41 Tasting Notes
I received this as a sample and I really enjoyed it! I brewed it gongfu style with the first steep at 30 sec, the second steep at 1 min and then adding another minute for each subsequent steep. This tea is very malty, somewhat astringent, and I noticed notes of honey and sweet potato with subsequent steeps.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Earth, Honey, Malt, Sweet Potatoes
Preparation
This is unlike any milk oolong that I have ever had before. The dry leaf smells heavily of butter and toffee and is very pleasant! I brewed it gongfu style, 1 tsp in a 120mL gaiwan at 195F initially for 15 seconds and then adding 10-20 seconds with each subsequent steep. The wet leaf’s butter and toffee scent is more subtle and vegetal notes are more prominent. The tea itself tastes buttery smooth with just a hint of coconut at the end. I was hoping to develop more flavors with subsequent steepings but maybe my tea palette isn’t well-developed yet. Regardless, this is a wonderful tea!
Flavors: Butter, Coconut, Smooth, Vegetal
Preparation
The scent of the dry leaf punches you in the face. It smells VERY heavy of bergamot, almost off-putting, actually. I could also smell the lavender and the coconut. I brewed this tea for 4 minutes at 212F. After brewing, the bergamot smell was much more subdued, which made me happy. It tastes like an earl grey tea with a faint hint of bergamot. I think the lavender and cream really shines through here and I get just a hint of coconut at the end. I was hoping the addition of some sugar will bring out the coconut flavor some more but it didn’t. This tea is also astringent – it leaves my mouth feeling dry, but it isn’t unpleasant. Overall, this reminds me a lot of Zhi Tea’s Violet Femme, minus the coconut, and the Violet Femme is not as drying to the palate in my opinion. Overall, this is a lovely tea, especially with the addition of some sugar and a splash of cream.
Flavors: Astringent, Bergamot, Coconut, Cream, Lavender, Lemon
Preparation
This tea is super YUCK. I think it smells good, like a cherry green tea, but it tasted like I was drinking cherry cough syrup mixed with green tea. I was hoping that this would be similar to Zhi Tea’s Cherry Sencha (which I LOVE!) but unfortunately, Sakura Cherry fell super short.
Flavors: Artificial, Cherry
This tea is very nutty and creamy, it’s delicious. It has a black tea base but there isn’t a lot of black tea in it, it’s mostly nuts and other tings; therefore the caffeine content would lower than your typical black tea. I wish there was more pistachio flavor. It honestly reminds me of Toasted Walnut but I don’t have any more available to compare the two.
Flavors: Creamy, Nutty