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Time to give this one a fair shot! I followed the exact parameters this time (2 level tsp in 6 oz. water) so am expecting something good!

Although it brews up quite light, this tea has tons of flavour! Both aroma and flavour are reminiscent of Laoshan green (cooked green beans), however there’s much less sweetness here, and much more of a vegetal boiled veggie flavour. If I taste carefully, I can get a fruity, peachy flavour, although one that’s lacking in a bit of sweetness, which makes it a bit more difficult to pick out.

Definitely a tasty green, and clearly fits my preferences as I love the stronger, vegetal teas, however lately I’ve been tending more towards teas with a stronger rock sugar sort of sweetness, so will save this for those days when I want a more savoury-less sweet tea.

ETA: Second infusion accidentally left for 4 minutes… therefore rather bitter. My bad! I think this would produce a nice second infusion if steeped properly.

Nutty, sweet, banana-y… works for tonight! Avoiding caffeine as I need to sleep before the Big Race tomorrow (as is, I should be in bed; racing in just over 8 hours and it’s a half hour drive away). As with last time, this is an ok tea, but quite expensive and quite messy in the infuser!

Oooooh, this was also a sipdown! :D

I finally managed to take the time to brew this one up, and have to say that I’m rather disappointed. Yes, it’s definitely pineappley. But the oolong is lighter than I was expecting, and would have liked (aka I can barely taste it, and only if I try to). I only have enough leaf left for another tiny cup (this was a big cup, as I was making it to throw in my Timolino), so will have to see if a longer infusion helps. Otherwise, this one’s not too terribly different from Bamboozled. I doubt it will ever beat out Banana Oolong for me; that tea is just special.

I don’t think I had yet tried this one hot, just cold-brewed, so decided to give it a shot today. The tea in the bag smells exactly like a tart, delicious apple, as does the steeped tea, which is very promising! However, even with a three-minute infusion, there’s enough bitterness in my cup to result in it being not particularly enjoyable. Which is quite unfortunate, as this is possibly the best apple tea I have tasted – not a granny smith, but a tart yet slightly sweet red apple (my fave!). I seem to recall being able to discern a vanilla flavour in the cold-brew; it’s not quite as obvious here, but there’s still a vanilla hint. I think I have enough of this tea to try one more cup, which (if I remember), I’ll try with a 2-minute infusion.

Woo, sipdown! Heading into work for a while, so thought I’d brew up a few fruity things to take with me, and this one struck my interest. I seem to recall not loving it before (checks previous note, confirmed), and it looks like astringency was my biggest foe, not flavouring. So, a shorter infusion time it is! I’ve been tending to brew flavoured blacks on the low end of infusion times quite a bit lately, so it’s not surprising that this would be the case.

As per last time, the dry tea is strongly strawberry-scented and nuttily caramelly. Unquestionably a dessert tea. Steeped, same deal. I probably should have compared this just for curiousity’s sake to the last bit of Strawberry Zabaglione that Azzrian sent me, but too late now.

Taste-wise, I think I like this much better than last time. I am definitely getting shortcakey flavours, and can clearly taste the strawberry, although it’s still lighter than I’d prefer (I loved piling up the strawberries on my shortcake…) There’s just a bit of astringency, but given that this tea is recommended to be drank with a hint of cream to fully round out the strawberry shortcake flavour, I suspect that addition would eliminate it entirely. The tea is also obviously sweetened due to the nut brittle, so it works very well as a dessert tea.

I think this tea deserves a ratings nudge (at least into that darker shade of green (aka 76 vs. 73) as it’s really rather successful at what it’s attempting to be. I’d certainly drink this again, as long as the infusion time was strictly adhered to. Nice treat on a soggy day! (Speaking of that, I am sooooo not looking forward to my 10K race tomorrow… it’s supposed to be icky and rainy and cold. No personal best record-setting tomorrow, I would imagine…)

I ordered this one with “delicate” flavouring and the standard base, as I figured that since I loved the caramel with delicate flavouring, that was probably enough flavouring for english toffee as well.

The aroma is quite similar to that of the Caramel matcha, which, given my love of that one, is completely ok by me! However, it makes me wonder whether I’m going to be able to notice any differences between the two. I decided to make a cold latte using mostly regular milk (instead of my usual almond), and sweetened it with maple syrup, as that’s still the only liquid sweetener I have available!

Initially, I couldn’t really taste “English Toffee” per se. It definitely was a tasty latte, but I would have been hard-pressed to identify it over a caramel latte, or probably butterscotch. However, I left it sitting in my car for a few hours while at Oktoberfest, and when I had a sip of it while driving home, I tasted the unmistakeable flavour of toffee! Delicious! Perhaps it just needed to sit a while. I didn’t want to finish it that evening as I wanted to be able to sleep, so left it in the fridge overnight, and it’s just as tasty tonight.

I don’t think that this one will bump caramel out of being my favourite RL matcha flavour, but it’s definitely quite tasty, and a winner for me! It can be found at http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/english-toffee-matcha.html

Finally, I feel like I have enough time to try this tea and do it justice! However, although I’d love to try the authentic dragonwell method, I simply can’t drink hot tea, and can only envision oversteeping occurring as a result of attempting it (although one day I think I’ll give it a shot, I just really don’t want to burn my tongue right now!), so I’m trying a western-brewing sort of thing. I measured out 3g of leaf, popped it into a brew basket, and went with a 1-minute infusion at 175F, hoping that it would work out.

I’m happy to report that I was quite successful – the tea has a light, sweet aroma and a rock sugar flavour much like the Tung Ting Vietnam oolong I just drank from DavidsTEA, however there are light seaweedy notes mixed in here, and additional vegetal notes… and so much more that my poor brain can’t seem to describe! Short version? This is delicious, and a perfect tea selection for this evening. The seaweedy notes I’m getting here are what differentiate this most in my mind from the Dragonwell-style Laoshans, which have the rock sugar sweetness but IMO much less complexity aside from that, with only the green beany sort of flavour. This tea is also so, so smooth.

Very impressed with this one, even though I didn’t brew it as recommended! Onto a second infusion shortly, as I know greens do not take well to sitting overnight prior to re-steeping (in my experience), and I really want to see how this one lasts!

ETA: Second infusion for 1:15 is lighter and less distinctive, but still quite tasty. The vegetal notes are a bit more in the background, and I almost feel like I’m getting a hint of a popcorn sort of flavour… air-popped, we’re not talking buttery here. Yum. Still smooth as anything. I think I’ll try for at least one more infusion (probably 2 minutes) before thiefing some of my roommate’s sesame oil and munching on the leaves…

I picked some of this up in a sample size from Verdant – I absolutely love the sample sizes! Such a great way to sample ALL the teas, which seems to be a necessity for me.

Initially, my roommate said that the aroma of this tea reminded her of manure! (Not an association I was getting.) However, after some thought, she amended it to “barn/hay”, which I completely agree with. A sweet sort of aged hay. I definitely would have pegged this tea as a white strictly by aroma, although I honestly can’t describe as to the reason. It just smells like a white tea!!

I used 5g of this one, as per the recommendation, although brewed for 30 instead of 20 seconds, as I felt that the additional 10 wouldn’t hurt (I was right).

The flavour of this one is oddly familiar. I’m not sure if it’s the Yunnan Jasmine that I’m thinking of (probably?), but I could swear I’ve tasted this flavour before. However, it’s more more intense than I’m used to. It’s kind of sweet and hay-y, rather light and very smooth. There’s almost a musty sort of aftertaste, which I assume is from the aging. Definitely tasty, and well worth the sample size, but not my favourite, as I really seem to lean towards greens and oolongs as opposed to whites.

ETA: Second infusion (25s) is pretty good too… and it dawned on me that I think I might be likening this to the Yunnan Black I have from Verdant. Hrrrrrm. As a white, the flavour is much better though, I think…

Shared a pot of this with my roommate tonight thanks to the DT $1 packet of tea promo. I admit that my expectations weren’t super high, but apparently I need to change my views!

The dry tea of this one is a fairly nondescript green oolong. Larger-than-usual rolled balls of tea, but with no particularly notable aromas (or rather, nothing different than any other green tea/green oolong). We were skeptical of the 5-minute infusion recommendation, but decided to just go with it…. definitely not a decision we regret!

I went to take a sniff of my cup of tea after my roommate poured it out, and was completely blown away – the smell of this one is deliciously sweet and reminds me quite a bit of Verdant’s Laoshan greens. Delicious! Entirely not what I was expecting at all! The flavour matches perfectly, and definitely makes me think of Verdant’s Dragonwell-style Laoshan green, with a sweet rock sugar flavour and light green bean sort of flavour. The tea also is very smooth, and a light oolong flavour emerges at the tail end of the sip.

If you’re looking for a straight oolong from DavidsTea, I highly recommend this one! It is an absolute treat, especially given the price of a tiny sampler packet right now. Hoping the next infusion is as tasty, although we won’t find out until tomorrow :)

ETA: Second infusion (~6.5 min) is not bad, but I think that’s all these leaves have to offer. The flavour is still a touch rock sugary and much like the first infusion, just lighter and with a bit of astringency.