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Tea Swap Sample
“2013 Ripe from Heaven’s Tea”
I started this session late in the evening after work/post-workout. I wanted to have something to help me relax prior to bed. I’ve discovered that utilizing the gym in our basement after work is the best way to get energized/stretch after sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours.
Anyway, I’ve started to read/drink tea after the workout, to help ease both the body & mind, giving them the opportunity to shut down enough to go to bed at a ‘reasonable’ hour. I wasn’t paying much attention to the session last night, but after 2 steeps in the session, I had stopped drinking tea, and went to sleep.
I decided to note the rest of the session this afternoon and post on Steepster before work…
3rd-5th Steep: Dark liquor, oily mouthfeel, and earthy notes.
6th-8th Steep: Dark liquor; the earthy notes are lighter now. A bit of “spice” (nutmeg?) remaining.
9th/Final Steep: Liquor is lighter; flavor lighter; slightly spicy/earthy, but nothing really left to note…
70/100
“Qing Xiang Mi Lan Xiang”
I’ve been drinking this tea for the past two days now. I received samples from a farmer who produces oolong tea (Wu Dong Tea Farmers). What had turned out to be “free samples” actually surprised me with the quality of the tea, regardless of having to pay for “shipping.” However, I think that, in the end, it was worth the $20 spent to get roughly 60g in tea. This tea alone (along with their Sha Ren) has proven to be some of the best (random) oolongs that I’ve owned; unfortunately, the samples are oftentimes a single session, but the quantity of the tea, in total, are reasonable for $20.
Notes: Lemongrass, almonds, and “dew.”
Note: I wrote “dew” for the aroma since the wet leaf reminded me of the morning dew on the ground.
80/100
Sip Down
“2004 Yang Ping Hao”
I have had this since the first Puerbertea (?) Group Buy that LP had hosted. I had a session shortly after getting the tea, but hid this away for some time now. I am on my second day session with this, but it’s lightening up now. Throughout the session, there have been some pretty nice earth notes that remain throughout; which I quite like a lot. My wife thought that I was drinking something that reminded her of my parents basement, but to me, I had noted “deep earth after a rainy day.” This tea brews long and hard; I’m currently going at boiling water for 3-4 minutes. I think it’s time to quit shortly and find something else to be had before going to bed.
89/100
“Old Reliable” from W2T
I had tried pulling the tea up on Steepster, but there seemed to be a glitch which didn’t allow me to review the tea directly, so I’m creating a note this way.
I will mention that when purchasing this online, my expectations weren’t high, but I had definitely wanted to get something ‘reasonably’ priced due to the fact that I was on a budget (tis the life of being a tea addict who has to ‘be an adult’ by paying the necessary bills (i.e. rent, school loans, etc.) and wanting to get something now and then). I digress. :P
However, this tea was a good price, so I picked a cake up. I will be honest, though. This tea was ‘meh,’ as the cool kids say. It definitely received its name well, by being adequate for my needs (cost, flavor, etc.), but that’s all it shall remain. I like it, but, it’s not the greatest of ripe puerh. It is good, but not great. What else can I say?
Notes: Thick body, earthy, & mineral-y. No huge changes throughout the session other than it becoming weaker in body and flavor; which is pretty much everything to be said about this tea.
70/100
2006 Tai He from Wisteria (from the Liquid Proust Aged Pu-erh Group Buy)
I hadn’t really noted too much about the tea other than that it was enjoyable. Didn’t taste as old as you’d think. There were no notes of bitterness until I unintentionally forgot to pour out after steep # 8 and left it sitting for roughly 3-4 minutes before realizing I had poured water into the gaiwan (it was a very late session that lasted approximately until 2:30 A.M.).
I wrote 8/10 for the rating.
“Margaret’s 2014 Kunming Shou”
Quick Note
Honestly, I found this to be a solid tea for a ripe tea newbie. Although I’ve been drinking puerh for over a year now, I find that I’ve discovered that I like a complex/unique ripe. Although this one is very much the type of tea that’d’ve peaked my interest at the beginning of my puerh ride, I find it to be “too basic” for my palate now.
Notes: Chocolaty , sweet, creamy, nutty, & smooth.
Flavors: Chocolate, Creamy, Nutty, Smooth, Sweet
Backlog
“Mi Lan Xiang” – Unknown/Forgotten Source
I had purchased a few samples directly from a farm a few moths ago. I’ve had yet to try any of the tea until this past week. This is the second tea that my friend had chosen to try, so we gave it a go.
Notes: Dry, semi-sweet, and kind of floral(?). Stopped after 5 steeps.
7/10
“Pear Mountain Oolong” (Mountain Pear Oolong?)
Sipdown
This sample came from LP long ago when my tea journey was fresh and new. I apparently sampled quite a bit and never reviewed this; however, I’ve finally finished the last of the tea tonight and wanted to get a review out there while I had the chance to write.
This was some seriously delicious tea though. Very fruity, floral, and easy going. I’d say that this is an oolong to be had when you’re craving something that isn’t rough on the stomach nor keeps you awake….
Speaking of staying awake, I’m too tired to keep typing. xD
90/100
“2016 Bing Dao”
A sample received from Puerh TTB
I noted, “Tastes like old grass clippings in a pile that have become damp and have a weird odor.”
I honestly couldn’t finish this tea after the second steep. I’m learning that there are teas that I like and teas that I don’t like. This is one of the ones I don’t like.
40/100
“2000 Yiwu Raw”
From Puerh TTB.
As I start working my way through the TTC stuff now, I’m finding that I’ve yet to explore puerh as thoroughly as I thought I had. This tea has proven to me that there are some very unusually delicious types of puerh that could probably set me back a few dollars…..
I will mention that this is a very good tea when flash steeped, but once you allow it to sit for more than 30s, you’ll discover that it gets slightly “oily” and unpleasant. Overall, I liked it, but I’d only recommend this type of tea if you have plenty of time to flash steep constantly throughout the day.
85/100
Notes: Beets, earth & old books.
“2015 Raw from Beautiful Taiwan”
This sample may have come from the Puerh TTB?
Backlog Feb 13, 2017
While drinking this I had noted that there were notes of sesame and seaweed. I thought that this was unusual for a raw puerh, but I really couldn’t think of anything else other than the Japanese rice crackers with seaweed that a friend from Japan would send for Christmas long ago.
85/100
http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAPANESE-RICE-CRACKER-DRIED-SEAWEED-SNACK-KAMEDA-NRI-PI-5-PACK-DELICIOUS-F-S-NEW-/192094355900?hash=item2cb9b741bc
Flavors: Seaweed
“Hoalatha’s Blend”
I really enjoyed this one a good bit. I originally brewed this at work with boiling (or close to boiling) water. I wanted something other than a tea bag or chai, so I pulled this out. I must say that I dropped a hard “Mmmmm” at work and my coworker might’ve been concerned to the sounds that I was making.
The base was already a good start (Laoshan black) with an added touch of vanilla. I noted, “I’m loving the chocolate vanilla bean notes throughout. Smooth, rich, and creamy.” I also noted that, “If I were to drop candy altogether, this is a good start.”
Great tea you’ve made here, Hoalatha. Thank you for sharing!
98/100
“2006 Dayi 0622 Sheng, Mx-Tea”
Sample from a friend.
Equivalent to a cigarette that draws smoothly (however, it’s nothing like your grandmother’s smoky covered clothing). It’s nice and subtle, but you can slightly get the idea that the tea has aged well and might’ve been extremely smoky at one point; although it is gentle to the palate 11 years later.
90/100
Mystery Black Balls
Backlog 14 January 2017
Sample from Nishnek
On Saturday my nephew called from his mom’s phone to see if I’d drink tea and play with “pet toys.” So I took over a stash of tea (Duck Sh*t Dancong, these black tea balls, and many other samples). I was going to have a session with the Dancong, but he really held onto this tea. I noted that it was a solid malty rich black tea, with a mild- cocoa bitterness (but not too bitter) which lingered on the back of the mouth. However, there was a slight astringency on the throat, too, which reminded me of a light-mild dark chocolate (4o-60% cocoa). These notes hadn’t lasted as long as I had hoped because the nephew wanted to play with the pets, but the tea was pretty good nonetheless.
PS. He must’ve like the tea too because he had a total of two cups….
75/100
I have zero clue as to what tea I’ve been drinking since late last night and into this morning (of course there was a pause for sleep). I know that it’s a ripe, but the brand and/or type of ripe is unknown. The box reads: Yunnan Pu-erh Tea. I discovered this random shou puerh at a shop in Chinatown in Cleveland, Ohio. It was roughly around the same time I joined the “Puerh Life” and had no idea whether it was good or bad shou. In fact, I had yet to understand the difference between shou v. sheng. All I knew at the time of purchase was this: I’ve tried some puerh from YS and that was about it. I discovered (shou) puerh and liked it, but wanted to go ahead and purchase a $7/350g cake of “Yunnan Pu-erh Tea.”
I didn’t like this tea too much when I first bought it. It had too much of a woodiness/dirt flavor that I hadn’t come to appreciate at the time. Therefore, I let it sit for nearly a year now, untouched. However, the other day my friend dug into the depths of my tea cupboard and pulled it out. He wanted to try this tea—despite my resistance—so we gave it a go. He put about 15g in a 120 ml Gaiwan (yes, yes, that’s a little heavy; however, he’s new, so give the poor guy credit. Ha-ha). He gave it a rinse, poured the second steep into the cup, and we drank.
Woah, woah, woah Can it be true? It was a solid tea. It had a nice thick, smooth, creamy, sweet, woody, and earthiness to the body. I was surprised by the amount of oomph and flavor that seeped from the liquid. I wanted more, so I drank a good bit last night/today.
I guess $7 cakes can be good if given the right amount of time to settle in its body, breathe a while, and given the chance for another go.
75/100
2011 Iceland Raw
I had acquired this from LP a while back, but I’m just now getting to the samples he had sent. This is a very smoky raw; which the profile continues on and on throughout the session. It’s quite astringent too, but the bitterness dies down a bit, while the smokiness remains.
75/100
Tea Swap—Backlog
Quick Note
Last night I was craving some oolong, so I grabbed the sample of Ginseng Oolong. I figured that oolong wasn’t anything to potent in caffeine content, but I was craving something other than my “work stash” teas.
I must note that I thought that this was too sweet to enjoy. It took 5-6 steeps to get into the tea; which was hard for me to drink the 3rd and 4th cup(s). I thought that the 5-6th cups were the most satisfactory, due to the nature of the oolong being less overpowered by the sweetness of, what I assume, the ginseng; however, it was an ok tea.
6/10
Backlog 15 October 2016
Puerh TTB # 5
The aroma on the wet leaf is loaded with many profiles: minerals, smoke, and stonefruits.
Within the first few steeps, I noticed a sweet malty/earthy flavor; which left “a sweetness that might be found in fresh clean water.” The mouthfeel was thin, but there seemed to be a layer of “creaminess” left on the top of the mouth—however, “not thick like milk…” Throughout the session, the mouthfeel did gain a thickness which lingered on the throat, roof of the mouth, and tongue. It slowly became thick and rich—which was appealing to say the least.
Flavors: Cream, Grass, Mineral, Stonefruits, Sweet, Thick
A Liquid Proust tea called, “What the Heck A Nutty Birthday Oolong” that I had ordered with the French Toast Dianhong, Batch # 4.
I must say that the dry leaf/ingredients reminds me of my grandfather-in-law’s pig cracklings that he makes for the family from time to time. It has that bacon grease aroma, which almost made me weary of trying the tea. However, after getting brave last night, I drank this tea for nearly five (the full stock) and ate the roasted pecans/walnuts in the tea. I must say that the wet leaf was different than the dry—it was nuttier and reminded me of a burnt pecan pie. The taste WAS pecan pie for the first two steeps, but it moved onto a chocolaty/slightly maple tea. It was an odd blend, but it was satisfying for the late afternoon/evening.
Oh yes, and the walnuts/pecans are nice for a snack, too. As I’ve previously mentioned before, my wife always knows when I’m drinking an LP blend, mostly because I am caught eating the contents from the gaiwan during the session and/or exclaiming, “You need to eat this…”
From LP’s 2016 Group Buy: http://www.liquidproustteas.com/listing/470490943/regional-2016-tea-group-buy
Backlog 20 August 2016
Purple Leaf Tea from Justea
This was the first tea that I had from the Group Buy. It had a nice sweet vegetal note to it throughout the session. There was a slight bitterness to it on the second infusion, but that dispersed after the 3rd-5th steeps. I noted, “Too hot on the water 175 F. Opps.” Therefore, I went with 140 F on the last three infusions. I also noted that this tea was “an in between of Oolong and a Green tea.” It reminded me of a sweet roasted oolong, but also resembled the vegatal flavors of a sencha.
I had 5 infusions from the tea all at 140 F water, with the exception of the second steep. I brewed it in a gaiwan.
80/100
