237 Tasting Notes
I bought this tea in February along with a bunch of other herbals. It was a choice between this and lemon myrtle, and I can’t remember why I picked the verbena. I’ve been drinking it off and on, and despite how simple it is, I’ve been enjoying it. For this session, I steeped around 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug using boiling water for 3.5, 5, and 10 minutes.
Dry, the leaf smells of lemon and herbs. The tea has notes of lemon, herbs, camphor, and honey. If chamomile tea tasted like lemon, it would taste like this, if that makes any sense. It has a long lemon and herbaceous aftertaste. The flavour doesn’t change over the three steeps.
I’d recommend this tea for those looking for an herbal tisane that doesn’t have any of the usual suspects (hibiscus, rosehips, licorice, or mint). While I’m dubious of the health benefits, it is indeed a nice, calming infusion to have at the end of the day.
Flavors: Camphor, Herbaceous, Honey, Lemon
Preparation
I bought this in 2018 to compare it with the fresh spring Mi Lan Xiang. I wish I’d added it to the database then, as it’s been taken off the Camellia Sinensis website. Since I don’t have a catalogue description, I can’t say whether this is an aged version of their regular Mi Lan Xiang or a different iteration of this Dan Cong. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of roast, char, honey, wood, and faint guava. The first steep has well-integrated notes of honey, roast, barley, orchid, guava, wood, and roasted nuts. The second steep adds lychee and hops. Far from being only in the aftertaste, these flavours present themselves up front as well. They continue in the next couple steeps, and I also get a hint of orange. The char and roast become more prominent in steep five, but not to the point that they obscure the honey, guava, lychee, and orchid. Wood and incense appear in steep seven, and the roast gets stronger, though it’s still not overpowering. The persistence of the signature honey orchid flavours is amazing. The session ends predictably with honey, roast, and minerals.
If this is indeed an older version of the same tea, which seems likely given that some flavours are found in both, it represents a marked improvement. The roast level is about the same, but rather than hiding around the edges, the honey, fruit, and floral notes are front and centre. If I hadn’t read the labels, I’d have pegged this as the newer Dan Cong. I’m glad I had the chance to compare these two teas, and will keep an eye out for older Dan Congs in the future.
Flavors: Char, Floral, Grain, Guava, Honey, Hops, Lychee, Mineral, Orange, Orchid, Roast nuts, Roasted, Roasted Barley, Wood
Preparation
Just posting here because it’s the most recent post in my dashboard – but is anyone else having issues posting notes now/their dashboard stuck? Both VariaTEA and I tried writing notes today and the note appears to “post” but then the tasting note isn’t visible on the dash/our personal tea logs/or the specific tea page… Definitely not what usually happens when posting a tasting note glitches…
Yep, this is also my most recent tasting note showing on the dashboard.
tea-sipper, do you mind trying to post a tasting note to see if you have the same issue?
I posted a tasting note about an hour ago and it doesn’t appear on the dashboard, only my tealog
When I click on YOUR tealog, the last one I see is Banofee
…Welp, I tried posting about the issue on the discussion board and the same thing happened – comment appear to “post” but then it neither appeared in the thread and the discussion thread also didn’t get bumped back up to the first one on the board…
So it’s quite possible that comments are the only thing posting right now?
Also not seeing e-mail notifications for any comments on tasting notes that I liked.
@tea-sipper – I wrote Banoffee yesterday before whatever is happening started happening; the last one I attempted to write was for Keemun Congfu…
This seems too consistent across multiple users to be one of the weird glitches the only affects a few people, and inconsistently. I wonder if it’s the result of Adagio attempting to fix something??
Fingers crossed it’s a short lived issue & we get back to normal quickly.
Well, I wrote a message to the Steepster FB page but I don’t know if it’s being monitored anymore and, if so, by who…
Everybody’s notes are showing up in /recent. The last to show up on my dashboard is this one, posted 15 hours ago. In /discuss, the last thread to show as being active was 16 hours ago.
I guess it’s good they’re not totally lost? That’s weird though – in seven years I don’t think I’ve ever seen this happen, especially with the discussion board too. The dashboard, years back when Jason was still actively supporting the site, used to “freeze” occasionally but IIRC the recent section always froze with it & it never affected the DB at the same time…
I just posted a reply to a thread in /discuss. It posted but did not update to the first page, nor did it show in the Recent Activity tab on my dashboard. The last update in my Recent Activity tab was 16 hours ago, and in my Notices tab 2o hours ago. It looks like there was a big bot thread bump 20 hours ago, and it seems the offender was deleted. I wonder if all of the issues are related to that massive bump.
Hm, now my post to the thread is missing.
And now user reviews in /recent are missing.
I think some of us should have grabbed Michael @ Adagio’s e-mail before this happened. haha
derk My posts to the discussion board, responding to Arby appeared to be posted but they are nowhere to be seen. The last tea reviews I see under ‘recent’ are 7 hours old. I thought the board was oddly slow today…
Just popping in here to say I’m having the same issues with my tasting notes from last night. Also, this is the most recent post on my dashboard (from 17 hours ago). White Antlers – I did see your post to Arby a few minutes ago, but now it has disappeared.
I’m having the same issues. This is the most recent post on my dashboard, I wrote a review that hasn’t shown up in my tealog, and my reply to a discussion thread posts but doesn’t show up. Seems like Steepster is definitely broken.
Shae Weird. Just weird.
I posted a note this morning. It was a little dodgy then seemed to go through. It is on my tealog but never made it here.
Ashmanra, after you mentioned it, I saw the note in your tealog but not on my dashboard. I hope they can sort out these issues.
ashmanra If it’s the note for Huang Jin Gui, it’s up. I see it. Posted 6 hours ago.
LuckyMe’s tasting note for a baozhong oolong is now the last tasting note on /recent. Everything else posted after that has disappeared. I checked on my phone which has never been logged into Steepster, and while logged in on my laptop.
Same on my Kindle and lap top. That last tasting note was 17 hours ago. Odd, though…when I click on ashmanra’s name, I see her last tasting note from 7 hours ago.
Yep, Huang Jin Gui was posted this morning! That is the last one I have done, but it doesn’t show up anywhere but my tealog.
I just successfully posted another review, only to have it not show up on my tealog or dashboard. Weirdly, the submitted review said I had 208 notes, which would be accurate if the two reviews I posted today showed up (my tealog says I have 206 notes). Hopefully this means they’re in the database and will appear eventually.
Mine is stuck too. 15 hours behind.
Same problem here. My posts and tasting notes since the past 24 hours have stopped showing. Frustrating…
a day ago… last tasting note :/
Damn, I was really hoping to wake up this morning to a functional site…
Same here. This is frustrating!
Same. I’m hoping Michael, or whoever else might be running the site, looks at it this week. Michael said in one of the discussion threads that we should see upgrades next month. I’m really hoping that doesn’t mean that they aren’t planning on working on Steepster until August.
Yup – I’m not sure who to email about the issue. I already reached out on FB, but my message hasn’t been read yet (and I don’t know if anyone monitors the FB account anymore). I guess one option COULD be Jason? He could potentially redirect to Adagio/Michael – but I’m feeling conflicted on whether that’s an appropriate ask since he’s no longer the site owner. Isn’t that a big like asking your old manager who has since resigned to call the current manager to complain about an issue with your schedule? It’s not his problem anymore…
I submitted an e-ticket using the “contact us” button at the bottom of the discussions page. If the site has legally changed hands that should go to the new admin. Other than that, I don’t know what to do.
Personally, I wouldn’t reach out to Jason. Not his site, not his problem.
I tried to find a phone number or email address for Adagio’s head office, but with no luck. Maybe try to message them on social media?
I’ve been in the middle of the “updating the database” project, and those pages are also stuck. That is, after I edit a page, it says the tea page is updated, but shows the old tea page, without the updates. If I click “Edit” again, however, the page I’m given to edit has all the edits I just made… they just aren’t showing on the public website anywhere.
Here, I did my librarian thing and this is Michael’s contact info, for anyone who wants it:
Media contact:
Michael Cramer
e-mail: michael@adagio.com
Marketing Manager
(973) 253-7400 ext.111
Thank you always for your librarian skills, Mastress Alita. :D
Librarians are awesome. :) Both of my sisters are librarians, and I jokingly call them Google1 and Google2.
Mastress Alita, this is great! Has anyone contacted Michael, and is there an update?
Can’t believe we’re still frozen – this might be the longest freeze ever in Steepster history…
What’s curious is that nothing in this thread about the freeze can be seen on the front page where this tea note is featured.
Never mind, Leafhopper isn’t one of the featured people anymore. :/
Ooh, I’m glad I made it to the front page of Steepster, if only temporarily. :) Has anyone gotten a response from Michael?
I haven’t received a reply yet. Also, it was a tea note from three days ago, not this one. :) I should be slower to speak.
Thank you Mastress Alita.
Veronica, whichever note it was, I’m still happy! Too bad there hasn’t been a response. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
Leafhopper, absolutely! Your tasting notes are awesome, and you’ve been on the front page a few times that I’ve seen. I just don’t want to spread false information. There’s enough problems here without me adding to them.
I totally understand. Let’s hope we wake up to a working Steepster tomorrow morning.
…nope :/
Can anyone else suddenly access their inbox? I’m not sure if the messages are actually going through, though. I wish Adagio would provide a service update on when the site will be working again.
No, I cannot access mine. It took me 10 minutes to log in this morning. I kept getting the 503 error.
not updating either
It’s not only US and Canada thing :/
Anyone hear anything?
I’m not the most tech-savvy person on the planet, but wouldn’t a company typically make changes in a test environment before pushing those changes to production so that there is minimal impact to the site? We do this at work and I asked my husband, who works in Technology, and he is baffled that this would even be happening. Assuming this freeze is due to Adagio’s updates, of course.
“Traveler’s log, Day 4. Still trapped in Mi Lan Xiang 2010. Still no word from the new Overlords who had repeatedly said, ‘Trust us, everything will be fine!’ Leafhopper wasn’t expecting such a rush, and the tea is running low. We’ve been abandoned to rot away in this lone tea review, the last of its kind before The Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 began. I fear soon we will grow restless and desperate enough to resort to eating each other…”
Mastress Alita, lol
LOL! Yes, we are stranded and getting restless.
Whether this is a bug they can’t fix or part of their efforts to update the server, Adagio’s failure to give us any information is very frustrating.
haha. I think something like this happened before about a year ago where things were stuck? Though not to this extent. But I remember things being stranded in the last posted tasting note. This might be something that Jason had to fix behind the scenes a lot that the new owners didn’t know about…
Yes, Steepster did periodically freeze for a few hours or even a day or so, but never for this long.
I keep checking in… Aww.
On a positive note, this tasting note now shows up in the list of the most popular notes on Steepster…
LOL! Yes, people seem to have a lot to say about this tea. :D
Plenty of brand new spam in the Discussion section.
I don’t see any spam, and the last discussion post is four days ago. Who’d have thought I’d actually want to see more recent spam posts?
Weird, Leafhopper. I logged in earlier today and there was half a page of new spam there. Some of it was just a few hours old.
here’s one from today:
What Are The Benefits Of Using Buzz B Gone?
buzzbsuper in General Tea Discussion about 4 hours ago
0 about 4 hours ago
White Antlers, now I’m getting some spam from three days ago, but nothing more recent. Steepster sure is acting weird.
It sure is, Leafhopper. I think a lot of us are seeing different things, but what we want to be seeing (and doing) still isn’t working. : P
White Antlers, I’m humbled. Thank you! I will fulfill your request.
Derk, I just looked at your tealog and saw an entry with no notes that was posted ten hours ago. I’m heartened that our reviews might still be in the database, though who knows at this point? It may be worthwhile contacting Jason if Adagio doesn’t know how to fix this bug.
Also, checking my own tealog doesn’t magically bring up the three reviews I posted since this debacle began.
Just thought I’d let you all in on some potentially happy news. Yes, at first glance everything is well behind on my end, but after some finagling, I can get some of the newer things to show up. This to me says that our posts are being saved in the database.
For instance, if I go to my Tealog, the newest item that shows up is 4 days old, but if I change the sort order to Most popular, then change it back to New, my newer tasting notes all suddenly show up :)
derk The pleasure is mine! Enjoy. : )
MandyJS, this works! I can get my last three reviews to show up. I’m glad my tasting notes are being saved.
@MandyJS – Genius! Worked for me too. I also tried this on the Discussion Board and it seems to work there as well – it gave me the chance to flag all the spam from the last four days (though w/ the weird cacheing issue it’s still showing up even after I marked it). Some of the edits I’ve made in discussions, like the Samurai TTB thread, still aren’t displaying – but it’s a start!
(And of course, once again, it’s the users finding work arounds for the glitches…)
So I just got a message back from the Steepster FB Account:
“Hi, thank you so much for letting us know. Things may be a little spotty while we begin making the transition of Steepster over to Adagio. I’ll pass this along to our team and hopefully we can get things working properly again soon”.
Anyone else get any response back?
…day six.
Yep, this is the longest time Steepster has been down since I started using the site.
All of the comments are finally showing up on the tea tasting note page (it wasn’t before for me), although the likes and comments still don’t show up on your profile.
I was wondering why there was only one note in the last days of the dashboard. I had the same issues trying to upload a note, today, 7/31/2020 2:27 PM Eastern time. So essentially, Adagio is absorbing this site and they now own it?
Adagio definitely owns it, though it’s questionable how well they’re absorbing it!
Mmmmm. Lovely. And here I was having great luck trying Wang Family Teas roasted teas and green oolongs, Whispering Pines with Lorien, and a new Georgia/Estonia company called Renegade Tea. The Renegade ones are all on the lighter end and are more grandpa style teas, but they do have some quirks.
Can I also get more background about the Adagio absorption? (I know they used to have their own site for tea notes too).
I can still post reviews and it looks like they’re being added to the database, though no one can see them. (If a tree falls in the forest without anyone hearing it, does it make a sound?) I just got six teas from Tillerman (plus a customs charge, yay!) that I’m eager to write about.
For more info about Adagio, you can look at the discussion thread called “The Future of Steepster.”
I just saw what looked like Daylon’s latest review from 2 hours ago, but maybe times and updates are still fubar…
It was mine, and I did write it 2 hours ago.
Daylon, I had to click on your profile to see the review, but it did show up. Still nothing on my dashboard since this Mi Lan Xiang review.
My Dashboard and the Discussion Boards, edits to tea entries in the database, etc. still aren’t showing up “in real time” (everything there is still showing stuff from 6 days ago, or how it appeared six days ago). Yes, there are “workarounds” to see more current postings (like going to someone’s individual tea log, switching the Discussion Board from “Recent Replies” to “Date Posted”, which really just brings up the hordes of new spam, etc.) I can still post tea reviews, but they only show up on my Tasting Notes page, not in the Dashboard. At this point I almost wonder if I should just close down Steepster and check back in a month to see if anything has finally changed. It’s getting ridiculous…
I commented on Daylon’s most recent review. The comment appeared to post but when I went back, it was gone.
Mastress Alita you might have a good idea to check back here in a month. I’ve only stuck around because I sent out some tea care packages to folks and wanted to be sure they arrived safely. I never post reviews even though I drink lots of tea every day. Maybe waiting a month and coming back will bring wonderful, happy surprises. Or so we can dream and hope…
Has anyone other than me gotten a reply back to the message they sent out?
I have a few more replies that I’ve gotten since the one I posted above – I’m not sure if I’m talking w/ Michael or someone else, but this has been through the Steepster FB account:
I asked if the delay spam accounts I’ve flagged being cleared was related to the cache errors/glitch and this was the response…
Unfortunately, the transition of the website is ongoing and proceeding less smoothly than we had expected. The damage to the original code is more pervasive than we had anticipated, but we remain optimistic about the site’s future. Please bear with us as we go through the difficult migration.
After that I asked if they could provide a rough estimate of the timeline for the remainder of the migration based on the current challenges they’ve come across and pace of the migration thus far. This was the response:
It’s really hard to say. Like I said, the issues are deeply rooted and we want to take the time to get it right. But we are working on it and hoping to get it up and running ASAP.
So it looks like what we’re all experiencing is directly related to the migration of Steepster over to Adagio. While I think some advance warning that the migration had started and could (though clearly it did) cause issues would have been VERY appreciated, Adagio is definitely aware of the problems we’re experiencing and is actively working on fixing them. No ETA on how long it will take, but it sounds like this will definitely be temporary.
Possibly related, and possibly not, for a brief moment I saw a new thread on the discussion board today called “Tea 123” and while my first impression was that it might be spam or a user trying to figure out why nothing was recent, what I actually think it might be is Adagio trying to test/trial updates relating to the migration.
The account is an old one from about ten years ago that has primarily only reviewed Adagio teas, and the only recent tasting note was an Adagio blend with the comment “Lorem Ipsum”. I don’t recognize the username at all but the hyperlink for their user profile is https://steepster.com/adagio – and whatever you first signed up your account as is the default address, so def seems like this was Adagio’s OG account from like a decade ago…
So they’re clearly trying – I’ll give ’em that.
Maybe you’re the only one who contacted them, Roswell? I didn’t want to send a rush of e-mails if others were… so thank you for doing that Roswell. Just as long as they are trying to fix the problems, I’m okay with it. I’m still drinking tea…
I didn’t contact them either. I’m glad Adagio is aware of the issues and is trying to fix them.
Discussion page has some info updated.
It’s good to see the update, though it would be nice to have an ETA.
Is there an update from Adagio on the discussion board? I’m not seeing it.
Neither do I Shae :(
you have to first find the ‘future of steepster’ thread, then go to the fourth page, where you will be able to see there is a fifth page and that’s where Michael has written a small message.
No 5th page for me on ‘Future of Steepster.’
The last post I see on this topic is Leafhopper’s inquiry about the site working on the IE platform, and that was 10 days ago.
The fifth page only shows up for me when I’m ON the fourth page.
This is what Michael wrote there:
The past two weeks had been very frustrating as our intention was to dedicate time and effort to address the many deficiencies you’d identified for us to fix. Unfortunately, this work can’t begin until we receive access to the Steepster server, which has yet to occur. We will continue to work with Steepter’s founders on finding a solution that will permit us to begin at last the task of making this website easier for all to use. Please accept my sincere apology for the unforeseen delay and your frustrations. I share them as well.
There’s going to be so much backlogging once the site is up and running again. :)
Thanks, Angrboda.
I can’t even add new tea, add or remove from my database either. Still can never respond or write in forum :P or update my profile for over a year… However, how nice to see all of you writing on this thread hehe. Thank you for all your updates!
Thank you for posting Michael’s comment here for us, Angrboda.
Steepster has been frozen for ten days now. Let’s hope Adagio gives us another update on their progress.
Well, we know a tasting note can have over 100 comments now. I’m at least grateful that I can access old tasting notes for reference while Steepster is being worked on (and the site isn’t completely missing for ten days and counting.)
Could it be? Are we fixed?? I’m getting email notifications and new notes in my feed!!
Same here, and my dashboard has updated! Amazing!
THANK YOU Steepster overlords!
Same Shae! I started to get email notifications and I knew something is happening. And now I checked, and all notes are there!
Thank you everybody involved!
Mastress Alita: that traveller’s log, lol.
Yep, that traveller’s log was great!
I bought this tea fresh in 2018 along with a 2010 version to compare it to. But as often happens with ambitious tea experiments, this one fell by the wayside. However, I thought I’d better do it while I can still use Steepster, so I unearthed these teas and am ready to drink a lot of caffeine.
I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of honey, roast, orchid, and faint fruit. The first steep has notes of honey, roast, hops, grain, and orchid. It’s drying in the mouth, with a beautiful honey scent at the bottom of the cup. The second steep has stronger honey and roast notes, with faint lychee, wood, and what I would call green plant stems. The third and fourth steeps have honey, roast, hops, grain, and char in the foreground, with a lingering aftertaste of guava, lychee, roast, orchids, and honey.
To try and coax the complex flavours in the aftertaste into the actual tea, I lowered the temperature to 190F for the next couple steeps. This seems to have been a mistake, since though the roast is less pronounced, there’s more greenness and the honey/fruit is still not coming through. In the seventh steep, the honey and roast let some orchid, violet, grass, cream, and other florals make a faint appearance. The end of the session features roast, wood, tannins, and minerals.
Perhaps due to its age, this tea never really fulfilled the fruity and floral promise of its aroma and aftertaste. It’s quite heavily roasted, and the roast dominated the tasting experience for me. Other reviewers, who presumably had the tea when it was fresher, didn’t have the same impression, so maybe this is a consequence of two years in storage.
Flavors: Char, Cream, Drying, Floral, Grain, Grass, Guava, Honey, Hops, Lychee, Mineral, Orchid, Plant Stems, Roasted, Tannin, Violet, Wood
Preparation
This company carries a version of this tea every year, and the one I’m drinking is from 2018. I love unsmoked Lapsang Souchongs and this tea came highly recommended. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma of these long, curly leaves is of lychee, pineapple, tart fruit, malt, and flowers. The first steep is extraordinarily fruity and smooth, with flavours of lychee, pineapple, raspberry, cranberry, flowers, malt, grass, and chocolate. Baked bread, orchids, and a stronger pineapple flavour emerge in steep two, and there’s a floral and lemon/pineapple aftertaste. The lemon becomes more pronounced in steeps three and four, joining the tropical fruit, tart, and malty profile of the tea. Orange and wood appear in the fifth steep. By steep seven, the malt starts getting stronger and some tannins appear, but the pineapple, lychee, and raspberry persist. The end of the session sees more tannins, malt, minerals, earth, and still, gloriously, those pineapple and lychee notes.
Aside from the 2019 Yuchi Assam from What-Cha, this is, hands down, the best black tea I’ve had this year. It’s fruity, complex, smooth, long lasting, approachable, and surprisingly affordable for its quality at around $13 for 30 grams. (I know this isn’t exactly cheap, but did I mention how awesome this tea is?) Drinking it has been a high point in a somewhat lousy month. I’m not sure why TheTea.pl hasn’t gotten more press, but I think many of their teas are amazing. Some of their oolongs are too roasted for my palate, but others, like this one, have the fruity, floral notes I love.
Flavors: Baked Bread, Chocolate, Cranberry, Earth, Floral, Grass, Lemon, Lychee, Malt, Mineral, Orange, Orchid, Pineapple, Raspberry, Smooth, Tannin, Tart, Wood
Preparation
My mouth is watering!
Yes, it’s fantastic! I’m sure it would be good cold brewed as well, but I don’t want to do that to such a pricy tea. The vendor also suggested bowl brewing it, and I can see how that would work since the tea has hardly any bitterness.
I’m with you and the cold brew. I save my not so stellar teas for that, figuring the coldness will mute what I didn’t care for when the tea was hot. I am not familiar with TheTea; I’ll keep my eye on their offering.
Agreed. I tend not to cold brew tea because it requires a lot of leaf, but when I do, I use teas I don’t mind getting rid of. You should definitely check out TheTea.pl, especially if you like Taiwanese and Wuyi oolongs. They also have Andrzej Bero teaware sometimes, if that matters to you.
Thanks Leafhopper! : )
I’ve had my eye on TheTea over the past year. Looks like I’ll have to try them for my next order. That Taiwan Yuchi Assam and Tong Mu zhengshan xiaozhong are two of my favorite black teas, too :)
I also have the Yuchi Assam, though I haven’t tried it yet. I’ve liked most things I’ve bought from this company and would recommend them.
That sounds lovely indeed and the company seems to carry some interesting teas. Do you know what are their shipping charges (to Canada)?
The last time I ordered from them, their shipping to Canada was around $6.50 USD.
What’s their name again? I’ve been having a hard time finding TheTea
Tong Mu’s are one of my favorites, too. Where can I find TheTea? I haven’t been able to look them up as easily as I would think.
Daylon-It’s a Polish website. https://thetea.pl/en/
Daylon-It’s TheTea.pl – A Polish website/vendor.
I bought a 10 g sample of this tea back in February, when Taiwan was still shipping to Canada. (What a long time ago that seems!) I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 190F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of malt, sassafras, raisins, and flowers. The first steep has notes of sassafras, cream, malt, cinnamon, raisins, jasmine, soy sauce, and menthol. The second steep is heavier on the raisins and malt and has a metallic undertone. The raisins become more like grapes in subsequent steeps, and the sassafras, malt, and cinnamon notes persist. The end of the session has malt, tannin, wood, and mineral notes.
I found this to be a fairly average Taiwanese Sun Moon Lake black tea, although the heavy cinnamon and menthol were pleasant. I’m glad I steeped it at 190F, as I imagine the astringency would be greater at higher temperatures. I’m sure I’ll be able to better pick apart the flavour notes in these types of teas when I’ve tried more of them.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Cream, Floral, Grapes, Jasmine, Licorice, Malt, Menthol, Metallic, Mineral, Raisins, Soy sauce, Tannin, Wood
Preparation
Yum! I added this tea to my wishlist after reading your note. It sounds like a very “me” tea. :)
It’s pretty good. Having said that, it’s also quite similar to other Taiwanese Red Jade black teas, so if it’s not convenient to get it from TTC, you can probably find it elsewhere. What-Cha usually has nice Taiwanese black teas, and I’ve heard good things about Whispering Pines, though I haven’t tried them myself due to the high shipping rates to Canada.
I haven’t placed a major tea order in years (my stash was overwhelming me), but I’m almost to the point I’m ready to get some new-to-me teas. I’ll probably look at Whispering Pines since I’ve ordered from Brandon in the past with excellent results. Thanks for the great advice!
I seem to have bought this tea on three separate occasions, despite having given it a relatively low grade on my review of the 2015 version. Maybe that’s because people keep recommending it? I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of malt, pine, tobacco, and gooseberries. The first steep has notes of malt, tobacco, baked bread, honey, wood, roasted almonds, and tannins, and the tobacco and tannins linger in the aftertaste. There’s a sweet potato aroma in the teapot that fails to translate into the tea. The second infusion adds notes of molasses and caramel. I can faintly detect orange zest, although that’s likely because Eastkyteaguy pointed it out in his review. The next two steeps focus on baked bread, honey, and tobacco, with tannins, caramel, wood, cream, hay, roasted nuts, and very faint chocolate in the background. Sadly, no berries or sweet potatoes are to be found. I get some eucalyptus in the fourth steep. These flavours gradually fade, and the session ends with malt, honey, baked bread, tannins, earth, wood, and minerals.
This is a very complex tea with some unusual flavours. However, I was expecting berries and chocolate, as in the 2015 version, and was a bit disappointed.
Flavors: Almond, Baked Bread, Berries, Caramel, Chocolate, Cream, Earth, Eucalyptus, Hay, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Molasses, Orange Zest, Pine, Roast nuts, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Wood
Preparation
This is my penultimate tea from Cha Yi. The owner told me it’s from winter 2019, although harvest dates aren’t shown on the website. I’ve had somewhat lacklustre experiences with Cui Feng oolongs before, but this tea was relatively recent and available, so I bought it. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma of these unevenly sized, loosely rolled nuggets is of roses, other flowers, honey, and cookies. The first steep has notes of roses, peonies, orchids, honey, grass, and cookies, and as expected, it’s somewhat sweet. The honey and florals continue to get stronger in the next three steeps, and there are hints of grape and maybe honeydew melon. The sweetness and florality continue until almost the end of the session, joined by increasingly prominent notes of grass, spinach, and other veggies.
This is an elegant, undemanding oolong with lovely rose notes that persist throughout most of the session. If it didn’t entirely grab my attention, neither did it present any off flavours. Of the three high mountain oolongs I tried from Cha Yi, the Ali Shan was my favourite, which surprised me given my ambivalence about oolongs from this region. I’d highly recommend this company, particularly for Canadians who can’t order directly from Taiwan for the time being.
Flavors: Cookie, Floral, Grapes, Grass, Honey, Honeydew, Orchid, Rose, Spinach, Vegetal
Preparation
Yay! This is my two hundredth tasting note. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to develop my palate on Steepster and to meet so many fellow tea people. This is truly a great community, one that I hope to continue participating in for a long time to come.
I bought this oolong two years ago. Ai Jiao is usually a Wuyi varietal (and I had a not-too-impressive example of that version a few years ago), so naturally, I was curious to see how it would take to my favourite terroir, which seems to be all of Taiwan. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of honey, flowers, grass, roast, and faint stonefruit. The first steep has notes of honey, raspberry, roasted grains, apricot, and grass. The honey, roast, and grains become more prominent in steep two, and the roast gets even stronger in subsequent steeps, with a hint of roasted walnuts. Though the stonefruit, berries, and flowers put in sporadic appearances throughout the next few steeps, mostly what I can taste is the honey and roast.
As someone who prefers greener oolongs, I’m not the ideal drinker for this tea, but I do appreciate its complexity. Maybe after another two hundred reviews I’ll be able to look past the roast to understand the full spectrum of flavours, though by then this tea will probably be gone.
Flavors: Apricot, Floral, Grain, Grass, Honey, Raspberry, Roasted, Stonefruits, Walnut
Preparation
I completely agree with you regarding the taste development. It certainly develops and I notice more and more with every drank tea. And congratulations to your 200!
And about the people here… yes, we are here so welcoming I would not believe it is even possible!
Congratulations on your 200 reviews! That is a wonderful accomplishment and a lot of tea! : )
Martin and White Antlers, thanks! Though I’m by no means a tea expert, I’m definitely noticing more than I did when I started and there isn’t so much guesswork involved. And yes, I’ve gone through a lot of tea, though my cupboard is strangely still as full, if not fuller, than it was three years ago when I joined Steepster! Now how could that be? :P
Congratulations on 200 reviews!
Thanks! You’re way ahead of me. :)
200 Go!
I always look forward to your contributions, Leafhopper. Hope to see many more.
Happy 200 thoughtful notes. :D I can’t wait until I can taste pass the roast on an oolong… though I might not ever be able to. haha
Happy 200, and many more!
Thanks, all of you, for your good wishes! Most roasted oolongs still taste similar to me, but I’m working on it!
When I was buying a bunch of herbal teas in February, I couldn’t resist adding this Bai Hao to my order. I was a little wary because these teas are often eye-wateringly expensive and this is around $13 for 50 g, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 30, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of baked peaches, honey, and grapes. The first steep has notes of honey, muscatel, peaches, citrus, baked bread, and flowers. There’s some dryness in the aftertaste and it lacks the darker sandalwood and spicy notes that characterize pricier Bai Hao. The second steep introduces pears and dates (thanks to Eastkyteaguy for noticing this flavour!). All of these notes intensify in the third and fourth rounds, and the citrus and muscatel become more prominent. This tea leaves a lovely grape/citrus/baked pear aroma at the bottom of the cup. Hints of malt and wood appear in the fourth steep and the drying sensation in the mouth gets stronger. This Bai Hao becomes more like a black tea by the sixth steep, with noticeable malt and tannins. The black tea character gradually overtakes the tea until the end of the session, which features malt, metal, faint fruit, and tannins.
This is a nice Bai Hao, particularly in the early steeps, and I don’t regret purchasing it in the least. However, it lacks the balance among sweet, spicy, and sappy/woody notes that makes really great examples of this tea so magical. If I had to compare it to another Bai Hao, it would be the Jingmai Bai Hao from China from Camellia Sinensis, which also lacks that bug-bitten complexity. For the price, this is excellent, but there are better Bai Haos out there.
Flavors: Baked Bread, Citrus, Dates, Drying, Floral, Honey, Malt, Metallic, Muscatel, Peach, Pear, Tannin, Wood
Preparation
I received this generous 15 g free sample in an order I placed last fall, so I assume it is from the spring 2019 harvest. Gardenia is one of those flowers whose fragrance is sometimes hard for me to pin down in tea, so I was happy to get an example of what it’s supposed to taste like. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of gardenias, other heady flowers, peaches, and sweet cream. The first steep tastes strongly of gardenia, orchid, butter, cream, peach, banana, and grass. It’s simultaneously sweet and kind of waxy, and drying in the mouth. The banana and peach persist in the second and third steeps. I get a distinctly floral gardenia flavour as well. The banana becomes more prominent as the session goes on, especially if I let the tea cool. The tea develops a lovely, thick body with a gardenia aftertaste. The florals and grass take over by steep seven, and the session ends as one with a regular green oolong would, with floral, vegetal, and grassy notes.
Although some people might consider this oolong to be too perfumey, I like floral teas and enjoyed this one. I also think it would make a great cold brew.
Flavors: banana, Butter, Cream, Floral, Gardenias, Grass, Orchid, Peach, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
I once had a gardenia scented oolong from Eco-Cha but wasn’t terribly impressed by it. Didn’t really have a distinct gardenia flavor. Tempted to order this one as Mountain Stream scented teas have generally been pretty good.
I’m not terribly familiar with gardenia so I can’t vouch for how authentic the flavour is, but it seemed convincing to me.
