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Lots and lots of good reviews on this so I will make it quick.

I made an order around Dec. 11th, 2018, and I took advantage of the black tea sample sale even though I’m currently exploring oolongs and pu’er. I just recently received this package. It usually doesn’t take that long but the holidays I suppose.

The dry leaves were pretty, twisted leaves with gold tips and had the aroma of sweetness, hay, and a subtle aroma of sweet potato. The liquor had a pretty orangish-red color. Smooth, silky mouthfeel, malty, mellow, sweet aftertaste, notes of molasses, yams, baked bread, no astringency nor bitterness, just smooth & sweet, exceptionally comforting.

Gaiwan, 185°F, 9g, rinse, 8 steeps: 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

Interesting tea. I put this in my daily sipper and I got kumquat notes and soon felt a weird feeling in my throat. At first, I thought “Am I getting a cold?” The back of my throat felt funny after I swallowed… Not unpleasant, just surprised me some. So I went to look at the ingredients. Ahhh, there is it… Cayenne peppers.

The heat spreads too as you drink this. It wasn’t spicy hot on my tongue, it’s like a funny feeling in the back of your throat and by the time I finished my first infusion, my whole throat was warm. I also got orange-kumquats-citrus notes, the cooling effect from the cucumbers but not the flavor of cucumbers so much, some sweetness, honey notes, malty.

Interesting tea but in a good way. :)

This is the last of the Pu-erh samples from Whispering Pines. I’ll go to sampling their black teas again after this. I received a nice size sample of 18g and used 6g of it.

It is a thick mouthfeel and it is active in my mouth as the description says. It tingles my tongue. There is quite a bit of minerality, wet rocks note. I didn’t notice any bitterness throughout the infusions, nor did I get a lot of astringency. It’s very smooth, warming. The fermentation flavors are there, the rich earthiness, wet earth, some mushroom notes.

It’s a nice blend of “Bulang Mountain material from 2007 and Menghai area material from 2012” and was fermented in cloth bags versus pile-fermented. Some other notes were of bittersweetness, brown sugar sweetness, some spices and did detect a little of the fruitiness, the tart cherries and dark chocolate. The finish is the brown sugar sweetness, not the bittersweet or tartness.

Their site mention that it is very reactive to humidity changes “so let it settle out for at least a week once it’s arrived at your house” which I did. I think this is a good daily drinker type, very rich and mellow. I enjoyed it after a good lunch.

Yixing gaiwan, 6g, 212°F, 110ml, rinse, 11 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

Thanks Cameron B. :D

This was my choice of my all day sipper. I put 4.5g in 12 oz 175°F and I drink it throughout the day, in between gongfu sessions. It’s interesting it’s made of green rooibos, green tea, and white tea. It works, it’s pretty good.

All these years, I always drink, for example, my matcha with 1-2 tsp in 2-4oz water so I’m used to strong flavors. I am really having fun with these flavored samples because I could put them in the thermos and let them sit without timing and still enjoy the flavor throughout the day since they are pretty mild in general. So please take that in consideration when I review flavored teas. My ti-ti-ti-MING, timing, is off. lol

Stonefruits, peach and more apricot goodness in this, some sweetness but not a lot (I like it that way). I can’t taste the cucumber notes as Cameron did hehe, but there were other flavors too that I’m sure I can’t detect lol or mint that some others tasted but I enjoyed it though. I’ve refilled my thermos three times so far and there is still flavor.

Well, end of the day I promised to come back about this tea, and while it was good…. I didn’t taste hardly any cinnamon nor rum notes (I admit I don’t know what rum really tastes like lol), mainly just the toasted rice notes. It was smooth and not at all unpleasant just nothing like horchata which usually has cream or milk, vanilla and strong cinnamon notes. It reminds me of a good toasted barley or rice tea. Thank you 52Teas for sending this to me this week.

My choice for my sipper today. I’ll let you know how it tastes at the end of the day. Trying to decide what new sample to do a gongfu session… I may skip and just chill, sip and read all your reviews instead. :D Always a great pastime.

I will update this later for those who are into 52Teas.^^

Thank you Cameron B. :D

A quick note on this. ^^ This was my all-day sipper choice today. Had it grandpa style. No notes, I just enjoyed it throughout the day. I “think” this is my first Dammann Frères. I got a similar flavor profile than some of the others but I got more cherry and pineapple than orange. The orange aroma was there, but not the taste so much. It did show up more, the orange rind in this latest steep. It is good. I am enjoying it. I’m on the 4th steep and the flavor is still really good.

Free sample. Yay. They have the best packaging and labeling. Cute little packages, great info on their stickers. I had tried this 4 months ago and thought I’d revisit it again. This TGY comes from Lishan and is baked slowly over a soft fire, fermentation 100%.

It’s rolled into little balls, but not perfect but twisted. The balls are dark brownish green, roasted, dry… Smells good, it reminds me of when I open up a new packet of roasted nori. Once wet, my lid smelled toasty, vegetal, floral, baked bread, sweetness, fruity. The liquor is a gold color.

Smooth taste, but slightly but pleasant astringent finish. Toasty, baked bread notes, sweetness from raisins or dried fruits, generally fruity, stonefruits, umami notes, vegetal and some subtle floral notes. It’s rich and soothing. The toastiness is really nice. More and more I’m finding that I prefer the roasted oolongs over the green. It’s more comforting overall, especially on cold days or in the evenings.

Yixing teapot, 7g, 212°F, 110ml, quick rinse, 8 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s, 120s

Thank you Cameron B. :D

Lots of reviews, and as usual, I’m very late in the game. ^^ The notes I got were bergamot, caramel, red fruits, a little vanilla, cloves on the exhale, some floral… Almost perfumey but not overwhelming. I didn’t find any chocolate notes as some mentioned nor did I find it tart at all. I got a lot of berries and sweetness. Another good Kusmi tea. :)

Like the Banana Pancake Breakfast, I put 3 g in my thermos, added 12 oz of 205°F water. It smelled good, like maple syrup. The flavor was nice, with maple syrup, pancake-y, butter, and malt.

I miss the bananas in it though. With the Banana Pancake Breakfast, the aftertaste and banana finish was really good to me. Maybe if there was any type of good fruit taste, this would’ve been much better to me. I still liked it though. It tastes good. :) There isn’t that artificial taste in this and that is a big plus. It also wasn’t oversweet. As far as sweetness vs the pancake-y balance, it was pretty much spot-on the way I like my pancakes.