What-Cha

Not the most exciting tea, but it is well balanced and one you can count on. It tastes mostly sweet and woody with a pencil shaving note. The aroma has notes of caramel and chicken mcnuggets before the rinse and of lamb, cocoa, and lentils afterwards. However, what really differentiates it from similarly simple black teas is its smooth and creamy mouthfeel which is very nice.

I feel like a savage steeping a nominal amount of this in a 2-cup teapot with a basket without a set water temperature for a nominal amount of time. And then pouring it into a mug that’s too dark inside to distinguish the color of the liquor.

Oh well! It’s lovely, regardless. The dry leaves are delightfully soft to the touch with a malty, vegetal, caramelized scent to them. You get a strong whiff of toasted marshmallow when you lift the lid off the freshly steeped pot of tea. It smells toasty like roasted grain in the cup. Lots happening with this tea.

Taste-wise, it’s incredibly complex. Marzipan and marshmallow with caramelized sugar on the surface. Some umami, vegetal tones below that. Alfalfa and toasted rice. A prominent sweetness on the tongue and in the aftertaste. If I didn’t brew this myself, I’d swear that there was caster sugar added to it. That saccharine touch lingers for minutes afterwards. An excellent Easter tea, even when you brew it carelessly with no rhyme or reason to the process.

Backlog:

Do not over leaf this, because if you do, you might lose out on the more subtle flavors. That was the mistake I made this and a few others of the teas I got from the order, but I learned. I paid closer attention, and this was the basic form of what I like about Nepal floral blacks. The orange blossom was the most prominent floral, but it was also juicy like red grapes, but the malt comes in the longer you steep it.

The malt gives the tea some nice body, but it can overpower the subtler qualities of the tea. That is the only thing I was not a fan of, but when I brewed it more carefully, I got more muscatel notes that I was really into. I recommend this tea for people looking for a good second flush type of tea. I don’t think it’s as good as some of What-Cha’s other Nepal teas (I’VE DRANK MOST OF THEM FROM 2017-2020), but it is a frickin’ bang for the buck.

This one was a little bit easier to balance out than the Bihar needle for me, but whereas that one was vegetal, this one was floral and sneaky. Dry leaf reminds me of bread, flour, and peonies.

The first failed session did not have a lot of flavor, and was very leaf water like. Second time, the tea is floral like honeysuckle, but a little bit thin. The breadiness finally comes a long to give it some texture, and thankfully, the tea was actually kinda buttery to me. Later brews developed a little bit more florals and thicker texture, but not distinct enough for me to write about yet. I like this one a little more than the Bihar, but I need some time for it to grow on me. It’s without a doubt good, smooth, and lacking in any bitterness or astringency, but I need to get to know it better.

The grain and butter qualities are the only ones making it more distinct for me so far. Otherwise, it’s like any good quality white tea.

I had a hard time getting the right balance at first with this one. It is more on the vegetal side for a white tea, and is super, super light. The first time tasted like rose stem water with fresh green leaves.

Yes, I was a weird seven year old that actually tried the pot water soaking rose stems.

Anyway.

Second time, I used Gong Fu precision using 3 grams, 6 oz, and about three minutes. It was exceptionally smooth, and generally sweet water. The grapey fruitiness is there, but it is very subtle. Like the other review, this is more of a daily drinker white. It took me a little bit of time to like this one because I was bored and unimpressed with the vegetal qualities, but after brewing it more carefully, I enjoy and appreciate it as an approachable and elegant white tea.

Hello everyone. I’ve been on a bit of a computer cleanse, so now that we are quarantined on a global level, I am returning. I also owe Alistair some reviews. (THANK YOU FOR THE WHITE RHINO! THAT ONE IS A FAVORITE!)

Anyway, this is from an older order that I mostly got Nepal floral blacks and white teas. I was really curious about this one because it looked more like a white tea than a usual black, and I had a feeling it would be fruity. Trying it out for my own, the dry leaf smells like dried leaves that you rake in the spring, lemons, cotton, and oaty grains. Brewing it up, the aroma is very floral and a touch fruity, retaining the oatiness I was talking about earlier.

Drinking it up, I used western timing while savoring it in a small porcelain cup at a time. At near 180’s F after I just brewed it, the flavor was dominated by heat, cotton, and then a little lemon wisp snuck by to say hello. The heat was hiding the flavor a little bit, so I let it cool off. The cooler temperature gave way to the same dry oat note I was thinking, being almost bready in its astringency. Then, it reminded me I was drinking the juice of dried leaves and transitioned into the white grape I expected from Alistairs description. I also got persimmon, but that’s just me.

In terms of the florals, it has the viscosity of rose water, but the flavor profile of osmanthus and the lightness of a white peony. That could be from my limited scope of florals, and the tea’s very light yellow brew, but that’s what at least makes sense to me.

The tea can get astringent, so I used a very light 3 grams. I got 3 more rebrews, and let the last steep way to long. Fortunately, it was not too astringent and had a pleasant lemon flavor after a the bready kick of astringency.

Out of the order I got, this tea was the easiest for me to balance out. I also liked this one one the most because of how unique it is. This tea is definitely snob, or more advanced territory because it is a lot more like a first flush Darjeeling or a white tea, so the elements like the dryness and weird astringency can be off putting to some, BUT, this is a lighter, refined tea overall. I tend to like lighter and naturally fruity/floral teas without additives, so I love it.

I definitely recommend it to white tea drinkers and the curious.

Sipdown (274)

This is one of my older teas and even past its best before date.

I made it earlier and then dumped it into a travel mug when I decided to go for a walk with my sister. I then forgot it and am only getting to it now, hours later. The travel mug had a scent of a previous tea in it and I think that is impacting the flavor here.

It’s smooth and a little malty and then there is almost some smoke to it, which I have never experienced before.

Had this with breakfast. It was malty and nice and easy to drink.

This tea’s best before date is 36 months after harvest. It’s harvest date is Spring 2017. As such, I have it as best before March 2020 since that’s when Spring officially starts. That means this tea has sat sealed for 3 years and isn’t getting tried until after its best before date has almost passed. I am sorry tea for neglecting you!

This is a nice enough black tea. Smooth and no astringency. Slight malt and a touch of caramel. It’s not in your face flavorful or particularly memorable but that could be the age. Also, I steeped it slightly lower than it should have been steeped and on the shorter time of the suggested range so it could be that at play too.

I’ve had my fill of Wuyi black teas the past few weeks. The cool, rainy weather has me wanting to sip down my few Japanese teas.

Like Togo, no expectations here.

So what am I greeted with? A massive lilac and sweet pea bouquet, reminiscent of green baozhong oolong, but mixed with deep Assam malt. Intriguing! I notice nobody else has yet mentioned the florality of this tea. The medium body at first hits with a pungent tanginess and tannins then carries into mid-mouth flavors of iodine, wet dark wood, oak, buttery roasted nuts and a drop of dark dry red wine. The swallow presents with lilac mixed with a spicy feel and the umami of buttered popcorn. The lilac lingers for several minutes.

I prepared this 2019 harvest western style according to What-Cha’s parameters. The leaf is chopped and mixed with short lengths of stem. The large surface area created a very strong brew with a 3 minute steep. Second steep is mellower. I’m curious what less time would do, but I really love where this session sits. What a unique black tea. Thank you so much for sharing, Martin :)

Song pairing: Failure — The Nurse Who Loved Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVg9GcUDArQ

This was a treat from Eelong…luscious thick leaves that were at least half a hamster long (no, I don’t know why I chose that unit of measurement, but that was my first impression and I’m sticking with it!)

I neither measured nor steeped scientifically or precisely, but this was a very forgiving tea anyway. Had the gentle graininess of honey wheat bread, and although I was likely influenced by the “purple” in the moniker, the fruitiness I detected was grapey. A lovely serving of toast and jelly to accompany me out the door.

Steeps: 30s,60s,45s,60s

What an interesting dry presentation. . . Looks strange, smells like tamari of all things. . . My cat tried to run off with one (it was safely retrieved with no harm done to either tea or cat). Considerably less unusual in the pot. Nice, light flavor. I didn’t get the advertised apricot, but I did taste a strong overtone of spring wildflower honey that’s very pleasurable and eerily spot on for what my coworker’s bees most recently produced.
It has a downside— unlike most oolong, it did not take kindly to being left in a cooling pot to continue steeping past the initial, recommended point in time, and my second cup was thus bitter. I’d have brewed it in a filter if I’d known it wouldn’t behave as well as most in its class do, but ah well. Hind sight and all that.

This was another of my recent sipdowns. As a matter of fact, I finished this tea late last week. It was another that I had been looking forward to trying for some time, and with winter steadily winding to a close, it seemed like an appropriate time to break out a floral, fruity oolong. To be honest, it’s always oolong time for me. I drink them year round. Anyway, this was a very nice oolong. I was a little surprise to see it draw a mixed response based on the two previous reviews.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 10 seconds, 13 seconds, 16 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, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, pine, cedar, straw, honey, and peach. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted almond, malt, blackberry, and roasted peanut. The first infusion introduced aromas of rose, violet, and baked bread as well as a subtle dark chocolate scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of baked bread, butter, malt, rose, peach, and honey that were balanced by hints of roasted almond, straw, cream, and cinnamon. The subsequent infusions coaxed out aromas of orange blossom, orange zest, plum, and minerals as well as subtle scents of cream and brown sugar. Stronger roasted almond notes came out in the mouth alongside impressions of orange blossom, orange zest, minerals, rose, roasted peanut, violet, pine, cedar, blackberry, brown sugar, mulberry, and plum. I also detected hints of lychee, pear, cream, dark chocolate, and black cherry. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, baked bread, roasted almond, rose, mulberry, and orange zest alongside amplified pear notes and subtler impressions of blackberry, violet, peach, cream, honey, black cherry, and brown sugar.

This was a tremendously aromatic and flavorful oolong that did a more or less very good job of approximating the character of a quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty. Compared to some of the Taiwanese Oriental Beauties I have tried, it was a bit rougher and maltier, though not to the extent that the drinking experience was negatively impacted. Overall, this was a very nice offering. I don’t really understand the lukewarm reception it has received to this point.

Okay, now that I have access to a working computer again, it’s time to post a review. This was my most recent sipdown and a tea I had been eager to try for some time. Prior to trying this tea, I had never had a brandy oolong, so this was a new experience for me. I was a little surprised to see that this tea was produced from Qing Xin (Green Heart), a cultivar generally associated with Taiwanese oolong production. Overall, this ended up being not quite what I expected, but it was a very pleasant, solid tea nonetheless.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 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, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of honey, molasses, sweet potato, and baked bread. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted almond and roasted peanut. The first infusion introduced scents of orange zest, pine, brown sugar, and cinnamon. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of honey, roasted almond, roasted peanut, baked bread, and brown sugar that were balanced by hints of pine, cinnamon, and sweet potato. The subsequent infusions coaxed out aromas of plum, red apple, Asian pear, lemon zest, and malt. I also noted a very subtle cocoa scent at times. Stronger and more immediately apparent notes of pine, cinnamon, and sweet potato appeared in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging notes of orange zest and hints of molasses. Impressions of Asian pear, plum, red apple, minerals, malt, red grape, and lemon zest were also apparent. I could even pick up some hints of smoke, earth, nectarine, and cocoa here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, roasted almond, Asian pear, plum, orange zest, and red apple that were underscored by hints of honey, roasted peanut, brown sugar, baked bread, and lemon zest.

Since I did not know what to expect out of this tea going into my review session, I reflected on its name and came to expect a warming, smooth, sweet tea. It ended up displaying all of those qualities, but after a point, it struck me as being more nutty and citric. It didn’t really remind me of brandy in any way. It also was the sort of oolong that peaked quickly and then faded rapidly before evening out and clinging to life for an extended period of time. By the time I called it quits, the leaves were still producing a noticeable amount of aroma, but I was not getting much flavor out of the tea liquor. Anyway, this was a pleasant, easy-drinking Fujianese oolong with respectable longevity. The only real knock I can think of is that it was neither a consistently engaging nor uniquely captivating offering.

Bought this for the blackberry note, but the yam and honey taste was the most prevalent thing in the liquor. It has a lingering sweetness that sticks in your throat after you swallow and that pleasantly funky flavor and aroma that all Taiwan blacks seem to have. Almost like the old paper in an ancient book that aged out of the musty stage. Starting to think that Taiwan blacks aren’t for me because of this note, but that’s alright, this one was a pleasant experience.

Interesting look: large curly leaves, prominent stalks.
Intriguing aroma: both dry – stone fruits, fallen leaves, smoke – and wet – mineral, resin, pine smoke.
Enjoyable taste: mineral, spice, smoke, camphor, tobacco, dark honeyed sweetness.
Also, it resteeps well and leaves a pleasant lingering aftertaste.
This is a very smooth roasted oolong that is cheerful, dependable, and lacks any obvious flaws or imbalances. Taiwan oolongs are rarely leave me excited due to their subtlety but I really liked this one.

Spectacular! Worth every cent. Luscious, creamy, cloudy liquor resembles and tastes similar to miso soup with ample seaweed. Delicate floral notes and a grounding hint of earthy bitterness round out the flavor. The nose is something special: it smells precisely like BeauFort London’s Fathom V with the florals boosted. For those unfamiliar, Fathom V calls to mind moss and musk, ozone and the sea, whipped-up white florals and velvety spices. It’s a merger of chypre and aquatic that I find reminiscent of a greenhouse, the section under the misters. I’d just applied some when I opened this bag and was briefly horribly confused.
A note: it is possible I brewed this hotter even than I recorded, as temperatures that low are difficult to eyeball. I think I may have as it resteeped acceptably, but not superbly. I also left my leaves in the pot, which could also have sapped them, but greens usually stand up admirably well to that treatment so I suspect I subjected it to a bit much heat. Will go lower next time and see how it affects longevity.

Another non-rated tea yet?

Okay, let’s write something down. What-cha recommends quite fast steep (60-90 s), I think I did 2 minutes, but 300 ml of hot water. Ehm, hot? Warm! I have not used thermometer, but I think it was just around 75°C, maybe even lower.

The tea brews very light green colour with bit of lilac aroma. But when sipped! It is light, floral tea, slight vegetal / green flavours; just plain enjoyable tea! It is not much of complex, not the freshest tea as well (well, it is year old), but the taste is clear and no off notes! It is not overly vegetal, or too astringent too.

Made a quick and dirty cold brew of this before leaving the house yesterday morning. About a tablespoon of leaves unceremoniously dumped into the bottom of a 16 ounce double-walled glass thermos, filled with cold tap water, flimsy mesh strainer insert to keep the leaves down in the liquid where they belong. It then got to sit in my icy cold car (yay, 11F February afternoons!) until 3 pm, when I was able to briefly scuttle out of the haul truck I was operating and nab it to sip on for the rest of the day.

First impression: smells like warm red grapes and tobacco. I had made a heavenly batch of cold brewed Shan Tuyet the day before using the same method, and the contrast between those two cups really shows how different black teas can be. They can go from the malty cocoa goodness of cold Shan Tuyet to…. well, tasting like blood on the first sip. Really thought I screwed something up with this one because it has that overripe red raspberry flavor that teeters into the sanguine category of tastes. Lots of acidic, wine-y, tobacco notes behind that. It has depth once you get past the initial pungency.

It’s not unpalatable by any means, but I don’t think this tea and I are compatible. Going to try it in hot water before I give it a numerical rating. Who knows, that blood flavor might go away with some heat! (I hope.)

Malawi is a country I associate with the score upon score of colorful fish that fill up its eponymous rift lake. Lake Malawi is a precious jewel to those studying vertebrate evolution— those fish are geologically young species, and relatively closely related, yet incredibly diverse in form and favor, and still radiating at a rapid clip. It was this image of Malawi— Malawi, place of adaption— that I sat down to make this tea.

Firstly, if you taste with your eyes, you’ll love this one. Verdigris, ocher, and sable splay across big, furling things. The leaves look great in the bag and even more enticing in the pot.
One of the reasons I picked this tea out was those striking leaves. The other is that I have not had tea grown in Africa before and think it’s interesting to compare teas grown in the plant’s native range to those outside of it. This is certainly unlike any white tea produced in China; it has changed in its new country (perhaps not surprising, given that African growers have had since the late 1800s to apply artificial selection to their bushes). It shares with its kin a sweet and floral, almost rosy nose, but on the tongue is another animal. It is almost bracing, with a sturdy heart of tea and velvety peach skin, and a long finish that plays out on the palate in sequence. First comes grass and autumn leaves— it reminds me of how the air smells after mowing the lawn for the last few times— then peach resurfaces, skinned this time, and it’s an unusual peach in that it’s not accompanied by nectar-sweetness. It’s an assertive, just-picked peach, still firm and almost sour. Then comes grass, fresh at first, which dries and dies along with the flavor. For this transformation alone it is worth drinking. I grabbed this expecting something simple and easy to follow along while I worked on a drawing, but wound up stopping briefly just to take note of that finish.

I quite enjoyed this taste of Malawi and will likely double down my efforts to try more African tea as a result.

Brewed some of this in a Pyrex measuring cup before pouring it into a plastic travel mug like a sophisticated person last night. Didn’t want to waste my last chance to have a cup of caffeinated tea even though I had to run down to the barn after work for horse activities. It’s a really interesting brew, even with the notes of polymer that you get from pouring hot tea into a “microwave safe” plastic cup and letting it sit in there until it’s cool enough to drink.

First of all, the dry leaves are beautiful. Spindly and long like antlers, they hook around each other with the curled ends and lift out of the bag in gnarled clumps. The scent is peppery and dark with hints of grape. When you brew them, they smell… like a classic black tea. Heady and brisk with a hint of tannins that you don’t actually end up tasting.

The flavor is completely free of astringency—I think. The plastic notes were overwhelming some stuff in the flavor, but I’ve had it once before in a proper mug and recall it being terribly smooth—with a definite brandy taste. Red grapes, aged wine. Nothing sour or tart about it. It’s easy to forget that you’re drinking this because there aren’t any potentially unpleasant or out-of-place notes that grab your attention. I think the best way I can describe it is as a polished Lipton. It tastes familiar and I wouldn’t hesitate to offer it to someone who likes a plain black cup of tea without any frills.

This is another old review that has been sitting around unposted since either November or December. At the time I was working on this one, I only had a mini sample of this tea to work with, but I have since acquired a larger amount, so I will very likely be posting an updated review of this tea at some point in the next few months. My first impression of it was very good. I was obviously a huge fan of What-Cha’s previous Guranse offering, so my expectations of this tea were high, and fortunately for me, it did not disappoint.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3 grams of loose leaf material in about 8 ounces of 195 F water for 5 minutes. I did not rinse the leaf material prior to infusion, and I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of pine, straw, hay, peanut, grass, chrysanthemum, dandelion, and rose. After infusion, new aromas of malt, butter, cream, apricot, toast, plum, orange blossom, and green bell pepper were apparent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, hay, straw, pine, grass, cream, butter, rose, toast, dandelion, apricot, pear, plum, orange blossom, chrysanthemum, violet, green apple, white grape, peanut, chestnut, hazelnut, lemon zest, and green bell pepper. The finish blended floral, vegetal, and nutty characteristics with subtle maltiness, mellow notes of butter and cream, clear and distinct impressions of lemon zest, white grape, green pine, and pear, moderate astringency, and some lingering apricot and plum hints that were most apparent after each swallow.

Overall, I found this to be a very nice Nepalese black tea. The liquor was a bit thinner than the previous Guranse offering that I tried, but that was ultimately a minor quibble. This was still a very complex, pleasant, and balanced tea. Fans of Nepalese black teas should get a lot out of it.