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This is much better than the stuff you’ll find in teabags but not quite as good as the chamomile I’ve had from Rishi and Arbor Teas. It just seems to be lacking a little something. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but its missing that sweet chamomile flavor and tastes a bit stale. Although it was cheap and is a very drinkable tea, I wish I hadn’t bought 100 g of it on Amazon.

Regardless, it is good on it’s own and mixed with other flavorings.

Another winner from Taiwan Tea Crafts! A remarkably fresh green oolong bursting with the taste of crisp florals and a sweet creamy body.

I brewed this for 2 minutes using near boiling water after rinsing the tea leaves. Unfortunately it doesn’t hold up well to additional steepings.

I’ve searched far and wide for a Wuyi oolong that doesn’t taste like burnt toast and after trying many teas, I found what I was looking for in this light roasted Wuyi from Verdant which has gone on to become my favorite dark oolong. It is an incredibly rich and complex tea – roasty and woodsy but without any hint of bitterness or ashy charcoal taste. The mouthfeel is smooth and coats the tongue with a lingering honey and dried fruit sweetness.

I brew it gongfu style per Verdant Tea’s instructions and then chill it to make a fantastic iced tea. For hot tea, I use a little less about 2 grams. It gives about 3-4 good steepings before the flavor runs out. This definitely goes on my short list of teas that I want to keep on hand at all times.

Decided to finish off a few remaining tea samples and started with this one. Plainly put, I did not care too much for this tea. It is earthy and has a a swampy-vegetal taste which doesn’t feel pleasant going down. Doesn’t even come close to some of my favorite silver needle teas.

I tried a sample of this tea today and I’m not angry at it. That pretty high praise considering most Adagio flavored teas I’ve had in the past were nothing short of revolting. The coconut flavor isn’t artificial or cloying and the background oolong is bright and sweet. A fairly tasty tea, but not something I would purchase.

If you didn’t tell me there was oolong in here, I probably would have never guessed it. The perfumey jasmine is all I could taste. It didn’t taste very different from other jasmine pearl teas I’ve had, but nonetheless had a lovely jasmine flavor. A perfectly acceptable tea, but nothing to write home about.

A good quality about this tea is unlike green jasmine tea, it can withstand higher water temperatures and steeping times without becoming bitter.

Move over jasmine and rose, I’ve got a new favorite floral tea and it’s osmanthus! After being somewhat underwhelmed earlier by an osmanthus scented flowering green tea, this tea won me over with its creamy, sweet floral taste and aroma. The tea’s natural floral notes are perfectly balanced with the osmanthus flavoring. Unlike jasmine scented teas which often dominates, the osmanthus flavor is subtle and complements the base tea beautifully.

Only knock on this tea is most of the flowery notes are gone after the first infusion. But the green oolong really comes out on the second steeping with just a lingering floral aftertaste.

I love floral teas but prior to this, I’d never had osmanthus scented tea nor did I know what it’s supposed to taste like. The dry teaball has a rather unpleasant hay smell and if you steep it with boiling water as Teavivre instructs, you end up with a bitter and astringent brew.

So the next time I made this tea, I used 170 to 180 F water and it turned out much better. The hay odor thankfully didn’t make it to the brewed tea and I was able to pick up a subtle floral flavor which really shines through though on the 2nd infusion (I got 3 infusions in total out of 1 tea ball). While enjoyable, I was expecting a more flowery tasting tea and the osmanthus flavor was too mellow for my liking.

I made this side by side today with an osmanthus green oolong and the oolong was the hands down winner. The natural floral notes in the oolong pair better with the osmanthus than the vegetal green tea.

Still, this tea was tasty iced and fun to watch bloom in a glass teapot.

If you like Teavana’s fruity teas, you will enjoy this blend. It tastes like a hibiscus spiked fruit punch. The hibiscus is clearly the dominant flavor in the brewed tea and if you drink it straight, that’s all you will taste. Although I don’t usually don’t sweeten my tea, this one does benefit with the addition of a little sugar. It tempers the sourness of the hibiscus and brings out the other fruit flavors, which aren’t really discernable on their own but meld together nicely. If chilled, this would make a fantastic iced tea.

Oh man I tried so hard to like this tea. I brewed it in so many different ways, in a glass tumber, in a gaiwan, cold brewing, mixed it with other teas, etc. but alas this tea could not redeem itself. Compared to other dragonwell teas I’ve had, it’s more vegetal than sweet and prone to bitterness. Not Yunnan’s best offering…