Daylon R Thomas Send Message

Look at the previous note. This one is awesome.

There are so many teas to write about, but to mark my return, I decided to write about a relatively new company that I found on etsy. Although I’ve got a few tumblers to plow through the insane amounts of loose leaf at my disposal, I’ve been missing the convenience of a sachet, especially for the long hours lesson planning, grading, or vegetating at the television. So I stared at this company for nearly a year before deciding to make a purchase. $18 dollars for fifteen sachets was steep, but considering that Tea Ave used to price their sachets higher, it was not a bad bet with high quality teas like Lishan or Sun Moon Lake black. The reception of this company’s customer service was also high, so I went ahead and got this box of sachets along with a few samples.

All of the teas are incredibly clean tasting so far, and while the bag material does add a little bit of a cotton note to the teas themselves, they are still well rounded. I will break it down by each tea.

First off, the Lishan is the greener tea of the set. It is definitely an oolong with a light roast and a very light to medium oxidation. I was not expecting anything major since my luck with greener oolongs in sachet is not great, but I was very pleased with how this turned out. The company describes this tea having an orchid, osmanthus aroma, and a sweet aftertaste. So, it was going to be floral. When I opened up the package, it indeed have a soft, but heady aroma of orchids and osmanthus flowers and a hint of fruitiness. Brewing the tea up, it does take some time to develop a flavor. The aroma is more pronounced than the actual taste, and I found that 175-185 Fahrenheit work best after 2.5-3 minutes in a mug. It can endure grandpa style, but the flavor can be muddled by the heat of the water, or even the air density. Anyway, the tea itself takes a little bit to catch up to its aroma and becomes sweeter as it cools down. It’s got a mostly orchid based flavor with osmanthus and peachy hints. The tea can range from a crisp light yellow to almost an amber color if you brew it long enough. The mouthfeel is thinner than doing it loose leaf, but it is viscous and very clean. Surprisingly, it’s not that vegetal. You can tell it’s green, yet it’s not nuclearly green and herbaceaous like other Lishans. I’m not totally addicted to this one, but it kicks quite a few bagged oolong’s butts because it maintains a subtle flavor while keeping its unique Lishan qualities.

Now, the Roast Lishan was something I should have gotten more of. It is more sophisticated than its greener counterpart, and it shifts in notes like all good roasted oolongs. It does indeed have a nutty roasted aroma and a bit of a ripe fruit note popping up in the smell, but the flavor is the right balance of nutty roast, florals, char, cooked fruit, caramel, and something edging on cocoa. It resembles a traditional muzha in its fruitiness and a Dong Ding in its caramel-toffee character amidst all its deep roast. I could probably replace my coffee with this tea, although the profile is doubtlessly oolong through and through. It’s especially awesome to wake me up on cold mornings. I may just get more of this one.

Now, the Sun Moon Lake surprised me the most. I expected a robust assam, but apparently, this was a bug bitten tea with the profile of some black small leaf varietals. The company describes this tea as being very sweet, with caramel notes and sugar honey flavors. Drinking it is much the same, with some cocoa in the hints, but no astringency or bitterness. Although it only brews up twice, it does have enough complexity to keep me entertained. It’s immensely sweet, viscous, and again, caramel comes to mind the most with this one-again, something you rarely get with a bagged tea. I’d be interested to see someone else’s opinion on this one, and I do wish I ordered more because I’ve been going through it quicker than the other two.

So as you guys can tell, I enjoy these sachets. The Sun Moon Lake is my favorite, and then the Roast Lishan is second, and the greener Lishan is third…although I’ve drank the green Lishan almost daily with deep satisfaction. The price is a bit steep, but you are getting high quality tea that is hardly in a bag. You are basically paying $18 for 45 grams of Lishan or Sun Moon Lake, which is actually decent. So if you want to try a good quality sachet with solid Taiwan tea, I’d say this company could become a go to.

I have my personal computer back! Yay!

So short note. I love this tea. It resembles a creamy Alishan with some nuances of the Jun Chiyabari terroir, which surprised me. It’s predominantly creamy, but green enough to resemble green tea ice cream. I got hints of violet in the florals, and some macademia in its character. It’s my personal favorite of the limited edition teas.

January 2019 Club Batch #38, and it’s one of my favorites so far. The tea resembles their staple Shan Lin Xi, but more creamy and savory. The leaves are huge, and can handle long brews. One of the sessions on the blog had an initial rinse of 50 seconds for the first steep, and I’ve found that 3 grams is great for grandpa in a tumbler because this tea is smooth.

Their descriptors were vegetal, creamy, floral, with hints of a savory scone. This is on the savory end of oolongs, but has enough florals to keep it sweet and a creamy profile not dissimilar to macademia milk. The florals are noticeable, but generalized in the creaminess. I’d honestly miss them if I don’t pay attention. I get a faint hit of hyacinth, but more prominent violet flavor, honeysuckle hints, more pronounced vanilla, iris, a tiny bit of osmanthus, and a floral that reminds me of the aftertaste of a blossom tea. Again, they are otherwise negligible in the teas milkiness.

To begin describing this one…is a bit of a challenge. I’ll try my best anyway.

Starting off with borrowing Brenden’s apt naming, nectar is a good place to begin The dryleaf is leathery, but the tea is fruity, having an aroma close to apricots, stonefruit, berries, and something tropical, like mango. More so mango and apricot than anything else. Whatever kind of fruity the tea resembles, it made me think of the nectar cups that you serve to birds in Bush Garden’s bird exhibit. So the Mountain Nectar tastes like….nectar.

Here’s the other pretentious things I get out of the tea. The texture is creamy and thick, and the flavors fluctuate gong fu or western. Heavier leaves gives you a hint of the cocoa note that many look for in their blacks, and this tea does have a little bit of malt to it, but retains its voluptuous creamy texture and fruity notes. I got a little bit of spice in the hints, but something soft like nutmeg, and there was a nuttiness that was not apparent like almond. The fruity notes combined with the creamy ones reminded me of marzipan for some reason. Brenden described buttery croissant, and maybe that’s what I’m getting in the savory background. That thought could just be a throwaway one. Oh well. Hopefully someone else will do a better job describing this one.

The tea is very durable, and can last all styles of brewing. It even lasted seven brews western and keeps on yielding with close to five grams. Anyway, this tea is definitely a favorite in my collection right now. It is very similar to the Wild Mountain one, but this tea has more tropical and orange colored fruits in the tastes, whereas the other one has more blue and purple fruits like blackberry and its special spicy kick. It can have a little bit of a rise in my tastebuds that’s almost cooling, and then warming again. I have no idea how else to write about it yet. This one is hands down smooth.

Not sure what to rate it, other than in the 90’s with a huge recommendation. The price is a little up, but I actually think you pay what you get for this one.

I’ve been undecided about this one for a while. For one, it’s amazing that Golden Tea Leaf is offering an organic Shan Lin Xi for 11.99 USD at 100 grams. For two, this is a fairly good tea-even Amanda raved about it.

Now for the notes. Wickedly floral is the best descriptor for this one. Most of the notes I get would be what I would expect from a Four Seasons or a Baozhong, as this tea is dominated by a hyacinth note. Overall though, it is incredibly light and has been personally tricky.

I’ve tried western, and it was floral, subtle, and a bit too green and almost plastic-y. Gong fu has brought out more dimension in the florals, but the flavor remains heady with hyacinth and some subtle hints here and there of vanilla, cucumber, green apple, pine, and so on. The tea is green and it is grassy, but it’s more floral than anything else. Flower water is the best description, really, because it is sophisticated, but it’s extremely light and clean.

I’m open to suggestions on this one as to how to brew it. I don’t think it’s as good as the company’s Ali Shan or Dung Ting, but I do think this tea merits conversation.

I got this as a combo pack with the Victorian London Fog. I do need to try Paris eventually, but I was surprised at how good this one was. The notes on top of this page are on point. The flavors are aromatic and sweet, bordering on confection. The bergamot is not super prominent, but it is noticeable along with some cocoa notes from the mild base. This one could get astringent, but it took a while before it did so. The fruit notes were the most prominent. Not a bad sachet blend for work.

Happy Chinese New Year! This is a backlog. I got this one with the Song Zhong sampler because it had the flavors I liked, and my birth year is the year of the pig, so I had to celebrate. If I were to guess the oolong, I might think Tie Guan Yin or a Chinese varietal. I could be totally wrong.

The tea itself is very refreshing and approachable. Like the description says, the tea is fairly aromatic, but not overly so. Lemon and a hint of the ginger mingle amongst soft florals. Brewing it up semi gong fu at 35 seconds, the tea has some light viscosity, and begins with lemon, rises up in accent with ginger, and finishes off with something like honey, or as the company described it, maybe lychee. The next two brews, the ginger was a little more prominent with the lychee. The final one steeped long and retained some flavor, although it was thinning a little bit.

The tea overall did not become too tart, bitter, or astringent. I could overbrew it by accident with too many leaves, but it’s a fairly resilient blend. This one would not be bad in sachet form to be honest. This is for those who like citrusy and fruity teas that are not too strong.

Thank you, Alistair, for procuring this awesome tea!

I gotta admit, I hesitated getting this tea because it looked to green. The dry leaf has a floral green been and jack fruit aroma that I usually would get in a Japanese or Korean green tea. Drinking it up in a tumbler told me the same story: This oolong was on the greener side with a little bit of an astringency akin to apricot and jack fruit, but some smooth floral notes western. I only got five yields from it which disappointed me considering this is an expensive tea. So Gong Fu would be the better method to do, and this tea needed a lot more care and attention.

I went light on this one with a 5 sec rinse, but around 5 grams of tea in five oz. I got floral hints, but a little bit of a grassy sourness and nice fruity apricot in the background. The fruity notes got more prominent as it cooled down. There was a little bit of lemon peel, orchid, and something that I might pin as magnolia. I’d like someone else’s opinion on that floral, but still. I do get orchid more clearly. The tea is still green as ever.

Second steep ten, third at 5 seconds, and fourth at seven seconds, it’s been generally the same. I got Yuzu in three, more apricot and some sugarcane in four and five. There’s more to come in the future.

Next one at one minute, and I get orange peel rather than lemon. Smoothly floral, but not as densely green. The next three steeps from this morning were much the same, while being closer to a Baozhong in florals, having some honeysuckle, and some hint of a blossom. It’s still citrusy.

The tea still strikes me as something much closer to a Japanese or Korean tea in style, maybe with a Nepalese apricot hint, but I’ve gotten to yield more complexity in the brews so far. I do think this is an excellent tea, but with or without this particular price point, I personally would not drink this tea extremely often because it’s so frickin’ green. Too bad this is sold out, because I’d definitely recommend this tea to more hard core Green Tea drinkers because it’s got the qualities of at least four terroirs in one.

I swear I’ve written a note about this one before. Anyway, I snagged some to savor when it was back in stock. I feel like I don’t need to write too much about this one. It reminds me a lot like bakers chocolate with extra loads of vanilla, making me think of brownies. This tea does better Gong Fu than Western in my opinion because I can break out the individual notes, like rose,cherry, licorice, bread, squash, and so on. I prefer this one over Golden Orchid because it’s richer, but out of all of the Whispering Pines blended originals black blends, I would still say my favorite is the Jabberwocky. This one is my favorite of the Vanilla Dreams Collection with Rivendell (please return sooooooon). I still recommend this one as a Valentine’s Day treat.