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This was actually the best of the teas I tried from TeaSource. Small leaf size surprised me by the complex nature of the brew. Good characters that developed as I drank the tea, undertones of chocolate and malt.

Be careful to not let this tea over-brew.

This is critical of me to say, but this doesn’t taste like any Ruby 18 I’ve had before….which leads me to think that it isn’t a real one. Carries a bitter edge, lacks the complex nature that I’ve enjoyed in the others.

Does have a malty assam side to it…but wouldn’t order this tea again.

It really does taste like blueberries. More of blueberry flavored things.

Really quite bitter. Would only be best with milk and sugar. lots of sugar.

Definitely doesn’t taste like Chestnut. More like a bitter medicinal almond. Or maybe Walnuts, but nothing close to chestnut.

Huh, so reading over the tasting notes, I feel a little bit better because apparently in August they changed teas (but kept the name). Really wish I could have tasted the first batch and compared the two.

This was another flop tea for me. I got the tasting note of cloves and sweet potato and with the chocolate base. But this isn’t like any Yunnan I’ve had before. And sadly I’m not that big of a fan of it. I don’t like cloves that much (I did try Verdant Tea’s Chai and that was pretty good! Its all over Minneapolis.) so maybe that’s why this tea didn’t impress me.

Dunno, what I love about a Yunnan is that caramel sweetness that leaves you with a full mouth feel. This just felt flat and bitter. It sadly falls into my “would not order again” category.

Definitely not a re-peat tea for me. Its got a dark chocolate taste that is quite bitter. I also got a cigarette ash after-taste. Really not too much complexity or development of tones in my opinion. Maybe it improves after another infusion but I couldn’t finish the first.

A nice malty barley tea, with rich salted (maybe almost burnt) caramel. Good for several infusions, this has restored some of my faith in Verdant teas.

Oh Thanksgiving time, good food…alright family..and new teas to try.

This being a combination of the latter two (tea that a relative has brought). They’ve stored it in a tin, they don’t remember when it was bought though.

That aside this is probably one of the worst Darjeelings I’ve tried in a very very long time. There is absolutely no muscatel to it, no flavor, nothing. As I hovered above the pot, I was hit with a distinct fishy smell. Luckily this did not taste in the tea. It just tastes like a black tea. I’m really quite disappointed as I’ve have plenty of good tea from Harney and Sons before.

And this might be why I’m giving it such a harsh rating. I know Harney and Sons can do better, and I know Darjeelings (or at least I like to think I do). So both the estate should be ashamed of this tea, and Harney for buying it.

This would be a “Darjeeling” that people would add milk and sugar to. Maybe I should do the same as I don’t need to worry about masking or ruining any flavor.