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Hm.

I got a teabag of this as a sample with the Kusmi order I received in the mail yesterday. I thought at first “Yay, chocolate!” but after brewing and adding in a packet of splenda and some half & half, it seems pretty watered down. The black tea didn’t have enough umph to make a good cup. It’s almost like perhaps I got an old teabag, or someone swapped it out for leaves from a grocery store teabag.

I expect way more quality out of Kusmi, so I am surprised. Definitely won’t order more.

I think this is the tea I have – the label on my sample says "Mt. Banzhang Farmer’s Cooperative ’03 Sheng.

Brewed it in my gaiwan, in my typical clumsy fashion. It seems like I always try to do a gaiwan brewing when I have other stuff going on and I’m constantly interrupted.

This is nicely smokey – not overwhelming like the lapsang souchong I tried a couple weeks ago.

And man… it goes good with the marshmallow filled chocolate easter bunny that I just bit the head off of :D

Been drinking the same ol’ same ol’ for the last few weeks, so I haven’t logged. I will do an order soon since I have almost demolished my Prince Vlad and my decaf Earl Grey.

Time to scout for some new things to try :)

This morning I had a Prince Vlad to start my day off, which is never a bad way to start the day. I really need to get a milk frother for work. Also tempted to bring in some match for an afternoon boost. I always get sleepy after lunch, and maybe that would help combat that. Anyone do match at work? A frother would probably work for the whisk on that, as well as kill two birds with one stone.

This tea got such good reviews, I’m not sure why I’m kind of meh about it. Maybe it’s just that I was wanting something more green this morning.

I’m drinking it plain/straight, and I am not getting any of the waffle cone/vanilla/buttery notes that are talked about.

Had a cup of this on Friday at a Barnes & Noble cafe. It was pretty good, despite their using screamingly hot water to brew it. I at my entire lunch before it seemed cool enough to sip.

Once it cooled, it seemed pretty nice. I would definitely like to try it again, and they were selling tins of the the sachets, but while H&S tins are cute, I don’t have that much room left in my tea cupboard for a bulky tin! I’d also like to try some plain oolongs. So I might have to shop online for some samples.

Another sample size from my last Adagio order.

Once in awhile, I read “bodice ripper” romances – you know the ones – set in Victorian or earlier times, where the dashing hero is a pirate or a spy. Lapsang Souchong often gets mentioned as a very masculine tea. I can see why.

I opened the packet, and the smokey smell nearly leaped out and assaulted me. I gave hubby a sniff too: “It’s like a campfire, the morning after it burns out. And they used an entire pine tree.”

I brewed it up and made it as a latte with Splenda and half & half. Sippped away. The smoke smell is soooo strong! But it’s good! I would not want to drink this daily, but it’s really interesting drink!

I definitely want to try some other Lapsang Souchongs and compare them.

I received a sample of this with some gaiwans that I ordered last year. I decided to give it a whirl this afternoon.

I opened the packet and gave it a sniff. Initially, it honestly didn’t smell that good – it reminded me of a wet cat. I gave the leaves a quick rinse with hot water in a gaiwan, then moved them to my Adagio ingenuiTea to steep. The wet leaves didn’t smell great to me either, but I continued on.

I whipped some splenda and half & half in a cup and dispensed the tea into my cup.

I took a hesitant sip. Light, smokey… it smelled fine now, and didn’t taste bad either. I added more water to the leaves and will try a second steep plain.

My current cup is pretty good – I think it’s a decent tea, but it’s not something I feel compelled for find more of. I definitely would not refuse a cup of it, if offered one, though.

I ordered a new round of samples and refilled my Black Dragon pearls. They arrived today, and I chose this tea to sample first.

Yum! It’s like desert in a cup! It really does taste like sweet potato pie, without the crust. I generally don’t like the crust that much, so that’s ok!

A coworker gave me this yesterday, the tea she always drinks when she goes to PF Chang. It came in a tiny little cardboard box! Very cute package design.

The tea is quite good – the peach & apricot really come through. I’m not getting the smokey taste that the package and other people mention, but that’s all right. I’m not sure what effect the safflower & marigold have on it – I’m not sure that I’ve had a tea with them in it before.

I would definitely drink this again. I had it with 2 packets of splenda. The sweet definitely brings out the fruit.

My one gripe, but it’s not specific to this tea, happens with a lot of teabags… that moment when you add the water to the cup and the string and tag get pulled into the cup… grrr!

Oh wow. This isn’t bad. I was afraid of all the descriptions of Pu’er as being fishy, and indeed, the one from Whole Foods that I’d picked up was fishy. This isn’t fishy at all.

This is a sample from an order of samples I made from Verdant. I haven’t liked any of the other samples much so far, so I’d been putting off trying the two pu’er samples.

I’m not sure how to describe this, other than to say I do like it. I brewed it in a gaiwan, and poured into a small cup, added nothing, and sipped. After about 3 sips, I can say that I do like it, though it’s probably not something I’d drink on an everyday basis.