What-Cha

Spring 2020 Harvest

I received this as a sample from Alistair @ What-Cha. Thank you!

I don’t always enjoy Darjeeling teas, but I tend to enjoy 1st Flush offerings. This is probably because they are essentially white teas, with trademark Darjeeling grape flavour. White teas almost always please me, although I can’t say why. Something about smooth, sweet hay and flowers, a drop of lemon, and subtle “mystery fruits.” I also generally like how the caffeine hits me.

First steep finishes sweet and vaguely creamy. Also, the usual Grape Crush nostalgia is present, without too much of that Darjeeling astringency.

Second steep verges somewhat from typical white tea standard and delves into quintessential Darjeeling territory. Still floral, grape, hay, etc. A bit more astringency and some pepper expands this cup out an extra dimension. The grape takes on some of that prized “wine” quality.

Third steep: Lemon zest, sweet grapes, tangy apricot, pleasantly sour, smooth . When I first took a sip, while it was still piping hot, I thought It had gone disappointingly flat. After it cooled a little the apricots peaked; it’s a pretty vivid and multi-faceted note. The finish is juicy, sour, and complex, like a stonefruit (plum or apricot). No mistaking it for anything but a Darjeeling now!

Steep Count: 3, Western Style. 2 – 4 min.

This is another older review of mine. I think it comes from either April or May of this year. At this point, I should also state that I always dread posting reviews of teas from Bihar because they are so hit or miss for me. As a matter of fact, the only Bihar tea I recall liking was a silver needle that also came from Doke Tea Garden. Naturally, I still need to review it. Anyway, this struck me as being kind of a typical Doke black tea in that it was earthy, woody, kind of vegetal, and somewhat reminiscent of an Assam black tea, only not nearly as satisfying. Honestly, this struck me as being a very mediocre black tea overall.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped approximately 3 grams of loose leaf material in about 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not rinse before steeping, and I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted aromas of cedar, earth, and cured tobacco. After infusion, I picked up new aromas of grass, smoke, malt, plum, leather, wintergreen, and cooked spinach that were accompanied by much subtler scents of straw and cinnamon. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of grass, malt, butter, smoke, earth, cooked green beans, spinach, seaweed, green wood, cedar, sweet potato, autumn leaves, wintergreen, leather, and cured tobacco. There was also something of a salty umami note reminiscent of vegetable broth, hints of plum and brown sugar, and an odd mix of lemon rind, allspice, black pepper, straw, and cinnamon notes left on the back of the throat after each swallow. Aside from the aforementioned tart citrus, straw, and spice impressions that marked the tail end of the finish of each sip of the tea liquor, each swallow was largely drying, tannic, bitter, and vegetal. This tea just refused to go out in a smooth, pleasant manner. It very quickly became a challenge to drink.

Overall, this tea was very much a mixed bag. It presented a rather unique mix of aroma and flavor components, and while many of them expressed themselves quite well, they didn’t really work together. I have had a similar issue with every other Doke black tea I have tried. And then considering the way each sip of this tea ended in a harsh and punishing manner, I just could not find a ton to like about it. I only purchased 25 grams of this tea, but I had to force myself to finish the pouch because it quickly became such a chore to drink. I doubt that I will be in any rush to try more Doke black teas in the near future. They just don’t do it for me.

This was a sample that came with my order and It took me so long to get to it.I prefer lighter oolongs which is why I put off trying this dark roasted oolong for so long.
Harvest: May 2019.

The washed tea leaves smelled malty and a lot like stewed or steam banana leaf. There was a faint smell of brown sugar as well. I brewed this gongfu style.

1st infusion ~25 sec
Creamy and smooth. Honey and stone fruit flavor

2nd infusion ~ 20 sec
floral notes came out and over took the foreground. Very smooth.

3rd infusion ~20 sec
The fruit notes started to take over this infusion starting to get sweeter

4th infusion ~20 sec
similar notes

5th infusion ~ 25 sec
more astringent and drying mouth feel. The honey like taste starting to go away

6th infusion ~ 30 sec
7th infusion ~35 sec
More of the floral notes staying
8th infusion ~ 40 sec
9th infusion ~ 1 minute
- astringent and floral
10th infusion – let it sit there for a while.

The sweetness of this tea really started to come out after the second infusion and it really improved from there.

This one is from Ost a while ago now.  Thanks, Ost!  Sadly has a ‘drink by 2016’ on the bag, but we’ll see how it goes.  I’ve had this a few times and think it’s best at this point with two teaspoons.  The leaves are large with only hints of the namesake gold.   The flavor most reminds me of a Fujian black and then forgot that this IS a Fujian tea (face smack)— cocoa powder with a hint of smoke but also something that can remind me of lychee (so not really that much of a Fujian black in flavor, I don’t normally get lychee with those). The second cup is more sour plum and rye bread, so the change is interesting.  A malty, rustic tea, seems aged somehow (and I don’t mean from 2016) that seems perfect for this time of year.  I liked how I steeped this, note to self.  This seems to be holding up with age, but these poor What-cha teas certainly deserve better.  I just checked and luckily other than this tea, it’s just some small What-cha oolong samples that comprise the What-cha part of my collection.  I like samples.  Samples are good.
Steep #1  // 2 teaspoons for full mug // 18 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  3 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 72 AprTea -Fenghuang Dancong Oolong Tea Honey Rhyme Mellow Grade One

I reviewed Zhang Ping Shui Xian “Orchid” by Dazzle Deer recently, and this looked strikingly similar. I wondered if they were perhaps the same tea, but since I see a Steepster listing for a “China Fujian Zhangping Light Roasted Shui Xian ‘Floral’ Cake Oolong Tea,” my guess is that one would be the same tea to the one I drank from Dazzle Deer.

So, in hindsight, I sort of wish I’d saved this one for when I had the time for gong fu… I unwrapped the packet, it visually looked the same, and I thought, “This time, I’ll cold brew it!” And that was my mistake. Because unfortunately… it didn’t really work out.

Normally, I have no issues cold brewing oolong, and quite enjoy it that way, but this one had a very hard time expanding in the cold water. Halfway through the cold brew I even “broke up” the cake by gently poking it with a chopstick until all the leaf was free-floating in the water, which was then left to infuse in my ice cold mason jar overnight. In the morning, I was just left with really, really weak tasting tea. Practically water, with a slight hint of florality.

Not sure if it was the age of the oolong, the choice of trying to cold brew, or maybe a combination of both factors, but if I could turn back time, I would hot brew that cake and see what flavors it would have produced.

Ah well. Can’t win them all.

Rating withheld because I feel like this was a “me” problem rather than a “tea” problem.

Yuuum! Finally I could enjoy this tea without awful headache.

I was craving for something smooth and floral; and this delivered both.

Grandpa — 1 tsp per 300 ml.
It was just perfect. Very nice in aroma, jasmine, orchids, lightly creamy. In taste it was so smooth, even when I used boiling water, again jasmine and creamy, coated all my mouth with its velvety texture. Aftertaste was long, hints of vegetal, bit of genmaicha taste. Somehow I believe it can offer more and more! I really enjoy that qualitiy, that it is strong in aroma as well in taste, but not overpowering all other notes!

Tea from White Antlers, now known as WE ARE CLOSED. As from her email, she is having some difficulties, but I won’t really write down what it is about as it is personal. She will come back later though, as she replied to me.

The tea I had today afternoon in our patio. Prepared grandpa, one teaspoon. I had all afternoon-evening a slight headache; I wonder why, but truth is that I wasn’t drinking much today.

That said, preparing myself a jasmine tea wasn’t the most clever thing probably. The aroma of dry tea was jasmine and bit some florals, orchids maybe. But honestly… everything was somehow mixed way too much together and I am not sure if I have noticed all those.

The brew was typical green oolong with floral notes and mostly jasmine (unexpected). But again, my headache is muting everything. Hopefully it isn’t caused by something terrible and it is only my fault drinking a little.

Overall it was nice, but I need to be ready for this tea.

I’m not well versed on the tea grading system for teas produced outside eastern Asia so I headed over to Wikipedia to figure out what FBOPF-SP signifies. The FBOPF either refers to Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings or Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery. Given the leaf quality, I think FBOPF in this case refers to the latter. The SP I’m unsure about; I’m guessing Special.

Anyway, thanks to WE ARE CLOSED for sending this 2018 harvest my way. It’s a zippy black tea, with a tangy fruit punch-cherry-blood orange tone atop a mild to moderate maltiness. Best as an afternoon tea and most definitely not had on an empty stomach. More versatile than when it’s best had is its preparation. I’ve been pleased with using less leaf to create a lighter brew and more to create a robust, zesty cup. Along with leaf amount, steeping times and water temperature can be altered to achieve your desired taste without adding any substantial bitterness or astringency. It’s generally smooth but with a good bite that turns into a brown sugar returning sweetness in the throat.

This tea was a good accompaniment to a very late breakfast. Buckwheat waffles made with Strauss Greek yogurt, shredded carrot and warming spices, topped with pecan butter and dark maple syrup. I’ve cooked twice in one week after not having much appetite since all this Covid mess began. The other meal was sloppy joes and tater tots lol. My wonderful housemate has been doing all the feeding of this derk.

A very nice FF Darjeeling this one, although not all that much different from FF black teas to be honest. It is maybe a bit more grassy & sweet, and less floral & astringent than those.

The aroma is interesting but not too pungent. There are notes of spices (nutmeg and others), grass, eggs, and cookies in the dry leaf smell. On the other hand, wet leaves have a marine, sea shell like aroma.

The taste is refreshing and very well balanced (sour, sweet, savoury, floral above all else). In later steeps it also gets a bit more woody. Among the flavours are notes of cucumber, sweet pepper, apple, dry grass, but also many others. Aftertaste is a bit spicy with an underlying persistent sweetness.

Mouthfeel is smooth, bubbly and oily with a good thickness to it too. It can get a bit astringent too, but nothing overpowering. The spicy character makes it quite warming in the mouth too.

SIPDOWN 85
And another very sad one! Oh well.

I had last three grams left, and prepared it western today. I get strongly malty aroma with prunes, tobacco and some woody notes.

While drinking, it was so smooth, but vivid notes were there. Imagine again stonefruits with malts, woody, somehow sweet, but as well there was note of tobacco, dates and figs.

While today it wasn’t that perfect as that time, maybe because it was a bit older, but still pretty much perfect. Check out my older note for more details.

Looking on the Internet, I found one tea-shop offering it, but I don’t want to pull the trigger yet. On What-cha it isn’t available anymore, hopefully it will return one day though. If anyone wants to check out: https://www.cajova-zahrada.cz/sypane-caje/ I can add it to my order and then I will order :) Of course, Google Translate have to help you guys, as their website is in Czech only (unfortunately). They offer a vast selection of blends mostly, but as well I have seen loose leaf from Tanzania there for example. Well, let me know :)

Had it in the afternoon, approx. 3 hours ago. I will try to recall at least something.

The dry leaf aroma was quite interesting and not that appealing for me. Noticed some sweet stonefruits as cherries, maybe tiny hints of apricots but mostly tobacco.

But I decided to brew 4 grams per 300 ml, freshly boiled water and… that’s different story.
That story is about strong malt and dried plums. Today I learned it is called prune in English. So okay, malt and prune.

The story starts with wonderful copper colour of the brew. It is dark copper with lots of shine and clear colour. I steeped it for 4 minutes and… it was just right.

First sips were somehow normal, typical malty Assam profile. But then the explosion of taste did the bang! Malt, prunes, some woody notes (eastkyteaguy noticed cedar, while I think more about sandalwood, sweet notes as molasses (another stuff I never had chance to try, but I imagine being it like that), dates and figs (as he noticed and I have to agree).

One of the most complex Assams I had. The aftertaste was long and it was very energizing! Would like more than 25 grams, but paying my one and half shift money for whole box (which looks amazing though) is way too much. But it’s worth every penny.

Thank you a lot Alistair and White Antlers. Truly exceptional tea!

2023 Spring Harvest

This was included as a sample! I’ve tried this one before, way back in 2020… That’s so many tea-years ago that it’s essentially brand new again (also, this tea type is right up my ally). The aroma alone is divine: creamy, buttery, vegetal-floral goodness with a honeyed-sweet, fruity jam note.

The flavour profile is an entire spectrum of the most verdant green: umami seaweed, calcium-rich spinach, apple, fresh grass… It’s also a bouquet of flowers: honeysuckle, orchid, vanilla, lilac, hyacinth, heliotrope (you know – all the most expressive-smelling flowers that I want to eat but probably shouldn’t in most cases). I even picked up a little pineapple but it’s not as fruity to taste as some similar oolong.

Which notes come forward and which notes mellow out or combine to make new flavours varied greatly over the course of six resteeps. I wish I could say I was paying attention but I inhaled it.

2020 Spring Harvest

Aroma: Creamy, floral, with the touch of sugar

I had not planned to order this one. Like I actually thought I’d selected an Ali Shan oolong up to the point that it arrived and was like “oh yeah, I went with this Mei Shan oolong for some reason.” I didn’t even register (read) that this was a Jin Xuan either… and this is all just my way of saying that I’m not always the most discerning or detail-oriented consumer.

This definitely tastes like a nice, creamy Jin Xuan. It’s light, smooth, and almost watery (think cucumber) until the creaminess sinks in (cucumber and cream makes me think of raita or taziki, but this is much more mild and buttery.. It also does not taste of onions, thankfully!). There is a kind of tangy but equally mild sweetness to finish in the second steep. It reminds me of apples, believe it or not. Some of this might be attributed to the intense amount of coffee that is being ground in the kitchen right now, which has since permeated through the whole house.

Steep Count: 3 so far. This is a sipdown though so I’m going to try and drink this until the sun goes down!

Sipdown (287)

The September Sipdown challenge today is to drink a tea you forgot about. I tried to pre-plan the Sororitea Sister posts for the challenge and so for this day, I used the randomizer I have on my tea spreadsheet and picked teas at random until one popped up that I forgot. This was the tea set to be enjoyed today.

I also picked a second tea for today’s post by sorting my steepster cupboard by recently added, going to the last page, and flipping backwards through them until a tea jumped out at me as forgotten. That was Watchmaker’s Brunch and for some reason I posted that on the Sororitea Sisters instagram and this one wound up on my personal one.

As for the tea itself, it is nice. Standard white tea profile of corn/hay. This one had an almost caramel/honey quality as well though not distinctly so. It’s good for this cup but I don’t think I will be seeking out more of this.

SIPDOWN 1 in 2022

Yees, my first sipdown. I had 7,5 grams remaining and decided to gongfu them. It was a bit too much…

Steeps were around at first, 20 seconds each, later I prolonged them with finishing around one minute long.

It was bold. Heavy. But somehow different than western steeping, which I feel is better steeping method. I think I just overelafed it.

Sadly, all the mellow notes were weak and instead strong malt, honey and a bit of astringency is here. Muscatel remains here, combined with opposite — earthy flavours, lightly nutty ones. Some steeps were a bit bitter.

I see now as well eastkyteaguy note of roasted almonds and I think that is that nutty flavour I have pointed out, however it is not nut in a botanical way. But who cares? Maybe Courtney would? Haha.

Okay. I know this note isn’t saying much about the tea I guess. I am actually as well happy that it is finished and I don’t have another almost empty pouch in my cupboard. Again, a cup of tea that has got quite high rating (90 for western brews), but now I feel I should go lower. I wouldn’t.

I would like get it as a gift again. I would even buy it. But not now.

I need to make rating higher, so from 83 → 90.

I took two small pinches of this tea to my DIY teabag and it was so delicous. I needed to brew something with caffeine quickly, as I woke up only 10 minutes before the first lecture (online). Probability and statistics, oh well…

The tea deliveres caffeine boost as well wonderful flavour profile. I wasn’t paying much attention to aromas, so I will avoid them in this tasting note today.

The taste was bit malty, orange zest, grapes (now red, not like like last time white). It was quite full of muscatel as well; fruity and maybe little bit bready and overall quite smooth. Almost none astringency! Yum tea.

I made it strong today (5 grams) and it indeed lost its subtle flavours. It is nicely malty and floral, but somehow generic floral — maybe hints of muscatel there, but that’s it.

This stronger brew have different mouthfeel though. It is well coating the tongue, like honey + even some honey taste. Slight astringency lingers for quite long.

Needs light brew indeed. Rating may change.

Interesting colour of the leaves from Alistair, behalf of White Antlers. They are brown, black, bit yellow of them; quite long and wire-like, some are more compressed, some are opened a bit. Looks indeed hand-made :) Two of them weren’t same.

I went rather carefully with tea (and I haven’t read Daylon R Thomas’s tasting note before) and haven’t used water directly off the hob as well. I have added tea bag to hot cuppa.

It wasn’t steeping rapidly. Well, I have used 3 grams only, so I have steeped it for 5 minutes.

Aroma I have expected malt, but it rather produced floral notes. Hints of sweet ones as fruit tree flowers. Daylon’s note says orange blossoms, but I never sniffed them, so I have no idea how they smell like. He says red grapes, while I would rather say white ones.

Anyway, the taste, even after that long steep, is light. Light, fruity & juicy, fresh notes of citrus fruits (but not strongly, rather hints of their peels) and in the end some very light malty and muscatel aftertaste.

Need to dig more to rate it properly.

Tried to gong-fu it today and it was bit better.
4 grams — 85 ml.

It was still quite malty, but noticed more — some hints of sweet cherries, raisins, pear, cinnamon. The last one was prounced as well in something like aftertaste, but it wasn’t much strong. I had much stronger aftertaste in other teas.

72 → 80

Another grandpa attempt of oolong today. Two teaspoons were too much though for my 300 ml glass cup.
April 2020 harvest

Tea from White Antlers again though, so THANK YOU :)

This tea tasted pretty much medicore to me. I mean, certainly it’s not bad, but I only noticed its malty profile, bit sweet notes. Haven’t noticed any stonefruits, but maybe as prepared grandpa it was lost in the malt?

As others said, it is tea that haven’t got any flaws, but overall it is just quite okay oolong without much complex flavour profile. Good for times, when you want an oolong, but you don’t want to care about all the notes that could be in.

Thanks though White Antlers and Alistair who selected it for me :) Not every tea is tea for special occasions. I haven’t expected anything, so it will be good tea for upcoming fall, when I would like to drink tea, but won’t have time to enjoy it fully!

Autumn 2016 harvest

Age is doing these dragon balls well. The white tea delicacy is transforming into a more robust, tonal character. Red fruits, wood and a hint of malt fill out the deeper tones, supporting an otherwise bright, almost tangy-sweet taste with a mix of apricot-melon-honey-straw-oats, minerals and a little floofs of vanilla marshmallow and caramel. Very mild bitterness adds some depth. Good strength to the aroma, decent aftertaste and even some returning sweetness. This tea makes me long for autumn.

I’ve brewed a few of these dragon balls by stewing them in my work thermos with 200F water. A few others I’ve brewed western with water off boil and three flavorful steeps. Robust and woodier when stewed, sweeter with western. Both methods satisfying and caffeinating.

A fairly standard, but enjoyable FF Darjeeling here. It is quite smooth with very little astringency, and it has a long warming aftertaste.

The aroma is grassy and floral initially, with notes of beech and gooseberry later on. The taste is a bit on the fruity and vegetal side of the spectrum. It displays flavours of pear, courgette, green beans, as well as root beer and brown sugar.

Another tea from derk; again used remaining 4 grams in my 125 ml gaiwan and here we go. No rinse, no smelling to dry leaf, just boiling water in thermos and steeping.

1st steep, 10 seconds
Very roasty in aroma, as well mineral. But in taste quite mild and round with both notes just right, thick and mineral note is lingering.
2nd steep, 5 seconds
Similar level of roastiness, but with sweet aftertaste, instead of mineral notes. A nice steep :)
3rd steep, 15 seconds
Now the mineral notes prevailed, still very thick liquor.
4th steep, about 7 seconds
Short steep, because I spilled half of gaiwan accidentaly. Not a bad steep though, mineral one again.
5th steep, 30 seconds
Based on the colour, the tea is past its best. The taste complies too, it’s much weaker and rather mineral.
6th steep, 60 seconds
Sweet mineral taste; but without any long aftertaste. Pretty much boring honestly.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpdpW0z9xnQ

In the news here:
https://english.radio.cz/new-covid-restrictions-aimed-lowering-mobility-due-come-force-monday-8710589 I know, restrictions are necessary, but industry is still going on… and it’s known most people get sick there.