Intergalactic Tea

2026 Purple Rain Mini (Wild Purple Sheng) 7g

It's like a cup of liquid chocolate! I really wish they would do 200g cakes. Until than I'll probably be grabbing a few more of these.

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

Love the packaging and all the teas smell so good! Will be a repeat customer!

A beautifully complex and thoroughly enjoyable tea. I'm no stranger to fine teas, though I sometimes struggle to articulate their more nuanced tasting notes. Here, I find lovely impressions of ripe stone fruit, delicate florals, and a distinctive character reminiscent of a fine Darjeeling. There's an elegant interplay of flavors, with enough depth and subtlety to make each infusion a pleasure to explore.

What impresses me most is the quality and complexity at such an approachable price. This is a remarkable value for a tea of this caliber, and one I would happily recommend to anyone who appreciates a beautifully nuanced black tea.

I really like this tea. On the first few steeps I got those pine-like notes. Also plenty of hao to admire. I appreciate that it doesn’t taste grassy or green like a White Peony or green tea. Some further steeps reveal deeper sweetness and aftertaste, like a sweet, light, refreshing plum. The later steeps I feel transformed into a refreshing sweet apple juice. An easy drinker, even longer steeps presented relatively low bitterness. For the price to quality it definitely worth a try.

Purchased in fall 2026, I bought all three cakes from this series so I could compare same leaves/different processing. Very happy with my purchase from Intergalactic Tea. Unique and fun packaging, well curated selection of teas available, and great vibes! Sean threw in some sample coins and there was even a poem on nice cardstock. Will definitely be a returning customer with Intergalactic Teas!

Now to the tea. I've had a few sessions with this white tea. The leaves are pretty tightly compressed in the cake, so it takes some care to pry a chunk off and keep the leaves whole. I use a dull, thin bladed antique pocket knife, working from the divot to the outside, trying to stay parallel with the horizontal plane that the leaves were pressed in. Dry aroma is faint, like dry straw, but out in the open air on windy day, not in a stuffy barn.

I've tried this a few different ways, brewing it like a sheng or aged white, and then another session at a lower temp like a younger looseleaf white.

Gong fu - 90ml gaiwan - 4g - 205 degrees:
Tastes a lot like a young sheng. Green olives soaked in lime juice, Irish soda bread, lemongrass, drying mouthfeel. Like drinking near boiling Savignon Blanc. Very energizing and motivating, it will get your toes tapping. After 5 steeps I went to the hardware store and replaced a ceiling light fixture that's been on the to-do list for 2 years. Got another 3 steeps out of it afterwards, for a total of 8, and probably could've went a few more.

Gong fu - 90ml gaiwan - 4g - 175 degrees
More subdued. The citrus is still the dominating note, but its more zest than juice. Lemon zest, frozen green peas, iodized salt. There's probably some florals in there, but my sinuses are a little too stuffy to detect. For some reason a bit of minerality briefly reminded me of biting into a snowball in the winter as a kid. A more relaxing brew, for a slower morning. Citrus mellows after 5 steeps.

Looking forward to spending more time with this cake, and delving further into the other two 2023 Robit offerings!

This tea was light and refreshing