Old Tree Black Tea - Premium (2018)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Campfire, Cinnamon, Floral, Flowers, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Nutmeg, Orange, Raisins, Rose, Tangy, Tobacco, Umami, Wood, Almond, Cream, Grass, Green Wood, Honey, Lemon Zest, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pear, Pine, Red Apple, Smoke, Straw
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 3 oz / 94 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

8 Images

0 Want it Want it

1 Own it Own it

3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Backlog. The final tea of my 3-year spread of Old Ways Tea’s Old Tree Black teas. This tea reminded me of an old leather couch in a study. Pipe tobacco and raisins, malt, florals, tangy. ...” Read full tasting note
  • “(from notes August 18, 2019) This morning, I treated myself to a new tea-to-me vendor, Old Ways Tea. I made the “mistake” of brewing this for 60s at 200 deg F. The resulting tea was strong. It had...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “This was another of my sipdowns from last week. I remember finishing what I had of this tea the day after I finished the sample pouch of Old Ways Tea’s 2017 Huang Guan Yin-Electric Roast. Their...” Read full tasting note
    80

From Old Ways Tea

2018 premium black tea from my cousin’s garden in Masu. 2018 has brought a good harvest and we are excited to offer this tea once again.

Lighter fragrance with strong mouth feel and overall roundness. Brew it strong or weak, the tea can deliver.

About Old Ways Tea View company

Company description not available.

3 Tasting Notes

1541 tasting notes

Backlog. The final tea of my 3-year spread of Old Ways Tea’s Old Tree Black teas.

This tea reminded me of an old leather couch in a study. Pipe tobacco and raisins, malt, florals, tangy. Interesting unexpected umami. Glorious silky texture later turning oily with mouth-watering minerality and a complementary light astringency that opened the door for a strong returning sweetness. Explosive yet contemplative energy, warming and cooling. Six great infusions.

Each year from 2016 to 2018 was markedly different, each with their own strengths.
2016 — complexity and strength of flavors, lingering aftertaste, longevity
2017 — roundedness and daily drinkability
2018 — strength of brew, structured body/mouthfeel and pleasing energy
All delicious. All aromatic and engaging.

Flavors: Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Campfire, Cinnamon, Floral, Flowers, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Nutmeg, Orange, Raisins, Rose, Tangy, Tobacco, Umami, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85
60 tasting notes

(from notes August 18, 2019)

This morning, I treated myself to a new tea-to-me vendor, Old Ways Tea.
I made the “mistake” of brewing this for 60s at 200 deg F. The resulting tea was strong. It had some amazingly darker robust flavors — Moss, earth, and slightly smokey flavor. The mouthfeel was amazingly smooth and silky with a clean finish. It was like how silk and velvet lay on your skin.

It was good but others reviews mention other flavors that I wanted to taste. (Also, I can’t compare this to any previous years, as some reviewers seem to indicate that previous years were better…)

I backed off the brew time because I wasn’t getting a lot of high notes so I brewed at 45 seconds. Flavors dropped down to tobacco, chocolate with an amazing cooling effect like ginger. The cha Qi fills the mouth and throat then the head. The mouthfeel is exactly the same.

Subsequent steepings had creamy textures and flavor of orange peel.

It’s an AMAZINGLY COMPLEX tea. Probably the best of example of a Wu Yi Black Tea. The way you brew it is going to dictate the flavor profile — none of which are bad but only based on your preference. This tea is a fine Scotch. The mouthfeel of silk and velvet is worth the price of admission.

This is a Tea you want to sit back and enjoy by itself. I’ll be ordering more.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
1048 tasting notes

This was another of my sipdowns from last week. I remember finishing what I had of this tea the day after I finished the sample pouch of Old Ways Tea’s 2017 Huang Guan Yin-Electric Roast. Their Premium Old Tree Black Teas are usually great offerings. I recall the 2016 offering being fantastic and the 2017 offering being very good, but not quite as good as the 2016. This tea marked yet another step down in terms of perceived quality. It was still a more or less very good offering, but it did not have the depth that made the other two teas so enjoyable.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of malt, pine, roasted almond, cinnamon, baked bread, straw, honey, and nutmeg. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted peanut and green wood. The first infusion brought out a subtle smoky scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of malt, baked bread, roasted peanut, roasted almond, and butter that were chased by hints of green wood, pine, nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey. The following infusions gradually brought out aromas of minerals, orange zest, leather, butter, lemon zest, and grass as well as stronger smoke aromas. Notes of smoke and straw came out in the mouth with a slightly amplified cinnamon presence as well as notes of minerals, leather, lemon zest, orange zest, grass, and cream. I also detected hints of brown sugar, raisin, red apple, and pear. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized notes of minerals, malt, baked bread, green wood, orange zest, butter, roasted peanut, and lemon zest that were underscored by fleeting hints of grass, straw, roasted almond, pine, leather, cream, and smoke.

This tea shared many characteristics with its counterparts from the previous two years, but in my opinion, it lacked some of the quirks that made those teas so appealing. It also lacked the smooth, cooling finish that was especially enjoyable and pronounced in the 2016 tea. Overall, it did not come off as being as deep or as captivating as the previous offerings. Still, it was a mostly very enjoyable black tea and just suffered in comparison to those older teas. I don’t regret trying it at all, though I would by lying if I were to state that I am not hoping that Old Ways Tea’s 2019 Old Tree Black Tea will represent something of a step back up in terms of quality.

Flavors: Almond, Almond, Bread, Bread, Brown Sugar, Brown Sugar, Butter, Butter, Cinnamon, Cinnamon, Cream, Cream, Grass, Grass, Green Wood, Green Wood, Honey, Honey, Leather, Leather, Lemon Zest, Lemon Zest, Malt, Malt, Mineral, Mineral, Nutmeg, Nutmeg, Orange Zest, Orange Zest, Peanut, Peanut, Pear, Pear, Pine, Pine, Raisins, Raisins, Red Apple, Red Apple, Smoke, Smoke, Straw, Straw

Preparation
5 g 3 OZ / 88 ML
derk

The 2016 was stellar. Wow.

Jade

This reminds me…I have to post my own review. I never tasted the previous versions so I can’t compare, but I did enjoy this particular tea.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.