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Additional notes: Inspired by Martin writing a tasting note for this, I wanted to find mine and have some. So this is another from StarFevre! Thanks so much! It is lovely to revisit this B&B classic. The flavor is fantastic for this being such an older pouch. I’m tasting crisp apple, spices, and wisps of sage. Exactly the cup I was hoping for yesterday. A lovely blend that apparently ages very well! (Thanks also Martin!)

From a LONG AGO travelling teabox.  I was craving sheng, so I wanted to finally try this one.  I wanted to split the smaller sample into two steeping sessions, so only used one teaspoon while also not filling the mug completely.  Mini steeps.  I must say, I haven’t tried very many from white2tea!  (And seemingly the 2015 Poundcake has a MUCH higher rating than this one, if that says anything.)  The flavor here has a thicker mouthfeel – is that where the “cake” in the name comes from?   Very sweet, slightly starchy, very minerally, almost lemon and vanilla and cream.   Certainly sounds like some sort of cake!   But also with a lovely sort of tanginess.  Either I haven’t had sheng in a while, I don’t usually wait 52 minutes to steep sheng, this sheng is exceptionally different, OR white2tea is simply magic, because this sheng is addictive.  Hopefully it’s not my new thing because I only have a few samples of sheng in the cupboard.  However, as I remember usually happening, the steeps after the first tend to lose their magic.  I really should learn to steep sheng much cooler, as I thought I learned that lesson long ago.   This might be my problem with sheng – I love the first steeps but then they get worse from there, probably because I don’t have patience or I oversteep.  Or the Western steeps have been ruining sheng all along.  That first steep though!
Steep #1  // 1 teaspoon // 52 minutes after boiling  // rinse // 40 second steep
Steep #2  // 35 minutes after boiling //  1 minute steep
Steep #3 // 20 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep
Steep #4 // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep

From Cameron B a while ago!  THANK YOU wherever you went!  I had this once before and it really screams “winter tea” but I was craving it today.  The temp cooled a LITTLE bit after four inches of rain anyway.  Really, this seems like the most luxurious tea in the dry leaf itself: the blackest, shiniest, silkiest wiry leaf.  I love the flavor.  It seems more like the depth I always want Verdant’s Laoshan Black to have.  It’s so odd because Laoshan green is by far my favorite, but never really cared for Laoshan black.  hmm.  The aroma of the wet leaf from the basket is marshmallowed yams.  The flavor is rich and dark, like starchy chocolate bread with some sort of dark fruit jam… all the darkest fruits mixed together — raspberries, blackberries, but also plums. (I wish I had some of this for dessert right now.) The description says the leaves are fried in unprocessed red sugar which is interesting. I wouldn’t ever guess that, but maybe that is what makes this tea so unique.  The subsequent steeps were also like this, but with a slight astringency and hint of that oversteeped oaky leaf flavor.  But that first steep is perfection.  I see eastkyteaguy has this in the cupboard… I’d love to see the tasting note for it!
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 15 minutes after boiling //  3 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 2 minutes after boiling for a half mug // 3 min

Another sample I bought from Teakruthi!  I’m very glad they have sample sizes.  This also had the fragrance of basil in the leaf — same as Wild Monsoon that I had the other day.  So I wanted to visually compare the leaves of the two.  They both look similar, but the Wild Monsoon has a bigger/longer leaf.  Of course, they are both Ceylon, as all of Teakruthi’s teas are Ceylon.  Do not let that fact sway you from trying their teas.  I would say in the past, I was least interested in Ceylon tea as a type, but most of Teakruthi’s teas that I’ve tried have been unique and very delicious. The first cup here was so so much basil!  It’s amazing there isn’t any actual basil here.  It was like smooth tomato soup with basil.  The brew was a bright orange.  I’d say there was a lot more basil here and none of the caramelized strawberry flavor that Wild Monsoon has.  This time I tried to overcorrect with the astringent second steep of Wild Monsoon and went for a much cooler brewed second steep and the flavor wasn’t anything tasty at all, even losing most of the basil, so I definitely should have went for a hotter steep with this one.  I’m in love with the savory basil flavor of the first cup though. Excellent first steep, bland second. But I will try again soon to retry.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 27 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 16 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

Looks like no one else has written up this one yet on Steepster! I bought samples of this quite a while ago now, so please consider this is not a fresh harvest I’m reviewing.  It does taste the same as it did a while ago when I tried it though.  The jasmine is lovely, as almost always with Teavivre’s jasmine teas.  It’s also very hard to taste anything of the tea itself.  These are larger green pearls that are slow to unravel.  I’m really only tasting jasmine, but that is why I drink these types of tea anyway: JASMINE.  Jasmine is divine in summer.  If I had to choose one Teavivre jasmine tea, it probably wouldn’t be this one, as I notice more of the tea fuzzies in the cup.  I’d rather have a smooth jasmine tea, without that aspect.  But possibly others wouldn’t notice that as much.
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 35 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 1/2 minute steep
Harvest: 2018
2020 Sipdowns: 56 (Shakespeare’s Corner Shoppe – Green Cucumber Melon + Lupicia’s Assam Calcutta Auction)

I thought I had written a tasting note for this, yet another from StarFevre!  Thanks again!  I especially love this one because I think it’s the same as my beloved blend from Angry Tea Room, Orange Creamsicle!  It has lovely orange flavoring with yogurt bits and really does taste like creamsicle.  It’s also very tasty cold, after leaving it in the fridge until I drink it at night.  The rooibos is VERY dark even on the second steep, but it’s very pleasant and smooth rooibos.  It doesn’t hurt to have more of this around!  Also, apparently Angry Tea Room carries the same teas as Tea Haus, so I really wish Angry Rea Room had that lime blend I want to restock on!
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 10 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  20 minute steep (then put in the fridge to cool)
2020 Sipdowns: 53 (Simpson & Vail – Tropical Papango)

Additional notes: I had some extra heavy cream, so I finally made a scone box mix I received a while ago from Simpson & Vail!  (The first day of scones was enjoyed with Bird & Blend’s Spiced Pumpkin Pie tea.)  The scones were GOOD despite being pumpkin and despite this being July.  Then I had some extra cream left over and decided to make an East Frisian tea, lo and behold also from Simpson & Vail.  East Frisian style brewed as in, sugar goes in the bottom, cream at the top, no stirring.  The cream wafted around a lot anyway.  Or possibly I used way too much and it seemed like a cup of cream and I could hardly tell there was tea in the mug. However, I forgot one of the crucial components to East Frisian blending of cream is to slowly lower a spoon of cream into the cup, rather than pouring the cream. Oops.  It had been a WHILE. I had this East Frisian before, ages ago from Simpson & Vail and I really liked it!  This harvest seems much different (as harvests sometimes happen to change.)  The second steep, I tried plain.  And even with two teapoons, the flavor is so one noted from what I remember.  Very much just like a bland, flat, astringent tea.  I will try it again to make sure, but obviously this is the perfect tea as it is, to mask the bland astringency with sugar and lots of cream.  Simpson & Vail is usually consistent, even with different harvests, but they can’t be perfect all of the time. But this tea is simply supposed to be malty and brisk, I guess. If I lowered ratings, this would now be a 70.

Nomnomnom. This is just the best. It’s such a unique flavor profile, I never get sick of it. And I’m extremely happy I bought two ounces of it while I still had the chance, after I won the free teas from 52Teas back in the day. But this might be the tea I revisit the most, so I’m getting low in stock now! Would make a ‘TOP 20’ teas list from me, definitely.

So this is from Kawaii433 but I also received some from derk.  THANK YOU BOTH.  Not sure if Kawaii’s is also from 2017, as derk’s is noted on the sample.  I thought it was time I try it, since there are two separate samples!  I don’t know what I was thinking though, as I just sipped a roasted oolong the other day and they are definitely not the type of tea I want to drink often. Anything with the name “roasted” is all I can taste, which ends up being very one note and disappointing, as I know others can usually taste other flavors in these roasted oolongs.  It’s always a shame!  It is all I can taste: roasted charcoal.  The third steep was especially off putting… shouldn’t have brewed if for four minutes, that’s for sure. The leaves are VERY dark and VERY tightly bundled.  The flavor is smooth anyway, until that third steep.  I think I sadly give up on roasted oolongs.  They just ain’t my thing.  But it’s nice to officially know that at this point.
Steep #1  // 1 3/4 teaspoons for full mug //  rinse //  29 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min
2020 sipdowns:  52 (one sample sipdowned anyway)

Yet another from StarFevre!  THANK YOU.  A whole pouch of Frank’s.  I guess I have been trying to focus more on StarFevre’s teas since I’m pulling out a few at a time from the box to slowly try over the course of a week, and then putting them back in the box and taking out a few more.  I’m tearing up at StarFevre’s generosity (and the same for many other Steepsterers). I’m trying to write tasting notes at least once, even if these teas are quite older.  I’m sure I’m enjoying the tea more than all of you are enjoying my tasting notes about them. haha.   This is GOOD.  I can only imagine how lovely it was when it was fresh.  The green base and strawberry that is mostly like strawberry jello, but I’m cool with that as there is also some cranberry that pairs very well with it.  Why isn’t strawberry/cranberry more of a thing?  Even the second steep was full of flavor. 

I signed up for a month of Criterion Collection movies which is one of my favorite things ever.  Anyone have favorite Criterion films they’d particularly like to recommend? Maybe I missed them.  I have watched most of what I love the best: Wim Wenders, Toshiro Mifune, Tarkovsky, many others here and there… but looking for suggestions!  I have rarely watched a Criterion film I didn’t love…