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Thank you Nuvola Tea for this free sample!

Leaf Quality:
The leaves were both dark and light shades of green, and very floral. I detected a bit of milky-fruitiness. The dry leaves themselves smelled quite sweet. The brewed leaves were grassy and floral. They unfurled into yellow-green crinkled gems in the water. After the second brew, all grassy notes had left, and the scent was purely floral.

Brewed Tea:
The tea smelled a bit milky, but even more floral. It had a bright yellow-green liquor and tasted light, floral, and had a slightly grassy finish.
Second Steeping
This brew was again floral. However, the milky notes had transformed into melon notes. It reminded me of either cantaloupe or honey-dew melons. The floral notes had also changed a bit from the first brew, i that it was more pronounced and sweeter. A very nice melon aftertaste.
Third Steeping
This tea was increasingly sweet with each brew. The melon was lighter this time, and the floral notes kept strong.
Fourth Steeping
Melon notes showed up again for this brew. The floral qualities carried themselves through and through, changing slightly each time.

What a nice Oolong to taste. Thanks again, Nuvola!

Thank you Vicony Teas for the free sample!

This is a very peculiar Oolong. It’s aged from 1993, and was refired about a year ago.

Leaf Quality:
The leaves of this Wuyi Yancha smelled substantially different than that of the others Vicony Teas sent me. I detected a faint smell of licorice root with a tiny bit of smokey fruitiness. It was very intriguing. The leaves were a mixture of brown and black. The brewed leaves smelled a bit earthy when I was pouring the tea, however they lost this quality when they were fully separated from the water. They began to smell like muscatel and a bit leathery.

Brewed Tea:
The liquor was a yellowish-brown. The scent was unexpected for an Oolong. It smelled a bit earthy, and toasty, and tasted similar. There was one flavor which stood out: smokey chocolate. The chocolate and smokiness combined reminded me of a Pu-erh. This brew had very interesting qualities I’ve never tasted before in an Oolong.
Second Brew
This cup was a very nice red-copper color. The first sip brought on a sweet nuttiness. The smokiness carried itself on to this brew.
Third Brew
Great floral notes appeared for this cup. Toasty, sweet, a bit earthy, and floral.

I’ve never tasted an Oolong like this before. I’m glad to have tried it, especially since the company ran out of stock.

Thank you Vicony Teas for this free sample!

I decided to try this tea while listening to D. Scarlatti sonatas. Tea always makes listening to music more enjoyable for me.

Leaf Quality:
There were no stems, only long, dark leaves. They smelled of sweet fruit. Like the other Wuyi Yancha teas I’ve tried, the leaves themselves remind me of little charcoals. The brewed leaves smelled of cherries and wine, and were a bit toasty.

Brewed Tea:
20 second steep times for this tea.
The brewed tea was a light brown, and smelled very buttery with a hint of toastiness. My first sip was smokey, buttery, and sweet. Very nice.
Second Steeping
This cup was very floral, and much sweeter than the first. Some smokiness showed through, however it was not as noticeable as the first.
Third Steeping
This was nice, silky, buttery, and floral. The characteristic smokey flavor from the other brews was still present.

I really liked this tea, and am happy to have tried it- especially with great music.

Thank you Nuvola Teas for this free sample!

I decided to brew this tea in the Gongfu manner.

Leaf Quality:
The dried tea leaves smelled very floral. They had dark and light green as well as yellow sections, and were very delicate. The brewed leaves smelled wonderful. I detected roses, peach, and perhaps some cinnamon. This is one very floral tea! They unfurled, but the beautiful greens and yellows still sowed up. Perhaps I also smelled honeysuckle.

Brewed Tea:
The brewed tea had a bright greenish-yellow appearance, and was very sweet-smelling. The scent was almost as floral as the leaves themselves. The taste was wonderful too. A bit of vegital hints behind great floral qualities. The first brewing was very nice. Very pleasant.
Second Brew
This steeping was very floral as well. There was a light scent of pineapple. Aside from the new fruity scent, the cup was very consistent with the first, and was very tasty.
Third Brew
This was lighter than the previous cups. Nevertheless, it was still great. Those floral qualities pull through each steep. Silky smooth, and very sweet.
Fourth Brew
This brew showed more fruit notes, but the floral qualities were still present. It was much weaker than the third brew.

This is a very nice Oolong. I’m glad to have tried it.

Thank you Vicony Teas for the free sample!

Leaf Quality:
The leaves were long, dark green, and smelled toasty; there were a bit of stems in the mix as well, though not too much. The scent was more of a black tea than an Oolong. The brewed leaves smelled chocolaty, and a bit acidic. I noticed a minute floral quality to the leaves in my last sniff.

Brewed Tea:
I got an immediate scent of buttery coconut from the 20 second steeping. The color was amber, and looked very nice. The flavor was very toasty as well, and had some muscatel notes with a bit of sweetness.
Second Steeping
The second cup was more floral than the first, but was still very toasty, and something new showed up: earthiness. This cup was a bit earthy. However, the coconut also decided to show in this brew.

Thank you Nuvola Tea for sending me this free sample, along with two others!

This was a pleasant surprise to find yesterday in the mail.

Leaf Quality:
The leaves of this Bi Luo Chun were dark green, yellow, and white in different parts of the leaves. They smelled richly floral. The brewed leaves smelled vegetal and floral, almost like a Taiping Hou Kui.

Brewed Tea:
I brewed this using the “Top-Putting” method. This was a wonderful brew. The tall glass showed that the tea was almost completely absent of color- it was a very light, clear yellow. The scent of orchids filled the glass. It tasted sweet, very floral, and had a slightly vegetal finish. This was very refreshing.
Second Steeping
This cup was consistent with the first: richly floral, sweet, and a light vetetal finish.
Third Steeping
Consistent again with the first two brews, this tea proved very steady in taste. However, the flavor was noticeably lighter with the third brew.

Overall thoughts: This tea was great. Nice and floral, very smooth. I liked this tea very much.

This is the first sample that Vicony Teas supplied for me (Thank you Vicony Teas!).
It in’t sold on their website, so I’m glad the company let me try it. They also supplied a number of other oolongs for me.

Leaf Quality:
The leaves of this tea were large and dark black to dark brown. They smelled of caramel and were toasty and floral. In my hand, the dried leaves felt as if they were wood charcoals; they were very light for their size. There was a slight hint of fruit in the handful of tea leaves.
When brewed, the leaves took on a peachy aroma. Some of the leaves revealed themselves to be a very dark green rather than black. After the second steeping, the toastiness had escaped the leaves, leaving behind a very fruity scent.

Brewed Tea:
I brewed the tea for 20 seconds with splendid results. The color was yellow-green and almost peachy in complexion. Toasty and sweet- those are the first two things that came to my mind when I took the first sip. The Oolong was surprisingly robust with flavor even with the small steep time. Toasty, sweet, and a bit peachy.
Second Steeping
The floral and fruit notes were enhanced this time. There wasn’t much toastiness in this brew. The tea finished with the slight taste of Jasmine, or another flower. However, the last sip is the only time I recognized the specific floral quality. Though not as toasty as the first, this was just as robust.
Third Steeping
This steeping smelled of roses. Very floral and a tiny bit of nuttiness.
Fourth Steeping
This brewing was even more floral than the third. However, the robustness of the first three brews had left a bit. The sips ended with a nice peachy finish.

I’m glad I had the opportunity to try this tea. It could have easily withstood further steepings. Thanks Vicony Teas!

I just received this tea today. I ordered 3 cakes (1 to try and two to age). They also sent samples along with this for me to try. This is the first Moonlight White tea I’ve tried.

Leaf Quality:
The tea cake was very beautiful. There were nice browns, black-greens, whites and yellows. The dry leaves had a very faint scent that I couldn’t fully discern. The wet leaves, however, smelled very fruity, sweet, and floral. There was a slight hint of banana among the floral aroma. The leaves didn’t change color much in the short brew time.

Brewed Tea:
The brewed tea was very light in color; clear golden-yellow. The scent was also light, and smelled floral, sweet, and a tiny bit earthy. The taste was much the same as the scent, with a very nectar-like aftertaste. What a silky-smooth tea!
Second Steeping
This was more sweet and fruity than the first steeping. It was absolutely delicious. The fruit was more of a peach or plum now.

I really liked this tea. I hope the other two will age well. It had great character. Hopefully soon I’ll get better, as this cold is lasting a while.

When I bought this tea, I wondered why the box was labeled “Leaf Tea” rather than “Loose Leaf Tea”. I soon found out when I opened the foil bag inside keeping the “leaves” fresh.

Leaf Quality:
I opened the bag, and what I found was unexpected. The tea was very finely cut/ground, more so than CTC. Some pieces were larger than others, but the tea could be compared to grains of salt. Some pieces were very dark while others were a lighter brown. They smelled better than it looked; almost like a crisp orange pekoe or English breakfast. However, this tea would have gone better in bags, as it is pretty difficult to filter tea so finely ground.

Brewed Tea:
The tea dust produced a dark brown cuppa, with a slight reddish hue. It smelled malty, and a bit chocolaty. There wasn’t much character in the tea. Perhaps there was some Assam in this. It was crisp, just as it smelled, and I had brewed it a bit strong (I have a feeling this tea can withhold longer steepings).

I decided to add a lemon slice, and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice. This lightened the color a bit, and made the tea more pleasant. As I mentioned before, this tea lacks the character that other teas possess. There wasn’t anything in particular that stood out to me. However, I’m sure this will make a nice iced tea.

This is not my favorite tea, but it was nice to drink something to soothe to my sore throat and my terrible cough.

Thank you ESGREEN for offering this tea for me, and also for giving me this free sample!

Taiping Hou Kui is a wonderful tea to begin my Saturday morning. The weather’s nice today as well.

Leaf Quality:
The leaves were very thin, and very long, much like the other Nie Jian I’ve had. They were very aromatic as well; each leaf smelled very floral and sweet. In direct sunlight, I could see through some of the reddish stems. Each one was composed of a bud and two other leaves, pressed almost paper thin on a grate. The brewed leaves smelled grassy and vegetal, and also like nectar.

Brewed Tea:
The brewed tea smelled light and sweet, and was a pale yellow-green. In a glass, it looked almost completely clear. It tasted very sweet and floral, and a tiny bit like melon. The end finish tasted of nectar.

Second Steeping
This one was more floral and sweet. I always seem to like the second brewing of Taiping Hou Kui more than the first. A wonderful pale yellow again, completely clear.

This is a great-smelling, and great-tasting tea. I’m glad to know that another company is selling this tea as well.