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Ever feel like you’re the last one to get in on a secret? That’s how I felt moments after water came into contact with this tea! The pleasant aroma of jasmine was wafting from the pot before I could even get the lid on. I could hardly wait for it to finish steeping, and when it did, the taste was even better than the aroma!

This is blurring the lines between tea and tisane in taste alone. Lightly floral and sweet, with a refreshing edge like mint or something. Every breath I take is cool and fresh after drinking a cup. My wife downed her cup almost immediately. I had brew another so she could slow down and savor it a little.

This sample from Teavivre was a ringer…I will definitely order some of this.

Singing and playing 5 services plus rehearsals this weekend, so I backed off the normal coffee and several pots of tea thing. Hydrating with some home-blended tisane based in roobios, with some ginger and lemon. (It’s pretty good, by the way!)

But I still like a little boost in the cup, so when a trusted friend suggested matcha, and then pointed me toward a sale at Matcha Outlet (formerly Red Leaf Tea), I bought my first ever matcha.

Preparing in the total non-Japanese way using a cup and battery-operated frother, I seasoned the cup at 165° then sifted about a gram into the warmed cup and added about 2 oz 165° water. After “whisking” it into a thick green paste I added the remaining water before drinking.

The resulting cup has an aroma similar to fresh cut grass and is lightly sweet to the taste. A very pleasant drink and I did notice a caffeine-like effect. Though it wasn’t the jolt I get when starting the day with a black tea or coffee, it was mild and pleasantly stimulating..

The flavors and aroma of this Sheng morph a bit as the cup cools, offering the lingering sensation of mint when inhaling after sipping. There was a distinct aroma of campfire or paper while steeping, resulting in a pale yellow liquor.

Pleasant enough to consider an order of this Verdant Tea sample.

Pleasantly surprised by this tea we picked up on a quick trip through Pinehurst, NC recently. The Early Grey was a standout flavor, and the addition of the flavoring made it a nice treat on a 100 degree afternoon.

Lady Bedford’s was a suggested stop, and we arrived to discover a wide selection of loose teas available for purchase or sampling. As a coffee purist, I came to prefer single-origin choices over any number of flavored coffees, as the flavorings were often masking old or inferior beans. I carry that sentiment into my tea drinking adventures, and wouldn’t likely go out of my way very often to buy flavored tea.

That said, this tea is a flavorful Earl Grey with a wonderful aroma. I drank a couple of cups warm, then brewed and chilled a second pot for a full-bodied iced tea.

It’s currently in a drawer while I enjoy something from Western China.

After waking earlier than usual to a stressful day that ended much later than usual, I was inclined toward something that provided a sub-coffee jolt to get me through the morning after.

I pulled this tea from the cupboard and measured out 4 grams as I heated some fresh water. I didn’t have the time or energy for any clean up, so I opted for a reusable tea bag straight into the cup.

What a treat! The resulting cup was a beautiful chestnut brown with a very refreshing mouth feel. I detected a note of caramel along with a gentle blend of spices. The taste lingered well, and served to invite me to a second cup.

The next time around I ditched the thermometer and went just a tad hotter with the water – as the strands of pearls begin to stream toward the surface just off a boil. There was a slight hint of bitterness in the first cup, so I reduced the steep time to 3-minutes and added 2 drops of liquid Stevia (which is far less than a suggested serving portion).

The combination of changes delivered everything needed for a rich, flavorful cup. Formerly a heavy coffee drinker, a fuller-bodied cup really appeals to me. This tea has it.

I roast my own coffee, because too many commercial roasters think flavor somehow develops by baking the oil onto the bean at the end of the roast. I disagree. They do what they feel they must to have a consistent and significant heaviness to their coffee, and then encourage consumers to dump countless pumps, squirts and frothing matter into the cup to make it palatable. I like coffee. Like tea, every single batch from every single grower has a distinct flavor, and in the roasting, there is a “sweet spot” that brings out the best notes.

But back to the tea. Yunnan Black – High Grade from Silk Road Teas? Affordable, delicious, and absolutely worth a try.

This is the first Sheng Pu-erh I’ve knowingly sampled, so bear that in mind as I offer this review.

I carefully measured 5 grams for my test. After a quick rinse, my first sample steeped for just 6-seconds and rendered a beautiful amber cup.

I would describe it as light-bodied with a pleasant note of smokiness. Something about it reminded me of the mouth feel I get when I am working with dense or dark woods like Rosewood or Walnut. Very pleasing, very smooth, with an easily unnoticed effect from caffeine.