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This one came out a bit more tannic than the Imperial Buds but was not astringent. I still feel like I have a lot of room to improve my brewing of black teas to avoid the need for sweetener. This one required a bit of sugar to be able to enjoy it but was quite nice with sugar.

This smelled great, sweet smelling, almost like honey, but the taste was very bitter, tannic and astringent. I think I used too much leaf, not realizing how oxidized this tea was. I’d probably cut it down to ⅓ of what I used the next time.

Eventually I pulled out half of what was in the gaiwan but by that point the damage to my palate had been done so this ended up being a fairly disappointing evening of tea. But, I don’t think I can blame the tea in this case but rather the woman between the chair and the gaiwan.

This was not at all bitter and much less tannic than other black teas I’ve had. I did two western style steeps, the first was 3 minutes and the second was 5.

This tea really heated me up inside and got me going. I was amazed how warming it was even after the cup had cooled so perhaps more suited to cooler weather, but it was nice to drink a black tea where I didn’t need to load it up with sugar to be able to drink it. Though I guess there is a sharpness to all black teas that sugar or honey complements. I’m sure a touch of sweet would go well with this.

It’s been a few hours since I’ve had the tea and I still feel the effects. Potent stuff! I’m not sure how to rate it yet. I think I can brew it better but definitely one to explore more!

The dry leaves had a grassy aroma to me but once they were hit with hot water that changed to that spinachy smell.

I did several infusions. The first was roughly 7 seconds and the subsequent ones were 10-15 seconds. The flavor was light and refreshing though there was a bit of astringency at the finish trying to dry my mouth out but not horribly There weren’t a lot of subtleties I could taste here. If I hadn’t known it was an oolong I’d have guessed it was a green tea. That probably says more about my inexperience than it does about the tea.

I had a sample of this for breakfast. I brewed up 500ml western style. It was too tannic for me to drink straight so I made one cup with milk and sugar and the second with honey and lemon. I preferred the milk/sugar combo with this tea. This surprised me a bit as I tend to not be crazy about milk in tea.

It’s hard to describe flavors as it was so heavily masked by the milk or honey tastes, but it definitely helped get me going this morning.

This is my first time tasting a Wuyi and it was fairly obvious even to me how different it was from the other oolongs I’ve tasted.

I did 7 steeps. The first was 15 seconds, the second was 10, the third was 15 and after that they got longer. The 6th and 7th steep were 30 and 60 seconds and neither was especially satisfying but they weren’t horrible. I ended up heating fresh water after then 4th steep.

The first steep was a bit astringent though not bitter. It dried my mouth out a bit. The second was also a bit astringent but the 3rd and 4th were quite smooth without any astringency.

The dry leaf smelled somewhat chocolatey, I guess from the way the tea was roasted but this was almost undetectable in the tea. Even in the wet leaf it was not strong. The wet leaf mostly had the spinachy vegetal smell but not as strong as other oolongs I’ve tried.

That “rock” taste was definitely present. It wasn’t unpleasant but it was an unusual flavor to my palate.

Overall, perhaps because I’ve been tasting many new teas over the last few weeks, this was the tea from which I got the most complexity in taste and aroma. I can’t say if it was the tea or me just starting to become more familiar with the scent and taste vocabulary of tea. Whatever the cause, it was fun to experience.

I’m not sure I’d want to drink this every day but I definitely enjoyed it and could see myself ordering more of it after the samples run out.

I realized once I started drinking this that the end of my tongue felt mildly burned so my note here is probably not of much value. Compared to the other oolongs I’ve tried this was probably the weakest so far but it’s hard to know how much of that to attribute to the tea and how much to a tongue that is a bit out of sorts.

This is the first time I’ve had milk oolong and I didn’t really notice any milkiness to the texture. Perhaps that was my ineptness at brewing or perhaps my tongue was just incapable of sensing it.

Similarly, the flavors were subdued and while not unpleasant, not especially interesting.

I’m assuming this was mostly due to my tongue so I guess I’m going on the hot tea disabled list for a couple of days to let things heal. :)

i did 4 steepings, 30, 60, 60 and 60 seconds. The first was quite good, very light and refreshing with just a hint of astringency in the finish. The second was a bit more astringent so perhaps 60 seconds was too long for the second steep. The 3rd and 4th weren’t as good. The water was probably too cool at that point and I was feeling too lazy to go get fresh hot water. Still, I enjoyed this tea and am looking forward to trying it again.

They say this brews up fuschia but on my second tea bag it comes out brown. Tastes ok either way. Leaves the mouth feeling refreshed but mint teas never taste as good as they smell to me.

This was very enjoyable to sip while watching the not very enjoyable loss of the Orioles to the White Sox.

The first steep of 10 seconds was a bit light and the second (20s) finished just a bit astringent. However, the 3rd (also 20) was great. I did at least three more steeps and the character changed a bit for each one but each was interesting and good. Overall, I quite enjoyed this.