AllanK Send Message

This was an excellent tea. Sampled it from the Puerh Tea TTB. It has a very clean and crisp taste. This was especially so drinking it out of my new silver teacup. It did indeed have a light fruitiness and a slight bitterness. This is one I will consider buying if I ever get around to an order from What Cha.

I gave this ten steeps in a 75ml teapot with 5.3g leaves and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. I think the tea would have gone a few more steeps if I didn’t want to move on to something else.

Today I was watching my caffeine at this hour so I picked out something I bought on EBay, a 2016 Tea Flower Cake. While this cake made the claim of being ancient tree I don’t know if it was true or not. It might be true because I don’t think the tea flowers from any age tree are worth much and I didn’t pay very much for this tea cake. The tea flower tea has an unusual taste. It was a little unpleasant at first but got somewhat better, even sweet to some degree. Kind of a mushroom sweet I would say. I specifically bought this for times when I wanted tea but couldn’t have caffeine because tea flowers have so little caffeine as to be basically decaf if not quite caffeine free. Still I didn’t take any chances and only steeped it five times. Despite being from 2016 it brews up very dark in color. If this was sheng yoou would think it was ten years old from the color of the tea. In the end I didn’t mind this tea as something to drink but I would rather have had ripe puerh if there were such a thing as decaf ripe puerh. I worked early today not having time for tea in the morning and got home too late to risk having any significant caffeine so this seemed the perfect choice. If nothing else it was a chance to try out the new gaiwan I bought the other day at Clipper Ship Tea Company.

I steeped this five times in a 180ml gaiwan with boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, and 15 sec.

Puerh Tea TTB. This is another one I didn’t remember trying. I think I liked it a little less the second time around. There was a bit of a sour note that lasted about one steep. There were some minor bitter notes and some sweet notes too. Overall a nice tea but not a perfect tea.

I brewed this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

From the Puerh Tea TTB. with this one I couldn’t get past the wet storage taste. The taste of wet wood was just too much for me. It lasted even into the tenth steep.

I brewed this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 5.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is an interesting tea. The rum flavoring is strong as is the taste of the rooibos. I don’t know that I would have bought this. I was given it as a free sample with my purchase today. It has a somewhat unpleasant flavor along with a pleasant flavor to be honest.

I brewed this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for six minutes.

thanks to whoever put this in the Puerh Tea TTB. This is overall a very nice sheng. Started off sweet then got a little bitter as the leaves opened up. But a few more steeps and it was again a sweet note. Not sure how to describe the sweet note but the tea was good.

Steeped this ten times in a 75ml teapot witih 5.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

When the review page came up I noticed that I had drank this before but not remembered it. I may even have this somewhere buried in my collection for all I know.

Yesterday I received the Puerh Tea TTB in the mail. Today I am starting on the teas. I just drank the Longyuanhao 2016 Banzhang Sheng. I don’t know the origin of this tea or if it is a real Banzhang. I was, however, pretty good tea. It was strong and fairly bitter but with a sweet aftertaste. After a number of steeps the bitterness was gone and I was left with a nice sweet tea. Maybe apricots but I am not certain of that. It was good.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 75ml teapot with 5.1g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is quite good. There is a sweet note of muscatel grapes, the classic note of a first flush Darjeeling. It doesn’t taste like a black tea to me at all. Some have said that it should be classified as an oolong but it doesn’t taste like any oolong I have had either and it certainly doesn’t have any green tea notes despite having a number of green leaves. I really think that first flush Darjeelings should be classified as a seventh type of tea, they are that different from everything else.

I steeped this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

This is a nice tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. It was not bitter and developed a nice sweet note. One might describe this note as dates but that is just one possible interpretation.

I steeped this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 6.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is a very tasty tea. It has strong notes of muscatel grapes. It has a nice natural sweetness to it. I really like this tea. It however does not taste to me like a black, green or oolong but as something I have found only in First Flush Darjeelings.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.