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It’s a sample I just got from Yezi — and I really appreciate the samples. There’s a strong sweet potato taste, with hints of caramel — and very toasty. I haven’t had other jin jun mei teas, so I can’t compare it to anything else. It’s good, but I wouldn’t say I must have it around as opposed to other Chinese black teas. The sweet potato flavor is new and interesting for me. All in all, it’s a very good tea, but not a great one. The taste of sweet potatoes does, however, make me interested in trying out some different jin jun mei teas. to see how they compare. I’d buy this in the future if I found it on sale.

This is good, with pronounced roasted almond flavor, but it’s not as good as the Yunomi Naturally Grown first flush hojicha with sencha leaves. I don’t detect much of the sweetness that tea has. The roast is a little heavier than I’d like. Maybe the fact that this uses bancha between 2nd and 3rd flushes means it just isn’t quite as good or as delicate. I do enjoy the toastiness. At this point, I’m beginning to think it would be hard to create a houjicha that I hate, so I enjoy drinking this, but… It’s disappointing partly because I drank the Yunomi every morning for the past 3 days before ever trying this.

This is the first pu’erh I have ever tried — I just received Verdant’s pu’erh sampler in the mail. On the first infusion (10 seconds) after 2 rinses, it tastes just like mushroom broth made from cremini mushrooms plus a a very small amount of shiitakes. I’m not sure how I feel about this or if I’m really interested in drinking mushroom broth, will see how it develops. It’s so mushroomy, I feel like maybe I should add salt. Is this what people mean when they say pu’erh is “earthy”? I don’t think this is at all earthy — it doesn’t taste like the bottom of a forest, just mushrooms. It’s very gentle and mellow — even smooth — not at all what I was expecting from raw pu’erh. I like tea with natural sweetness, so this is a totally new tea experience. I don’t dislike it… It’s just that at this point, it seems like it should provide the base for a soup. As it cools, I do taste a slight sweetness.

Infusions 2 and 3: Mushrooms plus a new woody, slightly nutty flavor. Ah, and there are the bitter notes. So far, I can’t really say whether or not I like or dislike this tea. I’m on the fence, so clearly I don’t love it. It also leaves my mouth very dry, more so than black teas — and I don’t like that. Maybe I should’ve eased into this with shu or a more aged sheng pu’erh.

Many more infusions: Well, I’m still kinda on the fence, but It might be growing on me a little. It’s become quite sour, and again, not quite sure how I feel about it. I find it drinkable in kinda the same way that I started eating extremely pungent plan yogurt imported from Lebanon.. And now that’s the only yogurt I think has any flavor or is worth buying. I love that yogurt now — I am not at that point with this tea. I’m just saying I’m comfortable with the sourness and pungency mainly because of that.

Really nice tea. Wet leaves smell of tobacco leaves and ripe apricots. Probably my favorite of the oolongs I’ve tried so far. Tastes slightly sweet and fruity. I’ll have more to say as I drink more of it. Just mainly wanted to remind myself that I’d buy this again. :) Steeped 15 seconds, then 30, etc. It’s on the black tea-like end of oolongs, but with none of the bitterness you get with some black teas. Has a very mild, bright, fruity flavor — I’ll add a few more leaves next time.

This is my first hojicha, so I can’t really compare it to any others. It’s a green tea, but I really like it. It’s nutty and toasty without tasting at all burnt. The aftertaste is sweet. But it’s kind of a light sweetness, more like a pinch of cane sugar than honey. It has none of the bitterness associated with green tea, and it’s not at all grassy or vegetal — a really really great green for someone who doesn’t love most greens. There is really nothing at all unpleasant about this flavor. I don’t want to add anything to it.

I know that hojicha usually has twigs, but the Yunomi site lists only tea leaves as the ingredient. This is the first green tea I’ve ever really really liked.

The only issue is that green tea usually makes me nauseous. I drank this tea with a meal, and I’m feeling slightly off… But I’m not sure whether this is a reverse placebo thing, or if I’m genuinely having negative side effects right now. I will reserve judgment on whether or not this tea will be okay as a regular in my rotation. But I hope that I can drink it because it’s really really good. I’m tempted to buy some more right now — it’s that good.

I have read that Serious Green Tea Drinkers don’t take hojicha seriously, but I don’t care. It’s inexpensive, low in caffeine and really delicious. Perfect with meals. I’ll monitor how I feel for the next few hours after I finish drinking it — hoping the nausea ends quickly.

I also have a sample of Den’s hojicha on hand. I opened them both, and this one smelled a little sweeter and a lot less smoky, so I decided to try it first. The dry leaves smell kind of like roasted almonds. The wet leaves smell a bit like basil, but i tend to notice that about a lot of wet leaves with a lot of different kinds of teas, so I’m not sure it’s really significant here.

I thought that I would mainly think this was preferable to other green teas — I thought I’d think it was just okay, but honestly it’s one of the best new teas I’ve tried recently. I love it — must get more if it doesn’t make me sick.

This is a really good, solid, well-balanced, reasonably priced chai, essentially what I’ve been looking for in an everyday chai. It’s by far the best of the 5 teas I’ve tried from this company so far. I didn’t even bother steeping it over the stove. I just used a teapot and then added heated milk to to the tea. Want to do a quick tasting note so I’ll remember that I’m interested in ordering more of this.

I don’t really notice the vanilla, but I think its main purpose is to bring out the other flavors here. And I’m not interested in a chai with strong vanilla flavor either.

The first infusion is slightly bitter, as well as smoky and grassy. I don’t like very strong grassy or smoky flavors in my tea, and the two characteristics together are not that pleasant to me. I read in others’ tasting notes that the smoke and grass flavors mellow in later infusions, so I’m trying that as well. The unfurled leaves are large and quite lovely. I can tell this is a high quality tea even if the flavors aren’t particularly enjoyable to me. I like darker roasts, but I much prefer a nutty and malty flavor with no smokiness at all. In the first infusion… I drank this too slowly. It’s cooling to almost room temperature, and as it cools the flavor seems slightly mellower but still not quite something I’m very excited about. I’m very glad I sampled before buying in bulk because I don’t like this nearly as much as other medium/dark roast oolongs I’ve tried. HOnestly, the smoke and grass together combine the two characteristics I most dislike in both black and green teas.

Later infusions: Hm… I agree that the smoke and grass flavors become a lot more subdued in later infusions. The smoke gives way to a more nutty and woody flavor. I do like this better, but the aftertaste is still a bit like ashes.

I’m also realizing that I need my tea to have at least some natural sweetness, and this has none.

I know this is a good tea, but I would only recommend it if these are flavors you really enjoy. For someone with tastes similar to mine, I definitely wouldn’t recommend.

Later afternoon: I tried this again. Wow, it’s amazing how much better it is with savory foods in the afternoon. I have changed my mind — I would try this again. This will teach me to keep ignoring time of day recommendations for types of tea. With savory food, i don’t mind this degree of smokiness at all.

This is an okay chai, but not my favorite. I prefer to have some cinnamon, and I’m not so sure what I think about the peppermint . Also, the cardamom is a little overpowering because it’s been chopped into tiny pieces rather than added whole. The black tea itself is pretty bland. This time I steeped the tea in a teapot and then added milk. I think next time I’ll probably steep it over the stove in water and milk because it’s a little too weak for milk and honey this way. I may also add some additional black tea like assam — and maybe a cinnamon stick — because I’ve got 4 ounces of this stuff to use. I don’t dislike it. It’s just not very interesting and can be improved with some doctoring.

Mighty Leaf is bad for using natural flavoring, so at least this doesn’t have any of that.

By the way, all the ingredients are organic, but they weren’t all available in the drop down menu, so I added them just as “Black Pepper” and so on.