Yezi Tea
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This Tie Guan Yin is the best one I’ve had yet. I will not go into much detail as I think Yezi Tea’s description of it is perfect. To summarize, it is very sweet and vegetal with light floral notes of orchid and a bit of a resinous camphor note. It has undertones of caramel and honey. Very sweet and rich oolong, love it!
Flavors: Camphor, Caramel, Honey, Orchid, Vegetal
Preparation
Origin: Logu, Nantou Co.; Taiwan
dong ding (Dong Ding) = mountainous oolong producing area of Nantou county, Taiwan, literally Frozen Summit (冻顶 or 凍頂)
Dry Leaf: Buttery, daffodil-scented yellowish-green tightly rolled pellets on stems.
Method: 4oz Porcelain Gong Fu pot 5grams tea 3oz water 200F No rinse
45 seconds first steeping then 55 seconds for the second steeping
Wet Leaf: Mostly 2 leaves on a stem. Honey and daffodil-scented. Leaves dark forest green now.
Liquor: Light spring green color, scent of the daffodil and honey.
Flavor: First infusion – Buttery flavor and mouthfeel. Not too floral in flavor, it is more on the nose—which is perfect.
Second infusion brought a touch of balancing bitter (but not harsh) and the liquor is a darker spring green color. Very good floral Oolong.
Flavors: Butter, Flowers
Preparation
This tea is full of warm sweet fruit notes of canned peaches and a hint of mandarin, all mixed in with buttered grains and cocoa. Really tasty and surprisingly rich considering it’s short steep time. Thanks to Dexter for a chance to sample this tea!
1tsp/150ml/90°C
Pretty sepia tinged copper brown broth
20s first scent very fruity like canned peaches, cashew butter, roasted notes, cocoa
Taste. Cocoa, peaches, butter, a sweet grain note in between polenta and oatmeal, honey, if you hold the tea in your mouth and breathe in the peach notes are very distinct and their are also hints of canned mandarins, otherwise the flavours blend into each other. the tea tastes very rich even after only 20s, it is thick and slightly buttery on the tongue.
25s fruit notes slightly brighter and stronger, more honey, cocoa, butter, a little cinnamon, less grain notes, a touch of citrus tinged floral.
40s. Cocoa, grain, malt, sharper more citrus toned fruit, honey, butter, sweet fruit lingering in background with a light floral tone.
70s. Similar to previous steep but maltier.
My first tie guan yin! Very floral and perfumey. Loved it <3
Followed the steeping time on the website and started with 45 seconds and worked up. By the 3rd infusion, I thinking it would haven been better to add 15 or 20 seconds rather than 10, but now at least I know for next time :)
Flavors: Perfume
Preparation
I’ve been drinking this tea at work for a couple of days now. The last time I wrote about it, I thought it was finicky and “white wine up you nose” odd.
It seems to have been behaving since then, and we are friends once again. While this is not my favorite Jin Jun Mei – it has been really pleasant the last couple of days.
It knew it better behave!! i approve that you bring such good teas at your workplace :-)
(Now can I get my maocha?)
You cannot bribe me with compliments…..
If you want maocha – then that counts as EITHER your SALE tea for July OR your Aug purchase (it also pushes back sheng pot purchase). ;))
Hmmm….we do sound like a married couple, haha! Then be it, that august purchase can be pushed to September…this way I can have WP AND BUTIKI…in JULY!!!
Wow, Dex… you’re tough. Are you for hire as a Teahab Purchasing Restriction Agent? You’d know this in hockey terms as “The Enforcer” :p
I’m only half kidding. I need help.
Yes you can have WP and BUTIKI in July, but then NOTHING – NADA – ZERO tea orders in August – then back to ONE order per month starting in Sept….
Sars – I’m not sure I’m very good at this – I usually get told about the rule breaking AFTER the fact…. LOL – I usually pretty good at talking out of orders IF informed BEFORE it’s placed. LOL You are almost close enough that if you broke the rules I could come down and “Enforce” in person. ;))
Dexter does a GREAT job with me…many times she has helped me “sleeping on it” instead of clicking the evil “order now” button!!
Haha! Sars, needs you too….do you even know Dex what I can only imagine she just spent on a pu’erh starter kit???
Dex: For realz. You need to start a business. Teahab Enforcers, Inc. You can hire agents in different parts of the country so you can physically restrain people, if needed.
And listen up, Foxy. I could find you ANYWHERE. All I have to do is follow the smell of the tea. So there. :p
MzP: You did know! It’s not exactly a kit, per se. I just ordered all the teas you two told me to get! I just posted them all on the Today’s Mail thread. Dex… I need you…
TTF: If we lived closer, I would make you help me drink all this!!! :)
You guys, first, I’d I need a peeing device attached to me at all time. Just sayin. I spend way too much time in my bathroom. (Too much information???)
Have yo’all SEEN my cupboard?!!!!?? I can’t take on anymore clients…. you mention Dex talk me out of buying this tea – hey I can do that no problem, but UMMMM I go and look at it and the next thing I know it’s arriving in the mail….
MzPriss – “but I really like Yezi’s Yi Fu Chun way more”
I’ve moved this into my purse for a work tea tomorrow – it will be my “inspiration tea from my dashboard” tea for tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.
:((
I love Jin Jun Mei – it’s one of my favorite styles of black tea.
I love Yezi – it’s one of my favorite sources for black teas.
Why am I not loving this today ? – it’s seems finicky – not behaving. One cup was good, one cup was not so good – none were amazing.
Seems oddly “white wine, up your nose astringent” (yes that’s something that I’ve made up, but some teas seem like that to me) when it’s really hot. Much better as it cools, but still not the rich malty, chocolate that I’m looking for.
I’m sure this is just me, I’ve had it before and was AMAZING – just hope this is just me having a cranky day – this is too expensive to be a finicky tea…..
Awww, bad jin jun mei….it should behave!
Was there something different with the water at work?
Lol, i compared a tea to white wine yesterday, but it was a good thing!!
I haven’t had pu’erh in a while, even though I adore it. So I decided to crack this open to start the day.
The dry leaf smells of worn leather and sweet tobacco. The taste is smooth and mellow – a hint of damp earth. While I don’t find this complex, I do find it enjoyable and easy to sip.
I’m on my third steep (western style) and I can see that I’ll get a few more steeps out of it.
Thank you Dexter for sharing this sample with me!
The aroma has elements of cedar, peat, and dry grass. The taste is very slightly of honey and flowers, somewhat like chamomile but is mostly masked by the signature aged taste of puer, woody, a bit peppery and smokey, there’s a slight aftertaste of five spice. and lingering peppery quality. There’s also a bit of green bean in there somewhere. It’s slightly astringent. I’d call it more of an intense puer than a mellow one.
Flavors: Flowers, Green Beans, Honey, Peat, Pepper, Spices, Wood
Preparation
I’ve been drinking green and herbal teas for weeks. I feel like I need a break and a good ol’ cozy Chinese black tea. Plus, it’s been chilly, overcast, and rainy here over the past couple days and it will be like that tomorrow. I don’t mind cold but where is the sun? :(
So I broke out Yezi’s Jin Jun Mei. Hands-down, one of my favorite Chinese blacks. The leaves are tiny, slightly twisty, hairy, and a mix of brown and tan (cute little things). I brewed them in Verdant’s test tube steeper, a perfect instrument to become acquainted with a tea’s nose and to smell this one’s wet leaf aroma, which so much like fudge brownies. The liquor is golden, fuzzy, silky, full-bodied, and flavorful; and is full of malt, chocolate, and honey goodness. Overall feel is a hug.
Preparation
Backlog. Received in a swap with KiwiDelight!
It’s been a little while since I had this one, so I’ve only got my notes to go by.
This was my first Jin Jun Mei. It was light, woodsy, and a little drying on the tongue. Floral and grape-y like a Darjeeling. There was a malty feeling left in my mouth after swallowing. Hints of olive oil…and a little sweetness. A very pleasant, quiet and mellow tea! Enjoyable but not something I’ll likely be reaching for in the future. (: Still good.
Flavors: Chocolate, Floral, Grapes, Malt, Orchid, Sweet, Wood
120ml Yixing pot
Steeping times: 5s rinse, 45s, 55s, 70s, 85s, 100s, 115s*, 175s, 205s*, 265s
First steep: Perfumey taste, light greenish yellow liquid. The leaves opened up a lot already!
Second steep: Lighter perfume taste. The leaves have now fully overtaken the yixing pot.
Third steep: Still perfume, with a bit of a bitter aftertaste that I’ve noticed with oolongs.
Fourth steep: The perfume flavor is beginning to lighten up a bit and the bitterness has magically vanished.
Fifth steep: Sooo much flavor still left in this! I’m definitely gonna push it past the recommended 6 steepings :)
Sixth steep*: Wooow and just like that almost no flavor. My fault though, I should have known to add more time than 15 seconds for the 6th steep
Seventh Steep: Ahh, yes and extra minute did the trick. The flavor is back! Noticing more sweetness this time around :)
Eight steep: Wow, very noticeably sweet this time! Except I added extra water to bring down the sweetness and ruined the cup :(
Ninth steep*: I can’t believe they seriously suggest only 5-6 steeps. What a crime! This steep has come back down almost the 6th steep level so I’m gonna bump up the next steeping time for one final hurrah.
Tenth Steep: The perfume flavor is mostly gone now and has been replaced by a sweet taste :)
*increase steeping time next time around for better flavor
Here is photo of that last steep: http://instagram.com/p/pEoGQvguIu/
Well, all good things must come to an end. This was probably the best oolong I’ve tasted. You can tell that it’s very high quality. For the record, I’m sure I could have gotten another few steepings out of this! This was just a 5g sample, but I think I may buy a few ounce someday :)
Flavors: Bitter, Perfume, Sweet
Preparation
My favorite one. It has feet! :) http://www.ebay.com/itm/191154752588?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
This is my second steep for these leaves. I lowered the time from 4 to 3 minutes and then added another 30 seconds since it’s the second steep. The brew smells very green and floral and still has a touch of peach fragrance. The tea has a mild to medium vegetal taste with a lot of floral flavor still. The peach is still there, but it has devolved into more of a vague sweet fruitiness that I wouldn’t have identified as peach if I hadn’t tried the first brew. The floral in this cup lingers on the back of the tongue for quite some time after a sip. There is also a faint bitterness at the end that is not entirely unpleasant. Overall, still a very tasty tea! :)
Preparation
This is my third and final free sample from Yezi Tea, and it is also my first ever straight oolong. The dry leaves had a surprisingly strong peach smell, which made me very excited to try this tea. Since the packet did not include brewing directions, I looked around on various websites and found a lot of conflicting instructions. XD
I ended up brewing it for 4 minutes, which I think may have been just a little too long. Next time I would go for about 3 or so. The brew has a very strong floral smell with just a touch of fruitiness. The tea itself also tastes very floral (a little bit too floral for me, but I attribute this to the overbrewing) and there is also a very noticeable peach flavor, which I love. The tea itself tastes like a strong green tea to me, but it was a little bit bitter since I let it brew too long. I added a very small amount of sugar to help bring out that yummy peach flavor.
Overall, I really enjoyed this tea, and I feel I will love it when I steep it again for a shorter duration (I will most likely try 3 minutes). I will most likely give it a rating after trying it a few more times. I really appreciate the opportunity to try some awesome teas for free. Thanks, Yezi Tea! :D
Flavors: Floral, Peach, Vegetal
Preparation
After I brewed mine they commented and told me that instructions were on their website. I found out they recommend boiling water! Definitely hotter than what it seems everyone’s been using :P
Origin: He Huan Shan, Taiwan.
Thank u to Yezi Tea for this sample with purchase!!!
Dry Leaf: Tiny, tightly rolled green pellets with a mineral scent.
Method: 3.38 oz ceramic gong fu pot, 200F, 1 tsp tea
45" rinse/55"/55"
Wet Leaf: 2 fairly large leaves on a stem, very spinach green colored. Light floral with candy Sweet Tart scent.
Liquor: Light champagne – spring green color. Very light scent—not too floral, more of a light Sweet Tarts scent like the wet leaves.
Flavor: Thick mouthfeel. Not overly floral or creamy, very subtle. There are flowers, butter, spring peas and a nice balance. Not bitter or astringent at all but it is recommended to drink this tea after meals and I drank it 3 hours after a meal and did get a mild stomach upset (very very mild though) so one should heed this advice bc it’s pretty green.
Flavors: Butter, Candy, Flowers, Garden Peas
Preparation
I must say, I am very impressed with this tea. This is my third steeping and I can’t believe the jasmine flavor is still there! It has definitely become milder with each time, but I think I may actually like this brew the best. I can taste more of the green tea and it’s becoming a little less mellow, which is a good thing in my book. Starting to get more vegetal and hay notes too. Delicious with just a small amount of sugar! Big thanks to Yezi Tea for giving me the chance to try this tea for free. :)
Preparation
Trying the second steeping of this one now. It tastes surprisingly similar to the first, although the green tea taste is somewhat stronger (a welcome change in my opinion). I unfortunately overdid it a tiny bit on the sugar, so I think the jasmine flavor is coming through more than it otherwise would have. I steeped this in the same manner as the first time but added another 30 seconds to the time. Tasty! :D
Preparation
This is the second tea that I got as a free sample from Yezi Tea (yay free samples!). The smell of the dry leaf is amazing, floral and sweet. Let me just say, I am rather confused as to what exactly is meant when the word “teaspoon” is used in tea jargon. Does it mean a teaspoon measuring spoon or a teaspoon as in a flatware teaspoon…? If anyone could help me out on this with a comment, I would appreciate it. So when I brewed this tea, I basically said “screw it” and used the whole five gram sample. Since this is a fairly dense tea, I would say it would have been a slightly heaping flatware teaspoon.
That being said, I thought the strength of the brew was perfect. The jasmine aroma and flavor is quite strong, but I could still taste the delicate green tea flavor underneath. I’m not sure what type of green tea it is or whether jasmine pearls count as their own type. Either way, I really enjoyed its flavor – slightly sweet and light with no bitterness and very little astringency. I took it with a very small amount of sugar.
Thanks, Yezi Tea, for the free loot!
Flavors: Jasmine, Sweet
Preparation
I think it means measuring spoon, but it is sometimes hard to measure fluffier teas this way which is why some people weigh the amounts to be more accurate. I’m usually not that precise when measuring though. The heaping teaspoon/5 gram sample sounds like you used the perfect amount, especially since it tasted good which is what is most important. :-)
I’ve seen that a lot of tea retailers sell a tea measuring spoon that’s supposed to be the correct amount for a cup. I should probably grab one of those just to have a roundabout idea of how much I’m supposed to use. :P
Thanks for your response!
I always assume a measuring teaspoon as well. And 5 grams is about a teaspoon. :) Like caile, I don’t weigh either. All that matters is that you like the outcome. But yeah, for the first couple times with a particular tea, it’s generally a good idea to try to measure close to the vendor recommendation, IMO. Gives you a good idea of where you might need to go with your personal preference for the tea for the next cup. :)
My last cup of this, aww… My sample from Yezi was big enough for two cups since this is such a fluffball tea. Since I think I neglected to say last time, the dry leaf is amazingly creamy smelling with notes of honey and sweet hay. I can’t wait to to try a creamy flavored bai mudan (I’m looking at you, Cantaloupe & Cream!). This time I elected to add a little more than half a teaspoon of honey because I felt it would go beautifully. And it did! Om nom nom. Creamy and hay-like with just a touch of honey taste on the back of the tongue. So far, white tea kind of reminds me of a milder version of honeybush.
Preparation
It’s amazing how the flavor of this tea gains depth with each steeping. This is my third time around and I have enjoyed it each time. This brew has a strong and very deep straw flavor with just a touch of sweetness. There is still a hint of floral in the aftertaste. Thanks again to Yezi Tea for the free sample of this tasty tea!
Preparation
Trying a second steeping of this tea now. I elected to increase the time by 30 seconds just to see how it came out. This time, the fresh hay flavor that I experienced in my first try has deepened to a more straw-like flavor, more roasty and rich tasting. The mild sweetness is still there. Overall, I enjoyed this one just as much as the first, and it’s interesting to see how the taste changes between steepings.
Preparation
This is my first ever white tea. I’ve always been drawn to the descriptors used to talk about it – delicate, flowery, sweet (to be honest, I feel the same way about Pinot Grigio and yet I haven’t found one I’ve liked). So when I found that Yezi Tea was offering three free samples of my choice, I knew that this would be one of them.
The first thing I noticed about this tea is how large and lightweight the leaves are – I got about three times as much tea by volume for the same weight as my other two teas (an oolong and jasmine pearls). The small sample packet did not include brewing instructions, so I poked around on various tea sellers’ sites and found a good brewing recommendation.
When I first tasted the brew, I knew I liked it but was unsure how to go about describing the taste. There was a touch of floral and a subtle sweetness (which I accented by adding the teensiest amount of sugar), but the main flavor eluded me. I decided to poke around and see what other Steepsters had to say about Bai Mu Dan in general, and then I found exactly the descriptor I was looking for: hay. The smells and tastes chiefly of fresh hay (not the nasty rotting-in-a-pile-in-the-corner kind!). This is not necessarily a flavor profile I have encountered before, and I find it very warming and comforting, which surprises me considering this is such a light tea.
Overall, I don’t feel qualified to give this tea a numerical rating, considering I have nothing to compare it to, but I do enjoy it immensely and I can’t wait to try other varieties and sellers to see the difference. And now I REALLY can’t wait to try that Butiki Cantaloupe & Cream blend that I’ve been eyeing!
Flavors: Floral, Hay, Sweet
Preparation
Welcome to Steepster!
I almost never give any tea a rating. No matter how long I drink tea, I just don’t have a consistent idea of how I would rate things, or on what basis. Add to that, I like almost everything I drink, with the exception of flavored teas that friends send me, which I sample but generally don’t purchase, although I do enjoy some of them. On the other hand, some of Butiki’s flavored teas are awesome! :)
Thanks for the welcome! :)
I have heard so many good things about Butiki, I can’t wait to order some of their stuff.
I also had white peony tonight, delicious, and yes, hay!!!
Cantaloup & Cream is certainly one of the best flavoured tea available, you won’t regret it.
steeping times: 5s rinse, 30s, 45s, 40s, 50s
Meh. I tried everything I could to pull some flavor out of this tea, but it was far too light for my tastes. I even tried using less water AND increasing the steeping time simultaneously. Still nothing. Kinda vegetal with a hint of floral aftertaste, but other than that not much taste to this cup of tea.
Flavors: Flowers, Vegetables
Preparation
Hi madametj,
Li Shan is high mountain tea (very high altitude, around 8000 feet), so you should definitely try to brew it with boiling water and add 15-30 extra seconds for the first brew (total around 50-60). This will allow leaves to open and develop inside of the gaiwan, and hopefully it will give you more rewarding brew.
- Meiqin
Thanks! I just wish this information was on the sample I received. Perhaps that’s something that can be done in the future.
Thank you for the feedback, and this is something that has been on my todo list for a while. Problem is the size of the sample bag, but maybe we can try to include an instruction sheet with very order. We already have instructions on the website, but maybe they are not clear enough. I will talk to my web designer to improve that section of the site. Thank you again :)
- Meiqin
Early morning tea nook party with my Teaplets. I still really love this cup of malty sweetness.