What-Cha

Thank you Alistair for the sample! I was tempted to try this one, though I was kinda hesitant because I had my sights on the Vietnam Gui Fei. I’m guessing that this might be an underappreciated oolong based on the reviews that were on the website.

This oolong is described as having a stonefruit quality with background florals, and that is right with the sample. I was barbaric with the preparation and used 8 grams in 11 oz of hot water beginning at one minute, two, then three and half, and four.

The dry leaf reminded me of roasted plaintains, and the teas taste matched it. It was as red, viscous, and a little malty as some hong chas, but it was light and floral enough to be an unmistakable oolong. The stonefruit qualities are there like plum, but the mix with the florals make it more like the plantain I got in the smell. It has a nice fructose sweetness too, and although the soft plantain and syrupy sweetness assert themselves in a fairly thick to medium texture, it has some of the floral notes of a si ju chun like violet, orchid and perhaps magnolia, but they are very, very faint. Sometimes, there were hints in the texture that reminded me of coconut milk because it was that thick, but I side more on the plantain note. Overall, it still tastes like, well, tea.

The tea was very flexible and very easy to drink. It was maltier with longer steeps, and creamier and more floral with shorter steeps. It’s a good and naturally sweet oolong, but the plantain note might divide some people. My main problem is being spoiled by Alistair’s other selections since they do tend to have more depth as another reviewer has noted. This would make a pretty great daily drinker, and it is nice in not being too green, but that is up to the buyer and their preferences.

I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather influencing the taste, but the rose note has become more and more pronounced with this tea, and I can dig it. I am going to be sad when this one and the winter special are gone, but there is something to hoarding a small amount of this treasure of a tea. I appreciate the experience more because of it…though I would not mind having more on hand.

This is a good mood tea. Some teacher blues, and this made my night a little sunnier. I like this both Western and Gong Fu, and the orange blossom, green grape, mid sip grain note, honeysuckle, and violet combo is making love the crap out of this one. Also love the walnut and mega heavy dandelion notes.It pretty much has most of the qualities that I like in a greener oolong without being too green. I am tempted to get more, but I honestly want to savor this one over splerging on masses amount of it.

The following teas were in suit with eastteaguy since he picks out great teas and has a frickin’ similar palette. I have more to write about, especially the other Old Ways Tea blacks (which are awesome), I am one of What-Cha’s drugees and had to sample this one out.

I’ve gotten more into Nepalese lately because of Alistairs suggestions, and I actually like them more than some of the Darjeelings I’ve had, so I was curious to try this one. The dry leaf was immensely dry, like opening my nostrils up to pollen floating on hay and almonds.

I had it at work, so I soaked it in one of my own sachets in a grandpa-esque style using between 2 and 3 grams. It started out buttery and vaguely floral like honeysuckle, then the butter was followed along by a very thick almond note. The texture was viscous, and the longer it steeped, the notes became drier and more floral. It transitioned into that dry bee pollen note amidst the butter honeysuckle and became slightly bitter and a woody green. Dandelion is spot on because it is sweet, but so, so dry….never mind the texture is smooth and as tongue coating as ever. The mild astringency reminded me more of a white tea or a first flush black than an oolong, but I expected that with the terroir.

I’ll have to experiment more with this one to get better parameters. I think this one might be suited to gong fu or very short western with more leaves. It worked in my lazy grandpa, but I need get to know it better before I judge it. I can at least recommend it to people who know the terroir and are a little bit more snobby based on the price tag. I’m not too sure about new drinkers. The notes were pretty akin to a semi sweet to medium dry white wine, so that’s the best match I could make.

I can’t believe that I am the first person to get around to reviewing this tea on Steepster. It seems like I am never the first person to review flavored/scented teas, but here I am. This tea is an unrolled Jin Xuan scented with jasmine blossoms. I tend to be a huge fan of flavored/scented Jin Xuan oolongs of almost any sort, but this one turned out to be a huge letdown for me. Almost everything about it struck me as being off-kilter.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose tea leaf and jasmine blossom blend in 4 ounces of 176 F water for 7 seconds. Even though the recommended water temperature seemed a bit low to me, I could tell that the oxidation level of the leaves was mostly minimal, so I ended up going with it. The initial infusion was chased by 14 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 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, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaf and flower mix emitted strong aromas of jasmine and cream. After the rinse, I detected emerging scents of butter and spinach. The first infusion then added a hint of custard to the nose as the jasmine began to express itself even more forcefully than it initially did. In the mouth, the liquor offered butter, cream, and spinach notes underscored by jasmine. I was not expecting that. I figured the jasmine would be just as strong in the mouth as it was on the nose, but that was not the case. Subsequent infusions introduced kale, mineral, vanilla, and seaweed notes with occasional touches of custard and peach. The lengthier final infusions offered notes of minerals, seaweed, spinach, and cream backed by fleeting hints of jasmine.

The whole time I was drinking this I kept wondering why the jasmine was not popping in the mouth. I just could not get it to emerge fully, and unfortunately, that allowed a host of overly strong savory and vegetal notes to dominate. I mean the blend smelled great, but it never came together in the mouth. Imagine drinking a very vegetal smoothie with a touch of off-putting, poorly integrated, perfume-like floral sweetness in the background. That’s what drinking this tea was like. I could not help wondering about the quality of the tea base, and to be honest, I got the impression that this amounted to an attempt to cover up a uniquely processed, but very blah tea with a powerful additive. Overall, this blend did not live up to my expectations. Since What-Cha offers far better flavored/scented oolongs, one would not be missing much passing on this one.

I’m finishing up a 10 g sample of this tea from a couple years ago. Though I haven’t tried too many Sun Moon Lake teas, I always find their menthol/sassafras flavours fascinating. I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60, 90, and 120 seconds.

The long, dark, wiry leaves give off a typical sassafras and tingly menthol aroma. The first steep is mild and sweet, though with a bit of a bite in the aftertaste, and has flavours of malt, sassafras, menthol, and sweet potato. The menthol intensifies in steep two, and is joined by faint notes of chocolate, honey, and grass. The longer this tea is kept in the mouth, the more astringent it gets.

This tea just keeps getting sweeter with each steep, with that sassafras note remaining prominent. The flavours stay consistent until steep ten, when the Sun Moon Lake character gradually diminishes into malt, earth, and tannins.

Notwithstanding its astringency, this is an enjoyable SML. I’d love to see whether cold brewing would maximize the sweetness, and will consider getting more of this in the future.

One of my favorite teas I’ve had. This tea starts out with a nice buttery and light popcorn taste. Not to mention it fills the room with those flavors almost the whole time. Very pleasant, no incense needed with this. Over time it expands out to include toast, rice and root vegetable flavors. Very smooth on the sip and swallow. Highly recommended.

I’ve managed to find a little more time and energy, so I figured I would blast through another review before calling it quits for the day. I finished a sample pouch of this tea either early last week or towards the end of the week before. I can’t remember at this point. I found it to be an excellent oolong, but that should really not come as a surprise since anyone who reads my reviews should be aware that I have developed a gigantic soft spot for Southeast Asian oolongs over the past couple of years.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent 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, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of gardenia, violet, vanilla, and grass coming from the dry tea leaves. After the rinse, I noted emerging aromas of cream and butter underscored by hints of orchid. The first infusion then brought out a considerably stronger orchid scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered pleasant notes of butter, cream, vanilla, and violet underscored by subtle orchid notes. Subsequent infusions saw the nose turn more vegetal and somewhat fruity. Impressions of grass and gardenia emerged in the mouth as new notes of minerals, baked bread, custard, pear, green apple, hyacinth, narcissus, tangerine, sugarcane, and spinach also appeared. The later infusions offered lingering impressions of minerals, spinach, grass, butter, sugarcane, and vanilla backed by fleeting, vague notes of violet and green apple in places. There were also hints of seaweed that came out way later than anticipated, but were most evident on and/or after the swallow on the last 2-3 infusions.

Ruan Zhi is an oolong cultivar that I happen to really like, so fortunately for me, this proved to be a high quality tea that offered a lot to enjoy. I am aware that some of the oolongs produced from the Ruan Zhi cultivar in Thailand have developed a good reputation both domestically and internationally, and judging from this tea, I can see why. I know it may be blasphemy, but I would put this tea up there with some of the better Taiwanese oolongs produced from this cultivar that I have tried. In my opinion, it was that good. I’m willing to bet that fans of green oolongs would greatly enjoy this tea and would recommend it to them highly.

141/365

Another from the regional group buy. I tried the Bitaco Black a few days ago, and so I’m intrigued to follow that up with the green. This is the February 2016 harvest.

On the whole, it strikes me as another subtle, lightly flavoured green. Perhaps I’ve just had too many of those lately, but I was hoping for some oomph and I’m really not finding it. It has a pleasant flavour – at least, what I can find of it. It’s like fresh garden pea, quite sweet, with a slightly deeper flavour (green beans) towards the end of the sip. I suppose I could brew it longer, or use more leaf, and that might increase the flavour to a level I’m happy with. I’d be a little worried about the potential for bitterness and/or astringency if I tried that, however.

I like this one – it’s a palatable green, with a pleasant, mildly vegetal flavour. It’s just a little on the watery side for my liking.

This is an easy drinking white tea with delicious notes of sweet corn and cream. I quite enjoyed this one.

Check out the full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/11/14/kenya-silver-needle-white-tea-from-what-cha/

I am on my 8th rebrew and it’s still strong. The dry leaf smell is intense and so buttery. I had the other milk oolong What-cha had, and I prefer this one. I know there’s extra flavoring, but it’s so good!!! It’s like buttery spinach in a cup. I taste the butter popcorn others noted. Excellent milk oolong, probably one of the best I’ve had.

Sil sweetly divided this sample which Alistair was kind enough to include in our somewhat recent group order.

This will be my very first time trying a Gui Fei oolong, I think, so I will not rhapsodize much or compare it with others. I have also not done any research into this type of tea, so I step into this review in full ignorance and with little experience.

I will say though that I am enjoying this very much.

The leaves as they unfurl are small, perhaps the length of a dime, and lovely, hazelnut brown and many with intense green centres with mostly browned edges.

The flavour seems oddly familiar, in ways that are difficult for me to describe, and fresh.
The best that I can come up with at the moment is a honeyed butter milk oolong. And I am getting a faint hint of citrus here too.

Beautiful oolong. I will be enjoying the rest of this sample.

Seriously, it is teas like this that make me wonder why I don’t drink oolongs more often than I do.

Thank you, Alistair. And Sil.

edit—I just read the tea descriptor on the site and shockingly, or perhaps just surprisingly, my tastebuds picked up on most of the flavours present in my cup, including the Jin Xuan cultivar which I tuned into through the milk oolong flavours I was detecting. Perhaps all this tea drinking is paying off. :)
I would have thought that my tea doctoring lately has been killing my tastebuds.
Still a long long long way to go before I can confidently rhapsodize, but sharing my joy, nonetheless.

132/365

Another from the Regional Group Buy. This is the January 2016 harvest.

Although I gave this a fairly conservative steep time, it’s surprisingly bitter and smoky even from first sip. Although smoky perhaps isn’t too unusual in flavour terms for a strong black, I found it quite jarringly unexpected. I imagine that has more to do with the other teas I’ve been drinking today that anything else, though.

Once I got myself acclimatised, I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to. I’m not the greatest fan of smoky tea, but here it works well with the backbone of malt and the degree of substance this one seems to have. It’s hard to know how to put that into words, but it comes across to me as a “heavy” tea, with thick flavours that would almost give it weight if such a thing were possible. It’s not a tea of the light and refreshing summer-day variety.

That being said, it’s not overpowering either. It’s a smoky-savoury black with a touch of background sweetness. The sweetness becomes more apparent as it cools, just as the smokiness begins to fade into the background. It’s certainly more complex than some straight blacks I’ve tried recently; a tea that requires thought more than mindless sipping. It wouldn’t be an everyday tea for me, but it’s certainly an interesting one and more unusual than most.

A nice oolong, well balanced, but a bit tannic. It would benefit from a splash of milk or a short steep/gongfu styled session. The rose is well balanced with the oolong base. It is a slightly roasted (roasted barley flavour) oolong, but not very oxidized. Some creaminess, but not as much as many of the high quality Jin Xuan teas I have had before. (It might be this particular harvest?) but it was a great cup, and I could see it resteeping very well if the steeps are shorter or with milk.

Hooray for tea buddy friends! A friend surprised me with a perfect spoonful after I gave her some samples from What-Cha. This is one I probably would not have never picked on my own as I normally don’t go for green teas in general. This is pretty good- it is not bitter at all…it is sweet, grassy, mineraly, I get maybe just a touch of a tart plum skin at the end of the sip. I am not getting a big plum flavor though.

So I bought a sample of this years ago, and then lost it in the back of a cupboard, and recently found it again. Thought it might be a bit old and stale, but nope! I opened the package and it had a bit of nice roasty/floral aroma. Measured some out into a steeping basket, poured on the hot water, was standing there setting the timer when the aroma rose up out of the mug and smacked me in the face. I actually said (out loud, we’ll say it was to my dog) “damn, that is some good fricken tea!”. As I sit here sipping it, the aroma is a complex mixture of flowers and like, carmelized fruit, honey-drenched pastries, just yummy. The flavour is light and sweet and with only a hint of that mineral note I associate with rock oolongs. Lovely. :)

Smelled very much like Virginia pipetobacco when dry.
Very smooth thick liquor. Hints of pipetobacco and leather. Quite tasty.
5 min steep but can easily handle a bit more.

Here is a review I have been sitting on for several weeks now. After I finished a sample pouch of this tea, I decided to hold off on posting a review here because I was not entirely sure where I was going to go with the numerical score. Part of that uncertainty was undoubtedly due to the fact that Korean teas are entirely new to me. As of today, this is still the only Korean tea I have tried, thus I have nothing to which I can compare it. For what it is worth, I found this to be a very pleasant, soothing green tea.

Now that I have admitted that this was my first Korean tea of any sort, allow me to also state that I knew absolutely nothing about traditional Korean tea preparation at the time I tried this tea. I still know nothing about this subject. In terms of preparation, I used the brewing method outlined on the pouch by Alistair and expanded on it. I started off with a quick rinse and then steeped 3 grams of loose tea leaves in approximately 8 ounces of 158 F water for 30 seconds. This infusion was chased by 45 second, 1 minute 15 second, 2 minute, and 3 minute infusions. I used the same water temperature for each infusion.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of toasted corn, hay, and grass. After the rinse, I started to pick up on an emerging scent of seaweed. The first proper infusion brought out a slightly stronger seaweed aroma on the nose. In the mouth, I picked up on delicate notes of grass, hay, toasted corn, and seaweed. I noted hints of malt, cream, and spinach lurking in the background. The second infusion brought out stronger aromas of toasted corn and grass on the nose. In the mouth, the notes of hay, grass, and toasted corn were significantly stronger. The underlying hints of malt, cream, and spinach were still there, though they were now joined by touches of straw, oats, barley, and lettuce. There was also something of an almost honey-like sweetness that lingered in the mouth after the swallow. The liquor produced by the third infusion was very light on the nose. In the mouth, the flavors became substantially more muted and the mouthfeel of the tea liquor was much creamier. A hint of minerality started to emerge. On the fourth infusion, the nose was quite weak and mineral scents were starting to become apparent. Notes of seaweed, minerals, and grass were stronger in the mouth on this infusion. Occasional hints of toasted corn, oats, and barley could still be found. The fifth and final infusion displayed a very neutral nose and mostly offered vague impressions of grass, minerals, and seaweed in the mouth.

I would not call this a particularly deep or complex tea, but it was still very enjoyable. To be fair, I ordered this tea on a whim not knowing anything about it or Korean teas in general and then tried it without doing any serious research pertaining to Korean brewing methods, so I doubt I did right by it in terms of preparation. Hopefully I did not bungle it too much. All in all, I thought this was a very nice green tea, but as this tea served as my introduction to the world of Korean teas, you should definitely take my review with a mountain of salt and seek out the opinions of others who have more experience with teas like this one.

I haven’t tried that many teas, as im still taking my baby steps in the tea world, but this is the best so far.
Its a delicate white tea flavour, but with lots other strong flavours and a medium thick mouthfeel going on. Can’t really compare it to other teas.
A slight astringency, no bitterness at all.

Coldbrew sipdown

It is vegetal, but has some oddly herbal notes like bay leaf and dried parsley. Not something I would buy or want to drink again, however I enjoyed trying it .

This is an oddly flavoured sencha. The flavour reminds me of parsley and medicinal herbs. It gives it a very savoury taste. It is also a bit sour, acidic, vegetal (bok choy). I’m not very interested in senchas, and I don’t really enjoy savoury teas, so this wasn’t for me.