Various Artists

Today I drank a black tea which was given to me as a free sample along with some teacups from an AliExpress order. When I opened the pouch, I wasn’t sure if it was black tea or yancha. After a rinse, it was pretty obvious that it was a black – it had a pretty distinct malty aroma, though also present was the strangely salty aroma of french fries.

The taste was sweet and yammy, with just a touch of salty minerality and a bit of malt to back the whole thing up and tie it together. Sort of like liquid sweet potato fries! Except not as gross as that sounds. It was good, but really not my favorite kind of flavor profile – I was hoping this would be a yancha! Later steeps picked up a funky flavor that just tasted like the tea was all steeped out of goodness and just throwing some badness in my face.

Unrelated Note: Is anybody else having trouble with Steepster notifications? I’m not getting any – not for likes, comments, discussion posts, or anything. I still get emails when threads I’m following are updated, but nothing in the actual Steepster UI.

Today I drank a sample of a 2005 Dayi 7262 Shou from Mx-Tea on Taobao. I was ordering sheng samples and managed to accidentally order this sample as well – yay for shopping in a store where you can’t read anything. Turned out to be a pretty happy accident, as this was a thoroughly pleasant session. I didn’t realize this was a shou until I smelled the leaves – pretty wet and musty smelling. I held out a slight bit of hope that it might be a humid stored sheng until the first brew came out almost black.

This tea started off a little oddly – the first steep (after a double rinse) was pretty salty tasting with a bit of a leather note. After that, it smoothed out quite nicely, and I got just good creamy, sweet woodiness. This is one of those rare shou puerhs which I have found to have decent longevity. I got probably near 15 steeps from it, and with only 6.6g rather than my normal heavier shou parameters. If I were a shou-head, I would probably pick up a cake of this, as I believe it was rather reasonably priced.

Last night I finally got into the tea from my slackchat Secret Santea package from Hokdor. This one was labeled “Jani Dhahabu Kenya Dark Oolong” from Phoenix Tea (I’m assuming this refers to the teahouse in Seattle). This was a really interesting tea – it looked more like a dianhong than an oolong, with black and gold fuzzy leaves. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, as highly oxidized, unroasted oolongs usually don’t appeal to me too greatly, since they’re so close to black teas. I’m glad to say this one was not at all what I expected. The dry leaf smelled a bit like cinnamon, and after a rinse I got a plummy hongcha aroma.

The first steep was lightly chocolatey with a bit of plum – these flavors were not accompanied by the malty taste that often joins them in black teas. Subsequent steeps were really interesting – I got a dark and clean earthy bitterness, like reaally dark chocolate. This flavor filled my mouth completely – I didn’t really get any of the plummy notes anymore either. To my surprise, this flavor didn’t go away for the rest of the session, around 12 steeps. It certainly dropped down in intensity, but it was never replaced by a boring malty sweetness like what I normally get with chocolatey hong. This was a really interesting and fun to drink tea – if Phoenix Tea’s online store ever comes back, I would probably consider picking some of this up when I have a craving for a chocolatey tea.

This review is for the 2005 Menghai Brick which was part of Toby’s Curated Puerh Box #003. I’ve found this to be an interesting and rewarding tea so far. The first time I tried it, I was pretty lukewarm about it, but each time I’ve tried it since, I have found a greater appreciation for it. After rinsing, the leaves have a slightly camphorous aroma, with some fruit and maybe just a bit of leather as well.

The first couple steeps can be a bit sour, especially if overbrewed – kind of that leather note coming out of the tea. Thankfully that doesn’t last long, and if managed properly, isn’t really present at all. The highlight of this tea in terms of flavor would have to be the fruitiness. I have a lot of trouble identifying what sort of fruitiness it is, but it’s present throughout the majority of any given session with this tea. I at first said it reminded me of Dates, but I’m not sure it’s quite that dark/low. Another person who got this tea told me they tasted strawberry in it, an assertion which seems out of place for an aged sheng (in my experience anyways), but which I have a hard time disagreeing with.

The texture is pleasantly thick, but I wouldn’t call it oily or creamy. There is good longevity to the session, in part I’m sure because the tea was pressed rather compactly into a brick. This is also slightly frustrating, because I find it near impossible to get my chunks to break all the way apart without some added assistance from a puerh pick in the teapot. I haven’t really picked up much qi from this tea in any of my sessions – a bit of a gentle buzzy feeling maybe, but could just be a day I was drinking multiple teas back to back.

This tea seems to have seen pretty clean storage, as I don’t taste any hint of humidity or funk. I definitely enjoyed this one more in my Jianshui clay pot than in a gaiwan. Not sure if it was just the forced longer steep times (due to slow pour) or if the clay tempered a bit of the sourness I experienced in the first few steeps, or what. I’m still figuring out what kind of an effect this pot has on teas. It often seems to give them a thicker mouthfeel, but again that could be a result of the slow pour-time. After tasting this one, I’m pretty excited to get into the rest of the teas which Toby included.

I seem to be using Random Steepings a lot lately – maybe I’m just lazy. This was a tea in a golden packet which came by me in a reddit swap as a nice little add-in. It said “Yong Chun Fo Shou” on the packet. A teafriend on Instagram pointed out that Fo Shou generally refers to “Buddha’s Hand” oolongs. This didn’t look anything like other examples of that tea, so who knows really. It was a rolled green oolong, with unusually large nuggets of rolled tea. The dry leaf had a very buttery floral aroma. After a rinse, it was just floral sweetness, with maybe a hint of an herbal note to it.

This one was pretty simple, but also tasty. Some good floral notes with a very bright finish and aftertaste. The floral was a little different than I’m used to in these greener oolongs – more bright and crisp than the creamier florals which often come across. Quite nice.

Today I drank an oolong I bought as part of a reddit sale from Beautiful Taiwan Tea. It was a pretty green Da Bang oolong. I’ve been mostly moving away from greener oolongs, gravitating towards roasted ones lately, but I certainly enjoy this tea and will have no problem getting through the 75g I bought.

This one seems to be a pretty typical (good quality) greener oolong, but with a bit of a twist. I get some nice creaminess and floral notes, along with a bit of honey sweetness and a peachy fruit finish. The more unusual thing, for me anyways, started in the aroma of the dry leaf – it smelled a lot like sweet gingerbread. At times during the session, I could clearly smell the aroma of baking spices coming off the soup as well. A very nice and fun to drink oolong!

The other day I drank another tea from the Puerh TTB. This one was 2016 Gu Zu Qin from a company called Western Yunnan – I think they’re on Ali or Taobao. The dry leaf had a grassy, sweet straw aroma. After a rinse, it was slightly smokey and salty as well.

The tea seemed like it was still very green, especially in the first couple steeps, which were some of the grassiest infusions of sheng puerh I’ve ever tasted. By the third steep, it had transitioned more to an alfalfa/hay flavor, but still pretty green in character. The tea had a slight thickness.

Around steep number four, the tea took on a more vegetal characteristic, with some bittersweet asparagus notes. During the next 4-5 steeps, I also tasted the occasional fruity sweet note in the finish, barely detectable. I took the tea through around 12 steeps. It may have been able to go a few more, but I wasn’t really feeling it. This one would probably be a bit more impressive in a few years, but I only had one session’s worth, so oh well!

A couple days ago I drank some of the most interesting looking puerh I’ve ever had my hands on. The leaves were braided/pleated together, so I had about four little puerh braids in my gaiwan. They never really came all the way undone. This one is courtesy of Liquid Proust from some time ago. The dry leaf had a bit of a straw aroma with a bit of smoke and wood. After a rinse, it smelled like wet burnt hay. I wasn’t expecting much from this tea to be honest – figured it was just a novelty thing.

The first two steeps were pretty light, as those tea braids were still holding together pretty well. It started off light and a bit grassy though I noticed a milky texture pretty early on. It got a bit more earthy with the second steep, and I noticed a bit of a honey sweetness.

Starting on the third steep, that honey sweetness exploded. One of the strongest honey-tasting teas I’ve ever had. That honey flavor took over and was the predominant note of this tea for most of the session – and it went a solid 13 steeps. Around steep 7, it got a bit of a straw note to it which wasn’t particularly sweet – kind of bitter almost.

I was pretty impressed with this tea and glad I got to try it. No idea where it came from, what year it’s from, etc. If I had to guess on the year, I’d probably say no older than 2010, but probably even younger than that. Origin – my best guess would be Jingmai. Thanks for this one LP!

Today I finally drank the last of the five or six hong samples included in a previous w2t monthly club box, Black Buddha. This one was made up of some really tiny little leaves, which had a heavy chocolate aroma with a bit of maltiness to back it up.

I tasted some of the chocolate during the brewing, but also found myself battling a pretty hefty bitterness/astringency. I think this is due to the small leaves. I brewed it at 200F, so maybe going down to 190 would have helped. Despite the kind of rough bitterness, I did taste some nice chocolate, malt, and slightly fruity notes. Towards the end of the session, it got a little of a bready taste to it.

I preferred this one brewed more western-style. It seemed to help with the off-putting bitterness/mouth-drying effect rather well.

This morning I drank a tea which I received in a reddit swap with some fellow in Germany – all the teas were unlabeled, so it’s been a little mystery package for me. This one was clearly a rolled oolong. The dry leaf had a bit of a creamy pineapple tone – I thought it might be a Jin Xuan at this point. After a rinse, it was a bit milky smelling, with hints of pine and some sort of fruit.

The tea tasted pretty good too! It didn’t quite match the aromas I was detecting however. It had a crisp vegetal note on the front of the sip, pretty cucumber-ish to me, followed by a green floral aftertaste. Later on, the cucumber turned into more of a melon flavor, but was still nice and crisp. The tea had a decently thick texture, but I wouldn’t call it milky. A pretty decent green oolong – no idea what it is or where it came from though.

Just finished a sample of some random 2005 Xiaguan Iron Cake I got from mx-Tea. It was one I picked out to try, not one which was recommended to me. The dry leaf smelled leathery and a bit spicy. After a rinse, it still had that camphor on the nose, along with a bit of a barnyard aroma.

My first session was really dusty, so it got pretty strong right off the bat. There were some pleasant notes, including, a bit of that camphor and some dark fruit in the finish. I also tasted leather early on, though that went away quickly enough. The tea did get pleasantly thick and sweet. Most of the session was just a slightly sweet and thick earthy taste. It was enjoyable, but nothing special or really even noteworthy. Didn’t notice any qi building up.

My second session had less dust, but a few bigger chunks. Trying to get these to break up in the pot was an exercise in frustration, and I ended up with a session characterized by weak steeps as the biggest chunk refused to yield to boiling water. I lost my patience after a little while and just tossed the tea around halfway through. Next time I get samples or pieces of an “iron cake” I will have to tackle it differently. I don’t think I missed too much tossing this tea a bit prematurely though.

Including link for my own record-keeping, so I don’t reorder the tea next time I make a Taobao sample order.
https://world.taobao.com/item/22239667260.htm?fromSite=main&spm=a312a.7728556.0.0.KmCQeg

Today while browsing Aliexpress and deciding what silly sale items I need (want) to buy, I drank a mystery tea from a reddit swap. Based on what the guy told me he was giving me (he didn’t label anything) it was either an oolong or a Korean green. I was leaning toward it being a green tea before I drank it, because the leaves were quite green and it had a bit of a grassy smell. Once I brewed it though, I quickly learned I was wrong. The liquor came out pretty orangeish, and the leaves were a reddish-brown with bits of green. Clearly an oolong, partially oxidized. The leaves smelled like malty plums after I started steeping. The color and profile leads me to believe it may have been some kind of bug bitten oolong. Then again, I’ve had teas that looked like this that weren’t bug-bitten also, so who knows.

Through the whole session, this tea teetered on the line between being a greener oolong and a darker one. I got a lot of those “dark” sweet flavors I would expect from a more oxidized tea, including maltiness, raisin, and a slight bit of cinnamon, but it always stayed pretty crisp and refreshing feeling as well. I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable juxtaposition. About halfway through the session, the tea picked up a slight bitterness (not astringency) in the finish, which I found enjoyable. This tea was pretty solid – no idea where it came from or anything though :P

Yesterday I drank the 2013 (I think) Feng Qing black tea balls that came along with the cake of A&P in the white2tea club a few months ago. I really did enjoy this one – likely the best black tea that I’ve gotten as part of the white2tea club. The leaf, dry and after a rinse or two to help open up the ball, smelled mostly of malt with a bit of a woodiness maybe.

The flavor started off mostly malty with a bit of fruity or floral hidden in the finish. Within around four steeps, the finish changed to a chocolatey note. My favorite part of this tea was how beautifully the chocolate and malt notes interlaced with each other. Neither really took the tea by storm, and they were in excellent synergy for five or six steeps. This tea was a very smooth drinker – no off tastes at all – easily chuggable, but also nuanced enough to be interesting if one decides to pay greater attention to it.

I think this is one of the nicer black teas I’ve enjoyed in my time drinking tea. I think I’ll have to pick up a few other examples of black tea with a bit of age on it to see if they compare to this one in smoothness and balance.

Rating: 82/100

Today I drank a tea from the Puerh TTB labeled “2006 Haiwan” from Mx Tea. I picked it out because I was interested in tasting some mid-aged factory tea. This one wasn’t really too fantastic. The leaf smelled like leather with some floral and tobacco hints as well.

The flavor started off a little bit sour with a spicy vegetal finish and notes of leather. This lasted for about two steeps before it dropped off at least some.

The next six or seven steeps were like roasted asparagus, sometimes accompanied by a sour mushroom note and with a bitter finish. The texture was a little bit thick, but not too nice in that regard. The tea started to get a little bit lighter around steep 8 or 9, after which some sweet flavors finally started to come out.

The last four steeps had a relatively pleasant vegetal sweetness, with a bit of nice throat feel. I think these were the most enjoyable parts of the session. This tea seems like it could use more age on it – I’m fairly certain it was stored in a rather dry environment, as there was no wet storage taste and the liquid was still quite yellow, only starting to pick up an orange tint.

I’d rate this 77/100. I used 6.1g in my 100mL Jianshui pot.

Last night I drank a small samples from Liquid Proust which he labeled “2008 Ye Sheng Liu Bao.” I’m not sure where it came from, but it was pretty tasty. Much nicer than the other one or two Liu Bao I’ve had. The leaf had a slight basementy aroma but was not too offensive in that regard. After a rinse, I also smelled sweeter notes.

The flavor started with a little bit of dampness and a deep earthiness – a good dirt flavor. There was also a slightly vegetal quality to the finish. Almost like I was just eating shovels full of dirt from a vegetable garden after a rainstorm. The flavor shifted a little bit after two steeps, with less dampness and the vegetal finish becoming more yeasty or bready. Two further steeps later, the tea got nice and smooth with a good nasal earthy flavor and slightly spicy and vegetal notes. This continued on for another 6 or so steeps afterwards.

I think I should try to get a few more Liu Bao to try sometime. I’ve enjoyed other hei cha I’ve had, but this is the first time I’ve really had an enjoyable Liu Bao. I’m not sure how much I want to get into it though. Even if I buy more expensive and nicer hei cha, I just have a feeling like it’s not really going to compare to a lot of puerh. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the two and I should just view hei cha as an interesting deviation from the norm rather than a type of tea that should be compared against puerh.

Rating: 77/100
3g/60mL, Boiled Water

Did some “hipster” cold brewing (in mason jars) and finally got satisfactory cold brew results! Not because of the mason jars, I’m sure, but just because I actually tried it properly. I used a green floral Taiwanese oolong as well as a Japanese Kamairicha green tea. Both were quite good, and I recognized some of the same flavors as when I drink them hot. The green tea was stronger as it had much smaller leaf fragments. Both were good, and I’m going to keep this going to help go through my stock of teas that might go bad that I’m not drinking quickly enough.

Today I drank a tea which was gifted to me by my brother’s friend who is a girl (not girlfriend) from China. She visited our house for a couple days while I was working out of state, but knowing that it was my birthday and that I like tea, she gave a tin of tea to my brother to pass on to me. It came with 6 or 7 little vaccum-sealed packages of Tieguanyin. The tea seemed decently fresh – certainly more than other Tieguanyin I’ve had in the past. It was pretty good tasting – some floral and vegetal notes. Not my favorite style of oolong, but it’s the thought that counts anyways, so I appreciate it regardless. I’d probably rate the tea 73/100.

A tea from the Puerh TTB labeled “2016 Xigui Caicheng.” I think Xigui is the factory, not 100% sure though. The leaf for this one was very green. Smelled of straw and grass when dry. After a rinse, I got a slight briney note on the nose as well. Bitterness is the main thing I noticed with this one for the first 5 or so steeps – a rather unpleasant and astringent bitterness. Also detected nutty and straw notes – more like I had oversteeped a green tea. That harsh astringency did start to fade around steep number 6, after which I got around 6 more steepings with a basic sweet hay characteristic and slightly thick texture. Wouldn’t consider this tea a winner, though part of that could be that I brutalized it a little bit with boiling water. I’m guessing it would be more tasty with a few years’ age on it to cut that bitterness.

Rating: 73/100

Drank part of the Dancong cake from LP’s Mystery Group Buy. I was not a fan. It started off rather inoffensive – with some slightly grapey and floral notes. Unfortunately, within a few steeps, the tea got bitter and soapy tasting. I had to cut the session short. I might give some of this a try with lower temperature or lower steep times (though I kept the times pretty low already), but it may be hard to entice myself to drink this again.

Rating: 35/100 – Noting it here because I used Random Steepings to make my tasting note.

Yet another note on Random Steepings for me today! This was the Purple Sheng mini-tuo from Liquid Proust’s Mystery Group Buy. I was quite taken by the quality of this one, considering its diminutive size.

There was some smokiness in the first two steeps, along with some light honey and apricot notes. As the tuo opened up, I got some bitterness which I assume is associated with the purple nature of the tea leaves. This was a really tasty and smooth bitterness though, nothing harsh about it. Next couple steeps were bittersweet with a bit of a sour, almost yeasty tang to them – the sourness wasn’t too strong. I also started to feel a bit of throat constriction on these steeps – light feeling, but it’s there. Steeps 5-7 were lightly bitter on the front with a sweet apricot finish, sometimes accompanied by a super tasty sugarcane note as well. After that, I got four more steeps that were lightly sweet with that apricot note in the finish. On the last two steeps, both pretty extended, the smokiness from the first two steeps reappeared to say goodbye.

This is definitely my favorite mini tuo so far. I need to figure out where LP got these – it may be worth keeping a few around for tasty sheng on the go.

Rating (Noted here because it changes everytime I do another tea with Random Steepings): 85/100.

Drinking all kinds of mysterious stuff as I go through the Puerh TTB today. This is another one from Liquid Proust’s Mystery bag. The leaves were quite dark and tiny looking. It smelled smokey, more towards the BBQ side of things, which almost made me flee in terror. Thankfully, I gave it a chance. Once wet however, the leaves smelled even heavier of smoke. I got 7 steeps out of this tea.

Only the first steep was really smoky. It was also malty with a plummy fruitiness and a drying finish. Even here, the smoke was not as egregious as the smell led me to believe it would be. After tasting this first steep, it was apparent to me that this was a black tea – I was kind of thinking hei cha, but no, definitely a black tea. The second steep had a small amount of smoke left, followed by maltiness with a hint of tangy sourness on the finish. The next couple steeps featured a bit of chocolatey flavor along with the maltiness. The chocolate notes didn’t last long, and the final three steeps were just light maltiness with some fruit in the aftertaste.

After finishing the tea, I guessed this was a Lapsang Souchong smoked black tea. I was mostly right! It was a 2014 Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong. The only other Lapsang I’ve tried was far too smokey for me. I don’t know if this one was just processed differently, or if the smoke has had an opportunity to dissipate some with the tea being a couple years old. Either way, this was a pretty good tea, and shows me that I can enjoy smoked black tea!

Rating: 74/100

So I drank another selection from my mystery grab-bag courtesy of Liquid Proust today. This time I behaved and didn’t look at what it was before I brewed it. Just by look and smell, I could tell this was a sheng puerh. The aroma was fruity with a light bit of smokiness. As I got it brewing, I saw that the leaves appeared to be decently chopped up.

When I sipped the first steep, I was surprised with how smoky it was. Yikes. The first 3-4 steeps had pretty hefty smokiness, but not quite enough to be undrinkable for me. The finish was a sweet fruitiness, reminding me more of dried fruit. From the fifth steep, I started increasing the steep times, as the smoke had dissipated enough that i felt confident doing so. The next few steeps were mostly smooth with some sweet apricot and occasional floral notes, though wisps of smoke did still appear from time to time. The smoke in later steeps wasn’t super distinct, instead adding more of a savory note to the whole experience. The last few steeps started to get less smooth, with mouth dryness and lingering smoke making them a little rougher on the palate.

As I was drinking this, the choppy leaf and early smokiness made me think this might be a Xiaguan tuo or something. According to LP’s list though, this is a 2014 Ai Lao Wild Grown sheng. Possibly from YS? I don’t know, it didn’t say. Not my favorite for sure, due to all that smoke in there. It was decent once I got past all that.

Drank a random Japanese green tea I got as part of a swap with a redditor from Germany – the baggies came unlabeled, so it’s an adventure! I was a little worried he might have just sent me random odds and ends from the back of his cupboard, but this tea at least seemed decently fresh.

The wet leaves had an unusually vegetal aroma (for a sencha in my experience anyways), but this aroma didn’t translate to the flavor. The taste was sweet, grassy, buttery and nutty. I also got an aftertaste of fruit, which I don’t often get in sencha but do appreciate when it’s present. Successive steeps at 160F made a nice but lighter brew. I did one steep at 180F afterwards, which was decently bitter, but did yield a nice grassy flavor sounding the death knell of this tea.

Some of the leaves seemed to be decently intact, or at least in larger fragments than I usually see with sencha. That and the fact I got pretty clear liquid leads me to believe this was pretty lightly steamed. I think. Don’t know much about it though! :)