Taiwan Tea Crafts

Sipdown! 222/365!

A whole bag of this and no note/review. Not surprising, I suppose. I inventoried my straight teas (the majority of them) a couple nights ago, and pulled out a bunch of 1-cup samples or badly stored teas to drink down quickly. This was one of em.

I didn’t honestly pay too much attention as I was drinking this, but I found it to be fairly flavourful and enjoyable – the first infusion (1 minute) was light and toasty, the second infusion (longer) was verging on syrupy, and had a delicious gui fei-type sweetness that I really enjoyed, along with more prominent “baked” flavours. Rather good. I’m looking forward to a couple more infusions tonight, before the leaves are done!

Definitely one of the better roasted/baked oolongs I’ve had.

Curious concept, a GABA oolong cake.

Dry leaf aromas of violet (strongest), red grapes, brown sugar. Warmed and rinsed leaf present baked bread, buttery grape jelly, violet, baked cherries and berries, fresh blueberry, orchid, brown toast, wood.

Brewed 3 ways:

1) Gongfu. Zee best. 5g, 100mL porcelain teapot, 200F, great longevity.

Thick and oily, coats the whole mouth. Tasted like cinnamon raisin brown toast, highly mineral plus salivation, tangy, ridiculously smooth. Consistent in character until the end. Later turns nutty and woody, a bit salty with a light bite in the throat. Liquor develops a neat purple hue. Very content energy. Rating: 87

2) Grandpa. I like. 2g, 8oz, 200F, 5! top-offs.

Thick, full-bodied, roasty-toasty, floral grape, raisin, wood, sweet lemon tartness, still lots of salivation. Leads into dried fruit flavors of sour cherries and berries. Rating 85.

3) Thermos. Basically stewed about 9 hours. 2.5g, 20oz, 200F.

Tastes like a highly mineral shou. Toasty, thick, salty-umami, sometimes strong notes of rye. Not bad. Rating 77.

Average: 83

Maybe worth buying a small cake for Sheetz und Kegels. I mean, I haven’t seen a GABA cake around. This is an opportunity to see how it holds up over the long term. What’s the purpose? Ease of storage like a shou cake? It’s already highly oxidized and there aren’t strong roast notes so I doubt it would transform much. Would make an excellent fall/winter tea.

Song pairing, I’m going to refrain from linking but it’s Milli Vanilli — Girl You Know It’s True
Lord, why.

Really? I haven’t rated this before?

I iced a cup of this a day or so ago, and while it was okay, I really think the roasty chocolate profile is what I want in my straight iced blacks, and that’s not what this tea has. It’s more along the malty/bready lines. Still quite a flavourful tea, but not my favourite profile, as I want more chocolate, and more roasty toastiness.

This was a fairly standard green tea. It had some explosive baozhong like aromas in the bag but after resting for a bit, it settled into a typical green bean flavor. There were some light spinach notes, a hint of cream, and a little fruitiness along the way but otherwise it was generic tasting. Not a whole lot of body or depth in the way of flavor. It wasn’t bad or off-tasting, just didn’t have any real character to it.

Taiwan produces some excellent oolongs but in my experience, Taiwanese greens are lacking and don’t really measure up to their counterparts from mainland China and Japan. I’ve got another green tea sample from Taiwan Tea Crafts so here’s hoping it breaks the mold and proves me wrong.

This is the most forward Red Jade white I’ve had to date.

It pairs wonderfully with crispy oatmeal raisin cookies.

Dry leaf: aromas of tomato leaf, cooked tomatoes and greens, lemon, herbs, raisins, malt, brown sugar, wintergreen, black cherry. The leaf is large, dark and hearty — no crumbling thin leaf here.

Wet leaf: clearing and piercing wintergreen note grounded by an umami undertone like stewed vegetables.

Liquor aroma: wintergreen, cinnamon, straw.

Tastes: A backbone of straw with headiness of wintergreen, spiciness of cinnamon oil, fruitiness of black cherry, tartness of blood orange (like there is some raspberry kick), highly mineral, some toastiness and teasings of tropical fruits. Moves to baked bread, butter, popcorn, a light herbal licorice sweetness, malt, plants stems and banana leaf.
Brown sugar returning sweetness is not coy.

Body/mouthfeel: thick and oily moving to thin and rough then back to thick and brothy. Salivating, almost drooling. Of course cooling in the mouth and chest with that menthol/wintergreen/herbs but warming in the body like hot straw and cinnamon. I feel like a sheer white curtain was draped over my eyes, relaxed.

Awesome tea. Aromatic, flavorful and engaging. Somehow what seems like chaos in tea is reigned momentarily.

Song pairing: The Comet is Coming — Summon the Fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XsEgNvYiIE (headphones, loud.)

[5g, 100mL porcelain teapot, 195+ F, no rinse, great longevity for a white tea]

All I had of this tea was a 6g sample from Togo and I managed to oversteep it a few times because the sedating energy of the tea hit me hard. After having good results from the extended steeps, I think this tea begs for longer infusions. The energy commands it. I had to take a long break after the second steep because my butt was glued to this chair. Even coming back to the leaf after another break for a shower, it’s kicking my ass again. I’m typing with one eye open -_O

Dry leaf smells like flowers such as orchid, sweet cream, darker nuts like pecan or hazelnut, caramel and a piercing quality that I hesitate to call vinegar?

Teapot time. 6g, 100mL clay, 205F, rinse plus 9 steeps, 2 of which were much longer than expected.

Warmed leaf smells of brown toast, caramel, vinegar, flowers, nuts and wet rocks. Rinsed leaf presents aromas of roast, almost burnt caramel, flowers, roasted nuts, undefined vegetal quality like plant stems, wood, umami, and another hesitant descriptor: gasoline? Dang, I’m having difficulty with this tea. The tea is smooth and nutty on the sip, quickly blooming into a bouquet of flowers, caramel, moderate toastiness and light minerals. It finishes dry with a long floral aftertaste.

This tea is complex and unfolds like a pop-up book with the second steep. Toasty caramel, chocolate, floral aroma. A little bitter on the sip. Nutty, dry roasted almond, caramel and peanut/shell, always a floral high note the lingers, impressions of cream and toffee. Something marine and metallic on the salivary glands. Finishes with banana leaf which later turns to dried peach and peach skin. Sometime in this session I sniff the leaf and it’s chocolate. The session ends on a bright note, like an impression of sunny and tart peach-orange with a light creme brûlée aftertaste. The florals never relent. I’m tired and finding it difficult to keep up with this tea’s robust yet fleeting nature.

Having a hard time coming to a conclusion. Big picture, it reminds me of a medium-dark roasted Taiwanese dong ding crossed with a Wuyi qi lan rock oolong and some Muzha tieguanyin with the couch-lock and mind-numbing qualities of indica cannabis. Leaving unrated for now.

Now here’s a good example of a tea that’s all aroma and no flavor. I was super excited when I opened the bag and got punched in the face with intense perfume florals and tropical fruit. However the brewed tea was a different story. This is the mildest baozhong I’ve ever tasted, to put it politely. It has a very subtle, barely there flavor. Mostly vegetal throughout with faint hints here and there of jasmine, sweet pea, and violets.

This was my second time having a baozhong oolong from Baguashan and it just doesn’t hold a candle to the more prestigious Wenshan Baozhong. It’s got explosive aromas but tastes washed out. This is nearly half the price of Baozhong from Wenshan however as with most things, you get what you pay for. Hard pass on this one.

I bought 25 g of this tea, along with two others from the Shan Lin Xi area, in the winter of 2017, and thanks to vacuum sealing, it’s still fresh. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry leaves smell like honey, custard, and flowers. The first steep offers notes of vanilla, custard, sugarcane, grass, honey, apple, honeysuckle, and other florals. As might be expected, it’s quite sweet. Citrus and orange blossom notes emerge in the next couple rounds. By steep five, the tea becomes more vegetal, although the honey and floral sweetness persist for the next few steeps.

This started off with a profusion of flavours, but faded quickly. If only these oolongs would last longer!

This is the last tea review from my April backlog. I figured I would go ahead and post it while I was still sitting at my computer. It seems that the number of aged Qing Xin oolongs offered by vendors of Taiwanese tea has been growing in recent years. Aside from this tea, I have seen quite a few others on the market with production dates ranging from the early 1990s to the mid-late 2000s. Buying aged oolongs is always a crapshoot for me. I’m not huge on them, and quite frankly, quality is often variable. I was not expecting much out of this one, largely because the previous reviewers were not enamored with it, but I have to say that it pleasantly surprised me. As aged Taiwanese oolongs go, this was actually quite pleasant and drinkable.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cedar, pine, plum, peach, and raisin. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted almond, orchid, pear, and straw. The first infusion brought out aromas of coconut, pineapple, and vanilla. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cedar, pine, coconut, vanilla, pineapple, straw, roasted almond, orchid, and peach that were backed by hints of mango, papaya, caramel, and some sort of melon. The subsequent infusions introduced olive, mango, leather, nutmeg, cherry, papaya, caramel, apple, white grape, and cantaloupe aromas. Impressions of minerals, nutmeg, leather, fennel, cinnamon, olive, cherry, apple, and white grape emerged in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging notes of pear and plum and more immediate and prevalent impressions of mango, papaya, and caramel. The melon notes also took shape as I noted a distinct cantaloupe impression in the mouth. As the tea faded, I began to primarily note mineral, mango, peach, pear, roasted almond, plum, cherry, and vanilla impressions that were underscored by hints of nutmeg, fennel, leather, papaya, cedar, pine, apple, and cantaloupe.

Honestly, this struck me as being a very nice tea. I’m not sure what other reviewers found to be objectionable about it. I was especially impressed by the vibrancy of its aromas and flavors. One does not generally find aged oolongs that are so fruity and sweet. My only real quibble was that the texture of the tea liquor was a bit grainy for my tastes, but other than that, this was a very nice aged oolong.

Here is one of the last two reviews I had left in my April backlog. I received this tea back in 2017 as part of TTC’s Aged Tea Sampler. I put off trying it for so long simply because it was already old, so there was no need to rush with it. Honestly, I’m glad I put it off as long as I did because I hate posting negative reviews, and well, there was no way I could give this tea a good one.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose tea leaf and ginseng blend in 4 ounces of 205 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea and ginseng blend emitted powerful aromas of earth, raisin, wood, mushroom, old paper, and ginseng. After the rinse, I picked up aromas of ash, charcoal, and caramel. The first infusion did not add any new aromas, but the previously noted aromas grew so powerful that they burned my nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented strong notes of earth, wood, old paper, mushroom, charcoal, ash, and ginseng that were balanced by subtler impressions of cream, vanilla, raisin, and caramel. I also detected a little chocolate after each swallow. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of chocolate and tobacco. Stronger and more immediate chocolate notes appeared in the mouth alongside impressions of blackberry, tobacco, and minerals. There were also some hints of black cherry here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, old paper, mushroom, earth, ginseng, and wood that were underscored by hints of blackberry, black cherry, ash, vanilla, and tobacco.

God, this was rough stuff! Some of the aromas and flavors were reminiscent of a very earthy shu pu’erh but much stronger, more forceful, and far more unpleasant than even some of the roughest, cheapest shu. The texture of the tea liquor was ashy and gritty. It was very hard to drink. This was also a persistent, durable tea that did not want to give up the ghost during my review session. I can’t say that I hated everything about it as I did like some of the sweeter and fruitier characteristics this tea displayed, but still, I did not enjoy drinking this tea much at all. I cannot say that I would recommend it to anyone aside from fans of very earthy shu.

I haven’t experienced much tea (any?) from Taiwan Tea Craft, but I’ve ordered their teawares a few times over the years. When I first saw the ash glazed “genie” pot with the circle handle a few years ago, I had to have that. Their little “Pocket” $35 clays pots are a nice value. I think Oolong Owl reviewed some of those little pots awhile back. In my last teaware order, I decided to show them some love and try their tea. I enjoyed this Dong Ding. The dry leaf smell had some roasted nuttiness and some fruity smell, as well. Wet leaf was very fruity. I went for about 8 sessions with this tea and it held up well for me. I was having my tea during a meeting, and there were some longer breaks between sessions, so I would heat the water back up, and it seemed to do better with just off the boil water in later steepings. I may have added a touch of bitter that way, but I don’t mind a little bitterness if it brings out stronger flavors. I prepared this in the red Pocket Duo Zhi shaped pot from TTCs. Pour was great on that little pot. I felt some caffeine buzz shortly after consuming this tea.

I think this is the first time I’ve had a pre-Spring harvest tea so I have nothing to compare it to. Long, dark green delicate tendrils with a few silvery accents that smell sweet, fruity, lightly vegetal and beany, alpine.

I enjoyed this green tea most when prepared gongfu. Western was also nice, of course less nuanced, but grandpa-style was a nuisance because most of the leaves do not sink.

Gone gaiwan [6g, 150mL glass gaiwan, 175F, flash rinse]

Warmed leaf had aromas of creamy artichoke, sugarcane, sugar cookie, and a fruity tone. Wet leaf smelled mostly of sugarcane and seaweed. First in a series of very short steeps were vegetal with lightly creamy artichoke, soybean and grass, and a fructose-like sweetness. Thick mouthfeel on the sip transitioned into a highly mineral, almost salty liquor that was lightly drying and left a bit of a rough texture on the tongue. Lemon appeared with salivation on the swallow. Very light floral almond aftertaste. With the third steep at only 12 seconds, some summer squash and fir came out, leaving a cooling mouthfeel. Sugarcane returning sweetness. By the fourth steep I was breathing clearly. Fifth led with fir and became very cooling on the swallow, ending with a light lemongrass aftertaste. Felt pretty mellow by that point and didn’t keep track of further infusions.

Western [2.5g, 8oz, 175F, 2 steeps] was overall a similar experience with creamy artichoke, lemongrass, soybean, and high minerality. Less noticeable fir-cooling. The aroma is light, so I recommend breathing in while taking a sip to meld with the light and clean flavors. I chewed on some of the robust and healthy spent leaf and the vague apricot fruitiness I smelled in the dry leaf came out in the mouth.

It’s a very clean and light tea with the leaf amounts I brewed. Oversteeping does not produce any bitterness which made it nice for grandpa style brewing but again, the leaves float. Tasty tea :)

The first time I opened the package, a few days ago, the dry leaves had a strong, layered fragrance with notes of steamed milk, nuts, freshly cut grass and banana. Today, I would add stewed tomatoes and coconut to the list. The complexity of aromas is impressive and it continues to be so throughout the session. From the wet leaves I get aromas of chicory, spring onion, rocket, pancakes, melon, fermented fruits and honey.

The rinse is very crisp and lively with a floral sweetness, a light citrus note and flavours akin to milk and white grapes. In later infusions, the taste becomes more grassy and metallic with a sour finish. It is delicious, but not as complex as the fragrance I’d say. One extra flavour I notice is that of almonds.

The aftertaste is strong, long-lasting and well-defined, meaning that its characteristics don’t evolve too much. The main notes are those of flowers and sugarcane, but I also notice some reminiscent of lemon ice cream for example. It is dry both in the mouth and the throat and has a slightly numbing quality to it. Mouthfeel of the liquor is creamy, thick and drying especially on the sides of the mouth.

Dry leaves smell like goji berries and reminds me of the smell in zoo. Hitting the tea with hot water lets the floral aromas loose to complement the fruity ones. Now that’s a beautiful fragrance!

My experience with oriental beauty oolongs is very limited so I cannot make too many concrete comparisons. However, it does remind me a little bit of the Alishan Transitional Oolong from TS, which I like a lot. One thing is for sure, this is a lovely tea to drink. The taste profile is what I would expect from such tea – thick, sweet, floral, honey, fermented fruits – and it’s exactly what I was craving today. What left the most impression on me is the strong, yet balanced flavour, silky smooth mouthfeel and most of all the incredible aftertaste. It is very sweet, fragrant and floral with a remarkable complexity. I feel like in a tropical glasshouse of a botanic garden with an abundance of flowers.

Brought a mug of this camping. Such an amazing tea. Closest thing to Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam I’ve had. Maybe not quite as flavourful, but the profile is right. Sweet, rich, raisiny. Yummm.

Delicious cup of this with pizza supper the other night, while tiny child crawled around the floor. Have I mentioned yet that he’s crawling? It makes my days a lot more interesting, that’s for sure…

Dang. This was absolutely delicious last night. Tasted exactly like Butiki’s PTA, or at least, my memory of it. Raisiny, sweet, deliciousness. I’ve had this one a few times and did not remember how wonderful it was, I was just looking for a straight black tea to go with a scone, and selected this one. What a delightful discovery.

This was another of my sipdowns from the present month. I finished what I had of this tea around the start of last week. I wanted to compare it to the Taiwan ‘Charcoal Roasted’ Oolong Tea from What-Cha because I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same tea. Even though I found a lot of the same aromas and flavors in this one, this was apparently a different tea produced in a different location. Of the two, I ended up preferring this tea because it was slightly fuller in the mouth, displayed slightly more longevity, and had a few intriguing components that the other tea lacked.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cinnamon, vanilla, cream, cedar, roasted almond, toasted rice, and roasted barley. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of charcoal, baked bread, brown sugar, butter, and raisin. The first infusion brought out aromas of toasted coconut, chocolate, roasted peanut, and smoke. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cinnamon, cream, butter, vanilla, cedar, charcoal, roasted almond, roasted peanut, raisin, roasted barley, and toasted rice that were chased by hints of toasted coconut, baked bread, brown sugar, smoke, caramelized plantain, grass, and spinach. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of grass, spinach, nutmeg, coffee, pine, green olive, kale, apple, and pear. Stronger and more readily detectable notes of baked bread, grass, spinach, smoke, and caramelized plantain emerged, while chocolate notes also made themselves known. I also picked up impressions of minerals, nutmeg, pine, watercress, green olive, coffee, tart cherry, kale, apple, pear, ginger, and grilled pineapple. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, toasted rice, roasted barley, roasted almond, roasted peanut, cream, butter, and vanilla that were backed by hints of kale, grass, brown sugar, caramelized plantain, apple, pine, smoke, watercress, and green olive.

This was a very satisfying roasted oolong with a bevy of interesting aromas and flavors. Everything worked well together, and the tea liquor had a pleasantly full body with a nice, creamy texture. Fans of roasted oolongs would likely be into this one.

Due to a lot of travelling and work, I have been off Steepster recently, at least as far as reviews go. Next week I am going to California, but once I am back I hope to get to the reviewing again and try to cut down on the teas in my cupboard.

Today, before our tea tasting party started, I had this Hong Shui. It is a very nicely balanced tea, quite mineral, sweet, fruity, but also with vegetal notes and strong floral fragrance in the aftertaste. There are aromas of cookies, rocks, lychee in the dry leaf, reminding me of medium roasted Tie Guan Yin a bit. On the other hand, the wet leaves display peach, mineral and marine smells. The taste is quite floral, leafy and tannic, with a saccharine like sweetness. Aftertaste is very long and fragrant. There is a nice lingering bitterness in the throat. Body is medium I’d say and the mouthfeel is quite slick and a touch dry. Even though I only used 3 grams, I can feel the uplifting and energizing nature of the tea, as well as the caffeine.

Drank this one yesterday, and was very impressed with the overall flavor.

I thought the mouthfeel was very silky, and there was a nice sweet cream note throughout the entirety of the sip. Undertones of rose, and then a mix of black cherry/bitter almond in the body. Finish was just a hint of lingering bitter almond and resin.

Complex and delightful!

This came as a sample with my last TTC order. Its a Taiwanese wuyi tea pressed into a small puerh like brick. I had no idea how to brew it so I decided to steep half of the 10g brick in a 120ml gaiwan with short steeps starting at 10s.

The dry leaf had a tobacco and wet rock aroma. I caught a whiff of sandalwood and incense following a rinse. The first steep produced a clear, sorta greenish light golden liquor. Smooth, tobacco-ey, and slightly smokey. The color turned a darker amber with the next steep which was again smooth and roasty but also had hints of black currant and bamboo. Third steep was more or less the same. The fourth steep though was thick, oily, and somewhat pungent and this is where I lost interest and ended the session.

Not a bad tasting tea, but isn’t something I would pick out on my own. It might be appealing to those looking for something aged without the funk of puerh. I’ll just stick to regular yanchas when I’m in the mood for this type of tea.

Upon opening the pouch, I am greeted by an invigorating and pungent herbal aromas, reminiscent of massage lotions. There are notes of allspice, peppermint, black currant leaves and ammonia. Unlike with some other teas, the smell is a very good indicator of how the tea tastes like too. The taste is savoury, tangy and bitter overall. I noticed flavours of cinnamon, peppery spiciness, grass, quinine and lime leaves. Later on, there are fruits like guava and passion fruit emerging. The aftertaste is generally very long and cooling with a sour and tangy character. Towards the end it gets quite drying. Mouthfeel is thick and lubricating, and contributes a lot to my enjoyment of the tea.

I would say this is a full-budied, powerful yet nuanced white tea. I like it a lot. All in all, I managed to get 11 nice infusions, the last 3 of which were somewhat astringent though.

This green tea has some light oxidization, so it’s not so fresh tasting, but I guess it stays good for longer. It has a lot of complexity, strong flavours and an incredibly soft, velvety and milky mouthfeel.

From the dry leaves, I get aromas of meat, pumpkin flowers, freshly cut grass and courgette. The wet leaves, on the other hand, smell of soap, sweet florals and cabbage. The soap is a strong note, but not in an unpleasant way.

The taste is very crisp and juicy, while retaining a delicate and sweet profile. There are notes of custard, green peas, lemon balm, citrus, green wood, artichoke, bread crust and cannabis, the list goes on :D
I like the bitterness present, and it only gets astringent at high temperatures. The aftertaste is quite strong and cooling, like a mountain breeze. I get additional flavours of vegetable broth, pine and fresh herbs.

Delicious. This is a tea I opened recently (within the last… 6 months, I believe?) after finding a stash of unopened TTC teas in one of my boxes. Oops, but also yay, because it was literally like receiving a tea order (I just wish there was more pouchong hidden away in there, but there was not).

I took too long to write about it, so can’t remember everything, but it has a honey sweetness (but not like a leafhopper tea), and a richness, though it’s not roasty/chocolatey like LB. More minerally, refined. Either way, it’s good, and I drank it quickly. Needed some good tea tonight after a very, very long day of a very, very fussy baby. Again…