What-Cha

I threw this in the timolino today and it helped me through a bad bout of car sickness on the bus commute. My sister also stole some of my tea for magnesium pill-taking purposes and I think she was slightly more impressed than weirded-out by the “definite sticky rice flavour.” This isn’t a scented tea that holds its punches.

Needless to say, this held up extremely well in the travel mug. It’s just a shame I couldn’t take the leaves with me for resteeping purposes.

Steep Count: 2

Yeah, I resteeped this when I got home at midnight. I’ve got my priorities straight.

(2016 fall harvest)

“Something in this room smells like popcorn and butter. Now I want food.”- Dad

This may be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Steeped, the cup can be smelled a room away, and I can control my father’s desire to make popcorn with it.

I accidentally steeped the first two cups at too hot a temperature (95C/204F) and it’s not as good. Don’t do that.

Steep Count: 4

(2016 fall harvest)

After a pleasurable bout of food poisoning yesterday, my stomach and head are still tender and throwing a big wrench in my marathon tea drinking plans. Overly sweet and floral teas are currently out, which is unfortunately the majority of my cupboard.

Given the situation, this lovely tea is perfect. The delicious and, most importantly, bland rice flavouring flows perfectly into the creamy and slightly vegetal notes of this jin xuan. I can’t tell where the flavouring ends and the oolong begins.

I’ll have to remember to stock up on more smooth and silky ripe puerhs and milk oolongs like this one for rainy days. They are a balm and they are essential.

Steep count: 6 (and still going strong, but I think that’s it for the evening)

Even in latter steeps the sticky rice flavour retains the intensity of it’s nutty sweetness; it puts me in mind of almond milk.

(2016 fall harvest)

I think I have lived off of black tea this weekend. What was supposed to be a nice three day break ended up being a total nightmare. I had to take care of my parents’ home and pets while they were out of town, I had a crisis call that turned into a total pain, and then I had to help a friend with an English final (she was stressing out about it and I had earlier promised to provide assistance). I have been decidedly short on both sleep and me time. Luckily, I was still able to make time to try a new tea.

I prepared this tea Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced lovely malty, woodsy aromas. After infusion, I detected scents of malt, molasses, honey, wood, camphor/menthol, and citrus. In the mouth, I discovered wonderfully lush, robust notes of malt, cream, wood, caramel, brown toast, brown sugar, cocoa, leather, molasses, honey, blood orange, black walnut, chestnut, and something herbal that seemed to flit back and forth between menthol and camphor, much like it did on the nose. The finish was smooth, toasty, and malty with lingering impressions of roasted nuts, molasses, cocoa, citrus, wood, and leather.

Well, this was a nice Assam-type black tea. It seems that some of the African producers do a great job with the varietal. I was definitely impressed by its handling here. This tea had a ton of flavor, but did not fall prey to unpleasant bitterness and/or astringency. It made for a near perfect pick-me-up on this unseasonably cold, windy, rainy day.

There is a mild menthol scent to this tea and it feels thick. But oddly, I don’t get much flavor at all out of it that I can talk about. Not even “tea”. I would be hard pressed, if given a cup I couldn’t see the liquid in, to even say this was tea. It’s not that it’s bad, it just isn’t much of anything. Thanks for sharing, Daylon R Thomas!

I prefer this tea infused for 4 minutes.

Medium mouthfeel with smooth finish. Light cocoa note.

Caramel sweetness. I will try to infuse this for longer in the future.

While going through one of my tea totes yesterday, I stumbled upon a pouch of this tea. I had planned on spending my evening working on a new green oolong, but when I saw this, I just had to try it. I greatly enjoyed the other Georgian black teas I purchased from What-Cha and had to find out how this one compared to them. For me, this one was yet another winner.

I prepared this tea Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions. Even though the vendor recommended a steep time around 4 minutes for this tea, I went with my usual 5 minute infusion instead.

Prior to infusion, I noticed that the dry, wiry tea leaves emitted gentle aromas of malt and roasted nuts. After infusion, the dark golden tea liquor produced lovely aromas of malt, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, straw, roasted almond, and golden raisin. In the mouth, I easily detected notes of butter, cream, steamed milk, straw, sweet cinnamon, roasted almond, nutmeg, toast, honey, malt, and golden raisin. After the swallow, pronounced impressions of cream, steamed milk, spices, honey, and roasted almond lingered on the palate.

It seems that these Georgian black teas just do the trick for me. I found this to be a satisfying, approachable, gently invigorating tea that had much to offer in terms of aroma and flavor. It also had a wonderful texture in the mouth. In my opinion, this tea compared favorably to What-Cha’s other Georgian black teas. I would definitely have no problem recommending it to anyone looking for a smooth, easy-drinking black tea with plenty of flavor.

Another sipdown for my morning cup. I liked this one straight, but I needed a latte this morning so I finished off the last of my leaves by adding milk. It doesn’t seem very flavourful, but I do get some malty (grain) notes like the crusts of whole wheat bread. Also something vaguely fruity.

Sipdown of this fine black tea. The novelty factor here boosts my rating slightly.

No bitterness at all, actually quite sweet and smooth.

While there is some complexity here, it is fairly generic. It tastes like black tea. Honey-like sweetness, tannin, molasses, raisin. It is almost like it has the flavour/sweetness of brown sugar. It is a really solid cup, but doesn’t deliver anything I can find in numerous other black teas (for cheaper prices).

Sample I bought from from JK7Ray on reddit. 2.5g leaf, 1.5 minutes, 250 mL 90 deg. C water.

It smells sweet, aromatic (cocoa, malted grain, molasses), brews an amber brown.

The flavour is typical of black teas, is slightly oversteeped for my liking (heading into overly tannic and bitter territory, but not quite there). Initial taste is savoury and sweet: molasses, honey, cocoa, thick mouth feel. After taste is sweet with notes of wheat. I would have enjoyed this more if it was less “in-the-middle” of all of its flavours. It seems to have averaged everything instead of having and particular flavours pop out. More wheat, richer/more cocoa, or maltier/grainer/creamier would have been an improvement.

Overall, it’s pretty average. I mean, it’s not a bad tea, but its very plain in my opinion. It doesn’t have a whole lot going for it other than the fact that it tastes like any other black. I still have a cup of it left, but will not be reaching for it anytime soon while I have more exciting options available.

I started working on a sample pouch of this tea prior to going to work this morning. In my opinion, there is nothing quite as effective as Assam when it comes to getting one started in the morning. Unfortunately, this one did not do much for me. I don’t feel like I was able to get it quite right.

I prepared this tea Western style. I tried to prepare this tea two ways. First, I steeped 4 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I later steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in 8 ounces of 194 F for 3 minutes. Both preparations produced extremely similar results.

Both infusions produced a mellow woodsy, malty bouquet with hints of caramel, butter, and molasses. In the mouth, I mostly picked up butter, malt, and wood notes with hints of honey, molasses, cream, chestnut, hazelnut, and brown toast. There was very little astringency or bitterness, which was nice, but I didn’t find much to latch onto period.

I don’t know about this tea. I’m going to try it again later, but so far, I do not have particularly strong feelings about it either way. Normally, the so-called golden ratio of 3 grams of loose tea per 8 ounces of water (and I never fill my teacups to the brim, so I’m never really using a full 8 ounces) works for me, but I don’t feel like it did here. Looking at the leaves too, I could tell that this was a high quality tea. It just didn’t do much for me. It came across as being timid and stuffy.

ADDENDUM: I just finished the final 3 grams of the sample pouch, and I have to say that I like this tea a little more now. It had kind of a leafiness and grassiness up front that I hadn’t noticed before. It also had a touch of cocoa that I picked up on the finish. Compared to many of the Assams I have tried, this one was very light and mellow. I found this tea to be a very backloaded tea in the sense that, for me, the flavor was at its best, boldest, and most complex right around the swallow. It still wasn’t really my thing, but I could see this being good for someone who wants the caffeine punch of Assam or other strong black teas, but doesn’t necessarily want the heavy maltiness, syrupy mouthfeel, or pronounced astringency.

Winter 2016 tea

Dry leaf has a distinct floral aroma- maybe lily flower if I had to choose. Half of a cake used.

Brewed tea has an aroma of ripe bananas with a bit of a malty tone which reminds me of banana bread. The brewed tea flavour reminds me of toasted bananas. Medium-thick mouthfeel and sweet on the finish. Toasted floral notes in the background.

4 minutes seems like too long of an infusion for this one.

Dry leaf has a sweet malty aroma. Brewed tea has a creamy velvety aroma. Thick mouthfeel. Sweet on the finish. Sweet milky pudding note. A bit of grapefruit in the aftertaste.

the best tea from Indonesia because very delicious and can try at office or home..

I did a side by side with the Colombian green tea and this black tea.

The leaves are moderately sized and slightly twisted with scents of sweet dark fruit, baked breads, and caramel with a base of Hay. I grabbed my gaiwan and brewed away. The taste is odd with some wet bamboo tones along with a more general wet wood note. I could note a slightly sweet aftertaste. The next taste brought the image of roast beef stew. This was an odd one for me. I couldn’t pick up the sweet berry notes peeps were talking about; i only got roast beef stew…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRGu6Y9gjKa/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

This was an odd one.

The leaves are lightly red and tightly rolled with an odd roast tone. I can pick some starch-y cloth scents (linen?) with heavy dark fruit notes. I warmed up my shibo, and I placed what I had inside. The smell is an exact copy for run-of-the-mill hongcha. Malt. Roast. Nutty. Dark. I washed the leaves once and prepped for brewing. The taste is comparable to Bang Dong from White2Tea. The tea has some roasted tones with a bit of sweet fruit and malt. The aftertaste is nice with a succulent red fruitiness covering my throat. The tea is interesting and smooth. This isn’t something that I would seek, but it was a decent tea. It was fun to drink Vietnamese oolong.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR6A7GBg-Hz/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

Dry leaf aroma: Malt with hints of cherry.
Dry leaf appearance:

Wet leaf aroma: Stone fruit and a crisp tartness.
Wet leaf appearance: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSwkUkuj_8F/

Preparation: Brewed western style in a ceramic infuser mug.

First steeping: 4 minutes at 212 degrees.
Freshly brewed, brisk tannin and malty notes are most prevalent, with a stone fruit aftertaste. A creamy mouthfeel is present at the end of the sip. As the cup cools a vibrant cherry note comes to the forefront and the creamy mouthfeel is more prominent in the aftertaste. I let this cup cool completely, after which the cherry essence truly came out and lingered pleasantly for quite a while after the sip.

Another sample from Hoalatha. Couldn’t wait to try this tea out of sheer aroma-driven curiosity. It smelled like fruit loops. Straight up. I’ve definitely had grainy and cereal-y teas before, but this was my first time having a tea that smelled of one so specific!

This tea steeps up nice and golden with a thick texture and sweet flavor that exudes fruit loops and more of that cereal graininess. In the following steep, a darker sweetness and malty, fruity flavors emerge. Really, really enjoyed this one!

I’ve never had tea from Columbia before, so this was a first!

The leaves are darkened and slightly twisted with a bean-y aroma along with some slight grass, and a minor floral. This was a rough smelling tea. I grabbed my kyusu and filled it up. The taste was different. The brew was very light and grassy with a slight sweetness. Later sipping, I could note some mineral. This was a strong or complex tea, but it was decent it smooth. The drink was light and would make a nice lazy easy drinker that requires little attention.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRGu6Y9gjKa/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en