Cory O'Brien Send Message

This is a great tea. Smooth, caramel flavor, with a sweet aroma and a golden color. The leaves are high quality, and it shows in the resulting drink, which doesn’t need any sweeteners or other additions to make this one amazing cup.

Guess I should have read the instructions on this one first, because I think I over-steeped it. The leaves smell very mossy, with a ‘fishtank’ smell that others have mentioned. The tea itself brews up a deep, dark brown color, with a wood/moss/earth aroma. The flavor is actually pretty mellow, with moss and earth dominating the first steep. Will need to re-steep and see what happens…

I finished my sample size tin today, so thought I’d log my last impressions.

I enjoy this tea, though it doesn’t have any outstanding qualities that set it apart from other teas. It has a nice golden color, smooth taste and pleasant aroma, though ‘mellow’ is probably the best word to describe the experience.

If you’re looking for a solid, no-nonsense tea that you can enjoy any time of the day, this is it. If you want something that demands respect and grabs hold of your taste buds with a parade of flavor, you’re going to need to look elsewhere.

Killed this tin today, so this will be a fond farewell.

Apparently I have quite the sweet-tooth, because I LOVE this tea! It’s mostly sweet with a little sour, and tastes like an Apple Jolly Rancher. If you’re looking for something to snap you out of a funk, or just don’t want a typical tea flavor, then grab some of this and enjoy, because it’s as close to candy in a glass as you’re going to get.

Plus, it’s easy to steep because you can’t really over-steep it (more time just makes it even sweeter) and it doesn’t need any sugar or other additions, so it’s the perfect cup to make when you’re not looking to keep a close eye on a picky pot.

In sum: I’m definitely sad to see this one go!

Finished off this tin today, so I wanted to log my parting thoughts:

I really like this tea. It brews a deep, dark brown color, and has a rich and smokey aroma/flavor that demands your attention. That said, it’s not bitter or sharp, so you can really sip it and enjoy it without adding anything to it. (The way I prefer my teas.)

Plus, it’s fun to watch the tea unfold and unravel, and you get some odd looks when you’re prepping a pot of tea that just includes a few marble sized balls of leaves.

All in all, a winner in my book.

I’m a big fan of this chai. It has a wonderful sweetness to the flavor, a pleasant aroma, and the leaves have a sweet/spicy smell that is really inviting.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat from yelling at last night’s San Fran Giants game, so I was looking for something soothing that wouldn’t be too strong or potent. Thankfully, this Dragonwell hit the spot, as it has a nice mix of mellow ‘vegetal’ flavor and minerality.

The leaves always surprise me a bit, since they’re so flat and dry, but they do their fair share of expanding when you steep them, and fill up the teapot nicely. The color of the tea is a really light yellow, which looks less flavorful than the tea actually tastes.

All in all, a good choice for a sore throat morning.

Welcome back, Golden Monkey! You’re still a little more bitter than I’d prefer, but that’s probably due to your high caffeine content, so I’ll let it go. This time.

You’re also a little more flavorful than I remember, which is a good thing. You’ve got a well rounded flavor that’s enhanced by a pleasant aroma, which makes me wonder if I didn’t steep you properly the last time we met?

Either way, I’m happy to get to know you again, and look forward to our next encounter.