I'm not a fan of Tie Guan Yin and lightly oxidized oolongs in general, but this one speaks for itself. Right from the leaf rinse I was greeted by rich and intoxicating aroma of butter, lightly toasted bread and orchids. Sipping first gongfu steep left a fresh impression reminding me of clean spring air and finishing in gentle but lingering orchid note. Middle steeps provided more structure to this image, and it slowly started developing some minerality reminding me of wet air mixing with rocky river shore. Slowly moving to the end of the session a certain fruity tartness developed, which reminded me of gentler young raw puerh, and in the last few steeps I noticed a cooling sensation rising from the throat to the palate. This tea is remarkable, I'm sure to remember it.

Another one of the examples of teas that can't be judged by the appearance. Yes, the tea leaf looks chopped up and I used to have a bias against it in the past, but I learned that it's more important what's in the cup in the end. After the initial steep that's aromatic, carrying some floral and liquorice notes, the following steep starts to cover the mouth in slightly thick and gripping sensation. After a few sips stickiness starts to build up in the throat, along with a warm ginger sensation and some sweetness. The aroma and the taste fully develops by the third steep and I was able to enjoy notes of ginger, liquorice, overripe fruit, bolder florals and a dark chocolate. The mouthfeel is initially smooth on entrance but quickly transforms into something that's more grippy but still very pleasant in my book. The bitterness comes with each sip ever so slightly and quickly disappears. Although the taste and aroma are more on the rich and even intense side, the tea seems clean tasting, without any grittiness and unpleasant sensation that could follow some of its counterparts in the same intensity range. I think this is what separates this tea from others, and hence, commands the higher price.

At first it hits you with bitterness, but not in a bad way. Then the aftertaste is just wonderful!! Salted chocolate, roasty, beautiful.

At first it hits you with bitterness, but not in a bad way. Then the aftertaste is just wonderful!! Salted chocolate, roasty, beautiful.

Love this tea! I’m not a fan of Tie Guan Yin, so I was worried it’d taste similar, but it doesn’t. The rocky, mineral notes fade after 2–3 brews, leaving a fruity, delicate flavor. A really nice experience.

Really good tea for its price! At least for me, it only shines with gongfu brewing; putting it in a thermos or grandpa-style brewing didn’t do it for me.

A wonderful tea for jasmine enthusiasts—it has a very subtle, delicate flavor with very natural notes. First comes the jasmine, followed by more herbal, hay-like undertones. It’s also a Tieguanyin.

Great tea, very sweet and floreal

Great tea, very sweet and floreal

I received this as a sample and I’m really impressed. Usually I buy a lot of ripe puerh for winter, but I like to try dark tea too. The tea brick smells very medicinal, but it doesn’t stay that way once brewed. This one is mellow, earthy (mushrooms), and is a forgiving steeper. If you oversteep or put too much tea in, it will still turn out very nice. Definitely recommend trying this out if you enjoy ripe puerh and mellow teas. I will be repurchasing in a future order.

Unique; interesting

Unique & interesting

Method: Gaiwan Temperature: 90C Rinse: No Brewing time (sec): 15, 15, 20, 20, 20 First impression was the really nice toasty aroma, it is very prominent. This is a very bold yellow tea, the taste is exactly what it smells like, nutty, crispy and toasty. I reminds me of Hojicha but with more pronounced cocoa/malty notes. I am keen to experiment with different temperature and brewing times. This also makes a really nice cold brew especially during hot days. Although, I find this is the type of tea where 2-3 cups is enough. It gets to overwhelming and not something you want to continuously sip. When it comes to yellow tea I personally prefer "Huo Shan Huang Xiao Cha", it is more refined while still having the nutty flavour profile. Still this is a tea worth trying especially if you are going to cold brew it.

Very decent tea that reminded me a bit of Bi Luo Chun with it's spring green bitter element. What I liked about this tea is that it has an impression of cold mountain breeze paired with umami mouthfeel and sweetness that sits in the throat with a bit of warmth (like that warmth from vanilla extract, minus the vanilla aroma itself). The only drawback which is prominent if four out of six steeps I've had, is that this tea has a noticeable amount of dryness that just slightly throws it out of the balance with the rest of its profile. Luckily, I didn't feel this dryness in the last two steeps. Dry leaf doesn't look much impressive, but it has a nice sweet chestnut aroma. I did catch some of that aroma in the cup, but I wish if it were a bit more of it. The wet leaf is small, very thin and mostly whole, with a thin, needle-like buds.

Very interesting tea. I bought a sample pack without expecting anything but it caught me by surprise. Has a very distinct aroma and very smooth in taste. Very good for the price you pay.

Pretty nice! Buds have a unique look and smell. <br /> <br /> Taste is fairly sweet &amp; caramelly, reminding me of a sweet potato that&#039;s been baked in the oven. Pleasant lingering aftertaste.

fantatstic

Nice

Very good

Excellent

Pretty nice! Buds have a unique look and smell. <br /> <br /> Taste is fairly sweet &amp; caramelly, reminding me of a sweet potato that&#039;s been baked in the oven. Pleasant lingering aftertaste.

I first tried this tea through a sample a while back and at the time, I wasn't a huge fan. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't taste like a Dianhong to me, instead having woody elements of a ripe pu-erh and the spice-and-malt profile of an Assam. However, in my latest order, I decided to grab a full bag and try it again, as I wanted some good darker teas to cover the winter for me. Second time turned out to be the charm here. While I would still say that it's not as sweet and smooth as some of the other hongcha that I've tried from Teavivre, what this tea does amazingly is create a blend of bold flavors that makes it a phenomenal tea for an early morning sip. The dry pearls are very heavy on the cocoa aroma, which initially tricks you into thinking the flavor will lean heavily in the chocolate direction. After the rinse, they open up a little bit and add notes of hay and a very light smokiness that doesn't really come out in the flavor. Speaking of the rinse, it's crucial here. They're a little bigger than most of the dragon pearls you'd get with, say, one of their jasmine teas, so you want to rinse it just a little longer than other teas so the leaves open up more for the first true infusion. I brewed gong fu (as always) and did so in my Ru Yao xishi, which turned out to be perfect for this tea. When you make the first infusion, you're greeted with a luxurious and smooth mouthfeel that accentuates the strong notes of cocoa, malt, antique woods, and they finish with a very subtle honeyed sweetness that lingers into the aftertaste. The following infusions become a lot stronger on the woody and dark cocoa notes, with the finish leaning in the spiced Assam direction, and the aftertaste then adds a note of hay on top of the honey. The liquor also gets noticeably darker and cloudier, which is interesting since none of my other Teavivre teas get cloudy at any point. I could have brewed too hot, but I didn't have any astringency or in-your-face bitterness, so I doubt that's the case. In general, I can see this being one of their better black teas for warming up in the cold weather. If you don't like stronger teas, this might not be for you, but if you enjoy the bolder flavors that directly hit your taste buds with a lot of powerful flavor (or if you like coffee), this tea may just be your new go-to for the winter! PS: I apologize for the low quality and poor angles with the images. Working on some adjustments to my tea space, so it's all pretty cramped right now!

Good

Very good

Very good

Fantastic

Mostly warming &amp; earthy, with a sweet-ish citrusy refresing after taste, but the citrus is not nearly as in-your-face as you might expect. <br /> <br /> I&#039;d never had Chenpi tea before, so it was interesting to find out what it tastes like.

With a lot of those fruit-aroma teas that you get in other shops, the fruit is gone after the first steep &amp; you sometimes get the get the sense that they exist to make tea appealing to ppl who don&#039;t actually like it... this here however surprised me by continuing to taste intensely of peach all the way through several steeps. Even when you first open the package it smells really nice and nothing like those cheapo chewing gum fruit flavors.<br /> <br /> It&#039;s like your usual &quot;light &amp; stylish&quot; floral jasmine tea (which I&#039;m already a fan of) but with a touch the flavor you might find in fancy peach-flavored energy drinks or sparkling wines, and it goes surprisingly well together. <br /> <br /> I ended up liking it a lot more than expected, and it&#039;s good to have an option that makes both myself and any friends/family who prefer fruity things completely happy.<br /> <br /> Now that I&#039;ve bought plenty, I have to try out the suggestion of the other reviewers to try making it into iced tea...

I just picked this one randomly as a free sample option, but it struck me right away as remarkably delicious. I guess I&#039;ve always had a weakness for those more vegetal greenteas with a &quot;nutty&quot; note. It proved decently resteepable, too! <br /> (Although the average quality level on this website has gotten me quite used to being able to get an entire work day&#039;s worth hot beverage needs met with 1-2 small spoons of tea leaves.)<br /> <br /> I instantly wished I&#039;d bought a full-size bag of the stuff, and plan to remedy this in the near future.

I still agree with my review from a year ago. Basic grade tea, but quie satisfactory daily drinker.