Daylon R Thomas Send Message

I swore I wrote more about this. Anyway, it’s gained traction as one of my best teas, especially for work. Notes are nutty, earthy, and smoothly roasted with a mega buttery profile and texture amidst some char and roasted goodness. There was a little potatoe, some cocoa, perhaps maple, and definite hazelnut and chestnut notes. This was so good and so forgiving to steep. I highly recommend going to the rare teas page and picking some of this up.

Soo good. I followed their 3-5-7 approach with 150 ml, and it worked beautifully. Dried plums, roast, vanilla, and smoke in the dryeaf, and fresh plums, rock sugar, roasty hints, and vanilla hints in the aftertaste. The liqours color was amber, but with a purple tint. The tea was immensely sweet, and it gave me a bit of a buzz. The same notes permeated the later ones, bringing out more florals like orchid and fiery charcoal in the aftertaste. The fourth began with plums and rock sugar again, then a zingy blackberry note, and then the tea hit the roof of my mouth: smoke and fire. It was not ashy, but it was so sweet and smooth. The Cha Qi made my arms and legs purr. Later steeps brought a little bit of grapefruit, but plum, blackberry, and currant later on permeated it overall. I wish there was more of this one because it had so much complexity. I highly recommend it for roasted tea drinkers looking for some nuance in short flash steeps…or people with taste buds, because it’s good.

I’m undecided about this one. It’s very woodsy, tangy, heady, and fruity. Sap, plumeria, figs, and mangoes are the notes I keep getting. The combo has been overwhelming so far. It also has the boldness of a black, but the florals and lighter body of an oolong…although it’s super thick and malty. So far, it’s a little bit too sweet for me. Further examination is needed.

Thank you so much for adding this sample from my request!

This Dan Cong is good. I followed the Gong Fu style they suggested fairly strictly, and started off with a 3 second rinse, and followed through with a 3-5-5-7-8-9-12-12 pattern.

The dryleaf reminded me of incense. It was woody like dragons blood or sandelwood, but it was unpronounced like bamboo. The tea still had that ripe peach aroma that Mi Lan’s usually have.

Drinking it was interesting. First steep had notes of hibiscus and passionfruit, and it was a little bit woodsy. The flavor was still ripe, almost like a good quality sheng.

The following one had the same notes, but more texture. It was creamy and sweet like guava, and the wood note, maybe almond, was a little bit more pronounced mid sip. Mild astringency came through.

Third (fourth if you include the rinse which I TOTALLY drank) yielded guava, hibiscus, pollen, almond, and then a weird pineapple note in the finish. I usually don’t get that, but it was sweet and sour.

The next one had more dimension. Peach became the flavor this time with a woodsy peach seed in the background, and a little bit more nutty. The texture was more creamy, and ended with a mineral hint in mouth feel. The bitterness came through a little bit, and again was pleasant.

The next one went back to hibiscus, peach, guava, mineral, and slight bitterness.

The second to last one was surprisingly sweet-grapefruit, mineral, honey, and some things that almost reminded me of candy, or the salty rim of margarita.

The final brew was floral, a little bit bitter, creamy, and fruity.

Again, the company’s description was accurate, though it was not as nutty as I would personally describe it since the fruit notes were a little bit more dominant in flavor. Nutty notes were a little bit more in the aftertaste, aroma, and texture. I was very pleased with this tea overall, but I would say it’s the kind of tea you need to devote a session to. It does require some effort in how you brew it because it can get a little bit sour, but it’s very pleasing. I recommend a try of this one if you know anything about Dan Congs. It’s a little expensive for me personally, but I am glad I got to try it.

I am backlogging backwards, and divided this one up in 2.5 grams increments. Gong fu would totally work well for this one, but I am not sure if I would get too much of a difference. I brewed this in a strainer in my mug for three minutes, four, and five each time.

Cocoa was definitely in the aroma with the usual autumn leaf pile warmth, but chestnut and bread were dominant in smell and taste dryleaf and after brewing it. Again, the company’s description represents it well: “Its Bouquet-like character combined with the freshness of a green tea makes a lovely tea-experience. The usual taste of bread and chestnut is now supplemented with a smild citrus flavour.” And man, was it buttery and bready in flavor, and thick in texture. Malt were one of my notes since I brewed it so long. It was very similar to a Darjeeling black, but since I’ve had a few of these oolongs before, it tastes like any Nepal oolong-i.e. excellent.

I don’t have much more to say than that, and I wish I could have gotten a little bit more to experiment with it Gong Fu. I was still very pleased and I definitely recommend this tea. It is a little bit more of a snobs tea (looking at you Darjeeling and Nepal Lovers), but I do think it is approachable for a new drinker.

I was looking for samplers online to splurge on, and Zhao Zhou had one of the best assortment of oolongs I’ve yet seen. The selection had four different Dan Congs, a Mei Zhan, a Himalayan varietal, and more. This was the only Taiwan based tea they had in it, but still, all of the teas were a few of my favorites, especially this one.

The packaging of the sampler was gorgeous. The inside was decorated with leaves and branches, and the packaging came with a surrealist anthropomorphic dear. The offerings were excellent.

This was not the first one I tried nor is it the last one that I am back logging, but I gotta say that I am impressed with this oolong. The companies description of depth and a vanilla hint is apt. This tea was by no means vegetal, but was predominantly buttery and creamy with a few floral fluxes.

I doad wish I adhered to the companies instructions to the letter for Gong Fu brewing, I am pleased with the results in western style. Instead of doing 3-3-5-7 secs, I did that method in minutes while using 5 grams, 12 oz of hot water (190 F), and nearly 2 minutes and forty five seconds at first. I was able to get five solid cups, and I am trying to rebrew the sixth this morning.

I did rinse the tea before drinking it western. The rinse gave me vaguely floral impressions, so that was when I committed to the way I brewed it. The first cup was subtle, but in no means lacking in flavor or aroma. Hyacinth, butter, lilac, and vanilla permeated from my mug, and sipping it, the liquor soaked my tongue like cream and ended in my sinuses with a desert-like vanilla quality. It was a touch nutty, but I could not put my finger on it yet. The aftertaste was sweet nevertheless.

Steep two at three minutes, macademia immediately came to mind with the same vanilla notes the previous one had. Shan Lin XI’s usually aren’t this milky for me, but I am not complaining about this change of pace. These sips ended with a honeysuckle note, and a honey hint without being overly sweet. It was still as subtle as it had been.

Steep three had much of the same macademia and honeysuckle notes, but the lilac become the predominant flavor that was ended with an almost pineapple like finish. The fruitiness was faint, but it was there. I personally would not call this tea fruity, though, because it was more like a milky confectionery. More fruity notes appeared when the tea was cooled down, however. When my cup chilled to a winter temperature near fifty degrees, I sipped it and got a honeydew like flavor. Florals were still there, and it was sweeter.

Steep four brought out more lilac, mineral, butter, and vanilla hints. It was becoming a little bit more green. Steep five yielded more green notes and a little bit astringency. Some apple notes hinted their way through. Steep six is in progress this morning. I’m probably going to soak it for ten minutes if I haven’t exhausted these stemy bad boys too much.

Now that steep six is finished, it is greener. Taste and texture are creamy as ever, but thinner. Flavor is also vaguely milky, but a little bit floral like osmanthus. There is a little bit of a eucalyptus of spruce feeling in the end that is very faint. It could just be my tongue’s reaction to the mineral and floral notes.

Thus far, this Shan Lin Xi impressed me for its macademia notes and its lack of extreme vegetal notes. The vanilla note was also one of the best aspects of it overall. I could drink this with little issue, and it was complex despite being brewed western style. The overall price was not too bad for it either. It would have been priced at 49 Euros for 150 grams, which is pricey, but reasonable. This particular batch is out of stock since it was 2017 in season, but they do have the 2018 for the same price. The description of that one is a little different, but it still sounds excellent. I highly recommend this company for tea snobs.

I confess that I order this one to see what it was. My bets were on the obvious Ali Shan or Shan Lin Xi, though I leaned towards Shan Lin Xi since they tend to have more of an alpine finish than their Ali counterparts do. Sipping this, however, made me lean a little more towards Alishan at first because of the honey and cream notes, but the evergreen character made me think otherwise. Then I put the picture on the page, and saw the Long Feng label…that makes so much more sense.

Anyway, I have greatly enjoyed it so far because it’s got some great complexity. Brenden’s notes does this one the most justice; it’s scent and taste have the evergreen feel to it like fresh air in the woods, but the aftertaste is far from woodsy and is instead sweet. Sometimes, the tea was smooth and creamy, sometimes it was pure sweet, and other times, it was sweet with a hint of spice. Either way, the tea was green, viscous, and just in part, vegetal.

It was the same price as the Li Shan, and I continue to prefer this one right now. I do think this is worth a try, and I actually think that the price for this one is reasonable given how outrageous a Long Feng can be in expense. With notes to come, I will note that I highly recommend it.

Kawaii already nailed the notes on this one. I got this on pre-sale, and I can safely say it compares to other high quality Li Shans.

I was not too impressed at first because it hit all the trademarks I associate with the varietal gong fu, including a strong umami and an ever shifting fruit blossom character in the hints and midsips, shifting between melon, mango, and apple amidst a creamy texture. Florals, greens, and umami characterized the tea overall. Western, it was much the same, but thicker. The Evergreen Oolong was becoming my preference for the past few days, but that eventually changed. Grandpa style surprisingly brought about some more complex notes out of this tea.

The florals, fruits hints, and thick viscosity combined into something very close to coconut water. The finish was sweeter and more pronounced, but it was thick and a hint acidic in the aftertaste without being sour. There was some evolution in the florals, between lilac, iris, honeysuckle, and hyacinth, but not too much. It lasted me four more rebrews grand pa.

Although I haven’t paid full attention to the exact notes yet gong fu, I know that the tea is durable and flavorful. This is no surprise given the giant size of the leaves. I am a little critical of the price on the regular website, but it’s not unreasonable for what you get. Some companies might charge as much as $15 or $20 for the same quality. Like my other notes of late, I will write more in the future. I’m rating it as a solid 90 to show it’s a quality tea worth trying.

Got this as a sample, and out of curiosity. I thought I got the QingXiang version, but there is a bit of a roast smell to the leaves. I wanted to try out a rolled Qi Lan anyway.

I was overall very pleased with this tea. It was on the lighter end, but it was subtle and well rounded. Orchid, peach, roast, light wood, and roasty hints. I’ll write more about it later. It tastes like the other Qi lan I’m used to, albeit lighter and smoother mouthfeel.

Summer of 2018 Harvest

Quick log: I’ve been deeply satisfied with this tea, and again, I am so glad I pre-ordered it. The notes are all top notch, especially the immense blackberry ones I get in the tea. The minerals are also thickly sprinkled in like caramelized sugar crystals. I also get a little bit of a spicy sage or blackberry leaf note in the accents amidst its malty fruitiness, though the tea does have a savory quality bordering on a refined desert. Brenden’s description of funnel cake and pastries is also apt, especially the fig descriptor. My mom was close to stealing my cup of this one because it was so sweet and satisfying.

Easteaguy’s notes does this one the most justice, so I’ll leave this note here as a quick experience and recommendation. It is a little pricey, but it’s not too far off from similar teas I’ve had that were more expensive, very few of which were cheaper. I’ve only had this tea western so far and can vouch its durability for five cups straight. I’ve yet to do it gong fu. I’ll write a more detailed note in the future. Other teas await, after all.