What-Cha

This was my first ever taste of dark tea, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The dry leaves didn’t really have a smell so I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, as soon as I brewed the leaves it had a pungent cigar odor. The taste was very much the same – cigar smoke and wood.

Short but simple, I liked this tea and I didn’t brew it again as I didn’t have time. I will be sure to order more dark tea in the future.

Definitely my favorite of the Discover Assam set. Really rich tasting, maltiness. I suppose it does taste a bit like chocolate, but not as much as some other black teas I’ve tasted. Body was very nice, and the steeped out leaves look gorgeous.

This is a pretty good black tea, mostly getting really deep malty flavors. Reminded me a bit of coffee, especially when I first sipped it. Not a “bright” tasting black tea, more of a deep flavor. No astringency.

First order from What-cha came in! Arrived very quickly (from UK to Canada), well packed, and with a nice little note inside about the teas, particularly about the chosen sample. It’s those little touches, man….

This was one of my two black Mystery Teas, which I could easily get carried away with, I love surprises. Prepared as described on the pouch. Very nice! Smooth, sweet malt flavour with a slight citrusy aftertaste. There’s something vaguely spicey about it too that I can’t peg, very slight, might have to do with the citrus. As always I wound up adding a dab of honey, which just had the obvious result of enhancing the honey aspect of the tea. I can definitely see myself reaching for this in the morning, it just feels like a perky cup of tea to me.

Very nice!

EDIT: Second steep I forgot about it so it steeped for at least ten minutes. Still good! No bitterness, bit more bready and citrus than before, less honey, still yummy!

This may be one of the more dramatic cases I’ve seen of the differences a tea can have when brewed gongfu vs western style.

This time I brewed it gongfu and did steeps of 1 min, 1 min, 1:30, and 1:30. A much fuller, richer flavor appeared in all steeps. The liquid was thick and coated the mouth with sweetness. I cannot say I would recommend brewing this Western style after experiencing it gongfu. My rating jumped up after this experience.

I used two of these pearls in my tea pot. I think next time I will either increase the pearls or decrease the water (and also try it gongfu). I really enjoyed the malty-ness with the slight smoke underneath. There was something that gave a slight… numbing? cooling? to my mouth and gums. Very slight and I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I weren’t drinking it quietly alone. Interesting. Either way, this is a tea that requires further exploration.

Thank you to Nicole for this sample

Wasn’t a huge fan of this first go-round, which is unexpected. Flavors seemed that they’d be right up my alley, but it had an odd sweetness to it which was almost unpleasant.

I think I just didn’t use enough leaf last time, so the flavors were a bit odd. Used 5g this time, and it was much better. Very sweet hay and earthy flavors on most steeps. Some of the later ones had a kind of “fluffy” sweetness which immediately brought to mind marshmallows. Pretty tasty, but not the easiest to drink, as it’s almost sickly sweet at times. Wouldn’t be an everyday tea for me, both due to taste and price, but a fun and pleasant deviation from the norm.

This tea is just so yummy. Savory, mouthwatering and lip smacking. It’s buttery and brothy. No seaweed taste, not grassy, it reminds me of edamame. Provides lovely calm energy. I bought it as a sample, but this is a tea I need. Reminiscent of Verdant’s Laoshan Green, but richer.

Drank the 2016 version, which was significantly more enjoyable to me than the 2015. Really nice second flush Darjeeling with pronounced muscatel notes and the perfect amount of offsetting tannic notes. Lovely cup of tea

This was a very nice tea to sample. It’s not on my list of ones to buy more of, just didn’t strike a chord with me. Malty, with a nice hint of acidity in the mid sip keeping the tea from being flabby. The finish is sweet, but I didn’t detect any muscatel.

Wow.

I really want to mention how fragrant this tea was. It was so sweet smelling that it knocked me down! I had three sessions wit this tea and I can honestly say that it was amazing. It was very complex and has a lot of potential for aging amazingly.

You can read the full review here on my blog,

[http://coolcodyc.wix.com/theoolongdrunk#!Whatchya-Up-to-WhatChas-new-Sheng/c21kp/56c5266e0cf2d76542b21c01]

While there is a common thread of flavor and aroma that runs between the Georgian black teas offered at What-Cha, this one has a particularly deep and mellow character with sweet indistinctly fruity tones. While all of the What-Cha Georgian teas are unique, I find these teas difficult to describe because they have such similar characteristics, they just point in different directions… if that makes any sense. And perhaps that is why I love having a small collection of Georgian teas: I can pick one to suit my current mood.

A very nice, easy to drink floral tea. Nice to drink late in the evening.

A chat on reddit.com/r/tea inspired me to taste Laoshan Black from Verdant and What-Cha in back-to-back sessions. A Verdant LB devotee ordered What-Cha’s version and expressed hope that it would be similar. I had first been introduced to Verdant’s, and later ordered What-Cha’s — which more than satisfied my desire for that characteristic LB flavor. In fact, with both versions available to me, I had been opting for What-Cha’s every time.

But how similar are they? What was making me reach for the What-Cha bag when I wanted that deep dark chocolate-like taste, in a rich cup without the slightest hint of astringency? Time for a taste test.

My experience was similar to Ananisthecat’s. Verdant’s had several flashy flavors in the dry leaf and brewed cup — raisin and plum, most noticeably. The tea was thin bodied and the interesting notes quickly faded. I could have steeped more times than I did: there was still some flavor, but without the “look-at-me” notes, the tea wasn’t holding my interest.

The What-Cha Laoshan Black was fuller bodied, smooth, with more balance and subtlety to the flavor. I found it more enjoyable from the get-go as well as several steeps in.

I brewed Western style: 2tsp of each w/6-8oz water, starting w/30sec. Verdant recommends 205° and What-Cha 194°, so I followed those — have only a bit of the What-Cha left and didn’t want to burn it out of the gate, though I’m pretty sure it would be fine with more heat!

A wonderful tea. So far I’ve been quite impressed with my Discover Vietnam set from What-Cha. This one did have a notable dark chocolate aroma, which translated to a pleasant cocoa flavor in the tea itself. It wasn’t particularly sweet. The chocolate tasted more like those bars which are 90% cocoa or whatever. The sweetness of this tea seemed to come from the thick maltiness which was behind the chocolate. In some steeps I also got some nice earthy notes. The tea brewed up a beautiful clear and red liquor. A nice treat of a tea, especially if you like dark chocolate.

My first straight assam. I love this tea. It is what Lipton’s is pretending to be when it steals it’s manly uncle’s pipe and smoking jacket, practicing powerful, seductive looks for the ladies.

It is incredibly smooth and rich, and hints at milk chocolate at the back of the tongue. The aroma is much more chocolatey, but the taste doesn’t need it. A bit of malt lingers after the sip. Just slightly dry, too.

The second steep becomes less remarkable, more just a cup of tea. But wow, the magic of that first cup.

Silver needle. I’ve heard a little about you.

I’m been into this tea thing for around two months, constantly seeing ‘silver needle’ whispers between the roars of ‘PU ERH!’. I decided to check it out, since the leaf looks like cute baby caterpillars. I made an order with What-Cha and the bag is so satisfying to press, it’s like a cushion.

The leaves smelled weirdly like Carmex lip balm and grass. I brewed the tea in my new Yixing 100ml teapot for a quick flash brew as previous brewings had been very strong. It produced a lovely light brew with a slight yellow tint. As soon as I tasted the brew I fell in love with white teas. It had such a delicate citrus taste with notes of grass.

I left my second steeping for around 3 minutes to see if it improved the flavour. This time the citrus and grass notes were much stronger and it also had a strong lavender finish.

I decided to leave my third steeping in for 7 minutes. I forgot about it, meaning I left it in for 12 minutes instead. I was worried it was going to be super bitter, but it wasn’t. It was a tiny bit bitter but not enough to stop me drinking the tea. It is lovely on long steeps and I will probably try and steep it for 5-10 minutes for my first steeping next time. This tea also has a lovely lasting finish, perfect for an after-dinner treat.

Overall, I’m very happy I made this purchase and finally experienced the joys of white tea.

This tea tastes almost identical to an Indonesian red oolong I received as a sample with my Dachi subscription last month. Very mellow, sweet and musty. Not sure if I pick up any cinnamon. I wouldn’t buy this tea ( it is a sample), but the energy it provides is so happy. It’s a shame that I don’t like the taste more. Just not remarkable to me.

I’m not sure what I did wrong on this one but it just didn’t pop for me. I followed the suggested steeping directions. 185 for 3 minutes with 2 heaping tsp in 8oz. Both the first steep and the second at 4min30sec just were very watery and flat to me.

I will try to up the water temp and see if that changes anything here and update as needed but for now, it was very watery and lacked flavor.

I made some tea orders from both What-Cha and my first order at NBTea. I was given a gaiwan for my birthday so decided to try it out on my new oolong!

After absolutely loving the Thailand Bai Yai Assamica Green tea, I decided to order the oolong version to see if I liked it.

To be totally honest, I haven’t done that much research into how to use gaiwans. I put around 4g of oolong into the gaiwan as I had seen that most people put 1-2tsp in theirs. Rinsing is a new concept to me and I used my first steeping to rinse the tea and warm up the cup. Strangely enough, the wet leaves had a hint of strawberry scent!

My first tasting steep I left in for around 30 seconds. I had NO IDEA how long to leave it in for, however on most tea podcasts they usually leave it in for as long as a short natter takes. I definatly think I oversteeped it as it tasted incredibly bitter but I could taste fruity, nutty tones.

My second steeping wasn’t so successful either. I decided to flash brew, thinking this would reduce the bitterness. It actually INCREASED the bitterness and I wasn’t so sure what I had done wrong. I took out around half of the leaf and tried again.

My third steeping was a little better. It was still bitter, however I could taste the nutty tones and a fruity sweet aftertaste.

My fourth and final steeping was pretty watery and I could tell that this oolong was coming to it’s end. The taste was quite pleasant and fruity, however the finish was very bitter on the back of my tongue.

I still have a little bit left so I’ll use that to give a proper rating when I’ve done some better research. I don’t want to rate this tea in case I hadn’t brewed it properly, however any gaiwan tips would be appriciated!

I grabbed a handful of the Georgian black tea offerings from What-Cha, and have been really enjoying them. While they are all different, there is a thread of aroma and flavor that connects them all.

One thing I find interesting about the Georgian teas I have tried is that they can pull off “burly” flavors without seeming in any way dirty. By that I mean that the mild hints of leather I pick up in the wet leaf aroma of the Old Gentleman black tea are welcoming and balanced by the spicier/breadier Georgian character and inherent sweetness of the tea. This one in particular is a satisfying Georgian tea that brews up a dark golden red color with a full body, even with shorter steeps. There’s also a very satisfying mild acidity.

I had the wonkiest dream last night, it combined my current obsessions of Magic The Gathering and Ark: Survival Evolved with crazy apocalypse stuff most likely caused by my brushing up on the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event. It is always weird when the brain comes up with a crazy mish-mash of whatever you were thinking about before sleep and tries to make it into a story, most the time in the dream it makes perfect sense, but of course when you wake up it is so illogical and weird. And if anyone is curious about my Ark shenanigans for today, I’m planning on finding and taming a Carno, sure I could wait for an epic Rex or Spino, but the derpy arms and horns of the Carno kinda win so I need one to go hunting with my Pile ’o Dilos.

So, since it is Wednesday it is time to look at a tea from What-Cha, their India Bihar Doke Hand-Made ‘Rolling Thunder’ Oolong Tea is the lucky pick from my notes today. From the Doke Tea Garden in Bihar, the Lochan family once again is pushing the boundaries of tea in India, putting Bihar on the map as a tea region. The gentle curling leaves have a very sweet aroma, blending strong notes of plums, raisins and fresh grapes with a accompaniment of malt and dried tomato. The dried tomato note was a bit odd in concert with the other notes, but it is not an unpleasant oddness.

Into my steeping apparatus the leaves went for their nice little steeping session, I decided to go western style for this tea, because why not? I admit I primarily focus on gongfu so it is nice to switch things up a bit, keep me versatile. The aroma of the soggy steeped leaves is very fruity, blending tart slightly underripe plums, prunes, grapes, and raisins, the tartness is pretty fun, giving it a briskness. The liquid is very mild and sweet, blending grapes and prunes with a drizzling of honey, it has a richness to it that is not at all overpowering.

There is something about drinking tea from elegant or beautiful tea gear that makes it all the more wonderful, now I admit that my more recent collection of cups not all being pure white does skew the coloring of the tea a bit, but the beauty makes it worth it for me, and hopefully my dear readers don’t mind too much. The coloring matches the golden color of my cup perfectly, it looks like liquid sunlight. The mouthfeel is nice and smooth, pretty juicy with a bit of thickness, like warm fruit juice without the sticky. Tasting the tea, it is very sweet, mixing honey and plums with a gentle allspice note and a touch of raisins. Towards the end it gets a little dry and more heavily into the grape notes, reminding me a bit of spiced wine.

I did steep a second time, but a lot of the potency was lost, there is still mellow plum and grapes, but towards the end a note of dried tomato appears which was a bit surprising. The first steep really was quite enjoyable, the second steep was not at all bad, just diminished.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-cha-india-bihar-doke-hand-made.html

Sipdown!

I took my entire sample — about 6 grams — and brewed it in a small teapot with 85°C water for 1 minute. I could have done it in a gaiwan, but eh, I was lazy.

The brewed tea was dark brown and had a cool undertone to it. It smelled sweet, malty, and slightly sour. Overall, the whole thing reminded me of wet hay.

Down the hatch, I got a similar taste of wet hay, sweet potato, and something sour I couldn’t quite put my finger on. As the tea cooled, a bitter undertone developed underneath. It wasn’t sharp, but I still didn’t like it, because it wasn’t a pleasant bitterness, but one that felt kind of old and reminiscent of plastic.

The second steep, also for 1 minute, was very similar. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t feeling it and had trouble finishing the second steep.

Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2016/01/what-cha-nepal-second-flush-golden-tips-black-tea-plus-toronto-tea-festival/

Yesterday and today I’ve brewed back-to-back sessions of two What-Cha Georgian teas — this one and Tamaz’s Tiny Tea Factory black tea. I could repeat for this tea nearly everything I wrote about the Tamaz’s, and will do so, while describing the slight differences I noticed:

The four What-Cha Georgian blacks that I’ve tasted demand nothing, yet offer plenty of subtlety to reward a closer look. I find this to be a delightful combination that continues to draw me to What-Cha’s Georgian teas.

Smooth. Gentle. No astringency or bitterness. A brightness, a nutty flavor, a bit of roastiness — and such balance that no one note is dominant; rather, awareness and observation reveal each.

Searching for the unique character of each of the Georgian teas is an enjoyable challenge for me, since I’ve found far more commonalities than differences. What I notice today is a fruitiness in this tea that I did not notice in the Tamaz’s, and a brightness that, while a characteristic of both, in the Natela’s I could describe as a lemon-like flavor without the slightest acidity. There’s some sweetness there too, but again, so well balanced that it calls no attention to itself.

Originally I started with a 3 min steep time (a minute shorter than the 4 min recommended) since black teas at full strength can be too harsh for me. But there is nothing harsh about this tea. It is flavorful (even at 3 min) without punching me in the face. I’ve also tried very long steeps, for a last steep of the session: even an hour or more! — still to great results.

Natela’s gives and gives – I’ve probably gone at least 7 in each of my two most recent sessions, keeping the time at 4 min per steep.