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Method: 1 tsp, 8 oz, 175 degrees, 3 minutes, Forlife Brew-in-mug strainer

Dry Leaf and Brewing Aroma: Bergamot

Flavor: Is there such a thing as an earl white? That’s what I’d call this. I didn’t taste any jasmine, but I liked this tea. I like earl greys sometimes, but often the bergamot is all up in yo face. This is very mild. I like the very gentle bergamot here, and prefer it to most earl greys I have tried. That being said, bergamot still isn’t my fave, but it’s very nice here.

Today was NOT good. I started by spilling my AM oolong all over the counter. Then I had to make tea at work where the water temp isn’t high enough. Then I ran around like a crazy person all day because 2 girls are on vacay, so everyone keeps dumping their stuff on ME!

But I had a nice dinner with my Mom and my Aunt, and now I am settling in with a lovely summer thunderstorm and a cup of this tea! On to the review!

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 200 degrees, 2 minutes, Forlife Brew-in-Mug strainer. And of course, the Dr. Who mug because the Doctor always makes you feel better!

Dry Leaf Aroma: Lightly floral and also fruity. What’s that? Dried apples? And this also has a lovely buttery aroma.

Flavor: Interesting. This one has a more subtle flavor than I expected, after going for 2 minutes. It’s a little fruity and has a very pronounced floral taste when slurped. Almost perfumey. I pick up some of the buttery notes, also. I thought this might be a little sweeter, but I haven’t found that to be the case. I’d like this to be a bit stronger, so I am going to try 4 min on the resteep.

It didn’t look like the leaves opened all the way on the first steep, but they definitely unfurled all the way on the second steep. The tea is darker and has a little astringency, but not anything unpleasant. The floral is still present, but not the apple or butter. I think I like the first steep better, though I do pick up a very nice raisin note on this steep! This is a good tea, but I think I can get a little more out of it. I am going to try it gong fu style next time.

Thanks to GTT for the sample!

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 3 minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: Seaweed

Brewing Aroma: very lightly floral

Flavor: Mild, with floral notes. I thought this was a pleasant tea. It’s not my fave, but I liked it!

Method: 1/5 tsp, 8 oz, 200 degrees, 3 minutes, French Press

Aroma: Smells like blueberries

Flavor: It’s a little light for me. I would have liked more blueberry. It’s still good. I added a little sugar at the end, and that was nice. I think the blueberry was maybe a 5 on a scale to 10. I would have liked an 8 or better.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 7 minutes, Forlife Brew In Mug strainer

Dry Leaf & Brewing Aroma: Smells strongly of citrus. Very pleasant.

Flavor: I let this go beyond the 3-5 minutes of recommended time because Cameron B stated there wasn’t much citrus flavor after 5 minutes. I thought that maybe more time would equal more citrus.

On the plus side, this looks like liquid sunshine in the mug. Very pretty. But I do wish the flavors were more pronounced. I added a little rock sugar, which brought them to the forefront a bit. So to sum up: use lots of tea, steep for a long time, and add a little sugar! The result was quite nice. I think I may let this go to 10 minutes next time, just to see what happens.

Ehrmagerd! OM NOM NOM.

This tea is amazeballs. I made it like this: 1 tsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, 3.5 minutes. I used my brew in mug strainer. I sampled at 1 and 2 minutes, but it wasn’t strong enough. 3.5 minutes is perfect.

I am going to try a second steep, but I’m already sold. This is gorgeous. It smells and tastes like malted yum. It’s mild and smooth, like velvet.

Now I am going to settle in, drink this little beauty, and read some mysteries on Oyster, which is the greatest online service since Netflix. If you love books and you haven’t heard of it, please check it out immediately. I may never leave home again because I just don’t see the need!

Update: I steeped the leaves a second time for 5 minutes and the tea had a little hint of spiciness. Where the hell did that come from? It’s sublime! I drank a little and then added a teensy bit of maple syrup, since that seems to be all the rage around Steepster. So. Good.

Method: 1.5 tsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 3minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: Smells like sweet florals. Very pretty

Brewing Aroma: Roasty, like toasted rice. It smells like a genmaicha!

Flavor: This tastes roasty with a light floral tone. It’s interesting. I’m picking up the same kinds of flavors that I’d find in a genmaicha. It wasn’t astringent or bitter. This was a nice, smooth breakfast tea. Yum!

Method: 1 tbsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 10 minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: Orange, spice, chocolate. Smells like orange cake.

Brewing Aroma: Orange & weird. Something smells odd. Can’t place it.

Flavor: I sampled some at 3 minutes and 6 minutes. The flavor was weak, so I let it go for 10. Even after 10 minutes, this has a mild flavor. I was hoping for more orange, but this tastes predominantly of cinnamon. The orange is a whisper. I have loved some of Verdant’s teas, but I seem to be striking out with their herbals. Too much cinnamon for me.

Method: 1 tbsp, 8 oz, 205 degrees, 3 minutes, Forlife brew-in-mug strainer

Dry Leaf Aroma: Cinnamon and licorice

Flavor: Cinnamon and spices. Licorice. I don’t taste the fruitiness I was expecting. I thought this might have some sweetness from the elderberries, but I didn’t find that either. I don’t think this one is for me, as I’m not a big fan of cinnamon. Im a little sad because I really wanted to taste the elderberries.

Method 1: 1.5 tsp, 4 oz, 208 degrees, seconds: 30, 45, 60, ru kiln gaiwan. Then I blended these together to make 1 cup of tea

Method 2: 1 tbsp, 8 oz, 208 degrees, grandpa style

Method 3: Slightly less than 1 tbsp, 8 oz, 195 degrees, 2 and 3 minutes, Forlife brew-in-mug strainer, Dr. Who mug

Dry Leaf Aroma: chocolatey forest. This smells like Pennsylvania forests when you’re out for a nice hike. But then someone came along and dumped chocolate in the forest!

Brewing Aroma: Cocoa and stuff. It smells pleasant, but earthy. I can’t pick out the exact thing it reminds me of.

Flavor: The first method used shorter steeps. It was good, but it didn’t knock me off my feet. I could taste some of the chocolate notes, but it didn’t seem to have as much complexity as I expected.

The second method was quite unpleasant. The package says you can’t oversteep pu’erh. Since I love grandpa style tea so much (lazy), I decided to just let it sit and see what happened. Well I beg to differ, but you certainly CAN oversteep pu’erh! LOL. I call this one: The Burninator. It tasted like burnt dirt.

The third method was the goldilocks. Finally, woo! I took a sample out at one minute, two minutes and three minutes. Two and three were the best. I think I actually liked two the best, but you can’t go back! So I drank it at 3 minutes. The flavor is kind of hard to describe. I can taste a little cocoa, and some earthy flavors, but I can’t put my finger on them. I haven’t had many pu’erhs, so maybe I’ll get better at that as I go along. It’s a very rich tea. I suspect it would go well with some decadent dessert. I’ll be trying that soon! I would definitely buy this again.