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This was my most recent sipdown. I stayed up late last night and ended up finishing the last 17-18 grams I had of this tea while listening to cheesy European heavy metal. It was a very pleasant evening. I used to unwind like that a lot more than I do now. Things have been way too hectic on my end the last couple of years. Anyway, this was a very nice Yunnan black tea. The Feng Qing Tea Factory continues to impress me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of malt, honey, chocolate, sugarcane, cedar, eucalyptus, and sweet potato. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted peanut, fennel, anise, black pepper, and banana as well as subtler scents of roasted almond. The first infusion introduced clove, baked bread, and vanilla aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, cream, chocolate, cedar, black pepper, eucalyptus, clove, fennel, baked bread, sweet potato, and earth that were chased by hints of vanilla, banana, sugarcane, and roasted peanut. After each swallow, I also noted impressions of orange zest and apple lingering in my mouth. The remainder of the infusions introduced aromas of earth, pine, juniper, birch bark, cinnamon, marshmallow, roasted pecan, plum, and apple. Impressions of honey and anise appeared in the mouth alongside hints of roasted almond and slightly stronger notes of sugarcane, orange zest, and vanilla. I also noted impressions of minerals, butter, green beans, pine, juniper, marshmallow, cinnamon, birch bark, roasted cashew, and roasted pecan as well as hints of plum, celery, and leather. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, earth, cream, and orange zest that were underscored by subtle hints of cinnamon, vanilla, clove, black pepper, roasted almond, roasted peanut, and eucalyptus.

This was a very nice Feng Qing Dian Hong with the expected herbal, vegetal, earthy, and spicy characteristics that make Feng Qing black teas so unique. I could also tell that this tea was at a point where it was really coming into its own. I kind of wish I had some of this tea left just so I could attempt to gauge how well it will continue to age, but alas, I had to go and drink all that I had.

This is the last tea review from my April backlog. I figured I would go ahead and post it while I was still sitting at my computer. It seems that the number of aged Qing Xin oolongs offered by vendors of Taiwanese tea has been growing in recent years. Aside from this tea, I have seen quite a few others on the market with production dates ranging from the early 1990s to the mid-late 2000s. Buying aged oolongs is always a crapshoot for me. I’m not huge on them, and quite frankly, quality is often variable. I was not expecting much out of this one, largely because the previous reviewers were not enamored with it, but I have to say that it pleasantly surprised me. As aged Taiwanese oolongs go, this was actually quite pleasant and drinkable.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 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, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cedar, pine, plum, peach, and raisin. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted almond, orchid, pear, and straw. The first infusion brought out aromas of coconut, pineapple, and vanilla. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cedar, pine, coconut, vanilla, pineapple, straw, roasted almond, orchid, and peach that were backed by hints of mango, papaya, caramel, and some sort of melon. The subsequent infusions introduced olive, mango, leather, nutmeg, cherry, papaya, caramel, apple, white grape, and cantaloupe aromas. Impressions of minerals, nutmeg, leather, fennel, cinnamon, olive, cherry, apple, and white grape emerged in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging notes of pear and plum and more immediate and prevalent impressions of mango, papaya, and caramel. The melon notes also took shape as I noted a distinct cantaloupe impression in the mouth. As the tea faded, I began to primarily note mineral, mango, peach, pear, roasted almond, plum, cherry, and vanilla impressions that were underscored by hints of nutmeg, fennel, leather, papaya, cedar, pine, apple, and cantaloupe.

Honestly, this struck me as being a very nice tea. I’m not sure what other reviewers found to be objectionable about it. I was especially impressed by the vibrancy of its aromas and flavors. One does not generally find aged oolongs that are so fruity and sweet. My only real quibble was that the texture of the tea liquor was a bit grainy for my tastes, but other than that, this was a very nice aged oolong.

Here is one of the last two reviews I had left in my April backlog. I received this tea back in 2017 as part of TTC’s Aged Tea Sampler. I put off trying it for so long simply because it was already old, so there was no need to rush with it. Honestly, I’m glad I put it off as long as I did because I hate posting negative reviews, and well, there was no way I could give this tea a good one.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose tea leaf and ginseng blend in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 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 and ginseng blend emitted powerful aromas of earth, raisin, wood, mushroom, old paper, and ginseng. After the rinse, I picked up aromas of ash, charcoal, and caramel. The first infusion did not add any new aromas, but the previously noted aromas grew so powerful that they burned my nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented strong notes of earth, wood, old paper, mushroom, charcoal, ash, and ginseng that were balanced by subtler impressions of cream, vanilla, raisin, and caramel. I also detected a little chocolate after each swallow. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of chocolate and tobacco. Stronger and more immediate chocolate notes appeared in the mouth alongside impressions of blackberry, tobacco, and minerals. There were also some hints of black cherry here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, old paper, mushroom, earth, ginseng, and wood that were underscored by hints of blackberry, black cherry, ash, vanilla, and tobacco.

God, this was rough stuff! Some of the aromas and flavors were reminiscent of a very earthy shu pu’erh but much stronger, more forceful, and far more unpleasant than even some of the roughest, cheapest shu. The texture of the tea liquor was ashy and gritty. It was very hard to drink. This was also a persistent, durable tea that did not want to give up the ghost during my review session. I can’t say that I hated everything about it as I did like some of the sweeter and fruitier characteristics this tea displayed, but still, I did not enjoy drinking this tea much at all. I cannot say that I would recommend it to anyone aside from fans of very earthy shu.

This was one of my sipdowns from April. I finished what I had of this tea a day or two after I polished off the last of the Jun Chiyabari Himalayan Tippy Black Tea that I also bought from What-Cha. Like so many of the other Nepalese teas that What-Cha offers, I found this one to be an incredibly strong offering.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. For the session detailed in this review, I did not conduct any additional infusions.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material produced aromas of hay, grass, fennel, and pine. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of almond, malt, green bell pepper, honeysuckle, marigold, and orange blossom. After infusion, I picked up aromas of lemon rind, orange zest, white grape, and butter. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of almond, pine, fennel, grass, hay, straw, green bell pepper, toast, lemon rind, malt, honeysuckle, oats, marigold, white grape, orange zest, pear, green apple, and orange blossom that were accompanied by hints of butter, nutmeg, sour plum, and sour apricot.

Much like the other first flush Nepalese black teas I have tried, this tea was very similar to a first flush Darjeeling black tea in terms of both aroma and flavor. What separated this tea from some of those teas for me, however, was its lovely and consistent floral aromas and flavors, the thicker, silkier texture of its liquor, and the more limited bitterness and astringency that it displayed. This was a tremendously enjoyable first flush black tea overall. I imagine that fans of first flush Darjeeling black teas and Nepalese teas alike would be into it.

This was my second sipdown of the month. Starting off a review with such a statement reminds me that I really need to get in the habit of publishing my reviews in order. Sadly, I doubt that will ever happen. Anyway, this was yet another awesome Yunnan black tea from Yunnan Sourcing.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of baked bread, earth, malt, sugarcane, honey, and sweet potato. After the rinse, I noted new aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and caramelized banana. The first infusion produced a stronger sugarcane scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of sugarcane, baked bread, cocoa, cream, malt, and sweet potato that were chased by hints of roasted peanut, pine, and caramelized banana. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of pine, cherry, cocoa, cream, butter, red grape, apple, and minerals. Stronger and more immediate roasted peanut, caramelized banana, and pine notes appeared in the mouth alongside roasted almond and honey notes and hints of earth. New notes of butter, minerals, and cherry also appeared along with hints of apple, red grape, pineapple, and papaya. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized mineral, malt, roasted almond, sweet potato, and cream notes that were backed by hints of pine, sugarcane, butter, cocoa, and roasted peanut.

Compared to quite a few other Yunnan black teas currently on the market, this tea was neither all that deep nor tremendously complex, but it did produce a liquor that offered a lovely and harmonious mix of aromas and flavors as well as wonderful texture in the mouth. It was a tremendously drinkable and likable tea overall, one that would likely be perfect as a daily drinker or as an introductory Yunnan black tea. Since it can be difficult to find a tea that is likely capable of satisfying both novices and connoisseurs, I could not help scoring this one so highly.

This was my most recent sipdown. Of the Yunnan black teas I have consumed over the course of the last two months, this was easily one of the most impressive. I especially appreciated this tea’s depth and complexity. It had so much to offer. The degree of complexity it displayed was sometimes capable of boggling the mind.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves revealed aromas of raisin, tobacco, honey, malt, cream, cedar, pine, and autumn leaves. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of sugarcane, butter, baked bread, and roasted almond. The first infusion revealed aromas of roasted peanut and sweet potato as well as subtler scents of black pepper, camphor, and anise. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of malt, cream, raisin, sweet potato, butter, pine, baked bread, sugarcane, and tobacco that were chased by hints of roasted almond, honey, cedar, orange zest, and geranium. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of chocolate, nutmeg, orange zest, earth, mushroom, caramel, fig, date, geranium, cinnamon, vanilla, and red grape. Notes of autumn leaves and roasted peanut came out in the mouth alongside stronger and more immediate impressions of cedar, orange zest, honey, and geranium and very subtle hints of anise, black pepper, and camphor. I also detected notes of roasted walnut, minerals, nutmeg, chocolate, tomato, caramel, plum, fig, date, vanilla, leather, cinnamon, red grape, earth, and mushroom that were accompanied by some subtle smoky hints. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, earth, mushroom, raisin, malt, fig, roasted almond, cream, and baked bread that were balanced by hints of camphor, tobacco, leather, orange zest, butter, vanilla, pine, sweet potato, chocolate, red grape, and plum.

There was a ton going on in this tea. Even though I do not drink a ton of pu-erh, I have had a few Mengku area teas, so I am at least somewhat familiar with the characteristics imparted by that terroir, and I was able to get a ton of those characteristics out of this tea. To be clear, I associate Mengku teas with fruity, zesty, earthy, woody, and floral characteristics, and I found tons of them in this tea. I would be willing to bet that the material used to produce this black tea would have made a great pu-erh, but since I am not much of a pu-erh guy, I am glad that did not happen. The only real issues I had with this tea were that I thought it faded a little sooner than it should have and I found the mouthfeel of the tea liquor to be just slightly too thin in places. The liquor could also sometimes be a bit pungent for my liking. Otherwise, this was a near perfect Yunnan black tea.

This was my most recent sipdown as I finished what I had of this tea a couple days ago. At this point, it should perhaps come as no surprise to any of my readers that I found this to be an impressive offering. Seriously, What-Cha does a great job of sourcing Nepalese teas. I have gotten to the point where I will just blindly purchase any Nepalese tea Alistair decides to stock.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. For the session detailed in this review, I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material offered up aromas of malt, straw, grass, chili leaf, and wood. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of Muscatel, lemon zest, lime zest, green bell pepper, and hay. After the infusion, I found that the liquor offered aromas of apricot, roasted almond, butter, rose, and orange blossom. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of apricot, straw, malt, cream, butter, chili leaf, grass, straw, hay, dandelion, marigold, orange blossom, white peach, Muscatel, toast, lemon zest, lime zest, roasted almond, green bell pepper, and wood that were underscored by hints of wintergreen, spearmint, and rose before a smooth, slightly citrusy, malty, and vegetal fade.

This was a very high quality tea, one that yielded a highly aromatic, tremendously satisfying, and impressively textured tea liquor. Some of the Nepalese teas I have been trying lately have been a bit thinner and slicker in the mouth, but this one was smooth, silky, and luscious with a little more heft than I have been getting out of many recent Nepalese and Darjeeling teas. I would have liked to see a little more integration and balance with regard to some of this tea’s many aroma and flavor components, but overall, I found this to be an incredibly enjoyable offering. In terms of aroma and flavor, this tea was very comparable to some of the better first flush Darjeeling black teas out there, but honestly, I think it may have been just a tad better than a lot of the ones I have tried. Here’s hoping What-Cha continues to source teas from Guranse. I’d like to try a few more of their offerings.

Alright, I have been lazy long enough. It’s time to get some more reviews out of the way in order to keep the number of backlogged reviews from growing any larger. This was one of my sipdowns from the second half of April. I know I tend to display a considerable fondness for the teas produced by Jun Chiyabari, so it should perhaps come as no surprise that I thought this tea was great. I was a little shocked that it did not get a warmer reception on Steepster.

I prepared this tea in the Western style, but I modified my usual brewing approach somewhat for this tea. I normally do not rinse teas from Nepal, Assam, and Darjeeling, but I opted to do so here simply because I did not get much out of the dry leaf material. I only rinsed the leaf material for 5 seconds, but the rinse revealed a tremendous number of new aromas. After the rinse, I steeped my 3 grams of leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 203 F water for 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of chocolate and malt. After the rinse, I detected aromas of orange zest, black cherry, violet, baked bread, plum, and Muscatel. The 5 minute infusion introduced aromas of nutmeg, cream, clove, licorice, and anise. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, baked bread, malt, black cherry, violet, plum, Muscatel, orange zest, grass, straw, nutmeg, licorice, anise, clove, and chocolate that were backed by hints of smoke, roasted almond, roasted walnut, blackberry, blueberry, and dried cranberry. Pleasant spice and tart fruit impressions lingered in the mouth after the swallow and were accompanied by somewhat subtler malty, smoky, nutty, and chocolaty notes.

In my opinion, this was a more or less fantastic Nepalese black tea. Jun Chiyabari rarely if ever lets me down, and they certainly did not manage to do so with this offering. My only real quibble with this tea was that I found the body of the tea liquor to be a bit thin. That was seriously the only thing I could find to knock. At this point, I will also add that I found this tea to be very forgiving and flexible in the brewing process. It did not display a tendency to get bitter or astringent quickly, and I also found that this tea was capable of producing multiple satisfying infusions when brewed in the Western style as long as one started with a slightly shorter initial steep than I did during the bulk of my time with it. Overall, this was an impressive tea. I do not mind giving it a higher numerical score than previous reviewers because I feel that it earned that privilege.

This was my final sipdown in April. At this point, I am down to only two more pouches of Jin Jun Mei. I plan on getting to both before the end of the current month. I was not initially sure what to expect of this one, but I had high hopes considering that I liked the previous Yunnan Sourcing Jin Jun Mei that I tried. Fortunately, this tea was not a disappointment. I actually found it to be one of the best Jin Jun Mei that I have tried.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 16 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of chocolate, pine, malt, smoke, brown sugar, and ginger. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted peanut, sweet potato, cedar, juniper, and baked bread. The first infusion introduced aromas of black pepper and roasted almond. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, earth, butter, cooked green beans, brown sugar, and cream that were chased by hints of chocolate, black pepper, roasted peanut, baked bread, smoke, and pine. The subsequent infusions introduced an earthy aroma as well as subtle scents of minerals, grass, cream, vanilla, cooked green beans, and cinnamon. Ginger and sweet potato notes appeared in the mouth alongside stronger and more immediate impressions of chocolate, baked bread, smoke, and roasted peanut and very subtle notes of roasted almond, cedar, and juniper. I also detected notes of grass, vanilla, honey, and minerals as well as occasional hints of caramel and cinnamon. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, earth, malt, cream, butter, roasted peanut, cooked green beans, and grass that gave way to vanilla, brown sugar, chocolate, pine, roasted almond, sweet potato, and baked bread hints.

I really appreciated the fact that this tea’s flavor profile did not follow its bouquet. It had my attention from the very start as the aromas it gave off did not quickly lead to identical flavors in the mouth. I also liked that it went from being a very heavy, complex tea on the nose to one that primarily emphasized flavor and texture. Brewing and drinking this tea were not boring, predictable processes. It kept me on my toes throughout my review session. By the time I got around to trying this tea, I was at a point in my Jin Jun Mei journey where I needed a tea that was lively and challenging. This was that tea for me. I imagine that people who are looking for a quality Jin Jun Mei that is endearingly quirky and complex as well as accessible and not overly challenging would be pleased with this one.

This was another April sipdown of mine. I think I finished this one around the start of the third week of the month. I only had a couple of sample pouches to play around with, so I did not get a chance to spend an extended period of time familiarizing myself with this tea, but in the time I spent with it, I found it to be a decent though not exceptionally interesting Ali Shan oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 7 grams of rolled tea leaves in 5 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 14 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, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cream, custard, vanilla, sugarcane, gardenia, and grass. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of butter, spinach, honeysuckle, and orange blossom. The first infusion introduced aromas of apricot and cucumber. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cream, butter, sugarcane, grass, spinach, and cucumber that were chased by pear, green apple, apricot, orange blossom, and vanilla hints. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of umami, green apple, lettuce, and honeydew. Stronger and more readily noticeable impressions of pear, green apple, and vanilla came out in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging notes of custard and hints of gardenia and honeysuckle. I also picked up on notes of minerals, umami, cantaloupe, honeydew, white peach, white grape, coriander, lettuce, seaweed, and orange zest. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, coriander, umami, green apple, pear, grass, butter, and spinach that were backed by hints of seaweed, cucumber, apricot, white grape, orange zest, and lettuce.

This was a fairly standard Ali Shan oolong. I found that it faded quickly, but for the most part, there was nothing terribly wrong with it. Unfortunately, I find Ali Shan to be one of the more overhyped and boring terroirs of Taiwan, and since this tea did not differentiate itself from the majority of the other Ali Shan oolongs I have tried, I very quickly reached a point where I was ready to move on from it. To be clear, this tea was not bad. As a matter of fact, I could see it maybe making a respectable introductory Ali Shan oolong for those who are curious about what Ali Shan teas have to offer. I just found it to be a bit on the bland side.