OK, here's the real stuff.

The first is a Oolong on the green side. (Ti Guam Yim is on the darker side usually.)
The second is an aged Pu-Erh in loose form. I actually prefer the brick variety (and no, not the shit that says NUMI or Republic of Tea on the brick)
The third is the Oolong infused in the teapot with my kitty porcelain cup. I drank most of it, but we can see how the leaves massively expand.

Sorry no green tea. My family in Taiwan won't get that for me because they think only Commies drink green tea. No seriously, they are really weird about stuff like that - I think their concern is pesticides and trace elements of cesium, etc. (BTW, the Japanese green tea is very different from the "Commie" green tea.)

I know. The best Pu-Erh is from HK. I call it the "stinky foot in rainforest" tea.

Pu-erh is definitely I'm still in progress to liking. Just had a couple glasses of sleeping dragon green tea and it really doesn't wow me like the gunpowder does

So far ti kuan yin and adagio's ear grey bravo are my favorites. OH HELL have any of you tried Lapsang Souchong? A week or so ago I bought a tin from some corner asian market and when I brought it home and opened it, I thought it was a mistake. The damned leaves smelled like barbecue! The tea itself was like liquid smoke..... Makes pu-erh seem like blooming tea

Giving the tea thing another go. Let it fully boil and poured into a smaller cup than I normally use. I think I've figured out my problem with tea. Like salt it seems tea needs sugar (IMO) to show it's flavor. Drinking some earl gray atm with about 2-3 times the sugar than I've used in the past (total of a full teaspoon, where I had just tossed in a dash of it before). It actually tastes good. Still don't care for the waiting to take the first sips, but we'll see.

Re: waiting to take the first sip -- I had a Punjabi roommate in college that would make us chai all the time. He would have to drink it within like 5 minutes straight from the boil. He found it utterly appalling that the other roommates and I would have to wait 10 minutes or so before it's cool enough to safely drink. So yeah -- waiting is optional.

+1 on the honey. I like honey with the "toasty" teas like English Breakfast.