Jiri Horse

Thank you Tea Bento for the lovely samples!

This one has small, wiry, brown to black leaves with a strong cocoa aroma. The brewed flavor is dried grass, dark chocolate, nuts, and grain with a milky texture. Very tasty!

Holy wow. This is a thick, warm, almost spicy malty chocolate tea. Holy wow.

The leaf smells chocolaty. There’s no question about it, it’s a rich dark tea. It’s hearty. It’s full bodied, and it’s rich.

I could drink this allllll day. I kind of wish I’d kept it piping hot, instead of letting it cool. It’s less.. thick? creamy? warming? as it cools, and it gets more of a potato type of taste to it.

A huge thanks to TeaBento to sharing this tea with me so that I could review it. I’ll add more steeps to this as I go through them. I’m so excited to see how this matures and changes with each steep.

Another sample, courtesy of teabento and their ongoing generosity. So I enjoyed this one quite a bit, actually, and tried it several different times with various preparations to get the full experience. I’m sipping the latest rendition as I type this, humming thoughtfully into my cup and feeling strangely comforted. This is definitely a pajamas and fuzzy socks kind of brew, and makes me ache for summer to officially be over and autumn to arrive. What’s a girl gotta do to bust out the winter wardrobe? So many jackets, so little time.

The chocolate quality pretty much everyone else has mentioned remained constant throughout my trials, a nice, warm flavor that settles on the tongue without being cloying. Short, hot steeps appear to bring out nuttier qualities, whereas cold brewing it over a period of hours results in a cross between stone fruit and blackberry honey. The latter option made it exceptionally toasty as well, but with a malty, smooth undertone that made it easy to drink. I have yet to try it with milk, but I think it might be a pretty good match if brewed up strong enough.

Easily the best surprise I’ve had in a long time just streamed from the gaiwan to my cup. This is an amazingly complex and delicious treat! At first I had a problem defining what my senses were rejoicing in, but after some contemplation over 2nd and 3rd pots, I will take a stab at it: Nuts. Chocolate. Real chocolate, not that ooey, gooey stuff that make into hollow bunnies.

This Korean tea is amazingly good! I lived in Korea for a while and learned a little about cooking and other fun things to do with rice, but nobody – nObOdy – told me about this stuff! Balhyocha is a secret which needs sharing. Great pick from Teabento.

I really want to tell you all that this is a terrible tea, so that there will still be lots left when i can make another order. Seriously, this is DELICIOUS! I’m going to have to agree with Jake on this that it is like LB used to be but a much more delicious milk chocolate taste to it. I recommend drinking this hot, to really have the feeling of hot chocolate come through, since, as it cools it’s a little more like chocolate sweet potatoes…or something like that haha. Love this! thank you so much for sharing teabento!

Absolutely delicious! It’s got the chocolate notes I’ve found and love in Laoshan blacks, but it’s much smoother—like a milk chocolate. I could tell that it would be good by the smell of the dry leaf. Definitely will order some of this one!

Thanks Teabento!