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Welp, this sample has been sitting in my drawer since I last ordered from Mandala, aka a year ago. Not sure how that will affect the taste of the tea, but here goes.

Now, I know, like most oolongs, this is likely meant to be gong-fu. But as you all know, I really don’t do gong-fu, so it’s brewed western style with low steep times. I did give it a rinse though first for 10 seconds.

Brewed: 195F/12oz/5g/30sec (first steep)

Taste is… very complex. I’m getting a strong roasted flavor, along with sweetness, and… onion? Like, is this supposed to taste like onions? It’s odd. I’ll have to look.
Wow, so caramelized onions are listed as a flavor. It’s an odd profile, but not unpleasant. There’s a bit of honey there too, but it’s muted. It really does taste like caramelized onions!
As it cools, the bitey onion flavor mellows out, leaving a lingering sweetness behind. There’s a note of toast? I really hate trying to describe these complex cuppas. My palate isn’t nearly refined enough for this type of tea. Just take my word that it’s complex and hard to pin down all the flavors. It should be noted that I rarely drink oolong, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a roasted oolong before, so this is uncharted territory for me.

Overall, this is pretty good. Definitely different from my usual fare! I’m not going to give a numerical rating as I have no idea how to judge this compared to other oolongs. I may have to branch out and try some different oolongs in my next order.

Ok, just a quickie to start tonight off, I’m gonna begin this by letting yinz know this is somewhat outside my comfort zone as far as teas go. It’s got coconut and banana, both of which are not my favorite flavor profiles, but I wanted to, how should I put this, I wanted to try something that I wouldn’t normally drink tonight. So Cheshire Cat it is.

I steeped this Western, Keurig water, 4.5g/12oz/9min. One of these days I will invest in a water thermometer so I can gauge what temp my Keurig brews water at. Today is not that day. Tomorrow has potential, but don’t hold your breath.

Taste without sugar is… Ok, I don’t know what that is. There’s heavy woodiness from the Honeybush, and I can taste the banana and coconut. But I think I would like it better with Splenda.

Flavor with one Splenda? Much better. The sweetness is bringing out the coconut and the banana while calming down the WOOD! a lot. Yes, this is much better. This is something I believe I could enjoy. As I said, it’s out of my safe zone; it’s not like anything I would drink on a regular basis. But maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’ve been drinking too many “safe” teas. Perhaps I need to put myself out there and experiment. After all: not all new foods can be tried via a dream.

(To explain, I don’t usually try new flavors or foods outside what I know I like. The exception is when I wake up from a dream where I was eating something I don’t normally eat, and then I can’t be satisfied until I try that new food IRL. That’s legitimately how I learned I liked several new foods, including buffalo wings, blue cheese, and salt and vinegar chips. I have weird dreams guys!)

Anyway, back to the tea. This is really good. It’s something different, and while I can’t compare this to other banana teas (this is my first), I think it’s a good starting point. The banana isn’t overwhelming, and it meshes well with the other flavors. Just realize that it has a heavy wood leaning, so if drinking lumber isn’t your thing, I would avoid it.

I said this would be a quickie. I lied. OOPS.

So I still had a whole thing of water left over from the ETS tea (which I had no desire to re-steep), so I figured I’d go for this instead.

Mmm, yes that is much better. There is a gentle sweetness to this tea, along with strong umami flavors and other savory notes. Warm hay and sweetgrass present, and there’s just enough coconut there to give it some complexity. It’s just tropical enough that it is pleasant, but not overpowering. Very tasty. I don’t drink enough of these 52teas Green Teas, as I only have the Breville 1-Touch to use as a kettle, and I get downright paranoid about dropping it on the trek from my bedroom to my kitchen. (Yes, my Breville is in my bedroom. I don’t have enough counter space in my teeny apartment kitchen.) Pretty much anything you see me brew up on here of the Black or Herbal variety, the water comes from my Bunn. (It’s a hybrid device with an attachment for just making hot water.)

Anyways, this is tasty. Another hit from Anne. Great job, as usual.

After my billionth cup of Earl Grey this month, I needed something different. (No, I’m not knocking the EG, I just realized that my selection as of late has been rather one dimensional.)

Anyway, in pouch, this smells extremely medicinal. I’m getting straight-up Robutussin scent from this. It’s worrisome, but we shall see how much of that translates.

The bag lists the brewing instructions as “190-212F, 3 minutes”… which, for something being billed as a breed of jasmine green, seemed like a horrible life decision in the making. So this was brewed at 165F, 2min.

Flavor is… different. There is a strong punch of sweetness that gets right in your face. I’m guessing that’s the Lichee (I don’t think I’ve ever had Lichee tea before?) I’m happy to say it doesn’t taste like robutussin. There’s a decent amount of warm grass flavor to this, as the green tea base is happily present. However, the jasmine seems lacking. I think the lichee is drowning out the jasmine, which is unfortunate. It also tastes pretty artificial, which is something I have noticed in several of these English Tea Store teas. I mean, it’s drinkable, but it’s not great. I would love to try some different, more natural lichee teas from a different company. Something that doesn’t have a lingering flavor of Hawaiian Punch (like this does).

Overall: It’s ok. Not good. Definitely not great. But it’s average. I’ll give it a C-

Guess what. I have an eye appointment today that I need to be awake for. So, time to bring this back out again.

I’m telling you now, I overleafed this by about a gram. I want to be awake for at least the next five hours which, if my body and brain functioned like a human, would be easy, but since doesn’t I’m gonna be riding on empty in an hour or so. (I woke up at 9:30 PM last night, I’ve been up almost 12 hours, it’s bed time…)

Anyway, the flavor on this is lovely. I’m getting notes of hay and grass, combined with some sweetness. On the other hand, it’s got a little bit of that good black tea flavor as well, but not much. Mostly I’m tasting the white tea. However, well, how should I put this. I had bourbon chicken last night (long time ago, so that’s not affecting the flavor) but there is a touch of that same flavor in it. Never having actually had bourbon, I’m guessing that’s the flavor? It’s sweet/malt/honey sort of thing. Tasty.

I’m hoping this can keep me awake long enough to make my eye appt. The office is literally across the road, so I can walk there if needed. Fingers crossed that I don’t crash somewhere around Noon or so, because if I fall asleep now, I’m not getting up.

See, I thought I had reviewed this long ago. I guess I was wrong.

This is pretty much my only experience with Puerh. As in… ever. I refuse call whatever it was I had from Adagio puerh or even tea for that matter. So, out of all my teas and samples, this is one of only two I have.

I’m gonna say it. I like this tea. For a Pu, it’s simple. Break off a chunk, brew, drink, repeat. It’s easy to manage and I don’t have to fiddle with my scale and make a mess. I know, my need for quick and simple probably makes me sound like a heathen, but I like simple. It’s one of the reasons I tend to brew everything western… and yes that includes this. It was brewed for 25 seconds for 12 oz water on first steep (once I got the leaves to unfurl).

As far as the taste of this goes, it’s pretty good. I’m still learning to appreciate this type of tea, and still feeling it out, but I’m liking this. It has a nice peat/wet earth flavor to it. I can also taste autumn leaf pile. I can’t think of any other way to describe it, and yep, it’s a flavor and here it is. Now, I’m not going to lie. There is an ever so slight fishiness to this. Slight. But it’s there, and I would be showing favoritism by not mentioning it. I want to be fully upfront and honest here. That said, it isn’t enough to make me not like or enjoy it. If anything, it’s a background note.

Once the cup cools down a bit, I’m tasting a bit of vanilla and caramel sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting. Also, I’m getting hints of tobacco as well mixed in there – you know, that lovely turkish kind I used to love. It’s pretty good stuff, and I’m just hoping I can stay awake long enough to finish this session. (I never do.)

Overall, I like this. I like it a lot. For my first real foray into puerh, it’s pretty tasty. It’s nothing fancy, and I’m sure someday, if I can get over my Gong Fu hesitation, I will be able to enjoy far greater cakes than this. For now, this is fine. I’m almost out though, so that makes me sad. Sometime soon, I will need to make a new W2T order. Oh my aching wallet…

So I just “Discovered” this tea in the wrong drawer. It was with my non-sample teas, so it was hidden at the bottom of the teas. In reality, this was a taster that I got…??? I don’t know when I got this, but I figured I’d give it a shot.

Unaltered, this tastes very strongly of root beer. Very bitey root beer at that. However, I wanted to latte this, so I did.

Taste Latte’ed is… well it’s creamy I’ll give it that. The root beer flavor comes in on the back burner, with a strong lingering flavor and heavy on the aftersip. It isn’t as in your face when you latte it. Not that it being in your face was a bad thing, I love a good SODA! flavored tea. However, this is supposed to taste like a rootbeer float, so maybe it isn’t meant to be latte-ed? Maybe it’s just supposed to taste like the float upfront. I’ll have to resteep it and try it a second time.

Ok, on resteep, the root beer flavor isn’t nearly as noticeable. It’s unfortunate. I believe I will need to revisit this at a later time. For now, just take my word that it’s definitely Root Beer and that’s all I can tell you right now.

Another from the grab bag, I had hoped I would get this, as it was one I wanted to straight-up purchase but decided against as I guessed it might be among the two mystery packs I ordered! Glad to see I was right.

Anyway, this one has a lovely stonefruit sweetness to it, without any additives. I’m also tasting the floral of the jasmine and a touch of the green tea (but not much). The peach flavor more or less takes over in this cup, which is fine for me, I love a strong peach tea. That said, I’m not sure if the peach and jasmine are playing well together. There’s an… well there’s an odd note to it that I can’t place. It tastes a bit metallic? It feels like the two halves of the flavor profile don’t want to mesh properly. It doesn’t stop me from enjoying it though. It should be noted that I believe I overleafed and oversteeped this, so take that into account.

EDIT: It occurs to me that the flavor I am having a hard time processing may be orange zest. It’s a possibility, I’m not sure. It’s sharp and slightly bitey, so there’s a good chance it’s that, and not some weird aftereffect of the blend.

All in all, this is an ok tea which, while I enjoy, my palate isn’t nearly as discriminating as many others, so liking this is probably a “me” thing. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll enjoy what I have. I need more peachy greens in my life!

So I’m still working my way through my 52teas order, and already thinking of another. I don’t have the money for all this tea! To quote the song I’m jamming on, “paciencia y fe” :)

Anyway, I was hoping this was like drinking a bouquet of flowers (love me that floral) and I wasn’t wrong. There’s a strong lemon tartness in the forefront, which is nice. It’s not sour, just a touch tart. Also, there’s some sweetness present as well. But most of what you get once you move past the lemon is floral. I can taste the Jasmine and the green tea. The rose isn’t as noticeable as I would like, but it’s there too. Mmm, I’m loving this. Very good. I now wish I had grabbed some of this while it was lingering in the shop!

Overall, I can see how this wouldn’t be for everyone. It’s very floral, and while that works for me, I understand how it wouldn’t for others. The original name of Potpourri is very fitting for this, but I like the GoT name as well. Good stuff.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmNZ545oP8k

Another day, another… night.

Honestly, considering the hours I post on here, you would think I was either from Australia or Europe, but no, I’m from the Eastern Time Zone, I just keep horrible hours.

Anyway, woke up with Beetlejuice: The Musical running through my head, so that meant it was time for something dark, but fun. Luckily, I just got my latest 52teas order in, and one of the grab bag teas was this, which fit the bill nicely. I don’t think I’ve ever had a cotton candy tea before, even though I used to love cotton candy. Naturally, I haven’t had cotton candy since the diagnoses (dang ’betes) so my memory of the flavor might be a bit rusty. We shall see.

The smell of the brew is sweet, with a strong black tea aroma. I can really smell the tea! I’m going in assuming I will be adding Splenda to this, but to taste it first. Taste unsweetened is… welp, it tastes like tea? If there’s cotton candy flavor in this I’m missing it. Let’s try the Splenda.

Hmm… I don’t know how much of it is the Splenda, and how much is the actual flavor of the tea, but I’m really not getting cotton candy from this. Maybe as a bit of an aftertaste? Yeah, it floats lightly on the back of my throat after I swallow, but it isn’t an in-your-face sort of flavor. I’m a bit sad. I was hoping for an upfront, kick in the teeth kind of cotton candy. It’s not bad, so to speak. It has an ok flavor and is fully drinkable. It’s just rather bland. I wonder how much of this is because this was a reblend for June and it’s now February. The flavor could be fading on it. Either way, it’s ok, but nothing spectacular.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEct4Nod2iU