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I made this one a few days ago when my father in law was over. He enjoys tea and drinks it daily but pretty much only likes Ceylon teas. Every time I’ve given him something a little more bold or interesting (Assam or Laoshan), he is not too thrilled by it. But I’m forever determined to broaden is tea mind especially since he’s one of the few people in my life who are tea lovers.

So when he came over the other night, I opened my cupboard and it was almost as if my bag of this tea had a glow over it. This one might work, and if not, I do have my boring ceylon stash that I keep on hand for him.

But there was no need. He LOVED it. Had 3 steeps of it (he makes his teas super light, so this one cold go a long way).

It is a really good tea. He’s now definitely more interested in trying some more Taiwanese teas. I know what he’s getting for Christmas now!

After dumping the previous tea, but still wanting something sweet, I pulled this one out. I haven’t had it hot in ages. This was my cold brew favorite over the summer. Happily, this tea still makes me smile. I’m sipping on this while seasoning my little tea yellow yixing teapot that has the orchid on it:
http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-obsession-with-yixing-ware-continues.html

I’ll be using it for my taiwanese black teas. I know it’s recommended to brew them in glassware as they are pretty mild, but that teapot is so darn cute and delicate and just reminds me of what taiwanese tea would look like if it were a teapot, so I’m doing it!

I’m trying to keep from snacking so I figured I should have some sweeter teas to curb my cravings. I remember liking this one back in my “I only love flavored teas” phase. Unfortunately, many teas have fallen victim to my tastes changing and this one is most definitely one of them. The first few sips were super tasty. Just like those little buttered rum candies. But after about 3 or 4 sips it started just tasting syrupy. I ended up dumping it. Bummer, I still have a about 40g of this.

Yummy, chocolate, deliciousness as always. The perfect lighter rich dark tea!

After enjoying the puerh yesterday, I was hopeful to find another one that I enjoy too. This one has stellar reviews and i had it on hand, so i gave it a go.

It definitely smells like puerh, but is surprisingly sweet and not fishy at all. As it cools the more hay like notes start to take over, but there is a sweet spot right around 5 mins after cooling where it is perfectly sweet and delicious. I’m on my 4th resteep, drinking it between other cups of teas. Glad I have a bit more of this!

Started the day off with this one. Finished off my sample from Sil. I had a little extra so I dumped it all in. I think I prefer it overleafed. With cream and honey. Good strong cup to start the day. Thanks Sil!

Yay! I finally found a puerh that I actually really enjoy for the flavor and not just cause I’m trying to get myself to like it. I order 2 more yixing pots from an amazingly generous and knowledgeable tea seller on aliexpress. You can see the pictures (highly recommend) here:

http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-obsession-with-yixing-ware-continues.html

They are so cute. I want more like a thousand more. I love them all.

Anyway, the seller included this tea because I was buying a two pots. I wasn’t too excited but since he was offering, I accepted. This tea honestly tastes like buttery sticky rice. Very delicious. Brewed up gongfu style as I wasn’t sure how else to make it. I’m really enjoying it. Has some definite puerh’ness about it but it works really well with the buttery sticky rice. YUM!

I have a scary story to tell you. It even took place on Halloween! I was out trick or treating with the wee ones while the teenagers stayed home to watch movies. When I arrived home, my mom, told me the teenagers had come down and “gone through” my tea stash (Um, yeah, that was scary on it’s own), but when I looked, all was still in order…

The next day I was cleaning up from the nights festivities and noticed that my brand new yixing tea mug (the one I posted about here: http://tastybrewtea.blogspot.com/2013/10/crazy-cute-new-yixing-mug.html) was missing. Literally, my heart was in my throat. I had only used it once and loved every tiny detail of it. I looked all over and then remembered those teenagers. I went upstairs and found it on the floor, full of hibiscus tea. HOLY $%^&(&^%^&*(!!!!!! So many things wrong with this:

1) Teenager knew it was my new special mug and to NOT touch it.
2) It was left on the floor of a bonus room
3) it was filled with HIBISCUS tea!!!! The worst strongest grossest flavor I would ever want my yixing cup to absorb.

Anyway, after much panic and restrained anger, I cleaned out the mug and put a bunch of scoops of Laoshan Black in it and let it sit all day. Then I did it again yesterday.

Today I’m finally brave enough to see if my mug will insert hibiscus flavor into everything. I chose a strong Laoshan Black to test with and am quite pleased to say I think I avoided a near catastrophe.

Seriously. Teenagers. Argh!

This tea isn’t for me. There is a flavor in it that I can’t place, but I don’t enjoy. Nope, not at all. Glad I only ordered the sample. I’ll throw it in the BBBB grab bag so others can try it, as it seems to get semi decent reviews. Just not from me!

So let me preface this by saying I’m not sure if this is the right tea… I bought two teas from a seller each one was $8.80 and their bags and labels were the same when I got them and I’m not entirely sure which one is which. I have a message to the seller so she can help me but until then, I’ll assume it’s this one.

This is my most recent batch of Rizhao black teas and this is also the least expensive one I’ve found. It’s also my absolute, hands down, favorite one. The dark chocolate (think bakers chocolate), with strong cinnamon, and honey notes seriously make me want to do cartwheels. I can’t even fully explain how delicious this was. Even drinking it in a travel mug. I got 3 amazing steeps (all with deep flavor) out of it using my new ultimate favorite travel mug:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Multifunctional-tea-cup-tea-division-stainless-steel-vacuum-cup-tea-car-water-cup-free-shipping/822131276.html

It was expensive ($40 with shipping), but is perfect in my opinion. It’s mostly stainless steel and glass. You put the tea at the bottom and push this button that opens the filter. Let it steep. Then turn it upside down until the tea drains from the bottom and push the button again and it closes the filter. Works perfectly. I think I hit the jackpot. I was about to order another, but the seller I ordered from doesn’t have them anymore. Bummer. Other sellers are trying to get upwards of $70 for it and there’s no chance I’d pay that.

Anyway, super stoked about both purchases.