Eco-Cha Artisan Teas

Ooh! This roasted Dong Ding starts out with this wonderful mild roasted nutty flavor like a Houjicha, but then it opens up to the dried fruit and honey like qualities of Dong Ding, with so much lingering sweetness. For a roasted tea, this one tastes very clean and leaves a nice clean feeling in the mouth and a tingly minty kind of freshness.

On the second steeping the roasted flavor has died off quite a bit revealing more of the sweet, nectar-like qualities of the tea. The more steepings in you go, the more creamy and mellow it gets, and the more it gives way to subtle floral, fruit and honey notes. This is a wonderful oolong for enjoying gongfu style to see how the many infusions change.

This tastes like a dark tomato soup. It’s crazy!

There’s the fruitiness and tartness of a nice grape tomato. There’s some herbal medicinal thing going on as well. I can possibly imagine the mint. I can’t imagine any clove or cinnamon.

It’s not a bad cup but I’m not keen to repeat the experience.

Red Jade Tea from Taiwan (also known as No. 18):
This is a prize-winning tea from Eco-Cha, using little to no fertilisers or pesticides. I believe the leaf comes from a hybrid of the assam plant and wild tea plant.
The character of Red Jade is unique among black teas. The taste is complex and lacks the astringency or bitterness of classic blacks.
The smell of the dry leaf was strongly of ‘warmed spaghetti (from a can)’, but there were notes of mint beneath. The leaf is long and large, twisted tightly along middle vein, reasonably intact. Once water is added the leaf slowly unfurls, unlocking each layer of the taste.
The scent comes through into the flavor of Red Jade. It is slightly pungent: savoury with winter vegetables (mint) and spices (cloves, cinnamon). The after-taste is of brown sugar and lingers long in the mouth. There is no dryness.
The infused leaf has notes of minty sweetness, sandalwood, cinnamon.
This is a good winter tea, but its strong unique taste may take some getting used to.

This Spring 2013 oolong hails from Dong Ding Mountain. It is not high altitude (1000ft), but the terrain is steep and often covered with fog. The soil is incredibly rich. In addition, this region is home to the most concentrated population of the most skilled oolong tea artisans in Taiwan.
The tea is hand-picked in small batches.
The dry leaf looks amazing – tiny coils that resemble snails – and the scent is wood and spring shrub or vegetative, plus some smokiness.
The taste is mellow, sweet syrupy, chestnut notes with slight raisin and smoked notes. There is a definite English floral note that lingers. It could be hyacinth (green, sweet, floral). There is minimal astringency, no dryness.
The second infusion delivered a sweeter flavor – time for those raisin notes to shine.
Overall, it delivers a complex taste – as well as many cups (up to four infusions last count).

I’ve really enjoyed this one today at work. I think oolong is my new thing. I’ve been drinking an awful lot of oolong lately. This one is really nice. Slightly sweet, slightly fruity, really smooth. Resteeps well. It’s kept me company through multiple mugs during a crazy frustrating day at the office. I don’t get piney from this one, like the description says, but I am really enjoying it. I’m debating on ordering more right now, or if I need to hold off as I have way way way too much tea on its way. This one will probably wait for a while, but Eco-Cha, you are on my list.

This is from the January 2014 Steepster Select Box.

I have trying my best to drink all the little odds and ends of tea that I have sitting around. Everything that is in the 2-4 cup range. I have significantly reduced the number of teas in my cupboard, but then more tea just keeps coming in:)

I have been using my new gaiwan to brew oolongs lately. I have always been an oolong fan and now with the start of summer and the gaiwan, the more green oolongs seem to be something I am starting to crave. This one is really hitting the spot tonight. It is light, floral, slightly buttery, and I get a bit of tang at the end of the sip. I really need to do a green oolong sampler one of these days to see if I can detect more subtle flavors. With the greenish oolongs, the flavor for me seems to vary by the amount of floral, buttery-ness, and the slight bitterness at the end of the sip. Sometimes I get a slight hint of fruit, other times the bitterness overtakes the fruity notes. This seems to be a nice balance between all the components.

You don’t know what you got until it’s gone.

I filled my yixing with whatever was left of my bag (probably at least 10-15 grams lol) from last year in an effort to drink within freshness and to clear room in my cupboard.

This is still one the most unique black teas I have ever tasted. Fruity, sweet, silky, complex, with just the right amount of body. I taste over-ripened plum very pleasant sweet add a tail of sourness, with hints of thyme/oregano or some other woody spicy herb in the background. This one is a crowd pleaser for sure I even poured some for my guests who have american “pepsi palates” and they actually enjoyed and asked for seconds(usually the best I can get out of friends is a sip and a patronizing “not bad”). The flavor profile is the complete opposite of chinese hongcha, a lot sweeter/smoother /fruitier, less astringent, a nice break from my usual fare.

The calming effect and unbelievably perfect body makes the leaves origin apparent, far more than being a marketing ploy of buzz words associated with the description. This high mountain black tea has theanine left from the roasting to give you the gao shan relaxed buzz but with a taste thats more bold and “heavier” than a typical floral green oolong.

Is it worth the $11/oz price tag? Depends on your budget I suppose but I would repurchase for sure. But like anything else the quality bump that comes with the high price tag would not be appreciated from new comers. I have come to appreciate teas too much to let price tags bother me especially when I stop comparing prices to other teas and start comparing prices to other beverages . I also don’t mind supporting eco cha as a company they seem to have a friendly, transparent orientation.

This is a weird one, good just strange. Not sure were this tea falls caffeine wise but since it is Gao Shan Cha it still possesses the tea drunk aromatic oils :) so I am super mellow and smiley. I’ve western brewed in the past but decided to gongfu today. The first few steeping I got tart dark cherries sour sweet and tart plum at the tail, later a strong berry flavor appeared and remained constant for the rest of the steepings. A sort of piney, woody maybe fruit branch flavor accompanied the fruity flavor. I say fruit branch since it still had the berry taste it reminded me of berry branches that some time make it through the sorting in the frozen berry mix I like to buy.

An interesting tea, not something Id reach for daily (also just realized it was $11/oz yikes) but definitely enjoyable and glad I got to try this one.

There are so many aromas from this tea that it is difficult to pick them out. I am getting floral notes, peach, resin, corn, and even what I can only describe as butter. Despite the complex layers of aroma it is a very pleasant smelling tea. The floral and peach carry over into the flavor of the tea as well. It is amazing to have a tea this complex, but not be overwhelmed by it. In addition to the fruit and peach, there is a slight citrus, almost grapefruit, towards the end which keeps the tea from getting too sweet. I will be buying more of this tea as one cup is not enough to fully explore it.

This tea’s immediate intoxicating effect is stunning. The tea has a rich aroma of floral plants and sweet depths that penetrate the senses. While the tea is on the tongue it has a flowery presence that morphs into a botanic secondary taste. The taste remains after swallowing and changes, like all Oolongs of this type. The effect is one of a vigorous efflorescence in the back of the mouth. This is a truly transcendental occurrence. The fermentation process has removed any bitter sharpness that the leaves may have initially possessed leaving a sweet penetrating liquor.

I got this tea a little while ago when Eco-Cha had some good discounts on their older teas. This one was harvested in Spring 2013 so it is roughly a year old.

The age, I think, doesn’t matter, because this oolong is heavenly. Extremely fragrant (as much as I love fragrant teas, I don’t think I could drink this one when having a headache!), smelling like the purest, freshest, off-the-comb honey that was gathered from orchids and fruit blossoms. It tastes very sweet with a tiny amount of roastiness that balances the sweet notes out. The second resteep was even bolder in roasty notes (but they were still really mild) and also brought some vegetal notes.

This has everything I look for in an oolong. Because of its age, and because I have relatively a lot of it, I am going to make this one my evening staple… And I don’t know, but if it’s even better when it’s fresher, perhaps I am glad I got the older one :D So I don’t get too excited over it :D

Spring time mean tea harvest for those lovely places in the world, one of those parts in the lush island of Taiwan. One of my favorite tea companies (Eco-Cha Arisan Teas) was awesome enough to keep a record of their tea production this year in a series of handy Harvest Reports and Facebook Photos. I certainly suggest checking it out of you have a passion for tea or a love of beautiful photography. Consider it a journey into the secret world of the tea leaf, experience the process it goes through from ground to cup!

Speaking of journeys to cups, today’s tea Red Jade Tea by Eco-Cha Artisan Tea, is a very fascinating red tea. Also known as Taiwan Tea No. 18, this particular tea is a hybrid of wild tea treas that grow on the mountains of Taiwan and the Assam tea plant. Created by the Tea Research Extension Station in the Sun Moon Lake region of Nantou, this tea’s hybridization gives it a natural immunity to some of the buggies that enjoy munching on tea plants. The aroma of the curly long leaves is nothing short of complex, blending rich cocoa, roasted peanuts, cloves, a bit of barley, and a woody quality. The aroma is more savory than sweet, in fact it is all savory instead of sweet, with a strong and heavy presence. This is a tea that will be noticed!

Adding the tea to the gaiwan and giving it a bath brought out some very interesting aroma notes, a strong showing from the cocoa and cloves, but also mint and cinnamon. This might be one of the more complex and unusual red teas I have experienced. The liquid’s aroma is lighter, with creamy cocoa and rich cloves, there is a finish of licorice and mint. If I could use any terms other than aroma notes to describe the way the tea smells I would say it is bold and snappy, it makes itself known and has a bright cooling affect at the same time.

With the first sip I am immediately struck by the complexity. At first there is a smooth woody and roasted nut quality with a hint of cloves. This fades to a mint and licorice midtaste that has a cooling sensation, not like actually eating or drinking mint, but the way your mouth is cooled when you switch from breathing through your nose to a deep breath through your mouth. I found it to be an incredibly refreshing sensation. The arftertaste is a tiny bit sweet and a bit like sassafras.

The second steep’s aroma is much sharper and snappy, there are still strong cocoa and clove notes, but the mint is much more prominent, as is the aroma of sassafras. The taste is rich and I would even say herbaceous but more woody herbaceous than leafy herbaceous. Think sassafras bark and roasted peanuts with hints of cloves and mint. It has a malty beginning and a malty finish. This steeping has no sweetness at all, it is all savory and rich.

The third steep’s aroma is much the same as the second, I did not notice any differences between the two. The taste however is different, it still has the same flavor notes as the previous steep, but instead of it being all savory and rich, it is milder and has a subtle sweetness. I really enjoyed this tea (but I don’t say Eco-Cha is one of my favorite companies lightly, I have loved all of their teas) and found the unusual and complex notes to be both exciting and relaxing.

For Blog, Photos, Links to Harvest Notes, and a bit of spring time: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/eco-cha-artisan-tea-red-jade-tea-tea.html

No time for a long log today so real quick review

Eco cha is my new favorite company enough said, this oolong was produced with incredible care every single leaf in my gaiwan was whole after brewing and some leaf sets had 4 leaves!! Literally never seen an entire unbroken leaf set come out of my gaiwan, ever. With all that being said it was on the lighter side taste wise I had purchased the summer harvest though but this being my first concubine i am not sure what to expect. Definite Gao Shan tea drunk in effect, threw the leaves in a cup of water in the fridge because didnt have time to finish the session so maybe I can get a grasp on the main flavor note after tasted it cold brewed. I look forward to experimenting with this one.

Tasting the light sweetness of carrots and roastiness of almonds with a hint of creaminess not as buttery or full bodied as their jin xuan but I was not in the mood for a “milk” oolong today anyways.

Oolong week (again) at Oolong Owl! Today – Jin Xuan, a milk oolong that is heavy on the buttery, orchid floral flavor. So much butter flavor in the early steepings, pleasing my diet killing cravings for butter. There is also a green bean vegetal note in this oolong. The 5th to 8th infusions were the best steepings as the balance of floral and vegetal was awesome, along with a clean and fresh flavor.

What is interesting is the cold steeping of Jin Xuan – the floral really tames down and is light. The cold steep tastes like milk and butter.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jin-xuan-oolong-eco-cha-oolong-owl-tea-review/

The leaves in this oolong expand like crazy in the later steepings, trying to jail break out of my gaiwan.

There is a warm aroma to this tea. I can’t quite say if it is cinnamon or clove, but it is similar in the heat that is detected. There is a lot of the cinnamon and clove flavor in the tea as well as a slight spiciness. There is a pleasant earthiness to this tea. There is a distinct mint, like spearmint, undertone which gives the impression of cooling the spiciness. There is less tannin than I would expect from a black tea which helps round out the complexity of this tea. I could see this tea paired with a coffee cake or alone as an evening night cap with a touch of honey.

This is the second tea I’ve tried from my recent Steepster Select box.

My first few sips, I felt taste-blind, couldn’t really pick anything out. It does have a slightly pine smell to it. After letting it cool a few moments and sipping again, there is a slight sweetness or fruity quality to it. The description on the card says ‘pear-like fruitiness’.

It’s a very nice oolong, but, perhaps my tastes just swing differently as I’m a teensy bit underwhelmed by it.

So, it’s been a long while and I’m a bit out of practice of writing these. I signed up for steepster select, and this being the first one listed when I opened my package gets to serve double duty containing my impressions of the package. I got a tiny little box in the mail, packaged inside was this really plain but cute steepster labeled bag packaged in cardboard shavings. Inside the bag were 10 little brown packages of tea and a postcard telling me a little about each of the teas. Also included were a number of simple tea-bags. Very nice in my opinion, first impressions and all!

Red Jade from Echo-Cha is from Nantou, Taiwan and the blurb about it reads

A hybrid of the assame cultivae and a wild growing cultivae, this black tea is the product of the Tea Research Extension Station and is naturally immune to local pest, requiring little to no pesticide.

Well, interesting facts, but, makes me think I’m drinking some mutant off-shoot of tea and tells me little about the expected flavor.

On the brown package of tea it includes the name of the Tea, what store it came from, the type of tea, region it’s from, a small tasing note blurb, and brewing temperature and time which I followed. The tasting notes on the brown package read

A complex combination of cinnamon, clove, and mint.

Interesting to say the least! After brewing and having a sip, I’m not so certain I detect those flavors myself, but, my taste buds have had a long vacation from tea. The aroma of the tea is absolutely delicious though; I had to fight with myself to actually drink the tea instead of just sniffing it all evening like some possessed tea-fiend. After a few sips, I did suspect I could taste hints of cinnamon and mint flavors mentioned on the package, but a little unsure of if that’s simply the power of suggestion or not. A lot of the taste is very similar to one of the english breakfast teas I’ve tried, I suspect because they’re both Assam teas.

I like it a lot and it’s definitely gonna go missing from my tea stash quickly!

I got this with my first Steepster Select box, and I like it. The flavor is lighter than a straight Assam, but the texture is very pleasant…not thin, but not too thick either. It’s got a slight bite on the back end, which is indeed reminiscent of cinnamon, and a somewhat mint/menthol-like “feel” (not “flavor”, per se) on the front, making it very intriguing.

I’m enjoying this cup very much…and now that I’ve read other reviews, I think when I try the second packet I’ll do a gong-fu style brew, as it sounds like that brings out more of the spicy flavors. Still, good stuff even brewed just normal cup style, IMO.

There are many steeps from this tea. I’m probably on the 5th or 6th steep now which is on the down side from its prime steep. It started off light and mild and increased to a filling flavor yet still keeping its lightness. Now off the cliff side it’s coming back around to the lightness yet still keeping the aromas but not as full a flavor. This tea came from the steepster select box from jan. 2014. A very yummy oolong that can be drunk in large quantities throughout the morning. It’s not too strong and it keeps up with the promises of fruit and pine qualities.

Backlog (and correction):

When I previously wrote this tasting note, I wrote it for the Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Concubine Oolong tea and not for this tea … and that was a mistake. So, I’m moving the tasting note to the correct Oolong!

I absolutely LOVE Eco Cha! This is a fantastic company, and their packaging is gorgeous – very classy! It’s the kind of tea package that you’ll feel good about giving to a tea loving friend (even if that friend is YOU!)

So I was happy to see that Steepster included in last month’s select box some choice teas from Eco Cha … and this was one of them. I had already tried the tea from samples that I had received from Eco Cha, but this one is so good that I was certainly happy to get the tea again! (You can read my first review of this tea here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/15/shan-lin-xi-high-mountain-oolong-tea-eco-cha/ )

A really good Oolong, sweet, floral and a slight woodsy note. The texture is light and refreshing. Later infusions revealed the woodsy tone to be more of a pine-like note, and later I tasted notes of apple.

An excellent Oolong!

The dominant smell is molasses, with a honey undertone. It also smells like an Assam. Very earthy and comforting on this unseasonably chilly April day. The first sip is surprisingly mellow for the way it smells, and a bit bitter when it first hits the tongue. As it’s swallowed, it becomes kind of malty. I expected a bolder flavor, but it’s really good in spite of being so laid back.

I had high hopes for “milk oolong” after reading about it but I was let down after trying a scented one. By chance I made an recent purchase of darker oxidized teas given the time of year but decided to throw this in for the hell of it.

WOW smelling taiwan teas just after opening the air tight bag is quickly becoming my favorite thing. This smelled just like I had imagined when I learned about “milk oolong” unfortunately I was conned and bought some of Mandala’s milk which was heavy scented/flavored/etc, that one is something I would expect at David’s tea or Teavana tisk tisk. This is whole other league it smells of creamed spinach with the smoothest of jade oolong amplified and the nice vegetal after taste of a quality unroasted TGY. Not to mention this is a winter harvest, and after the harsh winter we had, the spring crop must be ethereal.

Bottom line buy Eco Cha and if you can try their spring harvest you will thank me