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The dry leaves were a mixture of dark and green long leaves, kind of looks like something you’d run into while snorkeling off an island, floating in the sea. It smells of super fresh hay… Like when you go down to the horse stables in the early morning to feed them. The aroma brings back good memories. It’s a vivid aroma. I still can’t say that it’s an aroma that makes me go yum, I’m sure horses think differently hehe. It is an aroma that brings back some precious youth memories, lost youth. The wet leaves added so many more different aromas: Wintergreen, mints in general, flowers, fruits, anise, grass, licorice. As the infusions continued, the mint became more pronounced. There were also sweet cherry notes, subtle peach, cinnamon, and spices, cocoa, malt, roasted yams, honey sweetness notes. Delicate flavors but complex. I wish I wasn’t the only one who reviewed this because I’m sure there is so much more… Just like I think that different temperatures and different tea prep would change this tea as well. It is a medium bodied tea, satisfying with many different notes and aromas but licorice and mint were always there. It never got bitter nor astringent and it has a long minty-cooling finish. I’m not into mint teas but this is very good because of the complexity.

Gaiwan, 7g, 194°F, 110ml, rinse, 9 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s

Chocolatey, and a nice cup of tea. Dessert-like tea. I don’t get a lot of citrus flavor as Cameron noted so I agree with her. Maybe… Maaaybe a little citrus zest. I do like the dark cocoa flavor, and it tastes more chocolatey than other chocolate flavored teas I’ve tried. I’m thinking the very light bitterness is due to the citrus rind, and that adds to it. I like the base, it’s malty, some dried sweet fruit notes. I recommend it, it’s a good taste, just don’t expect a lot of citrus flavor, if at all. :P

Busy day, dropped this little orange in a mug and added 10 oz boiling water. Steeped it at 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s and 2 minutes. Subtle orange flavor, pleasant, and I had no problem drinking it, it was enjoyable. I probably could’ve kept going. I really had no idea how to prepare it. I wonder if I should’ve poked holes in the orange. Maybe I should’ve let it steep for much longer. I have a couple more so I will have to try different ways. It was very mild, nothing medicinal or odd, just a nice citrusy cup of tea. Even with the whole orange in there, there wasn’t any bitterness, even with all that rind. That was kind of surprising. :)

This tea was harvested in 2006, so it’s 13 years old now. It was a bold, strong roasty-toasty aroma. The roasted flavor is hard to describe because it’s strong roasted flavor but not campfire like nor charcoal-y. It’s an embracing roasted flavor, and yet they mention the 5 years one they have even more of that taste. How can that be? This was so toasty and full, all-encompassing and had subtle sweet fruit notes. The roasted flavor was the star but it wasn’t the only player. It has lots of mineral rock sweetness, some dark cocoa bitterness with dried sweet fruit, blackcurrant, red berries, some unique spices, and yummy roasted almonds. The roasted taste mellowed as the infusions went and the fruitiness and minerals came forward to offer their dance but the toasted flavor never let up, never gave up the stage completely. It is a complex cup of tea, very smooth and delicious. The finish is long lasting, interesting… After the last sip, I can still smell the toasty fragrance, a stonefruit exhale through my nose… Or is that roasted currant? It’s kind of like jams or jellies on the exhale. The smooth liquor coming in, the roasted almonds and dried fruits on the exhale, and then the curious feeling on my tongue. As Togo mentioned, a powdery feeling.

Yixing pot, 8g, 212°F, 130ml, rinse, 11 steeps: 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 1m5s, 1m15s, 1m30s, 2m.

Quick note: I don’t like Jasmin very much but this one, it wasn’t the Jasmin that bothered me. There was a strong medicinal taste. Tasted artificial, tasted off. Hmm…

Not going to rate it because I don’t care for Jasmin and there was nothing else positive for me to give it a rating. I won’t ding it negatively because there are some that like the medicinal taste. I don’t.

The dry leaves are long and twisted with golden tips. The liquor is an orange-reddish color. It started off with the Yunnan black tea notes, the malt, baked bread, freshly baked bread, sweetness, particularly the sweet potatoes. Very nice smooth and mellow beginning, fragrant. The mouthfeel was soft, there was some honey, sugar-cane sweetness that traveled down my throat, lingering there. In the beginning, it was toasty, malty, sweet potatoes, wood, cocoa notes, and a couple of infusions down the road, there were some nutty notes.

As I continued through the infusions, stonefruits and dried fruits came out. In the end, it transformed into something different. It was complex, and it did remind me of an aged raw pu’er as some other reviews mentioned, perhaps because of the astringency but also because of the mouthfeel and throat-feel, new fruit notes.

For $9.90 for 3.5 oz, this is a bargain for such a good tea.

Gaiwan, 194°F, 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 5s, 7s, 9s, 12s, 18s, 28s, 35s, 45s (I kind of sorta followed TeaVivre recommendation. I lost it at the end though lol).

Put the last of this in my daily sipper. It tastes like a chocolate malt to me. It’s sweet but not overly so, can actually taste the chocolate in this one, and it’s malty too. It seems forgiving with time. I left it in my thermos for most of the day, no bitterness, held up well. I think this one, the grapefruit one, and the Banana and Cream were my favorites of the bunch.

Another TeaVivre free sample. It’s a 3g tea bag, I can see big chunks of yummy ginger in there. The ginger aroma is super strong. I’m ginger crazy so I like it. First or maybe the second time I’ve tried store bought ginger tea so no experience in comparing it to others. Its a reddish-amber liquor that smells like surprise… Ginger. :) It’s a smooth tea, mild in flavor, lots of ginger taste with some spices. A little peppery feeling on the tongue, cinnamon notes. What I liked about it is that it was mild in flavor despite the strong ginger aroma, and it was delicately sweet so if you have to have honey in your ginger tea, you may be able to bypass that on this one. The black tea was mellow and a little malty. Overall, it was a good experience and a good cup of ginger tea.

Nice afternoon genmaicha. It has only two ingredients: Brown rice & a good sencha base. The teabag is 3g and I got it as a free sample. It’s a very toasty, roasty cup of tea with nice toasted rice and seaweed-marine aroma but not fishy. The liquor was golden yellow with green hues. It was a tasty genmaicha with no bitterness or astringency, delicately sweet but nothing artificial. I just had a genmaicha at a restaurant the other day, and it was far too sweet. Ick. Not this one, thank goodness. It’s a simple, straightforward, yummy sencha genmaicha.

Thank you, Cameron, I had this last night. I finished all your samples except one (the peppermint cream) and enjoyed them all so much!

Interesting and yummy tea. Unfortunately, I accidentally threw out the tea after the first infusion. Doh. I was cleaning out my other gaiwan and went on cleaning autopilot. At least I got to drink the first infusion. I do not know what juniper or cedar tastes like but whatever all the flavors in this tea, it was tasty and different. It was sweet, had honey, smoke, malts notes with a nice roasted-toasted comforting flavor. I enjoyed it so much. Thank you again, Cameron B.!