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I’ve found my daily sencha. I had been getting the Kagoshima Yutaka Midori from O-cha, which is excellent. When I found out that this is a variety of the same tea, but for less cost, I wanted to find out more.

The appearance of the leaves is definitely more broken. However the taste is sweeter and slight astringency than what I experienced with the Yutaka Midori. The only major difference is that it lacks a very slight depth and butteriness. The vegetal, sugar snap pea taste lingers. The third infusion is not so bad either.

For the price, I think this is an exceptional tea.

I tried to like this, but it is too light for me. Not a bad tea, but very light color and flavor. Nevertheless, it does has some sweetness and umami. I brewed at 175 degrees and found it to be too astringent. I recommend 158 (or 70 C).

Sorry, but I can’t say it really tastes like much of anything despite the color. It was my displeasure with this tea that inspired me to find out more about real matcha, so I guess I can give it some credit.

I admit, I bought this because it was the highest rated from O-Cha. Even so, I find myself looking forward to waking up in the morning so I can make this tea. I never thought I would be excited to switch from dark roast coffee to a slightly creamy, emerald green broth reminiscent of young asparagus. I cannot recommend this tea enough!

I’m on my fourth steep of this sheng and am really enjoying it so far. The amber color, along with smoky earthiness, is a nice change from all the sencha I have been into lately.

I was hesitant about whether or not I would like this tea. When I was in China a few years ago, I bought some oolong and jasmine green tea, along with a yixing, gaiwan, and other tea accessories. What won me over was the oolong – light, floral, and slightly sweet. Because I had a sizable purchase, they threw in a tiny brick of pu’er that didn’t interest me at all. I associated it with black tea (or the way I would end up drinking black tea) – oversteeped and bitter to the point where it would make me nauseous.

Every once in a while, like when I was sick with a cold and needed to take a break from coffee, I would tear off a big chunk of pu’er and put it in a tea ball to steep for a couple minutes. The end result – gut wrenching. I figured I was given this dried up tea because no one wanted it.

Fast forward six weeks ago when I had the killer flu. During this time, I miraculously lost all interest in drinking coffee and started drinking tea. I wanted to learn more about the varieties out there and became addicted to researching what and where to buy. I came across Verdant tea through Steepster and decided on giving the Wild Arbor Sheng a try (now that I broke all my bad steeping habits).

I’m happy to say that this tea offers a dynamic profile unlike the other teas I usually drink. It’s a full dose of earth, if that makes sense without sounding gross. It really does change my perspective on pu’er teas.

I just finished my third infusion of sencha and decided to follow up with the Laoshan. I really love my sencha, so I was expecting to just have a simple cup of green tea. Not at all. The first thing I noticed was the creaminess of this tea, followed by an earthy sweetness. The green vegetable component is there as well, but not as I experience with my sencha. I am so impressed by this tea!

This is my first Wuyi oolong, and my first tasting note. I couldn’t have picked a better place to start than with this tea. The smell of carmel and roasted nuts was my first impression. The taste is warm and smooth with a nice balance of sweet and savory. Since I am used to more floral oolongs, this opened the door to the complexity I was looking for.