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Thank you, JacquelineM for this sample! I made two separate pots of this today for our little tea party. I made a plate of fudge covered grahams from Keebler and Pepperidge Farm chocolate assortment to go with our tea. As I poured the tea, I thought I was smelling chocolate – but surely it was on my hands from the cookie plate? But I had never noticed it before. Smelled my hands – nothing. Smelled the tea – there it is! I have heard of teas having chocolate notes, I’ve even tasted unsweetened cocoa notes in some teas, but this smelled CHOCOLATE! It is a good, smooth tea. I think when I serve this in future it will be with a cheese plate to complement the chocolate notes instead of having chocolate-y cookies that compete with it. Very nice premium tea from Premium Steap! I think it could withstand an even longer steep time if you like your tea stronger.

This one just gets better each time I have it. I now drink it with no milk or sugar, and enjoy it with Aero whipped chocolate and Pepperidge Farm cookies in the afternoon.

Thank you to Lori for this sample!

I am with Morgana on this one. I smell and taste darjeeling. I don’t know if it is really in there, but that is what I get. It is smooth, not too astringent, and I really don’t detect any smoke at all. It has good flavor, though, was decent both plain or with milk and sugar added, and ….I think…..it may be reminding me of Margaret’s Hope 2nd Flush FTGFOP. That’s the darjeeling I am sensing, I suppose. Maybe the tiniest bit pepper-y, too?

Yes, I drank this one AGAIN. Yes, I still love it. It is still lightly smokey and intoxicates me on frumpled mornings. And even though I used the last marvelous leaves to make this cuppa, I refuse to click “Remove from Cupboard” because I marched right in here and ordered a whole pound. Aaaaaaaah.

I ordered the sample of this one since I am not a huge fan of Yunnan teas, although I enjoy a few pu-erhs. It is pretty nice, but I would say that the astringency is leaning toward 2 for me, though Harney and Sons rates it as a one. The teas with NO astringency usually get a one. This one was a little drying on the tongue the more I sipped. The flavor is pleasant, I detected the very lightest whiff of smoke, and there was just a hint of pepper. I agree with another post that it tends to a white pepper scent rather than black pepper. Still, I stand by my personal feelings about Yunnans and this one doesn’t sway me, though if you are a Yunnan fan, you just may love this one.

Thank you to Lori for this sample! This is an individually wrapped teabag. When I opened it there was a refreshing and strong peppermint aroma. From this I really expected this tea to taste exactly like my plain peppermint herbal tea, but not so. As you drink this, the smell of peppermint is so relaxing but the green tea is definitely there when you drink. Nice balance of the flavors. This is a slightly astringent green, not a buttery one.

A lovely, smooth oolong! The aroma is mostly woodsy to me, but I thought I detected some raisin-y in the background. Not astringent at all. Made a surprisingly dark brew! Thank you to Lori for this sample!

Just about finished my tin of this one today. I may have a teaspoon left.

This was hard because I decided to choose EITHER this one or Queen Catherine to keep on hand. I already have H&S English Breakfast and SS Organic Breakfast, and with the tower of tea I have already I can’t justify buying both! (Well, maybe I can, but will the hubby go for it?) Although I like this one and it is quite good, I am not the biggest fan of Assam tea, so Queen Catherine has won. The two are so similar that it was a hard choice, but QC is a blend of three China teas, and they are really my favorites.

I was a little afraid of this one when I smelled the dry leaves, but I needn’t have been. It is very smooth, a little sweet, and the smoke is not overpowering at all. It was good enough to have a second cup. Went really well with cheese cubes and whipped chocolate bar Aero bar.

This is a very nice breakfast tea. I often have it in the afternoon with Pepperidge Farm cookies as well. It is not as strong as some keemuns, being lighter in cocoa notes and lacking smokiness as well. This is a great keemun for people who don’t like strong keemuns. They say it has red wine or muscatel flavors, but so far I haven’t picked that up. I will have to try to sharpen my senses….