Steepster

This is a great tea. It smells of sweet, toasted brown sugar and a hint of coconut – as the description says. Very lightly floral, roast-y, and figgy on the tongue. This oolong has a nice smooth, heavy feel at first – but the aftertaste is bright and fruity.
I could really get into this tea!

This tea came in the Steepster select box for December. Definitely has flavors that are reminiscent of a wuyi oolong which is understandable given the origin of the leaf. Very earthy with a hint of smoke, slightly winey and fruity. It’s a bit on the light side for a black tea and doesn’t need any additions. I detect a floral aroma in the tea liquor.

Overall enjoyable but not something I would stock on a permanent basis.

Another from the December Steepster Select box! This tea was very earthy, smokey, and a bit tart. It reminded me of a milder version of some pu’er that I had before (though I’ve only had it once). Seems like a good quality tea, just a bit too earthy tasting for my taste.

Carmel hint was nice. Liked it!

Had it this morning and boy it was great! Heavy on the flavor.

Definitely a different Oolong taste I’ve ever tried. With roasted coffee taste aroma, strong enough but not too dark.

Hmm, I dunno about this tea. It is smokey, tart, and a little bitter. I’m not getting much sweetness from it so it seems unbalanced somehow. I can appreciate its uniqueness, but it is definitely not something I would purchase.

Full bodied flavor, was surprised based on the light color of the tea. Naturally sweet, with deep notes of dried fruit and brown sugar. Very comforting, warming winter tea. Almost no tannic flavors. I enjoyed this tea very much. 9/10

An all right tea; I brewed mine much longer than the recommended two minutes (I think more like 6 minutes), because I prefer a stronger tea. It was a lightly flavored and lightly scented tea, not bitter even despite the apparent oversteeping, and it was okay with milk, but doesn’t seem to be “made” to have milk and sugar added. The tasting notes (caramel and sour cherry) were very light, and I barely tasted them.

Mildly smoky and delicious. Definitely fruity. Too subtle to blend.

well….it’s ok. i agree with others that the smoky flavor overwhelms the others. i found by adding a little sugar the smoke dissipated a little, letting some of the other flavor come out. still, just too much. after i added some milk (gasp!) was quite drinkable, not a bad cuppa for an afternoon, but not a favorite.

ON EDIT: second steeping waited a day, with the damp leaves left in empty pot overnight in fridge – steeped about 4 minutes, it was this time a very nice, boring black tea. most smokey flavor was gone, just a pleasant but not astounding flavor. milk and sugar helped. eh.

The roasted flavor really stands out in this Oolong. I’m generally not a huge fan of coffee flavor, but the coconut balances out the flavors nicely. I’ve had great luck with the Steepster Selects so far. Can’t wait to try my next one!

And now we’re watching the Superbowl, because…well, because I’m at Tony’s house & that’s what we do. It’s not Baseball, but I usually enjoy the commercials. :)

I’ve been working my way through the Oolongs in the Steepster Select boxes from Dec & Jan. It’s been really nice drinking them, one after another, & enjoying their differences.
The first thing that really stood out to me with this one today is the light charcoal taste from the roasting. This is nice, creamy in a coconut milk sort of way, sweet, with a fruity aftertaste. It’s also my 4th sipdown of the day I think, 9th of the weekend!

I’m finally getting around to sampling my steepster select teas.
This is a nice dong ding, with a creamy texture up front, a little roastiness & a nice sweet taste. The aftertaste is bright & grapey around the edges of my mouth, with a lingering coffee-like taste up the center of my tongue. I have a few dong dings in my collection, so I’ll have to sample them before I come back to this one again, to see if it’s really all that remarkable.

My nose is a little congested today so I am not getting much aroma from this tea. That may be why I am missing the earth and smoke that others have described. However, this is one of the best black teas I can remember having. It reminds me of the best elements of a cherry truffle without being overly sweet. For a black tea it has very little astringency so that the flavors of the tea remain smooth and linger. You can easily pickup the slight caramel sweetness and the tart cherry flavors. These flavors are very balanced. A great tea to start the day and paired nicely with the scrambled eggs I had this morning.

This is one of my new favorite oolongs. It’s very malty, like some of my favorite black teas but with more body.

Sometimes I love the descriptions of tea most of all, “aromatics of coffee, brown sugar, concord grapes…” I always find myself wondering whether the describer truly has such a sensitive palate, or if she simply has an innovative and lyrical grasp of language.

I had thought the claim that tea could taste like coffee and brown sugar a particularly inventive piece of whimsy, but I do taste something dark and coffee-ish in this cup. It is somehow comforting and down-to-earth in the way coffee is, without those light floral notes I’m so used to in oolong. However, I can’t say that I taste grapes, much less a taste as specific as concord grapes, but I like to think that someone can.
The second cup is every bit as strong and satisfying as the first.

Stronger flavor the second infusion. It’s lost some of the toasty flavor from the first steeping, still not getting coconut.

Second go of the steepster select box. Liking this one better than the karigane. Light amber in color with a toasted/nutty aroma. Another light flavor, similarly toasty and nutty.

It is sweet, but not overpowering at all – you have to be looking for it to really notice. I’ve yet to really pick up on the coconut flavor, but this is a first infusion and folks seem to be suggesting it shines in later steepings. I am happy to report that I’m not really finding the coffee note (good, since I hate coffee). One of the first oolong I’ve really enjoyed.

Steeped this at lower than the suggested parameters because I’m stuck with just a stovetop kettle at my parent’s place and the meat thermometer said this was at 180 when I tested it at the beginning of the steep.

This is altogether way too smokey for my tastes. I can’t pick up much beyond that. I’ll likely not try a second steep because of it so I will have the second pouch available for trading when I get home. I did not bring it with me. Glad I did not serve this to my mother as I’m pretty sure she would hate it. I wish I could pick up the sour cherry and caramel notes as they sound delicious.

Wow the nose of this is something I have never smelled on a roasted Dong Ding. This will be my 4th that I have tasted. Doing this in the gaiwan.

Smell: sweet brown sugar, coffee, a creamy nutty smell.
First Steep: After a quick rinse I do a 20 sec brew time to start things off. No much coming through, not as roasting as I would expect.

Smell: More coffee, and coconut coming off the gaiwan. Smells even better.
2nd Steep: Still not much on taste coming through. This tea is a lot lighter then I would expect.

So far I am intrigued I just wish it will give me a little more. Long steeping will hopefully change this.

Mehhhh I was not a fan of this. I am not in favor of smokey teas unfortunately. There were hints of tart from the cherry and a taste that reminded me of burnt sugar maybe that was the smokiness combining with the caramel untertones. So therefore I cannot rate this tear out of my dislike in this taste.