What-Cha

Continuing the posting of reviews from this week’s black tea kick, we arrive at the second black tea sample I finished over the course of the last few days. I greatly enjoyed the previous Shan Tuyet teas offered by What-Cha and could not resist the urge to just tear through this one. Of the the group, this ended up being my favorite. It was a sweeter, subtler, more delicate black tea compared to the other Shan Tuyet black tea that I tried.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in a 4 ounce gaiwan filled with 203 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves presented aromas of raisin, honey, and prune. After the rinse, I found new aromas of baked bread, citrus, and roasted chestnut. The first infusion then brought out aromas of roasted peanut and candied orange peel. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of honey, raisin, prune, malt, lemon zest, and roasted chestnut underscored by hints of roasted peanut. Subsequent infusions brought out a stronger citrus presence as well as caramel and sorghum molasses on the nose. Impressions of baked bread and candied orange peel belatedly emerged in the mouth alongside notes of caramel, sorghum molasses, brown toast, pine, cream, butter, fig, cocoa, and minerals. The final infusions offered lingering mineral, lemon zest, pine, and roasted chestnut notes underscored by fleeting impressions of brown toast, fig, and honey.

An interesting black tea with tremendous complexity and depth both on the nose and in the mouth, I am a little surprised that this tea did not received more attention here on Steepster and in other places. In my opinion, these Shan Tuyet teas have really flown under the radar of most tea lovers. They are very much worth investigating. Check this one and/or any of the other Shan Tuyet teas on the market out if you get the opportunity.

Okay, I’m back. These last few days have wiped me out. I have had to put in a ton of work hours and getting everything ready to start school in the summer is driving me up the wall. In order to maintain both a level of energy conducive to being productive and my seemingly eroding sanity, I have been mowing down black tea samples like crazy. This was the first of the bunch that I finished and it definitely did a lot to push me into my current black tea kick. I found this to be a mellow, yet exceptionally rewarding, black tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse (I more or less flash rinse most black teas), I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in a 4 ounce gaiwan filled with 203 F water for 3 seconds. This infusion was chased by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of honey, caramel, and molasses. After the rinse, I noted emerging aromas of malt, sweet potato, and roasted walnut. The first infusion then brought out hints of cream, nutmeg, and cinnamon on the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered dominant malty notes backed by milder impressions of molasses, cream, and sweet potato and some hints of spice on the swallow. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas of brown toast, cocoa, and herbs on the nose. Molasses, sweet potato, and cream notes were stronger in the mouth, and the spice impressions quickly became more prominent as the previously missing notes of roasted walnut, honey, and caramel belatedly emerged. New impressions of candied orange peel, leather, brown toast, camphor, cocoa, pine, eucalyptus, spruce, tobacco, plum, raisin, black pepper, and minerals also revealed themselves in the mouth. The final infusions presented subtler notes of minerals, brown toast, pine, malt, camphor, and eucalyptus balanced by delicate roasted walnut, black pepper, honey, and cocoa impressions.

Compared to most of the Yunnan black teas I have tried to this point, this one was noticeably lighter, smoother, and more delicate. I’m guessing that the age of my sample had something to do with that. It was one that I had bought either at the end of 2016 or the start of 2017 and forgot about entirely before organizing the sample hoard. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this tea. It had aged incredibly gracefully while in my keep, and should What-Cha ever restock it, I would very likely purchase it again.

Guys, I have been so lazy with regard to posting reviews lately. I’ve been working on finishing a bunch of samples and once again have so many backlogged reviews that getting a start on posting them has been problematic. As a general life update, work is crazy for me right now and I’m getting ready to go back to school in the summer (finally gave up on my dissatisfying career path and decided to fulfill the admissions prerequisites for graduate programs in occupational therapy), so it’s not like I’ve been doing nothing. I just haven’t been regularly posting here. I finished a sample of this tea a couple days ago. I’m a big fan of Huoshan Huang Ya (despite not getting to have it all that frequently), and I had high hopes for this one, but it ended up being a minor disappointment. It was a very nice tea in a lot of ways, but it turned more than a bit astringent in each preparation I tried. I brewed it both gongfu and Western and it turned distractingly astringent each time I started to get near the end of the drinking session.

The best preparation for this one was probably gongfu. I started off with a quick rinse before steeping 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of hay, roasted chestnut, and bamboo coming from the dry tea leaves. After the rinse, I found an emerging hint of honey alongside stronger impressions of roasted chestnut. The first infusion saw a stronger bamboo aroma poke through all the nuttiness on the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of bamboo, hay, and roasted chestnut chased by impressions of butter, grass, lettuce, and honey. Subsequent infusions saw a strong umami impression make itself known both on the nose and in the mouth. Cream, spinach, mineral, green bean, and malt notes emerged in the mouth alongside hints of fresh flowers (squash blossom and amaryllis), seaweed, peas, and smoke. From about the 40 second mark on, astringency steadily asserted itself, building with each infusion. The last infusions displayed a dominant astringency and persistent mineral, umami, grass, and seaweed notes underscored by touches of bamboo, roasted chestnut, green beans, butter, and malt.

The description above almost certainly makes this tea seem much worse than it was. To be clear, it was both intriguing and satisfying in a lot of ways, but I could not get over how astringent it became. Everything prior to the 40 second infusion was truly great, but from that point forward, the tea was steadily less enjoyable, and not in the way the later steeps of gongfu sessions almost always are. All in all, this ended up being a B- tea for me. It started off wonderfully, but declined way more than anticipated. Just know that the later infusions were not nearly enough to sink it and I would still encourage curious drinkers to give this tea a shot.

Thank you Alistair! Man, did these little leaves pack a punch. The chocolaty cocoa and leafy aroma was in the tea before brewing, and then it was accented when brewed. I was going to do this tea Western, but did it semi-gong fu both times after 30 second rinses using 4 grams each times. It had an immense chocolaty taste like a Bai Lin Gong Fu Chinese Black tea, and had sweet notes that made me think of sugar, making the tea almost syrupy. It only lasted for six cups in the first gong fu, and three in the other one that resembled western. The cocoa and caraway was more pronounced in longer steeps making it a little bit more malty, but the notes were more interesting sweet notes in the shorter steeps.

Here’s a tea I have been looking forward to reviewing for some time. I somehow ended up with two sample pouches of this tea over the course of the past year. I think I bought one and then received another as a free sample with a later What-Cha order. I worked through both of them earlier in the week after reorganizing my sample bin. Though I am a huge fan of Georgian black tea, this was probably my least favorite of the Georgian black teas from What-Cha that I have tried. Despite that, I still found it to be a more or less very good tea and especially appreciated its smoothness and lack of astringency.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not rinse the leaves and I also did not attempt any subsequent infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced mild aromas of honey, raisin, and chocolate. Aromas of malt, caramel, and roasted almond then appeared after infusion. In the mouth, the liquor offered rather delicate, smooth notes of cream, malt, steamed milk, honey, golden raisin, milk chocolate, and roasted almond underscored by leather, date, fig, brown sugar, apricot, and plum impressions. The finish was very smooth and mellow with pronounced cream and malt notes backed by distant apricot, plum, raisin, and fig flavors.

Like most of the Georgian black teas that I have tried, this was a very approachable, mellow, and forgiving tea. Unlike the others, I found this one to be a little flat in the mouth and felt that its finish was a little lacking. Those are comparatively minor quibbles, however, as I would have no issue with giving this tea another shot in the near future. Overall, this tea was definitely worth a try, but I feel that What-Cha has offered some better Georgian black teas in the past.

Cinnamon raisin, medium toasted. That’s what this tea tastes like to me. So rich and tasty. Sweet, no astringency.

Again, I am sucker for black teas with a raisin description. I have no idea, I hate actual raisins. But I just LOVE it as a flavor profile. I will easily go through my sample, and would buy again.

I really love the raw dry leaf scent from this. Coming off just having a milk oolong, I smell similarities. Buttered spinach. Veggie goodness!

This reminds me of a Sencha Karigane. There’s just a slight roasted taste to it than a sencha. A very easy to drink drink. I followed the brewing instructions to the T. I have only had another Korean tea. I know I will want to try more!

Sipdown – backlog

Depending on the ball brewed, this tea gave a range of flavors – some good and bad. I had a little bit of a hard time with the tea, but it ended on a good note when I landed on the correct brewing parameters. I did like the easy serving size ;)

At 212F, for 3 min: honey, sweet. It wanted to go for more steeps than I wanted to.
At 212F, using gaiwan: hay sweet, thick, floral aftertaste, woody & drier with longer steeps. I still had some dry leaf after 6 steeps. I needed to break the ball up more or give it a longer rest. This ball had a lot to give.

gong-fu 205F
10s- hay, sweet, thick, floral aftertaste
10s, 20s- floral, sweet like clover blossoms, thick; ball is still pretty together
30s- lost the sweet spot, more woody, drier
I went back to 20s – floral, but deeper, darker, honey
20,20,20, 6 steeps on and still some dry leaf?! I’ll need to break this up a little more next time.

This tea has already been thoroughly described. I actually got a bit of a rice note when drinking it, and in the dry leaf. I was not quite sure how to rate it. I would drink this tea pretty often if I could turn it into a daily drinker because I like it that much. I actually enjoyed that it was not as roasted tasting as some of the Taiwan Gui Fei I had. I might rate it higher in terms of taste later on, but know that I am very much satisfied with this tea.

I liked this one a lot. I was able to get eight cups and I did not want it to end a lot. It was super sweet and citrusy with a creamy texture and floral background. More will come on this one.

Puerh TTB Sample (?)

Finally getting to the bottom of my ‘sample’ drawer and discovered this one there. I picked this up a while back from the Puerh TTB that LP hosted (2016-17?). I must admit that I’ve had a bad habit in the past with drinking the samples I’ve acquired, but so far, I’ve drank a majority of them down. Unfortunately, I’ve been bad with reviewing/noting them here. xD

I was surprised that this was an oolong ‘cause there’re similar notes to black tea. Slightly malty, fruity, and mildly bitter at the start of the session. It lightens up after a few steeps in, but this is definitely a solid brew overall.

Thank you Alistair for the sample! I was tempted to try this one, though I was kinda hesitant because I had my sights on the Vietnam Gui Fei. I’m guessing that this might be an underappreciated oolong based on the reviews that were on the website.

This oolong is described as having a stonefruit quality with background florals, and that is right with the sample. I was barbaric with the preparation and used 8 grams in 11 oz of hot water beginning at one minute, two, then three and half, and four.

The dry leaf reminded me of roasted plaintains, and the teas taste matched it. It was as red, viscous, and a little malty as some hong chas, but it was light and floral enough to be an unmistakable oolong. The stonefruit qualities are there like plum, but the mix with the florals make it more like the plantain I got in the smell. It has a nice fructose sweetness too, and although the soft plantain and syrupy sweetness assert themselves in a fairly thick to medium texture, it has some of the floral notes of a si ju chun like violet, orchid and perhaps magnolia, but they are very, very faint. Sometimes, there were hints in the texture that reminded me of coconut milk because it was that thick, but I side more on the plantain note. Overall, it still tastes like, well, tea.

The tea was very flexible and very easy to drink. It was maltier with longer steeps, and creamier and more floral with shorter steeps. It’s a good and naturally sweet oolong, but the plantain note might divide some people. My main problem is being spoiled by Alistair’s other selections since they do tend to have more depth as another reviewer has noted. This would make a pretty great daily drinker, and it is nice in not being too green, but that is up to the buyer and their preferences.

I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather influencing the taste, but the rose note has become more and more pronounced with this tea, and I can dig it. I am going to be sad when this one and the winter special are gone, but there is something to hoarding a small amount of this treasure of a tea. I appreciate the experience more because of it…though I would not mind having more on hand.

This is a good mood tea. Some teacher blues, and this made my night a little sunnier. I like this both Western and Gong Fu, and the orange blossom, green grape, mid sip grain note, honeysuckle, and violet combo is making love the crap out of this one. Also love the walnut and mega heavy dandelion notes.It pretty much has most of the qualities that I like in a greener oolong without being too green. I am tempted to get more, but I honestly want to savor this one over splerging on masses amount of it.

The following teas were in suit with eastteaguy since he picks out great teas and has a frickin’ similar palette. I have more to write about, especially the other Old Ways Tea blacks (which are awesome), I am one of What-Cha’s drugees and had to sample this one out.

I’ve gotten more into Nepalese lately because of Alistairs suggestions, and I actually like them more than some of the Darjeelings I’ve had, so I was curious to try this one. The dry leaf was immensely dry, like opening my nostrils up to pollen floating on hay and almonds.

I had it at work, so I soaked it in one of my own sachets in a grandpa-esque style using between 2 and 3 grams. It started out buttery and vaguely floral like honeysuckle, then the butter was followed along by a very thick almond note. The texture was viscous, and the longer it steeped, the notes became drier and more floral. It transitioned into that dry bee pollen note amidst the butter honeysuckle and became slightly bitter and a woody green. Dandelion is spot on because it is sweet, but so, so dry….never mind the texture is smooth and as tongue coating as ever. The mild astringency reminded me more of a white tea or a first flush black than an oolong, but I expected that with the terroir.

I’ll have to experiment more with this one to get better parameters. I think this one might be suited to gong fu or very short western with more leaves. It worked in my lazy grandpa, but I need get to know it better before I judge it. I can at least recommend it to people who know the terroir and are a little bit more snobby based on the price tag. I’m not too sure about new drinkers. The notes were pretty akin to a semi sweet to medium dry white wine, so that’s the best match I could make.

I can’t believe that I am the first person to get around to reviewing this tea on Steepster. It seems like I am never the first person to review flavored/scented teas, but here I am. This tea is an unrolled Jin Xuan scented with jasmine blossoms. I tend to be a huge fan of flavored/scented Jin Xuan oolongs of almost any sort, but this one turned out to be a huge letdown for me. Almost everything about it struck me as being off-kilter.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose tea leaf and jasmine blossom blend in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 7 seconds. Even though the recommended water temperature seemed a bit low to me, I could tell that the oxidation level of the leaves was mostly minimal, so I ended up going with it. The initial infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf and flower mix emitted strong aromas of jasmine and cream. After the rinse, I detected emerging scents of butter and spinach. The first infusion then added a hint of custard to the nose as the jasmine began to express itself even more forcefully than it initially did. In the mouth, the liquor offered butter, cream, and spinach notes underscored by jasmine. I was not expecting that. I figured the jasmine would be just as strong in the mouth as it was on the nose, but that was not the case. Subsequent infusions introduced kale, mineral, vanilla, and seaweed notes with occasional touches of custard and peach. The lengthier final infusions offered notes of minerals, seaweed, spinach, and cream backed by fleeting hints of jasmine.

The whole time I was drinking this I kept wondering why the jasmine was not popping in the mouth. I just could not get it to emerge fully, and unfortunately, that allowed a host of overly strong savory and vegetal notes to dominate. I mean the blend smelled great, but it never came together in the mouth. Imagine drinking a very vegetal smoothie with a touch of off-putting, poorly integrated, perfume-like floral sweetness in the background. That’s what drinking this tea was like. I could not help wondering about the quality of the tea base, and to be honest, I got the impression that this amounted to an attempt to cover up a uniquely processed, but very blah tea with a powerful additive. Overall, this blend did not live up to my expectations. Since What-Cha offers far better flavored/scented oolongs, one would not be missing much passing on this one.

I’m finishing up a 10 g sample of this tea from a couple years ago. Though I haven’t tried too many Sun Moon Lake teas, I always find their menthol/sassafras flavours fascinating. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60, 90, and 120 seconds.

The long, dark, wiry leaves give off a typical sassafras and tingly menthol aroma. The first steep is mild and sweet, though with a bit of a bite in the aftertaste, and has flavours of malt, sassafras, menthol, and sweet potato. The menthol intensifies in steep two, and is joined by faint notes of chocolate, honey, and grass. The longer this tea is kept in the mouth, the more astringent it gets.

This tea just keeps getting sweeter with each steep, with that sassafras note remaining prominent. The flavours stay consistent until steep ten, when the Sun Moon Lake character gradually diminishes into malt, earth, and tannins.

Notwithstanding its astringency, this is an enjoyable SML. I’d love to see whether cold brewing would maximize the sweetness, and will consider getting more of this in the future.

One of my favorite teas I’ve had. This tea starts out with a nice buttery and light popcorn taste. Not to mention it fills the room with those flavors almost the whole time. Very pleasant, no incense needed with this. Over time it expands out to include toast, rice and root vegetable flavors. Very smooth on the sip and swallow. Highly recommended.

I’ve managed to find a little more time and energy, so I figured I would blast through another review before calling it quits for the day. I finished a sample pouch of this tea either early last week or towards the end of the week before. I can’t remember at this point. I found it to be an excellent oolong, but that should really not come as a surprise since anyone who reads my reviews should be aware that I have developed a gigantic soft spot for Southeast Asian oolongs over the past couple of years.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of gardenia, violet, vanilla, and grass coming from the dry tea leaves. After the rinse, I noted emerging aromas of cream and butter underscored by hints of orchid. The first infusion then brought out a considerably stronger orchid scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered pleasant notes of butter, cream, vanilla, and violet underscored by subtle orchid notes. Subsequent infusions saw the nose turn more vegetal and somewhat fruity. Impressions of grass and gardenia emerged in the mouth as new notes of minerals, baked bread, custard, pear, green apple, hyacinth, narcissus, tangerine, sugarcane, and spinach also appeared. The later infusions offered lingering impressions of minerals, spinach, grass, butter, sugarcane, and vanilla backed by fleeting, vague notes of violet and green apple in places. There were also hints of seaweed that came out way later than anticipated, but were most evident on and/or after the swallow on the last 2-3 infusions.

Ruan Zhi is an oolong cultivar that I happen to really like, so fortunately for me, this proved to be a high quality tea that offered a lot to enjoy. I am aware that some of the oolongs produced from the Ruan Zhi cultivar in Thailand have developed a good reputation both domestically and internationally, and judging from this tea, I can see why. I know it may be blasphemy, but I would put this tea up there with some of the better Taiwanese oolongs produced from this cultivar that I have tried. In my opinion, it was that good. I’m willing to bet that fans of green oolongs would greatly enjoy this tea and would recommend it to them highly.