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Drinking a Whispering Pines tea this morning in celebration that my order will arrive today. Hooray! GOLDEN ORCHID, I WILL NOM YOU! Anyway, I was curious about this tea since it was described as being very chocolately, and I generally fail at tasting the cocoa in teas… We shall see. The leaves are very thin, dark, and twisty – they remind me of miniature Taiwanese Assam leaves. For some reason they smell like peanuts in the shell to me… There’s cocoa there too. Good sign!

The aroma has raisin and tobacco with an interesting spicy edge. I also get cocoa and honey scents. Hmm, this tea… There is definitely a spice note in here. At first it reminds me of fennel or anise, but there’s also a warming sensation that makes me think of cinnamon later in the sip. Interesting! The main flavor for me is roasty autumn leaves which goes very well with the cocoa notes. Roasty, cocoa-y, spicy… It’s almost like some kind of Mexican hot chocolate without the creaminess, and would probably be exactly that with milk.

I saw that Nicole also got smoke out of this one, and I can see that. The combination of the roasty leaves and the spice could definitely be similar to smokiness. But I really enjoyed that dynamic. ;)

It’s been while since I had a chai (I’m not counting that Thai Chai earlier because it was more of a very mildly spiced condensed milk). And this one is caffeine free, which is lovely because for some reason, I tend to be low on caffeine free options. I can see whole cloves and big pieces of dried orange peel in the mix, along with pieces of ginger root and cinnamon bark. It smells very gingery and spicy, which is a good sign. There’s a little wisp of vanilla. I brewed 5 minutes and added a little condensed milk and sugar.

Even with the additions, it smells very spicy. And it still tastes quite spicy too, hooray! I didn’t kill it! ;) The ginger is very strong, and it makes my tongue tingle! I can also detect the clove and the warmth from the cinnamon. There’s no sign of the rooibos base, and only a very little hint of vanilla. The vanilla would probably be more obvious without the milk and sugar, though, so I’m not going to count that against it.

Overall, I am very pleased with this as a late night option. It’s simple and good chai. There’s a little bit too much ginger in my opinion, but that’s more a of personal taste. Would definitely recommend as a caffeine free choice!

Drinking this tonight because I figured since white tea has the lowest caffeine content, I can count it as a nighttime tea. :P Butterscotch is one of my favorite flavors, so I had to choose this tea when I ordered samples from The Persimmon Tree. The dry leaf is a mixture of (very) broken-up bai mudan leaves, a few golden flower petals, and red peppercorns. I have no idea why there are peppercorns in a butterscotch tea, but I’ll go with it. It smells very lovely and candy-like, with a little bit of spice and an interesting crisp, fresh flavor that reminds me of cucumbers or a crunchy pear. I steeped for 3 minutes.

The aroma is lovely creamy butterscotch and hay from the white tea. There is a tiny bit of spiciness and something that smells like licorice root… Uh oh, I hate licorice root. Well, this does taste like butterscotch, in a very mild way. And it goes nicely with the natural flavor of the white tea. However, this is some kind of weird flavor in here, and I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I guess it could be from the peppercorns, but it really tastes like licorice root. I’m thinking maybe there’s some kind of alcohol flavor element to their butterscotch flavoring?

Holding off on a rating until I try this without the peppercorns in, to see if that makes any difference…

This sample is from Nicole. TeaVivre announced their third anniversary event today and when I saw that they’re going to be having a black tea sale, I remembered that I hadn’t tried this one yet. So I figured I would give it a try so I can have some idea of what I want to order during the sale! The leaves are so cute! They’re very petite and extremely slender. Half golden, half brown and quite curly. They smell of honey and malt, and to a lesser extent, raisin. There’s also a tiny baby stonefruit peeking out at me. I went with a two minute steep because it was the average time here on Steepster.

Brewed, it smells quite bready and similar to pastry. That’s not something I’ve really encountered before. There’s also light bread and honey. My first impression after tasting is that this reminds me quite a bit of white tea! Mixed with black tea, of course. There’s a prominent hay note and the texture is rather light. Then there’s a lovely creaminess that conjures up visions of croissants. Mmm… I found myself wishing for just a touch more honey to compliment the lovely pastry aspect. Adding a tiny bit of sugar just pushes it completely over the edge… Luckily I’m in an indulgent mood. ;)

I am so in love with this tea! The only (small) complaint I have is that it is quite astringent in comparison to most teas I’ve had. But a small price to pay for such a delicious croissant tea!

This makes me wonder if I should try other teas with a two minute steep… Hm…

My first tea from Yunnan Sourcing! Thanks go to Nicole for sending me samples of several of their teas. I chose this one to try first because the leaves are so beautiful, like soft golden pine needles. They’re fuzzy and completely gold in color. The smell is all honey, with just a little malt and sweet fruit. I did a 3 minute steep.

The aroma is full of honey as well, with that same malt and a sweet fruitiness that I would describe as golden raisin. But interestingly, the first thing I taste when sipping this is fresh, bright cucumber. Cucumber? In a black tea? But there it is. Alongside malt and a light honeyed fruitiness. I just kept sipping to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and then I asked my boyfriend who agreed that he tasted cucumber. Success! As I let it cool further, the cucumber transformed slightly into honeydew melon, similar but sweeter. The aftertaste is surprisingly floral with a touch of stonefruit.

This is definitely a different flavor profile than any other Yunnan teas I’ve tried so far, and I enjoyed it. Honeydew is one of my favorite flavors and even though it’s odd for a black tea, I thought it worked really well to lighten this tea and add freshness. Definitely recommended!

This is my second time trying this one, after not loving it the first time. Thankfully, a lot of people here on Steepster gave me advice and hints so hopefully I can have a better experience with this one. I’m doing the TheTeaFairy and Dexter method, which is basically low and slow. :P 5 minutes at 190 degrees, and with bottled water instead of tap (thanks Brenden).

Well, it definitely tastes different. This time I’m getting a ton of sweet potato and almost butternut squash taste. Very creamy, but almost savory. It’s definitely fruity as well, but mostly dark fruits like plums and raisins. I’m not sure on the whole salted caramel idea, I think what I taste is probably closer to molasses. And I still definitely am getting a slight floral aftertaste.

Overall, it’s good but I’m not “in love” with it. Maybe this one just isn’t totally for me… I would be curious to try tap water with the same brewing time and temperature, maybe in a few days when I’ve gotten through part of my humongous Nicole Yunnan collection. :P Thanks again for all the advice, everyone.

I totally killed this one, and I’m not even ashamed… Brewed 5 minutes and then added some sweetened condensed milk. I didn’t consider it a large amount, I just let it coat a spoon and then stirred. But clearly I didn’t brew this strong enough to be able to handle the creaminess, because the spice flavor is now very light. However…

IT WAS SUPER DELICIOUS AND I DON’T EVEN CARE! :P

I’ll be sure to try this again later so I can give it a rating…

This sample is also from Nicole (although I did also order a sample of this, hah!). It’s a blend of Yunnan and Fujian teas, which is pretty obvious by looking at it. It has the longer, lighter colored tippy Yunnan leaves and then there are also shorter, darker Fujian leaves. It smells very nice – bready with malt and honey and a little cocoa. Steeped according to the package directions.

The aroma is similar to the dry leaf, with an added dark raisiny note. The taste is definitely a hybrid. It’s like a light Yunnan that has been dragged down into darkness by its Fujian counterpart. It still has those lovely lighter malty bread and honey notes, but there’s an underlying depth and richness from bitter cocoa and syrupy molasses. In the middle is the lovely raisin fruitiness that helps to tie these two together. A very nice combination! I’ll have to be sure to try the Fujian on its own soon so I can fully appreciate this blend.

I will say one thing, this has given me a much greater appreciation of Golden Orchid. While this does have some dark and bitter cocoa flavor, it’s nowhere close to the same. So clearly those little vanilla beans have a huge effect! Can’t wait to try that one again later today… :)

Another one from Nicole! And I’ve been really wanting to try this one too, mostly because of the adorable horse tin (hangs head in shame). I’m such a sucker for cute packages! The leaves are quite lovely – they’re somewhat long and curly and “fluffy”. About half golden and half brown. I ended up using closer to two teaspoons because of the fluffiness. I didn’t want to underleaf! The dry aroma is what I’m coming to expect from a very tippy Yunnan – bread and malt with honey and lovely stonefruit notes. Yummy.

At first, the tea smelled of just bread and honey. And I was okay with that! However, I noticed that as it started to cool to a more drinkable temperature, those stonefruit notes started poking their lovely little heads out. The taste is surprisingly light in texture. It’s predominantly bready malt with a bit of dried autumn leaves mixed in. And then there’s that little bit of honey sweetness too. I maybe get a little bit of a fruity aftertaste if I really look for it.

Overall, this tea is tasty. It’s uncomplicated, but done well and would make an excellent lighter everyday black tea.

So, a separate issue. I’ve made all three of my black teas today with bottled water instead of my usual tap. And they all three seemed to have the same mild bitterness. I don’t find that bitterness is usually an issue for me, since I generally do shortish steeps and use cooler water (200 degrees usually). So is it possible that my bottled water is making my teas taste more bitter…?

Hooray, more Whispering Pines! This sample came from the giant Yunnapalooza pack sent to me by the lovely and generous Nicole. I was pretty excited to try this for a couple reasons: 1 – it’s super cute!, and 2 – I ordered an ounce of this in the 4th of July sale this past weekend. The leaves are so cute and beautiful, and just looking at them makes me think of “wee snaily yums” and that makes me think of those adorable snail fairy land pictures provided by mj! Squee! When I opened the paper packet, I immediately smelled Fruit Loops. Huh? The scent is very honeyed and there’s a definite stonefruit note, which I am starting to find common in Yunnans, especially very tippy ones. I brewed this according to the package directions.

Mmm the aroma! Lovely yeasty bread and mild sweet potato! Tart stonefruit with honey and molasses! Exclamation point! Needless to say, waiting for it to cool was agony… #firstworldproblems. The taste is surprisingly light for a black tea! But it is definitely full of flavor, just without a lot of heaviness. My first impression is of lovely light, crispy toast with honey slathered over the top. There in the middle is that sweet potato, very creamy and smooth in texture. And in the back there’s molasses, adding a lovely richness and depth to the overall taste. And is that a little hint of floral near the end? According to the website description, it’s gardenia, and since I have no concept of that I will have to take their word for it! I was missing the stonefruit from the aroma, but then I got a nice pop of apricot in the aftertaste, which was unexpected but wonderful!

This is my favorite Yunnan yet, and I am very glad that I ordered an ounce! Can’t wait to try the Imperial Gold Bud, too! :)