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Thank you Teavivre, from this sample!

Not using a rating because I’m inexperienced with sheng pu’erh and don’t have the proper palate. Gongfu method with 4oz gaiwan. 10 second rise. Steepings time were 10, 15, 3, 30, 45, 60…

The dry leaf aroma consists of mushrooms, smoke, sweet spices, and peppercorns. After the rinse, the aroma was savory. I picked out sauteed mushrooms, BBQ’d London broil (medium rare), honey, and honey mustard BBQ sauce. I thought I felt my stomach rumble…

The liquor has a pale peach color and is clear and full-bodied. The first infusion was earthy and sour and had a hint of mushroom. At the second infusion, the aroma resembled cherries and the texture became creamy. Still could only taste earth and sourness. The texture went back to being clear for the third. Sourness waned a little, fruity note appeared. I could have probably gone for more infusions for the sake of the review, but I had to stop at the fifth. The flavor notes – earth, sour – pretty much remained the same. I tried my darndest detect flavors beyond what I was already tasting. Props to me for smelling those weird notes in the aromas (I have a crave now).

I brewed this two ways: hot-brewed via Western style and cold-brewed.

The dry leaf mostly smells of ginseng (at least I think it does – I have never had ginseng before but it would seem obvious considering), with floral and seaweed notes peaking out from underneath. First infusion (3 mins) produces a very lightly flavored liquor, but by the second infusion (4 mins), when the leaves are even more unrolled, the ginseng flavor, too unrolls. It’s quite strong. I’m not sure if I like ginseng; it’s a new taste for me, so it’s probably neutral at best for the time being. I like third infusion (5 mins) the most. The ginseng calms down, allowing itself to be balanced with the floral note. The tea tastes like an average lightly oxidized oolong but with something extra.

A cold-brew (2 tsp, 16 oz, ~14 hours) yields a much different liquor. Besides having the same ginseng and floral notes – both of which are in perfect balance and taste not too weak and not took strong – it is thick, buttery, full-bodied, and most refreshing.

Thank you, Teavivre, for a sample!

Used with the gongfu method. 2 one-second rinses. Steeping times were 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45.

The dry leaf aroma smells of honey and and pineapple. The wet leaf aroma, which sits very well in the bowl, has notes of a mixed juice, strawberries, and – this is an odd one – Juicy Juice gum (I haven’t had that since I was a kid). The liquor is pale gold, clear and clean, and thick in texture. After going months without having a Wuyi oolong, this one was refreshing to drink. I love me dark oolong any time of the year, especially when it is complex. A mineral note was prominent in the first infusion. Thereafter, a fruity sweetness took hold and was consistent throughout the rest of the session. For one of the middle infusions, sweet evolved to slight tart, prickling my tongue. At the end, when the flavor began to give, the sweetness faded, and a roasted quality took over.

Method was gongfu with 4oz gaiwan. 5 second rinse. Steeping intervals of 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60. The dry leaf aroma is floral and milky. (Aside: The milk brought me back maybe a decade ago to when I was at a friend’s house and she had made her own popsicles, one being with milk. I didn’t like it and I swapped with her for the coke one.) The wet leaf aroma is buttery and much more floral, and is sensorially evocative of late spring.

The liquor is very pale yellow, full-bodied, and slightly thick and creamy. At the first infusion it’s already bursting with flavor. The milk was totally dominant and too strong, borderline metallic-tasting and artificial, kind of off-putting. It clung to the gums even minutes after I last swallowed.

It gets better following this infusion, though. The milk backs off in the second, allowing the floral note to be more noticeable. 3rd: floral and milk are more balanced. In addition, apricot and mineral notes make an appearance and leave a pleasant aftertaste. 4th: the leaves are completely unrolled and the flavors are milder, though the milk is strongest but not so overpowering. 5th: even more milder, and the texture becomes thicker. Lastly, 6th: the floral note is supreme, and the liquor is sweet like maple sugar and candied flowers.

A complicated one. I might have to lower the temperature a little for the sake of the milk flavor. I appreciate the aromas, but I’m divided by the taste. The rating reflects overall quality, a balance of likes and dislikes.

Apologies to Angel and Mary from Teavivre for reviewing the samples I requested so late. I’ve had a congested nose for more than a week and it’s finally begun to clear up.

I chose this one to start with. Gongfu method with 4 ounce gaiwan. Steeping intervals were 15, 15, 30, 45, 60. In the dry leaf aroma, I detected raw almonds, chocolate, and raisins. And in the wet leaf aroma, a burst of malt and bitter chocolate. The liquor is a beautiful honey-gold, which looks lovely with sun rays passing through the glass. Medium-bodied, smooth, just a little thick. It has flavor notes of chocolate, malt and freshly baked raisin muffins/bread.

This one feels darker and heavier than other Chinese black teas I’ve had, providing comfort, coziness, and soothing internal enrichment despite the temperature being over 80 degrees F right now. Ideally it would be drunk during a winter storm, when the landscape is snowridden or with dark gray sky above (in contrast to Jin Jun Mei or Laoshan black, e.g., which are both good for cold days in general).

Too light for my taste. While it does blend nicely with the base teas, the plum flavor is somewhat weak and could be just a little stronger (so that it doesn’t overpower the shou mei and jasmin green tea). On another note, the dry leaf looks very pretty with the bright orange cornflower petals contrasting against the varying dull shades of green.

ETA This doesn’t good cold-brewed. The plum flavor translates horribly and the aftertaste is better than the actual taste. There is also an unappealing smell. Dumped it halfway through. (I used 1 tbs for 12oz.)

I’m not changing the rating. It’s OK when it’s hot, and certain teas are just better at being brewed one method than the other instead of being flexible for both.

I chose Blueberry White as my August sample. Recommended temperature is 200F but I lowered it a bit. I was baffled to see it was so high. For a white tea?? o_O Though based on the cup I’m currently having, it seems that brewing this at that temperature might not be as bad as I thought. I don’t understand white tea.

A deliciously flavored tea! The blueberry is light in both aroma and taste, and it blends well with the Shou Mei, which, as far I can discern, tastes like white tea. I rarely drink white teas – they’re too delicate and subtle and have an odd grassy flavor. With this one, the grass isn’t so bad since it has blueberry flavoring for a companion. A good balance. Good ol’ blueberry.

Praise be, our 4th of July is overcast and cool with occasional rain. Such a relief after two days of hot, humid weather and two nights of thunderstorms. (Last night we actually had hail – the size of marbles!) A good day for a black tea such as this.

The dry leaf aroma has pleasant fruity notes, notably of apricot, peach, and dried kiwi (first time I detected kiwi in a non-flavored tea!). The aroma of the wet leaf, however, largely consists of malt with a hint of apricot. The liquor is reddish rust, full-bodied, and robust. When I first take a sip, malt is dominant. Again, the apricot is subtle, but it sticks out more and more as the liquor cools and the longer I let the tea sit in my mouth. It also delicately stays on the tongue during the aftertaste, when the malt nearly disappears entirely.

This is one of the most refreshing teas I have ever cold-brewed. Like other Den’s flavored teas, this tastes better cold. Huge improvement I didn’t mention in my last note (which I wrote more than a year ago) that the flavor tends to be too strong, even bitter, when I use the package’s steeping parameters. I had to really tweak the instructions for the tea to be palatable. With a larger volume of water – cold – the sakura is lighter, not at all overbearing. Very flavorful and yummy. The sencha is fresh, leaves soft enough to chew and eat on its own (I’ve found that this is applicable to other Den’s teas). I will say again that because of the sakura blossoms and the fertile green color of the sencha, the leaf itself is very pretty, both dry and wet. Overall, excellent summer tea.

Dry leaf smells malty and a little earth-like. Liquor is golden, clear, a little astringent, and surprisingly light-bodied. The malt and honey flavor, too, are light, and are roughly equal in strength. A cup of this tea is nice yet stimulating to drink during a summer’s mid-morning.