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I bought a few Thunderbolt teas last summer at a deep discount, and as usual, I’m just getting to them. Their moonlight teas are among their more iconic offerings, so I was excited to try this version from Margaret’s Hope. I steeped 3.5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 180F water for 2.5, 3.5, 5, and 7 minutes, plus a couple uncounted steeps.

The leaves are very large and pretty and full of silver tips. The dry aroma is of white chocolate, cucumber, honey, and spring flowers. The first steep has notes of spring flowers, rose, herbs, coriander, honey, cucumber, green pepper, pine, citrus, and mango. There’s a touch of astringency and the tea is very aromatic and strong. The next steep is more piney, herbaceous, floral, and vegetal, with hints of grapefruit and mango and more pronounced tannins. The rose persists during some sessions, while others are more herbaceous. The final few steeps are herbaceous and vegetal, with more astringency and some remaining rose florality.

This is a lovely, complex tea that kept reminding me of alcohol, either gin or an IPA depending on the session. The citrus, pine, and florals are pronounced and fresh, especially since I’m drinking this a year after it was harvested. I have a feeling that Derk would get a lot more out of this tea than I can!

Wuyi Origin usually sources their Old Bush Lapsang from Gua Dun, but in 2023, they decided to get some leaves from Ma Su as well. They warned of some bitterness, but I’ve liked their lapsangs so much that I decided to give this one a try. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of oakwood, maple syrup, honey, florals, and malt. The first steep has notes of bread, sweet potato, lemon, maple syrup, soy sauce, honey, florals, malt, and wood. The next steep adds some minerals and light tannins, and the florals resolve into orchids and violets. Like the regular Old Bush Lapsang, this tea is smooth and has a viscous, silky texture. The next couple steeps seem more like squash than sweet potato, with a sweet, floral quality and very mild wood and tannins. Steeps five and six are still sweet and squashy, I’d say almost like pumpkin. I get minerals in the tea and the aftertaste, and the lemon is less bright. After a few more steeps, the tea does acquire some woody, tannic bitterness, but it’s still balanced by the squashy sweetness. The final steeps feature bread, malt, honey, squash, wood, earth, minerals, and tannins.

This Ma Su Old Bush Lapsang has the promised tannins, but they don’t distract too much from everything else that’s going on and serve to balance the sweetness. I haven’t had their regular OBLS for a while, but this one seems even more squashy and sweet. It also has great longevity. I generally like more florals and fruit in my lapsangs, but this is a very high-quality tea that I’ll miss. The rest of it is going to Daylon and I resisted the urge to buy more during their recent sale (and am regretting it after this last session).

Thanks to Ethan for this lovely sample, which he sent with my last big order. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The first couple steeps have notes of pastry, umami, orchid, honeysuckle, and pine. Steeps three and four add butter, hints of pineapple, grass, spring flowers, herbs, and misty mountain air. The tea is smooth, a bit brothy, and without any trace of bitterness. I get hints of anise in the next couple steeps, though that may be because Ethan mentioned it when talking about this tea. Subsequent steeps are sweet, herbaceous, grassy, and slightly floral, with a nice smoothness but no distinct flavours.

This tea is elegant and smooth, with flavours that are hard to pin down. It’s one of those ethereal Da Yu Lings with Ethan’s trademark emphasis on a lack of bitterness. I tend to like teas with more upfront flavours, but this was quite enjoyable in its own right.

Given my interest in any unsmoked lapsang that crosses my path, it’s no surprise this ended up in my cart. The low price made me pause, but didn’t deter me. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, peach, hay, wood, and florals. The first steep has notes of grilled peach, honey, hay, malt, raisins, tannins, florals, and wood. The next steep adds orange, sweet potato, herbs, minerals, and more tannins, with a bit of that silky, viscous texture I associate with lapsang. In the next couple steeps, I get the earthy, forest floor notes I sometimes find in unsmoked lapsangs, along with less apparent fruit, honey, minerals, malt, and tannins. This lapsang is not particularly fruity, though the honey gives it some sweetness. Steeps five and six are more earthy, with honey, sweet potato, hints of peach and orange, tannins, and malt. Subsequent steeps have notes of honey, earth, malt, minerals, wood, and tannins.

This is a decent unsmoked lapsang, especially if you want something honeyed and earthy instead of fruity. However, I admit I’m kind of a lapsang snob, and I look for those upfront floral, fruity flavours. I also found the tea a bit tannic, particularly as the session progressed.

This is another green oolong that I received in my custom tasting set. I’ve had a few Chilai Shan oolongs, but none that I remember. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of lilac, honey, and orange. The first steep has notes of tangerine, honey, butter, orange blossom, lilac, other florals, and grass. The orange and orange peel are particularly prominent in the next steep, and the florals are a bit more like the wildflowers mentioned in the vendor’s description. In steeps three and four, I get delicate wildflowers, orange, orange blossom, herbs, and grass, and the aroma at the bottom of the cup is lovely. The next couple steeps feature soft orange, honey, butter, florals, and herbs (lavender?), plus spinach and grass as the tea starts to fade. The final few steeps have a nice floral aroma, but the taste is mainly of spinach and grass.

This tea gave me a few very nice steeps, but faded quickly. The honey, orange, and florals made for an ethereal combination in this unusually cold weather. It’s a little more subtle than the Shan Lin Shi, and I’d say I enjoyed that tea a bit more.

Thanks to Derk for the chance to try another black tea from TDJ! I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of 203F water for 3, 5, 7, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of apple, cinnamon, blackberry, jasmine, and malt. Oof! If TDJ describes this tea as having faint tannins, I wouldn’t want to drink anything they think is stronger. The first steep has notes of tannins, wood, malt, pencil shavings, earth, apple, blackberry, jasmine, violet, butter, and cinnamon, though those drying tannins grab my attention and don’t let go. The sad part is that the apple, blackberry, cinnamon, and florals are lovely, but are totally overwhelmed. The next steep has mouthwatering aromas of baked apple, cinnamon, blackberries and other berries, apricot, and florals, but those tannins steal the show. The tannins are less aggressive in the third steep, allowing honey, malt, and florals to peak through and offering nice apple hints in the aftertaste. The final steep is fainter, with a cinnamon apple aroma and a tannic kick.

If I’d only smelled this tea without tasting it, I would have given it a high rating. As is, it’s way too harsh for me. The fruity, cinnamon, floral aroma and aftertaste don’t make up for the astringency.

When I made my recent order from Cha Yi, they had an option where you could let the owner pick teas for you up to a certain amount. I decided to go with it, and this is one of the teas he gave me. It also turned out to be a repeat from my last Cha Yi order. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of pineapple, pastry, and orchids. The first steep tastes like pineapple pound cake, just as the vendor’s notes promise, along with cream, orchid, sweet pea, and grass. The second steep tastes even more like a pineapple pound cake, with maybe some coconut mixed in. (My cup disappeared in about a second.) There’s more of the pineapple coconut awesomeness in the next couple steeps, though with faint hints of vanilla, spinach, grass, florals, and herbs. Hints of pine and freesia show up in the next couple steeps, with the pineapple pound cake starting to fade but still being the main element. In steeps seven and eight, the pound cake is more prominent than the pineapple, and the florals, herbs, spinach, and grass start taking over. The tea ends predictably with grass, spinach, and florals, with some pineapple popping out occasionally.

The last time I had this tea, it didn’t map onto the pineapple pound cake profile the vendor described, but this time, it was incredibly accurate. It also wasn’t due to the power of suggestion because I looked up my previous note after drinking the tea. This vendor doesn’t have the equipment to vacuum seal his teas, so the last batch may have been exposed to the air for too long. I have 3 g of this tea left and will be drinking it ASAP. This harvest is truly amazing!

I indulged in some retail therapy over the stressful pre-holiday period, and this tea was included as a free sample with my order. I remember enjoying this tea a few years ago and am happy to revisit it. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

I opened the sample bag to sniff it before reading the label and mistook it for a Bai Hao, which is a compliment in my books. The dry aroma is of apricot, plum, muscatel, cocoa, and honey. The first steep has lush notes of apricot, peach, plum, muscatel, honey, pastry, osmanthus, and malt. The honeyed fruit continues into the second steep, with some malt and wood. The next couple steeps are heavy on the apricot and plum, with a nice pastry and floral background and some wood and malt to balance things out. The honey is particularly noticeable in the next couple steeps, along with the pastry and fruit. The tea doesn’t change too much, but wow, do I like these flavours. By the eighth steep, the malt and gentle tannins become more prominent. The final few steeps emphasize honey, malt, earth, grass, and tannins.

This tea is as pleasant as I remember it being a few years ago. It’s an excellent substitute for fruit cake for those who don’t actually like fruit cake. I gave it an extra point over my previous rating because I like this flavour combo so much.

This is my last Song sample from Derk. I’m always a bit wary of roasted teas, but I’ve had decent luck with them lately. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of chestnuts, ginger, cookies, florals, and vague fruit. The first steep has notes of toasted rice, chestnut, butter, honeysuckle and other florals, ginger, cookies, and very pronounced mango. I’m impressed by how many dimensions this tea has instead of knocking me over the head with roast. The next steep has more of that Dong Ding nutty/buttery/charcoal/toasted rice profile, but with mango, orchid, pine, and ginger. It has a thick, silky texture and an aftertaste that lasts for minutes. Steeps three and four give me green banana (thanks, Derk!), mango, chestnut, florals, and toasted rice. That mango aftertaste is especially lovely! More mango shows up in the next couple steeps, though the roast is slightly more apparent. I get some grass, banana, toasted coconut, and the caramelized sugar sweetness that Derk mentioned. The next couple steeps are a bit drying, but still have that lovely chestnut, butter, and mango profile. The tea starts to lose its florality and acquires more toasted rice, grass, and nutty notes, but the mango is very persistent, lasting well into the long, uncounted final steeps.

As I mentioned, I haven’t had much luck with roasted teas, but this one is exceptional. I love the mango, but even without that, it has lots of nuance and texture while letting the roast play out in the background. Whoever roasted this tea is a master of their craft! It’s also $45 for 30 g, although price doesn’t always equal quality when it comes to roasted teas.

This is my four hundredth tasting note! It’s been a fun ride! Given the state of my tea museum, I might be able to reach five hundred tasting notes without buying any more tea, though I expect to continue supporting the tea economy with my impulse purchases indefinitely. :)

Thanks again to Derk for the sample! I was drooling over a pomelo Dancong on White2Tea (or maybe somewhere else), so this is especially welcome. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 200F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of pomelo, tangerine, orange blossom, honey, and roast. The first steep has notes of honey, roast, pomelo, orange blossom, tangerine, and wood. The next steep adds more honey, apricot, minerals, sap, and cream. I can definitely taste the roast behind the fruit and florals, though it’s not unpleasant. There’s more honey, citrus, orange/pomelo blossom, and roast in the next couple steeps, plus a nice apricot aftertaste. Steeps five and six are a bit softer, with almond, gentle orange and apricot, cream, florals, and roast. The tea seems well integrated and not overly roasty. In subsequent steeps, the roast starts to take over, with honey, pine, minerals, almonds, florals, and hints of orange and pomelo. I steeped this tea out for the pops of orange and florals amid the honey, minerals, wood, and roast.

Derk mentioned that this tea has lost some of its flavour, though that’s hard to believe given how much complexity it has now. I like the very distinct pomelo, orange, honey, and orange blossom flavours and aromas, which persist throughout the session in spite of the roast. This is a more balanced, appealing Dancong than some others I’ve had recently.