What-Cha

Gongfu session!

Dry leaf smells like corn husk and sweet peas, after the first steep a little char character peeks out and the fresh sweet pea is more of a steamed green pea.

Maybe white teas aren’t my jam, I was pretty underwhelmed by this. First steepings were subtle and sweet with a peach-and-cantaloupe-fruitiness, green pea and steamed corn flavor. Later on the texture became just a little creamy with the corn sweetness strengthening and a little toasty char flavor to match the leaf aroma came into play. Not much on the nose throughout.

This was by no means bad, just a little on the subtle side for me today, I think. Maybe I’ll get a grandpa-style black brewing.

Edit: a later cold steep of this tea reveals a delightfully sweet plum and rosehip brew!

A way far back backlog because…I finished the sample in four days. I never had the chance to gong fu it. I brewed it 3 minutes almost every time in my French press with one exception of a near grandpa style steeping. Let’s see if I can do this tea justice from memory.

Alistair described this tea as setting itself apart from Darjeelings as a lot of Nepal teas have very similar profiles. The tendency to compare the two regions makes sense because they both come from the Himalayas, and I find myself putting them in the same category in my head. Now, I am glad to say that I’ve slowly started to prefer the Nepalese blacks, and I definitely prefer their oolongs over the few that I have had from India. Even though the market is expanding their and vendors like Alistair hopes to expose more people to Nepalese teas, I still like the teas for themselves.

What sets this one apart is it’s slight grapiness combined with the rich medium milk to dark chocolate taste that keeps on popping up. It’s very grapey and with a fair amount of malt, but I would not describe it as muscatel. The first initial sips are somewhat dry, but the following notes are rich and almost lavish ending in a slight roast drying it off. The roast was vaguely nutty, but definitely woody for me, and the grapey sweetness was almost comparable to a Chinese or Taiwaneese Honey Black tea, but the most prominent tastes of this tea were malt, chocolate, grape, light roast, and well tea. The general profile was consistent with pretty much all steeps western, though the sweet note was a little more pronounced in the second to last brews of the four or five I would get each time. The chocolate profile was more prominent in steeps 2, and 3, though two occasions of the four I had this tea had strong chocolate notes in steep 1. I unfortunately brewed ad hoc and by color, smell, and an internal clock that I can’t remember the parameters for, but generall, I added 30 seconds to a minute for stronger brews with less water and more leaves, or I incremented the minutes to 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 with less leaves and more water.

Although the grape notes and chocolate notes were layered on top of each other making this tea stand out from other elusive cocoa and chocolate note teas, the profile for the general person trying this would be a rich black tea. While tea snobs will love the chance to try the terroir for its unique contrasts of dryness and very wet sweet notes, intermediate drinkers, wine drinkers, or anyone who can handle dryer paletted things would appreciate this tea more. Average tea drinkers would appreciate it again as a rich black tea that is not as strong as an Assam, and it is good enough to stand up to cream and sugar. However; I’d go light on the additions to preserve more of the natural qualities of the tea, or use frothy cream or just a few dabs of it along with a moderate amount of sugar to handle the chocolaty notes.

I do not know how much anyone reading can gather from this, but I do recommend this to most people. It is very hardline medium to slightly soft on the grand scale of black teas and for those who like their teas like that with dash of complexity thrown in, this is your tea. And if it weren’t for the Wild Shan Cha, the financial situation of student teaching, and what I already have, I would have purchased fifty grams of this and recommend others to do the same. Was this review helpful?

This was my first baked baozhong and I liked it lot. The light baking caramelizes the florals into rich baked fruit and honey. I get baked apple, fig, and occasionally a hint of apricot. The sweetness reminds me at times of pancake syrup and brown sugar. Some hints of almond appear in later steepings.

The baking level here is perfect. It doesn’t add any roast to the tea, rather it transforms the tea’s texture and sweetness. I preferred this tea grandpa style. Not much complexity, but it’s great for easy sipping.

I’ve been wanting to try this Li Shan for while since it has gotten such rave reviews on Steepster. After finally getting my hands on a sample, I have to say this was worth the hype. Love it when that happens :-)

The leaves of this tea are rolled into giant green nuggets that have a fresh orchid scent. Wet leaf aroma is extraordinarily sweet with florals reminiscent of hyacinth and daffodils. The tea started off fairly thin and light with a bit of sugarcane. Figuring the water temperature was too low, I upped it to 200 F from 190 F to help bring out more flavor in the second steep. Out came a thick nectar of wildflowers and honeycomb. The following steep I used just under boiling water and got more pastoral flowers, minerality, and a fairly viscous mouthfeel that was very soothing. I was really beginning to feel the cha qi at this point.

From there on out, I used straight up boiling water for the next 6 steeps. It went through a complex taste evolution going from buttery to brothy and then fruity; all the while maintaining a distinct gao shan flavor. Interestingly enough, this tea was mostly fruity in the later steeps with little to no vegetal tones unlike other Li shan’s I’ve tried. I loved its sumptuous fruitiness and powerful cha qi. Also impressive was the incredible staying power that lasted through 9 steeps without any bitterness whatsoever.

After 2 sessions with this sample, I had slightly less than 2 grams left which I brewed western style. Though lighter, the western steep brought out more of the tea’s floral aspects into play.

Really impressed with this offering from What-Cha. It’s complexity and evolution of taste over infusions was quite nice. Definitely going to get some more of this tea with my next order.

Alright, the backlog will finally be clear after I finish this review. This was the other sample pouch I finished earlier. Typical of the teas I have tried from the Gopaldhara Tea Estate, I found this one to have admirable complexity and a tremendous amount of character. Although What-Cha seemed to find this tea to be rather floral, I found it to be more intensely fruity with a pronounced honey character.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3-4 grams of loose leaf material in about 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any subsequent infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material presented inviting aromas of grass, hay, honey, Muscatel, herbs, and stone fruits. After infusion, I picked up on traces of fresh flowers (rose, dandelion, and perhaps a touch of chamomile), citrus, pineapple, and smoke. In the mouth, I initially picked out notes of grass, hay, herbs, malt, toast, almond, sweet orange, lemon zest, honey, and fresh flowers before an intriguing mixture of Muscatel, white peach, apricot, pineapple, plum, and mango asserted itself. When I focused in, I could also pick out undertones of smoke. The finish retained a nice mix of fruity and floral flavors balanced by grassy, herbal touches, honey, and some lingering smokiness and nuttiness.

This was a very nice first flush Darjeeling. It is rare that I don’t enjoy a tea produced by the Gopaldhara Tea Estate. I particularly liked the complexity displayed by this tea. If you are looking for a first flush Darjeeling with an inviting bouquet, loads of flavor, and an easy-drinking nature, look no further.

I originally expected this tea to be darker than it was, but after looking at the leaves closely and the other reviews on here, I decided I needed to try this one once. Western or Gong Fu, it was a good experience. This is closer to a greener Dan Cong, but the distinct violet taste displayed a unique character that I don’t see in many other teas.

I feel unoriginal in copying them, but the notes displayed pretty much describe it: Floral, creamy, clean, buttery, sweet like violet and accented by a nutty roast. The roast is more prominent Western and showed up later steeps Gong Fu, and the combination with the creamy florals made me think of steel cut oatmeal. The profile is fuller in Western starting at 3 minutes giving you at least three more solid rounds, while Gong Fu gives time to differentiate the tasting spectrum. The liqour is also lighter, giving more of a Gao Shan or Bao Zhong yellow hue as the leaves turn into a healthy light green kissed by purple. The overall tea is soft no matter what, and was approachable for my brother who does not care much for straight oolongs. He reused the French Press for seconds.

I cannot say that I’d make it a staple like I might with the Toba Wangi Baozhong, but it is a unique tea that I am very glad to have on hand. I would not say no to it if I were offered it again, and it is good enough for me to chose over some Dan Congs. The violet and creamy notes are very unusual in this very oolongy oolong, and they endure most cups when brewed. It is better offered to an intermediate drinker of oolong or those looking to expand their terroir, although the soft profile makes it very easy to drink.

I’d rate it between 80-90. The quality is great for the price, and the tea is unique enough to stand out on its own. As for those who have tried it, I’d love to see your thoughts on it.

Since I’m staying home from work today, I have been occupying myself with polishing off some sample pouches. I finished this one early this morning. I found it to be a nice, solid Assam.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped around 3-4 grams of loose tea in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 4 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted pronounced aromas of malt, brown toast, roasted nuts, cocoa, wood, and leather. After infusion, I began to pick up on scents of butter, molasses, caramel, honey, raisin, and fig. In the mouth, the tea came at me head on with powerful flavors of wood, caramel, cocoa, roasted chestnut, hickory, black walnut, leather, brown toast, molasses, malt, honey, and butter before giving way to subtler impressions of cream, fig, and raisin. The finish saw the butter and malt swell while notes of caramel, molasses, honey, cream, wood, leather, and roasted nuts remained.

This was a traditional Assam with a powerful maltiness, a full body, pronounced astringency, and hints of bitterness lurking around the fringes. It was a tea that was put together well, but with the exception of the subtle fruit notes, there was not much setting it apart from many other teas of this type. I will concede, however, that it did its job as a breakfast tea with aplomb. All in all, this one should definitely appeal to fans of orthodox Assams, but if you are not huge on them, it probably won’t do much for you.

I’m really getting into some of these Nepalese black teas. This was both my latest acquisition and latest conquest. I found it to be a basic, yet respectable black tea very much akin to a traditional first flush Darjeeling.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3-4 grams of loose leaf material in about 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

First things first, let me just say that What-Cha has a well-deserved reputation for sourcing quality leaves, but I was initially let down when I opened my pouch of this tea. It appeared to be nothing but broken leaves. I figured I shouldn’t just judge the tea by my perception of the leaf quality, however, so in I dove. Prior to infusion, I picked up mild, inviting aromas of Muscatel, grass, hay, and herbs underscored by a hint of citrus. After infusion, the citrus scent grew stronger and I began to pick up on aromas of malt and almond. In the mouth, the tea offered up notes of malt, grass, hay, straw, almond, toast, Muscatel, lemon zest, and pungent herbs. The finish was malty, nutty, and slightly grassy with herb, Muscatel, and citrus undertones.

It may have been due to my remaining somewhat congested from the most recent sinus infection, but I found this to be a very basic tea. It was pleasant and approachable, but it was also somewhat simplistic and lacking in depth. I could see it making a good afternoon or evening tea, though people who like to really delve into the subtleties of the tea tasting and drinking experience (like me) will probably be expecting more.

Following through on my desire to finish some of the Vietnamese teas I have lying around, I finished a sample pouch of this yesterday evening. As much as I enjoy Vietnamese blacks and oolongs, Vietnamese green teas are often very hit or miss for me. Too often I find them to be bitter, astringent, and lacking in depth. This one, though it did not entirely change my mind, turned out to be pretty good overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. I normally don’t rinse many green teas, but I went ahead and rinsed this one. I was aware that this tea has a reputation for being intense and I was hoping to not only wake the tea up, but also to take a little bit of the edge off. After the rinse, I steeped my usual 6 grams of loose leaf material in 4 ounces of 167 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 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, the dry tea leaves emitted fairly powerful aromas of grass, hay, and corn husk. The rinse brought out hints of straw, leaf vegetables, and soybean, while the first infusion brought out something of a sweetness. In the mouth, I picked up pronounced notes of grass, hay, straw, and corn husk underscored by touches of sweetness and an almost salty, marine quality. Subsequent infusions brought out greater astringency, as well as aromas and flavors of chestnut, nectar, seaweed, sea salt, kale, toasted rice, and minerals. I never picked up on anything honey-like, but I did get something oddly floral. It almost reminded me of petunias, though that can’t possibly be right. The later infusions were grassy, grainy, and nutty with a more powerful mineral presence. Oddly enough, however, I picked up a few additional vegetal notes, almost like a mixture of spinach and leaf lettuce, around this time.

What-Cha advertised this tea as possessing a powerful grassy taste and they were not exaggerating at all. This was an extremely grassy, vegetal tea. Honestly, it was far from bad, but it was also not the sort of green tea I have been favoring in recent months. Still, I found this tea to be appealing enough. I certainly would not turn down the opportunity to try it again at some point in the future.

You know all those time you read tea reviews and tasting notes, and find that the flavours descriptions are all exaggerated. Yeah well, this is not one of those times! Yams and blueberries. I honestly had a hard time believing this wasn’t a flavored and sweetened tea. I felt like someone had thrown in a spoonful of blueberry jam while I wasn’t looking.

This is very light for a black tea and a whole different animal from what I was expecting. 3g in 250ml for 3 minutes, followed by 4 minutes and then 5 minutes. Will definitely order again.

Something that I don’t mention very often is how much I love all of these Vietnamese wild teas (I am a big fan of most Vietnamese teas in general). I find many of them to have a sheng-like funkiness that integrates well with the aromas and flavors they display. Going through one of my tea cabinets yesterday forced me to realize that I had several interesting Vietnamese black and green teas that I should probably get around to trying. I then randomly chose this one and started a session with it. I found it to be an exceptional black tea with a wonderful texture in the mouth.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. Naturally enough, I used 6 grams of loose leaf material in a 4 ounce gaiwan. Following the rinse, I conducted a series of 15 infusions. Steep times were as follows: 5 seconds, 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 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 intriguing aromas of wood, spices, dark chocolate, leather, brown toast, and honey. The rinse brought out the expected malt scent, though I also caught traces of smoke, raisins, molasses, roasted nuts, and citrus. There was a touch of funk there too. The first infusion further brought out touches of pungent, sheng-like funk, as well as a slight scent of prunes. In the mouth, the smooth tea liquor offered notes of smoke, malt, spice, dark chocolate, molasses, leather, brown toast, honey, wood, and roasted nuts underscored by a slightly briny, vegetal funk. Subsequent infusions saw the liquor thicken and the spice and roasted nut notes separate. I began to detect distinct impressions of roasted chestnut, hazelnut, black walnut, black pepper, anise, clove, and nutmeg. The raisins, prunes, and citrus-I was reminded somewhat of a combination of lemon zest and bitter orange peel- finally turned up on the palate. I also began to get touches of caramel, minerals, black cherry, camphor, tree bark, vanilla bean, and stewed vegetables. The later infusions offered a wash of minerals with woody, malty, leathery, nutty, and spicy undertones. The touches of wild funk and camphor also remained for the most part.

This was a really nice and surprisingly complex black tea. Though it did not come off as particularly refined, it was intensely aromatic and flavorful with a number of delightful quirks, a slight edge, and a powerful caffeine wallop. Fans of wild teas should be delighted by this one, but I could also see it pleasing those looking to take the plunge into the world of Vietnamese blacks.

This is a really good black tea. Its soft glossy dark syrup sweetness, with some spicy fruit, a bit long the lines of a very nicely balanced dongfang meiren. Low malt, ripe wood flavours. Lasts a good amount of infusions. Does not get sickly like some oriental beauty can. Some good fruits in there too – raisins? stonefruity

I’m not a big fan of blacks really, but this one took me by surprise. This and the other black I got from what-cha (the taiwanese wild chan cha – 25% off this august as the tea of the month!) are some of the nicest black teas i’ve tried in a good while.

I brewed it gongfu and got a load of steeps from it, i’m really sure black fans will be able to get a lot of pleasure from it western style as well. You can get a whole lot of flavour from it & possibly create a much more complex cup than I got – its nice and gentle gongfu.

One of my favorite teas so far. Reminds me of local teas I would have in Vietnam. A happy tea with a great rice flavor. Even perhaps a hint of corn. Buttery as well. A simple delight! I will have to stock up on this one.

Sipping down this sample received from a tea friend this morning. I was planning to drink it grandpa style but couldn’t get the leaves to sink and didn’t feel like filtering them with my teeth, so it ended up being western style instead, which was still quite enjoyable.

Nutty with underlying vegetal notes and a nice viscosity. This was from last year’s harvest, so I’m really interested in knowing what it tastes like fresher, as it’s still quite good now.

After being extremely impressed by What-Cha’s Nepal Jun Chiyabari ‘Himalayan Bouquet’ Oolong, I just had to try this one. Unfortunately, I have been a bit under the weather lately due to seasonal allergies, so I had to work somewhat harder to pick up individual aroma and flavor components than usual. Still, I was able to get a great deal out of this tea.

I gongfued this tea. After a very brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 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, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of citrus, fresh flowers, grass, butter, Muscatel, and wood. The rinse brought out touches of almond, malt, straw, and herbs. The first infusion produced a near identical bouquet, though I was able to pick up a hint of honey. In the mouth, I detected notes of butter, malt, almond, grass, wood, and Muscatel underscored by citrus and flowers. Subsequent infusions saw the honey appear on the nose and in the mouth, while the melange of flowers separated somewhat, allowing me to pick out scents and flavors of elderflower, violet, orange blossom, and rose. I also began to get distinct impressions of lemon zest, candied grapefruit, and candied orange peel. Aromas and flavors of baked bread, minerals, lemongrass, pear, nutmeg, pine, menthol, and noble hops (Spalt and/or Tettnanger, perhaps?) appeared around this time too. The later infusions were very mild, offering lingering impressions of minerals, straw, grass, malt, and herbs underscored by fleeting notes of candied citrus, butter, and flowers.

Simultaneously complex and easy-drinking, this was one of the funnest, most intriguing, and most satisfying teas I have tried in awhile. This tea definitely lived up to the hype. It should please new and experienced oolong drinkers alike.

Short notes from holiday:

The roast and fruit taste are mixed together into one thing, I dont even know what fruit it is. Its also mellowed a lot, quite soft.

Nice and rich milky in a galaxy chocolate vs 90% dark chocolate kind of way.

i’ll re-review this when I have more time as now back in tea HQ.

This tea is much better served hot than cold brewed. I don’t find any new characters jumping out at me, just dimmer versions of the tastes I find in the hot version.

To be fair, I’d already gongfu brewed this tea quite a few times before an attempted cold brew. I’ll give it another shot starting with raw leaves, but I can say for now with certainty that this tea is not one you can stretch simply by icing after a gongfu session.

open-gaiwan brewed

I’ve never had a genmaicha before and this sure wasn’t what I expected! I anticipated an umami flavor with some crispness behind it. That would be a no on both fronts, it’s quite smooth with no umami character.

Dry leaves smell like dry hay and a little citrusy. The rinsed leaves have a stronger citrus scent with a little seaweed character. The liqueur is a lightly cloudy, greenish gold.

The seaweed character increases into the second and third steep, bringing a grassiness with it. There’s a gentle cooling green flavor in here now as well… maybe celery? The creamy mouthfeel has softened and the tannins are just starting to dry but still the tea is still far from bitter or even crisp. My empty chahai smells a little like cotton candy as it cools.

By the fourth and fifth steep the toastiness is beginning to really fade and a sweet lemon-grassiness I expect from many greens takes over. I’m going to ice the remains while a little toastiness still remains.

I’ll admit that I ate a little of the steeped rice toast at this point… I’m certain that the leftover tea and rice would be delicious mixed in with some steamed rice!

Edit: I ate some of the brewed leaves. Nope, nope, nope. These leaves are for brewing, not for eating.

This stuff is the bees knees – I took some tea to sample on holiday in Limousin, France for 2 weeks with no phone signal, let alone internet. And this one was my favourite.

Medium-heavy roast Wuyi goodness. I cannot describe the joy I have had drinking this – the smell & taste & huigans & pure relaxed chi that comes out of the first 5 steeps is something close to heaven. My notes are sparse but it created tasteual colour (yes thats the word) that bordered on magical, for me its the fact there is a Floral-fruity-something in there thats expertly interwoven with the roast that knocks it out of the park.

After that it disappears. Quickly. – and if this was expensive I would be disappointed (later it tastes like really cheap store oolong!)- but its not. Its like 20p/g and this actually added to my impression of it because I dont always want to drink an Oolong you need to dedicate a day or wallet to. So its just a quick sesh of brilliant wuyi.

‘5 steeps in heaven is better than no steeps in heaven’ As they say.

Have to cut them in half or its too much flower for my gaiwan. I mean seriously these things are like little bombs of flower.

Some fruit hidden away somewhere but the soup is like orange coloured with all the thick cashew florals.

Overpoweringly delicate

Loved this – has vegetal, floral, fruit that mix about in my head, each characteristic never overpowering the next. Just tastes & smells & feels totally right.

The roast is so light and unnoticeable, but backs up the aromas perfectly with this dense nut thickness.

Delish – tastes ok when pushed a lot with sourer greens coming out