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Aroma like a subdued version of the Taiwanese 18 tea––malty sugar, maraschino cherry, and woodsy. Which is strange because this Red Thunder Oolong is a Darjeeling tea, and 18 is an Assamica hybrid.

Tea liquor is astringent and woodsy. Awful dry mouthfeel, feels like I’m sucking on hay and herb stems. When I hold the liquid in my mouth for longer, I get the slight impression of a tangy fruit tart. But honestly the mouthfeel is so unpleasant that I ended up throwing out half the cup.

Brewed at 187˚F for 5:00. Will try brewing at higher temperature next time, and/or for a shorter time.

Rating: 59

I was sceptical of the idea of a green tea chai, and sure enough, I didn’t like it very much. The spicy flavour is nice and not as strong as masala chai, but the green tea portion of it tasted overbrewed, bitter, and astringent like steamed vegetables (even though I brewed it at 177˚F). If the idea of green tea chai sounds good to you, then by all means go for it, but it’s not for me.

To be fair, I paired it with a pineapple tart I was eating and the combination was pretty good… but mid-way when I tasted the bitter green tea I spat out the mouthful of tea.

Brewed for 5:00 in 6oz of water at 177˚F. Might try brewing this at a higher temperature, 180 or 185, but I’m predicting it will probably taste even worse. I wouldn’t buy the full size of this.

Rating: 45

I’m not going to rate this tasting because I accidentally used 8oz of water, poured out 3oz of it and had to top up to 6oz of water, so some of the flavour literally went down the drain.

Love the aroma––lovely floral mixed with honeyed sweetness. The liquor, though not as flavourful, tastes great as well.

Let’s start with the positives. Lovely orange blossom, malty sugar, licorice aroma.

Unfortunately I over-steeped it for maybe 20 seconds (over the recommended 4:00) and it’s quite astringent. Tastes a lot like cucumber water, slightly spicy maybe from the fennel, but also kinda musty, which is unexpected in a black tea. Not my thing.

Rating: 68

185˚F in 6oz water for 5:00

Now this time the first whiff I get is a spicy ginger aroma, followed by the malty sweetness, and there’s also notes of buttery pecan, and fresh lemon.

No astringency this time so I think lower temperature is better for this tea.

I tried half of my cup with a few drops of lemon juice and do not recommend that. It turned the tea slightly bitter in addition to the sourness.

Increasing my rating to 80.

Brewed at 187˚F for 5:00. Very lovely, savoury, complex white tea that’s different enough from Chinese white teas to merit a full purchase.

Aroma:
Cotton candy and Hay. Smells so much sweeter than Chinese white tea

Liquor:
Notes of Melon, Celery, Floral. Smooth, no bitterness or astringency.
I was actually eating walnuts with yoghurt at the time I drank this, so couldn’t taste the walnut notes in the tea but I’ll look out for them next time.

I can now tell where the gorgeous Taiwanese 18 tea got a lot of its parentage from.

The malted sugar and cherry fragrance on this Assam black is lovely.

Unfortunately the tea liquor isn’t sweet at all so I guess I could add some honey to it. It is mellow and has the same slight astringency that I get from 18 which is actually quite nice. Not bitter (yet… I must make sure not to oversteep this).

I added milk to the second half of my cup and it goes very nicely; the milk adds a touch of sweetness that enhances this tea a lot.

Rating: 82

First infusion:
When I stick my nose into the cup, I get the scent of mushrooms, clear and bright and not too musty. Liquor is the colour of black coffee. Tastes slightly bitter on its own, but in a rousing way again like black coffee, or bitter chocolate. But it pairs well when drunk with my slightly sweeten black rice + grass jelly breakfast.

Second infusion:
It’s fine with milk, not revelational or anything probably because the bitterness clashes a bit. I think sweeter Pu ers tend to go better with milk.

This Pu Er might taste better with a savoury meal.

Third infusion:
Ate it with a banh mi sandwich. Really nothing special. I won’t be buying the full size of this tea.

Rating: 79

Not a big fan of this plain as the spices taste sharp, but it’s decent accompaniment for a meal when I add milk.

2.5g, 6oz at 192˚F.

Aroma is leafy and vegetal, like Chinese green teas, but also with a pleasant malted sweetness and hint of lemony citrus.

Liquor tastes of malt sugar, seaweedy umami. Very nice, I definitely prefer this to the MH Classic Black. Stands up nicely to my sweet yoghurt granola breakfast.

Brewed 2.5g at 190˚F in 7oz of water for 5:00.

Rating: 77