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Wonderfully minty and melony. Soothing after maybe being injured this evening (too soon to really tell if it’s an injury or just hurt.)

When I was trying Melon Drop I kept expecting it to taste like this.

Oh so good, so so good as an iced tea. Cold steeped 6 tsp in 1.5l of water for about 10 hours. A touch astringent but delicious.

This tastes like guava candies.

Today I’m sampling Taiping Houkui and Taiping Houkui Superior next to each other. The difference between these two teas is that the regular one is processed partially by machine and the superior is entirely hand processed. There’s also a fairly significant difference in the price, to account for the amount of extra labour that goes into hand processing.

I believe this is my first time having Taiping Houkui.

The dry leaf varies in colour from medium to dark green. While it is quite flat, it is not perfectly flat or uniform. There are some large pieces in my sample, but also quite a few broken bits. The smell is rich, with strong umami and seaweed qualities, and just a touch of roasted character. I am reminded a lot of a good quality sencha. Compared to the standard version, the leaf is less uniform in shape, size and colour. This smells slightly sweeter and richer.

I steeped 1g of leaf in 50ml of 80C water, three times, for 60 , 60 and 90 seconds.

Steeped the leaf smells sweet and umami with no grassiness. The variable sizes of leaf and leaf fragments make for a less visually stunning steeping experience than the standard version.

The soup is pale yellow green, and very clear. It is slightly paler than the standard version. Smell is mild, slightly tangy and vegetal, but present.

The flavour is complex. Notes of seaweed, umami, and nuts, with both sweetness and a vegetal tang. There is a hint of caramel in the cheeks. The flavour is pungent but more delicate than regular. The body is quite light, and one of the most noticeable differences between these teas.

After the first steep these teas diverge quite a lot. The second steep is more bold than first – tangier, more vegetal and pungent. Also sweeter, with more distinct caramel. The finish is nice and tangy. The third steep is less sweet and less tangy than the first two. It has a mellow vegetal, grassy flavour. Toward the end of the sip there’s a bit of roastiness that comes out. Compared to the standard, more umami and nuttiness remain in the third steep.

I feel that if I were so inclined, I feel that I could get another steep out of these.

Both of these are excellent teas. I am reminded in many ways of sencha. While they are very similar at first, and I’m not sure I would notice the difference if I had not had these side by side, the differences show in later steeps. I enjoyed the Superior slightly more, although I’m not sure the difference in the tea is big enough for me to personally justify the price difference. However, supporting the art of handcrafting might be.

Samples provided by Nannuoshan.

Today I’m sampling Taiping Houkui and Taiping Houkui Superior next to each other. The difference between these two teas is that the regular one is processed partially by machine and the superior is entirely hand processed. There’s also a fairly significant difference in the price, to account for the amount of extra labour that goes into hand processing.

I believe this is my first time having Taiping Houkui.

The dry leaf is beautiful. Large, uniform, very flat and thin, in an intense medium green colour. These leaves are definitely unique and interesting. They smell of seaweed and umami, with just a hint of maple. Compared to the Superior, the smell is less sweet and slightly less refined smelling.

I steeped 1g of leaf in 50ml of 80C water, three times, for 60 , 60 and 90 seconds.

Steeped, the leaf smells nutty and grassy, with lots of umami. The leaf is truly beautiful – the long, flat leaves turn int bright green ribbons in my gaiwan.

The tea soup is a pale yellow green and crystal clear. Smell is very mild, almost non-existent. The faint whiff that I do catch is vegetal.

The first steep is delicious, smooth. The dominant flavours are seaweed, umami, nutty, with a touch of grass. The light colour of the soup belies the pungent, mouth filling flavour this has. The intensity of the flavour fades quickly in the finish, and a milder, tangy edge lingers in the mouth for a while. This has a medium body, one of the most noticeable differences between these teas.

After the first steep these teas diverge quite a lot. The second steep is mellow, nutty and a touch astringent. The umami remains. The third is quite grassy and the sweetness is gone. The astringency builds a little bit, but still remains mild and pleasant.

After three steeps, I believe these leaves are done.

Both teas are excellent. The differences are hard to pick out at first but really come out after the first steep. I enjoyed the Superior slightly more, though if you focus strictly on the experience of the tea, I think this one is a better value. If you factor in the handcrafting, well, I think everyone values that a bit differently in their tea experience.

Samples provided by Nannuoshan.

I finally caved and picked up a sample of some of the new teas from DAVIDs.

This is a really nice tisane. It’s intensely sweet and melony tasting. I could see it being too sweet for some people – probably one of the sweetest tisanes I’ve had (short of ones containing sweeteners or licorice root.)

This makes me pretty happy, and I’ll probably pick up more before it’s gone. I don’t find it as amazing as Lupicia’s melon flavoured teas, but it’s accessible and enjoyable.

Not bad. Earthy, licorice, mint and cinnamon. Unfortunately the vanilla wasn’t noticeably present, but it was still tasty.

Oh so good, and a sipdown, though I may have to snag some from my sweetie’s cupboard, as I really like this.

It’s mildly smokey and just rich and delicious with fruity and malty notes. Definitely a re-purchase at some point.

I cold steeped this for about 12 hours in a litre of water. I figured I’d need to dilute it and I was worried that it had over steeped, but it’s actually pretty perfect just the way it is.

The lime and cola flavours are distinct but not over powering. The black base is there in a supportive role. There’s the slightest hint of bitterness and astringency but not in a bad way at all. This is super refreshing and easy to drink.

It tastes like it would be good with a bit of sugar, but I’m drinking it straight and I’m really happy with the way it tastes. I will probably even try resteeping the bag (though I’d be surprised and impressed if I got another good steep out of it.)

I could see drinking this one a lot.

I got this as a to go cup, since I was told it’s being discontinued, and I figured I might as well try it while I still can (and stock up if it’s amazing.)

This tea started off really nice – floral oolong, very authentic pineapple flavour (maybe the best I’ve experienced in a tea yet), but there’s also a very strong medicinal note that gives this a kind of cough syrup quality that I’m just not enjoying.

I thought maybe I oversteeped it (probably), but adding more water and resteeping the leaves didn’t help.

Ah well, pineapple oolong, I will not be sad to see you go.