Various Artists

CWarren gifted/swapped Tea Competitions Spring (High Mountain Shanlinxi) from Huaging Chen. I decided that I needed to start drinking samples which others have given me. I like reviewing those teas, and they’re usually very good!

This was an enjoyable tea that had so many flavors on the tongue. Within the first 4-5 steeps there were chestnut, fig, and plum notes on the palate. I must admit that drinking this in the morning and drinking it before bed was a great idea. I’m currently drinking the last 2g of tea before work now, and it’s a really nice tea to start the day with. I’m going to throw the used leaves into a jar with water, and cold brew the rest for tonight. I’m looking forward to that session already because I know that it’ll be enjoyable cold.

Side note: 2 weeks left of Summer Camp. The children are restless and longing to go back to school—whether they believe it or not—and I’m ready to have my afternoons to drink tea. Yes, I’ll have to wake up at 4:30 for work during the school year, but at least I get my tea after the kids are sent to school!

Sipdown

I’m not sure if this sample that I received from Liquid Proust reads “2009” or “2007” Mengku. However, I wanted to have a cup of raw pu-erh for my post-Statistics final, so I grabbed the rest of this out of the cupboard.

Now, I like the astringency of a raw. The first two steeps offered none of that, rather, I had nice mineral, smoky, and wet moss flavors to it. However, after these two steeps, I started to taste the astringency that I prefer when drinking a Sheng. The smokiness of the tea disappeared rather quickly, but the mossy/mineral notes stayed with this tea…Until steep 6.

Somehow, unbeknownst to me, the smokiness returned. I like to remind you that I’m new to pu-erh tea (3-4 months now, but still moderately unfamiliar to understanding the flavor, etc.) Anyway, I think it went well with the bitterness of the tea. It gave it that sort of burnt leafy taste, which reminds me of old leaves burning in a large field in the country during the Fall months. It also reminds me of walking in the woods as the snow melts, and the leaves have that old wet smell to them. That is what I enjoy about a majority of Raw pu, and this one has no exception.

90/100

Side Note: I think I used too much leaf in general (10g for 150ml). That, and I used overly hot water because I was distracted and allowed it to boil…..Prior to, the bitterness was subtle and still sweet (the water was 170F during the first few steeps). Anyway, I still enjoyed this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFUJ6NTg-6/?taken-by=s.gsanders1

Well, today I’ve finally had a moment to sit and drink tea; to contemplate my life. The last couple of weeks of college are nearly complete (4 classes left until I complete my Education major, and then can continue onward for another year, to become a certified middle-grades History/English teacher!), my wife’s car is on the verge of falling apart, we’re waiting for our caseworker to get a hold of us to set a date for the home study, and we’re eager to have our children out of the terrible foster system—and into a loving home—where Mom & Dad will give them the best that we can give them….

Okay, that was sentimental….

Anyway, I’m currently drinking my third cup of Liquid Proust’s ‘A Dark Kitchen Sink.’ As of late, I’ve been wanting to eat everything candy and/or ice cream. However, I need to resist the temptation, and just pluck from the cupboard, these types of tea that I purposely have for these stressed induced situations. Fortunately, this was in there—and what a treat! If I were to close my eyes at this moment, I could say that you’ve watered ice cream down (particularly a Turtle sundae) by a whole lot, and reduced it to a simple drink; to which I’d say,

“My, oh my, what a fine treat! Is this hot watered down ice cream?”

Then I’d hear, “No you dope, it’s simply the best damn dessert tea that you’ve ever had.”

Alright, there’s a huge nutty flavor which comes from the whole pecans within the tea. There is definitely a nice black tea flavor after the third steep that jumps out a little (from the description, I’m assuming that’s from the Golden Pu-erh needles); which gives it the sweet cocoa note. The honey gives it a nice caramel note, too. I mean, I could list the ingredients that I try, but when I go about reviewing a tea that way, I get sidetracked, and then my review turns to mush.

I will just say that this is GREAT, remarkable, extraordinary, amazing, astonishing, astounding, sensational, stunning, incredible, and unbelievable! Buy it. Try it! Drink it! It’s liquid ice cream! What could be better?

P.S. Today’s tea soundtrack comes from the Japanese instrumental rock band, MONO, “Hymn to the Immortal Wind.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbnhjsDI_ho

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEtV9Q8g-zd/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEtYZMog-5H/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEtbjtMA-xP/?taken-by=s.g_sanders1

Quick Review

I’ve made a bad habit of stopping off at a local Coffee & Tea cafe by my job (there are two locations, each within a 6 mile radius from either my job or home) during the day when I’m awaiting to return to work.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDVxI5Ig-9s/?taken-by=sgsanders1

Lately, I’ve been drinking their teas without complaint, so, I decided to ask the barista for something “tasty” and dessert-like. She pointed out the “Banana Bloom Tisane” which was supposed to be “like banana pie with lavender.” That’s false. It turned into a lavender nightmare, and there are cloves and cinnamon chunks within the tea. I like it, but since there is no banana flavor to it, I’m giving this the low rating.

P.S. It looked like lentil soup.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEOrwQWg-xG/?taken-by=sgsanders1

Quick Review:

LP had sent me a small bundle of Sheng pu-erh a while back, but I’ve been slowly trying them, and getting the most out of the samples. Today, I tried “The Ram” which he had sent. I must say that this tea was a great one to have on a cold and rainy day, here in Ohio.

This was refreshing. It was mellow throughout the entire session. The more I brewed, though, the more of a hay (grassy?) flavor came out of it. It was smooth and delicate. There was a hint of fruit (unbeknownst to me) which added to the sweetness of the tea. I was truly impressed with this brew, and had enjoyed the total 15 steeps!

I haven’t had time to write lately. However, even with this review, I’ll be brief.

Today, after a long exhausting weekend/beginning of the week, I wanted something loaded with caffeine and delightful. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time to brew a thermos of tea, so I parted ways with water. When work was over, I decided to try out a new coffee shop that a friend had told me about, which had “delightful Matcha lattes.” When I was talking to the barista about wanting a nice Matcha latte, she suggested that I’d try “The Hulk” because “it’s a great for nerds like me,” she said, while assuming that I, too, was a fellow nerd—she was right.

Anyway, the tea was meh (yeah, I said “meh”). There wasn’t much in there with the 16 ounces of 2% milk. I literally watched her put a tablespoon of tea in with the milk, added vanilla, and haphazardly stirred the minimal amount of Matcha into the cup. I asked her if she could add more, but considering that it was $2.50 for an extra scoop, I let it go. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t a bad cup of milk, either. However, I’ll stick with getting up at 4:45 A.M. to make tea from now on….

I’ve been frequently going to Muggzwigs Coffee and Tea Co. lately near my house. They have had a tendency to focus too much on the coffee aspect of their business; however, due to the popularity of tea in this area now, they are improving their skill at making cups of tea.

When I was at school a few years back, they often over steeped or burned the tea by putting boiling water into the pot—no matter the type of tea being used—so I avoided drinking tea there for a while. Recently, a friend had told me that they had improved on making tea, so I gave it a go.

The result was fulfilling.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDVxI5Ig-9s/?taken-by=sgsanders1

Anyway, since this new and inexpensive experience, I thought I’d make my way over there after work last night for a cup of tea. Out front, they had the daily special: The Golden Smoky Latte. The description of the tea was, “Lapsang Souchong with frothed milk & honey.”

I was in the mood for something sweet, unique, and tea (plus, Lapsang just sounded like a great tea to have). However, when the barista was putting the cup together, I saw him grinding coffee beans…Considering that I was the only one placing an order, I thought this to be strange. When he began to add the coffee to the Lapsang that was steamed with the milk, I asked him what the hell he was doing. He told me that it was a “Lapsang with coffee, frothed milk, whipped cream, honey, vanilla syrup, and nuts…” I explained to him that the description mentioned Lapsang and honey—nothing else—but he decided to explain that the specials just highlight the “main components” of the daily specials, rather than list everything else.

Despite that, I purchased the cup & a Peanut Butter Morsi, and called it a day. The cup was unimpressive. It was loaded with so much sweetener and coffee, that the Lapsang was covered completely. I’ve decided that when or if I return, that I’ll avoid any “special-teas” and stick with the tea itself. Because the truth is, coffee-tea drinks are horribly sweet and unbalanced…and full of lies.

My wife and I went to a local Thai restaurant where they had a Thai Tea made from Orange Pekoe. It was very sweet and loaded with cream; although, it was surprisingly refreshing and had a nice kick to it. It’ll definitely be something to have rarely due to the incredibly high sugar content. I’m glad I took a cup without ice home because it helped me get through the first half of the morning with the students.

I tried the first sample that LP had sent me. I must say that he loaded me up! For that, I’m utterly grateful!

I had this tea session this morning before heading outside on this lovely afternoon. So, I sat at table with my wife, as she had coffee, and took an hour to go at it. The sample that I had was a 11 Mao Cha; which was quite lovely.

The aroma after the first rinse was intriguing. I wrote, “Vegetal, honey, smoke (????).”

First steep: The flavor was vegetal, slightly smoky (slightly in the aftertaste), and grassy (?). The mouthfeel is a bit drying, and works itself into the throat.

Second steep: Aroma has a nice floral, “fresh leaf,” slightly smoky, and honey smell.
Flavor: Rich and soft; floral and sweet. A slight astringent aftertaste, which is left in the mouthfeel. The overall tea doesn’t have much astringency, but it’s minor in the mouthfeel. I like the dryness. Mostly sweet, though.

Third and Fourth steep: Aroma has a stronger honey, cooked leaf (?), grassy, and Spring quality to it.

Final note on the tea: Mao Cha is the tea to have when Winter ends and Spring begins. It is fresh, slightly astringent in a very positive way, and leaves a unique dry mouthfeel. Mao Cha is the type of tea that could grow into a “very pleasant Shu…Like individuals, with age, we grow (supposedly) wiser. Tea just does that with flavor.”

As you can tell, I was tired and tea drunk, so my notes came off a bit eccentric. I enjoyed the session, and my wife told me that she enjoyed hearing my thoughts on the tea. Thank you, Liquid Proust for this sample! I now understand pu-erh in a way that haven’t before; which is satisfying to know that there’s always more to learn with tea.

I got about 13 steeps out of this, but gave up on the note taking after steep # 4.

I received a mystery sample! All I know for sure about it is that it’s by Yuuki-cha. My best guess from the appearance was that it was a green tea, so I steeped accordingly. I think I guessed right. The brew is quite dark, but definitely not dark enough for a black tea. To me this tastes like hojicha, though the dry leaves didn’t look anything like the hojicha I’ve tried before. It may also be some sort of oolong I haven’t encountered before, but hojicha is my best guess.

Finished off a small Taobao sample of a 2004 Xiaguan FT brick – recommended to me by James of TeaDB. It was a pretty enjoyable session once I got past the first two steeps which, 14 years later, retain plenty of that distinctive smoky/burly quality that young Xiaguan teas often possess. The material was chopped to hell, but excessive compression wasn’t really an issue.

Flavor in the later steeps was nice and woody with some sweetness and a hint of smokiness. Definitely one of the nicer examples of Xiaguan tea that I’ve tried – this and a few others allow me to believe that Xiaguan can age into something pleasant and very drinkable. I don’t think this had particularly humid storage – not enough to come through in the flavor or aroma certainly.

This note is for a sample of 2006 Xiaguan 8653 from King Tea which I pulled out of the Puerh TTB. It doesn’t seem to have been very humidly stored.

I honestly could barely stand to drink a few steeps of this one. After a rinse, the leaves smelled a little bit like smokey dirt and old tires. The taste wasn’t much better than that. Still far too much smoke left in this one for me. A bit of an acrid dirty taste as well. Not my cup of tea at all. Figured it might be alright, being 11 years old now, but that does not appear to be enough time for some Xiaguan stuff. Maybe would be better with very wet storage?

This review is for a tea I pulled out of the Puerh TTB which was labeled “Qianjiazhai 2015 Gu Hua Maocha” or something like that. I couldn’t really find it searching around the internet, so I’m just mentioning it here. The dry leaves smelled sweet and savory with some buttery and mushroom notes. After a rinse, it was more of the same thing – savory mushrooms, but also a bit of that wet hay thing going on.

The tea started out bittersweet in the front of the sip with a rather quick huigan. As I kept steeping it, the bitterness started to outweigh the sweetness, but it never got unpleasant in that way. The flavor was savory like the aroma. Notes of mushrooms cooked in butter and a very thick texture that matched well with the flavor. Pretty good stuff.

Today I drank a small sample I got from a teafriend, labeled “2008 Mengku Raw, Teabook.” I couldn’t find an 08 Mengku here or on Teabook’s website, so here the review shall go. Probably sold out or something. After a rinse, I took a big whiff and got punched right in the face with a big tobacco and slightly barnyard aroma. Also whiffs of fruit in the background – big, hefty nose on this one.

The flavor followed largely in kind. Sweet and heavy tobacco notes, with a light underlying smoke and a little bitterness. This one still feels like a pretty young tea, but I imagine it would have been quite rough the first couple years after pressing. The tea possessed a lightly sweet but rather flat huigan which did not last long on the palate. Towards the end of the session, I started to pick up a bit of fruitiness buried in the finish, but the tea gave up the ghost just after that started to show through. Potentially would be a better tea given another decade of solid aging, but as it is, not one that really aligns with my pu tastes. Leaf quality was better than tuocha and some super chopped cakes, but was still pretty cut up. Provided a mostly enjoyable session for my afternoon though.

Yesterday I drank another tea I received in a swap with a teafriend: Lugu Farmers’ Association “Silver Medal Dong Ding.” Not sure where it comes from, though considering my Steepster search turned up a similarly named “Third Place Dong Ding” from Eco-Cha, maybe it was from there. The aroma from the dry leaf was light, but I picked up a little bit of roast, and of the distinctly Dong Ding nuttiness. After a rinse, that nutty aroma was more prominent, as was the sweet roastiness.

The flavor of the tea started out thick, sweet, creamy, and smooth. There was a small indication of a fruity finish, but that wasn’t very strong in the first couple steeps. The texture was thick, and I felt the tea in the back of my throat after I swallowed it. As I continued to steep this out, the fruitiness got more prominent. It was hard to identify, but reminded me most of peaches. The front was sweet and nutty, with that fruity flavor exploding softly in my mouth just after I swallowed. Very interesting way for the tea to develop on the palate. The tea had respectable longevity for a rolled oolong – I think I got about a dozen good steeps out of it.

I also tried it with 200F water, which brought out some more delicate floral flavors, but also failed to elicit the nice fruity finish I enjoyed a good deal in my first session. I’d say it was definitely better with boiled water according to my tastes.

Drank a tea from Liquid Proust labeled only as “Shan Lin Xi Black” a few days ago. One of the better hongchas I’ve had, though that’s not usually a category of tea which I go for. The dry leaf had a fruity, chocolatey aroma – once they were wet, it was mostly fruity, specifically raisiny.

The flavor in the first couple steeps was jammy – sweet, thick, and fruity – with a bit of a malty finish. That didn’t last for too long, but the tea progressed to another pleasant profile with some floral sweetness. The malty finish became stronger and longer as the session went on as well. Near the middle of the session (around steep 5), I noticed a bit of a cinnamony spice note as well. The tea started to fade shortly after, but it still yielded a good 4-5 more steeps of some nice malty sweetness.

A very pleasurable black tea. One of the few I might consider buying more of if the price was right.

I received a couple sessions’ worth of Floating Leaves’s 2015 Shan Lin Xi from a teafriend earlier in the year and got around to drinking it a few days ago. The dry leaves had an eggy (like eggnog-ish), floral, creamy aroma. After a rinse, they smelled more strongly floral, with a bit of a vegetal note as well.

I used boiled water for my first session with the tea. The flavor started floral and vegetal – I picked up a bit of a sweetcorn note. The floral flavor had an almost musky, heavy quality. The flavor grew more intense as I steeped it out. I noted that it was more intense and full in flavor than a lot of green oolongs. The finish was buttery and thick. Near the middle of the session, the flavor became more green and vegetal, but still retained creamy floral notes. There was also a small hint of bitterness.

For my second session, I used 200F water. The flavor of this session was lighter, more delicate, and “higher” than my previous session. I think I preferred it with this slightly cooler water. The early steeps had a floral flavor with a lasting crisp finish. As in the earlier session, the flavor transitioned to something greener and a bit more vegetal, though the floral character remained more intact in this session, and I didn’t ever get anything resembling bitterness.

The other day I drank a tea out of the 2016 Pubertea Group Buy, labeled as 2004 Yang Pin Hao Kong Que Zhi Xiang (ripe). I don’t see this one on Steepster anywhere, and it looks like a struggle to add with that long name. I don’t generally gravitate to ripes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good one every now and then. This is one of the better ones I’ve brewed up to date. The dry leaf had a very lightly damp woody scent to it – almost chocolatey as well. After a rinse (I double rinsed this one), it had a more dank aroma, kind of like a wet basement with some also wet logs stacked in a corner. It did not smell unpleasant or mildew-y though.

The first few steeps were pretty smooth, with a bit of that dampness coming through – this seemed more like storage dampness than fermentation funk to me. It had a little bit of a bite to the finish for the first 2-3 steeps, kind of bitter vegetal maybe, and it left my mouth just a bit dry.

After those first few steeps, this became one of the smoothest teas I’ve had. Tasted like damp wood and earth, very thick, calming qi. A pleasure to drink. For most ripes, I stop steeping them out once they stop producing really dark black-ish liquor, but I took this one a little further and it continued to give me a few tasty, albeit lighter, cups.

A treat which I certainly wouldn’t mind drinking again, but I’m not in the business of hoarding shou, so I likely won’t be seeking a cake out. Thanks for including this one, LP!

A couple days ago, I put together a Franken-pu with a couple small samples I had laying around. I combined 5g of 2015 YS Ye Zhu Tang with 3g of 2008 Bana Limited Edition, both shengs. The dry leaf smelled earthy and floral, with some straw and a touch of leather. After a rinse, it took on a bit more of a twiggy barnyard note, with just a hint of fruitiness as well.

The first couple steeps were slightly astringent, but with a sweet finish that came across my palate as slightly juicy. Reminded me of cucumber or some light fruit. As I continued to brew it out, I believe the more aged 2008 Bana tea started to contribute a bit more to the flavor profile with some leathery notes and a more bass-y sweetness coming through in the finish. The front of the sip was still a slightly astringent straw note.

Near the midpoint of the session, the flavor started to meld together a little bit, becoming more woody, less astringent, and smoothening up in the finish. The huigan lingered nicely in my mouth for a couple minutes after each sip. There was some detectable qi to this tea, but I felt it almost similarly to a mild caffeine high.

This session was good, and I’m glad to report I didn’t end up “wasting” either of the little samples. The brew started off a bit astringent and strong, likely because I leafed a touch heavily. In the end though, it became a nice and smooth session. It was slightly interesting, but more just pleasant. Gives a good appreciation for those who blend different teas together to make interesting puerhs for all of us to drink up.

Yesterday and today I drank a 2015 Winter Alishan from Mountain Tea which I received as part of our Slackchat’s Secret Santea Exchange from Hokdor. I’m reviewing it as Random, because I didn’t feel the need to make a new entry for a previous year’s tea which is no longer listed on their site. This was a really nice oolong. The dry leaf had a slightly vegetal sweet aroma – After a rinse, a bit more sweetness and floral aroma came through, still accompanied by a green vegetal note.

The flavor started off mostly a nice and mildly sweet vegetal, but with a heady and slightly funky floral-sweet finish. As the session developed, the tea sweetened, delivering almost a sugarcane note on the finish. The texture was pleasantly thick as I expect from most gaoshan. My notes weren’t too detailed on these sessions, so that’s about the extent of what I have! Great tea for sure.

I had a very strange few sessions with a tea I received in some reddit swap a few months ago over the weekend and into today. The tea was an oolong which the person I swapped with told me came from a friend of his in Taiwan – it was labeled only as “Floral Oolong Green Tea.” It was a green rolled oolong – no roasting involved. When I first smelled the leaf, I instantly though “Jin Xuan.” It had a floral, slightly milky and almond sweet scent. I had enough for three sessions. The first two were very different from the last one – a testament to samples which are large enough to get multiple attempts at a tea, though this was a drastic example.

My first two sessions used 5.5g of leaf/100mL with water at 200F and 185F respectively. In both these sessions, the leaf had a strangely mariney, seaweed aroma after the rinse, with a touch of floral remaining. This carried on into the flavor as well. It tasted quite a bit like seaweed, and it was a savory flavor as well, with a bit of saltiness to it. During some parts of the session, a nice floral sweetness would poke its way through, but it seemed to last only a couple steeps before the marine flavors returned.

Today’s session, in which I used 6g and boiled water, was COMPLETELY different. The tea had a more familiar notes for green taiwanese oolongs in my experience. Very sweet floral with a bit of honey in the taste as well. The only thing at all like the seaweed of the previous sessions was a bit of a vegetal note that popped up here and there, but did not have a marine character.

This tea confused the crap out of me. If it hadn’t been two sessions on two different days, I would have totally written off the whole seaweed thing as an off-tasting day for me, but it doesn’t seem that was the case. I almost wish I had more of this so I could find out which profile was enigmatic and which I could bring out consistently. Did the boiled water make that much of a difference? I feel like I’ll never know. Definitely a funny tea to spend the weekend with.

Yesterday’s last tea was another out of my Liquid Proust Mystery Grab Bag. It was labeled “Pear Mountain,” which I’m pretty sure is what Lishan translates to, and it certainly looked like a high mountain oolong. The leaves had a nice sweetcorn aroma with a bit of greenness and floral notes as well.

I tasted a lot of corn sweetness in this one for the first steep, with a slight floral finish. After that, the front of the sip transitioned to a bit of a greener vegetal note, but still quite sweet, with that crisp and refreshing floral finish so often found in greener Taiwanese oolongs of a high quality. The tea had a pleasantly thick and creamy texture as well. Not sure where this one came from, but it was a pleasure to drink.

Today is turning into a Liquid Proust kind of day. This next one I drank is from a Mystery Grab Bag I bought from him a way’s back. It was labeled only as Wild Indian Green Tea. Figuring I haven’t had or heard of great results brewing Indian teas gongfu, I westerned this one, with 3g in my 12 oz kyusu. After the first steep, the leaves smelled like crackers. Sounds a little weird, but I’ve experienced this with a few other greens as well.

The taste was at least in part aligned with the aroma – the first steep tasted like crackers with sweet grass on top of them. In the next couple steeps, I also tasted a bit of a citrus note to it, maybe lemon or grapefruit. Not really a kind of tea I would choose to buy, but sipping it down was not at all unpleasant.

Today I drank a 2014 yancha from Liquid Proust which he had been storing in a brass container. The dry leaf had a roasted nutty, sweet aroma. After a rinse, some of the tea’s mineral notes came out – it smelled like lightly charred stones, still backed up by a nutty sweetness.

The first steep started out with a light red currant note to it, which presided over a sweet mineral and caramel finish. The texture was velvety smooth, and it coated the inside of my mouth. The currant note didn’t stick around much past the first steep, and the caramel transitioned into more of a generic (not in a bad way, mind you) roasty sweetness.

The next steep confused me at first. The tea tasted a bit like water, but really good water. Then I realized it was an intense mineral flavor, like streams of clear water running over stones. It was a pretty awesome flavor, and one which painted a clear and beautiful picture in my mind. The aftertaste retained some nice roasted nutty sweetness, and the tea felt active on my tongue. This crisp mineral note continued for around four steeps, after which it dropped into the background as the roasty sweetness became the most prominent flavor in this tea.

I really enjoyed this one – it seems like a high quality tea, whether it was affected by the brass storage container or not. Nothing from the flavor screamed that it had been stored in a brass container or anything, but maybe that helped intensify those mineral notes I was tasting. No way to tell really without being able to compare the tea from before its time in storage.