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I drank an herbal tea once from Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company not knowing the ingredients. Will it give me an allergic reaction, damage my organs or put me 6 feet under that tomato bed in the backyard I prepped yesterday evening?

Martin! Yes you! Unknown person from the Czech Republic. A fellow tea drinker and student of physics. The last of the teas remaining from our swap. A paper packet of “Home Herbs Mix” sealed with a couple of stickers decorated with flowers and a discretion scrawled in ominous black ink: “up to you.” I like armchair adventure. I think trust is healthy and fear not being burned. Some call it naiveté. I say boo to them, let’s do this.

Funny I put trust in a tea drinker outside of United States’ prosecution. (Unless there is some kind of extradition agreement.)

I emptied the packet into my basket strainer, about 2 grams worth of flowers and leaves, both large and crushed. Added 200F water and took a shower. Came back to my bedroom smelling of lemon and mint, that much is obvious. But what else is there? I think I let it steep too long because there was a very strong lemon balm or myrtle taste. It was very minty like a good spearmint. Is there another kind of mint in this blend? Lavender, that’s for sure. A few strips of lemongrass? And what were those beautiful big purple flowers? They kind of melted away with that long steep. I really enjoyed your blend, Martin. It was fresh and a nice nightcap, might’ve been just a bit better if I hadn’t let it steep for 20 or so minutes.

I was reminded today of why Wuyi rock oolong are among my favorite types of tea. The good ones are like an agitation antidote. Not that I’m making any medical claims but there is a pronounced relaxation that comes with sipping some fine yancha.

This is a mix of ‘wild’ spring and autumn material and probably the least oxidized of any rock oolong I’ve had. I’m glad I inspected the leaf before brewing at my standard boiling or just below for these teas and decided to go with 200F. The spent material does reveal larger green leaves mixed with smaller leaves bruised purple-red.

Off the bat I was intrigued by the dry leaf smell with its caramel, nuts, and chocolate notes. An unwanted note came out in the warmed leaf, from the roast, something like decaying particle board. The roast aroma overpowered chocolate and florals in the rinse. Once I took the first sip, that all quickly left my impression bank.

There’s something about this tea. Its thickness, the way it moves in the mouth, less of direct tastes and more of active, fleeting impressions. Both an astringency and friendly bitterness that move in the same way. It dances. A ballet of sorts with some kind of chocolate and floral theme that sticks with me and has movements both bright and dark.

It takes a few steeps for the tea to show its true nature. These are the kind of rock oolong I appreciate the most compared to those that bare themselves fully from the first or second steep. Fourth steep in and all troubles wash away. Calgon is bullshit. I don’t want to be taken away; I want to be here and happy with this moment. And that I am. Warmed, relaxed from head to toe, wondering what all that internal fuss was about. Now here I sit clear of mind, questioning whether I wanted the leaf to give more and answering myself only with “Who cares?”

Thank you, Kawaii433.

Yes it is cloying.
Yes I enjoy it.
No, it does not live up to its jasmine name.

Syrupy, blueberry-blackberry aroma smells great. Somehow doesn’t overpower the green tea base in taste? Grassy and mineral with a green tea body and thankfully the cloyingly sweet aroma doesn’t come through as a sweet taste. The tea is adorned with various flower petals: jasmine, marigold and cornflower which give a pretty look; I do not taste the jasmine at all. That’s ok. One tsp is good for 2-8oz steeps.

The weather was balmy and sprinkling today and I’m suffering from a reproductive woman’s ailments. Had four cups already today and there’s enough left for two more cups. I like this easy-sipper today and will probably finish the bag. Thanks, ashmanra :)

A gift.

Don’t have much to add as there are already very good descriptions of this tea.
It is almost like eating a sugar cookie with buttercream-cherry icing — heavy on the butter, light on the floral cherry — while sitting on bed of fresh and fragrant sweet grass.
A second steep brings out more of the spinach vegetal flavor of the sencha and the cherry blossom becomes even more subtle but it’s still a delightful sip.

Hello, spring.

Thank you Mastress Alita.

A Sunday morning gongfu session courtesy of ashmanra. Thank you :)

I admit brewing this tea in a gaiwan is not the best way to go. For the majority of people, it will benefit most from a few brews western or maybe a longer teapot steep. Brewing in a gaiwan, though, allowed me to experience the longevity of the jasmine and possibly the peach fragrancing (how is this not a word). Most frangrancing (apparently scenting is ok) in teas does not have much longevity when brewed in a gaiwan or even western, but this one just kept on giving.

I got what I expected from some good quality green dragon pearls — fresh grass, nectar thickness and sweetness, minerals and some light astringency that encourages quick successive sips. The jasmine is strong and lovely both in aroma and taste. I offered one of the early steepings to my housemate who loves floral notes and she commented that the liquor smelled remarkably of sweet yellow cherries. Jasmine hangs around in the mouth and aftertaste.

Once that subsides, the peach, either from the scenting or the tea itself, emerges and persists. The peach is definitely a part of of the dry leaf aroma, though. Most would consider giving up on green tea brewed gongfu when a dry grass flavor, astringency and some bitterness really come out, but I kept pushing because I knew the bitterness in the back of the mouth would turn into a moderate returning sweetness and some warming in the throat. A nice note for a sheng puerh fan to end the session on. Good tea!

Sigh, another kitchen cleanout tea.

This caffeine-free Raspberry teabag has a lot of ingredients but they’re all well-balanced. I really appreciate the fact that there are freeze-dried raspberries in this and not just flavouring. The taste does not lie. Tart raspberry mostly, starts out kind of drying at the beginning of the cup but ends on a sweeter note, maybe from the blackberry leaves. Also a very noticeable cooling sensation after I’ve finished. This would be great for a summer day, brewed hot then iced with a sprinkle of your sweetener of choice. I think this tea came from Smart and Final or Grocery Outlet and was cheap.

Omg the astringency. I’m getting images in my head of an old person who really needs a drink of water, got that lip and tongue smacking going on. Underneath that, I get some apricot, hot hay and light smoke on the sip, honey mid-mouth and a finish of bitterness and yeast. Because Martin said 180F preparation wasn’t the best and 195F was better, but knowing greens can be very temperamental, I went with 185F. I wonder if a brewing temp of 175F or lower would kill this astringency. Otherwise it has ok flavor but I won’t be seeking out Mandalay Spring again.

There wasn’t much tea leaf in the sachet so I only did one longer steep of 5 minutes. Very pleasant mostly spearmint aroma with a little bit of mentholated peppermint and a very clear copper liquor. For someone who can be put off by lemongrass, I found it was an excellent proportion, giving a nice herbal quality to an already bright (Nilgiri?) black tea. The mints were probably stronger than the black tea and the spearmint offered some sweetness. Medium body that finished with a barely perceptible astringency. This was a great tea to have first thing in the morning when I was feeling congested.

Thanks, Martin!

Kitchen clean-out. This caffeine-free herbal tea hails from Missoula, MT, a region of the US that I really enjoy. I once wrote a real-life characterization about White2Tea’s Old Bear Fangcha — not too terribly far from Missoula, outside Bozeman, is where my Old Bear taught me how to shoot clay pigeons. Apparently we wandered off US Forest Service land onto a cow ranchers’s property to find a good spot to shoot pigeons. The rancher was so chill about it. Add a group of friends, plenty of whisky, wood chopping, fire-cooked meals and a handful of growlers full of Bozone. Geez.

Yeah, this tea comes from Missoula and it’s called Mountain Huckleberry. As a previous reviewer mentioned, there ain’t no damn huckleberry in this tea. So kinda miffed about that but overall it’s an excellent blend of hibiscus, cinnamon, lemongrass, rosehips, blackberry and raspberry leaf, clove and licorice root and the ever-mysterious ‘extract.’ The brew isn’t magenta, it’s actually rather beautiful in this glass teapot (4 bags to a liter). Taste is a mix of rosehip-light hibiscus, berry and some nice tempering going on with the cinnamon and cloves. No noticeable sweetness from the licorice root. The body is mostly reminiscent of a rosehip tea. Chuggable.

Overall, I’ll be sad when we sip down this lone remaining bag but the tea’s not so great that I’d seek it out again. Unless I find myself in Missoula.

A random teabag from ashmanra! Arbonne Essentials caffeine-free, unsure if this is the same as the detox tea listed on their website.

Dry bag smelled fruity like a mix of strawberry and blackberry with a light herbal component. Very small chop. Steeped the bag in 8oz of boiling water for 8-10 minutes. Instantly dark brew in my mug. Tasted like a fruit tea with a tolerable rosehip or hibiscus tartness and a mix of fruity flavors hard to describe. I guess berries of sorts, maybe apple?, light hibiscus or rosehips. I wish I knew more. Fine for an evening sipper but it would be better suited for a mid-afternoon fruity-tart pick up. Thanks!