Xue Ya Tea ( Sunshine Snow bud)

Another sample from the lovely YYZ this was from a really long time ago but it got me through the day. I enjoyed this one a lot this morning – chocolatey notes in warm delicious tea form… and that’s about all i’ve got. it was a 12 hrs work day followed by a few hours of parents wanting to talk through things going on lol

pretty sure this is the one YYZ sent me even though it’s not in her cupboard, nor has she logged a note haha. Mostly because the other one from this company was labelled differently. this one is lighter, and not too malty. it’s more of a sweet/semi malty, more fruity than anything sort of except not really fruity tea. :) it was a good start to my morning earlier in the day after NO TEA yesterday! gasp

This is my tea at work choice this morning – I’ve drank a few cups of it this morning. That’s a good sign – the more tea I can pour in the happier I am.
This was in the wonderful sample swap box from yyz. She included a lot of interesting stuff form sellers that I’m not familiar with. This too makes me happy – to be trying off the beaten track teas.

This is really good. It’s a very nice Chinese black, with all the wonderful chocolate notes that I would expect. The leaves are fine with a few golden tips – beautiful to look at and very pleasing to drink. It might not make my top 5 favorite list, but it’s right up there with the ones in the 5-10 range. I like it. Thanks for sharing yyz

Of the two Rizhao blacks that I have at the moment this is one is probably the less complex but on the other hand it tastes strongly of hot chocolate and because of this I am pretty sure it is my favourite of the two at the moment.

This tea brews to a reddish brown and has flavour notes of hot chocolate over malt with honeyed grain, caramel and cinnamon, with faint roasted notes. It smells like hot chocolate with a touch of Ovaltine.

This time I brewed 1.5tsp/225ml for about 1 min at around 90*C.

I think it does a little better brewed for a little less time if you want the chocolate to dominate over the malt. However it was still good. Resteeps well for 4-6 steeps.

I bought this through Aliexpress.

I bought it at this store http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Black-tea-2013-tea-top-small-250g-bulk/1170792688.html

but I am pretty sure this is the same item

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Frree-Shipping-Sunfall-green-tea-gift-box-black-tea-organic-tea/731315_1392893195.html

and this company is offering a chance to try a sample pack.
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Sunfall-green-tea-snow-bud-spring-black-tea-anti-radiation/736396_1315783762.html