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Us drinking shou puerh:

Tastes like sweet sweet old wet cardboard

Everyone else:

Wtf is wrong with you

interesting. white tea that isnt white. Its golden hairs everywhere, like its sporting a giant afro.

smell is weird, I get sweetness & malt. Aroma is the same. Taste is a very very smooth golden tips with zero bitterness or astringency, just sweetness, honey, caramel. (although these arent strong like in other oolongs). I also get orange, but not citrus, very rounded orange taste. Malt, but not malty.

So its either a delicate light red, or a full-bodied white. This is very nice for me, who often wants my red tea to be more delicate/less malty. It certainly isnt chocolatey. Its got pretty zappy energy too. Even after a few sips i felt shaken out of bed.

Second cup I steeped it out a bit and got a very amber liquor, and was met with a dryness more akin to golden tips, so you can make it taste like that a bit more if you want. There is something cake in the body but I couldnt picture what it was (its not doughy or bready), also I was reminded of a 2nd flush tea, although this is Spring. (a bit woody & malty but not overpowering)

Depending on parameters you can get either a few steeps of something more white but full bodied, or a couple of steeps of delicate subtle but still golden tipped red tea, its an interesting mix!

(This review is for the Spring flush 2016)

Ahhhh, the taste of terroir..

Nepal borders Darjeeling , & i think this comes out in the taste in a big way. It tastes to me like very forgiving super sweet FF DJ rather than a fujian white. Or is that my brain knowing that Taplejung might as well be Darjeeling? (in India terms its a drive away, :lol:) Anyway I spent a while cross referencing FF DJ process vs White & they are very similar anyway, so great! I learnt something again today. And thinking back on it, they can be very similar, cant they.

I used quite a lot (~5g?) & about 3:30 80c, & didnt get any FF overbrewing. It is pretty delicious. Fresh golden water with essence of apricots, oranges, maybe even raspberry Mixed with the ‘hay’ taste of a white, also some FF nutty underneath. Amazingly delicate but unmistakable smell of candy apples & a sweetness in the feel that just coats the mouth with sugar, while not being cloying. The first cup went very quickly. Its pretty subtle & delicate, but really good.

Second cup I just left the leaf to steep, and drinking a cooler cup I also get a little milk with my fruit.

Third cup I just did 90c & left it again, this one was less of everything else but with a hint of citrus. Still got the sugary aroma though. By this third cup I felt pretty warm & nice from the chi.

ive found quite a few Nepalese teas from Alistair now that I really like, this one I reckon with really pedantic brewing – accurate weights, pushing the citrus flavour out more with 85-90c or just longer steep times you will end up with something even better. Will have to experiment & report back if the fruit can be brought out using this method.

edit* The instructions say to use roughly 85c, I should have looked harder!

But even as it stands with my underbrewing, I would re-purchase this one for sure, & im already looking forward to tomorrow morning when im finishing the rest of the sample with a higher temp

I would agree with Allan there is a chocolate, malty & fruit note. Perhaps I should try with a touch of sugar (gasp!) as sometimes the malt & chocolate is too much for me with red tea, its isnt my favourite profile.

Either way, this is a really good one. So nice & fresh smelling, soft leaf & a really good cup – The taste reminds me of maltesers or when milk chocolate goes a bit dry & goes whiter in colour.

I really need a red tea lover to come into my life at this point, ive got quite a collection needs drinking :)

Have I got my sheng legs? This does taste better than it used to. It’s not as Caramel or floral as my really-very-good oolong.

It’s bitter, milky/creamy through the middle very leafy green. Had lovely stonefruit aroma, but the taste was pretty zappy. Tacked my lips together.

One thing I know is I liked this hot instead of 90. So dunno if that means anything.

Reviewing this like this because I really don’t know if my taste is changing (it is) or I’m forcing it to drink too-young sheng and my pumidor game needs upping

I enjoyed it. Ish.

Cheap Fujian TGY from ebay bought a while back & I lost the packet, just found it & thought I would compare seeing as ive just drank some Whispering Pines Autumn.

First off I noticed it was broken up, many different shades, different sizes, bits etc. This isnt something that totally bothers me if the tea tastes good but its nice to know that care has been taken in the processing.

First steep after a rinse to open the leaf, totally meh. I put quite a lot in as well to see what flavours might be present – its just totally bland green tea flavour. nothing of the perfume or freshness that decent TGY should have.

Second steep I tried to push it a little & I got weird vegetal & quite a bit of bitterness. didn’t even finish the cup.

Ok, its cheap @5p/g but really tastes it. Boring!

Aha! so now the infamous marinade tea – I do get what others have been saying about the dry leaf smelling like foodstuffs, like crisps or marinade..

After really trying to rack my brains I realised I am smelling oregano or Italian mixed herbs (a bit like sage & thyme maybe?) from the steeped leaf. From the liquor it is much less pronounced but still there. It tastes like hot Italian herb tea! But not in a bad way at all, I really quite liked it, it reminded me of craft gins that are infused with english herbs, and made me feel nice, like I was drinking something natural & healthy. This theme carried on through the session, & as I lean to the light & flashy side of brewing I’m appreciating the herbiness more than I thought I would.

Bascially herby all round, also a dry woody taste. When the leaf opens the dong ding comes through a bit & there is a slight perfume aroma appearing in the liquor. Basically it stayed pretty similar throughout the 10 or so steeps I gave it, just gradually losing herb strength. I preferred the later ones because I could taste that slightly thick dong ding flavour marrying with the cypress a bit more. I would have liked it more if these tastes were stronger earlier to balance the cypress. I did enjoy it though, felt like healthy herb tea.

I have read reports that Cypress oil reduces obesity in mice, so this is a proven weight loss tea! – Andrew, your marketing department needs to learn a thing or two from the Chinese on Aliexpress :lol:

Well boy, was I wrong about that. it still tastes like its trying to take the crown for the most floral TGY on the planet.

I personally love floral Oolong. I love that they taste of nature, flowers, or of flavours I have never experienced before, & I love how they steep for ages & even when the taste goes, the aroma is still there.

I’m at about steep 6-7 & i will go some more.

Its not the creamiest ive had, nor is it the most natural tasting (but those can often be a little more vegetal, at least for me), but for mega super floral aroma it is way up there.. its so perfumed you’d be forgiven for thinking its a Lilac-flavoured Oolong. Also hints of sweet pear in there but the flower does seriously overpower these, you really have to search for them.

Also the liquor is almost hard like UK water. I’m used to hard water, & while some teas seem to soften that aspect, this one seems to be accentuated by it, which is quite interesting. I’ve got no idea how that translates to other water types.

at about steep 10 the leaf finally begins to smell like steamed spinach & the liquor loses the fragrance, but that is pretty good going imo :)

I liked it, another that can be used in the arsenal of teas to convert non-believers.

So glad to see whispering pines getting back on their feet after that flood!

All this talk of LBZ made me want to try one of my samples ive been saving for a rainy day, so I broke this one out. Also because ive got two sleepeze tablets (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) and one should knock me out at a decent time I thought, what the hell, lets go.

Quick rinse, first couple of steeps & I can smell the leaf from across the room. Prunes, smoke, camphor & just the right amount of dankness. A bit murky

Taste is soft but powerful, deep & sweet aromas from the liquor. I love these rounded shengs. Nice toungue numbing already, sweet taste, its vegetal but I cant work out what. Like deep pastel shades of dark brown green mixed with sparkly sweet overtones. It was balanced nicely, I liked the thickness as well. Everything just ‘right’.

And the bitterness is just slowly creeping in. I was expecting a more bitter tea but it took a while for the raw to show itself, and even then it wasn’t as strong as I thought it would be. At about steep 10 I was just leaving the gaiwan to do its thing. It never went off the scale, I found it to be quite forgiving in that respect.

All in all a nice session. I liked the first 5 steeps the best, the sweet prune & dank camphor was nice. Hefty price tag though!

Also this was the last of my sample, not quite sure how much but could have done with a bit more leaf to fully appreciate the flavour.