Rasseru Send Message

Really enjoying this session.

Starts off smooth, then wow some tang from the second steep onwards. Every steep after that I was dialing back to not take this too into bitter territory.

But still was really enjoyable. Lovely tangy dried apricot aroma and subtle flavour, really overall it is has stonefruit, earthy leaf (nothing like a shu but it still is earthier than other shengs I have tasted), tang but also smoothness. Not much menthol but a nice fruity aftertaste, sometimes reminiscent of strawberries or some other berry.

As im still only a year into drinking puerh I dont know If I like this one because I’m getting used to the flavour, or I like it because its good. My experience has been solely from W2T & YS. But I have been totally enjoying them.

Drank this gongfu 5g with 90c water.

Autumn 2015, it appears ive reviewed this one before, and no idea why I couldnt find it with a search! But liked it before and liked it again:

This is quite yum, it tastes to me a bit in-between a creamy milk Oolong and a Da Yu Ling, which is no bad thing at all – and when I checked on YS, it is in fact a Taiwanese varietal grown in Fujian. So I was pretty bang on the money there!

And not so creamy-sweet and mixed together in taste as some milk Oolongs ive had, more clearer, with flavours coming and going, like flavoured water – in a good way. A slightly fruity & complex huijuan, reminds me a little like floral strawberry milk. Wonderful. I dont know much about flavoured vs non-flavoured, but this one certainly doesnt taste artificial in any way, as far as I understand it flavouring often masks the normal tea taste, which as ive said is pretty present here.

So slightly vegetal & milky, floral and strawberry or summer fruits, not too full-on, more refined.

Takes a few steeps as well, im hitting it grandpa style as I have been everything recently, and even with a small 1.5g/12oz its a lovely cuppa. – Price isnt too bad either!

Autumn 2015 version here.

This one has slight a lemon flavour in there, and as AllanK found out can turn sour if overbrewed, from lemon to lemon zest. In fact I completely agree with the other notes mentioned in his review, there is some vegetal in there and the standard white floral, also slightly astringent, with an aftertaste & an after-smell (is there even a word for that?) which just somehow reminds me of lemon cleaner or zest.

Im going to refine my brewing to find the perfect setting for this tea & will update this review when ive found them.

This is a cross between Tie Guan Yin and Huang Jing gui, the latter of which I dont have any experience with. Apparently yellow and reminiscent of osmanthus , this TGY is grafted onto these trees and Jin Guan Yin is born!

Its delightful, has a more dark green leaf flavour than other TGY, perhaps, but very slight. Its not bitterness, but reminds me of holly for some reason. Not that ive ever eaten holly.

Spinach, kale, and something else (osmanthus?) i dont recognise is in there. Tastes a bit ‘short’, and tiny amount less creamy or thick as others, but this is a very slight amount – Im having the premium TGY now as a comparison and I cant really tell much of a difference, maybe the TGY is a bit more like wet greens, perhaps some fruit in there, but it isnt much of a difference.

As to which i prefer, not sure really, im going to have to be really discerning to choose – these are both good TGY-type and its such a wondrous flavour i wouldnt throw either out of bed. Apparently the JGY can be steeped for longer so I will try that next, I drank these back-to-back to see if there was a big flavour difference, this is the second time ive done that and there really isnt much in it. – both delicious, this might just nip the TGY by one point!

I open up the package to be greeted by big, thick, dark leaves & a distinctive rock & roast smell.

This is a mellow rock oolong, no astringency or bitterness, a little drying, with a soft thick mouth. The roast is not overpowering in any way, and tastes to me a lot like some of the aged oolongs in the 2015 group buy. To me its a classic mineral taste with a bit of trees thrown in there, but firmly in the medium with everything, except caffeine. I didnt get much in the way of fruitiness that was listed on the website, but my taste has been a bit bad due to blocked nose recently. maybe a slight cream in there, but hidden under the mellow fluffiness.

It feels like this tea has a slightly higher caffeine content than I prefer – I can feel an elevated heart rate & a ‘firmness’ on my body. – But im really sensitive and wimpy when it comes to this, so other peoples mileage will definitely vary.

I think anyone who likes rock oolong with a medium, mellow, aged taste to it, but also with a caffeine kick will like this tea, fo sho! Had to put that in there somewhere didnt i :P

I have been grandpa styling everything recently for convenience, and 3g just off boiling 12oz water.

Another from my YS tea club. And interesting as Ive had a few processed white teas recently, The Makaibari White Darjeeling and Red Blossom Xin Gong Yi.

I love the look of it. 200g cake, with full white & dark green leaves lightly pressed together, comes apart easily. so nice – just look at that: http://yunnansourcing.com/img/p/3701-8965-thickbox.jpg

Like the others mentioned, its nice, un-offensive tea. A bit more body than the Makaibari, with almost raisin-like tones inside. Floral, as you would expect, a little darker than white, in taste & appearance, as you would expect.
Seems to me to have a ‘deeper’ taste. some hint of nuts. It just has that taste, whatever it is. – also its a camellia taliensis, not sure how much that affects the flavour. Sometimes I get a hint of sheng complexity in there too.

It is very nice though. No astringency or bitterness, ive hit it with 90c water grandpa style 2g and its been fine.

Second time around, fresh 3g 90c grandpa style 10 minute steep, a LOT more like a sheng. Stonefruits, slight shengy astringency, I think I went slightly overboard, there is a balance somewhere – i reckon in the temperature, waiting 10 mins for it to calm down it went a bit over the top – 87.5c? Lovely huiguan, really, in fact. Big grin from that! – ‘Oh yeah, that is nice’ I just said to myself.

For me, this is like a sheng gateway drug – it has those characteristics without the strength to make my lips curl or the difficulty getting brewing right. – These leaves have been in there 15 minutes and its still nice. I reckon a bit less temp and we have a winner!

edit* warm wavey head sweats & focus qi. really nice

Most expensive Darjeeling ever sold? Check. Grown using BioDynamics with awareness of the constellations & picked on a full moon? Check. White tips from Darjeeling? Ok then, I’ll give this one a whirl.

Its a lightly fermented silver tipped Oolong, and a very nice one at that. A soft and pale liquor, not as sweet & fragrant as a silver needle, but also not hard and woody like some darjeelings. Also it isnt at all like a first flush Darjeeling, no bitterness there, and just a hint of astringency. No muscatel aroma (it is a spring, after all) but there is some grape in there, I think.

Its a bit akin to the Xin Gong Yi New Craft that Red Blossom sell, but that has more of a robust, deeper body, like a stronger white tea taste, whereas this Makaibari has a light aroma and body. Apparently Makaibari is the oldest tea estate in Darjeeling & according to google, the place of the worlds first tea factory. Although I would have thought China would hold this record? hmmm.

‘Very Pleasant’ is how I would describe it. A hint of honey sweet mango, it is a subtle experience, really non-offensive & a joy to drink. I do think it needs to be drank without anything else clouding your tastebuds as it is like a white & deserves being in its own space, but you still get a darjeeling-y feel going on. A subtle chameleon. Nice!

Ive done 90c before, but Ive been hitting it with 80 degrees today, grandpa style, and its making my head feel nice and fluffy. I do think theres a sweet spot in between 80 & 90c that will work the best.

Spring 2015!

Wow, this stuff is so gorgeous.

Other reviews say fruit cocktail, and I agree. Glad to see that the difference in years dont change the quality of the tea. That makes me a happy bunny.

It has a thick mouthfeel, and crikey I just get lychee, lychee, lychee, even the pearlescence of lychee comes across, Lychee taste, aroma & feel but also with a lovely slightly toasted/oxidised Oolong loveliness & cream. dribble. I tried to add lychee as a flavour three times but steepster wouldnt allow me.

Short review as I had some a while ago now – I could drink this stuff all day long. Another winner.

I did short gongfu steeps at 90c, and grandpa stylee at the same temp.

Jing only have the AAA being sold, and this is the AA, after the leaves opened up I can see some are broken & not perfect ratio like the more expensive TGY, this was sent as a sampler from Jing.

EIther way, its a nice green oolong! It has a slightly stronger vegetal presence and a medium-strength aroma – in fact its pretty medium strengthed I think compared to some of the more pungent TGY ive had, but tastes nice and green. It is slightly clear in feel, not the thickest or creamiest ive had. But still very nice. Has a nice blend of fruit & umami taste, a flowery aroma & a quite lively cha qi – im tip-tapping this on the keyboard quite fast.

I am interested to know if the tea was from the 2014 or 2015 harvest as the website now has the 2015 harvest showing. I have put the question to Sebastien, as I am interested to see if this flavour is due to the slight aging of the leaf.

Either way I really like JingTeaShop, the tea was listed as one to go with steamed fish, and I completely agree, it has the umami edge which places it perfectly there.

I have been drinking gongfu and grandpa style