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This will be my first attempt at brewing gong-fu style. Will use 95 degree water with 30 second steeps, throwing out the first 10 second steep. Used my unglazed clay pot and cups, and 5g of the tea. First infusion: It is surprisingly sweet and light (in taste, not in color) with a subtle taste that reminds me of bamboo. Clean and pleasant. Second infusion: Very very similar to the first, but with a slightly deeper taste (I think). The third infusion is similar, but a little more earthy – once again, slightly more depth.

Definitely a very green oolong, with some green tea astringency. Some subtle floral notes that are quite nice, remindng me of jasmine. I think I may have used a little too much tea, which might be why it is relatively astringent. Either way, still very good. Slight (delicious) buttery aftertaste once it gets cold.

Powerful tea buzz…lots of theanine I think. Pretty solid Japanese green tea taste. Great for bottled tea. The only bottled/canned teas I enjoy more than this would be Sencha Shot or possible the Tea’s Tea Lemongrass Green.

You can’t taste the tea very much, but certainly the rice. Maybe I should use less water next time to make a stronger brew. Either way, for an instant tea, it’s very impressive. I just wish it tasted more like tea (although the roasted rice flavor is excellent).

Just broke off a medium sized piece. It has a very mild, but “deep” flavor. Definitely a higher quality pu-erh than what I’ve sampled so far. Definitely extremely well made. Enjoyable. I think that perhaps I should have used more tea or brewed longer – but its definitely still good like this. Not much fishiness to the taste (a little to the smell), just a earthen and somewhat savory taste.

It seems like a solid, regular black tea to me, though I’m no black tea expert. Slight sweetness but appropriately subtle. Not much astringency. I’m not generally a black tea person, but I enjoyed this one. Kudos to TeaG for this!

This is a very interesting white tea! It has many different taste notes…very complex and somewhat paradoxical. Of course, it has a base of the classic gentle white tea flavor. But the schizandra brings a tangy edge to it that I haven’t seen in many teas. It has an herbal smell to it, almost peppery. But the taste and feel of the tea is something totally new to me as an American. It is very slightly tart with a subtle sweetness. I’m really not sure how to describe the taste of the schizandra, so I recommend you try it for yourself!

This is a somewhat standard Ti Kuan Yin oolong – slightly floral, but still hints at that ‘woody’ oolong taste that you find in darker oolongs like Wu Yi. The floral elements in Adagio’s Ti Kuan Yin aren’t as present as I would like them to be, however. Additionally, they seem ‘simple’ somehow. This would be a good casual oolong. And perhaps the flavors could be brought out more with different steeping parameters.

After a one-minute infusion, I was left with a pale-colored yellowish brew. Its smell is subtle and somewhat buttery. It has a very pleasant taste – it lacks the overwhelming vegetal flavor of a sencha or gyokuro, but still has a nice savory roundness to it. Overall, it’s a very mellow tea, with no sharp or distracting off-tastes. Definitely one of the best kukicha teas I’ve had, because of this subtlety.