Eco-Cha Artisan Teas

I generally prefer lighter less astringent teas, but this one is interesting enough and complex enough that I’m definitely glad I tried it.

Reading the reviews from my fellow Steepster members teabird, Lee, and Jace Lion Repshire really added to my enjoyment of this tea.

In addition to the wonderful honey flavors that are abundant and obvious in this gorgeous red tea, I also enjoyed the complex dried apricot, malt, tamarind, and dark wheat bread flavors.

BrewTEAlly Sweet’s description of the cinnamon flavors helped to identify those bitter flavors that other reviews did not detect, as well as the mint tea mouthfeel.

I probably won’t seek this tea out again, but I certainly am happy to have experienced it.

The dry leaves have the scent of Cream of Wheat cereal and they are thin, blackish-grey and twisted.
The liquor is a clear red-clay color and the wet leaves have turned that color too. I get the scent of persimmon, hay, barley, hops.
The flavors!!! This tea really has unique flavors!!!!! I had to close my eyes to get all the tastes that were coming thru. I caught tamarind and sweet potato first.
This really is a complex tea because the flavors change with each sip!!! It’s like a tea trip and my taste buds are trip pin’!!!!!
As it cools, I catch persimmon , butternut squash, and pumpkin. Very fall flavors and there is a slight astringency too.
Chefs and wine tasters would dig this tea,,,,I used to do lots of wine tasting and I never caught this many flavors from wine!!!!!!!
This tea is very intriguing and Far Out!!!!
This is why I bought the Steepster Select Club. Thank you Eco Cha and Steepster!!!

From the Steepster Select Box, January 2014

This red tea is deep, dark, and rich, and the red liquor it creates is definitely alluring. I’ll come right out and say that I am usually more drawn to lighter, fresher tasting teas than to dark highly oxidized ones, so keep that in mind while reading my review.

The scent really captivated me from the start. There’s a heavy aroma of malt and a fruity sweetness that to me most resembles dried apricot. I brewed this Gongfu Cha style, with the first infusion yielding a very up-front taste of cinnamon backed by flavors of dried apricot and date, finishing really malty and astringent. Definitely a dry finish to this tea. By second steeping, the cinnamon taste had nearly disappeared and was replaced by a very evident minty quality like unsweetened wintergreen, still underscored by the apricot. By the third brew, the flavor was similar to the second but sweeter and mellower overall and rather than gradually changing throughout a sip the flavors all blended together at once and I could taste them all throughout the sip.

I believe I may have overbrewed this tea. I used 203F/95C water and put 2.5g of leaf per 100ml of water into my porcelain gaiwan. Steeped for 3 minutes like the package suggests. I’m noticing in Eco-Cha’s notes also posted here they recommend much less time for the Gongfu method, which is making me wonder if the strong astringency at the end of a sip is because I brewed this tea too strong. I will say that the flavors didn’t seem overpowering at all until the aftertaste, and the brew color looked correct, so maybe this tea just has a naturally astringent finish.

I’m trying to remain neutral in my review because I’m not too into heavy bold red/black teas like this one. The complex flavor really impressed me at first, but I felt myself waning in enthusiasm as I drank more simply because the brew was a bit overpowering to me in its dry, malty finish.

UPDATE:
Some more experimenting took place ! I went with 2g leaf per 100ml water and steep 3 minutes at 203F/95C, add 1 minute for each steeping after. This combo results in an orange liquor, not quite the deep red-orange that is so beautiful, but the flavor has a wonderful balance between the dark and light, letting those spicy notes come through with the fruity tones and that hint of mintyness. There’s little astringency to the finish this way, though it still finishes a bit dry. I feel this tea had very enjoyable qualities when brewed this way. It’s still not entirely my tastes, but I could see other tea drinkers really enjoying it.

Backlog:

I am so impressed by Eco-Cha. Their packaging is gorgeous, and their teas are superb. This Dong Ding has a delicious “coffee” like flavor to it. Delicious, toasty, chestnut-y, sweet. I got quite a few infusions out of this one too … and each delivered a lovely flavor.

The first cup (infusions 1 and 2) gave me a hint of raisin-y sweetness that I really enjoyed, plus the aforementioned coffee and chestnut flavors.

The second cup was a stronger raisin note, which made this cup taste even sweeter than the first. Still nutty, toasty, smoky and warm tasting.

The third cup became a little softer in taste and texture but was still very flavorful.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/15/dong-ding-oolong-tea-eco-cha/

Brewed up a cup of this according to the instructions on the packet. Used 14 oz of water to the packet of oolong and added a little less than a teaspoon of sugar because unsweetened oolongs of any type make me do the shudder and face and I hate that and I’d rather taste the actual tea than just BITTER because I am super oversensitive to bitter.

Waiting for this to cool a little while I clear my palate from the muffin I ate earlier and another cup of the Razzleberry Iced Tea from Frank. Still good. The cup is still too hot to hold so I think I have enough time to finish my glass.

The tea for this first steep (2 minutes) is very much green oolong. I don’t have great oolong tastebuds so that’s all I’m going to get until I taste it I think. There’s a certain suggestion of forests and if I breathe the aroma in deeply several times, I get a sharp spice note in the back of my throat.

Tasted warm, this is a very nice delicate green oolong. I get more flavour along the back of my tongue and aftertaste than I do upfront. It tastes pretty floral, though I couldn’t tell you what flower. I don’t have a lot of experience with flowered teas except when they overwhelm me or there are a lot of them in the blend.

This tea suffers from my lack of absolute love and experience with oolong. If the next few steepings change anything, I’ll be sure to update this note.

ETA: Second steep brings out even more floral and even a bit of fruit. This has gotten a bit too floral for me so that’s the end.

Wow… Why are all the reviews for this so low:(
I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit!
I steeped it a little under boiling (I didn’t read reviews or this teas page before hand).
I steeped it for a little less than three minute, I usually go by smell when brewing tea and for how long. This smelled like a very earthy robust tea. The first sip, I got this mouthfeel that mint tea usually gives you. It doesn’t taste like mint but it feels like mint in my sip if that makes any sense. You do get that slight bitterness on the tongue that cinnamon gives you if you eat it straight ha ha which I highly recommend you don’t do. Being a baker I can depict the singular tastes of spices. I understand that in previous note they don’t get any of these notes… I think most people, when thinking of cinnamon think of the sweetness you get from the cinnamon component in desserts and baked doughs when cinnamon is combined with sugar. But cinnamon usually had a very bitter taste when on its own. Very earthy as well. The same with clove. Clove isn’t a sweet spice at all. It add a pinch of complexity to this tea. More earthiness as well. Over all this tea took me on a nice journey.

I loved the color of the dry leaves of this tea. Very beautiful! And the color of the tea steeped was amazing! You definitely see where the name came from. A beautiful velvety red!

Thank you for adding this as a tea for the January steepster select box! Really enjoying these teas:) not sure I can afford to keep up though. Have definitely enjoyed both December and January though! Thank you Jason!

Really solid oolong; it’s light and fresh, almost like you can taste the elevation. I like bold hearty teas as much as the next guy, but sometimes you need something more delicate. This tea will do that for you. I’m really looking forward to additional steeps of this one and am glad this is one of which I can purchase more.

Shan Lin Xi means “Pine Forest Stream”, named for the region this tea is grown. I learned this after doing a little research online. Not surprisingly, I already had this image in my mind, as the aroma and taste of this tea evokes thoughts of pine trees damp with mountain rain.

The aroma seems to me an infusion of pine and rose. On the first couple steepings, the flavor starts with sweet rose and pine notes then gradates to a malty taste, then finally it finishes in a very peculiar aftertaste that is slightly astringent and I’d even say a little salty. It really lingers on your tongue. By third steeping the flavor has deepened away from the heady floral notes and down to a more fruity pear-like taste. The transition to the more malty taste is less pronounced and overall the flavor is more mellow, less astringent, and the aftertaste has become a bit tangy.

This tea is incredibly calming and definitely brings to mind thoughts of the outdoors, so for that alone this tea has value to me. It’s like a fine incense that transports you out of the confines of your dwelling and into the open air of nature. I am very impressed by the changing flavor and the complexity and highly recommend this Wulong. My only regret is that I didn’t think to use my aroma cup sets that are typically used to enjoy Taiwanese Wulong. Luckily Steepster Select sends two samples.

As for brewing, I decided to ignore the recommended brewing strategy on the sample and brewed it the way I brew most rolled green Wulongs, so I brewed this in a porcelain gaiwan for just 1’00, adding 0’30 for each additional infusion. I used 4.5g of leaf per 100ml of water and 194F/90C water.

I liked this tea a lot more than I thought I would. Anything that lists “cinnamon and clove” immediately makes me worry, because heavily spiced teas are rarely something I enjoy.

However, this is a subtle cup. I found myself savoring the flavor. Light, slightly astringent finish, absolutely gorgeous red liquor (so glad I have clear teacups for this one), and I noticed that my scratchy throat that I get after dusting went away much faster than usual after sipping this blend, which is an added bonus. (Am saving my second Steepster Select packet for an afternoon when my throat is itchy again to see if that was coincidence or not. It’s just a soothing cup either way, so good to have if you’re feeling a bit tired after working!)

Wow, this really isn’t getting good reviews, is it? I steeped mine to the suggested parameters, also added milk and sugar (I know I know). I let it cool down a bunch because I lost track of time.

It smells like a nice assamica black tea, though I can’t really see the colour of the tea liquor. I pick up a bit of the Darjeeling flavour that I hate so that’s not so good. And there’s definitely something spicy on the back end of the sip that makes the aftertaste a bit strange as it fades. A bit of astringency as well.

I can’t say I like this one nearly as much as other black teas in my collection. Perhaps those looking for the spice should let theirs cool down a bit? First steep is too much spice for me. Let’s see about the second steep with some dinner and sweet iced tea in between.

ETA: Way more spice on the second steep. Still no mint but I could mistake this for very weak chai if I wasn’t careful. But then, I’m very sensitive to spices, usually in a bad way as they overwhelm me. 3:30 minutes.

ETA2: 3rd steep, 4 minutes. I think this tea is running out of steam. It has lost most of the spiciness that made it unique and has started tasting like just a slightly bready black tea. I actually like this type of tea so I’m going to enjoy this mug but I think this is the end of it. This is a 3 steep tea for me.

If someone likes the spiciness and can pick it up, I imagine they’d like this tea a great deal but it’s not my cup of tea. And I never did pick up any mint from it.

I did like this tea because it had such a complex character. I will try shorter steeps for the next sample. My first cup reminded me of a bitter Assam without the bitterness. There was a slight metallic taste, as well as mint at the end. The second cup was much weaker, but the metallic taste was gone, leaving a mild mint behind

Second steeping. I let it steep pretty long this time. The flavor was a strong due to the steep time. It was more buttery than the first steep.still delicious

First steep. Very delicious oolong. Similar to four seasons like someone else mentioned but more “earthy” tasting to me. Will add second steep soom

I usually don’t resteep black teas but I did with this one due to the price of select and it was worth it. Light flavor on the resteep but still smooth

This is a decent black tea. It doesn’t have a strong flavor but what it lacks in punch it makes up for in smoothness. Very smooth tea.