2022 年 3 月茶俱乐部

The leaves are small and dark. The scent and taste are predominently jasmine for me. I could get an undercurrent of the geranium; I didn't pick up any osmanthus, unless that's what my taste buds interpreted as the hint of cherry! There was a lovely nectar taste that peaked in the middle steeps. I'm a big fan of sweet teas, so I really enjoyed this.

I love the taste, but the smell of jasmine, while a great smell, reminds me of porcelain 😅, so personally not my favorite. That being said, the tea body is full and a beautiful golden color! I wonder how the tea ware affects the taste of the tea? I’m using what I had on hand, but am not sure if it’s worth it to invest in a proper Gongfu setup.

Perfectly balanced between floral and tea notes. Tastes wonderful with chocolate. One thing I’ve learned from sampling teas these last few months is that I quite enjoy floral reas, particularly when it uses Jasmine flowers. The flowers are just so complimentary to the taste of tea. Also if you haven’t had this tea yet, I would highly recommend pairing it with chocolate for a bold flavor combination.

Quite a delicious tea with a lovely flavor. Really needed the caffeine today because Daylight Savings Time has been kicking my butt. This tea was just what the doctor ordered—such a balanced flavor with just a hint of flowers. My brother got home from work in time to share a few cups with me.

Finishing off this tea, sadly! I'm enjoying it with my parents because they love JJM. The dry leaves smell sharp. The color is a deep golden. The aroma and flavor are different balances of floral, fruity, and pastry. The texture is mostly very smooth, but the aftertaste is sometimes drying, although never in a bad way. It remains a very nice tea!

It's fun how this tea has shifted over time. It was much more consistently like spiced sweet bread this session with only hints of floral notes. It was complex and delicious. It was also long lasting with a nice aftertaste.

My initial reaction was that the leaves while steeping really smelled like chocolate and malt. After removing the leaves, the tea water is definitely more watery smelling. It also seems fairly light in color. The taste, while a bit watery, is great! I get notes of chocolate and malt. This is probably my first case where the tea tastes better than it smells! With what I have to brew tea, I might need to change the ratio of tea/water and increase brewing time.

this tea is so tasty! i had been drinking mostly greens and yellows from the teapal club, which are all lovely, but this tea immediately reminded me why i love black teas. yum, just yum. and look how cute the leaves are. 2nd time brewing.

Leaf appearance is somewhat flat. A little bit different than othe JJM. Is this light roasted? This is a more delicate version of a JJM, in my opinion. The tea soup is a bit thinner and delicate than the others. Although the viscosity increased by the 4th steep. It’s like the difference in chocolate makers. You can definitely taste the cocoa notes but it’s more subtle. Upon looking at the just the leaves, I was a bit surprised at their appearance! The leaves were very uniform and of medium length and not what I typically would think is a JJM. I love a good Jin Jin Mei but I’m not wholly sure about this one. This tea definitely had most of the typical JJM notes of cocoa but the tea soup was not as viscous as I preferred. However, I could have just been my poor brewing techniques so I will try again to see what this tea likes. I suspect that much longer steep times is in order.

The tea soup is much lighter in color than what I expected from a red tea The aroma has high & low notes of dark fruits — figs & plums come to mind. The soup is viscous with a touch of sweetness. I can taste sugar crystals on my lips. And there’s a extremely mild astringency for a bit of hui gui juiciness that I like. Overall, a very pleasant tea. This is a very mild and pleasant tea. Nice set of flavor notes of dark fruit with a touch of malty ness. It has a mild hui gan that results in a nice sugar crystal sweetness. It’s quite enjoyable as a stand-alone tea. I would not pair this with food but maybe as an after dinner aperitif tea.

Masala chai round three, with a different tea this time! 0.5 cups milk, 1.5 water. 6 crushed green cardamon pods. A little powdered clove, ginger, black pepper, and cinnamon, with extra cinnamon on top. It always smells so good. The taste is a little too sharp, so there might be too much ginger. I don't really taste the tea, so it's not at all sweet. It's overall good though.

This tea is so pretty. It's such a deep orange color. The taste is hard to judge because we had to switch cups; we started with porcelain, but they were too small to have the gaiwan pour into them well, and that's the only option we have here until Christian's new fairness cup arrives. I liked the smokey pours. It's always funny to me when Christian and I get such different notes or the same notes at different steeps. Though, as he pointed out, I'm getting two different extra factors (clay teapot, iron glazed cup), and he has additional silver from a decoration in his cup.

Really nice smooth and sweet China Hong Really enjoyable!

Kind of a more floral vibe, even though there are no flowers to speak of in this tea. I like this one a litlle more than Chuan Hong A. Second tasting today. Chuan Hong B tasted lighter than Chuan Hong A and almost floral. I think since I like floral teas so much I prefereed this one over Chuan Hong A, while my mother preferred Chuan Hong A.

This is a mellower version of Tea A. The tea broth is very crisp and clean and ever-so-slightly dry with a mildly juicy finish. There are the cocoa notes along with malt and bread. Very pleasant tea. I’m not sure which one I like more.. A or B

Revisiting this lovely but short lived Chuan Hong. It’s got a beautiful honey brown sugar and milk, but then tapers quickly to almost a spent Assam like flavor. Never the less, I’m enjoying the experience and grateful to have the opportunity. I hope you have some loveliness in your day too. 💗

Delicious tea with a lot of complexity. Spicy aroma but not in taste, instead lots of darker sweet flavors. A very dark chocolate pairs exceptionally well with this tea, bringing out a lot of sweet flavors. Overall led to an energized body feel. Rating Criteria: 0.5 - bad, flavorless, or worse very astringent, teabag 1.0 - mostly bad, flavorless, most teabag tea 1.5 - not good, but maybe something to like 2.0 - slightly disappointed, not my kind of tea, but still can appreciate it - probably the worst rating I would give a loose leaf tea (at least one that hasn't turned bad) 2.5 - mixed feelings, like it, but there is something off about it I don't like 3.0 - good, I like it but nothing stand out about it or a very good tea with one critique that holds me back - probably the highest I would give a teabag tea 3.5 - very good, a tea that I was very happy to have but content with what I had, wouldn't seek it out for additional purchase 4.0 - great, very happy with the experience, would seek out for purchase, but only occasionally 4.5 - a favorite, one I love and want very often 5.0 - life will be very sad without it, reserved only for my favorite (roasted tie guan yin), room for more hopefully Another tea I am sad to have a final session with. Will have to find more.

The tea is very pretty! It's a nice amber that eventually shifts golden. It has more debris than some. The taste is almost shockingly consistent. It's a bit sweet, a bit vegetal, and a bit floral. The sweetness is like caramel or cream. It's a very unique tea. It would probably be very good with sugar and cream added, but it really covers those flavors on its own!

Double tasting today for Mother’s Day with the whole family,. We finally tasted the last of the March teas before my next box arrives in the next few days. (Of course I still need to finish the rest of my samples so the victory is small.) Both of these teas were quite interesting. I think this Chuan Hong A was stronger and gave more earthy vibes.

I think this one might work very well as a cold brew with some oat milk. It’s got nice chocolate tones but for me the real flavors and subtle complexities show up more when it’s quite cool. Fun process!

Not bad. Fairly well balanced tea A fairly decent red tea and is fairly balanced in flavor notes: malt, cocoa, bread, and bready sweetness. Hardly any astringency and a medium viscous tea soup with a very clean finish. It’s not as chocolate as a JJM or as malty as an Nepalese black tea but strikes a nice balance. Think chocolate muffin. I’m going to continue brewing the rest in a porcelain or silver teaware to prevent any loss of taste/aroma. I think this might be excellent as a cold brew as well.

Realized that I have two packets of this tea, so I wanted to start here. I’d say this is pretty balanced but it deserves another shot at a time I haven’t had two other tea sessions. This tea was familiar in a sense and nostalgic in a way I can’t place. On that same side though I wasn’t blown away here, but enjoyed it nonetheless. I fully accept that I need to have a clean palate though for next time.