Sirentian Send Message

Gosh, I keep changing my mind about this tea. Today I brewed it with a lighter hand as I remembered it could get pretty bitter. I brewed it in my new 160ml 脂白 (“white as fat”) gaiwan set––beautiful design, misleading name?––and it blew my mind, tasting like sophisticated caramel with woody and cherry tones, very little bitterness.

Not sure if the thickness of the gaiwan (it got really scalding hot sometimes) had anything to do with it, but I will try it in the same gaiwan again and see if I get consistent results.

1st infusion: 202˚F, 0:55

2nd infusion: 203˚F, 1:25

3rd infusion: 204˚F, 2:00

“Eighteen” is not easy to brew, better to take a lighter hand than the recommended brewing parameters but when it’s done right gosh this tea is ambrosial and I would absolutely buy this again from Song (and maybe try its older brother, Twenty-One).

Rating: 85

Super excited to try my first Spring 2016 Long Jing! Since I received this tea on Apr 4 in California, it must have been harvested in late March, which is a pretty early harvest.

Skipped the rinse and brewed at 175˚F.

1st infusion: (30s)
A bit light (try steeping for 35 next time), but the aroma and flavour are heavenly. Has that subtle buttery toast of sweet chestnut on the nose.

2nd infusion: (45s)
Sweetness is gone, but it’s still buttery and more savoury and vegetal so it tastes like popcorn. Lovely and interesting.

I’m drinking the Autumn 2015 of this Light Roast Premium Tie Guan Yin from YunnanSourcing. Used about 4 – 5g in 150ml gaiwan. Skipped the rinse but poured slowly making sure to wet every rolled pellet.

Next time: Brew at 203˚F, for 20s / 30s / 45s / 65s.

1st infusion: (20s, 205˚F)
Wet leaf smells unpleasant, bitter metal. But the tea! It is roasty and buttery and sweet and floral but with that Wuyi oolong mineral / chocolatey bite all at the same time. Pale golden yellow liquor, just ambrosial. Juicy, full mouthfeel.

2nd infusion: (45s, 207˚F)
Tastes a tad bitter and metallic, I’ll try 30s and a lower temp next time.

3rd infusion: (50s, 204˚F)
Liquor smells very buttery. It’s mellow and pretty smooth, the bitterness is gone. I bet this is an amazing tea if I brew it right.

4th infusion: (lost track of time, 204˚F)
Sorry tea, I’m really not doing you justice today. But yeah it’s basically the hot water you get in Vietnamese restaurants now.

Rating: 87

4/12/16: After more experimenting, I’ve come to the conclusion that you must RESPECT THE BREWING TIME to get the most out of this tea. It does not do so well brewed Western-style.
1st infusion: 10 – 15s
2nd infusion: 20 – 25s
3rd infusion: 30 – 40s
…and so on.

When you do that, this is an ace tea so I’ll increase my rating to 87. Temperature is less important; it tastes great at 195˚F or 205˚F or 212˚F. It also tastes good cold-brewed into iced tea.

Update: The regular grade “Da Hong Pao” is noticeably better than this tea so I’m downgrading this to 83.

I believe this is the Spring 2014 harvest of this “Light Roast Da Hong Pao Wuyi Shan Oolong” from Yunnan Sourcing. Dry leaf smells very similar to the Teavivre Da Hong Pao (out of the 3 大红袍s I’ve tried), intensely bitter chocolate.

Brewed 5g in 150ml thin porcelain gaiwan at around 203˚F. I skipped the rinse but got a bit nervous because the first infusion was very foamy, with some dark residue on the gaiwan lid
(￣□￣;)!!

1st infusion: (15s)
Light on the flavour, but characteristic nutty “Da Hong Pao” flavour and is deliciously smooth. So ridiculously smooth I can’t believe it. I guess that’s what they meant by “Light Roast”. I am so happy I bought 100g of this!

2nd infusion: (35s)
Wet leaves have that burnt tobacco smell that is familiar, but also makes me want to try brewing this for 25s or at a lower temp like 195˚F next time. Turns out I needn’t have worried because the flavour is still very light, maybe a tad bit astringent. I can’t imagine how light this tea would taste if I had rinsed it for 10 seconds like they recommended!

3rd infusion: (60s)
It’s pretty light and sweeter now.

4th infusion: (2:00 at 210˚F)
Very light, but some fruity notes came out! I taste plum.

Verdict: Very pleasant, affordable everyday tea. Rating: 85

I bought this after a tasting of both this and its aged 1992 harvest, assuming this was the lesser of the two because it seemed to have sharper edges. The dry leaves have only a faint scent of malty chocolate, even when warmed.

Skipped rinse.

1st infusion: (1:45)
This infusion, standing alone, merits 95 points. It tastes creamy, rich, and sweet like a baked good (but not too sugary sweet like Song’s Shan Lin Xi Winter Sprout). There are notes of milk chocolate and graham cracker. The texture is insanely smooth, light, delicious yet unpretentious. I can’t wait to try this in an Yixing teapot.

2nd infusion: (2:05)
Smells roasty and comforting, like a malty milky beverage. Less sweet than 1st infusion, but equally smooth.

3rd infusion: (2:15)
Leaves are a beautiful coppery purple-green colour. They smell metallic, but liquor smells milky and buttery.

Overall I don’t think Bi Luo Chun is my favourite type of tea, but the Teavivre version seems to be higher quality than the “Supreme Bi Luo Chun” I got from Dragon Tea House. The leaves are more intact and tightly curled, less ‘dust’, and have a more intense fragrance; floral perfume.

I used about half the sample (3g) in my 150ml glass gaiwan and skipped the rinse.

1st infusion: (30s, 178˚F)
Nutty, slightly savoury aroma with light vegetable broth flavour, and fresh and clear like spring water. (The DTH 碧螺春 had cloudy suspension, probably from the tea ‘dust’.) Ever so slightly astringent, maybe I need to go down to 2g of leaf or lower the temperature.

2nd infusion: (50s, 177˚F)
This was pretty astringent and tastes “off”. I think I overleafed or maybe I need to brew this at 175˚. Will try experimenting with the second half of the sample but yeah, apparently I find 碧螺春s really difficult to brew! Sticking with Dragon Wells as my favourite green for now.

A sample of the 2015 April harvest, almost a year old and still exquisite. Such a delicate aroma, juicy mouthfeel, and complex yet balanced and soothing taste. I can’t imagine a Silver Needle getting much better than this.

Brewed at 167˚F, 5g leaf, 150ml glass gaiwan. High quality leaves, few broken bits. Skipped the rinse.

1st infusion: (45s)
The aroma is amazing. Beautiful, smooth, reminiscent of roses in moonlight. Such a creamy mouthfeel, not bitter at all.

2nd infusion: (60s)
The liquor has this invigorating yet delicate, musky fragrance. It is full-flavoured, tastes like some creamy fruit. I can see why some people say melon, but that’s not exactly what it tastes like to me. Maybe dragonfruit or something?

3rd infusion: (90s)
Leaves still smell potent. Liquor has not slowed down. Barely very slight astringency in aftertaste.

4th and 5th infusions: (105s, 140s)
Mellowing, getting lighter. 5th is light and elegant. No astringency.

6th infusion: (180s)
Nice finish, still thickish mouthfeel. It’s not water.

Tasted this directly after its 2015 sibling, Formosa Yancha. The 1992 has an incredible dry leaf scent of musky raisins and savoury seaweed, though we didn’t taste much of that in the tea.

Redder liquor and the taste was slightly sweeter and a lot smoother overall than the younger one. But due to this one being twice the price (coming to about $7 per brewing session), I ended up buying the younger one anyway. Maybe if I keep it for long enough…

A solid Dragon Well, but seems to be prized more for its subtlety and I like my Dragon Wells ferociously lively, nutty, and flavourful. This one is more like an uber delicate, subtle white tea (probably because the cultivar is related to Anji Baicha). At $88 for 2 oz, totally not worth it to me there are far tastier Longjings out there. But Song is for the tea enthusiast who wants something out of the ordinary so if you’re tired of typical Longjings you might get a kick out of this.

Wow, a completely 180˚ from my first impression of this tea. I feel like I brewed it stronger at home and that made all the difference. This is the 2016 harvest of the Lishan Winter Sprout. Warm leaves smell so deliciously savoury and fragrant like something that would draw me at a gourmet food fair––olive oil popcorn.

1st infusion: (1:00)
Liquor is the bright yellow-green colour of olive oil. Savoury and oily fragrance like umami seaweed seasoning, or vegetable broth.

2nd infusion: (1:10)
Savoury spinach vegetable broth. I wish it were more floral, maybe I’m craving something like a Tieguanyin.

3rd: (2:00)
Liquor is still bright olive-oil yellow. More vegetable broth, slightly salty. The first steeping was the best, when it still tasted buttery.