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Wow, I’m getting really different flavours from this than everyone else. Interesting! I’m steeping it gongfu style, 4g of tea in a 100ml gaiwan. I did a quick rinse, then the first steeping was maybe 20-30sec (?), second was probably about 1min, third I actually timed for 2min. Water temp varied from 85-95C.

The predominant flavours I get from this are earth and apples. But like, not fresh apples, cooked ones. It’s kind of like walking through an apple orchard in the fall, after a rain, where you have the scent of wet earth and the soft apples on the ground. There’s a bit of honey sweetness in this tea, but not a lot. When I stick my nose in the cup after drinking all the tea, I get a sweet carmelized sugar scent, but I’m not getting a lot of that in the actual flavour. And I’m getting no cocoa from this whatsoever. Fascinating! I’ll have to try steeping it a few other ways, I don’t think I’ve found optimal parameters for this tea yet.

This was the third tea in the Postal Teas box for this company, though I think it’s actually a Dethlefsen & Balk blend originally. It was nice to get a variety of teas in this subscription box: one black, one green, and one herbal, and they were all pretty good. The dried leaf for this one is very pretty – the picture doesn’t do it justice. Green leaves, tan/brown fruit/ginger pieces, and blue cornflower petals. The tisane is fresh and almost citrusy (that would be the lemongrass and maybe the verbena?), with a slight sweetness that I presume is from the apple. It’s nice to try a “zinger” tisane where the “zing” comes from ginger, and not hibiscus. :) I’m not getting much actual blueberry flavour from this, but I also didn’t see any blueberries in my spoonful of tea. Anyway, it’s refreshing and pleasant to drink , and I think I’ll try it iced next.

The first time I steeped this tea, I think I used too much leaf – I went with 6g for my 100ml gaiwan (because the instructions said 8g for a 130ml gaiwan), and it was ok, but there was a bitter note that I found distracting, and it was more vegetal and less floral than I was hoping for. This time around, 4.5g in the same gaiwan, and that worked way better. The scent of the dry tea is very fragrant and sweet, like candied flowers. I did a quick wash, which I tasted, and it was lightly sweet and floral, just a preview of things to come. :) I think i steeped it for 30sec, then 1min, then added another minute for each subsequent steeping, finally getting bored after the 5min one. It was actually really tasty throughout. Initial steepings were very fragrant and floral, like sticking your nose in a bouquet of flowers. Then some light, fresh, vegetal flavours started coming in, balanced with the floral, so it was like eating the flowers? And then the floral faded even further and the vegetal became crisper with a faint hint of bitterness, as if you’re now munching on tender stems or leaves. So basically it’s like eating a flower, but in tea form, lol. This is a terrible description, but the tea was actually quite lovely. :)

I glad to have finally tried this one in the gaiwan, since I think I didn’t properly appreciate it steeped western style. This is a really interesting and delicious tea! The flavour is really complex, but I got a lot of honey-roasted sweet potato, with some cinnamon in the aroma. The texture is very thick and creamy. I don’t think this is one that I’ll crave super-regularly, but I’m definitely glad to have it, and it seems like more of a special-occasion tea anyway. :)

Addendum: I took this through, oh, at least 8 steepings last night and decided to save the leaves and try to get a bit more out of them today. I was a bit skeptical today, when there wasn’t much aroma coming up out of the gaiwan and it was taking quite a while for the water to take on some colour. But I’ve done a few long-ish steeps and been pleasantly surprised! This still has flavour, and though it’s lighter than before, it’s also bringing out some floral, nectar-like notes that are a bit new. It’s still remarkably sweet in the latter part of the sip and the aftertaste, and it still has that mouth-coating quality. Wow.

Out of curiosity I decided to try this in the gaiwan today and… it wasn’t bad, but I think I prefer it steeped western style. I never quite got the balance of smoky, creamy, vegetal that I was looking for. Early steepings were heavy on the lapsang, later steepings were heavy on the oolong, it was interesting, but I don’t prefer it this way. One thing I remember was that I was getting a really clear sequence of flavours in one sip: first smoky, then creamy/vegetal (not as floral for me today), then a deeper almost tobacco-y note as the black tea asserted itself, then more smoke on the aftertaste. Neat. :)

I’m kind of at that point where I’ve had so much tea, and logged none of it, and now getting back into the swing of things feels overwhelming. So, I’m just going to go ahead and log the tea that’s sitting in my gaiwan right now. That’s not so hard, right? Right.

Oh hey, I picked up a cheap variable temp kettle from Superstore while I was in Winnipeg 3 weeks ago. And then I managed to locate an extension cord that allows me to keep the kettle on my kitchen table and still plug it in. Then I gathered my gaiwan, cha hai, steeping basket (I use it as a filter), and a little tiny cup. Put them all next to the kettle. Set myself up with my laptop at the table as usual for when I’m working from home. Ta da! Everything I need to make tea is right there. So basically what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been making All The Tea in my gaiwan for the past week. :) And so far I haven’t managed to dump any tea onto my laptop, so I’m definitely calling that a win.

I think I probably tried this one western style before, and couldn’t make up my mind about it. I’ll probably be making it in the gaiwan in the future, because it was pretty great this way! It’s definitely sweet all the way through many steepings. There was a prominent roasted-grain note early on, that gradually faded. I get the cocoa note, but I don’t find this tea to be overwhelmingly chocolatey, it’s more of a malty-grainy-cocoa blend, like Ovaltine (which I haven’t had in a million years, so I could be just imagining the comparison). Several times I smelled the empty cup just after sipping and got a really strong cinnamon note, which was interesting, because I didn’t get it nearly as strongly in the flavour. There definitely was a baked goods, desserty feel to this tea throughout. Tasty!

Up late trying to get all my paperwork done before tomorrow. Just took a break to have a sandwich and make some tea! This was a good choice – tasty and soothing. :)

Mmmm, big thank you to Anlina for giving me a sample of this to try. :) I admit, I remembered the “omg chocolate-covered raisins!” description while steeping this, so I was probably a bit primed to taste that, but yeah, this is a very raisin-y tea! It’s also smooth, rich, malty, full-bodied, with some of that classic yunnan black earthiness and a lingering sweetness. Tasty. :)

Another from my Postal Teas box, this one was just ok. I don’t really know what passion fruit tastes like, but my general impression was that this is a sort of generic fruity green tea. Like, there was nothing offensive about it, but also nothing particularly special either.

This is a very tasty tea! The dry leaf is almost overwhelmingly fruity and cherry scented, but happily it mellows out and becomes more balanced in the steeping. The scent of the steeped tea is a blend of tart cherry and an earthy sweetness that I suspect is from the fig. The taste has a strong but pleasant cherry flavour that lingers into the aftertaste – not medicinal or overly tart. There’s a slight sweetness that might be the fig. The base black tea is smooth and provides a good base without interfering with the other flavours at all. I bet this would be lovely as an iced tea in the summer.

I got this from the Postal Teas box, and I’m happy to have had a chance to try it, though I’m a little annoyed to be again getting teas from a subscription box that come from a vendor who is in turn reselling wholesale teas. I’m not sure where the blend actually originates, but it’s available for sale from both Deflethson & Balk and ESP Emporium, and Tealux sells it (under the name “Cherry Fantasy”) for cheaper than tea and all its spendour does. Ah well, at least I actually like the tea this time. :)