What-Cha

Most recent tea of the a day, decent, buttery, mega smooth, creamy, and mildly sweet. Butterflowers pops in my head. I can taste the Jin Xuan and Cui Yu qualities easily, but need to rebrew with fresher utensil. Silly Daylon had this after a black tea…

I really enjoy Korean green tea; they have wonderful aromas. I don’t remember where I got this, but I discovered it a little bit ago. The leaves are vibrant and loosely rolled with a warm scent of dried seaweed, roasted chestnuts, almonds, and kale. I warmed my kyusu and scooped some inside. The directions said really light and really short steeps, but I disagreed. The drink was a nice pale jade with a roasted aroma. The taste is very very thin and sweet. The brew lasted about two steeps and yielded a cup of light grassy notes and slight florals. The base was starchy and roasted corn, but it was very faint. This is a very easy drinker, and it is nice for night time sippin, but I wouldn’t get any more of this.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPftdLNgmRI/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I’m finding as I get more into my whirlwind romance with the bitterness of young sheng that I am beginning to look for some with age on it when I want more but different. I find them a bit easier.

This has about 10 years on it which is my ballpark/laymans age where (i) can really experience what ageing does to puerh.

The first few steeps were light, and I was pushing the timing, getting to s5@1:30 where the cakes bitterness suddenly popped up alongside a nice tart/tannic fruit. I just smelled the gaiwan and got subtle cumin & yummy fruit which made me think of mango chutney with cumin & fenugreek. Nom. It doesnt actually smell like that but for some reason makes me think of it.

Classic aged woodsy notes, and tobacco in the bitter taste. I am enjoying the departure from my usual young sheng/region training I have been really working on last year. I am appreciating the bitterness of tea like this more due to that. Slight raisin fruit under all of this as well. Its tannic but a nice tannic.

its a nice exploration taste fruit being the most subtle, wood/age in the middle & bitterness on top. Not bad at all for the price, which is really cheap. At this present moment its even cheaper for anyone outside of the UK. About 10p/gram, really fairly priced.

I was hitting it with 10g/100ml gaiwan & quite long steeps.

Having never tried Balhyo cha before I didnt know what to expect. The chocolate & cocoa aroma is really prominent from the dry leaf. Bit of research there is debate over whether its yellow or black. From the voices I read & tasting it says black to me.

Booting up the tea we have more of the aroma, and when I tasted it I expected malt, but the malt was not there. Instead there was a mixture of some roast & fruit-red-wine hidden in the slightly lively body, like a keemun-roasted-oolong. That’s the simplest way to describe it.. Oh and the aroma has the cocoa. The body is Keemun-sweet-ish with a little salt & fruit.

In fact it reminded me more and more of Keemun or unspoken lapsang as im finishing the cup. But with other things going on. It was really nice!

Steeped 5g 12oz fish-eye bubbles 1 minute which I need to try with some other teas as it was a perfect cup.

I can see why this was on my list of teas to try – i think there was a premium one from what-cha people were raving about last year or the year before.

Its a good black/red tea for people who dont dig too much malt but want a cup of something that envelopes them with soft warmth.

Sipdown (210)!

So, right before I brewed this cup I made the mistake of eating a hotdog with a lot of onion on it. Sadly, I couldn’t quite get the taste of onion out of my mouth and the entire mug had a slight onion tinge to it flavour wise.

Other than that, it was mostly a mix of malt, cocoa and raisin with the slightest astringency. Very full bodied overall, and it would have been a great compliment to my hotdog had I not stupidly decided to add onion. Damn! I also found a slight spiciness as well, but not sure if that’s more from the tea or my onion breath.

This is a queued tasting note.

Gong Fu/Stream of Consciousness style review:

5 sec rinse and rest…

5 sec
- Slight astringency + thick mouthfeel
- Thick malt top notes
- Body/finish = Rye, raisin, cocoa

7 sec
- Much the same as previous steep
- Perhaps more sweetness and more overall cocoa

10 sec
- Definitely feels more well rounded
- Malt/cocoa/honey/red fruits
- Lingering sweet finish

12 sec
- Top notes of honey and red fruits
- Raisin/malt slowly creep in
- Sweetness has a clean finish
- Malt lingers

15 sec
- Clean, sweet, fruity top notes
- Intro. of cane sugar notes??
- Otherwise pretty much the same as previous infusion

18 sec
- Malt, raisin, cocoa, red fruit, cane sugar, honey, caramel
- Feels quite well rounded and sweet now

25 sec
- Yes! Well rounded, clean profile
- Flavour of malt/raisin/cocoa is diminishing
- Which leaves stronger feeling, lovely fruit notes

I felt like this was both the decrescendo of the session as well as the sweet spot, but like often seems to happen I looked at the clock and realized that I had to stop the session to start getting ready for work. I would have loved to see this one through to completion though. It was an otherwise A+ session though, despite a bit of a harsher start.

Rinse at 100C, let it rest, flash steep at 95C.

So I was going to rinse this one twice, but decided to sip the second rinse. Glad I did! A lighter amber in color, this liquor tastes of a distinct blend of citrus and tamari, with a sweetness that builds in the mouth and at the back of the throat.

The second flash steep has an intense, super-rich condensed milk custard aroma, and tastes of honey and lemon stirred into hot water, with a slight umami kick that rolls into a savory and sour shoyu finish with a lingering sweetness. The aroma that clings to the empty cup is mouth-watering and fruity.

Third steep has more sour stone fruit coming through, and in the fourth steep, I’m starting to almost taste that condensed milkiness, and all of this carries on into the next couple of steeps. Once the flavor started to weaken, I hit it with boiling water from height and left it for a longer steep, and that revived it for a few more rounds.

This was very unique and I quite liked it. I could see myself stocking up this.

Perfectly described on the website – ‘…smooth sweet clean taste coupled with light fruitiness and a gentle lingering bitterness’

Thats basically it in a nutshell – I found this easy to drink, the vege-bitter was never overpowering, slight cooling menthol-aroma also part of that aspect. Sweetness, decent longevity – i’m still drinking it well over 10 steeps. Also nice price being a tenner for 100g, and UK-based, so good value for me.

Time for my first tea review! I got my sampler set from what-cha.com and decided to review all the teas in it.

This tea is excellent. It tastes surprisingly sweet for an unsweetened tea. The flavour reminds me of honeysuckle, and it’s very light and… spring…y?

I’d recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of lighter green teas, or anyone who’s stuck in the midst of gloomy weather and wants a little taste of spring.

The backlog will once again be cleared after I finish typing this review. I received an approximately 4 gram mini sample of this with a What-Cha order in the second half of 2016, and as usual, it was tossed into the sample pile and promptly forgotten. I had the urge to start Saturday with a gongfu session, however, and wanted to try something unique. As I dug through the sample hoard, I came to this one and put it aside as an option. It ultimately came down to this or What-Cha’s Vietnam Gui Fei and I ended up deciding on this one.

I prepared this tea gongfu style, but managed to totally misinterpret one of the more important parts of What-Cha’s brewing parameters-the water temperature. What-Cha recommends a water temperature of 167 F for this one. I am so used to brewing oolong between 185 and 208 F that I accidentally set my electric kettle on 195 F. By the time I realized my mistake, I had already rinsed the tea and decided that I may as well carry on. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped the 4 ounces of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. I followed this infusion up with 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 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 gave off pleasant, though subtle aromas of hay, cream, butter, Muscat grape, osmanthus, and apricot. After the rinse, the floral and fruity aromas intensified somewhat. The first infusion produced a similar, though noticeably more floral aroma with hints of rose and violet. In the mouth, I picked up fairly balanced notes of cream, butter, hay, apricot, osmanthus, violet, and rose underscored by a hint of Muscat grape on the finish. Subsequent infusions were much more floral and fruity. The aromas of osmanthus, Muscat, violet, and rose intensified. In the mouth, much more pronounced notes of fresh flowers, apricot, and grape rose to the fore, balanced by a smattering of smooth creamy, buttery notes, an emerging bready quality, and a lingering hint of hay. The later infusions were predictably smooth and mild. Cream, butter, hay, bread, and grape remained both on the nose and in the mouth. I could also detect a faint trace of minerals on the finish.

The only previous reviewer to this point noted that the low water temperature perhaps kept the leaf balls from unfurling completely. Considering that I brewed this tea with a water temperature 28 degrees higher than the vendor’s recommended brewing temperature, I did not have that problem. What was most surprising to me was that my blunder regarding the water temperature did not completely sink this one. Brewing at a higher temperature produced a very direct, robust tea with completely over-the-top floral and fruity aromas and flavors. I’m willing to bet that had I used a lower temperature closer to the vendor’s recommended water temperature, this would have been a much more mellow and subtle tea. Regardless of whether or not that is the case, I still liked this tea quite a bit. It was not particularly subtle or deep, but it was still very good. The aromas and flavors of rose and violet in the early and middle infusions were absolutely amazing.

Cold Brew!

I had this one on Friday, but I actually don’t remember a whole lot about it aside from the fact that remarkably the cold brew came out both super woody and drying/astringent. It’s so rare for a cold brew to taste astringent that it really took me by surprise. I did finish it though; but it was sort of just background refreshment!?

Three minute steep, 80C water in a pretty new/unused carry travel mug from DT.

Just throwing those parameters out there at the top for myself as a reference, because this was THE BEST version of this that I have ever tasted. It almost perfectly tasted like really smooth, high quality/well refined honey but with the tiniest edge of florals, and green melon. Truly perfect infusion – and I’m so glad it was one where I paid CLOSE ATTENTION to how I was making it because damn.

I sipped on it while binging the whole first season of Disenchantment, Matt Groening’s new show, on Netflix. By some miracle I made the whole carry travel mug last ten episodes. YUMMY.

Boyfriend and I are sharing music recommendations right now; usually our music taste overlaps a decent amount but tonight we’re just a little mismatched. He’s on a bit of a rap kick, and all day I’ve been more into light, mellow indie folk sorta stuff.

When I started drinking this mug this was the song I was listening to: https://youtu.be/CbwYZCga50U

It’s a nice song; easy to listen to and good background music. I felt like the brightness of the peach/nectarine notes in this tea kind of nicely mimicked the sort of higher pitched “blinking” in the background music, and then the very, very light roasty elements of the cup and sweet honey/molasses sort of notes worked for the tone of the singers voice. It was peaceful and relaxing as a combination and I liked this is mirrored the different between the fruity elements that were more upbeat and lively, and the rest of the sip which is smooth, silky and more mellow.

Now I’m listening to this song: https://youtu.be/hn4xtJNQV2A

This one was a boyfriend recommendation. I actually like the mash up, and paired with a different tea I think it could be a really interesting/fun pairing but it’s DEFINITELY not as harmonious a pairing to the tea I’m currently drinking…

Quickly whipped myself a cup of this one right before I took off from work to head home;

I know I understeeped it because I was rushing to make it to the bank to drop of the night’s deposit and still get to my bus on time but even still I thought the honey note was beautiful and soothing, and I appreciated the red fruit undertones that were just present enough to be identifiable. It was also very lightly grassy, and the finish was sweet and a touch nutty.

Mmm, I do love me some Gui Fei.

In fact, I just ordered 50g more of it from Camellia Sinensis and at that point I hadn’t even tried the 50g package of this sitting on my shelf! So, I rectified that this afternoon and during a more mentally clear point in the day I steeped up a mug of it.

This was pretty nice Western steeped! Much like your typical/generic Gui Fei profile this had a lovely honeyed sweetness to the profile. I’d call it sort of light to medium bodied overall with a very soft, gentle toasty roasted flavour as the key/main background and supporting flavour throughout the sip. Otherwise, notes of honey, lemon water, and wood were present. Really smooth, and easy to sip. In fact, before I knew it the entire mug was already gone!

I want to clarify the lemon water note a bit better though. When I say lemon water that isn’t to say that it was a weak or watery lemon flavour but rather the smooth, crisp and refreshing lemon quality that lemon infused water has without any of the tartness/sourness or acidity. It was actually a really pleasant and enjoyable fruity note in this particular Gui Fei.

Thank you again hawkband1! Yet another one I was curious yet hesitant about, but the notes pretty much describe it. This was a slightly drying, floral, grape-y tea with a darker malt background. It actually reminded me of eating Satay Chicken with peanut and cucumber sauces.

If I were to taste it blind, I would think it was either a Darjeeling white or first flush young black. Again, drying, sweet, floral, citrusy, and a little bit bitter. Tannin is a good way to describe it, which is also why it made me think of a black. Then again, some Darjeelings and Nepalese are closer in oxidation to oolongs than average blacks. It was similar to the Nepalese pearl that I had from What-Cha, but again, I would not be able to tell this was a oolong. Nepal needs some more love though.

I really liked this one, but I’m not sure I’d want to own an amount of it. I still prefer the blacks more than the oolongs from this region, but this was still an excellent tea because of its first flush like qualities in a lighter body.

This black tea is one of a number of unique African teas What-Cha sources from the Satemwa Tea & Coffee Estate in the Shire Highlands of Malawi. This particular tea is produced exclusively from leaves Satemwa buys from Yamba, one of the local tea farmers. I found it to be a smooth, malty black tea ideal for early morning or afternoon consumption.

I brewed this tea Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 4 minutes. I did not attempt additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted a leafy, malty aroma. After infusion, I easily detected aromas of malt, toast, cream, caramel, sorghum molasses, and orange. In the mouth, I picked up distinct notes of orange, toast, caramel, cream, malt, and sorghum molasses balanced by traces of leather, black cherry, and wood. What-Cha advertised this tea as possessing a distinct impression of honey, but I failed to get that out of it.

Many of the African black teas I have tried have been very hit or miss for me, but this one I greatly enjoyed. I found it to be a smooth, rich, malty tea with considerably more depth and complexity than expected. I think fans of maltier black teas like Assam would find quite a bit to like about this one.

Since I have already reviewed three Georgian black teas offered by What-Cha, I may as well go ahead and post a review of a fourth. This was the tea I unwound with after work today. What-Cha described it as having a somewhat different character compared to the other Georgian black teas offered. I have to say that I found that description to be accurate.

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. Again, I did not attempt additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noted that a whiff of the dry tea leaves did not reveal aromas of dried fruit, mild spice, or nuts. Like the other teas, there was a pronounced malty scent, but it was more of a dark malt scent. There was also a subtle dried leaf scent coupled with a mellow woody aroma. After infusion, I picked up strong aromas of malt, cream, wood, and toast. Again, there was a slightly leafy quality on the nose. In the mouth, a rich malt note took center stage, balanced by notes of cream, wood, toast, orange, and raisin. The finish was rich and smooth. It was heavy on the malt and cream, though there was enough of a raisin presence to provide some balance.

While the other Georgian black teas were consistent in their demonstration of light malt and golden raisin notes, this tea was full of cream, dark malt, and darker raisin flavors. The persistent maltiness coupled with the tea’s leafy and woody characteristics reminded me more than a bit of some of the high-end Assams I have consumed in recent years. Though I did not enjoy this one quite as much as What-Cha’s other Georgian black teas, I think fans of maltier black teas would be pleased with it.

Today I continued to plow through the sample packets of What-Cha’s Georgian black teas that I managed to acquire over the course of the past year. I started on this one last night and finished it up this afternoon. Compared to the Natela’s Gold Standard and Mr. Ramiz’s Hand-Made Black Tea, this one displayed a simpler character in the mouth with a pronounced toasty, fruity finish.

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.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted strong aromas of raisin and prune underscored by a hint of malt. After infusion, the dried fruit aromas were balanced by aromas of malt, toast, cream, and a hint of mild spice. In the mouth, I picked up smoothly integrated notes of malt, cream, and toast underscored by touches of raisin, cherry, fig, almond, and nutmeg. Oddly, the expected prune note was missing. The finish was long and mellow, presenting a lovely and harmonious blend of fig, raisin, toast, cream, and malt.

Lighter in flavor than the previous two Georgian black teas I have reviewed, yet with an unexpectedly strong, integrated finish that more than made up for the tea’s initial timidity, this tea shared more than enough strengths with the other two to justify a similarly high rating. I just could not find much to fault with this one. If you were a fan of either of the other two Georgian black teas mentioned above, there is a very good chance that you will also enjoy this one.

Got this to see how we like it, as we love the one from YS but it’s out of stock on US site. Threw the whole sample into the gaiwan, which includes a 2g piece of bitter melon. Interesting, the aroma kind of reminds me of the bug bitten oolongs we’ve had. Did a quick wash to get rid of some of the fannings and dust.

The flavor also reminds me of some of those oolongs, and it has a distinctly roasted flavor. I like it more than I’ve liked some other heavy roasted oolongs, which are not usually my thing. Has a thick sweet aroma that clings to the cup once emptied. Definitely getting some plummy notes. The longer I steep this, it starts to become a bit reminiscent of some of the heicha I’ve had.

Third steep I think was done too cool at 90C, but had a returning, syrupy sweetness. The longer I drink this, the more I realize that its age is increasingly apparent to me and that along with the heavy roast certainly set it apart from what I’m more accustomed to.

A couple more steeps, really start to get that fruity sweet and sourness really starts to come through and the liquor gets thick and viscous. I do feel like I can feel this tea coursing through my body in a sense.

Got a good few steeps out of this one but the flavor died down pretty quickly. This was good. I would drink it again, for sure, but it probably wouldn’t be my number one go to.

Another of the Georgian teas I acquired from What-Cha during the second half of 2016, I finished off the last of my sample pouch this afternoon. I got so used to the recommended steeping process for Natela’s Gold Standard that I ended up using 203 F water instead of 194 F water the first time I brewed a cup of this tea. It turns out that nine degree difference in temperature really makes a difference with this tea. Brewing it again at the recommended temperature resulted in a much more flavorful cup.

I brewed this tea Western style. Rather than attempt multiple infusions, I favored a simple one step infusion process. Note that in this review I am specifically referring to the latter brewing method referred to above-3 grams of loose tea leaves steeped in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves emitted a malty, slightly fruity scent. After infusion, I picked up pronounced aromas of cream, malt, raisin, almond, and nutmeg. In the mouth, I detected dominant notes of cream, malt, and toast balanced by gentle, subtle notes of apricot, golden raisin, and yellow plum. Notes of nutmeg and almond were also detectable, becoming more noticeable on the smooth, malty, and subtly fruity finish.

Overall, I really liked this tea. It came across as being smoother and more balanced than Natela’s Gold Standard, though it also lacked the pronounced fruitiness I so admired in that tea. Still, I found it to be very good. I think it would be a perfect tea for whenever one is just looking for a balanced, supremely drinkable cup.

This is another free sample I received with a fairly recent What-Cha order. Apparently, this was meant to replace the previous English breakfast blend. A blend of African and Asian black teas, this particular blend is comprised of 30% Yunnan Black Gold, 30% Vietnam Wild Boar, 30% Kenya FOP, and 10% Rwanda FOP.

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 additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry leaves emitted malty, woody, and slightly chocolaty aromas. After infusion, the copper tea liquor produced more clearly defined scents of chocolate, malt, wood, brown sugar, and sorghum molasses. In the mouth, I detected a smooth blend of wood, brown sugar, chocolate, sorghum molasses, earth, leather, toast, roasted nut, malt, and mild spice notes. The finish was particularly smooth, pleasant, and expressive, offering a lingering malty sweetness coupled with a hint of astringency.

Truth be told, this was an enjoyable and surprisingly refined English breakfast blend. Unfortunately, I am at a point where I tend to associate English breakfast teas with earthier, woodier, more leathery flavors and more pronounced bitterness and astringency. As a matter of fact, I associate English breakfast teas with these qualities so much that I now actively look for them. With that in mind, I found this blend to be tasty, but I also found it to be a bit tame. Still, I think those who are looking for a smooth, flavorful breakfast tea could do far worse than checking out this one.

Backlog. Got this from Liquid Proust’s regional group buy.

Tannic, unpleasant undertone. I wrote NO on the package when I had it the first time and I still agree with myself.

This was the other Russian black tea I ended up with a couple months ago. I received a free 10 gram sample of it with an order from What-Cha. I’m assuming Alistair chose to include this tea because my order was comprised exclusively of black teas from Georgia, Russia, and Azerbaijan. The tea was described as being a Russian approximation of a traditional Chinese Keemun.

I prepared this tea using a one step Western infusion process. I steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in just shy of 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes. At one point, I attempted a second infusion of 7 minutes, but was not thrilled with the results. I think it may have been necessary to start with either a 3-4 minute infusion in order to get a more flavorful second infusion out of this tea.

Prior to infusion, I noted that the dry tea leaves produced a mild smoky, malty aroma. After infusion, I noted gentle aromas of smoke, toast, malt, dark chocolate, and raisin emanating from the cup. In the mouth, dominant notes of smoke, toast, dark chocolate, malt, and cream were underscored by notes of honey, raisin, date, and fig. I was expecting more of a plum note from this tea (I tend to get plum aroma and/or flavor out of most Keemuns), but I did not pick it up in this tea.

This was not bad at all. I think it is probably best to approach this tea as a unique approximation of a Keemun rather than comparing it directly to traditional, authentic Chinese Keemuns. For the most part, this tea does a good job of approximating the smoky, fruity, chocolaty, and malty character of Keemun, though I felt that it failed to fully capture the depth of a truly exceptional Keemun. I think a lot of that is probably owing to differences in terroir. In the end, I would probably not choose this tea over an authentic Keemun, but I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a solid Russian black tea.