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This is the second tea I’ve tried from my recent Steepster Select box.

My first few sips, I felt taste-blind, couldn’t really pick anything out. It does have a slightly pine smell to it. After letting it cool a few moments and sipping again, there is a slight sweetness or fruity quality to it. The description on the card says ‘pear-like fruitiness’.

It’s a very nice oolong, but, perhaps my tastes just swing differently as I’m a teensy bit underwhelmed by it.

So, it’s been a long while and I’m a bit out of practice of writing these. I signed up for steepster select, and this being the first one listed when I opened my package gets to serve double duty containing my impressions of the package. I got a tiny little box in the mail, packaged inside was this really plain but cute steepster labeled bag packaged in cardboard shavings. Inside the bag were 10 little brown packages of tea and a postcard telling me a little about each of the teas. Also included were a number of simple tea-bags. Very nice in my opinion, first impressions and all!

Red Jade from Echo-Cha is from Nantou, Taiwan and the blurb about it reads

A hybrid of the assame cultivae and a wild growing cultivae, this black tea is the product of the Tea Research Extension Station and is naturally immune to local pest, requiring little to no pesticide.

Well, interesting facts, but, makes me think I’m drinking some mutant off-shoot of tea and tells me little about the expected flavor.

On the brown package of tea it includes the name of the Tea, what store it came from, the type of tea, region it’s from, a small tasing note blurb, and brewing temperature and time which I followed. The tasting notes on the brown package read

A complex combination of cinnamon, clove, and mint.

Interesting to say the least! After brewing and having a sip, I’m not so certain I detect those flavors myself, but, my taste buds have had a long vacation from tea. The aroma of the tea is absolutely delicious though; I had to fight with myself to actually drink the tea instead of just sniffing it all evening like some possessed tea-fiend. After a few sips, I did suspect I could taste hints of cinnamon and mint flavors mentioned on the package, but a little unsure of if that’s simply the power of suggestion or not. A lot of the taste is very similar to one of the english breakfast teas I’ve tried, I suspect because they’re both Assam teas.

I like it a lot and it’s definitely gonna go missing from my tea stash quickly!

So, been missing in action for a long while. Life changes and among the first time I’m able to get back to tea after buying the new house/farm/zoo. :D

The coconut oolong tea showed up at Argo Tea while i was away from my constant acquisitions and consumption of tea. However, as one of the first that I’ve tried in my return it’s certainly made me happy. It’s got a decent taste and the coconut is noticeable but not overpowering. I’d probably describe it as a poor man’s milk oolong.

A mild fall campfire in a cup. This is my first lapsang souchong and as such I may be unduly impressed by something that isn’t quite as remarkable as I feel it is. However, smelling this as soon as I opened the tin, I instantly recognized the smell. That campfire smoke where you’re roasting marshmallows using the pine needles, twigs, and other small bits of kindling.

The dry tea leaves are not that impressive, but, the aroma is quite potent. They’re rolled tightly and dark in color, almost black. Overall it’s very uniform in appearance, thin, small black leaves.

Steeping this the tea comes out a deep leathery red-brown color. I feel like the smoky scent is even stronger after it’s steeped. The first sip I was greeted with a wonderful woody and full-bodied taste, the aroma of the lapsang souchong filling my nose and a very light taste of pine. The second sip, playing with the taste of the tea by slurping slightly, it’s much easier to detect the pine taste and it’s washed away by a sudden rush of smoky flavor. There’s a small bit of something sweet in the taste as well. I’m not sure if the feeling on the tongue i’m detecting is astringency or not, just due to not having someone go ’that’s what astringency is’ and defining it for me; it tingles slightly on the tongue.

The wet leaves after steeping have unfurled a small bit, they’re slightly lighter in appearance, more of a dark brown than the black before steeping. They still carry the campfire aroma heavily.

A second steeping produces a slightly lighter scented tea with a much more mild color. It’s lost some of it’s strength, however, considering how strong it was in the first steep this is still very pleasant and drinkable. I’m not too certain it’d go for a third steeping.

I’d highly recommend this tea to others, especially as a first lapsang souchong just because it was my first and I found the experience pleasant. It might not be the highest quality lapsang souchong judging by some of the other tasting notes, but, if this one is good and others are better and it can only go up from here, well, that’s awesome. I’ll also note that the 4 oz tin of this was only $6.45; a hard price to beat for experimenting with a new tea.

My first taste of this tea was horribly underwhelming. However, as I’ve continued to drink this, mostly to get rid of it so that i can use the container. It’s grown on me a tiny bit. I’m now able to pick out certain flavors from it. It’s not the greatest tea I’ve ever had, but, it’s still far from the worst and I have to give in and admit it does taste pretty similar to a chocolate covered strawberry.

The tea smells very chocolatey, no real hint of strawberries in the scent to me. It brews to a dark orange with perhaps a slight red tint.

This is kind of like the ear-worm of teas. I don’t really like it, but, I keep exposing myself to it without complaining too much.

Om nom nom nom, cookies…. nom nom… wait… there’s no noms… it’s just tea. It’s hard to believe that they could invent liquid cookie dough, but, it appears to have been done.

This is a rather yummy tea, it does take a certain mood for it though. It’s something that does certainly satisfy a sweet-tooth or craving for cookies though.

8/10 Would sip again.

A deliciously creamy coconut flavored oolong. It does almost seem like it has hints of a milk oolong, but, I think that’s my imagination. It’s very sweet tasting and has an amazing coconut smell. The dry leaves as well as the liqueur carry the aroma. It’s up there with my favorites for the time being.

This is an amazing milk oolong, it’s a little bit less creamy than the quangzhou milk oolong from DAVIDsTEA, but, it has a somewhat better quality I can’t describe very well to it. It’s smooth and silky to drink and resteeps for many cups of delicious tea. Thank you very much to Yssah for sharing this with me!

I got this from Starfevre. I just made it tonight, and I really like the raspberry flavor, but, as she said, it is very sweet. I don’t mind it all that much, but, it does keep me from rating it a bit higher.