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Ok, time to work my way through my tasting note backlog. Yes, it’s 2am, but I knocked out 10 hours of sleep last night and am feeling great, so my natural night owl tendencies have come out to play. Plus, it’s Saturday night, so I can do whatever I want and I feel like drinking some tea :-P

This tea though. LOVE IT. Not only is it tasty as all get out, it’s just so interesting. It’s the white tea for black tea lovers ( I heard that on Steepster, although I don’t remember where, so the credit does not go to me). The leaves are just luscious; long and plump in browns, yellows, and greens. They smell citrus-y when brewing, although I did not get any citrus in the taste, and the liquor is a goldenrod yellow. So pretty :). The first sip is a mouth bomb of honey and malt dropped on your unsuspecting taste buds (mine don’t mind at all!). Once you’ve recovered, further sips bring out strong notes of bread and cream with subtle sweet potato notes floating here and there. Oh my yum, I have serious need of this tea. It will have a permanent place in my cupboard from now on! Thank you, Virginia, for sending me this sample! I discovered a new favorite :)

I don’t know about you, but I love waking up with the Jabberwocky. Once you get to know the Jabberwocky, you discover he is no fearsome beast, not at all ;-). In fact, the Jabberwocky smells like chocolate and anything that smells like chocolate is welcome at my breakfast table.
The first sip though. Big sigh So much better than the lovely aroma or the Steepster hype led me to believe! There’s a rush of salted caramel blended with a river of dark chocolate. There’s a gorgeous bready element that reminds me of short bread. In fact, the whole initial flavor combination resembles these homemade twix bars sprinkled with sea salt that I make sometimes. After that first sip, I started to notice this luxurious creamy element that adds a big dollop of crème fraîche on top of that twix bar. Despite all these heavy, rich flavors, this tea leaves you with a refreshing and cool sensation. The Jabberwocky is positively sinful but requires no “Hail Marys” or extra cardio afterwards :)

The leaves again looked pretty much like the other 2nd and autumn flushes- thin, short, and brown. The liquor was a light sienna and smelled earthy and sweet. The taste was similar to the 2011 autumn (wine, earth, oak), but muskier. I’m not sure if muskier is the right word, but that’s as close as I can get right now. Also, it was less astringent than the 2011 autumn flush, although discounting that I preferred the flavor of the 2011 to this one.

The leaves of this flush looked quite similar to the 2nd flush- short, thin and brown. The smell was also quite similar (fruity), but with a little bit more of a kick to it. The liquor was a darker sienna color and the taste was definitely more red wine. There were also earthy and oaky notes in the sip and it was the most astringent of the darjeelings I tried. For that reason, it was my least favorite.

I decided to try another second flush, this time from this year. The leaves looked much the same as the 2013 second flush: small, thin, and short in shades of brown. The smell was fruity and maybe a little oaky? The liquor was a similar amber color. The tea did taste somewhat different. It was less sweet grape with a more mineral quality to it and was much more astringent. I preferred the 2013 to this one. (not that this one was bad at all!)

This darjeeling looks a bit different from the first flush I just tried. The leaves are short and thin in shades of brown and the resulting liquor is an amber color (much darker than the first flush. The first thing that hit me when sipping was sweet grape taste, which was followed by a taste that reminds me of red wine without tasting exactly like it. Sorry if that makes no sense. Overall, this tea tasted “warm” to me while the first flush tasted very fresh.

Yay for getting to try a bunch of darjeelings! I thought I’d start with the first flush and then go in “chronological” order, if you know what I mean. The leaves of this tea are short, thin, and flaky, colored green and brown. The best way that I can describe the smell is that it smells slightly green. The leaves brew up a light golden yellow liquor and taste like gentle hay with that “mountain air” taste I associate with darjeelings. The sip finishes with some sweetness and subtle tingling on the tongue, without any astringency. First flush is where it’s at :)

This is the last of the oolongs! I did it! I didn’t try all the oolongs, I just tried one of each kind. The leaves are small, tightly rolled, and dark brown. The smell is a very strong oolong smell and the brew is dark amber. For me though, this oolong is maybe too roasted? It almost tastes burnt. It has a weird, almost coffee-like aftertaste that I was not a fan of at all. It’s just really in your face and not in a good way :-/.

This wild tea has long, thin, and dark leaves that smell vegetal with a hint of floral. They brew up a pale yellow-green. The taste is very lightly, unoffensively vegetal with floral overtones and a little mineral. Altogether, it is just extremely fresh tasting and I really enjoyed it!

The leaves are dark and light brown, loosely rolled and they brewed up a golden yellow liquor. The smell is that characteristic oolong smell. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but if you’ve ever smelled an oolong you know what I mean :). The taste is not characteristic of other oolongs I’ve had. It’s extremely buttery! Buttery roasted nuts. YUM.