14 Tasting Notes

91

So its been a while since I’ve had a review on here. Too busy with work and other stuff. I wish I could review more. I have time for this one. Thankfully, because it would be a crime not to let other fellow steepsterites just how good this one is, IMHO, of course. It is a very smooth shou. It has pretty much no fermentation to it. I do get some slight tobacco notes towards the finish. Nothing to harsh, don’t get scared by that if that’s not your thing. You may not even be able to tell them if you smoke cigars or anything like that. I feel this tea does better at about 200° instead of boiling. The leaves are bigger than I’m used to seeing in shous. The aroma from it is very nice and easy on the nose. Overall, I am really digging this one. I will definitely be buying this one again. No doubt about it. Gets you some!

Flavors: Tobacco

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 160 ML

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88
drank Green Gold by Mandala Tea
14 tasting notes

So I cold brewed this overnight. I’ve also had it hot. It is good hot, but it is great cold brew. It is amazingly refreshing. It develops a very sweet note with a hint of vegetal and honey. It brews pretty much no color cold. I was surprised to pull it out of the fridge and see no color. I expected it to have no flavor. I was very wrong. I think I will keep cold brewing this especially when summer comes around. You have to try this cold brew at least once.

Flavors: Honey, Sweet, Vegetal

Preparation
2 tsp 19 OZ / 561 ML
Garret

You now have me about to do a cold brew of this. I’ve not done so before! Thank you for writing up your experience. Grateful, Garret

tea-junkie

You are in for a treat my friend. @Garret Let me know what you think.

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66

Pulled this out tonight for the first time. Broke off 10 grams for 160 ml. This tea is very weak and the first couple of steeps. Does get a little stronger the next few steeps but there really isn’t much to this tea. A bit of astrigency but that’s it. I was waiting for it to open up and give off something. Anything. It never did. Went through 10 steeps. I purchased a whole bing and I will drink it all up but it is not something I will be purchasing again.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 160 ML
AllanK

I bought this with my last order, have yet to try it. Too bad you didn’t like it. How long were your steeps? Maybe longer steeps would make it stronger?

mrmopar

I think this one needs to age. I haven’t touched mine yet.

Cwyn

I find w2t uses price tiers fairly accurately, the super low price of this leaf suggests the parameters are going to be more like 10g/100ml.

tea-junkie

@AllanK my longest steeps were 25 seconds. I will definitely try longer steeps next time. See if it helps it.

tea-junkie

@mrmopar it will be a while before I touch it again. Hopefully when I do it has aged some. I just wish I had room for a pumidor to help it.

tea-junkie

@cwyn I might have to try that as well 1g/10ml. Maybe that’ll give me a little more. I will combine your advice with the advice from @AllanK. More leaf and longer steep times.

Brian

its pretty straight forward. but i get a good amount of returning sweetness and a light bitter snap at the front. i push some longer times with this one than some other young teas.

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97

Wowza! This has got to be one of, if not, the best black teas I’ve ever had. I only got a sample but will definitely buy more than a sample next time. It brews a beautiful “gold” color. The aroma is mesmerizing, chocolate. The taste, as if you were putting a piece of 70% cacao dark chocolate directly in your mouth. Just a very little perfect hint of sweetness.

Flavors: Cacao, Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, Oak, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 7 OZ / 200 ML
MzPriss

I have some almost every day

tea-junkie

I do not blame you. I probably will too once I stock up on this. Which I will do sooner rather than later.

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84

So I am finally getting around to this shou which I purchased months ago. This is a great tasting shou. It is very strong but very smooth. Very woody with pretty much no fermentation to me. Rinsed this twice for 3 seconds. By the second steep,it was very dark. The aroma is very soothing. Like wet wood on a rainy day. A must have. I purchased a whole brick as should you if you enjoy great shou.

Flavors: Wet Wood, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 90 ML

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80

I opened the bag and notes of milk chocolate hit my nose immediately. I brewed this gong fu and I get cacao, malt, dark chocolate. I also got a surprising sweetness to it that I have not gotten from any other black tea I have had. Pretty decent black.

Flavors: Cacao, Dark Chocolate, Malt

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 7 g 200 OZ / 5914 ML

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82

These pearls are very tiny and really dark. I brewed this western and it has a very nice copper color to it. The pearls really expand. The taste is very smokey and woody, which lingers in your mouth for a while, with a slight sweetness to it. Pretty decent black (red) tea.

Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Smoke, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 3 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
SilasSteep

VERY smoky! A very “russian” style tea….they love their blacks SMOKY! I enjoy this one on occasion as well!

tea-junkie

It definitely is a good tea to enjoy on occasion!

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100

Wow! This tea is everything and much more than everyone has said. Pulled out my gaiwan and did 5g for 100ml. Let me tell you, I felt the effects almost immediately. I did 20+ steeps. One very short rinse and then very short steeps. The effects of this sheng are very potent yet you don’t think that based on its taste and texture. It does not feel like this young of a sheng. Very smooth and mellow. Not as dry as dry as other young Shengs I’ve had. It is a very well balanced sheng. Can’t say enough about this one. Do yourself a favor and get you some of this.

Preparation
5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
Liquid Proust

Pretending to have no read this :)

tea-junkie

You can pretend all you want my friend. You know you read this and all you are doing is depriving yourself of this amazing tea.

tea-junkie

You know you want it ;)

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So I received this tea as a freebie with my white2tea order. The little cubes are nicely compressed. They are not as tightly compressed as I thought. I gave it two 3 second rinses and it was already breaking up. I gave this 5 steeps starting with 10 seconds and adding 5 seconds with each steep. It was very light colored the first steep but really darken at the second steep. Still pretty dark at the 5th steep. It is a sweet shou. I also get a taste of dirt. As if I would have taken a hand full of dirt and stuffed my mouth. And surprisingly, it is great. Overall a great little shou. I used four grams for 100 ml.

Flavors: Dirt, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
Cwyn

I rinse these in cold water and then do two boiling rinses besides. I’m guessing these has some open storage at one point. Underneath the rinsing is a very clear cup. I stockpiled these.

tea-junkie

I did two boiling rinses as well. The open storage makes sense. They are good. I might just have to get some with my next order. I received 20g free and I used 4 for this session. So I have a feeling I will run through it pretty quickly.

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