A velvety, mellon-y gyokuro that is absolutely delightful and well worth trying!

A really lovely and buttery spring gyokuro!

Delicious Japanese tea that reminds me of an oolong in its lightly oxidised and floral nature, but by its astringent nature also reminds one of a sencha, and the result is enchanting.

A very pleasant sencha, though its fragrance is more delicate and complex than its taste, which is in some ways a little underwhelming.

A tea made of toasted green hoji tea, which once brewed emanates an uncommonly reassuring warmth and an almost chocolatey nuttiness while perfectly uplifting.

Indescribable deliciousness: according to what I was told, this is the result of a matcha created by a 16th-generation tea master in Japan for a summer solstice midnight sun tea ceremony in Iceland. Undoubtedly the best matcha I’ve ever drunk.

Very lovely Chinese white tea made of only the downy (fuzzy) buds of the tea plant, I wish I had more than just a sample!

Peppery, refreshing, and delightful — it’s the cardamom who is the real spice queen of this particular blend of spices. If you’re not going to make your own spice blend, this one is up to the task!

The 2021 of this particular Kukicha is really on the light side, and it takes a bit of experimentation to get the flavours to really come out.

A beautifully fragrant tea that unfurls compellingly, and is a lovely balance between the fragrance of the jasmine and the soft taste of the Chinese green tea.

Absolutely delicious when brewed matcha-style, or when made with a vegetal milk in a latté-style. A really interesting find of the past winter.

This Camellia Sinensis oolong is basically a lilac tree in fresh bloom in a cup. Completely delightful.

A very interesting Japanese spin on Oolong.

A very, very good Oolong.

A Chinese wulong blended with dried apricot pieces, a favorite among lovers of creamy, exotic, thirst-quenching beverages.

This tea was collected in 2003 off trees that are hundreds of years old, and at an altitude of 1300m and then aged in Hong Kong.

Despite being from David’s Tea, this is a really nice Pu Er.

Tastes like a delicious, delicious boot!

Its large autumn leaves, picked a year after budding, come from ancient trees perched on the slopes of Shi Shan Mountain. Its liquor has a smooth and sweet texture enhanced by notes of camphor, ripe fruit and tobacco.

Honestly did not love this one. Way too earthy. Was hoping the umami and cereal notes would be more pronounced, but I barely tasted it.

I understand now what they meant by umami and seashell notes — this is pu er with a very light touch and smell and taste.

Really interesting tea that I uncovered in early 2020 that kind of blew me away with its warm, milky taste. Really lovely tea — I keep trying to figure out how to find it again, because this velvety oolong was really satisfying.

Really good loose-leaf tea considering it can be found at the grocery store, for a good price.

This is actually a very interesting oak-barrel-like black tea from which I found in a little cooking supply store in Southampton, Ontario.

Very nicely balanced between fruity, roasty, and woody notes for a black tea. Not too bitter and can be drunk straight or with a touch of milk to make it breakfast-friendly.

Camellia Sinensis’ take on the classic is very good. The bergamot is fragrant but not overpowering.

This tea has a delicate, subtle flavour that changes with every steep.

It has a flavour that reminds me of the smell mountains and grass in late summer (I nicknamed this tea my mountain sencha for this reason). It has a very distinct and almost herbal taste, though these almost-flowery notes never seem to unbalance the more traditional astringent sencha notes.

It’s by far my favourite Earl Grey, ever. When I think of Earl Grey, I’m thinking of this one.

This tea, however, in all its flavourful glory, is absolutely delicious, and makes an absolutely dreamy iced tea.

A white tea collected from wild tea trees.

This is another find from salon Cha Do Raku and comes from Shizuoka in Japan. In my tea log, instead of writing my usual more detailed impressions, all I wrote were the following two words: “Simply Excellent”— and it really is.

Brewed it senchado style. I bought this tea in the summer of 2020 and honestly found it a bit underwhelming.

This white tea reminds me almost of a very pleasant, uplifting pu-er more than it does a white tea, at least in its aroma.

Really nice balance of floral, umami, and herbal notes. I also drank it on ice cubes several times over the hot summer of 2020, and its light sweetness was exceptional.

Obtained this tea in the latter half of 2020, and wrote that I enjoyed it a little hotter than other gyokuros (~70 Celsius) and found the taste almost velvety and very uplifting.

Really nice balance of floral, umami, and herbal notes. I also drank it on ice cubes several times over the hot summer of 2020, and its light sweetness was exceptional.

Both as an ice and hot tea, this sencha is so very good. Not overly sweet, floral but not overly perfumed, strong herbaceous and umami notes that are very uplifting.

I drank this tea primarily throughout the early winter of 2020, in the senchado-style, with a low temperature. A classic sencha, well-balanced and uplifting.

I drank this both hot and cold throughout the spring of 2020. It was a fair, flavourful sencha when brewed in the classic senchado-style (~85 Celsius, short steepings). When I made ice tea with it, however, it was absolutely delicious!

I drank this tea in the late fall and early winter of 2019, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Maybe a little more earthy than the matchas I tend to gravitate towards usually, but its nicely offset with a brightness that makes it a very pleasing tea.

I drank this tea in April 2020, in ceremonial style. I was underwhelmed by the flavour, but it was adequate.