TASTING $26,000 TEA. Is it worth the price tag? + GIVEAWAY!

This is one of the most expensive teas in the world fetching over $26,000/kg. I taste Niu Lan Keng Rou Gui and give my verdict on this insanely priced tea.
GIVEAWAY! Please write in the comments your most disappointing or underwhelming tea experience and we will pick our favourite at the end of August to win this crazy, high ticket tea.
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[@MeiLeaf]

We managed to restore the footage which we accidentally deleted so here is the video!!!!

[@Fakery]

this would have been a big one to lose! happy to see it 😊

[@Viniter]

Oh boy, I'm glad you managed to recover it! It would be pretty costly to redo this one!

[@chi_bot8648]

Lucky!

[@muizzy]

No wonder you seemed so concerned!

[@wheelchairboy88]

I'm so happy you were able to recovery this footage.

[@kyles1813]

For my 28th birthday, my friends and I sat down for a nice, informal Gong Fu tea session at their house, and one of them had a subscription tea they hadn't tasted yet they wanted to share. It was from China, no location let alone terroir listed on the tin, and it was grainy... My other friend said, "Are you sure this isn't dirt??" They felt the grains, they were dark and SUPER fine, and smelled exactly like soil. My friend protested, "It looks like dirt! My God, are these ROOTS????" They picked up what did indeed look like fine yellow plant roots in the tin, and by that observation we were super skeptical if we had real tea or not. We still went along with brewing it, we all had little black granules still floating in our cups, and the color of the liquor didn't give us hope at all of it tasting good. It tasted like hot dirt water. It was probably dirt. I drank dirt water on my 28th birthday.

[@miccorockstar1]

Hahahahaha

[@nicholas389]

The way you explain it.. hilarious. The fact that you may have drunk 🥴 ugh Dirt... Sad very sad they would do that to someone.

[@anitamui7028]

Sad but I had a good laugh at your expense.

[@kapirk2244]

This is a fantastic story. You will be laughing about that one for years!

[@debbieann921]

I trust you cleansed your palate with a coffee chaser after that horrible experience?!

[@joaopin]

Oh man, this was an expensive one to accidentally delete.

[@Rogueeeeee]

When I first began diving into true tea, I purchased a Japanese Sun Rouge tea. This tea is rather modern and unique, as its cultivar is a Camellia Taliensis and Camellia Sinensis hybrid. Additionally, the color of the liquor is a wonderfully vibrant and bright pink-red. I wanted to try the highest quality I could and paid top dollar, and after brewing the tea... the liquor was a swampy dark green, the taste was of bitter old moss and dirt, it was a disaster. After reaching out to the tea supplier to figure out how I could have had such a bad experience compared to what was advertised, I was informed that adding lemon was the last step. This causes the compounds react to acid, changing the flavor and the color. The color did change from dark green to bright red like magic, and now that my hopes were high again... I was left tasting lemon-flavored swamp muck.

[@AhimSaah]

My most underwhelming experience: my friend's brother is a successful entrepreneur who frequently travels to China. He is given gifts all the time, many times that includes tea. As I'm a tea geek he gives me those tea gifts and usually it's just a good TGY, a standard Long Jing or even a decent Yan Cha. One time he gave me a mysterious red box with only a few Chinese characters which I wasn't able to decipher. That gift came as a special luxury gift when they sealed a deal with the Chinese to establish a production line of their product. I organised a tea session for my friends and opened that super fancy box in front of them, expecting it to be sensational. The box consisted of 3 parcels, 5 grams each of what I immediately recognised as Jin Jun Mei, micro golden buds, the smallest I had ever seen. I brewed it up and it was a total failure! I lacked complexity, lacked texture, it was weak and flat and terribly average. It made me quite embarrassed in front of my friends whom I had summoned to a 'once in a lifetime' tasting session.

[@growatt123]

Honestly, my most underwhelming tea experience was something that didn’t live up to the hype. I have been told for years you have to try the high tea session at the Empress Hotel in Victoria British Columbia. It had to be booked in advance, cost $75 for my wife and I. Told it was top quality black tea. We took a vacation to western Canada and had it booked. We got there for our high tea and the waiter dropped 2 tea bags in a pot at the table. Not what I was expecting and not worth the price. They did let us know they sold their teabags in the gift shop as it was sooooo exclusive... fail. Experience was not at all worth the price. I think people say it’s a must try so they feel better about how they wasted money.

[@essentialoilapothecary]

I used to live behind the Empress Hotel and yes called it. The tea is crap and the the whole experience is a total tourist trap.

[@mrcvry]

Most people just do not know it better.

[@thomasscream4179]

Haha, what a farcical situation!

[@hghg-n8b]

Had the most disappointing experience just recently. Bought Dancong Baxian, with a price that reflected its market worth (Which means not those super cheap kind). The leave was overcooked and the burnt smell was so strong, with hardly any flavor. Owner mentioned after feedback that indeed they did not feel that leave was good. If they knew beforehand, why still continue to put it out in the market? 2 Lessons learnt 1. Tea seller having a decent social media does not equate to decent quality leaves 2. Using Gongfu method will really expose the 'weak' tea with hardly any substance. Insist on this method next time when sampling tea to ensure one does not fall prey to the theatrics of the tea merchant Thank you Mei Leaf for the educational contents put out!

[@SkullDude13]

Underwhelming tea experience? Watching Mei Leaf videos without a cup of tea in front of me. Worst session is not having a session.

[@Royallmfao]

My most underwhelming tea experience was the result of my own doing. I am still fairly new to tea and I tried some Anji Bai Cha. I constantly forgot the brew and used too hot water. This resulted in a very bitter and underwhelming experience. It taught me that some teas require precision and care whilst brewing! Glad the footage was recovered!

[@Whytelabel]

This is going back several years now but I was in this beautiful tea garden in Chengdu, under a willow tree, drinking a lovely jasmine tea. Everything was perfect in fact - except for the din of the construction work taking place next door. Even the greatest teas will struggle to compete with the sound of a pneumatic drill. I hope that lovely tea garden is still there and I hope the inhabitants of the neighbouring skyscrapper now enjoy their tea in the peace and tranquility any good tea deserves.

[@reissm6500]

I was working in a tea house when a tea dealer who usually trades in Mainland China came across our store. He had 50 year old aged oolongs and ancient teaware. He was a dealer in antique teaware and aged teas from famous tea gardens. He sat us down for a tasting session with 3 ancient tea bowels (hundreds of years old). He gave me the cheaper bowl to drink from, which was (only) £1200, compared to the others my colleagues were given (£2000 each). He explained that he was brewing it in a gold-plated yixing pot (£450 - making sure to mention the price), which was the tiniest yixing pot I've ever seen, then brewed an oolong for the three of us in that pot. You'd hardly have enough to fit a standard clay cup let alone 3, and these tea bowl were BIG. So we were each blessed with literally drops of tea. It tasted like dusty bible pages from a church for about the first 4 infusions, until that flavour washed off and we were left with a great rock-oolong taste. How much for this fantastical experience? Yours for just £200 per 8g. For about 1/20th of the price we sold rock oolong that began with an exceptional flavour without having to wash the taste of dust in the beginning.

[@alexanderaloisrohland5593]

Glad you could save this precious footage^^ My most disappointing experience was with Bon Cherí, a black tea from Mauritius. I saw a documentary about it, and the picking and processing looked very promising and the price point signified to me, that it is a high quality tea from a lesser known area. What I get, was a "loose leaf" CTC-Tea with aromatics like burned earth, asphalt, ash tray and ... yeah sounds crazy...poop. I wish I could cry that day 😭

[@joev.8543]

I'm extremely curious what some of the best teas you have ever had actually are, Don.

[@konstantinosgeorgiou8832]

The most disappointing and most EYEOPENING tea experience happened 3 years after I discovered your channel. I watched a few of your videos back in 2016, I bought some tea at a high-end specialty store in Stockholm and was thrilled by how flavorful the tea was. On a return trip back to Sweden 3 years later I was exited to buy that same tea....but that time it tasted "sad".... A TRUE HEARTBREAK. What was amazing then, it is now mediocre. The tea was obviously the same but you Don guided me to a totally new level of tea appreciation and for this I thank you.

[@AjniraBloom]

Don that was an amazing video. Thank you, I l learned so much. And got a great quote from you that,I will use in my business which was, " The experience strips away all the storytelling". Great quote. Glad you rested the footage. Thanks for your dedication & hard work. You're the best.

[@noob19087]

I remember getting a free sample of cui ming green tea from a seller (not Mei Leaf), and I loved it! It was some of the best tea I had ever tasted at the time. It was nutty, sweet and umami with strong, vivid chestnut and jasmine notes. I then went to the site to check out how much it costs, and it turns out it was actually really cheap. I ordered a huge bag of it right away and waited weeks for it to arrive. When it finally did arrive, it was just... bland. It didn't have any of the high notes, the texture was weak and it just tasted like bitter leafy water instead of a good tea. I still have that bag lying around in my pantry. It wasn't really that expensive, but even so it would feel wrong to throw away tea like that.

[@DontFeedTheDrummer]

Rock Oolongs are one of my favourite types of tea, never tried a Niu Lan Keng Roug Gui before though. A few years ago I wanted to impress and to show some amazing tea to a friend, but there was only one loose leaf teapot at their place. They primarily used to drink chai, and even though I washed it out multiple times, the chai flavour was so strong that the resulting brew was a horrible mix of silver needle and chai. Since then I've learnt to always use the right teapot/gaiwan for the right tea and usually end up bringing my teaset with me!

[@dominikharangi267]

Love that you guys still keep going with new videos every week, 90% of my tea knowledge i learned from your videos, cheers from Hungary :D

[@onixxx1984]

Probalj olvasni a teautja teahaz oldalan a teakrol magyarul, nagyon sok hasznos informaciot talalsz naluk.

[@dominikharangi267]

@@onixxx1984 Őket is nagyon szeretem meg a teájukat is.

[@onixxx1984]

@@dominikharangi267 En most, hogy nem lehet direktben kinabol, sem japanbol rendelni, toluk szoktam, meileaftol es theteaguru sitejarol, olitol mar ketszer is rendeltem sok mintat, a 2007 dong ding es a 2009 es erlelt tgy es a 2013 ali shan longan roast a harom kedvencem. Ha vegre rendbe jon a vilag, akkor yunnansourcing, taiwansourcing, wuyiorigin, es a japan oldalak jonnek be a kepbe.

[@susankalman9625]

Most underwhelming tea session... To quote you Don “nobody deserves Bad Tea!” I almost felt sorry for you having to taste that tea...Well the next tea sessions can only go up from here! Us tea heads love our good tea.. and good tea doesn’t have to be expensive! Thanks for sharing the tea with us Don !

[@saejurlan6279]

I must first admit that I am JUST starting my tea journey, so I don't think I've technically had spectacular tea sessions quite yet. Sometime a year or so ago, I had run out of Earl Grey, so I went looking for more. I got my tea then by going to a general merchandise retailer in my local area and found a blend of Earl Grey and lavender by Teavana. Well, three years previously, I had gotten my very first loose tea from a brick and mortar Teavana store (prior to them being bought out by Starbucks). I liked that tea, so I thought I would like this Earl Grey. Got the tea, made my first cup, and I was so disgusted that I actually threw the whole pack out. That was actually the day I vowed to learn more about tea, find better tea, and ensure all future experiences were much, much better than this one. That journey led me to this channel (and others) to understand more about brewing. Thank you so much for your videos!

[@helensoderlind9184]

My most underwhelming experience with tea I believe is when I bought some teas from a "higher end" teashop here in Sweden which almost have the same pricing and supply of teas that you sell. I was so excited to trying out a new place that would be much cheeper for me due to shipping costs but oh was I disappointed! I think I bought three teas from them to try and all of them were of such lower quality then what you at Mei Leaf are selling. The texture was lacking a lot but for me it is more about the taste afterall and that was so underwhelming.. Not much taste at all and it disappears after just a few infusions. I'm so happy that you are always focusing on the experience of the tea instead of the price and status! After all, it is like you say always about the taste and overall experience of the tea that matters. So glad that you managed to get the footage back!

[@Eiroth]

Was it house of tea? I was really excited to try some of their rock oolongs, but they all suffered from what you described: Not that much tase, and mostly gone by the fifth infusion or so...

[@helensoderlind9184]

@@Eiroth no it was not but that's sad to hear that there are more places like that here.

[@Eiroth]

@@helensoderlind9184 They do have some good teas (an aged roasted oolong, some of the Ruby 18 cultivar, and some nice dong ding), but all the rock oolongs I've tried there have been disappointing.

[@DGerharts]

You and James Hoffman should do a tea/coffee knowledge exchange video!

[@jozefjacobjurcik9913]

My most underwhelming tea session was when I bought around $40 worth of da hong pao for the first time and did not realize that i had a sample at home. So right after the order i tasted it and it was just... Burnt brownies is the best way to describe it.... Understandably i was regretting the order but when the tea arrived, much to my surprise it was pretty good. My theory is that it was really fresh and the leaves were smashed and broken.

[@remedyplays40]

Recently I had an interesting experience with Da Hong Pao, the tea was not nearly as good as I'd imagine it to be for about the same price point as you paid.i had brewed it about 3 times feeling no difference wondering if something was off. Curious if I had done something wrong I did some research into he brewing method and it turns out I was brewing it at a much lower temperature than is regularly reccomend for Da Hong Pao. I changed that and it was... Alot better than I expected! Love this tea now

[@trilemma85]

That time I made a new mug of loose leaf tea in the office, sat down at my desk, and my boss surprised me with a half day off and told me to go home.

[@tartar1012]

I was really excited to go to a local tea shop with some friends to show them my love for tea, it is the only local "high quality" loose leaf tea place where I live. They have tea samplings where you taste 4 teas, when we got there it was all crazy cheap blends with dried bananas and other non tea elements. None of the teas had any flavor, but they did have decent looking loose tea aswell. I bought a few to try and within a week none of the teas had any flavor, they werent flavorful to begin with but it was honestly suprising how underwelming it was.

[@ADVRaven]

Thank you for a very honest review! I have a good number of friends who will by the most expensive bourbons just because of price. I have had better bourbons at $30 than at $200. It comes down to the experience instead of the price. It goes across the board, from Teas to coffee to wine to beer to liquor, and especially foods.

[@robertfenton2393]

My most disappointing tea experience was with a grocery store brand tea-bag and was actually the final straw for me to switch over to loose leaf and more specifically Mei leaf teas. I had been buying this brand of tea for a few years by then and it’s green tea with mint always brought me back to my time in Morocco. I fell in love with the brand and actually recommended it to friends who also liked tea. I soon got curious to try their other teas and bought their earl grey tea, I have always loved the beautiful citrusy notes of bergamot and black tea together but as soon as I opened the tea I was disappointed. There was an overwhelming smell of citrus and chemicals. I was hoping it was just the fact that it was fresh out of the package and needed to be brewed. I always like to give tea, coffee, and wine the benefit of the doubt. It had, upon brewing, an overwhelming aroma of fruity-cereal (or should I stay Frooty cereal) and had an enticing aroma that brought me right back to my childhood. I took a deep taste and my palate was shot with the overwhelming mix of artificial fruit flavor and multi-purpose cleaner. I’m glad I experienced it otherwise I would never have actually committed to trying real specialty teas or loose leaf teas.

[@wendyrual7179]

My most underwhelming tea session HAS TO BE...... watching you just now Don!!! 🤣🤣 loved your expression "fallen off the cliff"! 💕

[@kabirnowhere8774]

Got introduced from one of your staff members to, what he called, real tea ... perfect timeline and I love it. Thanks for the great work you do!

[@antman9461]

My worst tea experience was actually not a bad tea. Some bugs managed to get into my tea storage, even though it was all closed up (but not tight enough, I guess). Around 80% of my tea was infested at that time and I was so frustrated that I didn't know if I would buy new tea. For like half a year I stopped drinking tea at all. After some time I bought new teas (black, green, white, oolong, pu'erh and yellow) and now they are all sealed tightly. Pretty happy that I found back to the joy of drinking tea.

[@Smuffy269]

I'm loathed to admit it but this story is somewhat recent, I was very curious about Dongfang meiren, as a big oolong dinker it was very alluring. I found an online shop that seemed to have quality tea, although things seemed a bit pricey site wide. One thing I noticed imminently was the lack of samples for sale, which usually turns me away from online shops, but I was blinded by curiosity. I was patient and waited for a sale, and I pulled the trigger on a couple teas, of course one of which was the Dongfang meiren. I waited months for the package to arrive. Finlay when it showed up at my door I was giddy with excitement, like a kid on Christmas morning. I got everything set up, pulled out my nice tea ware and made sure I had time to really explore and enjoy. The tea immediately hit me with a very perfumed note, which is something I'm not terribly fond of, I like floral notes to be more on the delicate and subtle side. I knew from your video on Dongfang meiren I should look out for a dessert wine sweetness/sourness, which sadly I couldn't find no matter how long I searched. I tasted the tea with some other friends to see if they could find anything I missed, sadly they could not. I came to the conclusion that the tea probably wasn't bitten, a very disappointing experience to say the least.

[@JohnnyLightningYoutube]

I’d have to say a very recent experience when my mom got me some supermarket green ball rolled Tie Guan yin. I never tried TGY at this point and ether did she. We tasting that day, and it left us wanting more flavor and excitement. I said to her I’ll make sure you get to taste a Mei Leaf Tie guan Yin one day!

[@unbdld42]

I travelled to China last year and visited a Westlake famed Tea farm at Lion Peak (She Feng) Mountain, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and had a tasting of their "Longling tea". The place is absolutely amazing and their presentation was excellent. Although, I'm a Westerner and I believe they catered this Tea session to what they believed would "sell" me and that's brewing Western Style which is of course very little tea and therefore watered down. To say the least I instantly realized what they had done but politely gulped the tea during the session. I knew how the tea should have been prepared and bought some to bring home. I've added this "Longling Tea" to my awesome "Mei Leaf" collection and have experimented with brewing in several tests but with all sessions prepared "Eastern Style".The tea is absolutely lovely. Had I not known of these brewing differences, I may have left that beautiful Province tea-less. Thanks to your videos I was aware of how the tea should have been brewed, shared and explained the brewing differences to several other Westerners in attendance, the hosts at the Province was graceful and prepared the tea Eastern Style and everyone preferred the Eastern Style and now I'm very happy.....:)

[@samarabedian4819]

My most underwhelming tea experience was spending around £50 on a rather small pot of a blue tea from Mariage Freres in Covent Garden. The tea notes were entirely unflavoured, to the point where it felt as though we were drinking hot water no matter how much I brewed it 😭 I quite enjoy trying new teas but sometimes worry that I’m spending so much on something that isn’t worth it! Luckily Mei Leaf has never disappointed me ❤️🍵

[@Jizrats]

When I was very very first getting into tea I thought I’d go to a specialty tea shop and fork over some real money for some real tea. Got a puerh called “Camel’s Breath”(lol), it was THE hardest cake I’ve since experienced, and of course did not own a puerh pick yet. Finally managed to get a session’s worth of tea separated, only to have a rather unpleasant and disappointing session ☹️ Ah but this is why we seek the good stuff after all!

[@beastgaminf101]

My worst tea experience was a really expensive breakfast tea that I bought on amazon before I found the good stuff. At the time I though loose leaf breakfast teas in a tin were the best tea you could get. And that one was so bad. Its was overly sour and needed lots of sugar and milk to fix that.

[@danieldietz9065]

My most underwhelming experience is is trying a special hou kui about 5000$. It fell off I cliff in flavor a short time after I got it. Now it tastes a little like old milk. It came in a beautiful vase though! Best part of the experience!

[@MatchaDaifuku]

Once I got a sample of a Kukicha I was curious to try for quite a while. The description sounded so good. I was happy about that sample and saved it up for a special moment. But what can I say? There was no taste at all! Slightly coloured hot water - thats it! I was so disappointed and avoided Kukicha for some time. Fortunately I gave it a second try... different tea seller and oh my god what a lovely experience!

[@odee126]

My most disappointing tea experience I've had was when I tried an artificially flavored milk oolong. The aroma was almost vile and it was the only tea I've ever tried that I couldn't bring myself to drink ever again.

[@alexcherryblossom1]

I have to admit; I bought a really expensive tea because of the growing area name. It did have a nice aroma and good taste, but I feel it is really easy to trick oneself into believing it is better than it truly is because of expectations or hype. I certainly was fooled. It dawned on me when I served it(blindly, they didn’t know any info about the tea) to a few friends and they were not at all impressed. I followed it up by serving a far less expensive tea and they preferred it to the first! Needless to say I was stunned but it was a good lesson for me. We have all done that I think. Also people can become accustomed to favoring bad tea, the profile is just not good but it’s covered by a heavy roast and they don’t even know that the base tea is cheap. Same with puer. That is some true scamming if u can get people to pay a lot of money for a cheap tea and make them believe that it’s good! Distinguishing Cha Qi beyond taste was the first step in Tea maturity in my journey. Safe drinking teaheads and don’t be afraid to let a tea go if you can’t afford it folks :) good Tea will always find it’s way to u if you’re patient. Or Don will set u free 😊🙏💎🍃

[@TheHeraldOfChange]

I flew into Guangzhou from Australia, for the very first time, in 2000. I stayed at a flea pit, airport hotel and the next morning went to the Guangzhou Railway station to travel to Changsha. Whilst waiting for the train, I decided to stop in at a hole in the wall tea shop to the right of the main station entrance. the girl sat me down and proceeded to show me various teas. she had some broken English, eventually we settled on a 1" cake of pressed pu'er. She assured me it was very good. On brewing the aroma was like rice water and the taste? The same, boiled rice. She told me that this tea was processed with glutinous rice water to help the cake retain its shape. It was 18 years later before I ventured to ever try, "pu'er" tea again. I now have a couple of larger cakes in my collection, but I still stear clear of those small mini cakes. I recon they'd make good sling bullets though... 🤪

[@terriwinter1245]

Our underwhelming and disappointing tea experience was with a Tai Guan Yin that was sent with an order as a sample. The flavor was bad, sour, bitter and the leaves would not relax in water. We changed temperature and timing of the brew but we could not retrieve any enjoyable flavors or aromatics from it.

[@DrBranden]

My underwhelming tea experience was with a lapsang souchong that a friend bought for me from a "high end tea shop." There were a few in the bag, but the owner apparently talked this one up quite a bit (and I am guessing it was more expensive). It tasted like hot dogs.

[@johnrhodes3350]

Eugh

[@HorrorshowEU]

My underwhelming Tea experience is infact ongoing! I Work in a "specialty" Tea & Coffee store, before working there I had infact dabbled in true Tea a Little, the disappointing bit was when I really started immersing myself in Tea culture and realised just how much of a "yummy mummy" store I Work in! Lovely colleagues and Coffee, but amongst 140+ Teas there's only around 5-6 I'd recommmend to a true teahead, most being overly scented. Been lobbying for more Good pure Teas, but oh well! I do blame Mei Leaf somewhat ;). Greetings from Sweden, and looking forward to pay the Tea House a visit when Travel opens Up. Until then I'm gonna Keep converting My Friends and family to true Tea!

[@appa609]

Most tea shops I've seen don't give a fuck about the actual tea. They just like putting random shit in. There were 3 green teas. Where did it come from? They don't know.

[@Eiroth]

When looking for tea, I tend to avoid places that stock both tea and coffee, since their focus is most likely going to be on the latter. It's a shame, but I guess that's one of the downsides to living in such a coffee centered country as Sweden

[@konstantinosgeorgiou8832]

ohhh if you are in Stockholm I have a suspicion of which store you mean :-p

[@HorrorshowEU]

@@Eiroth Indeed, we drink crazy amounts of Coffee!

[@HorrorshowEU]

@@konstantinosgeorgiou8832 I've been known to hang around the capital.. allegedly :)

[@MarkAnth1980]

Excellent video as always! My most underwhelming experience was when I ordered a pretty expensive Jin Jun Mei from a Chinese seller on Amazon. I really love Jin Jun Mei, especially Mei Leafs, but it is out of stock on your site so I had to try another alternative. Don, lol let me tell you, when I brewed this Jin Jun Mei from Amazon, it smelled like manure! I was put off, but still decided to taste it. The smell was unbearable and I couldn’t go past one sip of it. And it was pretty pricey too. I’m into funky teas but that Jin Jun Mei was just a little too funky for me lol. Thanks again for the video! Glad you were able to recover the lost footage 😀

[@gharrison04]

The most disappointing tea experience I ever had would definitely involve a certain puerh aroma. I first got into loose leaf about 5 years ago, and I got most of my supply from a local Asian market. One half of the store was stocked with herbal medicine and that included a pretty good selection of tea. I had heard so much about puerh so I bought a good quantity of what they had and headed home. It was a loose ripe puerh. Now keep in mind, I had not extensively studied puerh, nor was I aware of the existence of wodui, so when my first infusion was done steeping, I was greeted with that delightful pungent fish aroma. The taste was beyond astringent. Sad thing is, I thought there was something wrong with me rather than the tea, so I drank three cups...

[@likak7000]

Glad you’ve managed to restore the footage. My underwhelming experience with tea was years ago with first tasting of Da Hong Pao. I could not understand what was all the fuss about, for me it was just a rocky oolong :)

[@MarkW1210]

My underwhelming story is very simple. After learning about and experiencing teas from your store and others over the past 5 years I got used to good tea and maybe took it for granted. Because I went on a trip to Colorado where I forgot to bring tea, was having breakfast and asked for green tea at the restaurant and was greeted by a tea bag and hot water. I cannot complain that much because that's all they have available but I do not want to go back to tea bags lol 😂

[@grithbrot9378]

Earlier one in my tea trip I had a similar experience! My fiance and I were on a day trip, heading home, when we stopped at a gas station. Yep, this is going exactly where it sounds. 🤣 Had a bagged, green tea from a gas station and it was like drinking soapy water! I was ready for sharp astringency and bitterness but whooooooooooah was not ready for soapy water lol

[@MarkW1210]

@@grithbrot9378 Once I got lucky with dual Bigelow green tea bags and the water must have been just the right temperature because it was actually decent with no crazy astringency .

[@hannadahl1002]

Our most underwhelming tea experience was with a tea so beautiful to look at that it hurt. It that was described as a supreme, highest quality white tea. It was sooo beautiful as it was hand rolled and then individually dried into a twisted unicorn horn shape. We thought that this insta-worthy tea was the perfect buy even though it was expensive as it also had some good reviews. When it arrived it looked as good as in the pictures and we were so hyped to try it. We selected our best teaware to match the beauty of the tea and brewed it. We looked at each other with anticipation as we took the first sip; and then both of us spontaneously spat out the tea into the tea tray. That has never happened neither before nor after said session. The liquor was between poison and bongwater on the scale as it was super bitter and sour. Underwhelming to say the least. Lesson learned: It's not the beauty of the outside that matters...

[@amandazemke5765]

My most underwhelming was a bing of puer that I bought last summer. I paid about $100 for a small brick and it was a straight up fish stew

[@ChristopherLopezDrums]

My most dissapointing experience was with a green tea sold by a very famous supplier. It was $4.50 the gram and my hopes were high. The aroma was amazing, but that was all. Brewed it with the right parameters, the best water, but every time all I got was a bitter, dry sensation on the throat. I was devastated since my hopes were high!

[@clairesstitchingcorner8910]

First of all so glad you were able to recover the footage what a video to have possibly lost. Secondly I don’t think I can say I’ve had an underwhelming tea session as it’s always Mei leaf tea I drink thirdly is it bad after watching this I think I’d rather have a chance at winning some duck s*%t oolong lols 🙈

[@vr2186]

Thank you for telling the truth about the tea instead of pushing and hyping it up.

[@Drewgon2448]

My most underwhelming tea session is more of an underwhelming experience. There is this tea shop in a small town I go camping in. When I first got into tea I heard about it and was so excited to visit it. After watching your videos for a bit and drinking Mei leaf tea I had a understanding of what true tea is. When I got there they manly sold blends and scented teas :/ I did buy a silver needle from them which was good but when I compared it to the silver needle I got from Mei leaf I could tell which one was the pinnacle tea. The shop didn't even sell gaiwans!

[@bboyroyds]

I had a disappointing tea experience yesterday when I didn't think we'd get an upload this week ;-) I think you will see a lot of puerh teas in the comments. I bought a 30 year old puerh blind when transiting through Singapore airport. Got it home and was just totally underwhelmed by the depth of flavour and the taste. It was far too earthy and didn't have any fruity or mineral notes. I guess there was a reason it hadn't been drunk for 30 years!

[@MsJavaWolf]

I often had a similar experience with wine. When I was new to wine I would often buy older, medium priced wines because I thought aged wines were always better. Only later, after talking to more experienced friends I realized that many of those wines really are old because no one buys them.

[@Miidha]

I remember going to a tea house in Belgium with "pinnacle" tea. Almost every tea was scented with flowers or other strange things. It was so hard to find a natural tea on the card. And they didn't know oolong tea. When I ordered my green tea, I got a bowl with already tea and water in it. Hot boiling water. 2 min they said. Ieuw, it was so bitter and disgusting

[@anthonytomassini4278]

I think I’ve had too many teas that let me down to pick just one. Often, it’s not just a matter of price, but because I had a sample of the tea, and I seem to remember it having been better. 1. Laoshan “reserve gongfu black”- Amazing chocolatey aroma, but somewhat bland taste. 2. Rou gui Ma Tou Yan- Not too bad, but bitter, and a has a woodiness that reminds me of popsicle sticks or cedar planks. I feel as if the sample had more rockiness. Cost me about $1.30/gram. 3. A gyokuro that cost me around $2/gram. One good infusion, followed by a significant drop-off.

[@666aron]

So far my most underwhelming tea story is courtesy of myself. When I started to get into gongfu tea brewing (mind you, I had only black loose leaf teas then), I've got xinyang maojian as gift, which should have been a really good tea, which I promptly burnt. So for a while I was avoiding roasted green tea because I believed that was the problem. Suffice to say after learning that there are different temperatures for different teas, I gave it another try, and then I could be at ease, and started to order green teas too.

[@Magnificent_Mobius]

I once had a fancy Christmas blend from an independent reputable supplier. They claimed it had subtle flavours of cinnamon, clove and clementine; all natural, not artificial. I opened the tin and was hit by an overwhelming aroma. I’m positive that there was no tea in the tin, just ground up cloves. I did try one infusion out of curiosity but didn’t take a second sip. Made a nice bin freshener but not a nice tea. 0/10 would not repeat.

[@ElanAbneri]

Love your tea sessions. Seems like you have rated supermarket tea better than this over priced, underwhelming tea.

[@NJ12345413]

Chinese tea is hard to come by here so I was very happy to find a place that sold Lapsang Souchoung. The odour of the tea was akin to burning tires in a landfill. I’d imagine that would fall under the umbrella of ‘underwhelming’.

[@chaosung8655]

Easily my most underwhelming story: I've always loved tea. Recently, thanks to your videos (and a big thank you at that! :D ) I've begun actually learning about my favorite beverage and trying to learn how to discern quality. I am half Taiwanese and so I wanted to try some of these Taiwanese oolong's I've been hearing about... Sadly, I did not think to just go to your website. I live in USA and thought it would be hard to get a shipment from the UK-- especially during corona pandemic-- so I found a "high mountain oolong" for a very good price on Amazon with almost 5 Star review from hundreds of sources... I awaited with eager anticipation for the two day prime delivery and was so excited to open it when it arrived. That's when it all went wrong... Because of your teachings on quality, I knew I had made a mistake as soon as I opened the bag. There were leaves... But they were mixed with the "leaf shavings" you usually get in tea bags. There was a very weak smell after I heated then up and as you can guess (if you're still reading this) the taste was a bit lack luster. It wasn't bad, mind you. But it was very simple. Literally one note and it didn't linger at all. Their customer service was great. But I can not fathom that many great reviews. I hope many more people find your channel so they can be educated on good tea. Regardless if I win, thank you so much for your passion and dedication to your craft. It really helps us newbies out. :) Bless.

[@willmurdoch2438]

My most underwhelming tea experience was my first time gong fu brewing. I got my gaiwan in the mail but didn't have any tea to brew so I searched through my cabinets because I remembered I had some oriental beauty tea that my cousin had brought over from Taiwan maybe about 6 or 7 years prior. She had come home from teaching English in Taiwan for the holidays and brought me tea as a gift. Anyways, I found the tea in the back of my cabinet and pulled it out. I smelled it and it had just a hint of aroma left so I decided to give it a try purely out of excitement for experimenting with the new brewing style. I brewed it up and it just tasted like brown hot water :/ I don't know what I expected to get out of it but I was definitely bummed. I got good tea in the mail a day or two later though and had a great experience with that!

[@cats.tea.period]

My most underwhelming experience was when I was a beginner teahead in the making (3 months ago) 😂 and my first order ever placed was from Mei Leaf. Keep reading.... Everything I ordered was really nice but quite expensive. Everyone kept suggesting I try other suppliers who were cheaper but "just as good." My 2nd order was from a different supplier and because I had already had such high quality tea from Mei Leaf, I was so incredibly underwhelmed with the new ones. Now I know that my first order really was the best quality!

[@lukisIVIII]

Same story with me

[@dominikharangi267]

My most underwhelming session was a roasted tie guan yin which was a fine tea but before a session, i used all my water to clean and warm up my tea ware and i left the leaves in the heated up gaiwan with the lid on and started filtering and boiling a new dose of water and i spent about 8-9 minutes, after everything got ready my first infusion tasted really sour in the back of my tongue and i just felt like i wasted 9 grams of tea because i left the leaves in the warmed up humid gaiwan with the lid on. I drank it anyway about the 5th infusion the sourness went away.

[@SeaHearts1]

I am curious to try this and see how they place value on this ridiculousness. My worst experience would be a terribly roasted black tea. As soon as I tasted it I went into a shock of how awful it tasted. All I tasted was black pepper like horribly over spiced pasta. Threw it all in the bin immediately.

[@betobeto712]

My most disappointing tea experience was in my own home it was a white tea I was wanting to try and I looked for the best place in my city and ended up getting some later in my home I brewed the tea an it was disgusting it had an old barn flavor and it just tasted rancid love all your videos can’t wait to learn more from you Don

[@zenkishiba279]

I’m fairly new to tea and i’ve jumped into the deep end. I am still exploring the world of tea trying to find my tea soulmate. So far, i’m loving sheng puer and dan cong oolong is following closely behind. Anyway, i enjoyed a session of sencha and figured maybe i should try gyokuro. I went and bought $75 worth of gyokuro hikari and braced to get my socks knocked off. Instead, i experienced a cloudy thick overly briny tea soup that didnt sit well with me at all. Perhaps, its an acquired taste or more possibly my brewing technique was way off. That experience was so underwhelming that i haven’t had the interest in trying again. Eventually, i probably will. I also have half a mind of drinking gyokuro prepared by more experienced hands. So i can then go home and practice my technique.

[@luisguhong]

The simple existence of this tea is that unfortunately there are too many people who measure their personal value based on their material assets. To really enjoy tea I don't need more than my so loved Souchong Liquor!

[@Fakery]

A couple years back early in my tea journey I had my first silver needle tea (from meileaf!), I was so blown away I had to try silver needle from other vendors. Most were _fine,_ but one from a local (non specialty) vendor was impressively tasteless. And quite a bit more expensive than the good stuff!! I've been scared ever since! I can't find it in myself to try another silver needle

[@stewiewonder7395]

I dont know ummm mostly i drink iced tea in a pack its a powdered I put too much water then i just buy another and mix it and add a little water But i also want to experience some real tea hehe i may like it but for now iced tea is my fav

[@edmarluciano2141]

Hahaha bruh!!

[@edmarluciano2141]

Well theres a word tea in iced tea though so it counts Lol

[@stewiewonder7395]

@@edmarluciano2141 yep

[@JTB7484]

Hi there don, the most underwhelming tea I’ve ever had was a whittards and Chelsea green tea, mango and bergamot I think it was. One day I think I put too much green tea in, and it made me feel really sick, but my brother had the leftovers which was like 10x the strength. He said it was the last time I ever make him green tea again, plus I learnt a lesson, don’t make green tea super strong otherwise it will have an overwhelming bitterness and most probably make you sick!! Watched your matcha video the other day as I have just discovered the wonder Japanese matcha drink, but you gave me and incredible insight in to this wonder tea which I did not know. Thank you keep up the good work!!!

[@byootifie]

What an interesting and fun session--SO glad you were able to recover it! And, I bet that vendor sorely regrets gifting you that sample🤭 Thanks as always for your excellent info and honesty! (Based on your review, don't think I'm even going try and compete for a giveaway)

[@jeffreyscanlan839]

I like a good matcha tea and they can be expensive, but the one I was sampling. Oh my, it tasted like pond water. I was shocked that a tea manufacturer would even offer that and I wonder how many first time matcha samplers might think that is matcha should taste like.

[@mihaicarstea3085]

I wanted to try a more fancy, high quality white tea so I ordered a relatively expensive Silver Needle from an online supplier in my country. Not only was the taste not what I would have expected, but also the leaves were broken when it arrived. I had a very weak flavour, the smell was nice, but it was literally just slightly flavoured water. I do know my tea, I brew gong fu style, so I know for a fact that it wasn't what a quality tea should have tasted like

[@ivangeorgiev4774]

I tried making a matcha tea I bought from the supermarket once, it was the most expensive I could find there. When I made it, it was like food made by a unexperienced chef, the flavor where all over the place. When you try to adjust something that is recognized for its quality, and you try to tinker with it, without knowing WTH you are doing. It was very bold- acidic, bitter, very dry and with a lingering that makes you sew shut your mouth from ever trying any other liquids for the remainder of your life.

[@marianne8624]

My most underwhelming tea experience was with a Long Jing, which was my first experience with it. My first try I absolutely loved it and enjoyed it. Then I got my hands on some higher quality Long Jing that blew my mind. When I went back to the first Long Jing, it tasted like water compared to the higher quality version and I was so sad. I'll use it up cold-brew, but I was amazed at the difference in quality between the same type of tea. Now I'm obsessed with the world of True Tea and consider myself a Teahead now. I'm drinking your 2020 Imperial Green as I speak and it's spectacular.

[@lars8523]

A really underwhelming tea experience was actually my fault when i was getting into true tea. It was a good long jing dragonwell and I wanted to show my friend the delights of good tea. The Problem was me using too hot water so we just had a bitter brew. I couldn't really show him why I love tea.

[@GTShere]

yeah this happened to me so many times, especially with green tea!

[@lars8523]

Next time, I'll go for an oolong :)

[@GTShere]

@@lars8523 yes, much easier with the darker oolongs. They all appreciate them!

[@lynndarnton7998]

Definitwely the most underwhelming tasting session!!!

[@thomaskuettler2206]

I once went into a specialty tea store and saw some PuErh. Not raw or ripe, no year, just PuErh. When I asked about it, I was told something about "root tea" and warned slightly. Bought it anyway. There was something fishy about this tea in more than one way. Also quite dusty and no body sensation. Did not keep me from trying real PuErh. Now I love it very much.

[@mattiagaleazzi20]

ahahahhaah Don against the bitterness: after 1425 infusions "AGAIN that bitterness is still there!!!" 🤣 25:40

[@jiriurbanek211]

My most underwhelming experience was with a tie guan yin. It wasn't that expensive (0.2 dollars/gram) but it was still a waste of money. It tasted really stale and sour and it lasted only 2 infusions. The worst of all is, this discourages customers.

[@Ygdrasil18]

An underwhelming experience I had was a pretty pricey milky oolong. It has such an amount of sour notes I couldn‘t describe. I was pretty pi**** and since then I fully turned my back towards scented teas.

[@MyTeaVault]

I’ll never forget my first green tea. It was horrid. It was not processed or prepared well. For years I avoided green teas because of that experience.

[@mvanhuijgevoort7612]

Once got a great sample to try of a black tea with heavy notes of baked goods, lemon and butter. As if eating pie. The 2018 harvest was sold out when I wanted to get it, so waited for half a year and got 200 grams. Different year, different tea, very underwhelming. Taught me to appreciate the changing character of tea with every harvest.

[@papytofu]

My most disappointing tea experience was when I let my roommate pick tea from my collection and he picked my favourite sencha. My friend had had a session outside for which he had brought the bag out... and forgot it in the garden. I came back home craving that sencha, only to find out that it had rained and that my leaves were soaked and ruined. I had to tell my friend "I am not angry, just mortally disappointed". A lot of my pleasure with tea comes from sharing the passion. Well, not on that day.

[@Aiden_Graham]

My most underwhelming tea experience was actually at a specialist tea house near my area and they had a very expensive tea called "White Monkey" (listed as a green tea) priced at 22 GBP! So I thought to just wing it and give a shot and oh how underwhelming it was haha, this tea had literally no flavour to it what so ever and very very little aroma, infusion after infusion, so disappointed but at least I got a refund for it 🤣🤣

[@robertvocals]

My most underwhelming experience was the First try of a white tea. I saw many of your Videos before that session and was a little bit too hyped about the many nouances of the tea and my mouth always waters :D But i was not nearly that good in getting all of these different notes of the tea that you described and was just disappointed of the tea and my taste buds 🤣

[@cheriecrow312]

I’m fairly new to Gongfu brewing. So I haven’t had a lot of experiences. But so far my most underwhelming experience has been with a Phoenix Oolong from a Canadian tea company. (After the second infusion, it was like drinking hot water 😢).

[@emilywright3075]

I'm sure it's not the most exciting but my most disappointing experience was with an Earl Grey variation I ordered from France (this was back before I discovered quality pure tea). I originally bought a small taster while on vacation and liked it so much that when I got home I decided to order the full size despite the currency conversion and international shipping. When it arrived I made my first cup which to my horror tasted like soap. Giving it the benefit of the doubt I made another just incase it was residual soap on the cup or strainer but it still tasted like soap. I tried it a few more times after that but it was still the same every time. So in short I bought a "luxury" Earl Grey that was nothing like the taster and tasted like soap.

[@GTShere]

I definitely risked this a lot while drinking teas all over. I always try to explore as many tea shops in the world as possible and when I was inexperienced I bought a very small amount of Yunnan gushu black tea, something like 50 grams, which was definitely a good tea but mostly worthy on the packaging. I didn't pay too much but sure I learned that was overpriced once I've tasted better Yunnan black tea with some humble farmers with an incredibly lower price. I've forgotten the price of the first one, maybe something like 500 rmb or so.

[@BroKeNT1TaN]

So, I’ve have a few stories where price was greater than the pleasure from it. My most recent has to be is I ordered about $100 dollars worth of tea right as Covid got started and then it got stuck in China and is still stuck in China till this day. If I ever get it in it will go to a house I lost during the wait. I know when I do finally get it it’s not going to be worth the wait or the money. To leave on a happier note I bought the Aiyana tea cake, a cake out of my price range, most expensive tea I have ever bought, and I’m so glad I did. It has become my favorite tea of all time!

[@RabbitFoodFitness]

For me, the most underwhelming tea session I had was of a pomegranate flavored black tea from a small little tea company from my hometown. I had had their rooibos chocolate chai before and it was amazing! so knowing the company my mom got me that pomegranate tea after I came back from a very long trip. I was very excited for the first time that I was to taste it, but it literally tasted like soap. I took one sip and threw out the infusion and the tea leaves are now sitting in the garagewith all of the other awful gift tea that people have given me.

[@bobbyport]

Most underwhelming was a raw puerh bought online from Hong Kong. Purchased at the beginning of my tea journey, I dug it out about a year ago. “Spring buds from Yiwu” it said. Absolute garbage and very rough. I threw the cake away (first and only time I’ve ever done that)

[@johnbrown7689]

Well had mostly bad experiences with yancha teas most tend to fall off on 4th and 5th infustion so very curious to experience that pain with this super expencive session , just for kicks

[@grithbrot9378]

Personally it was towards the beginning of my tea journey, when I bought a raw pu'ehr from... Disney! Yes, there is a tea shop in Disney FL that carries ripe and raw pu'ehr. I had tried some pu'ehr from Mei Leaf and got hooked! It was called "Mint Chilla Chai" or something like that. Needless to say, it falls VERY flat lol Nearly no flavors and what it did have seemed a little confused lol A close second would be the first time I had a bagged green AFTER discovering gong fu (happened twice actually 🤣). Straight soap water LMAO

[@brycediamond]

It was the late 2000's and I was just getting into tea. I went to a random Chinese tea shop and they really sold me on a red mark cake from the 90's for about $150. When I brewed it at home, it produce a white foam on top, but which confused me but I didn't know any better. Then I tasted it and that put me over the top. It tasted like previously used puer with some sourness and a terrible mouth feel. I spit it out and have never drank it again. I keep the cake as a reminder to be careful of where I get my tea (it is kept quarantined from the rest of my teas). Thankfully I stuck with it, an found some wonderful teas.

[@nmk8475]

Most underwhelming tea experience for me was some super expensive matcha that I purchased from a store (I know, bad idea but i was just getting into tea) that was "ceremonial grade". I imagine it tasted like the matcha you had when you were reviewing supermarket teas. Tasted like I'd imagine a cheap ripe puerh tea would taste like if it were mixed with seaweed. I stayed away from matcha for a couple years after that, but I recently purchased your ceremonial grade matcha and its gotten me back into that kind of tea.

[@michaellampson7085]

The most disappointing tea experience? Oh boy here we go. I had just gotten into tea, and in my mind I had just heard about this thing called “Pu’er” and silly little old me I got all excited and ordered a $10 Pu’er cake from amazon. I opened up the cake to find literal bugs crawling around. No not bug bitten. Literal bugs. This kept me away from Pu’er for 2 years and I was disappointed in myself that I never sought out true Pu’er tea.

[@darksunnygirl]

I've had bugs in tea before as well. Incredibly disgusting!

[@TheScotsalan]

Yup. Worst I had was animal hairs. I think the farmer must have dried the tea in the yard 😂

[@darksunnygirl]

@@TheScotsalan yuck!

[@TheScotsalan]

@@darksunnygirl Gotta remember, they are farmers. From the vids I have seen, Mei leaf do a great job of sourcing good quality tea. I cant imagine how difficult that must be. I am a brit living in China so am spoiled by tea shops. But there are loads of rip off guys guys here. However, thanks to Mei Leaf, I can actually go into a tea shop here and not get ripped off.. I think😄😂

[@darksunnygirl]

@@TheScotsalan I have no problem with farmers. My family farmed apples for years so I understand about everything that goes into crops (including bugs, snakes, rats, and bears). I was saying yuck that you found hair in your tea. That's never fun!

[@adamgreenhaus4691]

Most underwhelming for me has to be any blooming tea. Every once in a while I get the urge to give them another chance, but they always turn out utterly tasteless. They smell nice as they're blooming (which they rarely do properly or as elaborately as advertised). But when it comes time to drink them, I always have to search to taste anything more than water with the faintest hint of green or white tea. If I give it more time to steep, I have to wait until it goes cold at which point it tastes bitter like straight jasmine flower. Overdilution isn't the issue either. Any less water and they wouldn't even have room to open. Are they all like this or have I just had bad luck?

[@darksunnygirl]

I've had a bunch of terrible ones. I think it has top have the exact right temperature or it tastes burnt before they open fully. I usually resteep mine at Keats least once and the second infusion is always better. I think they are best in the afternoon while eating fruit.