tanluwils select Send Message

It’s not like any Huang Shan Mao Feng I’ve tried before, but I’m going to support the claim that the tea came from “wild bushes”, since it tastes similar to the “wild” Fujian green tea I purchase from a trusted Hakka tea merchant on my trips to Beijing. The prominent aftertaste (huigan) and pure taste is also a good indicator of more natural cultivation techniques and mountain origins, albeit not organically certified.

It’s important to know that organic certifications are usually not affordable for small-share tea farmers in rural China who would prefer to avoid the extra costs of pesticides or fertilizers. What they often refer to as “wild” green tea is often from tea bushes that are “unkept or unmanaged” since they aren’t as high in demand in the Chinese or international market as popular teas such as Maojian or biluochun, which are usually farmed under conventional methods for higher yields and uniformity in appearance. The same is true in Japan.

Back to this tea :) The brewed leaves are a vivid green, something I don’t often encounter in Chinese teas. It’s quite fragrant and can yield more than 4 steeps. To me, the first rinse is too tasty to discard. It has a pure, simple, and yet elegant taste. Subsequent steeps reveal notes of crisp sweet peas, flowers, roasted brussels sprouts, and a faint sweet smokiness that grows on the drinker. The refreshing and subtly sweet aftertaste is what makes this tea a real bargain.

Rich, savory, sweet, and comforting. This tea has wonderful body and sweet aftertaste. I’ve put the cup down for 5 minutes yet I can still feel the complex flavors and velvety texture cover my tongue. I’m picking up notes of roasted brussel sprouts, sugar cane, nori, tannin, minerals, edamame, and a hint of menthol that creates a cooling effect.

The dried leaves have a rich sweet fragrance that is only amplified when wet. The leaves are nicely shaped (not overly processed) and have a deep green color. The tea soup is an opaque, vibrant light green. Its rich, velvety mouth-feel is almost luxurious. It’s also quite infuse-able, putting forth delicious flavors until the 5th steep, which is still tasty and refreshing.

Tip: Try Akira Hojo’s green tea brewing method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adxPErjUHvA. I know it might seem somewhat cumbersome, but just try it as an experiment. You’ll get way more out of your green teas with this method. For this tea, however, since it’s organic, I’ve combined the initial rinse with my first steep and it was delicious.

Unique, strong flavored, versatile, and powerful. Upon opening the bag I’m hit with an intense ripened peach fragrance. The the leaves look like biluochun only larger and grey-ish green. The wet leaves have a pretty golden-green hue and have musky fruit, roasted vegetables, and faint smoky aromas. The liquor is an attractive pale jade green.

The flavor is almost indescribable in that it’s not really like anything I’ve tried before, but I’ll do my best. On the first steep, I actually picked up something spicy, akin to fresh picked spicy arugula and raw wild herbs. Notes of tannin, minerals, and wild flowers. The tea is very pure with a rustic charm. It tiptoes on the edge of bitterness, but the feeling differs from the familiar bittersweet-ness I get from other green teas. This tea can stand up to higher water temperatures, but only for short steeps. The flavors spread throughout the mouth and have great staying power.

Following steeps similar to what is described above, only stronger and with a very long and stimulating aftertaste that only intensifies with each steep. The flavors get weaker on the 7th steep. If brewed with hotter water the flavors get bitter and the smoky notes are more prominent. Cooler water brings out the vegetal and flowery notes.

Overall, I liked the experience, particularly the aftertaste which lasts for at least 10 mins after putting the tea aside. It’s a tad on the bitter side, but I’m now left with pleasant fruity notes on my tongue—the aftertaste is reminiscent of ripe plum. Clearly not your typical green tea, and quite delicious for those who are willing to broaden their palate.

Simply said: it’s not a gentle tea. I would say you have to be able to enjoy the ride through sharp, bitter, and even smoky flavors in order to enjoy the sweet reward of its aftertaste.

I brewed the leaves in a chahai to watch the leaves unfold, or “dance”, pouring the tea into a separate chahai. This makes controlling leaf-water ratios a little more tricky than using a gaiwan, but if done right it I think more fun.

Incredibly fragrant, smooth, uplifting, flowery, and fruity. This is the first Yunnan green I’ve tried and I’m quite impressed. Immediately, upon opening the bag I was hit with an intense peach fragrance. The brewed leaves are light green and smell like intensely sweet smelling flowers. The aroma itself is almost intoxicating.

The fruity flavor, aftertaste, and velvety texture is indicative to the tea varietals unique to Yunnan. To me, it’s closer to high-end white tea in texture and flavor, while maintaining that crisp freshness, reminding the drinker that it’s still a green tea and must be consumed quickly. As I take my time enjoying the tea, I notice the warming-calming energy/effects (cha qi?) of the tea moving from my nose and mouth, down my throat and spreading throughout my body. It’s extremely relaxing. I drink greens daily, but this is a first.

I poured hot (but not boiling) water into a cha hai (tea brewing beaker) and yielded 4 tasty steeps. I may edit this tasting note later as I try different brewing techniques, but so far I say this is a stellar tea.

This came as a sample in the mail. From the first sip, I can tell it’s an autumn tea due to its mellowed sweetness and lack of edge or sharpness. The initial steeps are sweet, crisp, clean, and calming. It has a very pleasant warming effect, or cha qi, that moves down the throat towards the gut and spreads throughout the body. This was enough to force me to stop what I was doing and pay attention. The wet leaves have that deep forest sweetness that is indicative to their untamed natural origins along with a slight smokiness that adds more interest to the tea. The empty cup is quite fragrant.

For an autumn tea, I’m quite impressed by what this had to offer, though I can only imagine that its spring counterpart would be that much more impressive. Being that it’s a Mangzhi tea I can understand the price, but I would rather invest in teas with more edge. Overall, while this was an enjoyable tea, the experienced puerh drinker may be left wanting something more.

This isn’t like any tea I’ve ever tried. The brick is so dense it requires a chisel. For sure, this is not typical cultivated tea. The previous tasting note called this thing “Wild Child”. I don’t think I could’ve come up with a better name. I’m picking up deep forest flavors (something I love in sheng pu’er): pungent herbs, vegetal sweetness, pine, camphor, smoke, and pleasant tobacco notes (there is such a thing). I don’t detect any bitterness since I’m doing 5 second steeps. That said, DO NOT over brew this one. This one is full-bodied, interestingly textured, has a long aftertaste and strong cha qi, moving from the mouth down towards the gut and through the rest of the body after each sip. Given it’s potency and complexity, I’d say it would age nicely.

This tastes exactly like the Yunnan Sourcing’s Dehong Ye Sheng 2013 100 g brick. It has those typical robust, sharp notes of the northern wild purple tea tree variety: tannin, camphor, deep sweet forest greens, pine, raw brussle sprouts, medicinal, minerals, and a long sweet finish. I specify northern since I’m told that young purple pu’ers from the more southerly region of Yiwu and surrounding areas are more mellow.

It’s freshness and flavor profile when young makes northern purple raw pu’er somewhat akin to a rustic green tea with a lot of edge. Personally, I think these purple teas taste better with a few years on them, but they are quite different from their green leaved counterparts and very refreshing.

Fragrant, sweet, flowery, complex, and inexpensive, this tea took me by surprise since there was little information on the actual plants and tea garden, which seems to be grown at lower elevations. Regardless, the Morita family really knows how to make tea. I think this was $12 when I purchased it in the spring and it was a real treat. I tend to purchase organic senchas since they tend to be tastier due to the amount of investment made in the soil and where they are grown, but this tea, which seems to be grown in the suburbs of Saitama, not far from Tokyo, is like a hidden gem.

The dried leaves are broken up, but are very fragrant. The steeped leave a pungently fruity and flowery aroma. The tea soup is an attractive shade of green. The first steep is flowery, uplifting, pure tasting, and refreshing. The following steeps are rich and sweet, and reveal a complex mixture of sweet vegetal notes, minerals, and tannins.

Very enjoyable, but I think the tea has been renamed kakurei or hoju.

This delicious and fragrant sencha is underrated and inexpensive. I gave it an 84 for the value I got from the low price. I assumed the Kurihara bros would make a very flavorful sencha at a low price since I’ve tried their gyokuro samples, which I highly recommend. This tea is simple and easy to brew. The broken dried leaves appear to be mid-steamed and the tea soup is a vibrant lime green hue. I picked up roasted asparagus, edamame, and peach. Another good quality of the tea, is the fragrance it leaves at the bottom of the cup and it’s after taste, usually evidence that the tea bushes are grown at higher elevations.

Before I knew it my tea tin was empty again.

I would call this tea farmer’s Kabusecha. The leaves are dark green, larger than conventional versions, and not very uniform. It’s closer to a gyokuro than a sencha. The steeped leaf is darker and has a oceanic fragrance. On the 1st steep, my initial reaction is: “these guys got it right.” Very delicate, light, uplifting, and buttery in texture. I’m getting some vegetal notes described in the previous tasting note, but coupled with clear hints of nori (roasted seaweed). One the 2nd steep, nori notes are more pronounced and complex, and the overall flavor is deeper and more savory. The 3rd steep is rich with savory notes of nori and asparagus, with an added mineral quality to it. Very interesting and unique tea.