dalril

This is pretty good.

I just realized the smell memory that a lot of these Oolongs evoke. When I used to do oil painting there was some common aroma among the linseed oil, turpentine and paints that I find in this tea too.

I’ve never found Ceylon interesting, but this made a pretty good cup. It has hints of cocoa and citrus. I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase it, but I wouldn’t turn it down either.

This was OK. I tried longer steep times and that brought out the bitterness, that didn’t kill the taste though.

This tea came as part of a SpecialTeas Oolong sample collection, and I’m wondering if I’ll have to learn a new vocabulary just to describe them. This has an unbelievable aroma being all grassy buttery and floral… hang on, buttery? I could spend the rest of the afternoon inhaling over a cup of this. The taste is sweet and full, yet light and, er, oolongy. I guess I like it.
The second steep was closer to what I’d expect a standard Oolong to be, so savor that first cup.

Assams don’t appeal to me all that much, but even I can taste that this one is above average. It has that typical Assam malt with touches of fruit and citrus. It’s slightly bitter, but then I don’t add sugar and will try to stick to a 3 min. steep next time.

I totally botched brewing this at first because I tried to brew it using my newly acquired gaiwan. Note to self: practice using the gaiwan with cold water before using it with boiling water. I have used the gaiwan a couple of times fine with boiling water, but I found myself fumbling it when having to deal with the short steep times.
It’s quite a few steeps in and a few times I had a mouthful of nastiness for the above reasons. The last 40 sec. one resulted in a light honey infused brew with no astringency and a lingering sweetness. These relatively young green puerh can be very touchy, but give them some time and attention then they turn out to be just fine.

This is probably a 2008 Darjeeling. It’s not on offer at SpecialTeas this year, and came in a sample collection that is a pretty good value.
Light and floral with a bright lemon grassy taste. It’s good, and I’m pleased with it. I’m not rating this since I’d recommend a more seasonal Darjeeling to anyone, but it’s not bad at all.
A well stored Darjeeling in sealed packaging can sometimes be excellent even when faded, and a bargain when it’s discounted to make room the new seasons harvest.

This has that typical velvety Keemun smoke and chocolate, but this has stronger perfumy floral notes than other Keemun I’ve tried.

This is an absolutely delicious oolong. Very sweet and aromatic.

Everybody likes a little Golden Monkey.

After drinking a lot of green or raw puerh, I’m turning back to the fermented or cooked puerh I have. It seems that the lighter hand at steeping I’ve developed with the greens also improves the cooked immensely. Rather than being a curious taste experience, this tastes good.

Pleasant and mild. The flavors evolve and it actually becomes sweeter after multiple steeps. Not a lot of character though.

This tea benefits from low initial steep times (~15 sec. +- 5). It has that strange back of mouth perfume thing going on. Something’s right with this.

When I got up I put a teaspoon of the pearls in a tea thermos. I just kept refilling and drinking from the thermos until midday. Very nice.

I’m using the suggested steep times and really enjoying it.

Gongfu style: Full boil, 1g per 30ml, 20s rinse, stand after rinsing for 60s, 1st steep 20s, 2nd steep 15s, 3rd steep 15s … increase the seconds incrementally.

The first steep was light and ‘barely there’. On the second steep the flavor woke up, and I am enjoying it. It has a light scent of apricot and cut grass. It’s very mild with little bitterness. Still learning to taste.

Having ordered a selection of young sheng to educate my palette, I’m finding the elements I enjoy in a pu-erh changing rapidly and drastically.

The third steep turned out nastily bitter because I accidentally over steeped. The forth turned out pleasant light and sweet with little bitterness.

Gongfu style: 20s rinse, 20s first steep, 15s second, ~20+ third, ~15 forth…

Sweet mild taste, flowery perfume and a muted bitterness. This is my first tasting. It seems counterproductive to rate a young pu-erh. Since the conditions for proper aging are not easy to replicate, it’s worth hording a couple of cakes only if you can also happily drink it as it is.
It will take a couple goes and an adjustment of steep times before I can say much about this cake. My first impression is positive.

Perfect. Jasmine can sometimes be overwhelming, here it’s just right. I usually do two infusions of this tea, the first a 2 min and the second at 2:30. I don’t check water temperature (180-190 F.) too closely because, unlike some greens this tea is very forgiving.

A surprise from the first sip. The scent of banana and mild citrus stands out. Tastes sweet and mellow, followed by a contrasting bitterness.
Gongfu style: rinse 10 sec, 1st steep 15 sec. …

Large loose leaves, very mild flavor, nice floral scent, yellow amber cup and no bitterness. Steeped gongfu: 10 sec rinse, 1st steep 20 sec, then 30, etc. Seems bland but I might need to alter the timings.
It’s not bad but I’m undecided about this tea.

I haven’t had that many ripe pu-erh, but I’m really liking this. It’s flavorful without being overwhelming.
Gongfu style, 10s rinse, 15s first steep.

Nice mouth filling amber cup, floral scent, smokiness and a bitter finish that increases with continued steeping. Gongfu style, 20 sec. rinse … still figuring out good steep times.

Water heated to 180 F and steeped continuously, just topping up the water when needed. Mild pleasing green flavor with some sweetness, not all that remarkable. The continuous steeping is an unusual convenience and the tea just visually pleasing (and odd).