Daylon R Thomas Send Message

A gracious sample that I enjoyed. Thank you so much Zhao Zhou!

The previous reviewer already nailed this one, especially with the Goji berry notes and Sheng like qualities. I only got four cups, and it was fairly flexible, but a little bitter like a sheng. I mostly got Autumn Leaves, forest floor, resin, and a little bit of fruitiness. I got the grape the company talks about in their description, and a little bit of birch and maple in the overall taste. It was personally kinda woodsy and brothy for me.

I liked this one more in the later steeps, but this was definitely a “Chill, bro” kind of tea. I liked it, and I still cannot say thank you enough for the company for putting this fine tea in the package all the way from Budapest. I’m totally going to this shop when I travel to Europe in the far, but hopefully not too far future.

I expected a nuclear green floral and soapy Chou Chi before I bought it. Their description was upfront about the tea’s headiness: “Green dancong is one of our most fragrant teas. Due to the special drying process that involves both heating and cooling, the leaves can keep their original fragrance: orchid, lily, and lilac. This overwhelming flower bouquet, is accompanied by the scent of fresh green grass. The aftertaste is mild and buttery with some refreshing, vivid buzz.”

Again, their description and steeping methods were reliable as ever; but it was not overwhelming and soapy at all. It was subtle and refined like every tea, and immensely creamy. It was green, but again, creamy florals of orchid, lilac and lily dominated the tea without ever being astringent or bitter in the least. The lilac, and MAYBE vanilla notes reminded me more of a high grade Baozhong than a TieGuanYin like the other green dancongs I’ve had, which was so very welcomed.

It had some durability at seven steeps, so it was medium in strength. This is a good tea if you like things on the lighter end of oolongs, and definitely better than other green dancongs I’ve had.

I thought that the Hongxin would be more roasted, but I was wrong; this one’s baking was much more distinct despite being lighter and greener. It was nutty and had a very similar macademia note that the Hongxin had, but this one was more abrupt in its change. Going with their recommendations, the tea did indeed start was sweet and floral, having some violet in its sweetness, that then became a little bit more bready. Then, it transitions into a sourdough texture with immense florals akin to orchid and something fainter then magnolia amidst a baked and ever nutty background. The transition was louder in the aroma as well. The tea did not settle down until it’s 10th and 11th steep.

The overall notes are things you’d expect from a Tie Guan Yin, but the combo was not. I actually liked it, and it woke me up more than the Hongxin did. I would want to see what some one else thinks of this one. I think it’s more suited for intermediate drinkers, but there are some tea snobs that could take out more from this than I can. Cheers for surprises.

I have not had a Tie Guan Yin that’s impressed for a while. The medium roasted Tie Guan Yin’s used to be my favorite, starting with Rishi’s version of the tea. It was like drinking liquid graham crackers. Since then, Tie Guan Yins have been two dimensional; they are either vegetal, nuclearly floral, or plain toasty. When I read the description for this one and the Yesheng, however, I got a sense of renewed hope.

Surprisingly, this tea was one of my top five of the sampler. Immensely nutty like almond, cashew, and hazelnut, this one was a little bit more complex than I anticipated. The first few steeps were indeed “coffee-like” with the same kind of toffee finish you get in some coffees with creamer or savory like the graham cracker note I imagine, but immensely nutty while slightly floral. The middle brews shifted to something that reminded me of macademia, while the overall tea maintained its baked character. Later steeps were indeed vegetal and floral like a greener tieguanyin, but still ever so slightly baked.

I got ten cups out of this one, and I was impressed with it. I’d be interested to see people with a more straightforward vocabulary break it down to what this tea is, and I’d also be interested in what someone who is more tacit or even flareful might describe it. This was an interesting tea overall.

This one was much more traditional Milan Xiang, but it was still impressive. Unlike the other dancongs from the sampler, this one was dominated by honey, lychee, orchids, and a few other florals that I have yet to name. The texture and aroma were also of course creamy and nectar like. There was some mango, but not as much as the wudong. This one was a little darker than the wudong, but barely so. I did not taste too much toast or baking. I got some hints that resembled cooked peaches or grapefruit, but nothing close to char. Yes, it was a little bit nutty too, but in the hints and aroma during the middle brews. Although my description is relatively simple, the tea had some flux of notes going through and a long lasting durability since I got about ten brews out of it Gong Fu style with the 3-3-5-7 second increment rule.

Again, I hope that I’m doing the tea justice. If you’ve had Milan, you know what to expect. It’s an easy drinker that I’d recommend newer drinkers trying once in their life, and I think more intermediate drinkers would appreciate the lychee notes. I liked the wudong a little more, but I’d personally drink this one more often because it is a little bit less finicky. It gives you a balanced cuppa, even sippa’ either way. I might get this one again because I feel like I’m missing something….We’ll have to wait until the next tea addict writes about this, I guess.

I feel unoriginal in using the company’s description, but they nailed it: “An especially fragrant tea with notes of acacia , orange and almonds. It has a characteristic taste of citrus fruits with a hint of hazelnut and a slight, refreshing sourness. The aftertaste is quite long, round and creamy, the chaqi is deep and energising.” I was also surprised by how many yellow green leaves there were in the mix. I’ve had wudongs and Da Wu Yi’s with the weird green-yellow-orange-leaves, but they did not accent the pile the ways these did. And unlike other Wudongs, the fruit notes were more prominent for me. Following their exact guidelines for how to brew it, Guava was the biggest note I tasted, then orange and mango in the middle brews, and vague lychee toward the end. The acacia was always there, and the tea was definitely nutty, but it was very fresh rather than roasted. It was more on the creamy and fruity ends of oolongs overall, and although it might seem on the more green end of oolong, it was not vegetal in the least.

It’s a given that I loved this tea, and I personally did not have one favorite over the other in this sampler. The notes reminded me of summer, but you could drink this tea fine any season. I recommend this one if you are looking for an especially fruity and bright dancong.

If you know what a high quality Shui Xian tastes like, then you know what to expect when you buy this one:toasty goodiness with subtle notes that you almost call floral, but you don’t care because it is one of the few types of teas that naturally resembles coffee with a lot of creamer. That’s my opinion, and I’m proudly biased to that description.

Anyway, I drank this exactly as instructed, and was pleased that this tea had some Cha Qi like they described. I felt productive after drinking it, but I had no jitters going into the final eighth cup of this. As for the flavor, it was primarily nutty like almond and roasted nuts, followed by a caramelized body in the aftertaste that was not too far off from coffee. The florals reminded me a little bit like narcissus, and as the steeps got rebrewed, the tea got some fruity hints. This tea was not actually fruity, but it got sweeter in the later hints. The tea was also moderately woodsy and vegetal (barely so), but more roasted and floral overall. Nuts, butter, caramel, toast, wood, orchid, rye, and some “sourness” and smoke that the company describes are the descriptors I’m going to stick with. I’m recommending this tea, and really, any tea from this company either way.

The next few teas are going to be a bunch of backlogs from this sampler, and the Song Zhong sampler I had from Harney and Sons.

Every tea has been great from Zhao Zhou. This one was one of my favorites. It had the usual notes of a slightly toastier Dan Cong and the usual fruity peach notes and floral orchid ones, but it was a little bit deeper overall. The roast blended effortlessly with the stone fruit ones in a mineral textured complexity. I followed the instructions as they listed, and it occasionally had a cassia spiciness from the roast. I occasionally got something similar to plum or grapefruit, but every once in a while, I got something a little bit more tropical like passionfruit. I wish I wrote the notes at the time to accurately describe the fruits, because whereas the other dancongs were more akin to lychee and mango, this one was a little bit more robust and “red” in fruits. It was as viscous and creamy as the others, but more complex with its toasty accents. I’m half tempted to get more of this one in particular, although all the Dancongs Zhao Zhou offers are great in their own right.

I hope this note does this tea service. Overall, this tea had a great balance between its fiery toast notes and its fruity and floral ones. It also had a decent amount of longevity for nine good brews gong fu as the company recommended.