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Mediocre Ali Shan. This one is big on aroma but flavor just isn’t there. Intensely fragrant with notes of honey, orange blossom, and vanilla cream in the wet leaf. However none of it comes through in the steeped tea which is fairly bland and has a sort of mild/generic floral flavor. Once again, cold brewing came to the rescue and helped salvage an otherwise boring tea.

I’ve tried a number of TTC Ali Shans now and they all seem lacking. I’ll continue to buy my other high mountain oolongs from there but skip this one next time.

Spring 2020 harvest.

Another past its prime green tea that like the Long Jing I ordered, suffered from Covid induced shipping delays. Nevertheless, there were unmistakeable echos of what made this such an outstanding tea in the past. Warm, toasted notes of fennel seed and soybean with a faint sweetness in the finish. Hints of toasted grain and nori. Lacks of the zest and richness this tea usually has but still a good cup.

Spring 2020 harvest.

Finally got my Verdant spring greens order last week. It’s crazy how badly Covid has disrupted everything. Spring green tea is arriving when the autumn harvest is normally expected.

As one might expect, a 5 month delay affects a tea that’s best enjoyed at peak freshness. This tea isn’t stale by any means, but it’s not as good as the same tea I had last year. It’s sharply vegetal, bordering on bitter. First sip is sweet but it quickly turns savory and has an almost bitter finish. Doesn’t have the subtleties of early picked tea.

Got this as a sample with my Yunnan Sourcing order. It’s not the type of green tea I would have picked out for myself. Normally, I avoid Yunnan green tea because the assamica cultivar grown there, intended for puerh, is different from the more delicate sinensis cultivar used in normal Chinese green tea. As a result, Yunnan greens tend to be more savory and pungent than their counterparts grown in other parts of China.

This one reminded me more of heicha and sheng than green tea. It starts off like a white tea, with corn silk and hay aromas. The flavor is something like freshly washed linens and has the texture of soft cotton. Sweeter with more hay and white tea florals on resteep. Tastes like sheng but without the bitterness. A little smoke as it settles.

Mind you, this was a year old when I received it so it’s obviously aged and the flavor has changed in the past year. Good for what it is and I prefer to think of it as a white tea instead of green as that’s what it tastes like to me.

Not usually a big fan of bug bitten teas but this one is really nice. I’m struck by how much it resembles Darjeeling. Notes of rose, wood, and muscatel. Light malt and a hint of Dian Hong sweet potato in he finish.

This is an okay genmaicha. There’s more toasted rice in here than tea. Just a basic genmaicha taste, quite drinkable but not particularly memorable. Tastes good by itself, as a cold brew, and makes a good base for blending with other teas.

Nice to see Steepster working again. Time to start posting some of my backlogged tasting notes.

I was glad to finally get my hands on this tea again. I first tried it a few years ago and have not found a better yancha since. What’s even better is this is the 2019 version so its had time to age and the roast has mellowed out.

Upon opening the pouch, a powerful aroma of flowers, cinnamon, and peaches greets the nose. This turns into browned butter and chocolate chip cookies when the leaves are dropped into a heated vessel. I brewed this grandpa style steeping 1g in 8z of water just under boiling. The taste of the tea is outstanding – familiar wet rocks and clean mineral wuyi notes, along with rich cocoa and pecan. Some spice and wood as it settles. A very satisfying cup.

My recent sessions with this tea haven’t been quite as good but I blame that on me being rushed and unfocused, not the tea.

First oolong of the spring 2020 harvest. Grandpa steeped just over a gram in my knock off the wall style mug from AliExpress. I love me some AliExpress for cheap teaware. Shipping takes forever sometimes but I don’t mind waiting given the deals that can be found.

This one has more aroma than flavor. The scent of the dry leaves is a perfumy bouquet of honeyed flowers. Notes of gardenia, lilac, and violets. Brewed tea is rich and buttery with a vegetal sweet pea flavor. Lilac dances across the tongue in the after taste. Towards the end of the session, it turns somewhat flat.

Good baozhong though nothing earth shattering. Going to brew with lower temperature next time to see if I can extract more subtleties from it.

Pretty typical Laoshan green profile. A little nutty with notes of soybean, cream, and stewed vegetables. Not as robust as last year’s harvest.

Shibi is my favorite high mountain cultivar and a regular TTC purchase. But this particular harvest was a real dud. It had the familiar aromas of wildflowers, custard, and vanilla. The actual flavor however was weak and pretty bland. Don’t know if my sample was old or what but it didn’t even taste like the same Shibi oolong that I’ve come to know and love. Ended up cold brewing the rest of my stash.