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Oh so nice. I’ve had a lot of smokey teas lately, but not a lapsang souchong in quite a while.

The smokey flavour is bold but not overpowering, and there’s space for the complexity of this tea to shine. In addition to the smoke, there’s lovely notes of malt, caramel and coconut. So very tasty.

Okay, I know there’s watermelon in the photo for this tea, but for some reason I was just expecting strawberry and champagne flavours with the oolong, and I could taste the melon but not quite put my finger on what it was, and it was really bugging me. And then I realized that there’s supposed to be melon flavour in this, and that there is, indeed, melon flavour, and all was well.

The oolong base is there, but not really distinctive, and I find myself wishing for an oolong with really strong orchid notes, because flowers would just round out the picnic in the park theme, but this is still tasty, though maybe not a rebuy for me.

I haven’t had a English Breakfast tea in ages, but I think I was expecting something with a pretty generic black tea, tea bags kind of flavour, and this is not that.

This smells very woody, with a bit of a tannic and acidic, roasted note to it. Fortunately, the flavour is a bit more complex, with malt, caramel, wood and char. It’s bold and a bit tangy, while also being incredibly smooth and only a tiny bit bitter.

Not my favourite flavour profile, but I’m enjoying this more than I expected initially. Finishing this cup up with milk and sugar, though it doesn’t actually need it, like I was expecting it to.

Woah, so much golden tips! The dry leaf is covered in that wonderful orange fairy dust, and smells strongly of malt, sweet potato, molasses and raisin.

Steeped, there’s a rich, slightly boozy note that comes out. On the palate, it’s sweet and delicious, with cocoa, sweet potato, molasses. No bitterness and only the faintest trace of astringency toward the bottom of the cup – quite smooth. Taste-wise this is somewhere between an Assam and a Yunnan. I’m not sure what I expect from Himalayan teas, but this took me by surprise a bit, in the best way possible.

So very tasty.

I’ve been neglecting all the Butiki samples I got from Janelle, maybe partly because I’m afraid I’ll love them too much.

Anyway, finally pulled this one out. It’s a nice rootbeer tea, though the rootbeer is more distinct in the smell than the flavour, which is actually fairly mild. Slightly creamy. All in all a very enjoyable cup.

With many mentions of coconut going soapy or rancid quickly, I decided I should dig into this tea again.

Once again this was super creamy and rich, not too sweet, subtle lime flavour with a touch of tartness, and some floral, vegetal oolong flavours.

I also just love how this tea looks. The creamy coconut, dark green oolong and orangey red flowers are a beautiful combination.

Bad first impressions aside, I ended up liking my first cup of this enough to resteep my leaves from earlier. They were still fairly rolled up and full of fragrance.

I steeped again at 90C for about 4 minutes. This cup was much the same, maybe a touch milder, and with a floral note on the finish. Great flavour.

I think the leaves still had a lot more to give – after the second steep they still weren’t fully open, but I’ll maybe try more than two steeps some other time.

I’ve had this sample for a while now, but just cracked it open. I’m feeling kind of crappy today and had a couple of appointments to go look houses, so I figured a good travel mug of tea would help sustain me.

I put 1tsp in my 16oz travel mug with 90C water about 2/3 full, then topped it up with cold water after a few minutes. I’ve been sipping at it for about three hours now.

Initially this seemed like a pretty mild, average green oolong. A bit fruity and floral, a touch of tang, but nothing really distinctive. After about half an hour, I was really taken by surprise at how the flavours were developing. Super intense, in your face honey, cinnamon and pastry! Very evocative of eating baklava (way, way more like baklava than DAVIDs’ offering this winter.) A bit of growing bitterness and astringency, but nothing unpleasant. And then on the finish, grass, peach and apricot.

Wow! I’m really impressed with how complex and unique this turned out to be. I’ve since arrived home and tipped the leaves and remaining tea into a teapot and added a bit more hot water. This has mellowed out the bitterness and astringency without dulling the flavours. Wonderful!

I love that I discovered notes in this tea that I might never have experienced if I’d only done my usual couple of short steeps.

The dry leaf smells very roasted, and is tightly rolled into small, dark pellets. I want to preface this note by saying that heavily roasted oolongs are generally not my thing, though I do enjoy them on occasion.

Steeped for 2:15 in 90C water. The leaves are just starting to unfurl a bit. The liquor smells roasted and nutty, almost coffee-like, and steeps up to a dark brown with purple undertones.

My first impression of my first sip was NOT GOOD. This sip I tried quite hot and I got smacked with strong roast and mineral notes. Not inherently bad, but it evoked the worst association. The first sip tasted the way outhouse chemicals smell. Dear god. When I’m drinking tea, I do not want to be transported to a well-used port-a-potty.

Fortunately, that first impression was fleeting and did not continue with subsequent sips (yes, I’m stubborn, I continued to sip a tea that made me think of outhouse.) Now that the cup has cooled, the roast and mineral are still there, but they’ve been joined by a creamy nuttiness. Added another 30 seconds of steeping, to get just a bit more flavour into my cup.

This is actually really nice – The roasted flavour doesn’t drown out everything else. If my initial impression hasn’t turned you off completely, worth trying.

Strong vanilla fragrance from dry leaves and steeped.
Good vanilla flavour with creamy mouth feel, bitter chocolate note that gets less bitter as the cup cools. Hot, this lacks a full mouth flavour, but that also improves as the cup cools.

Much less chocolate in this one, than the other vanilla blacks I’ve had recently, but a very nice choice for a straight up vanilla black tea. Thanks Lindsay!