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My scale arrived today and it seems to be working okay, but I’m on a roll with these samples from Derk. 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 orchids, honeysuckle, other florals, and cream. The first steep has notes of orchid, honeysuckle, narcissus, cream, and grass. The orchid really blooms in the second steep, and I get lots of cream, butter, and pine. You know an oolong is good when you start thinking about misty high mountain forests. The butter and cream are very apparent in the next couple steeps, as are the pine, honeysuckle, and lush orchid. The florals continue in steeps five and six, with a little more grass but no bitterness. The grass and spinach get stronger near the end of the session, but the orchid holds its own and makes these final few steeps quite enjoyable.

This is a beautifully floral, creamy tea that doesn’t evolve much over the session but does a few flavours really well. It has an ethereal, high mountain elegance. I imagine it would do very well bowl steeped, and while I’m not as enthusiastic about it as Derk, this is an excellent oolong.

Thanks again to Derk for this sample! Following Derk and the vendor’s instructions, I steeped 3 g of leaf in 150 ml of boiling water for 5, 8, and 15 minutes. I hope these long steeps don’t make this tea into a tannin monster!

The dry aroma is of tangerine, berries, cream, rose, other florals, malt, and wood. The first steep has rich aromas and flavours of blackberry, raspberry, vanilla, rose, and orange. In the mouth, I get the fruit plus cream, rose, orange blossom, malt, wood, thyme, vanilla, earth, and restrained tannins. The blackberry and raspberry are more pronounced for me than the orange, though it’s a nice background note. There’s blackberry, orange, and peach in the lingering aftertaste. The next steep is a bit more malty and woody, but still has lots of fruity and floral goodness. The final steep has minerals, wood, and malt with faint berries, cream, and orange, and it’s quite a bit more tannic.

This is an excellent black tea with wonderful fruity, creamy, and floral notes. It doesn’t have great longevity, but I also did very long steeps. The tannins never get overwhelming. I’m enjoying these TDJ teas more than I expected to.

I feel guilty about these generous Thés du Japon samples from Derk. I wasn’t sure how to steep them when I received them and I’m equally clueless now, but instead of figuring it out, I accidentally shuffled them into the tea museum. The box is out in the open now, so there should be more TDJ reviews soon.

I’m excited to finally try this floral green oolong from Japan! I steeped 3 g of leaf in 85 ml of 195F water for 25 seconds, then lowered the temperature to 190F for 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is very floral and Baozhong-like: lilac, lily, sweet pea, gardenia, honeysuckle, and grass. The first steep has all these florals, plus strawberry, peach, citrus, cookies, and grass. It’s also quite astringent, though the peachy aftertaste is amazing. I lowered the temperature to 190F in subsequent steeps, which really brings out the butter, lilac, sweet pea, grass, and strawberry. The star here, however, is really that super-ripe, realistic peach, like one you’d have to eat over the kitchen sink. The next couple steeps are still very peachy and floral, with apricot, orange, spinach, umami, and strawberry. The fruit is a little less pronounced in the next few steeps, letting the florals back in. The tea peters out into grass, spinach, and faint florals soon afterwards.

If you don’t mind astringency, this is a beautiful tea. I was even more impressed by the fruit than by the florals, though both are lovely and indeed reminiscent of a Taiwanese oolong. (Did I mention the strawberry and peach?) The flavours are strong even after two years in storage. Lower temperatures tame the astringency somewhat. I hope these farmers keep experimenting with these Taiwanese-style oolongs because this one is an excellent start. Thanks again, Derk, for the chance to try this tea!

I’m nearing the end of the Nio samples that aren’t matcha. It’s been an interesting experience trying all these green teas! This sencha sample does include matcha powder and they suggested cold brewing it. I steeped the 5 g sample in 150 ml of room-temperature water for three hours, and then twice more to extract all the flavour.

The dry aroma before steeping is of sweet grass and spinach. The cold steeped tea is quite thick, with notes of spinach, kale, grass, broccoli, umami, and something fruity in the aftertaste. The longer I hold it in the mouth, the more punch it has. I did two additional steeps, which were not as aggressively vegetal. The third, longest steep even had some earth, cream, and melon.

I think cold steeping these senchas is a good idea. I enjoyed this tea, particularly the later steeps, and might have appreciated it even more during last summer’s many heat waves.

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The Black Friday box from Skysamurai arrived yesterday and I couldn’t wait to dig into it! It’s always fun to try a new-to-me tea company. I steeped this teabag in 350 ml of 205F water for 4, 6, and 8 minutes.

I can’t smell much before steeping. The first steep is surprisingly elegant, with notes of malt, honey, smoke, raisins, prunes, and restrained tannins. It’s a little coppery from the Ceylon and a bit drying in the mouth. The next couple steeps focus on malt, hay, and tannins and are brisk, as the website states. There are definitely tannins, but it never gets undrinkably bitter.

I’d say this is a nice, full-bodied black tea that does its job. It might be softer with milk, but I didn’t drink it that way.

This bancha is another first for me. I’m still waiting for my scale, so these generously offered pre-packed samples are proving to be very helpful (though to be honest, I wish I had more black teas and oolongs). I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 160F water for 60, 20, 30, 40, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

With its collection of twigs and leaves, this bancha definitely looks like a rustic stem tea. The dry aroma is of grass, honey, butter, and roast. As another reviewer mentioned, this tea tastes a lot like genmaicha, with grass, roasted grains, honey, hay, and seaweed impressions. It reminds me of something served at a sushi restaurant. The next couple steeps have flavours of toasted rice, saline, spinach, and butter, along with grass and gentle roast. The final steeps have notes of earth, metal, popped rice, and grass.

This is a pleasant tea that I probably steeped too many times. I think it would go well with food and am craving sushi now. :)

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It’s great that Nio included a shincha in my bunch of samples! I assume this is from the 2022 harvest, though it doesn’t say so on the package. I steeped 5 g of leaf in 150 ml of 140F water for 45, 20, 20, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is promising, with notes of stonefruit, florals, spinach, cream, and grass. The first steep is quite vegetal, with notes of squash, spinach, kale, grass, umami, and nectarine, particularly in the aroma and aftertaste. Steep two has even more veggies and a thicker body, with squash, asparagus, kale, spinach, cream, and that lovely nectarine. Subsequent steeps have more umami and less cruciferous punch, and I get apple, grass, nectarine, and spinach. The fruit is better integrated into the grassier, softer later steeps, although the tea is a bit drying in the mouth.

The apple and nectarine make this a fun shincha, particularly in the later steeps. I’m less enthused about the veggies. I think lower temperatures definitely help to tame them.

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Thanks to Derk for this generous sample. I think I’ve had one Yushan oolong before, but it wasn’t memorable. I have higher expectations for this one! I steeped the entire 6 g in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is very floral—lily, lilac, honeysuckle, orchid—with some herbaceous undertones. The first steep has all these floral notes, along with spinach, cream, grass, and vanilla. Butter, herbs, and ethereal florals are more prominent in steep two, which has a nice, thick body. The next two steeps bring soft, creamy florals, coriander, and something that could be melon. Unlike Derk, I’m really not getting much fruit here. The next few steeps are more grassy and herbaceous, though I do get hints of melon and green apple. The florals, spinach and grass continue through the final steeps.

This tea is very soft, and many of the more interesting flavours fade quickly. I would have liked more fruit and vanilla, though the tea remained quite sweet throughout the session. This could be due to its age, or to the fact that the sample has been in a plastic baggie for a while. If all Yushan teas have a similar profile, I’d be happy to try more of them, though I’ll always prefer fruitier oolongs.

I finally have the time to devote to this generous sample from Derk, which I’ve looked forward to drinking for a while. I love everything about Ruby Eighteen except the tannins, and it appears that this tea may be pleasantly low on them. 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, plus many longer steeps.

The dry aroma is of milk chocolate–covered cherries (thanks, Beerandbeancurd), wintergreen, and malt. The wintergreen aroma from the wet leaf is amazing! The first steep has subtle notes of milk chocolate, cherry, earth, malt, tobacco, tannins, and wintergreen. I get a nice blast of wintergreen in the second steep, plus milk chocolate and very realistic-tasting stewed cherries. Maybe there’s some other stewed fruit in there as well. I notice hints of orange along with the cherries in the next two steeps, as well as wintergreen, malt, wood, herbs, tannins, earth, and fainter chocolate. The tea is beginning to be noticeably drying in the mouth, but who cares when I also get that wintergreen aftertaste? Steeps five and six have less chocolate, but still have that pronounced menthol/wintergreen hit, plus more tobacco, honey, and raisins. Steeps seven and eight are more tannic, drying, malty, earthy, and herbaceous, though still yummy and minty fresh. I detect some raspberry at the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps have higher levels of tannins, but also wintergreen, a bit of cocoa, honey, malt, minerals, earth, and cherry. The aftertaste is of honey and maybe a bit of sassafras, which is missing in the actual tea. I couldn’t let this tea go, even when it was mostly sweet, malty tannin water.

I was right to wait until I could savour this beauty. It did have some tannins, but those chocolate-covered cherries were wonderful. This is the most wintergreen-heavy Ruby Eighteen I’ve had, with the best variety of fruit and most balanced profile. This tea has probably ruined me for any other Ruby Eighteens for a while.

Thanks, Derk, for the sample! Let me know if you decide to buy from this company again because I want more of this tea!

I still don’t have a working scale, so these pre-measured Nio samples are the perfect solution. This is my first hojicha, and unless the name has changed, it’s a different one from what other reviewers received. There’s a lot of tea in this pouch, and I hope they didn’t actually give me 10 g instead of 5. I steeped the contents in 150 ml of 175F water for 60, 20, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of caramel, autumn leaves, roast, and cacao. The first steep is full of cozy roast and caramel, with notes of barley, minerals, and charcoal. I understand why people compare hojicha to coffee. It looks like this is a 5 g sample after all, as it doesn’t destroy my tongue with bitterness; the larger leaves must have made me think there was more. The next couple steeps have notes of roasted grain, caramel, coffee, autumn leaves, minerals, wood, faint grass, and charcoal. The final steeps are weaker, but similar in terms of flavour, emphasizing the roast and minerality. The tea never gets excessively bitter or grassy.

This is a perfect winter tea, though one I’d need to be in the mood for. I’m enjoying these “nontraditional” Japanese green teas quite a bit!

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