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The tea’s store description says “If you are looking for a daily black tea […] you won’t find a better black tea in this price tier.”. A rather bold claim… which I’m actually inclined to agree with, to my own surprise, now that I’ve tasted it. I personally haven’t had a €0,10/g black tea with this few “rough edges” in any case. It punches far above its weight.

I haven’t yet had the opportunity to try out a “real” (read: very expensive) jinjunmei, but I do have experience with a jinjunmei that was about 4 times the price, which White2Tea’s Daily JJM compares very favorably to, and with a lot of black teas in the affordable €0,05-0,15/g price bracket.

Very prominent and very sweet (flower) honey flavor, sugarcane, milk chocolate, hay, slight citrus. A pleasant, subtle bitterness if you brew it right. Less astringency than pretty much any black tea I can recall in the <€0,20/g price range. Works great grandpa style, and very decent in a gong fu session (though flavors stay pretty consistent). Will definitely get bitter if you overbrew it, but in a dark chocolate way some (..like me) might still enjoy.
It’s just a nice tea overall. Most importantly, it’s a tea that would be nice even if it wasn’t this cheap.

The name is surprisingly accurate: it’s spectacularly fuity.

Classic lapsang body but with a thick texture and an extraordinarily rich upper range of fruitiness. The leaves themselves already smell incredible.
Taste: bitterness at the bottom, typical black tea acidity and buttery, smooth fruit flavor above. Wonderful aroma. I got peach and refreshing citrus notes, but also some carrot sweetness and apple. Very little astringency until later steeps.
I enjoy it most slightly cooled down (but not too much). “straight from the gaiwan” the bitterness can steal some of the spotlight of the fruit.

Works well gong fu, western style and everything in between.

An extraordinary tea definitely worth its price.
If it hadn’t sold out so quickly I would’ve gotten more than a 25g sample. I’m now saving half of it for special occasions and am crossing all of my fingers and toes they get a new batch soon.

(for the 2019 version)
Prominent jasmine flavor, as you’d hope. Nice sweetness. Noticeable astringency but not unpleasant. Oolong makes a good base for jasmine teas as they don’t tend to develop the aggressive sharpness you can get with green teas. This one’s nearly impossible to oversteep. I made a big pot (grandpa style, set and forget) for the family at Christmas last year and everyone enjoyed it.
Still, while this jasmine oolong is on average one of the better jasmine teas I’ve had, it doesn’t seem to reach the same heights as some green jasmine teas when you’ve managed to brew them just right. In my personal experience that’s a very rare occurence though (and maybe I just haven’t found the right parameters for this one yet!).

If you’re looking for a “convenient” jasmine tea, one where you don’t have to fuss too much about brewing temperature and steep times, this might be a good option. It’s pretty well priced too.

(I did notice the jasmine aroma fading over the time I finished my 50g sample so good, dry, airtight storage seems to be extra important — or finish all of it while it’s still fresh, of course.)

A sweet oolong with a clear but very well balanced charcoal taste that’s extremely forgiving to brew.
Well priced too, after tasting a sample I immediately bought a bigger bag (bigger than I usually do).

Taste: honey sweetness, smoke, little bit of grape in the aftertaste. Nice full texture. Astringency is noticeable but not distracting.

I wouldn’t call it a particularly interesting tea, but more of a nice, comfy, “daily drinker”-type. 90% of the time I end up brewing it grandpa-style (just leaves in a big cup), and it’s perfect for that. Unless you really over-leaf it, the taste doesn’t get too strong. Doesn’t even matter if you forget your cup, it’s still tasty when cooled down.

People really seem to love this one, so after reading the reviews I eagerly bought a sample, but unfortunately, for the price, I’m not that impressed with it.

It’s certainly an interesting tea. You can surprisingly clearly taste the pu-erh origins, in addition to the more traditional flavors of a chinese black.
The young sheng-like bitterness (and the tiniest bit of sour) provides an interesting complementary bottom layer to malt and sweet sugarcane flavors. Smoke is immediately noticeable but not overwhelming. In the later steeps of a gongfu session suddenly a hint of blueberries appeared, which was a nice surprise. Astringency stays very low throughout, making it a very comfortable drink. The leaves last a long time: I did 10 steeps in a gaiwan and left it overnight in a lidded mug (which turned out excellent), and I think I could’ve gotten even more out of them.
I didn’t find the taste to be particularly complex though. Everything’s relatively upfront. It does very succesfully combine flavors from both raw pu-erh and black tea, but mostly the standard ones from either category. Nothing that would make either stand out. I’m missing some higher notes.

Another tea this one reminded me of is WuyiOrigin’s 2007 aged lapsang souchong. The very mellowed pine smoke there functions in a similar way as the pu-erh material does here, providing a deep bitter, sour, earthy bottom layer and a hint of smoke. Fans of this tea might want to give that one a try as well.

Arbor Red’s a good tea, no doubt. It’s original, very relaxing, and it has the balance of a premium tea, but you’re also paying a bit extra for the novelty.
I just wish it was a little bit more somehow. I was ready to get blown away, but my socks have remained firmly on my feet.