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This is the 2015 harvest that I bought in Feb 2016. Brewed 12oz in a teapot so that I can bring one of the steepings to work.

First infusion: My God, this smells so sweet! Like warm butter. It tastes like fresh buttery spring water. Am I being transported to the legendary Dragon Well? This is amazing.

Second infusion: The divine fragrance is gone, but we’re left with a smooth-drinking liquor which retains the buttery and a nice flavour of toasted nuts. These leaves are pretty done, but I will try a third infusion with a gaiwan next time.

Note: next time, try a 4-minute infusion and use only 1.5 tsp for 8 oz of water.

I was intrigued by the strong scent of almonds in this one, but the scent was terrifyingly sweet. I brewed it for a post-dinner digestif with my partner, who is much more of a non-flavoured tea drinker (he goes for oolongs and white teas) and fortunately this was not as sweet.

A 4-minute infusion seemed a bit bland, so we steeped it for longer and now it is slightly sweet. Gets cloying midway through the cup and I’m sick of the artificial “almond essence” smell. Not the best rooibos blend but nowhere near as mind-numbingly saccharine as it smells. I’ll try stopping at 4 minutes next time. With the rooiboses I’m learning that less is more.

Rating: 52

Update 1/16/2018: Rating: 60

Smells exactly like a rich caramel frappuccino from Starbucks. It tastes a little more subdued, like some kind of “health” drink. I wouldn’t drink it straight, but it might be baller with some milk. Love it as a decaf version of a breakfast coffee au lait.

Was browsing green teas at Red Blossom Tea Company this weekend. The dry leaves of the Spring Mao Feng 2015 smelt beautiful –– even nicer than the super buttery premium Dragon Wells. It was a harmonious blend of grassy and buttery.

Unfortunately after steeping, it tasted mostly grassy. Slightly toast buttery but more grassy. Not a bad green, but I went with the Pre-Rain Dragon Well instead.

My sister bought this.

Much too sweet for everyday drinking, but probably good as a dessert digestif… except that it’s a black tea and I’m sensitive to caffeine so I won’t drink it after dinner. It has a very artificially sweet smell like a cheap chocolate candy. The odour of this tea clings to my Thermos and it took me 5 days of washing and soaking to get the smell out.

I’ll try it with milk at some point, but I’m guessing this one won’t be coming out very often.

Got this at Contraband coffee shop, nice loose rolled leaves in a large infuser.

Tasted pretty subtle and bland, with a nice fragrance. Am beginning to realise that all Jasmine greens are pretty bland so I might give up on them unless I find something really great.

UPDATE: Brewed it with correct parameters this time and it’s just a very mellow, pleasant comforting vanilla rooibos even if nothing to write home about. Increasing rating to 65.

Fairly smooth and drinkable, but a sort of dull, earthy, acidic aroma as opposed to a truly inspirational fragrance that the best rooiboses have. I used boiling water with maybe double the leaves required. Will try again with the proper amount. Rating: 62

Didn’t like it. Bland with a slight medicinal / mushroom odour. It wasn’t totally undrinkable, but I can’t think of a time when I would actually crave this tea. I wish they would make this more like a soup broth. It could potentially be pretty good with more umami in general… but I have tried adding salt and pepper and it was disgusting and I had to throw it out.

After steeping, you’ll notice a lot of bigger stems in the leaves. This tea smells sensational, there’s a strong flavour of butter popcorn and it’s smooth to drink. Probably the butteriest oolong I’ve ever tasted.

This was only my first time at Red Blossom Tea Company, but they seem to carry a lot of buttery tasting teas (greens and oolongs at least). My partner bought this so there will probably be future tasting notes as we brew this at home.