338 Tasting Notes
This is a weird one. Isnt good but if you let it cool down a lot it sweetens and becomes something ok but still meh.
Its just a bit weak in its strength. I can get a bit of fruity aroma, some honey sweetness, a bit salty, slightly thick. but its all a bit jumbled up and lost in the background behind the Dan Cong oily bitterness, which is also not that strong tbh. .
The best Dan Cong I have had have been the ones that are so pungent that flash steeping is necessary & any oversteeping can ruin them, but once brewed quickly & correctly there is an explosion of (insert whichever amazing taste & aroma you have brewed) that just takes it from being ‘tea’ to being ‘wtf-tea’.
This one doesnt really have that. You just sorta steep it and leave it to cool down and its ok but not great. Sorta bitter & salty without any strong aroma or taste to lift you out.
Its actually a lot more expensive than other vendors who sell decent Feng Huang too. Meh, not very good.
Interesting thing about my reviews which I noticed since the latest blind test, is that once I know what a tea is I shift into comparing it to others I have tasted, rather than just scoring it by itself…
This is quite nice if you are into these roasty wuyi yancha – slightly nutty woodsy savoury. Hint of smoke in the roast, a bit mineral, usual Iron Arhat stuff. Tastes like drinking a recently put out forest fire
What I found about this one is that its less thick & smoothly rich like chocolate , but more coffee-like, like the raw bean of coffee or an espresso, slightly bitter & sharp but in a nice way. Aroma is good, Its a strong tasting one. Slightly rough perhaps, less of the subtle florals or fruits, but more of the ‘GIMME SOME COFFEE’ morning vibes.
This is in no way a bad thing if you want something with a bit of punch, Qi is nice, ive had four steeps and im pretty buzzy but not jittery.
Price in the medium range, £15/$20/100g and defo worth trying out if you like roasted tea that wants to be coffee.
Flavors: Burnt, Mineral, Nutty, Roasted, Salt, Smoke, Wood
Nice milk & cake dough aroma from the steeped leaves, which are nice and juicy & green.
light soup colour with subtle milk & dough aroma. Milky taste, much less fruity than the WP one imo, more vegetal/normal high grown taiwanese taste (not that thats a bad thing at all, on the contrary). A bit sour green when pushed, but at least nice and natural tasting. Nice fresh steamed veg aroma from the steeped leaves.
Great stuff, nice & green & natural tasting with a bit more thicker body than the usual high grown lishans ive tasted
Daylon, skip this one as it has my faves at the bottom..
No. 8.. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m done.
Liked this one the mostest. smaller tighter balls than others. Had nice fruit & floral aroma. Some veg. Taste had a nice fruit (cherry & pineapple?) & floral on the tip of the tongue and up the nose while swirling around in my mouth. A bit dan cong in the oil of the leaf, with boldness in this flavour which worked with the fruit. didnt have so much a milk aroma though, unsure if Jin xuan?
Liked this one, defo would buy.
so, I reckon (grouped in my rough scoreage):
8: Yum, the nicest, what is this can I have more
2: yum, cherry & darker leaf taste, same as above, me likey
BTTC: quite nice, less fruity than the WP, which is my fave. I liked 8 more as it has more fruit in it
5: yum, although less so – lishan? – i’ll have to drink some more to decide if I really like it
9: not too bad, a bit vege, taiwanese I think as well
1: not too bad, not the greatest, I think because too much oxidised/roast
7: not too bad, not my type of tea, water sprite or golden turtle or something wuyi?
6: cheap dancong
3: Flavoured! steamed in sweet milk?
4: wtf, tomatoes and salt just seems a weird thing. is it a good bbq marinade though.
over to you LP with the results when Daylon stops drinking coffee
Have you had Mandala’s Milk? If not, it is a smoother version of #3. But what is you opinion of flavored teas anyway?
i dont go for them generally – im amazed at how far people can push straight tea enough that im still enjoying exploring that. I do like LPs fruity experiments though
no.5
Now this is a bit more me. really tight rolled greener balls. Interesting aroma, lighter on the roasty, smells more naturally oxidised. Lighter yellow soup with milkyness in there somewhere.. milky thick body, savoury taste. Not getting overwhelming florals on this one, or fruit. But its a nice change from all the more fraggled ones, they seem to be the KFC of the oolong world, whereas this is more like nice italian cuisine, pasta etc..
A bit vegetal.. – Lishan? jin xuan?
I might like that one then. Unless I already had it-crap.
Nope. I skipped that one.
im on my last one! so crazy to find out what they are. I actually didnt expect so many medium roasts. I already gathered you dont really like them/getting turned off them, nor LP, and nor me. Lmao I think he must have forgot
He didn’t. I liked the Gui Fei he sent me when he was giving me a tour de oolong as a new member. My taste buds have slightly changed.
did you try the whispering pines one of this? get some this autumn. its totally fruity
From WP itself, yeah.
one of my faves! so good
no. 9
medium roast green rolled oolong. im getting a slight vegetal, slight floral, & roast aroma. Woody, roasty, with some vegetal & floral hidden under the roast. by the 3rd steep it was getting bitter as I was trying to coax some flavour out of it.
Taiwanese?
no. 7
shu xian? some kind of ‘water family’ wuyi type of tea, i think. slightly nutty woodsy savoury taste. Hint of smoke in the roast, a bit mineral. Not tomato, not so salty :) Slightly drying – although I have drank a lot of these today and ive now got feather-mouth.. Im also thinking maybe I should be spitting these out like in a wine tasting if drinking so many in one day as im buzzing now, but really want to finish them off so I can know wth they all are..
lacked the richness & thickness of other wuyi’s ive had before. Aroma was nice – although my brain always smells that one and thinks ‘wuyi medium roast!’ which is not my favourite type of tea.oolong no:6
Another dan cong-y oolong. Although this one had less of the marinade aroma & more of something else I cant picture.
Im getting a light roast I think, some fruity/woodsy/oily but nothing standing out & telling me what it is. Also seemed a bit more robust with brewing than I expected.
Slight thick creamy hidden in there, and a sweet of some kind. I am preferring this to no:4 but still isnt amazing me – but Caveat – I only drink high end dancong & what I get sent in the YS tea club so Im used to some pretty strong flavours & well made tea.
I didnt find this one that bad tbh, but it was jumbled in flavour & without strong fruit or nut or cream to lift it from its slightly bitter oily taste
number 4 oolong test
what the fuzz. I was expecting Dan Cong aroma from steeped leaves after reading your review Daylon but, and this is the weird bit – I got bbq/chilli crisps/potato chips/marinade. Doesnt smell like any Dan Cong Ive ever had before! Are you playing tricks on us LP
Some honey & a slightly fruity dan cong-like taste & body by the 3rd steep but the first two completely threw me off guard.
Whats with this BBQ marinade thing anyway, and I havent even tried the other one thats supposed to be good for putting on chicken yet
idk, confused.com about this one
Yeah, I did not say anything about smell because it was dry, and well, chippy. I went straight to the taste. Again, dry over all.
whats with this bbq marinade aroma anyway
Something to do with the salt, roast & that weird tomato flavour that is sometimes present making things a bit like tomato crisp/chips?
I think it’s the roast+ saltiness. I also do not like tomato flavor in teas even though I like that taste. It would probably be interesting to cook with, but not something I’d drink.
LP/DRT/RU Oooooollonnnnggg taste test #3
jin xuan aroma, like doughy & creamy. smells like cooked cream.
This one was a bit broken, it had met miss fanning somewhere. So im expecting cheap end of the scale.
It even soured a bit like cooked cream would. interesting fruit, less roast.
Was a bit rough around the edges/strong/mushed together, as the leaf was. unnameable fruit/sharpness along with the creamy taste. drying aftertaste. Bit of sweet twig taste in there too
A nice tea but cheaply/roughly processed. I did exclaim on how this tea was a good one to show off a milk oolong taste to someone as its very forward & proud about itself
Did you do it Western or Gong Fu? I was able to settle down the sour qualities with shorter steeping.
I tried both. Im generally a short steep guy when it comes to gong fu anyway.
The packet has
1: lots of dust in it (not sure if thats just our samples or its all like that – anyway im not used to that.
2: really smells like milk bottle jellies sweet flavouring. would seem an obvious flavouring to add to something wouldnt it
