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Lately, it seems that I have been opening up to Ceylonese teas a little more. This has been my go to morning and afternoon tea for the last couple of days. I should finish the last of it either this evening or tomorrow morning. At this point, I can say that this is one of the more enjoyable Ceylonese teas that I have tried.

I prepared this tea using the one step Western infusion I tend to prefer for many non-Chinese black teas. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. I have also tried longer infusions around 4-5 minutes. All have been pretty consistent.

After infusion, the clear amber liquor produced an aroma reminiscent of a combination of toast, malt, roasted almonds, honey, caramel, and toffee. In the mouth, I detected notes of toast, malt, roasted almonds, honey, caramel, and toffee underscored by cream and orange. The finish was very smooth, imparting lingering sensations of citrus, almonds, toast, and caramel.

This was a very approachable Ceylonese tea. The integration of aromas and flavors was nice. I could definitely see myself returning to this one in the near future and would have no problem recommending it to fans of Ceylonese teas.

I remember doing several gongfu sessions with this tea back in July or thereabouts, but apparently never posted a tasting note/review. I was unable to find drafts of my session notes, but did discover a numerical rating of 82 that I had scrawled in a notebook. I recall this tea displaying pleasant cream, osmanthus, jasmine, and citrus aromas and flavors with hints of leaf vegetables and minerals in the later infusions. I tend to not be a huge fan of Huang Jin Gui, as I tend to find it pleasant, yet somewhat two-dimensional, but I apparently rather liked this one.

P.S. I finally managed to write a short tasting note. Aren’t you all proud of me?

Prior to going to work, I managed to squeeze in a sipdown this morning. I had been wanting to finish the last of this for the better part of the last two days and finally got around to doing it. Normally, I like Simpson & Vail’s Earl Greys, but this one did not move me all that much. Still, it wasn’t bad.

I prepared this one using a one step Western infusion. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 3 minutes. I also tried longer infusions of 4 and 5 minutes at various points. They were not all that different from the 3 minute infusion, but I will still comment on them briefly.

Prior to infusion, I noticed that I did not get much of an aroma from this Earl Grey. I was just barely able to pick up on a subtle creaminess and that was about it. After infusion, I noted a mild creamy, citrusy aroma from the amber liquor. In the mouth, the cream dominates without coming off as overly artificial or out of place. Beneath the cream, I was still able to pick up soft, mild notes of toast, bergamot, and caramel. The finish emphasized a smooth creaminess without much of an intrusion from any other flavor component. Like most of the other Earl Greys from Simpson & Vail that I have tried, this was very mild and mellow. I also noted that the cream imparted a very smooth, milky texture in the mouth that was pleasant. The longer infusions were similarly smooth and creamy with a slightly pronounced toastiness.

If you have tried any of the other Earl Greys offered by Simpson & Vail, then I doubt this one will surprise you. It is a very smooth, straight-forward blend that should appeal to fans of basic, traditional takes on Earl Grey since the cream is not overpowering. I basically found this to be an inoffensive, drinkable Earl Grey. I also found it to be a tad bland. I like the other Earl Greys from Simpson & Vail that I have tried, but this one I would not go out of the way to purchase again. It isn’t bad in any way, it just isn’t really my thing.

It’s time to start cleaning out the backlog again. The sipdown of this tea came last night. I was a bit jittery due to an upcoming outing with my vocational rehabilitation clients and was having a lot of trouble getting settled for the evening. Naturally, I decided to add more caffeine to the fire. Even when I’m jittery, a nice gongfu session always seems to do the trick, and I end up out like a light when I should probably be bouncing off the walls and/or babbling incoherently in a corner somewhere. It took me awhile, but I finally fell asleep and woke up as ready to face the day as could possibly be expected given the circumstances.

My rambling should have made it obvious that I prepared this tea gongfu style. I followed Verdant’s guidelines for this one. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 4 seconds. I followed this initial infusion with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 13 seconds, 16 seconds, 19 seconds, 22 seconds, 25 seconds, 28 seconds, 31 seconds, and 34 seconds. I probably could have gotten at least one or two more infusions out of this, but stopped where I did because it was late and I needed to get some sleep.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves gave off a mild smoky scent with hints of spice and chocolate. After the rinse, I noted strong aromas of chocolate, cinnamon, pine needles, and smoke. The first infusion produced a similarly intense nose. In the mouth, there were distinct impressions of chocolate, cinnamon, pine, smoke, and sage. There was also a slight sweetness left on the back of the throat. Subsequent infusions were similarly spicy, smoky, and savory, though they were also incredibly balanced. I noted the emergence of toast, honey, elderberry, and malt notes underneath the dominant flavors of sage, pine, smoke, and chocolate. Boy, Verdant’s taste profile was more or less dead on with this one. The later infusions were mild and smooth, though traces of chocolate, pine, toast, smoke, and cinnamon were still evident. There was also the expected Wuyi minerality that became more pronounced on these final infusions.

I’ve had nearly a full day to process my thoughts on this tea, and to be honest, I am glad I did not try to post this review last night. Immediately after finishing the session, I was a bit disappointed that this lapsang was not smokier. I was also a little disappointed that the flavors faded a little sooner than I would have preferred (I was kind of nitpicking though-I did manage to get eleven infusions out of 5 grams of this tea, and at least 7-8 of them were very good). In retrospect, however, this was a very sophisticated, balanced lapsang souchong that did not resort to over-the-top and/or artificial smokiness.

It seems that I have been really slowing down on my reviews lately. A lot of that has been due to me starting way too many new teas and now having to take time to complete a bunch of sipdowns in a fairly short span of time. I have been plowing through a two ounce bag of this Assam for the better part of the last five days and expect to finish it by Wednesday or thereabouts. I know I’ll be sad when this is gone. It’s an excellent Assam.

For the purposes of this review, I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water. Obviously, I did not attempt additional infusions.

After infusion, the liquor showed a dark, clear amber in the cup. I noted aromas of caramel, malt, molasses, and cream. In the mouth, I picked up on robust, well-integrated notes of roasted almonds, malt, cream, leather, molasses, and caramel. I also noted undercurrents of cocoa, raisins, and stone fruits, namely ripe plum, apricot, and perhaps black cherry. The finish was smooth, offering lingering impressions of malt, cream, caramel, and roasted almonds, though I thought I could still detect faint chocolaty, fruity underpinnings.

Again, I found this to be an exceptional Assam. I normally enjoy the teas offered by Steven Smith Teamaker, so my enjoyment of this one should not come as a surprise. If you are looking for a tasty full-leaf Assam with some complexity, then look no further. I recommend this one very highly.

After taking a day off from writing reviews, I decided to get back on track this morning with a new oolong. Yesterday, I finally finished the last of the Silver Buds Yabao from Verdant and the Margaret’s Hope First Flush Darjeeling from Tealyra. Both were teas I really enjoyed, but neither were the sort of tea to which I would be in any rush to go back. I needed to try something a little different. Enter Tealyra’s Dong Fang Mei Ren Formosa Oolong.

First, allow me to state that I have virtually no familiarity with this particular type of oolong. My experience with Formosa oolongs is limited to baozhongs and rolled oolongs. Second, I had actually tried this one before. I did a short gongfu session with this tea back in the middle of September. I recalled liking it to a degree, but did not remember any specifics.

For the purposes of this review, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water. I followed this infusion with 10 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute 5 seconds, 1 minute 35 seconds, and 2 minutes. Please note that if this method seems strange, it does so for a reason-I made it up as I went along. I could not find much consensus about how to prepare this tea gongfu online, so I just tried to push it as hard as I could.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted a wonderful aroma. It reminded me of a combination of peach, white grape, and honey. After the rinse, the aroma changed slightly. The honey, peach, and grape scents intensified, but they were joined by a melange of flowers and citrus. The first infusion produced an almost identical aroma. In the mouth, I noted a pleasant mixture of peach and honey underscored by flowers and white grape. The next three infusions produced a somewhat more intense citrus and floral quality on the nose and in the mouth. I began to note distinct plum, lime, date, mandarin orange, magnolia, and lily tones on the palate. Subsequent infusions were more balanced, producing well-integrated floral, fruity aromas and flavors with a hint of minerality. The last three infusions were extremely light both on the nose and in the mouth. The mineral notes were more pronounced, though I could still detect fleeting impressions of flowers, peach, and citrus in the background. Though the tea was not quite flat at that point, I ended the session after the eleventh infusion as I doubted the tea had much more to offer.

Immediately after I ended the session, I was not quite sure what to make of this tea, and really, I’m still not. I enjoyed the way the intense peach and honey aromas and flavors mingled with the floral and citrus tones. To me, this gave the tea an elegant, exotic quality that is hard for me to accurately describe. Still, I think I prefer the Formosa oolongs with which I am more familiar. Just to be clear though, I do think this is a good oolong. In this instance, I think it admirably served its purpose as an introduction to oolongs of this type. I could see it doing the same for others, though I also do not doubt that those who are more familiar with this style may still enjoy this one.

Okay, I am going to try to keep this one short. Knowing me, I will probably fail. I have been working on a small sample bag of this tea for the past two days and should finish it by tomorrow. Since I find writing about yabao difficult, I’m just going to record my first impressions as clearly and succinctly as possible in this review.

I brewed this one gongfu style. I followed Verdant’s gongfu guidelines closely this time around. Following the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose buds in 4 ounces of 208 F water for 10 seconds. I performed eleven additional infusions, increasing the steep time by 10 seconds per infusion. So, steep times on the additional infusions ranged from 20 seconds to 2 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry buds gave off a subtle aroma that reminded me of spices and herbs. After the rinse, I noted a combination of spices, herbs, pine, juniper, cedar, and citrus on the nose, but I was not particularly able to pick out clear impressions. In the mouth, I noted a blend of straw, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, pine, juniper berry, cedar, eucalyptus, clove, and lemon on the early infusions. The middle infusions were sweeter and fruitier. I began to note impressions of peach, apricot, yellow plum, oatmeal, and marshmallow beneath the woody, spicy, and herbal sensations. Later infusions continued to emphasize sweeter aromas and flavors, though I could still detect impressions of oatmeal, straw, pine, cedar, lemon, and juniper lurking in the background. I also noted a subtle minerality on these infusions, though it was not particularly distracting.

Well, now that I have completely failed at writing a short review, allow me to state that I found this tea to be very enjoyable. I’m still not particularly familiar with yabao, so I do not know what separates a decent one from a great one, but I did very much enjoy this offering. As a matter of fact, I have only had one other tea of this type (the yabao offered by Whispering Pines), and I have to say that I found this one to be the better and more accessible of the two. In the end, I would recommend this tea to drinkers specifically looking for something subtle, graceful, deep, and challenging.

Sometimes I allow curiosity to get the better of me, but other times I err on the side of caution and deny myself the opportunity to try new things. As a rule of thumb, I tend to steer clear of anything that sounds too good to be true, so when Verdant Tea released a caffeine-free tisane that was supposed to taste very similar to a quality Laoshan green tea, I was highly skeptical. I was, in fact, so skeptical that I simply dismissed this new product. I couldn’t find much information on Ziziphus Jujuba, so I figured it must be one of Verdant’s patented 1000+ year old tree deals and promptly moved on with my life.

Fast forward a few months and I decided to order a bunch of samples from Verdant. When my package arrived, I sorted through the nice new packets of various Chinese black and oolong teas, curious to see what my free sample would be. It ended up being 5 grams of the Spring 2016 Wild Laoshan Gan Zao Ye. Last night, curiosity finally got the better of me and I tore into the sample. Well, it turns out that sometimes the marketing doesn’t exaggerate as much I expect it to. That was certainly the situation here.

Since I had no idea how to brew this tea, I closely followed Verdant’s gongfu guidelines. I steeped 5 grams of loose leaves in 4 ounces of 175 F water for 8 seconds. I followed this initial infusion up with 11 additional infusions, increasing the steep time by 4 seconds per infusion. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 24 seconds, 28 seconds, 32 seconds, 36 seconds, 40 seconds, 44 seconds, 48 seconds, and 52 seconds. At this point, I would also like to add that I dropped the lid of my favorite gaiwan at the end of this session and chipped it in two places. GRRRR!!!

After a quick examination of the dry leaves, I could have sworn that this was an actual Laoshan green tea. A sniff of the dry leaves, however, revealed the difference. I noted a pronounced nutty, vegetal aroma that reminded me of walnut, toasted rice, and cooked peas. I couldn’t recall any of the Laoshan greens giving off such a nutty aroma from the get go. After infusion, the leaves emitted even stronger aromas of roasted nuts, cooked peas, and toasted rice. There was also a grainy scent reminiscent of roasted barley. The liquor produced was much darker and cloudier than I expected. In the mouth, I noted incredibly robust notes of roasted walnuts, roasted chestnuts, roasted barley, cooked peas, and toasted rice. The next three infusions produced similar results both on the nose and in the mouth. From the fifth infusion on, the roasted barley, nut, and toasted rice sensations mellowed and faded just enough to allow some other impressions to shine through the murk. I picked up on subtle aromas and flavors of wood, butter, hay, bitter chocolate, and what can only be described as vegetable broth. There was also just the slightest hint of sweetness on the back of the throat. The folks at Verdant described it as honey, but that’s not what I would call it. In fact, I have no idea how to describe it. I also noted that the color of the liquor changed substantially over the course of the session. Early infusions were dark and hazy, while the later infusions were a clear yellow-green. Even though I probably could have pushed on with at least one or two more infusions, I decided to call it quits after number twelve.

Honestly, I regret not trying this tisane sooner. I found it to be exceptional, and though part of me is annoyed by the idea of assigning an herbal tea a numerical score higher than any proper tea I have reviewed to this point, I really did find this one to be that good. Seriously, if I were able to drink this every single day, I probably would. While I would not say that this Gan Zao Ye is identical to a Laoshan green tea, I would concede that there are more than enough similarities to please or at least intrigue fans of Verdant’s Laoshan greens. Even if you are not a fan of Verdant’s Laoshan green teas, I would still encourage you to try this tisane because I would take it over any of them most days.

I remember once drinking a vodka from Ukraine that was flavored with a combination of buffalo grass and St. John’s wort. I can’t remember what it was called, but I seem to recall it having a label with blue and silver lettering and an illustration of a dancing woman in peasant attire. I also remember buying it because it was dirt cheap-I was in graduate school and working an unpaid internship-and it was all I could afford to get drunk on at the time. Oddly enough, it was very good, especially for the price. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find it since.

Now that I am no longer drinking, I wanted something that reminded me of the freedom of my mid-twenties. Since a search for an obscure vodka was not in order, I settled on a tin of this black tea blend from Kusmi. The label clearly stated that this is a blend of Chinese black teas flavored with the essence of buffalo grass. I’m not entirely certain which kinds of black tea are used, but judging from the shape and color of the dry leaves, I am willing to bet that Keemun may be one of them.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion. I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 212 F water for 4 minutes. Obviously, I did not attempt additional infusions. I should also note that Kusmi recommends a much lower brewing temperature for this tea. I used 212 F because the label gave the recommended temperature range in degrees Celsius and I did not feel like doing the conversion at the time. After finishing two cups, however, I got curious and used my phone to convert the temperature range from Celsius to Fahrenheit. I then realized that the water I had used was much hotter than the merchant recommends. Fortunately, I found this blend to be very forgiving. The next time I fix a cup of this tea, I will try a temperature in the merchant’s recommended range to see how it compares to my initial preparation documented here.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry leaves gave off the unmistakable scent of buffalo grass. The smell immediately transported me back to my mid-twenties binge drinking days, only without the threats of impending nausea, inebriated (poor) decision making, and mule kick hangovers. After infusion, the dark amber tea liquor gave off lovely aromas of cream, toast, malt, and buffalo grass with a hint of spice. Do Kusmi teas ever smell bad? In the mouth, the buffalo grass is placed squarely front and center, lingering throughout from the entry to the finish. I noted pleasant flavors of toast, cocoa, malt, cream, smoke, and spices (coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg) balancing the buffalo grass. It was simpler than expected, and the blend was decidedly slight in the mouth, but it was nice. The shift from creamy and toasty to smoky and spicy beneath the prevalent note of buffalo grass was unique and appealing.

Though I tend to be something of a Kusmi Tea fanboy, I am also willing to admit that the previous reviewer who opined that the smell of their teas can be nicer and more unique than the taste may have a point with regard to a number of Kusmi products. I, however, do not necessarily agree with that assertion being applied to this particular blend. I found it to be flavorful, unique, approachable, and above all, extremely easy to drink. I would have no problem recommending it to open-minded tea drinkers looking for something a little out of the ordinary.

Margaret’s Hope Estate is one of the most renowned tea estates in India and the producer of some of my favorite Darjeelings of all time. Prior to trying this tea, I had yet to try a first flush from Margaret’s Hope, instead focusing all of my attention on their lovely second flush teas. When the opportunity to purchase 4 ounces of tea leaves from one of my favorite estates at a very reasonable price fell into my lap, I jumped at the chance.

I’m still working my way through the big bag of this tea, so I have yet to exhaust all of my usual preparation methods. For the past day or two, I have been sticking to a one step Western infusion, though I would just about guarantee that this is the sort of Darjeeling out of which one could get at least 1 or 2 more infusions. I will definitely give that a try in the very near future. For the purposes of this review, however, I steeped 1 teaspoon of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 205 F water for 3 minutes, as Tealyra recommends starting with 2-3 minutes for this one.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaves gave off a lovely, inviting aroma that resembled a blend of musk and Muscat grape. After infusion, the liquor showed a dark gold in the cup. Honestly, the color was darker than I expected, but whatever. On the nose, I easily picked up aromas of herbs, straw, wood, musk, honey, toast, cream, malt, and Muscat grape. In the mouth, I immediately detected an intriguing blend of citrus and herb notes. It was almost like a mixture of lemon and bee balm. These flavors were soon joined by pronounced notes of straw, wood, malt, cream, almond, toast, musk, Muscat grape, and honey. The finish was surprisingly smooth, offering lingering notes of Muscat grape, toast, cream, honey, and musk backed by a slight citrus zestiness.

At first, I did not really know what to make of this tea. The flavors were so strong that I was taken aback. It was not what I was expecting at all, and at the time, I was not all that certain I enjoyed it. After giving this tea a few more chances, however, I can say that it has really grown on me. It is just a little rough around the edges, but it displays nice complexity and depth in the mouth. Even though I have not tried all that many first flush Darjeelings this year, this may be my favorite to this point. If you are looking for a truly nice first flush Darjeeling and do not mind a few minor quirks, then by all means give this tea a try.