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This now, is the second half of the portions pouch I started on 2 d ago. No food yet this morning, though I just finished sipping a slightly brutal 20 yr old raw pu-erh, and this Darjeeling in contrast is striking! It feels in my mouth like a balm to sore taste buds. The gentle spring flower aroma, the sweet liquor with flavor notes of honey and a long finish of molasses, the hint of malt and dandelion flower, and a smoothness in the back of my throat. Light but refreshing, and I’m raising my rating to 79. Sometimes deprivation helps one appreciate what can be had. Darjeelings are redeemed.

Ali Shan. Adagio.
Lot no. 85420. FB: n/a..
Recently got this single-serving portions pouch in a sample box, and it is said to be from Taiwan. Steeped as directed, Western style: the entire 3.8 g of rolled leaf in a stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz. spring water at 195°F for 2 min. Produced a yellow liquor with a floral nose and buttery smooth floral flavor that included a note of perfume in the first re-steep. A very gentle tea, and the leaves appeared intact and fully expanded after the first re-steep. I noted many full single leaves, and a few sets of 2 or 3 leaves with or without a bud. Vigorous slurping and allowing the tea to crawl up my sinuses at the back of my tongue gave a more appreciable flavor. My overall impression, however, was of weakness. A fourth (final) infusion of the leaf at 205°F for 4 min. yielded a golden liquor with a similar aroma and flavor profile. I’ve enjoyed much more potent oolong flavors elsewhere, though this tea could go well with delicate foods and fruits, or done well by itself—possibly iced and sweetened. I detected grassy and spinach notes as the tea cooled during my session. A good, if basic, oolong, but not one to shop around for. Rating 70.

Spring Darjeeling. Adagio.
Lot no. 85535. FB: n/a.
Having been disappointed by a couple other Adagio Darjeeling’s, I approached this single-serving portions-pouch with trepidation. Received last month, so it’s fresh. For some reason, today I felt I’ve been drinking my teas a little bit over leafed, and so I’ve reduced the amount to 1.5 g per 8 oz. cup (which I feel better approximates the amount inside the pyramid sachets packed by various vendors) instead of my usual 2.5 or 3 g. And I’ve already had fully enjoyable cups, as such, of dragonwell and keemun this morning. No food yet. I noted that the leaf of this Spring Darjeeling was substantially broken (1 cm sized bits), yet a 3 minute Western style infusion produced a clear orange-amber liquor with a gentle, floral aroma. The flavor was a honeyed maltiness, without astringency, and a floral finish. Vigorous slurping increased my enjoyment and brought out other layers of savory wood and soft spiceyness. Overall a nice, gentle tea that was good to sip on this overcast, warm Independence Day (USA) morning. Did not attempt a resteep. I look forward to steeping the rest of the pouch tomorrow morning! Recommend with a rating of 74.

Long Jing Dragon Well. Tealyra.
FB: 11-2026.
This is a fresh, new supply of my favorite green tea, just before Tealyra sold out of it. Prepared as directed, Western style, with 2.5g leaf in a stainless steel infusion basket with 8 oz spring water at 175°F for 2 min. Delicious and every bit as good as the Adagio dragonwell I reviewed yesterday, so I’m raising the rating to 84, to match. A resteep at the same temperature but running 15 min. was equally wonderful. Comments in my prior review four months ago (of a very old bag) hold true, http://steepster.com/TeaEarleGreyHot/posts/457401 .

Da Hong Pao Superfine | Big Red Robe. Tealyra.
Lotsa names for this tea, but a rose by any name… or a turd by any name… smells the same. I brewed as directed, Western. I brewed gongfu. I went for multiple steepings. Yes, I could taste the “mineral” essence, and I definitely got the astringency. I did not get the promised sweetness. I did not get the floral notes in the finish. I did not get fruitiness as it cooled. I did not get the promised “mouthwatering” flavors. I really wanted to, and I’ve returned to this tea repeatedly across seven years, always wanting… hoping… praying… that it would finally pay off. It is said to improve with age. But in the end, I just feel duped. Minerality is another name for rocks (and one name for the tea is rock oolong); the effort of charcoal-roasting the leaves is another way of saying you tried to smoke-off the defects; aging the tea also ages the drinker, whose sense of taste eventually declines; multiple steeps extract out astringency, and the mouth feels faux-sweetness at the relief of not being puckered up by another cup of this swill. Ultimately I became tired of trying to find goodness in a mouthful of wet rocks tasting of carbonized wood. THE KINGS NEW CLOTHES ARE REVEALED! It is as if they took the discarded, spent leaf from an RTD black tea factory and baked it dry, then repackaging it for sale with a hundred promises and a fast getaway car on standby. This tea is a waste of time, money, and spring water. Do not buy this tea, which I rate as 15. Do not waste your money, time, cupboard-space, or friendships with this farm byproduct. I am not only disappointed, I’m angry.

RTD = Ready To Drink

dragonwell. Adagio.
Lot no. 90718. FB 09/2029

Brewed as directed, Western style, in a stainless steel infusion basket. This is a really good dragon well tea! I bought this bag at Adagio’s store in Naperville, IL. The aroma was vegetal and nutty, and flavors included chestnut, light grassiness, edamame, pleasantly astringent, and as the cup cooled, flashes of sweet fruit, possibly grape. Everything I expect from a lung jing! A re-steep was similar, but less potent and non-astringent but still enjoyable, probably because both steeps were 2.5 min. In the future I would simply combine both liquors and enjoy a large mugful, or shorten the first and lengthen the second, to balance it out. Recommended, and rate as 84.

I’ve been trying a number of different ginseng teas from Tealyra lately, and bought this Imperial Ren Shen Genseng Oolong because of its unique composition: rolled oolong, with a coating — almost a shell — of ginseng and Chinese vanilla. I steeped this as directed, western style in a stainless steel infusion basket, and re-steeped twice for a total of three clear light-amber infusions that each had some fines settled at the bottom of the cup. I don’t know how Chinese vanilla differs from other vanillas, but I don’t think I tasted it. Nor did I really get a strong ginseng flavor—just a bit of warm gensing in the aftertaste at the back of my tongue and roof of my mouth, following vigorous slurping and swirling. Only the mildest of toasted oolong flavors was to be enjoyed. The oolong aroma was better than the flavor. The first infusion had almost no flavor at all, and after steeping, the oolong leaves were still encased in the shell. In fact, the oolong leaf never fully escaped the shells, and that may have been an issue. So I smashed the spent material with a spoon and gave a fourth steep, which resulted in a very dark olive green liquor, muddy with fines, almost like a brown, gritty matcha. This 4th, final, steep had only mild woody oolong flavor and aroma when vigorously slurped, but did finally offer some ginseng at the end of the finish. I have attached a photo of the spent, smashed pulp, which did show some intact leaf amidst the debris. The net result of this experience was four disappointing cups of tea with few notes of oolong or ginseng and no vanilla, that represent a wasted quart of my spring water. I would not recommend, and will rate this 24. (And yes, this was freshly purchased, with a BestBy date still 15 months in the future.)

Lot no. 85439
Single-serving portion pouch from sampler box; brewed Western, as directed.
The dry “leaf” is all chopped stems & twigs, as usual for honeybush, and has a pungent “hazelnut” aroma that overwhelms any other fragrance, as did the steeped liquor which was a nice clear amber in color. Flavor was sweet and roasty-woodsy, with strong hazelnut taste FAR stronger than that of actual roasted hazelnuts. This tisane is all about the strong hazelnut taste and smell, and would go well with strongly-flavored desserts like chocolate cake, etc. The only other note I sensed was occasional whiffs of cigarette butt. I would rather enjoy dessert with a creamy hazelnut liqueur that would more closely match the taste of the nuts. This tisane is pretty one-dimensional, and good if this flavor is your thing. Given the saturating taste and cigarette sensation, I’ll rate this only as 45, but withhold from recommending or belittling.

Lot No: 85419. BB: n/a.
Single portion pouch, of Adagio’s Formosa Oolong prepared as directed: Western style.
Mild, toasty oolong aroma on the dry leaf as well as the liquid. Nice clear dark amber liquor. The roasty-toasty flavor may have been from charcoal roasting, but I don’t really associate a flavor with charcoal, per se. There was no flavor of smokiness, or pine. Nor of raisin, nor malt, nor chestnut, nor anything floral or fruity. Just a basic oolong flavor, slightly woody, smooth, pleasant, with notes of roasted wheat or barley. Non-astringent, non-bitter, nothing objectionable to me. But very plain tasting. A 3.5 min. re-steep was very similar. Drink this with a meal, without worry of overpowering any nuance, since there is none. I won’t recommend nor discourage, because I’m that ambivalent about it. Rating? let’s say 65, since I rate Lipton black the same. Both have (differing) inoffensive flavors and caffeine, but that’s the best I can say.

Brewed as directed, alongside green rooibos for comparison. Nauseating. Tastes like dill mixed with cedarwood sawdust and cured kalamata olives. And, oddly, strongly of coffee; I love good coffee, but the notes in red rooibos are, to me, more akin to yesterday’s spent, sour, wet grounds from a stale, cheap generic. YUCK! Exactly as anticipated, based on a blend from another vendor, so I don’t blame Adagio. This is the worst beverage I’ve had in my life. Rate 1 and not recommended. Disclaimer: my tastes vary from the typical, for example stevia tastes unsweet and bitter to me, which I understand to be a genetic thing, similar to how some people dislike cilantro or asparagus. So your impressions of red rooibos may differ from mine!