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I still have a few of these left, sent so generously by AmyOh. My daughter and hubby wanted to drink some puerh last night and so far Teavivre has been hubby’s fave, though he had not tried this yet that I can recall. I made three eight ounce steeps and poured them all together in the larger pot. Both liked it very well, and I am reaching that point where I had better order soon because the night time pot of tea is becoming a ritual and I am getting really low on puerh!

Maybe my palate is not very sensitive, but I do not taste anything floral, and I don’t taste chrysanthemum. I do taste a shu puerh that I like a lot and really enjoy. This one is earthy and horsey with nary a hint of fish.

Hubby wanted pu-erh tonight so I thought I would serve this one to get the opinion of my hubby and my oldest daughter. I wasn’t too thrilled with it when I had it. It seemed flat and one-dimensional. It wasn’t spit-it-out bad, just boring. Just….meh.

That was the reaction the others had tonight. Daughter said it smelled shrimp-y and she thought it tasted that way as well. We made two steeps from the leaves, western style. The second steep was less fishy but I can’t say it was more enjoyable.

I ordered several oolong samples a while back in anticipation of getting my Yixing pot and gong fu set. I have been rather busy this morning and had a busy day yesterday, so I really wanted a special tea time with hubby, and he agreed to join me.

I probably did not use enough leaf with this because the aroma of the dry leaf was so fabulous that I didn’t want to use it all, so I just divided the sample in half. The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me of osmanthus flowers in other teas I have – floral yet citrus-y. It made me swoon.

The first steep was good but weak as I chose not to do a rinse. I often drink the “rinse” because I find it good even if it does not live up to the beauty of the second cup. And the second cup was indeed beautiful.

I taste the same floral/citrus that was in the aroma, as well as a light mineral quality. The wet leaves have a strong citrus aroma like I would expect from a high quality citrus candy that promised a sweet and sour experience. That high note went high in the sinuses, making me want to sniff and sniff the wet leaves. But the flavor is not sharp at all, just nice and full of stone fruit, as described by the company. Lovely! The second cup may have oversteeped just a little because there was a hint of astringency in the aroma, though not the taste. It was not drying at all, so maybe I was simply still picking up the citrus aroma and perceived it as an astringent aroma. Either way, delicious!

The biggest surprise was when hubby said that it was good, and is his favorite so far of the teas he has been trying with me. That is surprising, coming from someone who loves his big mug of Tetley British Blend with milk and sugar, and almost no other tea!

Hubby and eldest daughter both drank tea with me tonight. Hooray! When they said they were having tea with me, I asked hubby to pick the tea. He requested this one, but this time we brewed it western style. This is a mild puer, and I love the natural floral/citrus notes added by the osmanthus. That pot went away entirely too fast.

When I let the puppies out at 6 am, the stars were still out and it was nearly 70 degrees already. I decided to “carpe diem” on this beautiful morning! That meant having a breakfast I haven’t had in a while.

After taking advantage of the weather to have a pre-breakfast walk, I came home to cheese toast and a pot of English Breakfast on the patio, thanks to the goodness of my youngest daughter who, when asked to do something for me, ALWAYS replies, “I would be happy to!”

This English Breakfast is one of the few that I find drinkable even without additions, which is how we drank it yesterday afternoon at tea. This morning, however, I wanted a fortifying cup with milk and sugar. This is one of the rare instances where I add sweetener to my tea.

This Keemun has nice chocolate notes, thought they are not as strong as they are in a Hao Ya A or in Emperor’s Red. Still, I enjoy this very much and keep it on hand as an inexpensive breakfast choice of which I can make a whole pot and not think twice about the cost of the leaves. Delicious!

Hubby drank tea with me again last night! I can not convey how soothing I find a good jasmine to be, and this is one of the best I have had. We made about six steeps from two teaspoons of pearls in an eight ounce glass pot. The jasmine does start to fade a bit after several steeps, but it is still there, and the green tea base was still going strong!

Every time I see a review for Valentine’s Blend by H&S I think, “Rats! I keep meaning to order a sample of that and I never remember.”

I got the bright idea to just try mixing their plain Chocolate tea with their Rose Scented. I haven’t had their blend, so I don’t know how this compares, but I do know it was pretty good. My guest at tea party today liked it a lot, and encouraged me to keep making some special blends for us.

Rose Scented is great by itself, but it wins a permanent place on my shelf as a great tea to add to other teas to change them up a bit. It is a great mixer.

We drank this on the heels of Chun Mei tonight, and as much as I liked the Chun Mei, I must say this tea blew me out of the water. The sour Chun Mei with its sweet aftertaste only intensified the sweetness of this jasmine beauty.

We made this one gong fu style and got about five steeps out of it before running out of hot water. We were not yet out of flavor though, so the leaves have been saved for another pot tomorrow. This one has to stay on my shelf, not matter how ruthlessly I try to cut my tea inventory. Smooth, sweet, silky, this is a great tea.

I made two steeps of this today, Western style. The first one I drank all by myself, the whole pot! This is one I wouldn’t have liked not so long ago. The aftertaste is what wins me on this one. It is so sweet! But up front it is a little sour, a little astringent.

I made the second steep when my daughter came over. I thought it tasted even better than the first. I couldn’t believe that thirty seconds was going to do it when brewing Western style, but believe me, it does! This green tea has a lot of color at 25 seconds! Even the second steep at 30 seconds is a deep yellow-gold. I am saving the leaves to see if they can handle a third steep in the morning.

This sample from Teavivre was so generous that I still have enough left to make another pot and get several resteeps out of that. I am really thankful for their generosity in sending these. I have tried so many things I would not have chosen on my own, and it has really expanded my tea horizons!

Hubby joined me for tea again last night! Since he didn’t mind the first puerh he tried, I wanted him to give some others a try.

Opening the pouch, I was struck by the fresh citrus-y aroma of these flowers. The dry tea has a lot of petals in it. Steeping it, I found it mild, certainly milder than the puerhs from A Southern Season, without being boring like the one I got from Rishi. Hubby thought it was stronger than the puerh from Teavivre that he tried, but I didn’t think so. He will probably prefer the puerh from Teavivre like my son and his girlfriend.

We steeped this about six times. I am so glad hubby got this one for me. I am really enjoying the addition of osmanthus to puerh!