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From my records, I see I bought 50 g of this oolong in early 2015 for $8. If only Dan Congs were still that affordable! Before I got my gongfu equipment, I would dump a few leaves of this tea into my Finum infuser and thought it was tasty. Then I tried gongfuing it and it was a bitter mess, leading to its relegation to the “tea museum” at the back of my cupboard.

Okay, let’s try this again. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is faint and is of almond, roast, wood, florals, and peach. The first steep has a pronounced almond note, behind which is hiding tannins, baked peaches, minerals, cream, brown sugar, florals, and wood. The more this is held in the mouth, the more that almond flavour takes over. This isn’t true for the aroma, which is a nice balance among the various flavours. The returning aftertaste is also amazing, with peach, mandarin orange, jasmine floorals, and almonds. The same thing happens in the second steep, with the peach and floral aftertaste being the best part of the experience.

Peach, orange, and apricot appear in the third and fourth steeps, though the almond is by far the strongest flavour. The accompanying bitterness is reminiscent of almond skin. Some grass and grapefruit show up in steep five. By steep seven, the roast, wood, and minerals are becoming more prominent, although the almonds are still going strong and the stonefruit, citrus, and florals are still present in the aroma and aftertaste. The end of the session has notes of spinach, earth, tannins, nuts, wood, and roast, and is quite bitter.

If the floral, citrus, and stonefruit flavours of this tea had made it into the actual sip instead of just the aroma and aftertaste, I’d have rated it in the nineties. As is, the session was kind of frustrating. I’d love to know whether tweaking the brewing parameters could pull these flavours out a little more.

Thanks to Derk for the sample! Because it costs more to ship from the U.S. to Canada than it does to ship here from Taiwan or China, I tend to have few teas from American companies in my cupboard. This is my first tea from Totem Tea, and as a Dong Ding-style oolong from Taiwan, it’s sort of in my wheelhouse. I steeped the roughly 6 g in a 120 ml teapot at 205F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of cookies, peach, cinnamon, nuts, and wood. This tea is making me hungry! The first steep has notes of cookie, peach, walnut, anise, grass, orchid, cream, pleasant sourness, and wood. I can tell there’s a roast, but it’s somewhat green for a Dong Ding. The cinnamon and other spices are a bit more apparent in the second steep, as are the orchid florals and that sour note I tasted earlier. The third and fourth steeps continue to be nutty, woody, and floral, with some baked bread undertones. By steep five, notes of minerals, sourness, walnut, and wood become stronger, though there’s still plenty of sweetness and a little spice and florality. The session ends with wood, minerals, and roast.

While I didn’t get all the nuances from this tea that Derk did, I found it to be a slightly offbeat, intriguingly complex Dong Ding. Those cookie and spice notes were lovely, though I wish they’d stuck around a little longer. Thanks for the chance to try this tea from a new-to-me company.

I bought this Wuyi oolong in Tao Tea Leaf’s 50% off sale around Christmas 2015. Since it’s a tea I enjoyed, I’ve naturally been hoarding it for the past five years. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of cannabis, oakwood, char, and nuts. The first steep has notes of char, smoke, cannabis, walnuts, almonds, cream, honey, minerals, and oakwood. The woody, nutty notes predominate. I get some baked bread in the second steep, along with tobacco and roast in the aftertaste. Perhaps due to the tea’s age, I don’t detect any flowers or stonefruit. The flavour profile remains constant through the next four steeps, becoming more drying, mineral, and roasty at the end of the session.

Despite its somewhat heavy roast, which I usually find off-putting, this is a fun and enjoyable oolong. I actually like it better than their Da Hong Pao, which I bought at the same time. I wish it had some fruit and florals, but that oakwood flavour makes it unique and oddly compelling.

I sipped down the last of my 25 g of this tea yesterday. I finally got up the nerve to use the clay houhin that Mrmopar sent me a while ago, and much to my surprise and relief, it didn’t break. Maybe I’m not a degenerate teapot murderer after all! This tea was extra floral and cookie-like because I used a larger amount in what I think might be a 100 or 110 ml pot. Sadly, the fruity notes weren’t as evident as they were in a porcelain vessel.

I’m sad to see this tea go and regret not picking up more in the company’s recent sale. (But then, if I restocked all the teas I enjoyed, my cupboard would be even fuller than it is now.)

Thanks again, Mrmopar, for the teapot!

I ordered this tea in March of 2016, which means that it’s probably—gasp!—from 2015! Yes, I’m a bit embarrassed by this. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is typical Red Jade: menthol, cinnamon, raisins, malt, and stonefruit. The first steep has notes of sassafras, menthol, malt, cinnamon, cream, raisins, tannin, and wood. The next steep has more malt and menthol and not much fruit. There’s some astringency in the background and a drying aftertaste. Aside from a bit of raisin, the third and fourth steeps continue to be all about the malt, menthol, tannin, and sassafras. Later steeps emphasize malt, tannin, earth, wood, and minerals.

This tea has all the standard Red Jade flavours, though it’s on the maltier, more astringent side. I won’t have any trouble finishing the bag, but don’t need to buy more, as it isn’t anything new or spectacular.

This is the final tea review from my big Camellia Sinensis purchase in 2018. (I repurchased the Gyokuro Okkabe and Feng Huang Hong Cha, but I’ve already reviewed these teas.) Camellia Sinensis regularly stocks three Dong Dings: Mr. Chang, Mr. Nen Yu, and Ms. Lin. The last of these is more often out of stock than available, so I decided there must be something to it. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of char, roast, honey, flowers, and plums. The wet leaves in the teapot smell like charcoal and roast, which makes me wonder why I have such a penchant for buying roasted teas that I can’t appreciate. The first steep has notes of roasted grain, honey, plum, caramel, wood, and roast. The plum becomes more pronounced in the second steep, and I also get orchid, other flowers, roasted walnuts, charcoal, and cream. The next couple steeps are more roasty, with roasted nuts, walnuts, honey, baked bread, roast, wood, and charcoal predominating and some florals and plum in the background. The tea is starting to get drying in the mouth. As expected, the session becomes increasingly focused on the roast and ends with charcoal, roast, wood, roasted nuts, earth, and minerals.

I understand why this Dong Ding gets snapped up so quickly. While it’s a little too roasted for me, I love its sweet, toasty, slightly fruity profile and think it would be a great tea for fall or winter.

I bought this tea on clearance back in March 2020. It’s not what I usually go for, but it was something like $3 for 50 g and I thought I’d give it a chance. I steeped around 1.5 teaspoons in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 3.5, 5, 8, and 10 minutes.

Dry, this tea smells like tart, floral, berry bubble gum. The first steep is surprisingly gentle, with cranberry, floral, lemon, chamomile, rosemary, and faint ginger. Happily, the apple and licorice aren’t in evidence, though sadly, neither is the white tea. There’s a lingering sweetness in the aftertaste. I’ve never had sea buckthorn, so can’t comment on its presence. The licorice is a bit more noticeable as the cup cools. The flavour doesn’t change in the next couple steeps, although the ginger and rosemary are stronger in the fourth.

This tea is much more subtle than I expected. Though there’s a lot going on, all the flavours work together to create a fruity, floral, herbaceous blend that fits its spa moniker.

I bought this premium Meishan Alishan to compare with the regular Meishan version. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at boiling for 20, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of heady spring flowers, honey, cookies, and grass. The first steep has intense notes of lilac, sweet pea, narcissus, and other flowers, plus butter, corn, bok choy, spinach, herbs, and grass. The second steep has green tea–like veggies balanced with herbs, flowers, and faint sweetness. The predominantly vegetal notes continue into the next few steeps, although there are plenty of floral, honey, and herbaceous notes as well. The end of the session focuses on kale, spinach, broccoli, bok choy, and other veggies, with a slight floral sweetness.

I was not expecting this tea to make such a swift and merciless descent from sweet Alishan florals to veggie soup. Maybe it was my brewing parameters, although I did my best to follow Tillerman’s instructions. I’ll keep experimenting to see if I can justify giving this tea a higher rating.

This is my second Tillerman Tea review (the first was posted during the Steepster website mess). I bought a sample of this tea to compare it to their premium Alishan. Following their brewing times, I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at boiling for 20, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of heady flowers, cookies, and grass. The first steep has notes of honeysuckle, lilac, daffodil, grass, butter, spinach, and cookies. The second steep is even more floral, though with some vegetal flavours. I also get honey and an herbaceous aftertaste. The herbaceous notes get stronger in the next couple steeps, but so, unfortunately, does the spinach and grass, with the honey, cookie, and florals fading into the background. A hint of citrus appears in the lingering aftertaste. (I think these long aftertastes are becoming a theme for Tillerman’s tea selection.) The end of the session is vegetal, creamy, and floral.

As the website claims, this is a straightforward tea that provides a good introduction to high mountain oolongs. I kind of wish it had more complexity, but will gladly finish my 12 g sample. I also wish the website gave timing instructions for more than the first two steeps, as I feel it might have done better with different brewing parameters.

This is part of my huge 2018 haul from Camellia Sinensis. All of you know my fondness for bug-bitten teas, and based on my rave review of their Bai Hao, I thought I’d like their Guei Fei as well. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of intense honey, flowers, and stewed fruit. The first steep has notes of honey, baked bread, flowers, sweet apple, and other stewed fruits. (Camellia Sinensis says “red fruits,” which I kind of agree with.) A tart berry note emerges in steep two. The tartness, stewed fruits, flowers, and, most of all, the honey characterize the next couple steeps. This is definitely a dessert tea. The honey and baked bread just keep getting stronger in the fifth and sixth rounds. Sadly, I don’t notice any cinnamon, which both Roswell Strange and the website point out. The flavours become slightly attenuated as the session ends, although the honey and red fruit are still present. The final steeps have a bit of astringency and are somewhat vegetal.

This is a sweet, luxurious Guei Fei that’s easy to drink. Though it lacks the complexity of the Bai Hao, this is kind of expected given the nature of this type of oolong. I’ve had a lot of bug-bitten oolongs recently and the flavours have become somewhat predictable, but this oolong executes them very well.