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At this point, I’ve given away most of the brick, leaving myself with only 3 pieces.

Dropped a 9g chunk into my shou stein and am sipping before I join my first class in a few years — Mandarin 1.

Before, when this shou was utterly too fresh to be drinking, it was a thick, soily emulsion. Now it’s thinner in body and taste with a lot of leather and a combination flavor of petrichor, baked bread and fake-buttered popcorn. Peppery undertone and an underlying thin brown sugar sweetness. Spicy, catching tannins in the throat later reveal a menthol sensation. A little tangy metallic in the aftertaste (iron?).

Not upset I gave most of this away but I’m kinda digging it. No longer worthy of the 60 rating, probably a 70 these days.

How this tea and myself have both mellowed in 3 years.

The Ungulates’ Tea of Choice.

Very grassy in this year of 2021. It tears up my mouth.

How a 5 to 6 years old sealed packet of this same tea could be worlds better…

Been playing with small variations in water temperature; preferring higher than what’s recommended on the package.

Previous rating was 100. I’d put this somewhere around a 64 on my scale, meaning this harvest has some faults and I may/not buy it again. That averages to 82 between the two harvests. I’ve removed the recommendation since the price is incongruent with what I value in tea.

I really enjoy this as a cold brew. My last pitcher was almost 8g in 1L, brewed overnight. Lots of blackberry flavoring, not sweet but with a bit of tartness maybe from the freeze-dried raspberries. The lavender isn’t too strong for me — overbearing lavender can give me headaches but I’ve never had one with this tea. I think it tastes great with the blackberry flavoring. The black tea is strong enough to stand on its own while still supporting the blackberry and lavender. It tastes coppery like a Ceylon, which surprised me because it’s an Assam.

Blackberry Lavender tastes the same brewed hot as it tastes brewed cold. It’s a little tricky to get my preferred hot cup since the black tea brews quickly. A teaspoon in 8oz seems about right. I do prefer this flavor profile cold.

Sipping from a bowl tonight. Gentle, not pungent. Grassy, flowery and smooth. Tastes like sencha. Almost. Nuttier with more leaf.

A note I can’t quite place — brazil nut? mulberry wood? worn varnish? That note has a warm, dry familiarity, though, like stepping into one of the furniture and knick-knack shops in Chinatown. I miss the city.

Thank you White Antlers <3

Down to the last few teas from a big Leafhopper swap!

I cracked the seal on a 100g bag of this tea a few months ago. Only now am I getting around to a tasting note.

Bowl tea this morning, quickly becoming my preferred method!

This is a full single leaf with spare twigs in the mix. The large leaves are not balled so they are probably best prepared how I’m rolling this morning or western steeped in a basket infuser or a larger gaiwan. They will not fit in a tiny teapot with a small mouth, nor in a regular ball infuser.

The aroma is moderate, sweet and savory with baked butternut squash, golden raisins, baked apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a little vanilla.

The taste of the tea is very similar, mostly as a result of the aroma. The only thing I can taste without breathing in the aroma is that Si Ji Chun (Four Seasons) cultivar-specific florality and some wood. I wonder if this is tea is made with that cultivar. The liquor is thick with pectin, buttery, sweet-tangy. When I sip and breath, I get an impression of a baked mixture of butternut squash, apples and rhubarb; thinned honey, overripe honeydew and wood. The finish is vaguely fruity and leaves an after-feeling of being pleasantly sour. In the aftertaste, I get mild fresh apple, grass, white grapes and apricot. My tongue is coated with a smooth, thin layer of oil. The flavor profile really speaks to me as an autumn afternooner.

I notice I don’t get the sweats from this tea like I have from pretty much all other GABA teas I’ve tried.

So, this tea is old, probably produced in 2015 or 2016. Luckily Leafhopper had the prudence to not break the seal :) This tea tastes just as fresh as any other GABA tea I’ve had. I’m impressed! Because I really enjoy GABA teas, the 100g bag will be an easy one to sip through. Thank you, Leafhopper!

A good while back I had snagged a bag from my aunt’s tea drawer. I was so impressed with it that when I saw it was on sale, I bought a box.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brewing a cup as soon as I roll out of bed. Let it steep and cool to room temperature while I take a shower or make breakfast. This batch seems more lemongrass heavy than the lone bag I’d tried before. While I’m not a big fan of lemongrass, it’s fresh and balanced so well with the nutritious-vegetal-earthy quality of the moringa and the clove-basil-licorice notes of the tulsi that I can’t help but chug it. Hints of pepper and a roasty tone give more depth.

Full-flavored, complex, brothy-juicy. The taste is saturated yellowish green and brownish purple. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? The invigorating and grounding character makes me crave it as my first morning cup.

Saw an unsweetened ‘tea beverage’, decided to try. Chilled.

Smells cleaner-ish, like pithy grapefruit with a touch of mint. Doesn’t taste like much at first, then all I can taste is bitter earthy green tea, bitter grapefruit pithiness, bitter-tangy carbon dioxide.

Yawn.

Repping my town here.

Vanilla extract so strong it tastes like medicine. The black tea taste is very prevalent. Sweet. It’s lacking some effervescence, as well as alcohol. Alcohol-containing kombucha brands have more POP. Where da funk? I wanna get funky!

Bless these cool, coastal foggy mornings <3

This is legitimately the best masala chai I’ve ever had that I haven’t mixed myself. A teaspoon simmered for 5 minutes in a cup of unsweetened rice milk makes a substantial cup. Strong base CTC, the strong, fresh!! spices in the nose hold up in the mouth. Mostly sweet, herbal-citrusy cardamom, balanced by some dry ginger, woody cinnamon and I’m pretty sure black peppercorn. Spicy but no burn. The clove serves as a soft undertone for me. It’s not glaring like it can so often be. I’d say this is a masala chai for cardamom lovers like me! Perfect when paired with a small, hearty breakfast.

Thank you for the generous sample, Ketlee :)

Did you know that Sikkim state in northern India produces only organic tea? I didn’t, so that’s why I bought this tea. Also, $4 for 25g. Yes, please.

The dry leaf smells very flowery with pink roses and peonies and chrysanthemum on top of a spicy, woody musk. The tea hasn’t impressed me so far (maybe age-related?), being very light in flavor and rather undefined so today I increased the concentration of tea leaves and did get a more pronounced cup. The brewed aroma is sweet, soft and mild tending toward brown sugar and cocoa. Within the brisk body, I taste mostly a tangy, woody-straw flavor with lighter but still adequate notes of caramel and cocoa that follow through into a short aftertaste where buttered apricot-mango also comes out. I’d compare it to a Nepali black tea.

It’s an easy-drinker. Using less leaf gives a more floral tea. For the price you can’t go wrong, especially if you value organic farming and are looking for a cheaper alternative to Nepali teas.