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Ah, the famed Red Buffalo.. finally getting my grubby mits on this Oolong after hearing people talk about it for ages.

First few steeps: really super smooth honey water with slight cinnamon/spicy notes, especially the aroma of the steeped leaf. In fact from the leaf aroma I would have guessed this was a Dongfang Meiren. I actually have a more spicy Oriental Beauty that would blend very well with this tea im pretty sure, I love it when there is a prominent sweet honey taste to counter the dry woodsy spice which can get a bit overbearing. I was surprised there wasnt a stronger roast, but it turns out its not that sort of tea.

Steeping it out the honey note fades & we are left with a very mellow, creamy & soft slightly woodsy tea – in fact If this tea was any more mellow it would be asleep. Such an easy drinker, & anyone with a sweet tooth its just totally up your street.

This is one of those teas that you give to the unenlightened with the hope you might save their poor nonbeliever souls, that they embrace the one true hot drink & find the pearly gates of Theaven. Its just that far removed from where most mortals think tea should be

Quite like this Yancha.

its roasty & aromatic but also citrus fruity & you can taste the Oolong coming through, has a lovely nutty-more-than-woody body & never overshadowed by a burnt wood flavour.

There is a floral aroma thats hanging around still & a buzzy head. Im not sure of the type of floral (terrible at that!) but its soft & petal-like.

I totally love these kind of Yancha that are caramel-richer & thick rather than dark chocolate & heavy roast types..

by steep 4/5 the smoke is clearing & a fruity floral oolong aroma is popping out (I got strawberries & also Turkish delight/rose). The liquor is still a bit acrid (thats too strong a word, but…) due to the smoke in it, but the huigan is nice, and again nice aromas hanging around.

steeps 6/7 & beyond. is now mellow, still a bit thick & dry with a good aroma still. i’m enjoying it at this stage very much. ive been eating dark chocolate with salt & lime & its a wonderful accompaniment (Monetzuma’s brand, never tried before. ok on its own but really very nice with tea ive just found out tonight) im leaving the water in the gaiwan uncounted by now

Nice stuff, having never tried Mei Zhan before, its a bit of a winner, the florals & nutty smoke are still prominent enough in the later steeps keeping me interested :)

A gift in my chadao.de order, a vacuum sealed dark roasted zhangping mini cake.

This one was finished a while ago -I have removed some of the tasting notes as I might be getting them mixed up with another (that im drinking now & is in a silver vacuum sealed bag) The cake was very dark & dry. light-med smoky as well, but I couldnt pinpoint the type of smoke. overall the taste was smooth & ofc loads of infusions.

I love these zhangping cakes, every one ive had has been a pleasure :)

sorry for lack of picture, it was a dark silver packet iirc, but cant find an image – also for not taking proper notes – but I do remember I really liked it. Im pretty sure it was slightly burnt chocolate but also smooth & lovely.

totally not sure about this one..

It looks amazing on paper, Ya Shi leaf (of which some of my favourite tea has come from) but put in a dehydrator early to stop the oxidisation, and you end up with a lovely green leaf with an amazing fresh aroma.

Apparently this is a new technique, & im finding it hard to work out how to brew it,, the leaf is more delicate than TGY, so too hot & we are in oily soapy blech territory, even when flash steeped. Ended up around 70-80c gongfu being the best imo, where the oily taste was kept at bay, because there isnt much else to balance it out. I cant see it working western but maybe with a lot more water it might, but those leaves being in the water for too long.. doesnt scream to me how a Dan Cong should be.

What else to say? well its a little vegetal, lovely steamed milk aroma, tiny bit sweet, but really needs something else to balance out the soapy taste. After every sip I was shaking my head wondering what the makers are trying to put across here – that oily taste, sure its recognisable but all the really nice fenghuang ive had, they had loads more going on which balanced it out (and overtook it with fruit or velvety lushness or florals or, you get the idea – when I brew im keeping the oil at bay, but when its the dominant flavour? hmm dunno about that)

Maybe with some detailed brewing instructions I might like it more? im currently stuck as to how to make this more palatable. its very odd to my tastebuds.

Im also going to stop drinking it for the time being because if this makes me think of soap everytime I drink my other favourite teas by mental association, i’ll be very very displeased..

Yummy stuff, having it for breakfast today. Im unsure if I’ve had Wenshan before, but I’ve had tea from Taipei so maybe.

Sweet pea, butter, grass, florals in the the initial steeps leading into sweet pea & a little spinach. Drinking gongfu ive been getting quite a few steeps out of it throughout the day & as the butter faded it stayed flavourful becoming more sweet pea & spinach as the day went on, ive actually lost count now how many ive had by now but its nice & long lasting & has a lovely flower petal sweetness to it.

Im still getting a floral aroma of some kind but I dont know what it is. Also fresh cut grass & fresh fruit & veg & petals. Its all just very nice fresh things.

Really nice longevity (ive almost done a litre out of 5g) & I love the subtle florals. Great stuff, nicely priced compared to the high grown but similar tasting teas

Secret ‘2012 Dan Cong’ given to me as a gift from Mr LP.

its fruity & yummy & honey & orchid and all the good things, a bit mellow in its age perhaps, but also less pungent & a bit more forgiving.. I can taste apricots & other citrus in the fruit which got brought out instead of a really pungent fresh Dan Cong-y bitterness which often happens when some are pushed.

Really nice, but I dont have much experience with 4 year old Dan Cong, mine usually lasts the year & I get more, so I cant tell if the taste is mellower due to its age or the leaf, & I really like the intense ones where I can notice more of a difference in the flavour & aromas, so im having a hard time trying to guess which one it is.

Its one of the Shui Xian cultivars im sure.. it doesnt seem to have the richness that a well baked Mi Lan has (although I get a slight cake smell so there is something there)

if its just the leaf and not the age im tasting im guessing it isnt tooooooo expensive (for a Dan Cong – pmsl), middle price ranged, due to the slight lack of intensity I have tasted in the most expensive ones I can afford.

Whatever it is its lovely, been drinking it all day & im surprised that it tastes quite sheng-like – fruit which was very apricot & a certain bitterness when pushed which would be too pungent and off if a fresh Dan Cong.

Which one is it LP..? im thinking its a Ba Xian. But it does seem to be lacking a certain something im used to in BX, but has this apricot fruityness. Im a bit stumped tbh!

Whatever it is, its lovely. If its cheap I would be very impressed

I liked this, thought the coffee would be a darker stronger flavour but luckily it wasnt.

was super groggy this morning and after a couple o cups of this im a bit perkier.

it just adds a nutty taste & aroma to the jin xuan making it a bit more like a light-medium roast. Nice. It was a nice jin xuan too, fruity & leafy. I thought I might not like this one but I did, the coffee added a sort of dryness to the brew. I also get grass as well which is odd for jin xuan. slight cream but nothing too strong, just was there in the background, and it appeared as the leaf unfolds, couldnt notice very much milk – perhaps it got hidden from the roast – maybe try giving it a milk steam next time like some other makers do when they make flavoured milk oolong? you might be able to get away with heavier coffee if you do that? IDK, just throwing thoughts out there.

Interesting stuff, well made, everything worked & nothing jumped out and scared me. You’re such a nice bloke as well Andrew – keep it up, LP teas will keep going from strength to strength the more you do this, Steepsters #1 Ambassador.

Made me smile this morning :)

My other thermos which is the ‘teapot’ shaped one with a spout leaks & amazon couldnt send a replacement, so I ended up with this new one:

http://www.thermosonline.co.uk/store/Thermos-ThermoCafe-Stainless-Steel-Flask-1-0L/sp_296

its a travel thermos, 1L model (im tempted to get a .5L for short jouneys now) which was perfect at the weekend for a picnic.

the lid fits tightly, water still hot 7 hours later after I slept last night, seems solid in all these aspects.

downside is its a bit bad for pouring, as you have to unscrew the lid more to get more pour, as the pouring gap is built into the threads.. but im sure thats something can master – I didnt spoil any dan cong in hyde park even though I panicked a bit trying to not over steep.

basically a pretty good buy, got mine for about £12.