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Taste and smells like a mega syrupy cherry pie. Dy leaf scent is like finely cooked crust drizzled in sugared up cherry glaze. Or that’s the graham cracker I’m perceiving.

In terms of taste, it is incredibly similar to the Chocolate Cherry Latte Oolong. Strong cherry with a smoother tea base. The Fujian is pretty chocolaty for a black tea base, but I kinda expected that from the description and my experience with this particular tea. I also taste the vanilla, but it goes back and forth from the cherry. Unlike the Cherry Latte, there is a little bit of a tartness similar to cherry cough syrup which I’m a little bit hesitant about. Some might consider the cherry syrup aspect to be more like pancake cherry syrup or the thick cherry sugar syrup that you cook in the pies. That tartness is really coming from the rosehip and the raspberry leaves, which is good and realistic, but an ingredient that I hesitate about personally. Sometimes, they overtake the vanilla but that could be just me.

I’m really glad that I sampled this tea and again I’m impressed with the Fujian tea base and the cherry flavoring. The thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the aftertaste from the rosehip which is just a personal preference. Rosehip IS basically the border of fruity too fruity for me despite my affiliation for fruity teas. It is also really close to cranberry, which I usually prefer in a cold drink…until I find a tea that makes me change my mind. I guess I like tropical fruit and stone fruit more in my tea. It also has the same occasional flatness that the Cherry Chocolate Latte can have if over or under steeped. I’m losing the flavor too much in those moments. Hence me having a heftier sample to experiment with.

I’ll be writing more about this tea since all I know that I like it but not in love with it as I have been with some of Lauren’s other teas. So I’m not making a full judgement yet.

Rating remains same. Gong fu’d a wopping 5 grams of this in 4-6 ounces. Leaves had a silvery grey color which kinda concerned me so I finished it off.

It tasted more like a Jin Jun Mei than a Dianhong to me. Malt, sweet potato, leather, a little bit of cocoa, and some sweetness was what I tasted. Now I can’t help but to crave Berylleb’s Dianhong. Glad I finished this off, but not my number one choice for a daily Dianhong for now. Not in the conditions of how I brewed it today or the leaves at least.

Thank you Lauren for the sample!

Well, I like this one. I did not expect it to be as sweet as it was, but the cardamom and the pistachio together are really sweet. The pistachio itself is a creamy nutty. The black tea base is malt, through and through with the chai spices in the background. I love that the cardamom and pistachio are dominant being the closest thing that I can get to a Kashmiri or Noon Chai at the moment. Unfortunately, I can’t pick out the other spices as distinctly and the tea base was flat compared to the flavors in the tea. A splash of milk, however, brought the other profiles to light giving a little bit more nuance to the tea.

I’m not sure I’d buy an ounce of this personally, but I do think this is a good chai.

I was not to sure about this one. But I only got a cheap $1 sample of it, so what the heck?

I actually was pretty impressed with it. I was worried that the rose would overpower the jasmine, or vice versa. I was also not too sure how the white and green teas would blend in body-if it would be too grassy, OVERLY floral, or overly dry. But I had none of those problems, save flower power. I like highly floral teas anyway. Jasmine and rose are equally strong. The jasmine provides the strong, floral creaminess it normally does but in the beginning sip and in the aftertaste while rose is present in the middle.

The tea is actually on the sweeter side-which could be attributed to the flowers or the jasmine pearls. The jasmine pearls themselves are pretty excellent, but I gotta give kudos to the white tea for having such a smooth body and an occasional malt, or cocoa like tasting note. I thought it tasted a lot like the Teabox Glendale White Darjeeling I have, but a lot sweeter and more packed with flavor. In some ways, I would describe this tea more like a Mediterranean or maybe an Indian Dessert.

I would definitely recommend this tea for flower lovers. My main criticism is the price and the quantity of tea leaves you need per cup.

Sad sipdown. I’ve been delaying finishing this off. It has all the qualities of Laoshan I love in a lighter package. Refer to my other notes for the details.

I’m glad to finish this off. It was pretty good with the strawberry blending into the highly muscatel black tea and the cinnamon. The chocolate I partially tasted powdering the background, but it too faded as more of a tasting note quality of the tea. Like I concluded before, too subtle with the flavorings. If I can taste faint notes of strawberry, I could just go ahead and buy a tea that has those notes stronger AND without flavoring for the same price or cheaper.

Sipdown!

Well, I was hesitating to finish this off at the right time. The grassy dry leaf smell constantly changed my mind when I wanted to have a cup of this, but when I actually drink it, it’s as rosy and brisk as ever. I still would rate it higher because of how complex it is and the price for it on Teabox, it’s just that I don’t have the sudden urge to stock up on it. The sample was enough for me, which does show that this is a great quality tea in how satisfied I was with how little I had of it. At the same time, it is not a “I must always have” tea. Glad to be rid of it in my 16 ounces anyway.

You really can’t go wrong with this tea for a Darjeeling, save for bitter grassy over steeps. The astringency is like a cross between a black and green one, really. Refer to my prior note for a better idea for taste. But for those in a rush or those who don’t really care, it tastes like rose, light malt, and freshly cut grass. You can also get anywhere from two to five brews out of two teaspoons and nine ounces- shorter steeps for more cups, longer steeps for less but stronger cups.

This became one of my favorite white teas after a while. I’ve had many since I started on steepster, and only a few have had the natural melon and corn sweetness this one possess. It also steeps fairly strong. And it does awesomely in my tea tumbler. I rated it 85 because I thought I wouldn’t want to keep this one on hand, but maybe get some every once in a while. Now that I’m finishing it off, I just realized how much I liked it in comparison to most white teas. If you’re newly reading my notes on this, I would recommend this as a prime example of silver needle. Just as good light and dark being steeped in a variety of ways.

Drinking some Gyokuro that LP granted and it is fairly creamy. Super creamy, vegetal, and seaweed like. Glad I had a sample. Again, thank you!

Yay! A pu-erh that I fully enjoy the taste of! Apricots, pleasant sourness, and straw are what I get. Old grass and apricots are more what I get, followed by fresh grass and an overall clean liquor. 15 sec, 10, 20, and that’s what I’m leaving for now. 2.5 ounces and 185 degrees.

The cha qi effected me at the second steep. First steep felt a little uplifting, but the second pushed a pleasant buzz numbing the center of my body. Then an odd sense of clear headed-ness followed, then a weird pressure like a headache. Specifically my occipital, jaw, and forehead. Hence me stopping.

Definitely an interesting experience, but I’ve had a few other Pu-Erh’s with the same apricot clean taste. Whatever type of Pu-Erh it is, I know that I prefer it and prefer whatever lighter version that I think it is. I’m glad I tried it, but I couldn’t see myself purchasing it. It’s good; I just am still in the comfort zone of oolongs, black, and whites. I will write more on this cup when I do more brews.