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Got this sample at Red Blossom when I was in town earlier this month. I am a massive smoky tea fan, just add lapsang to any tea blend and I appear from the mist to get my hands on it. (or should I say smoke?) I ‘m very excited to try this one, my tea cupboard feels off when there’s no lapsang in it. I technically have a Joseph Wesley LS, but it’s not the smoky kind. Don’t get me wrong, I love that tea, but it’s no campfire daydream. I brewed this western style, and felt such a rush of relief upon first whiff – I had found the LS i was missing in my life! The luscious pine smokiness blended with the robust black tea effortlessly. It’s like standing in front of a bonfire wrapped in a blanket. I wanted to see if this tea was not too harshly smoked for some blends i wanted to add it to. And lo, I immediately added some WP Golden Orchid to my teapot after the first sip. When digging in my old Steepster notes, I was last on the hunt for a good smoked vanilla black tea. Now I’m sipping on some velvety, chocolatey, smoked vanilla goodness. It is said that good things come to those who wait, and this forgotten itch has been very thoroughly scratched.

Dessert Tea! I got this from a friend who picked this up somewhere along their southern road trip. I am usually a big hater of rooibos, but this one makes the cut. It takes like an autumn mug cake dream. The rooibos doesn’t overwhelm with it sickly sweetness, it’s the spices that really take the cake. Not too sure if the fig is very forward or not… I do get a little jamminess that may indicate fig, but it’s more of an afterthought. Straight up, this tea is very decadent. I added some milk to one cup, with lovely results. But what i like the most in this tea is that it stands desserty sweet all on it’s own.

Sad sipdown!! would love to get some loose leaf sencha from Ippodo in the future, this tea bag just hit the spot every time!

Dang this is an old tea! I think I got this tea from the very first Midwest Tea fest at Single Origin’s booth. Very surprised that this tea has lasted that long! I remember really enjoying the muscatel lightness from this tea, and the rich smoothness. I also remember this tea giving me a similar energy boost to a Darjeeling – like riding a crotch rocket to space XD
Drinking it for breakfast this morning, it still retained a bit of the Darjeeling-esque muscatel headiness with a bit of overripe fruit added to the golden malty warmth. The multicolor leaves have faded a bit, the verdant greens a little faded into amber browns. It’s still the rocket fuel I remember. Sure, the ‘freshness’ of this tea is a thing in the past, but I still get a delicious refreshing cup. May add the rest of this to my iced tea pile.

Picked up 2oz of this tea on my most recent SF trip. it’s been a while since I’ve dived into jasmine tea, i think i’ve gotten burned by enough bad blends in the past to turn me off of the stuff for a while. It wasn’t until my partner and I had some sweetened with a light touch of honey at a hand pulled noodle spot in Chinatown did my interest re-awaken. I wanted to be a little more selective with my next jasmine tea in my collection, and Red Blossom Tea in SF had three levels to choose from. I love the novelty of a dragon pearl, watching them pop gives me so much joy. The leaves of these pearls are massive and sturdy, they impart such a mellow lightness that is heavy on the jasmine in the first steep. It’s not too chemical or overpowering, but the delicateness of the tea base takes at least a steep to fully appear. I tried this gongfu style in a 100ml teapot with very pleasant results, i am curious to see how this turns out iced in the warmer months.

Chose this tea this morning inspired by ashmanra’s sipdown scavenger hunt. This is my only surviving flavored white tea (that I know of). It has lasted a while unopened before I got into my Iced Tea Phase last summer. I think I know why I don’t do flavored white teas. This was just not it for me. The bai mu dan base is just fine, it has all the usual marks – soft hay, oats and a light floral touch. The melon flavoring was pretty overpowering for the delicate nature of the white tea. Don’t get me wrong, i loved melon flavoring in other things like boba or candy, but it had an odd metallic tang to accompany the white tea. If I were to drink this hot, I may use cooler water and a lighter touch on the steeps.

Picked up some of this at Red Blossom Tea on my trip to San Francisco this past weekend. I walked by the place twice before realized that they were right on grant street where all the Lunar New Year festivities were happening! The shop is small and the have a nice small selection of really beautiful teas. Although the price tags make me balk, the quality is unquestionably there. I got this tea to replace my ippodo sencha as a daily drinker. I also got a few samples; the most exciting of which is their Lishan Matcha – a Taiwanese oolong based matcha. Very interested to try that sample sooon.

On to this tea! This particular bag of leaves are from the 2022 spring harvest. The dry leaf is a nice heap of deep green twisted pine needles. I had some this morning before work gongfu style and am currently sipping on it grampa style. It has a pleasant, rich buttery-ness that cradles the vegetal sweet notes. The brewed leaf is tiny and mostly unbroken, bright verdant green. This tea is very easy to drink; even with an absent minded oversteep, the astringency is very mild. There isn’t much to dislike in this bright and happy tea. Very glad to have tried it!

This tea is so … weird. but I couldn’t stop drinking it? Found this tea sitting unloved in a cupboard in a conference room and thought to myself, “why shouldn’t I try it?” Cumin is my favorite spice, and I’m one of those freaks who loves a savory tea. The teabag smelled exactly as it tastes, incredibly cumin-y and tart lemon. Every sip made me pull a face, but then I’d take another sip. Unhinged behavior right there.

Found this sample tucked away in a tin in the back of my cupboard. wasn’t entirely sure what blend it was until i saw the iconic patterned morel mushroom bits. It has been a long time since this tea was sampled out to me, but I was excited to dive into it.

After a quick rinse and a couple of flash steeps it’s clear that this tea is still kickin’. Silky smooth without being too muddy, the shou is a good base to match the morel’s umami. This tea is without a doubt, savory. There’s a hint of cinnamon, herb, and petrichor that marries the mushroom in a way that made me think of beef stroganoff. But in a tasty way. each infusion of the leaves made a thick soup (almost literally here lol) that I thoroughly enjoyed, despite it’s forgotten about storage.

Did I pick out the morel mushroom pieces and cook them with my quinoa that night? You bet your shou pu I did.

Found a box of sachets in the tea cupboard at work. I tend to be picky with earl grey, if the ratios aren’t juuuust right I can’t bring myself to finish the cup. I was very pleased to find that this one hits all the right marks. The bergamot was less present than the vanilla flavoring, balancing each other well. My only issue is the flavorings have an artificial tang to them at the end, other than that it’s a fine dessert pick me up