kristinalee Send Message

Good, solid. I haven’t had enough of these teas to be a good judge between them, but I enjoyed this. The smoky flavor is more like toasted grains than liquid smoke or ashes, which is appreciated. Medium-high roasting is a bit much for me for an everyday tea, but this one is good. Leaves are large, and I didn’t see a single bit of tea dust or even breakage.

I’m not a very precise steeper. It’s a little less than half of a 15 g. sample, but I didn’t weigh it.

I would not want to steep this at boiling — it doesn’t need to be any stronger, and I think next time I may try it at 195 or 200 degrees F.

5 second rinse, then steeped 15 seconds, then 30 seconds, etc.

This is a sample I’ve held on to for a while. Right now, I’ve got massive amount of black tea samples to sift through before I allow myself to buy more, and this was one of them. It’s not bad in a Generic Chinese Black Tea sort of way, but it’s not great either. Malty, a little more bitter than I’d like — and also a bit bland. I think its price basically reflects this (CA $4.95/50 grams). It’s reasonable, but I still wouldn’t pay for shipping from Canada to get more of this. There are a lot of broken, crushed leaves, which may be what makes this tea more bitter than I’d generally expect from a tea like this. I needed to add sugar to it in order to drink, and that’s not something I generally do with better quality Chinese teas.

I’ve not been particularly impressed by any of the teas I’ve tried from this company, but I know it’s new so I’m not writing it off forever. It will be interesting to watch the company grow — and to see if the tea selection improves.

I did brew it Western style, which may not have helped matters. But I did it per the instructions provided on the packet because I was in a hurry. 2 tsp., 2 cups water, 4 minutes, 100 degrees C. Also… Really, such small broken leaves don’t lend themselves to gongfu brewing.

Oh ,wow, this one is wonderful. Reminds me of an Oriental Beauty I bought recently, but with slight bitterness — not bad bitterness, though. Apricots, honey, jam… Will definitely purchase again.

The good folks at Mandala were kind enough to put together a black tea sampler in lieu of their “tea party in a box.” This one is very strong, and I may have over-leafed a bit. I brewed it in my gaiwan since the big leaves make it easy to do that. The box arrived yesterday, and this is the first I’ve tried. It’s good, but I’m not a fan of the wood and leather notes that others mentioned. The taste of wood reminds me a little of the way oak tastes in wine, and I don’t like it. Pronounced leather is not spectacularly appealing to me either.

It’s not bad, but I probably wouldn’t order a larger package of it either. I would only recommend it to people who know for a fact that they like leather and oak in their tea. For me, both notes add a bit of bitterness that I find unpleasant. I didn’t find this one smooth as others did.

A strong taste lingers as well — a little like yeasty baked bread or toast mixed with the taste of wood.

It does resteep unusually well for black tea, though. And I can tell it’s high quality tea; it’s just a flavor profile I don’t love. I think the flavor rounds out a bit in later steeps — the second and third were much better than the first for me. And the tea is a very appealing bright red color.

Really good tea, one of my favorites of the Whspering Pines samples I got. Chocalate, malt, baked bread. Just to keep tabs on my drinking, I’m gonna need more of this, as well as some of the Golden Snail and Yunnan Gold Tips. They’re all fantastic black teas. I like this one far better than Laoshan Black, but in fairness to Verdant Tea, I had a cold the day I drank that sample and probably missed the complexity others noticed. I’m also pretty sure I under-leafed on that one. All in all, a really really good tea. No complaints. I am on the first steep, and others complain that it doesn’t resteep well. That’s disappointing, but not a dealbreaker or something I always expect of black teas. I continue to pick up peanut notes in many of these teas, but I seem to be the only one.

Edit: Brewed this Western style and the second steep is quite good. I did 3 minutes on the first, then 6. I probably could’ve done 2 and then 4 instead. It definitely has a lot of flavor left. So I don’t agree that this doesn’t work for resteeping. So far it’s working quite well.

I think this is my second note on this one. I wanted a stronger flavor, so I double-leafed this one. When I do that, a slight bitterness comes out. I added a bit of rock sugar, and OH MY GOD it tastes like fresh peach slices. This tea… I don’t know what I’ll do for Oriental Beauty when my Tea Setter runs out. I can’t imagine anything matching this one, though I’m holding out hope that my sample from Lulu will be this good.

I got the version from 2014 in a sampler pack. This is waaaay too bitter for me, with no natural sweetness that I can detect. So… Question… Are oriental beauty, da hong pao and wuyi rock the only darker oolongs? I wish I’d gotten a dark oolong sampler instead of this one. All but one or two are…quite green. I need honey or something for this to work.

It’s a good tea. I made it in my gaiwan as god intended. I’ve had a few different da hong paos at this point, and this is definitely the best one. Still, I don’t really think da hong pao has my favorite type of flavor profile. The roasted barley flavor is a bit too much for me. More natural sweetness would balance this out a bit, but I don’t really detect it as others do. I know this is a good one, but I think I’m done trying to like da hong pao. I have a few remaining samples of it that I’ll try, but after that… I don’t dislike it. I just don’t really need it in my life.

Edit: You know, as I drink more infusions of this, I realize that it’s not the barley I dislike, but the oak. I don’t care for oak in my wine or tea, as it turns out. I think that’s what I don’t really like about da hong pao, so if I could find one with no oakiness…

Good — but not great — black tea. More like Chinese blacks I’ve had than South Asian ones, nutty and malty. Smells similar to Whistpering Pines’ Golden Snail tea, but not nearly as strong or robust — or as interesting. I appreciate the sample, but I’m not likely to buy it as it’s pretty expensive for a Nepali tea. It would be a nice everyday tea, but I wouldn’t pay a premium for it.

Another good, solid chai. The spices are fresh and easy to distinguish, and the Assam black tea still comes through. Both the tea and the spices are a little stronger than the ones in the Tealated Chai I drank yesterday, but it’s good. This chai compares very well to that one. So, all of a sudden I’m finding pretty great chais! And once again, no artificial or natural flavorings.