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I’m so glad that I asked Brenden to sample this one because it is quite good. Thank you!

“Apricot, honey, and spice” is on point, as I get that western and grandpa style. The dry aroma has the usual honeyed Autumn leaf pile aroma that any oriental beauty has, and the taste is very delectable. Amidst the sweet notes, there’s almost something savory in the background like butter in smell and taste. Later steeps have a little bit of citrus zest, too. Combined, it’s lovely.

I also usually get peach in Oriental Beauty notes, but this I get pure apricot. I have to say it is by no means dry and immensely fruity. The spice in the background borders on cassia, or cinnamon, but it is a touch sweeter. I would not say clove, but probably nutmeg in the hints mid sip. Honey always finishes it off and coats the roof of my mouth. I’ve yet to find more complexities, but since this tea is so flexible and defined, I could care less about further sophistication.

I still can’t believe I was able to do a grandpa style of this tea. I didn’t verge too much from 4 grams for 9 oz grandpa, and for western, about the same ratio, only 3-4 for eight oz. The shortest I’ve brewed it at was two minutes so far, and three at longest. I’ve yet to try it Gong Fu although I’m certain it will fair well. I’m going to hoard the sample as much as I can, so I will maybe do Gong Fu once, and then do the rest of the sample grandpa and western.

It will be a sad sip down coming soon. I do recommend this tea for anyone looking to expand their oolongs, or to try out Brenden’s collection. Great for the afternoons and mornings, and I’d see it as a summer, fall, and winter tea. My only criticism is perhaps price, but I personally have a hard time finding Oriental Beauties that are not overly dry or malty anyway.

I should have added this one for when it was on the website. I swear I wrote about it before. Anyway, I got it for the novelty of being from KunLu, and because it was a really nice and mega fuzzy black tea. It looks very similar to Verdant’s Golden Fleece, and it partially compares.

The dry leaf aroma is powdered, and soft. Sweet potato instantly came to mind along with a dusting of cocoa powder, but there was something a little bit floral to it as well. There was also a little bit of a dryness to it that was pleasant in smell.

I’ve brewed it western and gong fu, and it took me a bit to find a ratio I liked. It’s a very flexible tea that never becomes bold or astringent, but the flavors can be muddied or drying if it is over leafed or over steeped for long periods of time. I found that a medium gong fu session with 15-20 sec increments worked best for me at 5 grams in around 6 oz of water. Going too light makes the tea faint, but I at least caught some malty tones with a bit of a popping peanut nuttiness and chrysanthemum sweetness.

I know that chrysanthemum is a bit of a weird comparison, but it has the same sweet-dry profile that flower does no matter how I brew it. It borders on honey, but it is not honey like or close to honey suckle. Either way, it combines with the peanut, sweet potato and malt tones nicely and contrasts its dry leather mouthfeel…if leather ever had a mouthfeel, or you’ve had the pleasure to bite down a piece of leather in the middle of something excruciating like child birth. I can’t say I’ve experienced or will ever experience the latter, but I’ve bitten on leather for sheer curiosity. Back to the tea, it compliments the flavor imagined or real.

I do get cocoa flavors like raw cocoa nibs. They are noticeable, but not obvious and can be in the background like hints, but always transition mid sip to the end. It’s a good contrast to everything else. They get more prominent in the later steeps, and become very smooth at re-brew 6.

This tea is a very smooth one overall, and although it’s durable, it does not have too much stamina, unless you like your teas on the lighter end. It will yield to cup 8 if I push it, but it becomes vaguely sweet chrysanthemum sweet potato water at the end.

I also used to think this was a straightforward tea, but with the hints that I’ve gotten, I think it’s safe to say it does have some complexity. Every once in a while, there was an odd fruitiness in the background that I could not put my finger on. I’m not sure if someone else would taste it, so I won’t add that descriptor quite yet.

I personally have not drank this too often because it is a little bit too mellow even for me, but it is nice to have on a slow morning. If he had more left over, I’d certainly recommend it for people more used to white tea drinkers, or those looking to have golden tea from the origin area of the iron fist.

Free Dancong from Liquid Proust.

It’s definitely aged, but it has aged nicely. It’s got a shlew of minerals, stonefruit, and slight woodsiness. Good Western or gong fu. It does have a bit of a fadedness to it, but the again, the fruit combined with the crystaline mineral notes amidst a clearly fired background is great. Running out of this tea, however, is not so great. Thank you, Andrew!

I should have reviewed this when the picture was still up. Dang.

Anyway, this tea was a treat. I’m happy that Andrew did not hoard it, but sold it for a little while online. Like him, I initially expected a medium to dark dong ding, but after I read his own notes on it, I knew it would be a little more floral than usual. He also wrote that it would pair well with desserts.

I’ve leaned more toward western so far going by a minute for steep one, and had some great notes in each resteep. It is fairly sweet, but definitely floral and savory. The savory notes are squash like, maybe close to sweet potato, but there just enough sweetness that reminds me of a sugar cookie amidst some subtle roast notes and buttery ones. I’m having a hard time pinning down the florals right now. Chocolate orchid, maybe? I don’t know, I’m at a loss right now. The overall smell is also like finely cooked vegetables, specifically squash right now.

The later steeps do have fluxes. I swear I get a little bit of violet and hyacinth in the florals, though the hyacinth is subtle. Cashew and graham cracker slowly creep in and rises at steep three and four. I’m just using flowery adjectives, so what do I know?

I’m quite impressed with this one. Despite some contrasts in the notes, they combine together in a balanced whole. The tea is very easy to drink, and it might be good for intermediate drinkers, probably good for slightly more experienced drinkers, but not daunting for any new drinker to try. I think a newer drinker might be board if they are looking for bursts of flavor, but might learn the virtue of layers and nuance.

It deserves a hard 90 right now. I might increase it as time goes on because this tea is fairly reliable. I have yet to gong fu it properly, but I think it might be well suited to grandpa style anyway.

I’m really into this one. I knew it would be a sheng that I’d like because I basically rely on Andrew’s preferences for pu-erh, but I am surprised this is a good taster. Most of the tasting notes are a bit more akin to oolong and white, but this is definite sheng all the way through.

I started off with a very light ten second rinse, and the smell was very fruity and floral. I got apricot, marshmellow, peach, grass, and a little bit of sheng astringency amidst a soft, cotton texture. “Viscous” is also a good adjective.

Moving onto the second steep, more florals pop up, namely orchid and, perhaps, honeysuckle. More cotton notes showed themselves, and more stone fruit ones followed.

Steps three through four so far have gotten more astringency and a very pleasant bitterness. I would not say it’s sour, but it is a little bit like a longer steeped Shan Lin Xi. Think green/white grapes. The grape notes were particularly noticeable in the recent steep, and the earlier rinse now that I think about it. I can even feel a little bit of dryness on my teeth and the roof of my mouth. The texture contrasts nicely with the fruitier tones.

I am enjoying this one greatly. I have yet to feel any effects yet since I am not power brewing it in my basic 4.5 grams to 6 oz ratio, but I am enjoying it for the sheer texture and taste. I’m curious to see what someone else’s opinion of this one is. I’m probably going to up the rating as time goes on.

Thank you for the sample! I should have bought more than a sample!

I missed darker dancongs, and since I was trying this company out, I asked for a sample of one of my favorite types of tea. This one is especially fruity, and extremely good.

I was going to gong fu it, but it turned into a western session at an accidental three and half minutes. That was not a problem because it was insanely good. White peach is a good name for this tea, as it smelled and tasted like something made in an orchard. Immensely peachy, sweet, soft, oddly fuzzy, and then complex. Some floral notes of peach blossom sprang up in the smell, and in mid sip ending in wood and honey. Minerals rose as the tea cooled down, and came up again in the later steeps. It just kept on giving, and it was such a nice return during this cold weather.

I am also holding off on rating this one, but it is very, very good. My only complaint would be price at $27.59 for 2 oz, but I will say it does compare to the higher end Dan Congs I’ve had. I only wish I knew the varietal.

When I saw the picture of this tea, I thought finally! A Dancong style American oolong! I was wrong as it is more Taiwaneese, but still, it is the kind of oolong I like.

I brewed it an easy western, starting off at around 50 seconds. The description of this one was apt; it looked like a dark Baozhong, and tasted very close to a Baozhong and a Four Seasons of spring. It had a savory squash note too, but it was very green and IMMENSELY floral. I got orchid, lilac, gardenia, watercress, and more green and mineral based qualities. It did make me think of a swamp interestingly enough. Perhaps that was psychological, but there it was.

You could probably pass this as a Taiwaneese oolong to someone just getting into teas, but the bizarre mineral, green quality was what set it a part. It was almost earthy and sour like a sheng, although the tea overall was not too astringent or bitter. It was very pleasant, and I do think it can compete with standard Taiwaneese teas. I am also glad I got this before it sold out, because it is that good. I’m holding off on a rating just in case I give it a high novelty rating, but I will say it’s good and I hope there is some way to encourage more American grown teas in this style. It’s a shame that the demand for this kind of tea is so niche, though.

Tea grown in the mainland of the U.S.A. was a bit of a quest item for my tea journey. Most American teas tend to be herbal or traditional takes on green teas and English Breakfasts, so it was awesome to find an oolong that was not in those fashions, and not from Hawaii as they can be very expensive. This was grown in Mississipi, and I will say that I’ve had very few teas that taste quite like this one.

This was on the darker end of the oolong spectrum, but the apricot and honey notes and lighter body denoted oolong. Himalayan or Indian oolongs might be the best varietal to compare this to despite the difference in elevation, but there were some aspects that reminded me of an Oriental Beauty or Darjeeling black. The smell is very sweet and honeyed with a little bit of a savory end, and some dryness like an autumn leaf pile. THe same could be said brewing it up.

This tea was incredibly flexible, responding well to short and longer steeps. I’ve done it western at four minutes, and not a single brush of bitterness or astringency sprang up. Honeysuckle began the sip, smoothing out into apricot, butter, and a sweet honey finish. I swear there were some cocoa hints, but those could just be in my imagination. I’ll have to write about this tea again to see if I do find any. Shorter steeps at 45 seconds emphasized honeysuckle more, and a slightly lighter sweetness. The rest of the brews both short and long were much the same in terms of notes.

I was surprised by how savory this one could get, making me think of squash and butter on occasion. The mouthfeel was just as thick and enjoyable. ’m also impressed with the longevity-I got 5 rebrews western and 7 in my shorter steep version. It does lighten up, but it was giving a lot.

Backlog, and to be continued log. I cannot thank Alistair enough for including this generous sample. The leaves are beautiful to look at, having an almost purple hue amidst is white tips, darker brown and black highlights. The dryleaf smell is also very interesting, giving off an especially earthy smell like clay. There was a bit of a plum hint, and it had the weird fruity smell that plato does.

In my appartus it went, and I alternated between longer and shorter steeps a bit more akin to western brewing. I went light the first time at 45 seconds, and the tea tasted like, well, tea. Surprisingly malty with a hint of tannin, but something else developed. The blackberry sneaked into the middle aroma and taste of the actual tea, and ended with a plum aftertaste-not too sweet, not too dry, not too bitter. The overall texture was smooth.

My consecutive brews were longer, going to a minute and 30 sec, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, then shorter at 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 4 minutes. I know, weird. The malt was prominent in the second steep with only fruity hints and a bit of tannin backbone that was almost woody, but not nearly as woodsy as its Taiwanese predecessor or its Darjeeling cousin. I almost was hoping for something like dry leaves, but fortunately, the texture was always smooth.

As I got into steep four and five, the black berry note become much more prevalent with a plum finish and a bit of mineral emerging texture. The minerals and blackberry was the strongest in the last steep, being the lightest drink overall with the lightest color, but having the sweetest finish out of all the session.

I am not going to rate it quite yet since I need to do it properly western, and gong fu. I played with it too much, and I want to get less malt. Otherwise, I do recommend people trying it. Oriental Beauties are strong hit or misses for me anyway because of their fruity notes and inherent dryness, but this one was not too dry and a little darker in fruit which is fairly impressive. It reminded me of the notes I got with the Shan Cha, which is one of my favorite blacks so far.

If you like blackberry flavors, this one is not a bad match, and I also HIGHLY recommend trying the Taiwanese Shan Cha Black Tea.