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I believe this sample came from Shadowfall. I’ve been noticing lately that I never drink any of my chai samples. I guess it’s just something that I have to be in a specific mood for? So I figured I’d try to drink some of them within the next few days. This one actually smells fairly mild. I don’t really smell orange, just some cinnamon and a sweetness that almost says vanilla to me. I did a 4 minute steep.

I dunno, this tea is fairly weak for a chai. I added a little sugar but no milk, so I guess I’m appreciating the weak flavor right now since it’s not diluted. But normally, I feel chai should be strongly spiced so that it can stand up to the traditional preparation method. I would call this a spiced black tea, not necessarily a chai. I taste a wee bit of orange, but mostly cinnamon and some clove. The flavor that’s here isn’t bad, there’s just not enough of it.

This was probably the new blend that I was most excited about. Caramel apple tea? Yum! This is a rolled oolong, and the leaves are very dark. I can see a few pieces of dried apple and some tiny red flower petals mixed in with the tea. The dry scent is extremely strong and very caramel apple-y! In this case, it’s definitely a granny smith apple. I can smell the butter in the caramel, too. I noticed that the pellets barely unrolled in the first infusion.

The brewed aroma is very caramel! The apple is still there, but it’s much fainter and less tart, and I can smell a sort of autumn leaf scent that I associate with oxidized oolongs. Yum, the caramel is strong with this one! It’s definitely a darker caramel, similar to burnt sugar. I don’t really get butter like I would expect from real caramel. The apple is much milder than the smell – it’s definitely either a cooked apple or the red delicious variety, more sweet than tart. I am, however, getting a very fresh and crisp pear flavor, I assume from the Gui Fei base. Quite lovely! There is a mild (thank goodness) floral note and an overall sweet honey-like taste from those cute little leafhoppers!

This one is a hit, Stacy! :D

I think this is the Butiki tea that I’ve been waiting to try the longest. I love cantaloupe and melon things in general, and I like white teas a lot, so this is right up my alley! Wow, these leaves are huge! This is definitely a very full-leaf bai mudan, and it has the most lovely little flowers mixed in. Beautiful! The smell is extremely melon, although I wouldn’t say it’s any specific melon.

The brewed aroma is also strong melon, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it cantaloupe. I added a wee bit of sugar to mine after a quick taste. I don’t know that I would call this cantaloupe specifically – it tastes more like honeydew to me. And that is not a bad thing, I love honeydew too! There is a light creaminess to this, especially as you near the end of the sip. I also taste a mild hay-like flavor from the bai mudan itself. Lovely!

I’m not sure whether I underleafed, but this is a very light tea. Next time I may try it with extra leaf. Those darn huge leaves are hard to measure! :P

For some reason I was just really set on ordering this tea! I don’t know if it was the name or what, but I had to have it. And it was really inexpensive, so that’s always a good motivator! The leaves are quite beautiful – they’re long and thin. There are large twisted leaves that are almost black, and then there are also silver tips which are smaller and thinner. I didn’t get much of a dry scent from this tea, just a vague sweetness and a bit of hay perhaps.

The brewed aroma, however, was very present! Definite dark, tart dried fruit notes, perhaps raisin or prune with some tart cherry. I also get a strong molasses scent – but it’s closer to black strap molasses, you know, the really strong stuff. Yum, the first thing I taste is molasses too, mixed with a bit of burnt sugar. It’s definitely a milder molasses, and super delicious! I also get the lovely dark, tart dried fruit note from the aroma. This tea just seems to be a lot of my favorite flavors from dark oolongs, all mixed together! As the sip progresses, I start to get a slightly creamy toasted nut flavor that really lightens it up. And behind it all, there’s that mellow autumn leafiness that I’ve found in every oxidized oolong I’ve had so far.

Really, a very lovely tea! My only comment is that as this tea cools, the molasses and fruit flavors start to wane in favor of the autumn leaf, and a little bitterness creeps up. So be sure to drink it hot. :)

Yay, my Butiki order arrived! This tea was sort of my “wildcard” purchase in my order, it just sounded too interesting to pass up. I don’t have a ton of experience with tamarind, but I have had tamarind soda before. The base tea is from Nepal. Someone explain to me, why is some tea graded and some not? I see it mostly in Darjeeling and Ceylon teas. Does Nepalese tea fall under one of the “usual” tea categories or does it have its own category? Basically, what type of tea would this be considered?

The dry leaves are a mixture of colors, which I’ve heard is common in Darjeeling. They are quite green after brewing, and I was surprised by how light the liquor is! The dry scent is kind of like powdered sugar.

Hmm! The aroma is quite pastry-like and creamy with vanilla notes. The taste is similar, yum! It’s quite buttery and creamy with obvious pastry connections. I can taste vanilla and caramel as well. The tamarind flavor is there, especially near the end. I expected this tea to be tart, since I generally associate tamarind with tartness, but it’s not tart at all. I’m unsure how to describe the taste of tamarind, to be honest with you… I suppose it’s kind of woody in a way? That’s the best I’ve got, heh. There’s a little bit of astringency in this tea, but I honestly don’t mind it much.

Overall, this tea is very tasty and not at all what I expected! I would very much like to try the Organic Guranse base plain. If anyone happens to have this tea, I would love to swap you for a sample! :)

Ah, the power of the palate cleanser… I was feeling a bit ugh after having a few heavier teas this morning in addition to that ridiculously sugary (and delicious!) chai mix. And I’m grumpy because the mailman is late and he has my Butiki order! Grr!

This tea is making it all better. I am reminded that I should always keep a simple sencha around, for this exact moment. Relaxing, tummy-calming, palate-cleansing sencha. Delicious! :)

On an actual “tasting” note, I did a 2-minute steep today. I’m getting an interesting smoky, mineral note that reminds me of gunpowder tea.

I got this one from Nicole. It’s a powdered chai mix, which I don’t think I’ve ever tried before. But it has maple and sounded so delicious that I had to request a sample from her! The sample was probably a couple tablespoons, but she just wrote to use the whole thing so I didn’t measure it. I made mine with vanilla soy milk because I don’t have any regular milk right now and I love vanilla!

Holy cow, this is very sweet. But I love it! Super delicious and creamy. It’s very mildly spiced and she’s right, you don’t taste much tea. The maple isn’t overpowering, just a lovely accent. Overall, this would probably be too sweet for most people, but I find it delicious and ridiculously indulgent. I wish this company offered a sampler of all of their different chai mixes. There’s a mango version which sounds amazing! :P

This came from Nicole. For some reason, I didn’t realize that this is a Darjeeling… Don’t ask me how, the fact that it says “Autumn Flush” probably should have been enough. I guess the fact that it’s called “Imperial Gold” just made me think Yunnan instinctively. And the leaves don’t look terribly different from a less-tippy Yunnan…

Anyway, long story short, I think I underleafed this severely after looking at Nicole’s note… The flavor is extremely light, too. But the flavor that’s there is nice! I don’t think I’ve ever had a Darjeeling before, so I don’t really know what the typical flavor profile is. This kind of tastes like a very light toast with some autumn leaves and a little bit of sweet floral.

Luckily, I have enough left to do another cup with double the leaf sometime. :P

Side-by-side comparison with Ai Lao Mountain Black Spring 2014 by Yunnan Sourcing

I remembered that at one point, boychik had mentioned that she’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of this tea and Ai Lao Mountain Black, so I thought why not? The Ai Lao was a single-serving sample, so I figured it’s now or never!

Visually, these two are nearly identical. The leaves are nearly black and they remind me of a smaller version of the “spider leg” Taiwanese Assam leaves. Same size leaves in both of these teas. I can’t comment on the dry scent, because my Ai Lao Mountain was in a zipper baggie and therefore lost most of its smell. Oh well! I brewed both teas in identical cups with identical infuser baskets. It was a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees with 3 grams of each tea (my sample of Ai Lao was 3 grams so I used the whole thing and matched the weight for Ailaoshan).

First, the smell-off! I found that both teas had strong dried fruit notes, but Ailaoshan’s were dark, syrupy fruits such as raisin, prune, and cherry, while Ai Lao had a lighter dried fruit profile (raisin still maybe, but paired with fig or golden raisin). Both teas had a strong molasses aroma, and an interesting herbal or spice hint that I couldn’t quite place. The biggest differences I noticed between the two: Ai Lao had a little wisp of floral dancing around which was absent from Ailaoshan. In contrast, Ailaoshan had an obvious dark caramelized sugar scent that was divine! So far, pretty similar but each with its own flair.

On to the taste-off! There is also similarity here: both teas have a nice bready quality, although I would say it’s stronger in Ailaoshan. Also, both teas have strong molasses-ish rich flavor and that same dastardly unidentified herb/spice note! Does it bother anyone else when they can’t identify a flavor? Harumph! Both are fruity teas, but in quite different ways. The Ai Lao has a tangier dried fruit flavor – think prunes, maybe with a bit of something tangier, like tamarind maybe? Meanwhile, Ailaoshan has a much sweeter, almost jammy cherry and blackberry flavor, which was a surprise to me considering the aroma! Just like the aroma, the Ai Lao has a (fairly strong) floral element, which unfortunately translates into a slightly soapy aftertaste for me. Ailaoshan retains that lovely dark caramelized sugar that I noticed in scent form, and it goes very nicely with the dark bread notes and the fruit. I noticed as Ailaoshan cooled, it developed a woody taste that was not at all unpleasant. The Ai Lao tastes almost the same cool as it did hot, maybe with a bit more of that soapiness at the end.

In conclusion… These two teas are far more different in flavor than I would expect. Yes, they have several similar notes, but the ones that are different affect those similar notes in a way that makes them taste dissimilar in the end. I would almost describe these as being the corporeal and the ethereal form of the same tea. The Ailaoshan Black would be the corporeal version, with its earthier dark sugar, wood, and dark bread flavors. Therefore, the Ai Lao Mountain becomes its ethereal counterpart, with its lighter and whimsical floral element combined with the mild tang of the fruits.

Hah, that probably makes no sense, but I’m sticking with it! Overall, my preference is for the Ailaoshan Black, but considering I’m not a fan of floral, I consider myself to be biased in that regard. :P

Side-by-side comparison with Ailaoshan Black by Whispering Pines

This sample came from Nicole, I think this is the last tea from the first box she sent me. I remembered that at one point, boychik had mentioned that she’d like to see a side-by-side comparison of this tea and Ailaoshan Black, so I thought why not? This was a single-serving sample, so I figured it’s now or never!

Visually, these two are nearly identical. The leaves are nearly black and they remind me of a smaller version of the “spider leg” Taiwanese Assam leaves. Same size leaves in both of these teas. I can’t comment on the dry scent, because my Ai Lao Mountain was in a zipper baggie and therefore lost most of its smell. Oh well! I brewed both teas in identical cups with identical infuser baskets. It was a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees with 3 grams of each tea (my sample of Ai Lao was 3 grams so I used the whole thing and matched the weight for Ailaoshan).

First, the smell-off! I found that both teas had strong dried fruit notes, but Ailaoshan’s were dark, syrupy fruits such as raisin, prune, and cherry, while Ai Lao had a lighter dried fruit profile (raisin still maybe, but paired with fig or golden raisin). Both teas had a strong molasses aroma, and an interesting herbal or spice hint that I couldn’t quite place. The biggest differences I noticed between the two: Ai Lao had a little wisp of floral dancing around which was absent from Ailaoshan. In contrast, Ailaoshan had an obvious dark caramelized sugar scent that was divine! So far, pretty similar but each with its own flair.

On to the taste-off! There is also similarity here: both teas have a nice bready quality, although I would say it’s stronger in Ailaoshan. Also, both teas have strong molasses-ish rich flavor and that same dastardly unidentified herb/spice note! Does it bother anyone else when they can’t identify a flavor? Harumph! Both are fruity teas, but in quite different ways. The Ai Lao has a tangier dried fruit flavor – think prunes, maybe with a bit of something tangier, like tamarind maybe? Meanwhile, Ailaoshan has a much sweeter, almost jammy cherry and blackberry flavor, which was a surprise to me considering the aroma! Just like the aroma, the Ai Lao has a (fairly strong) floral element, which unfortunately translates into a slightly soapy aftertaste for me. Ailaoshan retains that lovely dark caramelized sugar that I noticed in scent form, and it goes very nicely with the dark bread notes and the fruit. I noticed as Ailaoshan cooled, it developed a woody taste that was not at all unpleasant. The Ai Lao tastes almost the same cool as it did hot, maybe with a bit more of that soapiness at the end.

In conclusion… These two teas are far more different in flavor than I would expect. Yes, they have several similar notes, but the ones that are different affect those similar notes in a way that makes them taste dissimilar in the end. I would almost describe these as being the corporeal and the ethereal form of the same tea. The Ailaoshan Black would be the corporeal version, with its earthier dark sugar, wood, and dark bread flavors. Therefore, the Ai Lao Mountain becomes its ethereal counterpart, with its lighter and whimsical floral element combined with the mild tang of the fruits.

Hah, that probably makes no sense, but I’m sticking with it! Overall, my preference is for the Ailaoshan Black, but considering I’m not a fan of floral, I consider myself to be biased in that regard. :P