485 Tasting Notes
This is from a random sample order I made a puerhshop a few months back. They’re nice for instant gratification pu, as their shipping time is 2 days or less to my house. I ordered this solely because it was Bulang. The dry leaf had a bit of a woody or piney aroma to it – after a rinse, it was woody cinnamon and sage.
The first steep was light, with a bit of pine sweetness. It left me fully unprepared for the second steep, which was almost overwhelmingly cinnamon. It was quite surprising – cinnamon bark with a nice sweet finish. Slightly mouth-numbing. I think it’s the most heavily cinnamon tasting tea I’ve ever had.
By the next steep, the cinnamon had faded, but was still quite present. That along with an increased sweet finish, made this tea taste uncannily like apple pie. That’s really what I got for most of the rest of the session. It got a little bit drying on the finish around steep six or so as well. This tea didn’t have much of any of the bitterness which Bulang teas are often known for. Just apple pie. The mouth feeling was decently thick, but entirely unremarkable.
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Pine, Sweet
Preparation
This one was a pretty nice tea from Crimson Lotus. The dry leaf had a pretty light straw-like aroma. After a rinse though, I smelled a lot of sweetness on these leaves, mostly honey with maybe a bit of tobacco.
The first three steeps have a good mix of slightly citric, but still quite sweet, fruitiness with a softy honey finish and slightly creamy texture. The citrus was not sharp or acidic, so it was more like the flavor of lemon icing or something like that.
After those initial three steeps, the fruitiness remained, but no longer tasted at all citric to me. The rest of this tea was mostly sweet fruity honey in flavor. The astringency did pick up just a touch towards the middle of the session, but it never lasted long or anything. The tea had a pleasant silky thickness to it, and a gentle qi which I noticed only sometimes. One of the most honey-tasting teas I’ve had yet. Pretty tasty!
Flavors: Creamy, Fruity, Honey, Lemon Zest, Sweet
Preparation
I received this sample for free on /r/tea, along with a couple others from Origins Tea. The dry leaf on this one had a pretty robust, roasty nose. After a rinse, I smelled a bit of charcoal and some light fruity notes.
I tasted the roast pretty heavily, especially in the first three steeps, with a bit of sweetness on the finish. By the second steep, the tea was quite drying. There was a bit of a floral quality to the sweetness I suppose. I wasn’t a huge fan of this tea at the start, as the roast was really quite intense – I figured it was recently roasted or something, and that once I got through these steeps I’d be done with that flavor.
For the next three steeps, the roast flavor was a little bit less sharp, but still left an almost ashy taste in the tea. I started to pick up a bit of nuttiness and astringency, kind of reminding me of almonds in a way. I only took the tea a few more steeps after this, as I just wasn’t enjoying the flavor very much – ashy, a bit astringent, quite drying in the mouth. There were a couple steeps toward the end where I picked up more fruity/floral sweet notes which gave me hope, but they just couldn’t shine through.
I wasn’t a big fan of this tea – I definitely preferred the roasted tgy I tried from an Aliexpress vendor a few days back. I think the roast was off, or hadn’t been given enough time to rest or something. Other roasted rolled oolongs which I’ve tried have a nice and creamy texture – this tea was quite lacking in body. It’s not the worst tgy I’ve ever tried, but it certainly isn’t my favorite.
Flavors: Ash, Astringent, Floral, Nutty, Roasted
Preparation
I tossed a couple little packets of this Heicha into a Yunnan Sourcing order I made a few months back, and one of them just surfaced in my sample box. After drinking it, I’m sad to say they’re gone on Yunnan Sourcing’s site – it was a very interesting and tasty tea. The dry leaf had a pungent prune or other dried fruit smell. The aroma was largely unchanged after a rinse, with a bit of maltiness entering the mix as well.
The flavor was pretty out there – I got a lot of that same sour dried fruitiness, I’m gonna call it prunes, throughout the session. The first steep was prunes and dried cherries with a slight cooling mouthfeel. I haven’t ever tasted a tea that was much of anything like that first steep. It was like everything I always hope for (and have never gotten) when black teas are labeled as “fruity.” Nice and bright flavor.
I didn’t taste the cherry after that first steep, but the rest of the session was nice as well. It got a touch of bittersweet chocolate to it, with the fruit a little more distant in the finish, but still quite there and quite pruney. The chocolate vibe only lasted through around steep 4, but even once it was gone, the tea retained a bit of a bittersweet note to it which I couldn’t pin down.
Compared to a lot of the puerh and stuff I drink, this one didn’t have quite the longevity – I got 8 steeps out of it, and the last two were pretty diminished. Despite that, I would buy up a lot more of this tea in a heartbeat if it were available. The single-session packaging and affordability make it a no brainer for such an interesting tea. I really need to try some more Tian Jian and other heicha…haven’t had great experience with Liu Bao, but these other heicha have been nice.
This one kind of reminded me of a really funky and whacked out black tea – like black tea’s psycho cousin. I liked it a lot.
Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Dark Bittersweet, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Sweet
Preparation
Today I finally drank the last of the five or six hong samples included in a previous w2t monthly club box, Black Buddha. This one was made up of some really tiny little leaves, which had a heavy chocolate aroma with a bit of maltiness to back it up.
I tasted some of the chocolate during the brewing, but also found myself battling a pretty hefty bitterness/astringency. I think this is due to the small leaves. I brewed it at 200F, so maybe going down to 190 would have helped. Despite the kind of rough bitterness, I did taste some nice chocolate, malt, and slightly fruity notes. Towards the end of the session, it got a little of a bready taste to it.
I preferred this one brewed more western-style. It seemed to help with the off-putting bitterness/mouth-drying effect rather well.
Hmm, I’m not really sure how to rate this one. It’s my second YS Qing Mei Shan that I’ve tried, and I don’t think the flavor profile is really for me. This one had some sweetness for sure, but they are also quite savory teas, with a lot of mushroomy and nutty flavor to them. It has a lot of strength to it – one of the first teas to make my stomach feel a bit upset when I drank it on a slightly empty stomach.
It’s got a lot of nice aspects to it, including a nice sugar-cane sweet finish in many steeps, along with a creamy, mouth-coating texture. I just don’t really like that heavy savory aspect to it. My sample was also pretty broken up, so I think I got treated to a little bit more astringency than the tea would normally yield.
Flavors: Moss, Mushrooms, Nutty, Sugarcane, Sweet
Preparation
Another rogue Teavivre sample included in a previous tea swap. This one was different from any other green tea I’ve had before. The leaves looked almost shiny/oily, and indeed when I was brewing the tea, I could see a bit of an oily looking sheen on top of the water. The leaves had a nutty aroma with a bit of grassiness, but really reminded me a bit of peanut butter. After the first brew, they smelled quite savory and brothy as well.
The tea had an intense nutty sweetness, more than in any other tea I have yet to experience. It had a moderately thick and brothy texture to it – I think this was a very savory tea, but the nuttiness provided enough sweetness for it to almost still be refreshing somehow. This is my first Mao Feng Green Tea – I’ll have to try out some more samples next year when fresh greens are coming out again.Flavors: Broth, Nutty, Sweet
Preparation
Another small sample out of the Puerh TTB! Brewed 4g up in handy 60mL gaiwan. After really enjoying the 2015 Reprise cake, I was interested to try the OG Wild Monk that people seem to have raved about. The dry leaves had a bit of a smoky aroma to them, which only intensified after a rinse. There was also some fruity and perhaps woody notes to the leaf aroma.
There was a bit of smoke to the first two steeps, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Other than the smoke, those two steeps had a bit of a fruity finish and were thick and creamy in the mouth, leaving a bit of a tingling sensation on my tongue.
By the third steep, the smoke was gone, replaced by a few different flavors which interplayed nicely. There was a hint of cinnamon, along with the fruity sweetness. The fruity notes weren’t intensely peach or apricot or anything, but were pretty laid back. By the fifth steep, I was also getting a bit of a sugary sweetness in the front of the sip.
This tea had some pretty powerful qi – even with the small amount, I was really feeling it by this point in the tea session. Felt pretty tipsy and fuzzy-headed. In terms of flavor, this tea really hit its stride around steep six as well. A great balance of bitterness and sweetness. There is just a touch of mouth-drying going on, but not too bad at all. I tasted fruity and light aromatic woody notes in the tea. This flavor carried on through another eight or more steeps – so I got a decent amount out of that little 4g sample!
I can see why people were excited about this tea – it’s definitely a good one. Very balanced flavors and hard-hitting qi. Hopefully Mandala makes it back online soon, though I’m fairly certain this tea was already gone beforehand.
Flavors: Fruity, Smoke, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
Sun Moon Lake Blacks seem to be pretty good ones for sure. Another randomly selected sample. I really like how the leaf looks with these kinds of teas. The leaves smelled nice and raisiny/malty. There were a lot of flavors going on – a bit of cocoa, malt, and some spiciness. I did get some raisin notes but they were more of a delayed/lingering aftertaste. A pretty good one! Too bad Idestea doesn’t exist anymore :P
Flavors: Cocoa, Malt, Raisins, Spicy
Preparation
Another sample slain! I’m going through them at a blistering pace, reducing that mountain! My girlfriend is helping me pick them out at random so I’m not paralyzed by indecision :) This rolled oolong had smaller nuggets than most others I’ve seen. I would say these leaves smelled pretty classically Jin Xuan – with some floral and creamy/milky aromas coming off of them. I preferred this one at 180F, which is lower than I typically go for oolongs.
The flavor was simple but satisfying. Green floral and slight milky notes dominated, though nothing about this tea suggested domination. It was pretty gentle, with a nice smooth and thick silky texture to it.
Flavors: Floral, Green, Milk, Sweet