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Okay, I admit, I’m weak willed and got me some of this tea. Josh recommended this one along with a few others. I was going to get all three, but the coupon code wasn’t working. I emailed him about it, it still didn’t work, so I settled on just getting this one.

The dry leaf smell is amazing. It’s like smelling bourbon liquor chocolates. Had eight leaves for 9 ounces, and the first brew at three minutes was pretty good. Fruity, closer to cherry, chocolaty, and boozy with the bourbon. Steep two at four, and the bourbon is still there but with the typical roasted and woodsy profile of this type of oolong. It reminds me of a Hojicka a little bit. The third steep is flat.

I am going to try this again with a few more leaves. It would probably work Gong Fu, but Western or Grandpa is probably better for the bourbon flavor. I like this, but it was not worth the twelve bucks plus seven dollars in shipping that I paid for it. Should have went with my first instinct and got the green version of this, maybe even the Pu-Erh. The bourbon would actually go really well with the green florals and probably make for an amazing tea. With the Pu-Erh, it would provide a dense foundation sweetened by this chocolaty booze. Not that the bourbon blends badly with this-in fact the first taste is amazing because of it. The fact that I got such a full bodied profile with so few leaves is amazing. It’s just not worth the price.

I hesitated to get this one at first though I was immediately attracted to it. I’ve started a quest to look for white teas, and I nearly got the Glendale Silver Needle because of how rosy it was, but, I’ve also yet to be satisfied with a Pu-Erh. Amanda and Haveteawilltravel’s notes had me convinced that I might otherwise enjoy this for the price. I did, and I gotta say it’s pretty unique.

Followed the steeping suggestions save one extra five second rinse. Pepper corn and light citrus like tangerine are in the tastes. But they are so strong that they really fall into the category of flavor. Twenty seconds, and it has a very present dill taste with more florals, citrus, and honeyed sweetness. The next two are more herbaceaous and malty, but still spicy, and I get the grapefruit taste Haveteawilltravel is talking about. I expected it to be more of a hint, but no, I actually tasted grapefruit changing back and forth from tangerine. It gets sweeter to me in these two steeps because the honey and light citrus tastes remain with the spiciness. Later on more fruity, but not as sweet and very near being vinegar like in texture and taste. This is past the minute and thirty second point, and it can probably go on. I’ll stop for now.

I would say I feel like I got my money’s worth for this tea and it is definitely a Pu-Erh that appeals to me. Yunnan Moonlight Whites are actually my favorite, and as with any of them, this tea gives me a really controlled but enduring energy flow. I’m just not sure how often I’d drink it.

The tasting notes of peppercorn, dill, citrus, and a bit of the honey sweetness are all highly discernible and not flavors I’d all want over and over again. Like I said before, they are so strong that they are practically flavors. I’d be surprised if someone, even if they don’t drink tea that often, would not taste the strong spiciness, herbiness, and fruitiness this tea has. I’d recommend this if you’re exploring white tea and pu-erh because this shows a dimension to the teas that you may or may not imagine.

Again, thank you Brenden for letting me sample this!

I agree with LuckyMe and HaveTeaWillTravel entirely. It tastes just like a Mi Xiang Dan Cong with a slight Da Hong Pao sweetness. Followed the instructions exactly, and get most of the notes described but in fainter amounts. This could be due to the leaf amount I used, but the same consistencies are there. Chestnut, butter, and a bit of toasted coconut are in the first two steeps at five seconds. Almond is in every one of them including a taste really close to butternut squash. Mineral and oak are more in the next two at 10 and 20. Still almond like with barley and a bit of oak at 25 and 30. 45, I kinda get the white wine he was talking about or a light beer like taste without the sweetness. Oak and mineral are more obvious to me. Finally at 1 min and 30, and about the same but smoother and fuller bodied, yet otherwise very, very mellow.

Well, I quite enjoyed this tea. I’m really picky when it comes to Da Hong Pao because of how certain tastes, like oak or sugar, can dominate the cup. Here, it is incredibly mellow, relaxing, but focusing. I sampled this to see if I would like it enough to get an ounce, but I like the sample amount that I have. Doubtless worth a try to see the variety of forms Da Hong Pao comes in.

More for pickier tea drinkers and supertasters than newer drinkers. Some might like the nutty mellowness of it, or they might be bored. Yet that really needs to be decided after I try it Western.

About what you would call a tablespoon in 10 ounces on the go to work, grandpa style x4, and I get the lovely cocoa and malt. But this is a lighter, more sophisticated tea than last time. There’s actually a bit of what I might over describe as sweet potato, rose, and a weird honeydew melon type of creamy texture. Not really honeydew, but more like the honeydew you get from a white tea. And it’s pretty wonderful.

WAY OLD BACKLOG. Okay. With 5-6 leaves, this works well Western AND Grandpa. And it tastes a lot like a Darjeeling, which should be no surprise considering how close they are in terms of fermentation. I find myself craving this one, so, cause I can remember it and distinguish it, I’m raising the rating. It also lasted me a while.

Sip down…holy crap I want more of this tea. I had voracious yan cha oolong cravings last month if you can crave a tea. Now, I’m craving chocolaty, rosy, muscatel Darjeelings and Earl Greys like a cigarette addict.

Thank you Brenden for spoiling me at my request! And I KNEW I should have snugged some Jabberwocky for myself. Oh well. Callooh callay there’s only three before it goes away.

But I knew I had to at least try this tea. I hesitated with this one because Ben Shan is a green oolong, and green oolong+spices is a risky mix because green oolongs have delicate flavors and are usually buttery or floral if strong. But I knew that the cedar would be the central actor for this tea, and Brenden’s description are telling.

Brewing, started out with three minutes and I get the evergreen he writes about. The Ben Shan itself is on the greener side: green oolongs are really just creamier, fruitier and often more floral green teas. At least to me, or that’s what they are like to a newer drinker. This indeed has the creamy, slightly buttery and floral background. But they are the back ground, and thus the canvas. The chai spices are the paints and hues, with the spearmint and tulsi dripping into the foreground like dew on the eventual cedar. There’s even a little bit of a caramel texture going on, but again, that’s the cedar beginning to open up.

The second brew at four minutes continues the first one’s tastes with a more noticeable cedar, tulsi and spearmint combining into a very distinguishable eucalyptus no matter the palette. Quite green, and very, very fresh. Like a breeze from the Upper Peninsula without a doubt.

And finally, the third brew at five minutes and beyond, and the cedar with the oolong take over. So fresh, and crisp. It becomes the same lingering eucalyptus as Rivendell, but with a spicier finish. Technically, this tea is done but I can brew this even more for the notes of the cedar.

I am very glad to have tried this tea. The cedar, mint and tulsi blend incredibly well with the chai spices. My main criticism is that the oolong fades a little bit too much for me in the background, but the oolong really shouldn’t be that strong for this blend anyway. The other big hesitation is price and I’ve unfortunately had green chais pretty similar to this tea, but the cedar makes the biggest difference. Personally, I prefer the Harvest Chai to this one, but I do like that I get the best aspects of Rivendell save the vanilla in this cup.

This tea is for mint lovers hands down. Actually, it’s like turning an Altoids into a tea and drizzling it with honey.

Dripping grey clouds coat the sky in chilling wetness and muck. No rain, snow or hail for now, but the wind blows tenaciously to get water on someone. If it doesn’t, then it can savor the accomplishment of keeping the fine people of Michigan State University cooled and determined to profit Starbuck’s. I, however, am an agonizing nonconformist with his glass travel mug and an over sized tea ball. And thus, Harvest Chai becomes the Excalibur against this weather and the horrendous onslaught of blind consumerism. It aids me well and tastes so, so good.

This is officially my favorite Chai. I really hope that Brenden releases this tea again, and I would highly recommend it to chai lovers or people wanting to try something from his company. My mom actually liked it and she is not exactly a chai person. I can only see people being detracted by the price and how mellow this oolong is compared to the vivid descriptions you get on the website….or what I’m writing. In short, it tastes like a chai with a smooth, crisper tea that is closer to a black, but not too robust. It is as mild as fall, which is the season this tea caters to. It’s also the bane of winter rain.

I have one last serving before this tea is gone. Yes, I’m being melodramatic. I’m a 20 year old Social Studies major reading Plutarch and Livy in a modern art museum, all while wearing a grey heathered cardigan, black, glossy workout pants, a black and grey designer scarf, and a black v neck lounge shirt one size too tight. What more pretension can you expect?

I got it today, and I overleafed my cup this morning for Gong Fu. But I have a lot of this tea, so I’m much freer for mistakes. Chesnut, coffee, honey, salt, and dried fruit are what I’m getting. There’s also a weird astringency that is not sitting well on my stomach. I was hoping for something kinda like WP’s Tie Guan Yin Dark Roast, but it’s a lot closer to the Roasted Osmanthus I have from Mountain Tea. I loved that one the first time I tried it, but later, I could barely drink it because of it’s fatty after taste and intense amount of caffeine. It also had an astringency that distinctly reminded me of salt. I’m currently drinking this on an empty stomach. Salty and caffeine= bad idea.

Nuts and roasted nuts is the taste I get throughout, and as it cools down, a very strong vanilla note pops out. This is a HIGHLY complex tea. It is also WAY too strong for me right now. Granted, I wanted fewer leaves anyway. So I’m really lowering the amount of leaves next time Gong Fu, and I also need a very few leaves western or grandpa.

Lament and sipdown. I wish I had more of this because it really changed my perceptions of Darjeeling. Never before would I think a black tea to taste so much like a fresh oolong or green tea. It is herbaceous, nice, and invigorating. Considering it cured my headache and my caffeine withdrawal symptoms, this is one of my personal favorites. It also made me want to try even more of Teabox’s teas: namely, the Glendale Silver Needle Spring White. I love rosy teas, and I’m actually a bit of a white tea drinker.

Yet there’s the shipping and budget to consider. And the sheer amount of teas I already have. And the few teas that are coming. But. My eyes will be on that one the next time it goes on sale. This one and the Giddapahar Special Muscatel included.