What-Cha

Thick, crisp, and incredibly green. Florals were there, but the greenery and grass notes were stronger with slightly fruitier ones in texture. In terms of specific notes, it reminded me of a granny smith apple in its sour crispness, or a greener mango. The florals were a little bit more vague for me. Those who are better with the language of flowers could do a better job. It kinda reminded me of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc white wine.

I prefer this one Gong Fu to Western to diffuse the mega green taste a little, though I need to try Western with less leaves. Western brings out a milkier texture whereas gong fu brought out the delicate florals. I started out with rinse and a 30 second beginning, 45 sec, and 50 improvising the rest of the steeps based on aroma. I looked for higher florals in the smell to brew up the cups.

As mush as I liked the tea for its crispness and the typical pineapple skin taste that I love from these oolongs, I found myself preferring What-Cha’s Li Shan, the Indonesia Bao Zhong, and the Jade Oolong. -Gasp-I know, I prefer a cheaper tea over a fickin’ Shan Lin Xi. This does have many of the notes that I enjoy of this varietal, but the thick grassy taste with the slightly sour (if that note is remotely accurate) is a little overwhelming for me. Shan Lin Xi’s used to be one of my all time favorites, but lately, I have not been enjoying them as much because many of them have just tasted like a slighlty more nuanced green tea. I don’t know if its because of the weather for the recent harvests or if its just my changing preferences, but I really have gravitated a little bit away from them.

With that nick-pickiness said, the crisp apple taste is awesome. I see this more as a summer tea despite the insanity of drinking it in 90 degree weather, or something in the winters as a reminder of coming spring. It’s oddly refreshing in its own right, and I would devote this tea to specific days when you want something green. Lovers of this varietal would be fairly happy with this along with green tea lovers, and I recommend this one to you. Know that it is GREEN.

Autumn 2016 harvest. Revisiting this tea, and I remember why I ordered more. It isn’t pretty – twiggy and rough-rolled, but it redeems itself in the flavor and texture. Juicy and sweet, with that raisiny dried-fruit sweetness one more often encounters in red teas. A unique spice kick on the finish (past the first few steeps) makes this an interesting and fairly complex oolong.

The tea was good enough for me to crave it, and then come back to it. It was also good enough to be preferable to a Milk Oolong I have. So I’m finally rating the tea.

Although this is a daily drinker and really a quintessential green oolong, it is naturally sweeter than the average oolong. The florals are present in but not pronounced in a creamy texture bordering on butter and an corn like aftertaste. It was good western for three brews. I have not gong fu’d it like I normally do before a rating, but I bought it specifically for easy preparation.

It’s satisfying for easy preparation, and it might not be a bad way to introduce someone to general oolong….that is, after you sell them with something like a Li Shan or Ali Shan. This was not as grassy as so many of the oolongs that I have had though it was definitely green. It was not as grassy as the Shan Lin Xi, which I’ll review in this week. It’s simple character and its butter like profile against a Western flavored sweet tooth might be the only detractors. So if you are buying this tea, don’t expect to be blown out of the water, but really, don’t expect anything other than an understated oolong.

Backlog: I was pleased with this tea. The “Creamy, Floral, Grass, Milk, Sweet, Corn Husk, Jasmine, Melon, Butter” notes were pretty spot on, and the tea sweeter than I expected. Corn, butter, and cream came up to me the most. It was milky, and it was a little grassy, but not nearly as grassy as a few other oolongs. The florals were present but subtle bordering on jasmine, but not quite as fully developed. I might actually rank this one higher out of the daily drinkers that Alistair has recommended from the oolongs. The Four Seasons was nothing but heady, and the Baozhong was floral and creamy, but neither were quite as naturally sweet as this one. It actually reminded me of Mandala’s Milk Oolong in some ways though it was not nearly as flavored. I could even get a little bit of a nutmeg thing going on in the aftertaste. I won’t rate this quite yet, but this tea was a pleasant surprise.

This is a frickin’ good jasmine tea. The jasmine scent is very natural, but it is so strong and sweet with the oolong that it made me think of valentine candy hearts. I’ve done this at 1 minute starting using heaping 3 grams in 6 ounces, and a minimal of six small leaves in six ounces for two minutes.

The jasmine is always present, I could taste the oolong itself more in its mouth coating texture and background. It’s very creamy and does have the right milk note that distinguishes the Jin Xuan varietal, and has some mild fruit hints in the very last steeps. There is some evolution in the steeps bringing out a few different variations of creamy leaning more on the vanilla end than on the buttery end, almost being custardy. It is also naturally sweet having a mega green sugarcane note with the powerful florals.

I think this tea might overwhelming for a lot of people and I strongly encourage less leaves. It’s a little strong even for me, but that’s something I can easily remedy with more water. Even though the jasmine naturally fuses with the oolongs natural taste, jasmine is at the front lines at all times. The teas texture and mega creamy quality is what distinguishes it from other jasmine teas as well as its general lack of a lot of grassiness….which is weird considering its a green oolong. Anyway, I definitely recommend it. It’s a 95 on the jasmine tea scale being in my top five, but 85 for me personally because of preference and I honestly don’t know how often I’d drink it. It’s tasty enough to drink everyday for me, but it is too powerful for me to drink everyday because of how buzzed the florals make me. I might raise the rating over time, but I’ll leave it at a good recommendation for now.

GCTTB6

Thank you Ubacat for adding this to the box as it was one tasty tea. It reminded me of coconut rice I get from a restaurant called Spoon & Fork – creamy, sweet, buttery, and coconutty. Just delicious. Plus it smells like buttered popcorn. There was a bit of a disconnect between that flavor and the floral oolong base but nonetheless, I definitely enjoyed this tea. Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/05/28/thailand-sticky-rice-khao-hom-oolong-tea-from-what-cha/

I have some 2015 harvest, it’s holding up well. Very juicy as another reviewer noted. Sweet, with a different profile than Chinese oolongs, with a greener aroma. The astringency can be brutal if you aren’t careful, flash steeps work well, and I think it has calmed down some with age.

Just as I was about to re-order this, it is out of stock. This tea has seriously been one of my favorite oolongs to date just because of how flexible, easy drinking, and tasty it is. I’m still savoring it, but I can make it last for so long, or I need to drink it less often.

I am getting the baked apple and brown sugar notes Lucky Me was talking about. It was especially delicious after a bite of caramel ice cream.

Upping the rating ‘cause this one has never let me down no matter the mood or weather. I keep sippin’ on almond-pistachio-citrus floral goodness. I am glad to have 50 grams of this indeed, Alistair. It’s slowly grown into a favorite.

There’s something unique about this tea. I’ve had many Baozhongs and this has their general profile, but there is something about the balance between its nutty roast and green floral notes that sings. Some one else should write about this to see how off or on point my cooky descriptions are.

I’m rating this now, and it deserves a ninety…at minimum. I did not expect to like the tea nearly as much as I did, but it is a very well balanced oolong tea. The roast perfectly accents the natural green florals of the oolong the way a good roast is supposed to. Pistachio is the nut that the roast makes me think of, in fact. The grass taste still borders on lemongrass or orange peel even when cooled, the florals a little more in line with lillies and others that I’m not distinguishing in an otherwise fairly creamy texture. I was half tempted to get myself another two ounces of this, and if I could, I would trade a lot of the jade oolong I currently have for it. It’s also not bad at all in terms of price either. I’m going to miss it when I finish it off.

I’ve wanted to sample this for a while and ooooooo this one is good. The light roast is fantastic and the tea is naturally sweet. It had a weird lemon-citrus thing that the Tong Mu Wild Lapsang had, or I could just have imagined it. Anyway, this was a very well balanced oolong that was naturally sweet and nutty, being on the lemongrass side overall. I got five cups out of one session, and it went from really creamy and nutty to lemony towards the end. I’ll write about this one again, but it is one of my favorites so far.

Finally back to it. I decided to Gong Fu it with five grams in 6 oz keeping the heat low at 180, and typically waiting two minutes after the pour for cool down.

I started off with a 15 second rinse, and the following brews were not timed. I used smell and color as indicators. I know, annoying for those wanting to experiment with this one, but I can at least say that my parameters roughly followed the 30 second segment rule with consecutively added 15 seconds times two exponentially. I am half tempted to see if I can write a formula for it to show that you can use Algebra outside of school for silly purposes… never mind timing my pours would have taken less time. Oh well.

I was able to pay attention more to the individual profiles of this one than I have before. Starting off, the rinse smelled like cut grass and flowers after doing yard work. Not pleasant. Number two was generally floral and slightly sweet in the hyacinth and lilac kind of way, with the creamy texture subduing more sweet notes than you might expect. Steep three enhanced the florals edging on vanilla, and the nutty profile that Alistair described finally popped up as almond, a very light and unaltered dry almond. So I grabbed my very altered salted almonds as the foodie pairing and it worked. The nut tones were enhanced, and I could taste more of the floral vanilla aspects in the next two steeps.

Sugarcane slowly rose up into these two steeps and the final brew bordering on marzipanny, but it’s still dry as ever and greenly floral, as in slightly grassy but not grassy. Like floral stems as I used to dramatically describe it.

I still would not personally make this a daily drinker because I prefer the Jade Oolong What-Cha offers, but I recommend it as one and cannot deny that this is a clean tasting oolong. More experienced drinkers might like it again more for daily drinking, and as for tea delvers and noobs, this is more of an introduction to standard but quality soft oolongs. It might be too light for some, especially new comers. As for me, it was just a hair too light for me-hence my preference for the custard sweetness of the Jade Oolong and the, well, more expensive stuff.

I’ll re-review this, but it here’s what I got. It tasted exactly like the Spirit Tea Spring Dragon: creamy and floral with a lilac note in the middle taste and aroma, and a slightly buttery bock choy body. I did not get the nut notes which is why I’ll re-review it, but it was a brew after three minutes. It was a very clean tea, and as I’ll repeat over and over again, it would make an excellent daily drinker but I’m not sure if its my daily drinker. I’ll write more eventually.

I mega loaded my Gaiwan with 5-6 grams of this and flash steeped starting with 15 sec and going forward. Heady, but smoothened out with more sugar cane notes that gradually rose later in the steeps, with the first steep being milky. I’ll do it western again, but I’ll probably finish of the last of it with the mega leafage. As much as I’ve complained about not having a Li Shan or a fruity Ali Shan as of late, I’ve found that the Four Seasons power gong fu have compared to some Ali Shans I’ve had in the past.

Holy heady florals Batman! I pretty much agree with first review: nothing but strong sweet florals in taste and aroma. Smooth texture, but it is so heady that it is one or two steps away from the strength of a jasmine or magnolia scented tea. There was a sugarcane sweetness, but no honey notes. I was surprised how little spinach this had-more green florals than anything else. This is definitely a good daily drinker, but then again, all the oolongs I’ve ordered have been good quality daily drinkers. I personally prefer a jasmine oolong to this because I think they are sweeter…if that preference makes ANY sense for flower water, but there it is. I won’t make this my daily drinker like I hoped, but it is a Four Seasons that stands a head above quite a few others in the aroma department.

I think I might change my rating scale. There have been teas that I normally would rate higher for quality that I would not buy again and again.

Drinking this one on a warm Saturday morning. I finally cracked into my new cake, and it’s probably one of the prettiest cakes I’ve seen so far. Lots of light and white leaves mixed in with the dark colored ones, it reminds me of some white tea cakes I’ve seen.

The wet leaf has a really unique smell. It doesn’t have the same ripe date or apricot smell—still fruity and strong, but something different.

The first steep is quite light overall in flavor, with a little bit of body-centered bitterness. There’s a sort of buttery note in there, almost popcorn-like. It’s a little weird to describe, but different from the creamy feeling I’ve been getting from other sheng. Maybe like caramel corn? It definitely tastes better than caramel corn tea sounds, though.

The second steep picks up on the viscosity and rounds out the smooth body. The bitterness protrudes a little, but not uncomfortably. It does persist into the aftertaste a little ways, though.

Third steep has a little bit of spice to it. At least, that’s my guess, it’s kind of a sharp, almost tingliness. Very faint though. I might be looking at the wrong thing.

Need to head out so cutting this session short!

Coldbrew: Do it. Just do it once. It’s good without any additions cold and very refreshing, though it works with honey or sugar. So happy I saved some for this purpose.

The ultimate grandma tea. I’ve always wanted to try a rose green oolong, but hesitated because I was afraid it being too light and delicate. What-Cha put some on their website, and I trusted that it would be good. I am actually surprised how much I liked it. It was very close to being liquid rose turkish delight. The oolong balances with the rose better than a lot of blacks and whites, and there were only a few times that the oolong was grassier and stronger than the rose. Otherwise, the first steep after a minute is incredibly creamy, almost being milky (A JIN XUAN THAT ACTUALLY TASTES LIKE IT’S SUPPOSED TO OMG). It was sweet enough for my grandmother to take without sugar…which is saying something. Of course it paired ideally with Coconut Bliss Chocolate ice cream. I did add sugar to a cup eventually, and she groaned saying it was perfect.

I hate to admit this, but I preferred this scented oolong to a lot of my higher grade regular ones. Even when the tea cooled to 60 F, it was excellent. This would probably make an amazing cold brew. I personally would not drink this tea every day and reserve it for the spring and summer, or more than likely for a Mediterranean meal. My grandmother, however, said she could drink this any time.

Like I said, this is the ultimate grandma tea. I am going to hold off on rating it though I’m leaning towards high eighties and nineties.

Thank you so much Alistair! I was pretty pleased with this Jin Xuan. The milk taste that this tea is known for was more pronounced and the body was very well balanced. It was a little bit grassy, but it was more creamy overall. The florals were definitely there being something like orchid, hyacinth, and barely honeysuckle going a little towards gardenia, but they were not super pronounced and more generalized in a creamy category. I brewed it starting off with a minute, another minutes and 15 sec, 1 min 45 sec, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min. It was sweeter in the first steep having more creamer qualities there, more florals and creamy grass in the middle, and an end with a light rise in green sweetness. The creamy texture and florals definitely compared to an Ali Shan and was better than quite a few I’ve had that were flat. I still prefer the Li Shan from What-Cha as my favorite.

I also got this tea to compare to Spirit Tea’s Mei Shan. They were practically the same. Spirit’s version was thicker, but this one was lighter and a hint less grassy. The differences were fractions of a decimal though. I recommend this one over that one because it’s half as much for the exact same quality.

I’ve given this tea another go, using more water and a slightly lower temp.

The leaves are not very aromatic, but there is a scent of dry chocolate perhaps.

The tea is very light and smooth, slightly malty with a sweet white grape juiciness and a hint of chocolate and wood in the background. There’s a lingering white grape flavor.

The second steeping is all malt, pear and white grape, with a light fruity-floral after taste. I find myself licking my lips as the flavor lingers for minutes after each sip, it’s lovely.

It’s almost as if the tea showcases the juicy flavors hiding behind the usual curtain of tannins that black teas typically have, resulting in a quite refreshing and gentle brew. I definitely recommend this for those who enjoy lighter, fruitier black teas.

I got a sample of this tea months ago in a reddit swap. Yellow tea is not something I have encountered a lot of – the only other one I’ve tried came from Teavana. This tea was pretty nice, but I had trouble describing the flavors I was tasting. The dry leaf had a slightly salty and sweet aroma, reminding me of pretzels and raisins, oddly enough. After they took a bath, they smelled buttery, grassy, and almost smoky for some reason.

The flavor started off light with some grassy notes and a sweet finish. The finishing sweetness intensified as the session went on, while the front of the sip became more of a dry grassy/straw flavor. I could not put my tongue on what exactly the sweetness reminded me of. Some things I wrote down included fruity, candy, cotton candy, and spiced cake (that was only on the last couple). I’m not sure what I would really compare it to, but it was a pretty strong sweetness. The texture was thicker than most green teas I drink, but didn’t really approach the viscosity some puerhs give to the brew.

One that I enjoyed drinking and am glad to have tried, but not anything which I need to buy more of. It also hasn’t really convinced me to go seeking out other yellow teas.