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I have been hoarding this tea like squirrel getting ready for winter. I haven’t had it since I saw they weren’t making any new batches for awhile. But I still have like 6 little pouches left so I can splurge every once in awhile. Since it had been so long, I was curious if I’d still like this as much as before.

I like it even more. Holy delicious! Enough people have written about the amazing flavors in this tea so I won’t try and add to that. All I can say is “Ditto, fo sho!!!!”

I’m a dork.

I did my usual S&V brewing method, which is pour the water over the leaves and completely forget I made it. Then I added some honey. Then I took it a step further. I left it on the counter and drove my son to school. When I came back it was pretty much cold. I added some cream at that point. Woah. Yum. Burnt sugar caramel deliciousness. S&V tea flavors really pop once they cool off a bit. This will definitely be reordered.

I have fallen pretty hard for teas from Rizhao City, China. I would never have know of them if not for yyz who told me I should try them given my love for Loashan teas. Rizhao City is just south of Laoshan so the teas have a lot of similarities, but the Rizhao teas are just lighter. A touch sweeter. I love Laoshan Black, but sometimes its just too rich. It really is like licking the spoon of brownie batter. So delicious, but you can overdo it.

I’ve had several Rizhao teas and bought them all from Aliexpress and have had pretty good luck. I wish there was an easier way to purchase it, but after some talking with people from Rizhao city I think I’ve found a couple good sources direct from the plantations, which is cool. I may start a partnership with one man soon so I can offer his father in laws tea to people here. It’s crazy good, but they don’t know how to get the word out. The green tea is the best I’ve ever had.

This particular Rizhao tea is really yummy. Chocolate, caramel, and honey notes with a light cinnamony finish. Just a touch roasty, but only slightly. A nice early evening tea. This is the only one I can find a website for. You can translate a bit of it using chrome or google translate, but it doesn’t give you much information.

Finally finished off my small bag of this. I made the Bean some apple cinnamon oatmeal this morning and didn’t want any for myself but was craving something similar. I made this with honey and cream. I kind of think all the S&V teas need it. If you’re drinking it straight, you can tweak the leaf and temp and duration, but it takes some work to get it just right. With cream and honey, you just let is sit till you remember that you’d made it. Enjoying this a lot. Probably won’t ever reorder, but would never turn it down if offered.

ETA: As with all S&V teas, once this one cooled it was delicious. It may go on the reorder list if I ever want to purchase something else from S&V.

This is my favorite Golden Monkey Black Tea. The end.

The final sample from Yezi Tea. Another good tea. I like this one a bit more than the Jin Jun Mei, but the first two I tried are the clear winners for me. This tea is slightly sweeter than the Jin Jun Mei and less earthy. Slight hints of cocoa and caramel. Very enjoyable.

I need to go order samples of the other black teas along with my orders of the Qing Pin and High Mountain one. I didn’t want to sample them before because they were described as smoky and I shy away from that, but this tea was also described as smoky and as I’ve said in previous notes, I would call it more burnt toast than smoke.

ETA: Just did a second steep and let it sit for a few minutes. This cup is much more chocolatey and caramely. Darn it. I may have to order a bag of this too!

This tea never stood a chance. The only other Jin Jun Mei I’ve had was from the Verdant Reserve club and it pretty much blew my mind. No other Jin Jun Mei will ever compare. This tea is still enjoyable for sure. It’s not as sweet as I’d like it to be, more of a dry flavor and more woodsy, but still very smooth and complex in flavor. I like the Qing Ping and the High Mountain ones better, though. I have the Jin Pin left to try. Overall, I’m very pleased with Yezi teas.

Another sample that’s been sitting in the drawer for too long. I wasn’t too optimistic about it as I don’t tend to love the chocolate flavored teas. But I do love peanut butter, and it’s swap drawer cleaning day so….

This tea is surprisingly… ok… not a reorder, but not a dump out either. The chocolate is decent flavor and the peanut butter is very mild. Overall, probably a good tea for the chocolate tea lovers in the crowd.

Finished off my sample of this from a long time ago. I think I enjoyed it more the first time, but my tastebuds have changed a lot since then. Now it’s a little too maple syrupy, but I still enjoyed it. On to the next sample…

I’ve had this little sample sitting in my swap drawer for ages. Rooibos just scares me. But I’m determined to get my stash under control so time to face my rooibos fear.

This is okay. The initial flavor is nice, but the after taste still gets me. I’m cool never drinking it again.

Pretty sure I got this from the long lost, yet hilarious, Whatshesaid. Thanks for the taste and hope she gets over her teapression soon enough!