I found this a pleasant tea to drink but it was not among my favorites. It was surprisingly different from its organic counterpart. Of the two, I strongly preferred this one.

The leaf is tightly rolled and quite beautiful. Compared to the organic version of this tea, it looks a little paler in color and slightly looser-packed. Aroma is stronger, a sort of grainy, cereal smell, reminiscent of cheerios, more resembling the smell of oat than the usual malty or rye smells I get from tea. I don't know how to describe it but it's very pleasing. There are also floral notes.

The brewed cup is exceedingly pleasant. All of the aroma of the dry leaf comes out, and the flavor is rich and balanced. Just enough pleasant astringency to impart body. The flavor is a good balance of bitter, sweet, savory, and slightly sour, it's just about perfect!

Resteeps very well. I also found this tea easy to brew, although I recommend going easy on the quantity of leaf because the leaf takes up little space so it's easy to use too much.

I found however that this tea was able to be brewed strongly without it becoming overbearing. I also liked how I felt after drinking it. Something about the organic-certified tea made me jittery, like it was overly caffeinated, whereas this tea seems to have more of a calming effect. It's strange because this tea has a greater portion of buds, which usually makes a tea higher in caffeine, but this felt less caffeinated.

Very good price. I thought this was a much better deal than the organic-certified counterpart. Not only was this a much better tea and more enjoyable, I preferred the way I felt after drinking it, but it was also slightly cheaper, to the tune of 75 cents less per 50g, with an even bigger disparity in price when buying the large quantities, like $2.50 cheaper per 100g. The idea of organic certification sounds appealing but I would take this tea any day over the other one.

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