What-Cha

Was a good light tea. Definitely had hints of grass and lemon. Smooth tea.

1 dragonball, 200F, western.
I steeped this 3 or 4 times. Smooth, thick, dark fruit?, slightly sweet with a slightly green under taste. I had a hard time picking out what the dark fruit and green underlayer reminded me of. It all came together in a pleasant cup of tea.
I want to try this grandpa style as it is a giant ball that looks like it could give flavor forever. I let the last steep go for 5 min or so and didn’t notice any off or odd flavors.

Thick and smooth, this tea opens with dark malt and a mellow sweetness that grows continually into the aftertaste, bringing to mind molasses and dark honey paired with dried plum. The mouthfeel is stimulating and juicy, with just the slightest touch of bitterness. Quite enjoyable.

Very sweet and juicy with strong florals. Short finish and pleasant sweet aftertaste. Almost no astringency.

Buttery smooth on the tongue, this tea exudes a tangy, creamy sweetness that grows on the palate and lingers well into the finish, where notes of raw, acidic honey and an indistinct floral bouquet are unveiled. It is somewhat similar to the Arakai Summer Green, but drops the grassy vegetal character and dials up the sweetness. Absolutely wonderful.

I recall this oolong was a bit too much on the green side for me when brewed hot. I’ve just cold brewed the remaining half of my sample and it was very nice and refreshing. It’s been left sweet and floral and removed a lot of the green-ness.

Since I put in the time and effort to finish the last of this sample before calling it quits for the day, I figured I may as well post a review/tasting note while I was at it. In truth, I had hoped to get to this tea much earlier, but I had some others that I needed to finish off first. When I finally got around to seriously giving it a shot, I found this tea was not at all what I had expected it would be. Honestly, it was quite strange and bore little in common with any other Jin Xuan I have tried.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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 aromas of nectarine, grass, roasted almonds, and honey. The rinse brought out even stronger aromas of nectarine, honey, roasted almonds, and grass, but it also introduced scents of hay, sea salt, seaweed, butter, and peach. The first infusion introduced hints of cream and white grape, but the mouth was very mild and straight-ahead. I picked up hints of honey, grass, butter, nectarine, and roasted almonds underscored by a slightly salty, marine quality. Subsequent infusions brought out the notes of cream, seaweed, sea salt, white grape, and hay, but I also noted impressions of minerals, spinach, mango, plum, and passion fruit. The later infusions were mild, yet also quirky and deceptive. They opened with smooth butter and nectarine notes, but quickly gave way to minerals, damp grass, roasted almond, sea salt, and seaweed.

Yeah, this was one weird oolong. Part of me enjoyed it, but another part of me also fully realizes that it is hard to justify a high numerical score for a tea that I would likely be in no rush to reach for again in the near future, if at all. To say this tea would appeal to a niche market would be an understatement. Who would keep something like this around for regular consumption? I guess if I were the sort of person who regularly looks for a tea that combines the creaminess and butteriness of Jin Xuan with the fruitiness of Gui Fei and hints of sheng-like brininess, I would fall into that demographic. Unfortunately, I do not. I’m glad I tried this tea, and I think it is good for what it is, but at the same time, I’m happy to move on to something else. It’s most certainly worth trying, but just be aware that it is more than a little odd.

Mystery sample of old, green tea! This one has lost much of its green and is now a lovely shade of darkish brown. When reinvigorated with water, it comes back to life as a dark green sort of color. This is a very mellow tea, with low, corn or grain notes and a bit of grassiness. Didn’t pay too much attention but I’ll be drinking this again someday.

Thus far in my puerh journey, my nose seems to enjoy it more than my tastebuds do. I love the fresh earthy aroma of sheng but the flavor tends to get overpowered by bitterness. This tea epitomizes that experience. It has a wonderful sweet clay smell with floral and grassy notes. It’s mellower than most puerh teas and produces a nice golden amber liquor. Early steeps are soft and full of sweet fruity tones. A bitter melon flavor mixed with fresh dirt emerges around the 3rd steep. The sweetness peters out fairly quickly giving way to strong astringency that was too tannic for me. This would be a winner if only the initial taste could extend further than just a couple of steeps.

A very unique savoury white tea with notes of spices.

This tea is weird for a black, but no less pleasant for it.

It’s very light, without the slightest hint of bitterness or astringency. I even brewed this at 205 with no troubles.

The flavor is just…odd, but pleasant. It’s honey caramel, with a fresh tree sap flavor. Interesting.

Sipdown!

While the gentler profile and shorter steeping life of this Milk Oolong didn’t completely sweep me off my feet, It did end up becoming a nice “every day” tea that I always looked forward to. The soft combo of milky mango and vegetal Jin Xuan made for the perfect comfort tea.

I’d possibly pick up a small amount next season or when my cupboard is a little less full. Until then, we have some more Milk Oolong and Jin Xuan varieties to try!

Steep Count: 5

(2016 Spring Harvest)

This scented Jin Xuan is slightly more nuanced and subdued than the other Milk Oolong I’m drinking alongside it. It distinctly and consistently smells and tastes of creamy mango pudding. Sometimes that mango morphs into peach yogurt, which is equally fun. The pink-orange stone fruits with cream vibe make for a nice springtime cup.

Oddly enough, I find this one to have a powdery texture, but that may be my relationship with those particular fruit notes.

Steep Count: 3

I had some roasted seaweed with the last cup and somehow that doubled the mango flavouring. Food pairings work in mysterious ways.

(2016 Spring Harvest)

This was an excellent tea. Sampled it from the Puerh Tea TTB. It has a very clean and crisp taste. This was especially so drinking it out of my new silver teacup. It did indeed have a light fruitiness and a slight bitterness. This is one I will consider buying if I ever get around to an order from What Cha.

I gave this ten steeps in a 75ml teapot with 5.3g leaves and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. I think the tea would have gone a few more steeps if I didn’t want to move on to something else.

Nice smooth taste. Fruity. Hints of banana.

I was so wrong to coldbrew this for a hour. It is too bitter to drink and that was my last teaspoon in the little sample I had. :( The flavour is GREAT, and then the bitterness (like how grape fruit or oversteeped green tea is bitter). So gross.

Sample from JK7ray

Coldbrewed: 2 tsp, 500 mL water, 3 hours
Initially, jasmine is predominant with a lingering aftertaste of green tea. When I pay more attention, the jasmine is less in-your-face heavily jasmine, which makes the overall brew well balanced and more enjoyable. Definitely some “grapefruit” taste, but I wouldn’t describe it as citrusy, no fruity or acidic/tart notes at all. Yet, this isn’t a simple green tea with jasmine flavour, it has a distinctly expensive/high quality green base. The jasmine is not purfumy/artificial, either.

Finished this one off today. Again thank you crowkettle! This doesn’t need a place in my home – there are other milk oolongs that i prefer but it was a nice treat to have since i don’t really stock oolongs in my cupboard :)

Sample from crowkettle this is a tasty milk oolong, but it’s nothing knock your socks off.

Drinking this before I take a power nap in preparation for essay writing later tonight!

At first I was a little disappointed to receive this as a free sample; it’s what I got last time too! Then I saw that it was this year’s harvest- so it is technically a different tea. Queue more enthusiasm!

I’m finding this new batch to be a brisker, darker, albeit less sweet, cup than my first round with good old 2016. It goes places that wouldn’t surprise me in black or bug-bitten tea. There’s malt, raisin/prunes, dark wildflower honey, and marmalade or blackberry-like tang. There’s a slight floral-vegetal note that I associate with some Darjeelings too.

Also, thank you, Alistair and What-Cha, for the lovely sample! You carry some pretty special teas, and you’ve put Choke Chamreon Tea Estate on my radar (need to check out more Thai teas).

Steep count: 2

(2017 spring harvest)

This was provided as free sample in my What-Cha order, along with one of the nicest notes I’ve ever gotten from a tea company. Thank you, Alistair!

The first time I made this up I went with a western style steep. I consistently got comforting honey and fruit notes for all four re-steeps. There was no real dynamic progression of flavour, but this tea has a good thing going for it, so I’m not complaining.

Today I’m using shorter gongfu steeps, and unsurprisingly the 1st 15s yields that amber honey note. 2nd 18s steep has a profile which I generally associate with Chinese black teas; it’s creamy, malty, and almost chocolaty, with an incredibly smooth honey-sweet finish. Chocolate and baked fruits notes linger.

Steep Count: 5

Anyways, this was a great first foray into “red oolong.” I’d definitely pick up more of this as a “family dinner tea” and then short-steep it when I’m on my own. I’ll probably check out the other varieties first though!

(2016 Harvest)