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Are we getting Steepster back? I hope so! :)

Anyway, here’s a tea I drank today. It is very much a feel-good and energizing tea. At its present state, it is more bitter than sweet, and definitely more bitter than “Keep Smiling”. The bitterness never lets go, but at the same time it doesn’t completely suppress other flavours. It also has less of the metallic and bell pepper like character that a lot of huangpian teas have. For the price, this is some of the best tea one can get imo, just like its cousin – Keep Smiling. The fact that it easily brews 200ml/g just underscores that.

It displays aromas of apricots, peat, carob, candlewax, and a rural, hot hay like scent. Furthermore, in the empty cup one can find a cooling, nutty, and vegetal aroma that is somewhat unique among sheng pu’er. The taste is very pungent, bitter and vegetal with notes of chard, grapefruit skin and rye among other ones. Liquor has a full body and a creamy texture with just a touch of chalkiness in late steeps. As one would expect from the bitter Lao Man E varietal, the bitterness persists into the aftertaste, which is also a bit citrusy, spicy and warming. Towards the end of the session there is the slightest hint of smokiness too.

All in all, I would highly recommend this tea to anyone who likes bitter flavours in their pu-erh.

I don’t have much to add to my previous note about this tea after today’s session. It did have a more nutty aroma, but mainly I noticed the cha qi much more. It induced a warming feeling throughout my body and helped me properly focus on the work.

She’s Not Me is a very consistent tea with a Bu Lang character. Some of the material seems a little aged, but not a large percentage. Nevertheless, the tea is not overly rough or abrasive. All in all though, I just don’t find it exciting enough to justify the price.

The aroma is sweet and herbaceous with notes of fermented fruits (sea buckthorn juice), sunflowers, thyme and lemon balm. First infusion is already quite viscous with a colloidal mouthfeel. The taste is citrusy and displays a nice sweet finish. Later steeps get more savoury and herbaceous, until the fruitiness reappears after the peak. There are flavours such as those of sunflower and anise seeds, sugarcane, butter, wood, cantaloupe, and spices.

The mouthfeel is generally very nice and foamy. After swallowing there is a prolonged biting and after a few minutes also throat-cooling sensation. The cha qi is energizing and dizzying, but not the most memorable.

Pretty nice as far as scented teas go. It has a really soft texture that sets it apart from basic jasmine teas. However, I rarely feel like drinking it actually.

This is what one could call a classic Yiwu tea. It has the floral sweetness and a nice soft texture. It is fairly consistent throughout the session but also not that complex you could say.

The wet leaf aroma is floral, a bit grassy and it includes notes of bay leaf, compost, thyme and a light smokiness. Taste is well integrated with next to no distinctive flavours. It is sweet, floral, and very fragrant with hints of nutty oil flavour. The liquor has medium to full body with some astringency and it induces a cooling feeling in the mouth. What follows is a very nice huigan and a warm sensation spreading throughout the body.

I can’t warm up to this particular gyokuro and will probably cold-brew the rest of my pouch. The aromas are weak, the body is lighter than usual, and even though the taste is pungent I find the profile off. I am not quite sure why but it seems like it is somewhat unbalanced and disintegrated.

As for the particular notes, there are hints of cabbage and spearmint in the aroma emerging from the leaves and milk & custard in the empty cup scent. Fairly unusual range of aromas for a gyokuro, but they are so weak that they cannot take the center stage.

As expected first two infusions have a strong umami with a brothy / salty profile, which, unfortunately is not very well integrated with the green, vegetal aspects of the tea. Flavours of corn, spaghetti squash, butter, grass, asparagus, okra, green beans are among the ones I detected.

I am a fan of red jade white (and black) teas in large part because when I crave a tea of this kind, there are very few others that can do the trick. This one fits that purpose, but it’s also quite different from its relatives. The minty character less pronounced and the tea has a more malty profile.

The aroma has a strong dill note, complemented by scents of cape gooseberry and puff pastry. On the whole, it is not as pungent as these teas can be though. The liquor is very refreshing thanks to a fruity tartness, quinine bitterness, a spicy anise finish and a cooling mouthfeel. The texture is buttery and a little bubbly, with a distinct astringency that translates into a sandpaper-like, numbing mouthfeel. There is also a strong flowery fragrance in the aftertaste coupled with some more fruity flavours such as those of grapes and gooseberry.

First time breaking into my cake of W2T’s rooster. Comparing my experience with the notes from a year ago show that the tea hasn’t changed much. It still has that lovely upfront bitterness and a mostly vegetal profile.

The dry leaf scent is weaker now though and there are some aromas in the wet leaves that I didn’t pick up previously, such as cream, herbaceous ones, cabbage, and citrus zest.

The taste is a bit more bready with a sunflower seed note and there are flavours of jalapeno peppers and coffee emerging in the aftertaste, accompanying the floral sweetness. I also really like the combination of a throat-cooling feeling with the overall body-warming sensation the tea induces.

[Spring 2019 harvest]

I got a free sample of this tea, which I am glad because I haven’t had it yet. It’s nice to be able to try it even though any conclusions have to come with a qualification that the tea is now one year old.

In a preheated pot, dry leaves smell of bacon, rosemary and corn husks. Subsequently, I get an aroma of peas and candle smoke during the session.

The pea note also comes up in the flavour profile, here it is most reminiscent of pea soup. Other than that, the profile is savoury, a little nutty and with a mild lemon tartness but devoid of the sourness. There are also notes of butter, carambola and seaweed; and the finish gets progressively sweeter in later infusions.

Aftertaste is generally very crisp and cooling. There is an interesting earthy hint that’s not all that common among green teas and the dominant flavour is that of green bell peppers.

As for the mouthfeel, this tea strikes pretty high there. The liquor is smooth, oily and thick. All in all, it is quite an enjoyable tea that I would be happy to try fresh at some point in the future. It has a good body, and there is very little bitterness or astringency. The latter does appear eventually, but only at around 85°C.

Generally, I find Taiwanese oolongs to be a fairly safe bet. They are rarely flops. For some reason, this tea just doesn’t do it for me though. I don’t know if it’s just this batch or since I haven’t had other ones.

The aromas and flavours are fairly weak, the only distinctive note being an osmanthus scent. The taste is somewhat more sour than I am used to, but otherwise doesn’t really stand out in any way and the same can be said about the mouthfeel. There is a cooling aftertaste with a persisting sourness and quite a strong defocusing cha qi.

I don’t, maybe it’s just me. If my impression changes as I finish my pack, I will update the note.