and I realized that I was in the most content, blissful and un-stressed state possible. That was the aha moment.

I remember asking the resident Pu heads once if they drink it for the taste or for how it makes them feel. I can really see myself seeking it out for the stress relief. At this point the flavor is still a bit foreign to me, but I am encouraged that I don’t dislike it. I am looking forward to the continued journey.

Another sample from Cameron. I’m not familiar with this company at all. The tea smelled like blackberries. It tastes like a “red fruits” flavored black. It’s not bad but not one I want to order either. Thanks Cam!

I had really high hopes for this one, but didn’t really love it. I think actually maybe I don’t like chocolate tea all that much, even though I keep thinking I should. This was just odd to me. I was able to finish the cup, but each sip got a hmm from me. I couldn’t figure out exactly what I didn’t like. But, you’ll probably be seeing this in your swap packets since other people love this one!

I ordered this from Vente Prive. Glad I did since we have gotten news that they are closing. I liked this one a lot! I tried it one evening when we had company. This is company who doesn’t drink tea due to religious reasons, so I was surreptitiously enjoying it while we played a board game.

Oh it’s my move? (sip) oh wow that’s good. Your turn! (sip). Buttery, caramelly. Wow, this is better than I thought.

I had tried this once before when Stephanie gave me a sample. I liked it ok. Luckily, I liked this even more this time! I admit, I picked out the peppercorns (why are they there anyway?) so I didn’t have that in the tea. But the resulting tea was just light and a little fruity. It was really nice. Oh, and the tin is so pretty!

Hmm, this reminds me, where is my Kusmi order? It has been almost a month since I placed it. Note to self, go check it.

Yet another sample from Cameron. I liked this one, and I was excited to try it since I didn’t order this one. It was a medium bodied black with a nice fruity flavor. I saw in other posts that people were able to pick out each of the four fruits. I couldn’t do that but I could definitely identify “fruity” in it. A really nice one.