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Wow. This one really blew me away, and is immediately in my top two favourite oolongs. Wonderful fragrance that translates into a complex floral/slightly vanilla-like/vaguely milky flavour. The first steeping is great, but the second is even better. Brewed in a zisha pot for approx. four minutes.

The taste was disappointing to begin with, given the lovely vanilla scent, but it improved a bit as I went along. I’ll try this one again before making up my mind about it.

Revisiting this old friend. This time I made the mistake of trying this at a slightly lower temperature – 65C – and bleurgh. No flavour at all. Back to the usual brewing method next time!

Still playing around with this. I tried it at a slightly lower temperature tonight – 58C – mainly because I got called away while the water was cooling. This worked pretty well, though I think the flavour comes through better when the water is that little bit hotter. I still like the second steeping the best.

I’m not a big fan of tea with milk, but this is one I definitely prefer when made up as a tea latte. The roasted, nutty flavour really works well with the milk and leaves a pleasant aftertaste.

I’m not feeling so well today and not in the mood for any new tea experiences. Every time I go to the tea cupboard I end up thinking: “I think I’ll have another cup of this.” Currently contemplating cup number four…

I didn’t much care for the occasional pu-erhs I’ve tried in the past so the fact that I didn’t mind this one was a pleasant surprise. The colour is very dark and rich-looking but the taste is less full-on than others I’ve had, and woody more than earthy. It’s working well as an after dinner drink tonight and settling my stomach.

I did three steepings of this. All three were good but the second was the best. Very, very green, rich and grassy and smooth with hints of other things beneath the surface taste. This is a tea that I’m going to enjoy exploring until my limited supply runs out. Two teaspoons of leaves per cup, steeped for 45 seconds in water at 68C.

Taking a slightly different approach with this tea this time, since I didn’t get it quite right the first time I tried it.

The first steeping was pleasant, fairly light, not overwhelmingly grassy. The second was exactly what I’d been hoping for from this tea: richer in both colour and taste than the first, with the flavour leaning more towards seaweed than grass and with none of the bitter edge that occurred the first time I tried out this tea. This time I increased the proportion of leaves to water and decreased the water temperature and steeping time: two teaspoons of leaves per cup, water at 70C and steeped for one minute.

Trying this for the second time. The weird sort-of licorice aftertaste isn’t as pronounced this time, which is good, though I still don’t enjoy the way it lingers so long and makes my lips tingle. It almost feels like a mild allergic reaction, except that I’m not allergic to any of the ingredients. This really isn’t a tea I’d want to steep for long. The stronger it is, the less I like it. This tea and I are not a good fit.