Daylon R Thomas Send Message

BOGO backlog. A bit dissappointed with this one. It’s only worked gong fu so far. Otherwise, it’s too grassy. I know, I’m an ungrateful snob. Florals and slight fruitiness gong fu, but western and grandpa, it’s grassy and tastes like underripe banana or a green Maofeng. Hopefully, I can figure it out again. I know I got a deal on it, though I kinda wish I saved for other teas. I actually liked the Lishan I accidentally got a little bit more.

I got 50 grams of this with the doubling sale for Crafted Tea Leaf, so I got 25 grams in price, but got twice the amount, and I’m pretty happy about it. I’ve only had it once western mug style using 3 minutes, and it’s really close to it’s mainland counterpart. Heavy red fruit notes in the light malt of the tea, and brews several times with slight astringency, but no harshness except some slightly bitter notes. Very heavy on the nutty qualities and sweetness. Soooo good, but hits me a little bit with the caffeine. I’m not ready to rate it until I gong fu it. I’m otherwise pretty pleased.

The Wanderlust Teas have been hits for me so far again and again. This one is an easy like for me because it combines all the flavors I like such as Melon, Ginger, and Coconut, and it was done really well. I fully expected it to be a black tea since it was initially written as Bali Breakfast and a black in the adds, but Zhena went with a white tea. All of the white teas have been really exceptionally flavored, so I’m not complaining. I’ve contemplated on getting more Ravello, so there’s that. I know, I’m basic.

But I like this one a lot because one flavor doesn’t dominate the other. The coconut and ginger marry each other, and the melon flavors the tail end of each sip followed by some texture and fruity qualities from the apple. I’ve only had it once hot, but I really like it. I wonder if I’ll write more on it, but it meets the marks of things I like. It’s very similar to the Cancer tea, whereas that one has a very creamy candied ginger mango taste, this one is straight up fruity. Now, onto the next teas.

Another blue tea. I should have gone with one of the more interesting ones, I know, like the meringue pie or the limtied editions Currant one or Pineapple Champagne Lavender French one, but I like coconut.

This one was one I was hyped for, but kinda felt underserved. It brews better iced than the cheesecake one, but it’s a little bit more subtle on the flavor. Pina Colada vibes for sure, but the banana overtakes the coconut sometimes. Unfortunately, it almost requires coconut milk to really sing and show off the blue color of the butterfly pea flower. I do like it and think it’s good, but I need to try it hot to have a fully formed opinion. I still really like the idea of the tea and think it does serve its purpose as a nonboozy pina colada alternative, but the banana pulls away from the coconut. That could be good if you’re not a coconut fan, but I am.

Iced version of Pisces, but with a more simple flavor profile. I oddly liked it better hot over iced. It takes about 3 hrs to get it right in the fridge with the sachet, and using a whopping 10 grams of tea in a pitcher to get it right. You can rebrew it, albeit weaker. The color is a vibrant blue color that can turn purple, and the taste is really close to blueberry cheesecake. The cooler temperature dilutes the cheesecake flavor and ups the vanilla and blueberry, whereas it’s more forward hot and creamy sweet hot. Granted, I like cheesecake warmed by hot fruit, but that’s my preference.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty good tea. I came back to it a few times. I do think it’s a little overpriced and not quite as good as Pisces, but it’s still impressive and rebrews up to four times hot without losing too much of its flavor.

A pure unflavored tea! I wonder how long it’s been limited edition for, because I know it’s been on the site for a year. Reading that it was just a Laoshan Black, and I’ve been craving Laoshan black, I picked some up a few orders ago with the iced tea blends to give it a chance for $33 and 6 oz of loose leaf. A gamble, I know, but it turned out to be a solid one.

It’s really good and heavy on raw cocoa and toasted chestnut in profile, with some smoke and bitterness that’s actually pleasant. It’s got a creamy viscousness that contrasts with the nutty and bitter elements hitting me with some tannin in he right places. Mug style western is malted with a little bit of honey/cherry, but gong fu draws it out. It works a little better gong fu, though the malt is better western. It works in my Eclipse tumbler, sitting there semi grandpa, so it’s a good quality tea. I sometimes wonder if it’s an older tea because it’s not as oily as a fresh Laoshan black and a little bit drying in some areas despite having a lovely profile.

So far, I’ve mixed it quite a bit with my other magic hour teas and it beefs up softer blends with cocoa, smoke, and toastiness in the bodies. It blends really well with Bohemian Breakfast and Aquarius, as well as my Michigan Yunnan Style black.

I’ve come back to this one quite a bit. I like it more than some of the blacks I have on hand, but I go back to my blends instead every once in a while. The occasional dryness is the only thing that keeps me from going back to it more.

I’m procrastinating new teas for one’s I’ve neglected. This one has faded a little, but not much. The few times I’ve had it gong fu were good, and it’s solid western, though a hare too strong depending on how much tea I have. Pineapple malt and a whiff of smoke can describe the overall flavor again, although it’s not a smoked itself. They are just in hints.

I am not sure why I haven’t finished this one. I keep putting it off even though it’s one of my better quality teas with fruity qualities. I think it might be the caffeine content since this one gives me headaches. I don’t know if it’s tea drunkenness of what. Again, it’s ironic because this has a profile I love in my black teas. My drawer’s nearly refilled again, and I’ve mostly drank my blended blacks and Laoshans instead of my pure blacks. I’ve had a few new really good ones, but not a lot of one’s I’ve repeated. I’d rate this one in the 90s, but my mood has it in the 80s. Then again, I have a few green oolongs that haven’t been satisfying me either. Don’t know what my deal is.

I’m behind on my tea reviews, and unfortunately, most of them are new teas that aren’t on the site….again. So I’ll start easy with the ones I’ve got on hand or are already in the database, and then add the others slowly. Some of them are incredible, and there’s something new, and more, from Magic Hour, Liquid Proust, Steven Smith, Crafted Tea Leaf, and swaps. I’m half tempted to add them to random at once, but some deserve more attention.

As to these, I’ve sipped down Epiphany while camping, and made some Joyous today. Epiphany will be missed, dearly for its fruity vanilla combo and its headache relieving power.

Joyous hit me a little differently today. I’ve been reading the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Maas with my girl friend for one of my summer reads. I’ve only finished six books so far, 2 nonfiction, and the rest fantasy. I’ve got some THOUGHTS on those books, and I’d be happy to see if there are any other readers. I’m enjoying it, but have a lot of reservations about certain aspects of character development and ethics. Anyway, the cirtus and salt description of one of the cities in the book series, Valeris, made me go for citrus and passion, so Joyous is my “teaparing” for it. Aries would have been great for the first book since it’s Beauty and the Beast, kindof, but the second and third, I’m not sure. Joyous has a very strong citrus, vanilla, and slight minerality to it that made me think it was a good choice. It’s also the passion chakra for groovy nerds, and the sensuality connection is also decent.

As for the tea, I’m enjoying it more than I initially did. I rebrewed it three times with roughly four grahams mug style, and it was a great balance of orange, bergamot, vanilla, and malt with no astringency or bitterness whatsoever. I can’t remember if there’s any spice to it, yet there was barely a hint in exchange for smoother flavors. The Epiphany and the Throat Chakras are still my favorite of this bunch of 7 teas, but Joyous is growing on me.

I’m going to save money and only pick teas I like this summer…..$150 later…

Yeah. I’m a sucker. I got a bunch of teas from Magic Hour and Wang Family Tea, some of which I intend on fully sharing. I got this tea with the small leaf Shan Lin Xi Black and a Qin Yun Oolong, and I honestly was not a huge fan of either of those two teas, which I’ll describe in a few posts away. This one, however, I was. I feel guilty that I really like the nuclear green oolong tea saturating markets, but green oolongs are my sweet treats without the sugar. Leafhopper was concerned this would be too roasted based on appearance, but going off of the notes and my taste, this is definitely on the floral greener side of fruity and roasted.

Roasts are meant to enhance the flavors of the tea, and this one showcases it. It has no hints of charcoal whatsoever, and is very similar to the Jasmine Scented Shan Lin Xi they sell, and that I regret not getting more of. That one is a staple for me right now. Going back to this one, I’ve followed their methods of 55,45, 50, and it’s very heavy on honey, florals, and jasmine with a bit of a sweetness like raw sugar. Longer steeps has a slightly heathered profile, shorter ones are more floral and surprisingly just as viscous. It doesn’t really evolve passed steep 4 or 5, but it keeps on delivering flavor. The tea is super stemmy, so it’s naturally very sweet with large leaves.

I actually like using less leaves for more western sessions so far even though it’s fun to play with gong fu. I’ve only experimented a little with the end of two gong fu sessions with it, but I’ll write more when I brew this tea mug style. I’m not ready to rate it yet, so I’ll end with a positive note that this is my kind of light roast oolong.

Thanks Derk!

Insanely fruity for flash steeps gong fu. I’ve been letting it sit no more than 10 seconds in the first few rounds and letting it sing. 4th round, I just let it sit for about am minute.

I’m not sure how to describe this one other than fruity, tannic, and a little bit of mineral and malt. Like everyone else, this definitely leans more in black categories of notes, but it’s also got the florals of the Dancong. The texture and the brewed leaves kinda look like a Laoshan Black, and even some Himalayan Oolongs. Reminds me of hibiscus a little bit-not the tea version-the other flower that is named that. I do get pineapple and banana for sure, but I kept on getting a red fruit in the taste too. It’s like the sweetness in a strawberry or raspberry right before they go tart. Better yet, cherry in smell and taste. Now that I looked at the note on the page, I can’t not think of it. It tastes like yellow cherries and red cherries.

I would have gotten a decent sample of this when I was first getting into teas, yet I’m really happy that I only had a single sample. It’s got the butteriness that I associate yellow teas with, and it’s fruity like some blacks and oolongs. The tannin is actually welcomed, thought it can be a little bit too much tannin for me sometimes. Longer steeps brought out more cherry and more malt and tannin. Shorter steeps was definitelty the way to go for me. This is a nice break from the usual black and oolong I drink.