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I’ve only tried one other 4-season oolong before, and it’s a hard one to live up to. The Green Terrace Tea’s version is so complex and tasty it’s surely one of my favorite teas. The Zen version is a bit less expensive so I’m not expecting the exact same experience.

I western brewed this one for the first try. It’s quite a bit more floral than the western brew of GTT’s version. Mostly gardenia with some lavender at the end of the sip. It’s a little bit buttery but not as strong as a milk oolong. It reminds me of lavender shortbread. It’s a very interesting tea as it’s quite light in body, but is very strongly floral at the same time. A little bit of the cinnamon note I loved in GTT’s is faintly noticeable here. Yum, absolutely delightful. A nice bit of spring on this chilly winter day.

Honestly, both this and GTT’s versions are pretty affordable and I’d love both of them in my cupboard. Anlina mentioned Grandpa steeping her 4-season oolong and it sounded so good I went looking for an appropriate vessel. Cost Plus is currently having a sale and I was lucky enough to find a cute one for a really nice price http://www.worldmarket.com/product/laurent+floral+glass+tea+carafe.do?&refType=&from=Search I can’t wait to try it this way.

Okay, this isn’t really a tea, but I decided to add it anyway. Let’s just think of it as a tisane.

I was craving something sweet tonight and remembered I had gotten this as a free sample with my matcha order, so I thought I would give it a try. Right off the bat I knew it was going to be too sweet for me, so I decided to use half the packet (they recommend the whole packet) and sub it with a TBS of cocoa powder. I whisked it in about 10 oz of unsweetened soy milk for a cold hot chocolate. Surprisingly the sugar dissolved well even in the cold milk. It’s really delightful. Still a bit on the sweet side so I’m glad I halved the mix. The maple isn’t very noticeable but that is certainly because I didn’t use the recommended amount.

I’m happy 3 Leaf took customer option into account and added flavored raw cacao (customer service like that counts for so much IMO). I probably wouldn’t buy this due to the added sugar, but I think I will get some of the flavored cacao the next time I order from them. I love blended hot chocolates as dessert and I think it would be nice to have a flavored option or two.

I’m still trying to sip-down all of my samples and, quite frankly, not making much head-way. Thankfully I was craving an oolong this afternoon, so I randomly picked one of the GTT 1/2 brewed samples that I have laying around.

I brewed Western this time, as I did gong-fu previously, and I find oolongs tend to shine one way or the other so I like to try both. This time the first thing I noticed was a scent of kettle corn and a strong hit of cinnamon. That’s a new one for a green oolong! But, oh, is it lovely! It’s creamy and sweet and green with that cinnamon hanging out throughout the sip. I didn’t find floral notes this time which is surprising. (ETA – Second steep is showing some lovely peppery lavender) Still it’s absolutely lovely to sip. I think I prefer this one Western, that cinnamon note is very surprising.

Green Terrace has such lovely oolongs. I only wish they offered smaller sizes in them all. Some have a minimum 150g which is just too large for me, sadly. I’ll definitely consider ordering this one in the future though.

Mmm yum! This is the exact type of Assam I go crazy for. Strong, sweet and deep with no bitterness. Absolutely perfect. I could drink this every single morning. I don’t take my tea with additions, but if you do I bet it takes milk and sugar like a champ.
Unfortunately, I think it’s just too close to Rishi’s Assam for me to justify a purchase (that tin though…). Since I can currently get Rishi’s for $3.92 per 45g it doesn’t make sense to buy this one as well. But I will definitely keep this one in mind should I not be able to find Rishi’s in the future.
Thanks for letting me try it Sil

Wow, impressive flavoring in this matcha. As soon as I started whisking the scent of strawberries wafted up out of the bowl. It’s much stronger than I expected.
The strawberry flavor isn’t artificial tasting at all, but it doesn’t exactly taste like a fresh strawberry (that would probably be impossible). More like the strawberry you’d find in strawberry milk. And I mean that in the best way possible. Mixed with the vegetal creamy matcha it’s really delightful. I made this as a cold latte, and the more I sip the more I’m reminded of strawberry ice cream.

I’m very excited that 3 Leaf Tea has ended up being a viable option for flavored matcha. There are so few companies out there who do it, it will be nice having more than one place to go to.

Mmm, man this is tasty! I can’t believe I used to dislike green oolongs. I was missing out on so much!
This tea is so delightful I don’t even know where to start. It tastes like Spring in a cup. Sweet, floral, very refreshing. The first infusion isn’t very milky, but it’s beautifully balanced with a silky, creamy mouthfeel. Oh it’s delightful. And I’m feeling quite teadrunk after only 1/2 a cup. I will absolutely be picking up more of this once I’m through.

I was so excited for this tea I hid out by the window all morning so I could snatch it up as soon as the mailman dropped it off. Of course he was running quite late today! But, thankfully he eventually made his way to my house and dropped this off for me. I immediately whipped myself up a cold soy milk latte.
There’s not a ton of maple flavor here, but I only used 1/2 tsp per 8 oz, where they recommend 1 full tsp. So of course I can’t take off points for that. Where this tea really shines is with the matcha they use. It is so creamy and quite noticeable even over the flavoring and soy milk. It whips up well and I get a nice head of froth. I’m no matcha aficionado but it seems to be much higher quality than the standard base from Red Leaf or the bases in other flavored matchas I’ve come across.

I really love this one and am super glad I picked up 30g rather than a sample. I can’t wait to try the strawberry I also ordered.

I have to thank yyz for posting a link to this Ali store a while back, because this tea is incredible and I doubt I would have stumbled across it by any other means.

This is by far the most chocolatey tea I have ever tried. It’s incredibly rich and smooth with notes of caramelized sugar and a bit of grain hiding out in there. God, it’s decadent. I have to say I think it’s better than the ZhengHe Gongfu I have from Tao of Tea. I’ll have to try that one later today in order to compare. But I’m pretty sure this one has much stronger notes of chocolate while it’s less grainy/hay tasting than Tao’s.

I purchased here http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-The-50-g-classic-grade-Zheng-He-Gong-Fu-of-chinese-tea-is-belong/2043915983.html and had no issues at all. I picked up a few black teas from the seller and everything was fantastic, though this was by far my favorite.