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My sample remnant of this is actually from Lot 712, but there is no entry for that and I don’t want to make one just for my pitiful note, and I’m not going to rate this anyway. Steeped this Western-style in a big mug.

I’m going to agree with what derk said about this a few days ago, the roast is too strong and it overpowers any other flavors. I remember Gui Fei I’ve had in the past being much more complex, with honey, fruit, and floral notes. This one is mostly just the roast.

That’s not to say that it’s not pleasant to drink. It has a comforting houjicha-like flavor of autumn leaves and roasted grain. I catch a bit of clear sweetness and perhaps a suggestion of honey coming out at the end of the sip, but otherwise it’s rather one-dimensional.

Another Damn Fine Tea in my cup this morning!

I think this is the only straight Indian black tea I own, just because I tend to favor Chinese and Taiwanese varieties. In my experience, Indian teas have a tendency to be more bitter and astringent, whereas Chinese ones take steeping abuse quite well with nary a peep.

But this is one yummy tea! So malty with lovely raisin and tobacco notes, just what I would hope for from an Assam tea. There’s some lovely baked bread and oak here as well, giving a nice bottom note to the flavor. I do get a bit of astringency, but it’s fairly mild, and there is no bitterness at all.

Did I mention the leaf is gorgeous? Dark and twisty with little pops of bright gold, sort of like a reverse tiger if you will. And don’t even get me started on the tin…

I just re-signed up for the 52teas subscription, so I figured I would break into the few unopened sample packs I have from my previous term. It looks like this one was the reblend from the February box in 2019. I love both genmaicha and mango, but I’m not the biggest coconut fan, so I’m managing my expectations.

The flavoring here is somewhat light, an accent to the toasty genmaicha. The coconut adds a lovely buttery creaminess and definitely reminds me of Thai coconut sticky rice. Thankfully, it does not taste like suntan lotion, as coconut flavor often does. I think I get a little hint of mango at the end of the sip? It’s definitely very subtle.

This is a very tasty creamy genmaicha with a light coconut flavor, and it definitely does remind me of rice pudding or coconut sticky rice. Not sure about the mango part, but that’s okay.

After being dissatisfied with the other chocolate teas I’ve had lately, I figured I would give this one a try. This is from my recent Dammann order, I added it in partially because of the cute tin, and partially because the combination of chocolate, almond, and biscuit sounded so tasty.

Hmm. It has a nice aroma with chocolate and marzipan, but it’s not really translating to the taste for me. Mostly I just taste a generic base tea and a little bit of amaretto flavor…

I wonder if I’m doing something wrong with these Dammann teas, as I had a similar blandness problem with another tea that I just bought. Perplexing.

Reserving judgment until I’ve tried this with some other steeping parameters… :(

Hmm…

I think I must have underleafed this, as it came out quite bland. And I obviously liked this the first time, with a rating of 80. But this cup mostly just tastes lightly of generic green tea, with perhaps a whisper of apple.

Sorry, tea, I think this one was my bad. :P

I’ve been craving a nice chocolate tea lately, so I find myself revisiting all of my Lupicia chocolate fruit teas. Somehow I ended up with all of them, don’t ask how…

Anyway, this one is disappointing. I don’t really get chocolate (which has been an issue in all of these teas), and the orange is very zesty and sharp and not at all dessert-y, which alienates the chocolate side even more. Also, this cup somehow came out quite bitter with my usual parameters, an issue I don’t remember having the last time.

Boo, Lupicia, boo!

I felt like a straight green tea or oolong this afternoon, so I figured I’d start working through a small box of sample-sized straight teas sitting in my tea nook. Some of them are swap samples (I’m sorry, whoever sent them…) and some of them, like this one, are from old Sips By boxes. This tea is apparently from my May 2019 box.

Unfortunately, this tea is very “meh”… It has a very generic dry leafy flavor, and a little hint of smokiness in the background. It’s not bitter or astringent, but there’s not much going on in the way of complexity.

Still, it’s a comforting sort of autumnal flavor that brings coziness with each sip. But I’m glad it’s just a small sample size. ;)

Yay, I finally got this tea page to load! ❤

Polishing off another of my teeny tin sample leftovers with this one from Teavivre.

The aroma is very sweet and honeyed. There is a touch of honey in the taste as well, but mostly it’s thick, hearty bread with caraway seed backed by subtle earthy notes and a hint of smoke.

As it cools, the honey comes out a bit more for a nice honeyed toast flavor.

A very satisfying tea for the morning!

This tea has gotten a bit flat with age.

The grape flavor is still there, but the oolong base doesn’t taste like much anymore. It does still have a nice silky mouthfeel, and is pleasant enough to sip on. But mostly at this point, it’s just muscat flavoring with little-to-no oolong.

It looks like this tea isn’t offered on the Hawaii website, though they do have the Queen’s Muscat Oolong which I remember being quite similar. I seem to have never written a note on it, oddly enough…

This tea smells so amazing, both dry and after steeping.

Unfortunately, it just doesn’t deliver on the scent. It’s not bad per se, it’s just a bit bland. There’s some mild spicing, maybe cinnamon and ginger, perhaps some clove. But the apple isn’t really there at all, and the base tea nonexistent.

Womp womp. Oh well!