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I got the combo to try it out in my last order. It was a fun set of blends that surprised me.

I’m not usually huge into mint blends, but I use them when my stomach is off or I have a headache. The last good one I had was the Bedouin Blend from Adhara, and there’s similar vibes in this one.

The lavender and jasmine actually sweeten these up and give the tea a denser body than a usual herbal. Both have the same vanilla mint profile that you get from those pastel colored mint white chocolate candies you get at Christmas or from a grandma. My girlfriend thought of buttermints when smelling them. Tasting them, the profile is the same as the smell, and a little bit richer.

I preferred the daytime tea a little bit more because the black tea thickened the body just enough to add a hint of malt, but it’s more butter mint floral combo instead of malty black. The nighttime one is a bit thinner, and is a little bit more satisfying as a coldbrew.

I feel boring in how I’m describing them, but I really like these blends. The candy profile got me going through half the daytime bag and it’s helped with cravings, so it’s a bonus. It felt atypical to me and combined things together that worked really well. It was not overly drying, and it was very refreshing and creamy for an herbal style tea.

Sending some derk and Leafhopper’s way. I hope both of you like this one! I finished a wopping 6-7 grams of it gong fu, and it was satisfying. It went back and forth between the quality nut like roast of chesnut, to greener cups of honey and lilac. My earlier review sums up my opinion and note pretty well. I’m happy I tried it, and happier that I’m sharing it. I’m not sure if I would have been able to finish 75 grams of it despite how much I like it. This tea is something you take your time with in spring on the weekend to fully appreciate it yet.

Got a sample, and I’m pretty pleased with it. I thought the Mango was a little bit more muted than I like compared to the peach, but the profile was balanced well with the Gayusa. I liked the Renewal a little bit more because of its rose, but this one can grow on me. I’ve mugged it western, and it’s super refreshing. I’ll finish it easy for sure even though I’m not ready to rate it. I think I like Momo a little bit more too in terms of price.

I’ll likely change my mind again. The leaves probably need more room to breath.

Backlog:

Of course I loved all the fruity ones.

Lychee Oolong-Obviously a favorite. Almost candylike, has some notes you get in a milk oolong at the base, though it’s clearly tie guanyin. Rebrewed it four times western at increments of 2 minutes and more. I kept coming back to it.

Lychee Black-just as good, if not better and more fruity. There’s a little bit of a cocoa malt note in first steep, but later steeps make it punchier like a natural coolaide.

Peach Oolong-exactly as expected and satisfying. It also had more of a milky texture and aroma surprisingly, edging more towards thick and creamy white peach. I really liked it.

I’d definitely get another box of the Lychee Teas and the Jasmine Black if it weren’t expensive. Definitely a step up above your usual teabag overall.

I got the Yuzu Cloud a few weeks ago, and now time to review. It’s got the same profile as the others, but with the expected citrus kick. It’s a little bit sweeter and more floral/citrusy making some parallels to Earl Grey, but the smoke and cocoa profile is more prominent than the actual citrus. It does work gong fu, but western with a little bit of cream really emphasizes the citrus. I liked it more than a few others, but it’s not as strong as Cocoa Smoke for me. I still think it’s a great tea. Derk, they’re all on their way!!!!

I thought this one was intended to be an oolong, but no, it’s a white tea for this month’s Wanderlust Collection. I was surprised there was no vanilla and expected a potpouiri vibe with all the flowers in it.

Trying it out, it actually nails a very balanced floral boquet in a clean glass of butterfly peaflower blue. Rose, red currant, bergamot, and lavender are the overall flavor with the chamomile base mending with the white base in a smooth clean body. The chrysantemum sweetens it, but thankfully, is not more dominant than the other florals. I kept coming back to it with just two teaspoons gong fu and tumbler style. Fortunately, I got a generous amount in my sample bag this time. It’s comparable to the Cancer blend and the Crown Chakra blend. This was actually what I wanted and hoped the crown blend to be like, so it’s a win.

It’s good coldbrew in a lazy tumbler style to. I could see myself finishing this one quickly. I still like Ravello a little bit more, but I also could grow more fond of this blue gem.

Saw this on instagram from Ana Likes tea, and I had to check them out. They were very generous and included three teas I was checking out that I did not get in my main cart or with this package, so I will start with those. I probably should make a page for each, but I’m limited on time and will still highly recommend them anyway.

Starting out with, I tried the Orchid Oolong, a Dong Ding style tea on the medium to dark end of the spectrum. It was very fruity and immensely woodsy, but had a lot more complexity than a usual dong ding teabag. I brewed it about three times, and the first and second steeps had strong flavors reminding me of hazelnut. I usually have to be in the mood for this style of tea, but I came back to it frequently for the one bag I had.

Next, I tried the Golden Peony Black tea. It was very smooth and floral, and way above the usual tea you get in a sachet. Honeysuckle, butter, malt, wood, cocoa, and maybe osmanthus or chrysantemum in the taste. Insanely nuanced. I would not buy a lot of it, but I enjoyed the four steeps I had of it.

Grape Jasmine-insanely good green tea. A little bit artificial, but in Lupicia leagues of flavoring. There were a lot of similiarties to Queen’s Muscat overall. Easy tea for me to enjoy, and the green tea leaves were very tippy with trichomes. It was a little bit astringent, so lighter brews of 2 minutes or less was favorable.

Now for the teas actually in the sample:

I tried the Red Date Pu-Erh first, and was put off a little bit. Mushroomy, brothy, a little bit of nuttiness and some sweetness, but it was too earthy for me. Some almond milk cream brought out the sweeter and nuttier tones over the earthier ones. Not as much of a fan of it.

Osmanthus Oolong-great Tie Guan Yin base, and easy drinker. First brews were refreshing and more distinct. If overbrewed, it could be astringent easy, but it’s mostly peacy, osmanthus and orchid heavy with a watercress profile. It was weak after steep three though.

Last tea I tried was the Summer Jasmine Black. It was an easy favorite, and insanely fruity. I got ton of notes of lychee, red fruit, jasmine, tropical elements, and a sweet light fruit malt like a fruit rollup. The base black tea kinda looked like a first flush tea, or a greener end black. It was darker than the green base, but the leave and trichome patterns were the same. This tea was perfect for me straight. If it weren’t so expensive, I’d easily get a box of this one.

Overall, impressive teabags and quality service. I’m holding off on the others because lychee is a favorite flavor that I want to savor.

I’ve eyed this one for a while, and decided to gert 30 grams of this. I contemplated getting 60, but it would have been 14 bucks more, and I’m trying to be more frugal right now….meaning I’ve already spent more money on other stuff. Instagram got the better of me, and I bought a Matcha preworkout that’s extremely tasty along with a variety pack from a Canadian company called Gogonuts with boba milk tea flavored whey protein packs that are insanely good. Many of the bases of the powder have tea in them.

Back to this one! It’s exactly as Shiuwen described, and super easy going and forgiving Jin Xuan with the best combo of florals and mouthfeel. There’s a light roast to this one that you can’t really taste, but it gives off a very nutty and cookie like aroma in the dryleaf. Tasting it, it’s vaguely nutty like a macadamia and high in the buttered milk notes. The honey is there more like honeysuckle, and the teas florals lean more in a purple direction of the flower category, bordering between plumeria and hyacinth in hints, and violet later on.

I’ve only had it western in a mug and in longer steeps gong fu with my Manual Tea Brewer (Spirit Branded Gaiwan) 20 sec rinse, 35 sec, 45 sec, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, then essentially grandpa. I got more nutty tones western style after about 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Gong fu, there were more floral qualities and more viscousity.

I felt like it stood up even to my flavored oolongs, and a lot the Jin Xuans I’ve had lately are up to par with some of the higher mountain stuff. This teas only down side is the lack of longevity for 3-4 grams. I went lighter so I can share more with Leafhopper, though I have a strong feeling that this would do really well in the 7 gram serving territory gong fu. I preferred Western ever so slightly because I got more nutty and savory qualities with the sweeter florals that way. I’d definitely recommend this one in a green oolong rotation for sure, and what’s unique about it is how balanced in smooth it is. This is the oolong that you’d expect to taste through the way companies try to sell Milk Oolong in the first place, and like Shiuwen, it’s got all the qualities I look for in my oolongs too. Easily a tea I’d place between a 85-92% rating.

The long week ended with my High School kiddos doing the actual Disney Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast for their spring, so I’ve been obsessed and very proud ever since and decided that this tea was the “Movie Pairing” I want for my long winded diatribe I’m aching to write. Watching it was a reminder to me of where I think the Emma Watson live adaptation missed major marks. The stage direction was scene my scene, moment by moment, even costume by costume a recreation of the Broadway play with a high schools budget. One of my students played the Beast, and he hammered those deep notes in the harder hitting songs of the play, and the Belle actually performed “Home” and delivered it in an amazing alto range the way it’s supposed to be sang.The students also did the full mug clasp dance choreagraphy for “Me” (Gaston). Now, it’s the most problematic and Stockholmiest version of the Disney story since the Beast actually hits her, and there’s some layers to it in their songs framing the Beast as someone who is losing control of himself. It’s also the horniest-pun intended- and the students went with it for the Lumiere and Plumette lines (Plumette hit on Maurice for some context).

My coworkers wanted more of the Live Action songs like Evermore and less problematic characterization, which I agreed and slightly disagreed with-but hey, I’m biased! Beauty and the Beast was my first ever Broadway show in New York City, so I’ve got some misunderstood nostalgia and rose tinted glasses around it. My girlfriend had not seen that version, we watched both it and the original today.

Now, I like certain fixes of plot in the Live Action version, such as adding the French Revolution in the back drop and addressing the Beast as well read nobility, explaining the curse a bit more, and aging up the Beast a bit to validate its harsh punishment and so on. We both really liked it, and she admired that Belle was actually an inventor, and that the Beast surrounded himself with beautiful people=hence the curse on his appearance. The artistic direction is also incredible by both drawing directly from the original, and using time period motifs and themes intentionally. Then, there’s Emma Watson as Belle. Is she ideal for the character’s personality and a good actress? Hell to the yes. Is she a good singer…..no. There’s also a superficiality that bugged me about it despite me deeply enjoying it. Autotune distracted me way to much, and it doesn’t have the musical resonance the original nor the Broadway did. Evermore sounded kinda monotone to me, and hopeful, but not sad enough.

Now, looking at the lyrics for the Beasts songs-Evermore and and If I Can’t Love Her, the songs are extremely similar in that they’re both about the Beast fearing the curse won’t be broken. My coworkers thought If Can’t Love Her was forced and musically was not as resonant…even though it and home are musically more consistent with the central opening theme and it’s refrains are clearly heard towards the ending in both animated film and play versions. It’s also clearly more about the Beast’s deep residing depression and it basically edges on suicidal ideation, which the Beast does linger towards to in the animated and Broadway version. The Beast WANTS Gaston to kill him, and man does that make the G rating waaaaayyyyyy off. And then there’s Belle’s home song, which is her version of a “F you” you’re gonna lock me up song to the Beast-and it’s ballsy and gut punching. I’m going to go on in and on, and so back to the tea and the version that neither can exceed for me: the animated original.

This tea is extremely rosey and raw, and the Earl grey captures some french perfumes using bergamot and the blackberry flavor captures the feeling of wild berries in the meadowy forrest around Beasts castle. Beasts cannonical name is Adam, and the Aries tea is themed around the Garden of Eden, so it fit for me. Now, for the animated movie, the emotions it captures in the smallest of details and in the music is unrivaled. Belle’s hair falling into her eyes, her rolling her eyes and sneering at Gaston in disgust, the way the Beast fumbles with the spoon because his hands are tooo big, and the way the Beast and Belle stroke each other’s hair captures an intimacy that the others tend to lack.

I’m tempted to end the rant that the animated Belle is really more a victim of Furryhood than Stockholm syndrome ‘cause look at the way she blushes at Beast in that snow ball fight scene, buuuuuut I won’t. The Broadway version has the deepest and darkest lyrics with the worst problems of the story, the Liveaction has the better plotting and arguable character development for a vainer and snobbier Beast despite having debatable music quality, and the animated version captures a complexity of emotion that the other two don’t because of show don’t tell, and well there was so much work into making the original distinct. And there’s something sweet, and almost kind to this tea. Other rose teas can be mean, and course and unrefined. But this tea’s dear, and so unsure. I wonder why I didn’t see it there before.

This is the April Wanderlust monthly tea from my supscription that I meant to post before the 2023 week blackout.

I don’t have too much to add on this one. I had some hopes and dig the corresponding theme to the Kyoto season, and I think this is a spring tea, but I’ve had better Cherry Blossom tea. Cherry comes through, and since there is no actual cherry blossom, it comes off as a little generic. There’s cool layer of texture and the aprioct and rose adds more sweetness that could have just been tart. I have only brewed it twice, and honestly lost interest after cup two.

I’m not ready to rate it yet, but compared to the other wild flavor combos, I found this one pretty conventional. I may be too harsh, so we’ll see what I conclude. I’ve got more of this sample to go and I would recommend it as a good tea for sure, it’s just not as distinct as the other blends from the company. Now, I’m enjoying my oolong stash and honestly just want to get certain teas from certain places. That will probably change come summer when the harvests are in, and I’m missing some Bohemian Breakfast at the moment.