I highly recommend Leafy Green. I just recieved my two orders. The packaging is elegant, with a lovely organic feel. One is imeidately in the mood for a tea ceramony. I received several samples, including Chne's unroasted oolong that I had mentioned wanting to try. The amount of tea is generous for the price.
I was originally going to wait until Sunday to try my teas....but after a diasterous coffee brew I decided it was time for some tea.
First tea up was Chen's Bug Bitten Oolong. Since it was getting late, I decided to brew in mybeautifully crafted thin walled 40 ml hong ni shu ping, from the Mandarins' Tea Room. Anethma pot pairing but this little pot seems to adore both heavy and lighter roasted teas. Leafy Green provided some good brewing guidelines...although I really just filled the pot about 3/4 or less full.
The tea was fabelous. A lovely balance between honey and lovely tannins. The body has surprising depth and there a slightly syrupy feel on the tongue but the palae is far more refined. The stronger brews were a wonderful play between honey and pleasingly astringent tannins. There were sligth suggestions of unsweetened fortune cookie, honey comb, and parchment. There was a nice minerality that came out espeically if you let the tea cool...very hard to do.
I am on the 8th infusion as I write. The tannins are starting to smooth a bit and intagrate with the honey, but the structure and depth is still there.
I really enjoyed this...might try in a slighly larger pot next time as the leaves were a little cramped. Having said that, this was a surprisingly good pot pairing
Thank you Leafy Green! I can't wait to try more teas on Sunday.