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Sample 15/19!

As soon as I smelled this I realized this is exactly the tea I am in the mood for. It did immediately smell like fish, but, like, a good fish.. It reminded me of a good salt & pepper seasoned salmon filet with crispy skin. I only steeped this for like 10-20 seconds and it is medium reddish-brown in color. It smells so good. There’s something other than fish there, I just don’t know the word of it. The taste is very smooth on the first steeping, no new flavors to note though. Will continue drinking and potentially update later :)

Sample 14/19! (Glad to say that there are more samples on the way).

I’m up early this morning because Lindsey had a dream that she tapped a dog’s forehead and named it “Akeem”, but she actually tapped my forehead in her sleep and mumbled something unintelligible. It was a pretty funny way to wake up!

I was excited to try this jasmine tea since I’m such a fan usually. Right off the bat, though, the dried leaves had the wrong jasmine scent. It reminds me more of the numi jasmine smell than any other of the jasmines I’ve tried. Its a little heavier and smells more like a candle or even kind of like a candy/bubblegum/fruit – not the same light/air-y perfume-y jasmine that I expected. Unfortunately, the tea had that same smell. The tea itself was very mild but a little bitter – definitely a green tea, of course. I followed the brewing instructions, but I wonder if I would have liked it better at a lower temperature. Either way, this tea was fine, just didn’t live up to my very high expectations for jasmine pearls! :)

Sample 13/19! Just want to make note that I tried this tea. It was good but not life-changing. Very roasty/rich/smokey flavors and aroma without being bitter. Again, glad I got to try it but will continue to try different kinds :)

Sample 12/19!
Just making a not that I had this yesterday. It was fine but not anything incredible in my opinion. Glad I got to try it!

Sample 11/19! Reading over the reviews… I love that someone said this tasted like chicken soup. I can kind of see it, honestly. Overall, I’m a fan of this tea. This is the kind of thing I like. It’s really mild and smooth, only mildly drying/bitter and very aromatic. I want to say it’s mainly a little floral and vegetal but i’m not sure. I wish it were a little crisper (idk how to explain that, lol). I feel like there’s something about it that tastes like really weak apple juice but idk about that either. This is one I’d enjoy having again but don’t need to have

Sample 10/19! This one was just so-so for me, maybe Im not a big plain green tea person. There was like a sweet vegetable/creamed corn smell I wasn’t a huge fan of. It was very flavorful, though.

Sample 9/19 – This is sooo good!! It reminds me a lot of the Verdant tea Laoshan Black. The dried leaves reminded me of fruit cake and panettone. It has some of the roasted/toasted rice smell and flavor of the genmacha i’ve tried. But, something about this tea is just 20 times better.

Sample 8/19! My first Ti Kuan Yin oolong. Opening the packet, the smell reminded me immediately of honeydew melons and then lemon-berry sonic slushes :). The color is a beautiful pale green. Smelling the brewed tea reminded me of the broccoli and vegetables I got from panda express a couple of days ago (in a surprisingly good way haha!).. there might be a flavor in here that reminds me of sesame oil? The most identifiable flavor is vegetal without being bitter and also somewhat lemon-y. I’m a big fan.

Update: I feeel like there’s something floral here too maybe? Similar to the last oolong I drank only toned down 300%

Sample 7/19 – I wish i knew what honeysuckle smelled like, it probably does smell like that. My first guesses were a vaguely watermelon kiwi smell when the leaves were dry. And then after brewing, the smell reminded me of the hot rice-with-milk-and-butter-and-sugar thing my dad would make me when i was sick or requested it. Looks like the internet calls it “hot rice cereal”. I’m nervous to try this if I’m being honest – something about it smells “off”.

First sip: Much better than anticipated! There’s a grassiness that cuts the heavy sweet/floral aroma very nicely. This reminds me a lot of the jasmine tea I like which also freaked me out at first because of how much it smelled like a weird perfume. I could see this one growing on me, but for now I’ll pass on the second steeping

Sample 6/19. I have more steepings to go, but wow, I really like this tea. The leaves are beautiful. I knew I was in for something good when I opened the packet. Dry, I thought the tea something like licorice or even pumpkin spice. I tried to brew the tea based on their gongfu recommendations (and failed miserably, but oh well!). There are so many flavors and smells in this tea. It’s unlike any black tea I’ve tried before. The first steep (which was supposed to be for 10 seconds but ended up more like 40) reminded me of all sorts of things I’ve smelled in the past, christmas tree farms, peppered steak with roasted vegetables, mexican hot chocolate minus the chocolate.. in taste, it reminded me vaguely of honey (like most black tea does) but a more woodsy honey. The second steeping (shorter this time), was equally incredible. I don’t know why it reminds me so much of the roasted peppered zuchinni/mixed vegetables my dad makes with steak… I need to ask him how he seasoned that!