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From the wet leaves I get a sweet, cooling aroma with some conifer forest qualities. On the other hand the empty cup has an incredibly strong beeswax smell.
The taste of the tea is fairly sweet, floral and mineral, displaying pine, honey and fermented fruit notes. Liquor is medium bodied and the mouthfeel I get is is sticky, buttery and powdery in the finish. After swallowing I get a throat clenching and contractive feeling as well as chilli spiciness that lasts for a while. After it passes, the aftertaste becomes quite floral and sweet again.
Overall, I didn’t find the tea to be terribly complex, nevertheless it is very yummy.
Flavors: Alcohol, Astringent, Floral, Forest Floor, Fruity, Honey, Pine, Spicy, Sweet
Preparation
Still a great tea! Five years on and the fermentation flavors are almost all gone. It is very sweet with a touch of smoke. Very slippery and thick. I have a few tongs of this, more than any other tea by far. Glad I have plenty!
I love this sheng so much that I have officially purchased my first full bing! I’ve never explored aging tea at home before, and I’m not sure if I really wan’t to become a collector who lives the whole lifestyle. All I know is that I just can’t get over how complex and delicious the flavours of this tea are, and I think it would be fun to watch it evolve over a couple years as a little project.
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I always brew this tea gong-fu style. I think when I first purchased a sample I used boiling water which was a mistake as it helped the astringent and bitter notes to shine rather than the more desirable ones. For this tealog entry I’ve used water that’s 95°c which seems to be the sweet spot. 20 second rinse followed by a 20 second first brew and we’re off!
The first thing I notice is how sweet, fruity, and leathery the leaves smell after waking up. The shift in aroma between the dried and wet leaves is stark, the dry material smells extremely grassy in comparison. The taste of the tea itself has notes of cherry, sweetgrass, and a soft leathery/camphor which all work well together to create rich flavour that ends with some desirable bitterness. The mouth feel is great, creamy and silky on the tongue and roof of the mouth (very similar to a milk oolong). The liquor is not very thick despite the creaminess which is an odd contrast. I also salivate a bit before that nice astringency takes its place.
While the flavours may be nothing terribly unique when individually compared with other pu-erhs, the combination and balance just makes me melt with happiness. My whole body relaxes and my mind calms down, sometimes I even feel tea drunk with some euphoria and caffeine. Excellent qi. These are the feelings I chase with tea and I’m just happy to have found one that resonates with me on this level.
Flavors: Astringent, Camphor, Cherry, Grass, Leather, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
Mistakenly put this note for the wrong tea. Correcting now.
I normally love YS ripe teas, but this one was terrible. I could have had a bad batch of course, but it tasted like dirty cardboard. Yuck.
Yes, thanks for that, very confusing with the years. This is the 2015 version so newness is not the issue. Probably just a bad batch compared to what Scott tasted, or a bad bit within the batch.
I have been curious about pu erh paste for quite a while now. It seemed like it would be bad, but hey, I’ve drank bug shit tea, so why not. It was actually interesting and not bad. The way I did it was to dissolve one tiny piece in about 50 ml of water, let it sit for a minute, stir it up, drink, then repeat since the little chunk dissolves slowly. But you can probably just let the whole thing dissolve in a larger amount of water and wait. One tiny piece can easily make 6 oz of tea.
It basically ends up tasting like a decent grandpa style shu drink. It was way smoother than I was expecting. Very easy to drink, and of course convenient. It’s akin to a high quality instant coffee – not as good as the real thing, but pretty good overall.
When I first started getting into tea, I bought a lot of random things to discover what I liked. I relegated the teas that weren’t to my taste to the back of my cupboard and stored them in the hope that my palate would evolve to appreciate them. This has sometimes happened (roasted TGY, Wuyi oolongs, dragonwell, gyokuro) and sometimes not (Assam, lapsang souchong, sencha). The upshot is that I have a bunch of teas I’m not particularly fond of and that I feel obliged to finish.
This Dian Hong is one of those teas. It’s not objectively bad, but it is more malty than I’d like and doesn’t have many interesting background flavours. In its favour, the long, flat, fuzzy leaves are pretty. I followed my usual gongfu parameters (5 g, 120 ml, 195F, 10/12/15/18/20/25/30/40/50/60/90/120/240 seconds).
The first two steeps have notes of malt, tannins, caramel, and tomato vine, which is especially apparent in the aroma. Later steeps are still heavy on the malt, but the tomato morphs into an oakwood, earthy, and caramel finish reminiscent of scotch. These flavours last pretty much until the end of the session.
I’m sure there are many people who would enjoy this tea, especially in the morning. However, it isn’t really for me.
P.S.: I didn’t find chocolate, sweet potato, or the other flavours people have mentioned in this tea. I have no idea why, unless my 2015 batch has changed substantially with age.
Flavors: Caramel, Earth, Malt, Oak, Tannin
Preparation
I am really new to Hei Cha. It is a very distinct kind of tea so I refrained from writing a review until I had it several times. And I think it was the right decision for it certainly have grown on me.
Being a fermented tea it does not impress you in the dry leaf stage: dry dull leaves with equally dull fragrance of old leaves and dirt. The taste of the first steeping (and you can get many of them out of it, similar to puerhs) did shock me with the vibrant spice, dry fallen leaves and – foremost – bay leaves). The hei cha flavor constellation is certainly unique and I needed some time to get used to it and be able to observe the subtle changes over the course of steepings.
The spice/bay leave intensity gradually subsided with bitter herbs coming to the fore. And in the late steepings this tea changed into leather, thyme, mint, wild strawberries, baked apple, and cinnamon. In short, this tea produces busy, captivating sessions.
I am still not fully comfortable with this palette and will certainly need several more tries to become familiar . And I will certainly order a couple of other hei chas to compare them side by side. It is such a unique kind of tea and I am honestly surprised why there are many loyal (some would even say, fanatical) puerh aficionados but no" hei cha heads".
All in all, I had a mighty good time. The only caveat is that my high rating may reflect rather my excitement upon discovering hei cha in general rather than the strength of this particular tea compared to the others of the same type.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Candied Apple, Cinnamon, Dry Grass, Earth, Leather, Mint, Spices, Strawberry, Thyme
Perhaps it’s in an awkward stage but this tea is somehow lacking in flavor over all. It’s hard to describe. I will need to try and increase the leaf ratio. Initial flavor is of eucalyptis and slight camphor/menthol. Delayed sweet apricot huigan, some bitterness. Thin body. Some qi. Vegetal and some umami.
Flavors: Apricot, Eucalyptus, Menthol, Umami, Vegetal
Glad I just bought one, i found it unchanging and one dimensional. Sweet and spicy, cappable of some bitterness (i liked the bitter potential). Ball was VERY tightly compressed. Would make great iced tea. Standard yunnan white taste.
Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Fruity, Spices
This tea I had tried awhile ago but forgot to post the review for it, so this is the second time I have ordered it and reviewed it. I have to say I was in love with it immediately. I will confess this is the only liu bao tea I have tried so I have no basis for comparison. However, I find this tea incredibly interesting and both robust and delicate. For me it conjures the image of willy wonka, if he had a tea (instead of an everlasting gobstopper) that turned from chicken soup and then into a flower. Odd image and not very professional ‘tea tester language’ I suppose but that’s what I keep getting with this tea on separate occasions of review.
Gongfu’d (but have steeped it western style before and noticed no real difference)
First steep (no wash). 30ish seconds 195 F lilac body with orchid notes immediately hit palate and it smooths out and leaves a slight floral , mostly lilac, flavor lingering. The brewed leaves and tea soup smell interesting, like creamy chicken noodle soup. Very savory and wonderful; there is the surprising twist of the tea being floral and sweet. A nice copper tea soup color.
2nd steep, 200F 30 seconds: the lilac is out in full front, the orchid is still there as well. Conjuring past memories of fresh ‘hawaiian orchid lei’ . The tea has developed some bitter notes, but doesn’t detract and is still very pleasant (and this from someone who normally hates bitter tastes). It pairs well and brings out the lilac flavors. (Anyone who has tasted or smelt lilacs knows that there is that slight pugnent bitterness to it, and that’s what I am getting here).
3rd steep, 195 30 seconds: Smooths out a little bit, flavors less pronounced but I wanted to bring the bitter down a little bit afraid that it will develop in a negative way. The orchid comes out a little more here. Still drinkable and floral but the flavors are dying down a little bit. Orchid notes lingering on the tongue. I would probably stay at 195 F in the future, but 200 works as well.
4th steep, 205 50 seconds: Experimenting at a higher temperature. Tea still drinkable and floral with orchid lingering on tongue with slight pleasant bitter notes. This is probably where I will drop off but it might be good for another 2 or 3 rounds I am just avoiding more caffeine intake at this late of an hour.
This tea is not very long-lasting; however, for myself, the ‘thick creamy chicken soup’ smell of the brewed leaves contrasting against the delicate and floral tea itself is kind of a novelty which I happen to enjoy. I find the price to be extremely en pointe (16.50/250 grams). I had planned on ordering more of this but ended up ordering other samples instead. Will probably order a larger batch in the future.
Flavors: Chicken Soup, Floral, Orchid, Pleasantly Sour
Preparation
This tea is absolutely gorgeous in its dry leaf appearance but decidedly less impressive as a drink.
First, the good things: if someone wants to enjoy all of the visual richness of different colors, shapes and textures that green tea can offer this tea would be an excellent choice. The other good thing is that this Mao Feng, unlike many other greens, is way less happy to smite you with vengeful bitterness for any deviation from the rigidly prescribed water temperature or steeping time. In short, it lets you to experiment.
Now about the taste. I have to wholeheartedly agree with eastkyteaguy’s review of the 2017 harvest: “This was one of those teas that seemed a lot simpler than it was. Had I not taken the time to carefully and patiently ponder each sniff and sip, I undoubtedly would have gotten a lot less out of it. I found that this tea required focus and dedication in order to fully appreciate it.” Unfortunately I tend to drink tea mostly for pleasure and when I pour myself a cup I really DO NOT mentally go “Bluegreen, now you need to muster all of your patience, focus and dedication!”
And to a casual sipper like me this tea tastes very light, full with grass, wild flowers, asparagus and a bit of umami. If you steep it hotter/longer it acquires a bit of equally pleasant vegetal bitterness. In short – a pleasant light tea that does not overtly impress you or shows a lot of personality. When you focus on every sip it does reveal a lot more but I strongly prefer teas that are way less guarded, those that want to be your friends from the very first sip.
Flavors: Asparagus, Flowers, Grass, Umami
I finished 25 grams of this a few months ago but never took notes. Reading your review, I can look back and get most of what you’re describing. Definitely a beautiful and light tea. If you haven’t tried it, I’d suggest a cold brew. It becomes so pleasantly sweet and a light fruitiness really comes out to play with the grass and wildflowers.
If three people report similar experiences from a tea they must be onto something. Thank you for the cold brewing suggestion. I actually have never done for any tea. Do you mind sharing how did you coldbrew this Mao Feng? I might try.
Cold-brewed, the Mao Feng was a nice refreshment in the early am when the weather was warmer. 1 to 2 heaping tbsp leaf per liter of water depending upon how much flavor you want. Keep in the refrigerator overnight. Pretty easy. You can resteep the leaves, too.
I’m a little torn over that tea: At the beginning very nice velvety texture and overall quite soft and balanced with floral notes, but quickly a rather dominant astringency comes to the surface, which I do not like so well.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-san-ceng-yun-ys
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Floral, Sweet