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Finally, the last of my freebies from a BTTC order. Since I don’t care much for honey blacks, I kept 3g of this to sample before forwarding the remaining 25g to a friend who enjoyed it.

I’m not sure when this tea was produced. Gone gaiwan, 3g, 60mL, 205F, short rinse that I ended up drinking followed by 9 steeps at 10/15/15/20/25/35/45/60/90s.

Dry leaf smelled like faint beeswax, warmed had the addition of honey and wood. Rinsed leaf settled back to wood with faint honey. This was a very smooth red-orange liquor with gentle sweetness, complementary tannins and no bitterness to be found. It started off strong in taste with mostly honey and cinnamon (just like those cinnamon honey sticks) with a fruity backing and undertones of nutmeg, green beans and herbs. As the session progressed, the cinnamon, nutmeg and herbs faded and the wood in the wet leaf came forward with the addition of some minerality. The tea faded away gently. Spent leaves were very healthy looking.

I think this would be a great tea for people new to loose leaf, especially brewed western style and possibly in a thermos. It’s good but the rating reflects my rather non-existent preference for honey blacks.

August 2017 harvest.

I’ve tried brewing this tea both western and gongfu so far. I also have a a liter cold brewing in the fridge and am planning on doing a grandpa test in my thermos to judge the tea’s viability as a ‘school brew.’ I’ll update the review and rating after trying the other 2 methods, but for now:

Western: 3g, 8oz, 205F, 3/4/5min. Light-bodied and a little viscous, tastes of honey and light roast. Some light astringency and a ruby red grapefruit aftertaste. Pretty average tea. Third steep wasn’t worth it as the astringency became overbearing.

Gongfu: 2.5g, 60mL, 195F. 10s rinse followed by 7 steeps at 10/15/20/25/30/45/60s.
In an attempt to reduce the astringency present when brewed western style, I dialed the temp back 10 degrees. Dry leaf smelled of mostly roast and honey, warmed had the addition of wheat toast. A 10s rinse allowed citrus to come forward in the leaf. The tea started off very light and citrusy in flavor with some astringency. It thickened up quickly. Ruby red grapefruit and some salivation came out and there was a short-lived honeyed grapefruit aftertaste. The astringency was a mainstay even with a lower temperature. Drinking it while having a snack did keep the astringency at bay and allowed the flavors to pop out more.

The tea does have a nice, light taste that would make this a good beginner’s oolong but I hesitate to recommend it as as such due to the astringency. I’d point somebody to What-Cha’s Vietnam Gui Fei over this tea especially since the Vietnamese version is at the time negligibly more expensive.

Getting close to the last of my 5g Verdant samples! First ever Chun Lan. Spring 2017 harvest. 5g, 100mL gaiwan, 205-212F, short rinse followed by 9 steeps at 7s/10/12/15/20/25/35/whoops#1/whoops#2

Dry leaf is very fragrant, tough to pick out scents beyond the roast which was not overwhelming. Warmed leaf smelled strongly up front of amber and orchid with chocolate in the background. Rinsed leaf aroma was geranium, orchid and warm dark wood.

This tea started off strong, quickly! The liquor was fragrant. The taste was very floral, of which I often have difficulty identifying different types. What I did pick up on was geranium (thanks to Verdant’s notes), amber, warm dark wood, orchid, mineral and a light roast which disappeared after the first steep. It was rather bright tasting like an orange and remained so despite the flavors fading slightly after about the third steep. There was a pleasant fruity and floral aftertaste and a persistent sugarcane sweetness in the back of the mouth showing up around the fourth steep but I don’t recall it lasting into the end of the session. Oversteeping in the end gave surprisingly tasty cups. The tea remained brothy throughout, thickening up midway then thinning slightly. A light astringency was present from the beginning and built up over the course of the session. Some light bitterness showed up here and there.

This tea seemed pretty balanced despite my inability to identify a lot of what was going on. It was floral, bright and fruity, warm with amber, woody and had a slight vegetal undertone. It possessed a good mouthfeel, fleeting bitterness, a light aftertaste, some returning sweetness and good longevity, but the growing astringency kind of detracted from the experience. Despite the astringency, I’m impressed with this Chun Lan. I see it’s currently on sale and I think the price warrants giving it a try, especially if you’re looking for a bright and warm floral-forward yancha.

Another 5g sample. Spring 2017 harvest. This is only the second bai ji guan yancha I’ve tried, and is, if I can recall, much different than the other one which was twice light-roasted.

I got 10 steeps with 5g of leaf in my 100mL clay gaiwan. Boiling water and a short rinse.

The dry and rinsed leaf presented as very fragrant with an aroma of musty hay, orange blossom, yeast, cream, sweet pea floral, and elderflower.

Immediately with the first steep of 5 seconds, the pure golden liquor was swimming in taste. Sweet pea floral and vegetal, elderflower, hay, buttered yeast roll and mineral. The liquor was fragrant, brothy and tart with an already strong, lingering sweetness. As the session progressed, the flavors amplified. More elderflower sweet-tart came forward turning into mineral lemon water. Something reminded me of vanilla sugared egg yolks and a hint of lightly drying salted almond butter. The aftertaste was strongly floral and sweet, sometimes like honey, sometimes like white sugar. I went to the post office and grocery mid-session and was gone for an hour, all the while enjoying the persistent aftertaste. Toward the end, a pleasant brassiness and citrus zest showed up in the mouth with the brothiness transforming into a thickness. One thing I noted was if allowed to cool, the butteriness and some astringency became prominent. I was reminded of movie theater popcorn butter flavoring. I would recommend a strainer for this tea since it seems some of the delicate leaf disintegrates with boiling water.

Overall, I’m really digging this tea. It has such a complex and deep profile and strength in aroma and taste while remaining bright. Too sweet of an aftertaste for me to be a daily drinker but I’d like to keep some on hand.

I like where this one’s going already at such a young age. My sample is mostly a whole chunk with layers easy to peel. It’s quite the mix of shapes and colors, from almost black to brown, olive and beige with some beige-grey needles and a few gold ones. Dry leaf smells soft, sweet, vegetal, yeasty. Rinsed leaf aroma is peach, a light smoke and green beans. Rinse color is a light honey and I don’t know if my eyes are playing tricks – a tinge of pink.

Starts off light bodied and mineral, gaining some light honey with some sourness mid-mouth and light bitterness in the back. Fruity apricot/peach aftertaste. As the steeps progress, the honey disappears. The tea becomes more savory and the sourness becomes identifiable as citric in nature. It continues to get more tart and more bitter, leaving my mouth raw. Then, right when I expect a lot of sheng to lose steam, this one really blossoms. I notice a thickening of the liquor, a fullness in my throat, a persistent sweetness in the back, the bitterness and tartness fade, some light cooling and grassiness show up and the minerals return. Apricot and bready aftertastes linger for a while. It takes to over-steeping well in this later stage. Wasn’t keeping track but I think I got between 12 and 16 steeps.

Poking around, I see several different types of leaf, a lot of them whole and robust, some outlined with oxidation, some fat needles and an outlier leaf that’s longer than my middle finger. Quite the blend. Some charred bits in the bottom of the cup. No stomach discomfort at all. Energy in the beginning was kind of sedating, then later I noticed how utterly caffeinated I was.

This sheng fits my profile pretty well – not floral, not too sweet. Considering a cake for the price. I’m curious where this one will go.

Gone gaiwan. 5g, 100mL, 212F. Short rinse followed by 7 steeps at 15s/25/30/45/1m/1m30/5?m

This is a nice, mellow shou, fragrant and comforting. The base tea is rather savory and not very sweet. It lacks off-putting aromas and tastes. Works well with the sticky rice herb which is not overpowering, though it is looking old. The first four steeps were the richest and the last 3 were not too watery. Despite me not considering this a sweet tea, there was a strong lingering sweetness in the back of the mouth. It was good for drinking at night which is what I purchased it for. Not too much focus was required, it was relatively short-lived and seemed low in caffeine. Prit-tay good.

I had this a followup to a breakfast of some hash I made with apples, onion, bacon, and leftover chicken served with a slice of sour rye.

Gone western. Yet another 5g sample, 10oz, 205F, 6 steeps at 30s/45/1m/1m30/2m/5m

This is one of those smoke bomb ZSXZ. This tea has two things going for it: 1) the smoke doesn’t fade completely by the second steep nor does it turn into wet campfire smell and 2) the tea has longevity, not going flat quickly. It’s not the smoothest ZSXZ I’ve had, producing some astringency that I think would not make this a good candidate for brewing grandpa style in a thermos. However, due to it’s strength, I’m pretty sure you could buck Verdant’s brewing recommendation of 4g per 6-8oz of water and go with less leaf.

If you’re not a fan of smokey pu’er, I’d stay away. I was amazed at how strongly it resembled that style of tea, which I’ve never experienced in other ZSXZ. Mostly pine smoke and mushroom in aroma and taste with noticeable minerality and petrichor. The bottom of the cup did smell like brown sugar, but I did not pick up on any sweetness in taste. If there were any other flavors present, they were masked by the smoke.

Idk, this smoked tea isn’t bad, but it’s not what I was expecting.

Yancha, my love, it’s been too long… Over a month without your comforting embrace.

I decided to branch further out with my favorite style of tea by purchasing a few handfuls of Wuyi oolong samples from Verdant. First ever Fo Shou; I also have the Reserve Fo Shou in line.

I think I’m going to dedicate my new teapot to yancha instead of high mountain oolong. I would’ve loved to try my typical heavy leafing for yancha but all I had was this sample.

Spring 2017 harvest. 5g, 100ml, 205-212F. 10s rinse followed by 9 steeps at 10s/15/20/25/30/40/55/1m15/2m

The dry leaf smelled only of roast and cocoa powder with the roast dominating. Warmed and rinsed leaf smelled like rich dark chocolate. The cocoa/chocolate notes didn’t pass through, though. Early on, I could smell a faint incense and brown sugar in the clear orange-brown liquor. I was left with a tea that stayed fairly light in taste. The roast did have a small presence in the second steep, but I otherwise couldn’t pick out anything discernible besides the mineral, which gave an active mouthfeel. The tea offered a clear aftertaste of passionfruit, later moving into a very light grilled pineapple with brown sugar. Around the seventh steep, the tea began fading with some building light astringency. The spent leaf showed a high level of roasting and smelled of pipe tobacco with only a few large leaves. Warming, calm energy that mixed well with a stick of incense.

Overall, there was some flavor missing for my preferences but it was an easy-drinker with a nice, fruity aftertaste. This tea could be a daily drinker if you have $ and is a good introduction for those looking to try Wuyi oolong.

Spring 2018 harvest.

Gone gaiwan. 5g, 150mL, 205F. Flash rinse which I ended up drinking and 7 steeps at 10s/15/20/25/30/1m/3m.

Dry leaf smelled awesome with rich chocolate, pastry and caraway. Rinsed leaf also awesome with riiich dark chocolate, honey and dark-roasted barley. The liquor was a clear brown-orange and smelled of honey, grains and dark chocolate wth pumpernickel coming in later. The tea was lightly astringent and very light-bodied, tending toward watery. The taste was not what I was expecting after having tried the Laoshan gongfu black. I picked up on watered down chocolate, honey and grains, ending the session with just caraway/pumpernickel which was pretty tasty. Ehhhh. Maybe it’s stronger brewed western. Seemed to be low in caffeine. I drank it late at night and had no problems falling asleep.

According to their website, the weather for this year’s harvest was unfavorable, so maybe my dissatisfaction is due to that. I’d like to try next year’s if it’s ever on sale.

One more Laoshan black to go. Thus far, I’m leaning toward the fall harvest roasted oolong.

Received as a freebie with my teacup purchase, thanks!

My past tries with dancong brewed with the chaozhou gongfu method produced cups that were upfront way too bitter and astringent for my liking, so I went with a recommendation by eastkyteaguy to use less leaf and lower water temperature. No stuffed gaiwan nor boiling water.

Gone glass gaiwan. 7g, 150mL, 200F. Flash rinse that I drank plus 8 more steeps at 10/12/18/22/28/35/45/60s

The dry leaf smelled tangy with yogurt, grapes and apricot. The wet leaf throughout the session was incredibly fragrant and produced scents of dried apricot, yogurt tang, green grape, hay, nectarine, white peach and fresh apricot. The aroma of the liquor was an intoxicating mix of honeysuckle, white florals and white nectarine that remained strong from the rinse to about the fourth steep. The liquor started off very thick with kind of a penetrating, tingling astringency only on the tongue, later becoming thinner and more astringent. Some bitterness appeared in the back of the mouth midway, turning into a full-mouthed bitterness for the last two steeps. The first several steeps were strong yet ethereal in taste with butter, honeysuckle, white floral, white nectarine, minerals and apricot and had an aftertaste of white peach for at least 30 minutes. As the session progressed, the butter faded yet the other notes remained.

I find it difficult to judge my preference for this tea since I don’t have much experience, let alone good experience, with dancong oolong. I’m not sure I’d purchase more, but it was a very pleasurable session.

I do look forward to using eastkyteaguy’s brewing recommendations again for the other two dancongs I have in my cupboard.