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This was an okay blend bought on discount in sachets. Enjoyed but not enough to buy it again. Cute tin though.

This was on sale, or maybe free. Apparently I’m succeeding at trying to erase its memory. I tasted it hot, and again lukewarm, then dumped it out and gargled with Listerine to remove traces of its unpleasant flavor. Yes, I’d rather drink mouthwash. Mind you, I do sometimes enjoy a tart straight hibiscus tisane, even if sweetened. But.Not.This. I’m storing it in the back of my cupboard so as to give it to a friend who praises rooibos, or perhaps to prepare for unwanted visitors, as I’m sure it would drive them away.

A decent blend of decent teas, it’s strong, quick and quaffable on hurried mornings. Brisk.

Surprisingly good! This was a gift to me 3 yr ago and has been in dry storage until the time of this tasting. Although it comes in paper wrap AND a decorative tin , the metal has vent holes to ensure proper aging. The vendor says the cake was compressed in 2014 from maocha from 2008, making it now 13 yr old and I believe it. The larger outer leaves pressed in the 100g tuo disguise a seemingly smaller chop inside, as I carefully pried apart the side of the tuo. I used 4 g of dry leaf and steeped in 90 ml boiling water after a 10s wash under hot tap water. I sipped across 12 steepings of gradually increasing length starting at 15 sec. Color ranged from a bright orange the color of the top of the tin, to a deeper orange matching the middle of the tin.
The tea had a very pleasant taste of light spice and modest astringency on the middle of the tongue with notes of chestnut and a pepperiness, and the leaves started as a deep olive green. By steep 6 a vegetal flavor had emerged, but distinct tea flavor remained and the leaves darkened. Although diminishing by the 12th steep of 2 min., the tea still had good flavor, but the leaves had turned to mush and the tasting concluded. Overall a stable flavor and good aroma, and I’ll buy more of this treasured gift.

This is a very mild Qimen (“Keemun”) black tea from China. The leaves are large—about an inch long, dry—and wirey, with a nice lightly cocoa odor. I brewed a teaspoonful (actually a large pinch of about 1.5 g) in 8 oz boiling water for 4 min. In a fabric drawstring teabag. This produced a clear brown liquor with flavors of stewed vegetal fruits over top of a light keemun flavor. Not as strong in character as I would like. I’ve had better Qimen teas at lower price from this and other vendors. Just my subjective opinion, YMMV.

This is a good classic Qimen ( “Keemun”) tea, easy to measure, brew, and drink. The leaves are chopped to about 1/4 inch (dry), and are fragrant of cocoa. I noted the dry leaves seemed coated with tea dust, suggesting some rough handling or transit, or maybe the bottom of the barrel—LoL. Brewed a teaspoonful in a plastic drawstring teabag with boiling water for 4 min. Good, full mouthfeel (no discernible cocoa flavor) with the classic spicy-peppery Qimen taste on the back of my tongue and a long pleasant finish. Minimal astringency with a nice sweetness. Plenty of caffeine.

I bought this in early ‘21, and the cake was loosely compressed with a stained and torn paper wrapping. Had a couple nice long gong fu sessions with this, after a 15 sec rinse under hot tap water, covering 13 steepings (100 ml ea) from 4g tea each time. The flavor and aroma were mild and of generic black tea, with moderate astringency and no hints of swamp or fish. By the 5th steep I’d begun sweating, reflecting the caffeine. Overall a good, if unremarkable, tea. By the last steep, the aroma had faded and the tea flavor muted. I wouldn’t buy this cake again, especially after seeing the price rise 30% over the past few weeks. I don’t see much depth of flavor to support further aging, so I’ll just be doubling the dry measure and sipping it down to make room for better things.

As a lover of the Assamic cultivars, I have learned that they can make outstanding black, oolong, and pu’erh teas whether grown in Assam-India, Taiwan, Burma, or Yunnan-China. So the concept of a New World Assamica was intriguing to me. Well described by H&S, this Colombian Black had a great honey and malt nose during brewing and sipping, and a smooth, sweet aromatic flavor. The dry tea has an aroma of cocoa powder. Clearly Assamic, with low astringency, the large chop leaves took 4-5 minutes to steep Western syle, and produce a long-lasting aftertaste that keeps a smile on my face. This is a good quality tea produced on my side of the planet. I wonder what would result if they took some of the more mature leaves and processed them for a sheng, puer-style aged tea?!

A fun tea! Bought in early 2021; though the tea is undated, the seller writes “The material is 2012 “da shu” tea from De Hong”. Getting the tea out of the bamboo was no problem. I simply tapped a meat cleaver into the end of the bamboo, working it in until the bamboo began to split and could be pried apart with leverage from the cleaver. Found only 41g of tea in the first bamboo casing. The tea leaves came apart readily and infused quickly. After infusion, I observed that the leaves were chopped into quarter inch chunks. Smoky, spicy aroma, with a flavor of sage, celery and cedarwood. A pleasant tea that I’ve enjoyed both gong fu (14 good steepings) and Western style (4 big mug steepings) in a stainless steel strainer basket. Sometimes it’s fun to explore off the beaten path, and this tea didn’t disappoint.

Bought this in late 2020. Used a teaspoonful in a paper t-sac with 8oz boiling water. The medium-chop leaves brew up pretty quick to give a nice medium “red” liquor. Brisk and strongly Assamic, this gives a good maltiness and caramel flavor in a single steeping. This is a good wake-up brew for me and it’s enjoyable. I don’t give a hoot about the “organic” nonsense, but I like the flavors and aftertaste. A classic middle-of-the-road Assam tea, affordably priced. A novice can drink a few cups of this and compare it with a Ceylon black to quickly learn the major differences.