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Okay, I brewed this in a teacup at 176˚F for 5:00 and this time it wasn’t bitter. I don’t understand what went so wrong the first time.

Tasted like a milder chai tea, nothing special. Goes well with milk. Increasing my rating to be fair, but I still wouldn’t buy the full size of this.

Rating: 60

Aroma: Caramel, Dates

Palate: Bitter! Absolutely undrinkable without milk. Is still slightly bitter with milk, but fine when pairing with food.

Brewed at 190˚F for 4:00.

Rating: 50

When I opened the packet, I was like Oh god, wayyy too much ginger. But after steeping, I discovered that first of all, I love tulsi (this magical Indian basil that I’ve never had before) and the sweetness counters the ginger. There’s a licorice note to it too that I adore and makes it even more candy-like. I’m glad I discovered a wonderful new caffeine-free tea option for evenings!

Rating: 83

I can definitely smell the malted sugar and cocoa notes, but no vanilla and it’s not as amazing as I envisioned when I read the notes.

Quite bitter / astringent, and I get an unpleasant tannic aftertaste that lingers on my tongue for a long time even after drinking it with milk.

Brewed at 194˚F for 4:00. Will try brewing it at 190˚F next time.

Rating: 62

Brewed at 185˚F for 4:00, and it’s actually less bitter than when I brewed it on the lower end of the range, at 176˚F! Lovely for the afternoon since it’s low-caffeine and it complemented my oyakodon lunch very well, I’m glad I tried .

It doesn’t have much flavour on its own, I get a bit of smoky nutty sweetness, but pairs well with savoury food.

Increasing rating to 75.

Aroma:
Red dates (jujubes), malty sugar, stewed apples. Smells lovely, reviving for the morning.

Palate:
Light astringency, nutty, not much other flavour. Even after adding milk, there is still some astringency. Definitely needs sugar, or to be paired with a sweet breakfast food.

Brewed 2.5g in 7oz of water at 186˚F for 3:00.

I have the Spring 2015 harvest, and this is almost a sipdown already but I’ve been drinking and loving this tea so much especially in the past year now that the flavours have fully developed.

Dry leaf: Powdered cocoa, sweet passionfruit

Liquor: Smells divinely floral, like sweet creamy gardenia or orchid. The tea tastes sweet and tangy, tangy like coffee or fruity Madagascan dark chocolate, with the typical Yancha notes of chocolate but less pronounced ones of mineral and wet rocks. Amazing.

I remember when I visited Tea Drunk in NYC and the cheapest Wuyi oolong on the menu was this Qi Lan, so I thought of it as an “inferior” Wuyi. How wrong I was! While my favourite Wuyi oolong is probably still Da Hong Pao, Qi Lan is a gorgeous lighter, floral alternative on days when you don’t want something so heavy or roasty. I like the Qi Lan even more than the Shui Jin Gui and Rou Gui varietals I’ve bought from Yunnan Sourcing, but since it has been a while I should revisit those to see if they’ve aged as beautifully as the Qi Lan has.

Served this yesterday at my afternoon tea party as the caffeine-free option. It was a total hit, and I had to make three pots of this! Pairs well with any high tea food (scones with lemon curd and clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, pumpkin muffins).

It smells amazing. Personally I like this with milk as it’s a bit flavourless on its own. Doesn’t need sugar but I might try adding sometime.

Rating: 89 for being a crowd pleaser.

Drinking this again but it’s a couple years old at this point. The best thing about this tea is its aroma. The flavour is completely underwhelming, and completely disappears under a bit of milk and sugar. I can’t see myself ever repurchasing this tea.

Brewed at boiling water for 5:00 in my brand new English teapot, one sachet for about 15oz of water.

I have the Spring 2017 harvest.

Dry leaf smells really fruity, like tart cherries. The wet leaf and liquor smell divine, like sweet young woodsy incense (I’m not describing this well). Delicious, delicate flavour but slightly green. I think I should let it age, to mellow and sweeten more.

This tea as of Apr 2018 does NOT go well with even a splash of milk; milk totally overwhelms the subtle flavour. The Classic Bai Lin Gong Fu 2015 (my rating: 90) went well with milk, so I’ll rate this an 87.