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One of the six black teas included in the W2T May 2016 club package. I don’t normally enjoy black tea too much, but this one was quite good.

Dry leaves had a vibrant and fruity aroma. More tangy fruitiness once the leaves were wet, along with a bit of smoke. The smoke never showed up in the flavor however. I used 5g leaf in a 100mL gaiwan with boiled water and steep times of 12s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 1m.

The tea was a beautiful reddish orangey-brown color. Early steeps had floral sweet front with a nice and fruity finish that lingered in the mouth for a few minutes after the sip. If I had to describe the fruit, I’d probably say raisins or red grapes. A couple steeps in, a bit of a woody taste developed, which soon transitioned into a kind of malty sweetness, which replaced the floral notes. There was a small amount of bitterness in the first two steeps, but not a lot. The third steep had the most complete and deep feeling flavor to me. Mouth feel was not particularly strong, though it was slightly slick in the mouth. This tea dropped off after around 5 steeps, which was surprising, mostly because I’ve been drinking almost all puerh and oolong lately. The last couple steeps had malty sweetness with some faint, higher notes – remnants of the fruity, tangy, floral aspects – complementing it. One of the best black teas I’ve had, and looking forward to the others included in the package.

Tried it with 200 degree water as well, and it was much the same but a bit smoother with more pronounced fruity and tangy flavors. The bitterness I previously experienced was also gone, but that may have been because I was a bit more careful with the early steeps the second time around.

Used 4g in 60mL gaiwan with boiled water.

Had to be pretty careful with steep times early in the session, as this tea can get bitter pretty easily. This tea went for a pretty good number of steeps, probably around 15 as mentioned on TU’s site. Started out with bitter hay/herbal notes with a sweet honey huigan and decent cha qi. As the session went on, the flavors flip-flopped, and honey sweetness came more to the front with a mouth-drying (not particularly bitter) finish. I thought this was pretty good, but the mouth-drying effect did get a little bit intense in the later steeps, so I might try the 2009 version they have and see if that has softened any.

The tea had a thick mouthfeel throughout the session.

Bought from a reddit tea sale. Used 3g in a 60mL gaiwan with 185 degree water.

Got a lot of floral and some vegetal flavors with a nice creamy texture – not super thick, but noticeable mouth feel. Pretty sweet tasting as well. Leaves seem like they’re pretty high quality, good vibrant green color and not too beat up or anything. In the later steeps I started getting a bit of a crisp, almost fruity note – may be what some have referred to as apple. This is my first Eco-Cha tea – may have to make an order with them at some point.

Got this with Dark Matter 2016. Used my whole 4.2g in my 60mL gaiwan with boiled water. I enjoyed this tea, but I continue to believe that I just don’t like shou as much as sheng or oolongs. Used more than I often would for a ripe, so I kept the steep times down a bit longer than usual, sub 10 seconds for the first 4 or 5 steeps. I only did one rinse, so the first steep was a little bit funky. By third steep, funk was mostly gone.

In the aroma of the wet leaves and the first 2 steeps I got hints of a sour almost fruity note that was barely there at all, but mostly this tea was an earthy, creamy sweet tea. Also got some mineral notes throughout most sessions and some brown sugar coming out in the final few steeps. Leaves were pretty small, but seemed mostly intact. Started out strong and dropped off quickly after around 9 steeps. Seemed like a good shou to me, but not sure I’d be inclined to pick anymore up myself.

My first genmaicha. Wasn’t a tea category I was particularly excited to try, as it seemed weird. Took advantage of the Zen Tea sale to pick up a small sample for almost nothing. I used 2.5g for 150mL water at 160 degrees. Steeps of 1m, 30s, 90s, 5ish.

Super roasty toasty aroma. The flavor was roasty and creamy sweet. I didn’t taste much of any vegetal flavor, though I think it was there. Maybe I had more rice bits than sencha bits in this scoop or something. Not sure if it’s something I’ll want to keep around, but it’s interesting to try and was definitely not bad.

Had this with 4g and boiling water in my 60mL gaiwan. I was worried it’d be pretty bitter, but I hardly found it to be so at all, probably in part due to the fact I kept steep time low for the first 4-5.

Early steeps had a powerful, woody, kind of nutty taste with a bit of a bitter finish. As the session went on, the bitter finish turned into a mostly sweet taste, but the tea did have a decent mouth-drying effect. Flavors remained mostly the same throughout the session, so not particularly interesting, but was not at all unpleasant.

Bought a cake of this with my first W2T order. It’s a solid daily drinker. Tasty and simple. I prefer it with boiling water and 3g in my 60mL gaiwan, as it makes the texture a little nicer and is still almost completely without bitterness. Liquor is a nice and vibrant yellow color.

I get little hints of stonefruit in the first 1-2 steeps sometimes, but mostly this tea is sweet hay/grass flavors. At times I also notice some soft floral notes. It has a nice creamy/viscous texture as well. Finish has a bit of a nice tang to it at times as well.

I’ve been using this tea as a baseline to play around with different waters. I got a Brita filter pitcher because the filter on my fridge is old, hasn’t been changed in forever, and is no longer produced (though it dispenses water I find to be quite tasty for tea). Water from the sinks in my house have a distinct, almost bitter flavor to them, which the brita filter cuts slightly, but doesn’t get rid of. They’ve been pretty bad for making tea. Spring water from the grocery store (in a gallon bottle) was a bit better, but I still tasted the water too much. Interestingly, other than my fridge water, the best I’ve had so far is water from the hose spigot outside the house run through the Brita. I’ve still got some other sources to try out, and I’m thinking Little Walk will continue to be my faithful and reliable companion.

Got this in a recent YS order and tried it for the first time today. I was dismayed when I opened the bag, because it smelled like wet, almost rotten leaf pile. The only other tea I’ve tried that smelled a bit like this was almost unpalatable to me. For this I used 6g in a 100mL gaiwan with boiled water. I did two rinses because I was nervous of wetness. The liquid of this tea was remarkably clear and an orangish brown color. It got more red as the session went on. I did steeps of 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. I almost certainly could have gotten more but I sort of had to rush through the session.

The flavor was dominantly wet wood, but wasn’t particularly unpleasant. The smell which had put me off in the beginning became a bit more alluring as I drank the tea, maybe just because I knew the taste wasn’t nasty. Around the third steep a sort of softer/creamy flavor started to creep in on the aftertaste, and the next steep reminded me a good bit of shou. The next one (the last I got to) had a bit of a metallic taste along with wet wood, feeling like it may have been dying, I don’t know. Glad I have 50g of this to mess around with.

I haven’t had many Yunnan Blacks, but this is my favorite so far. I liked it better than the Golden Monkey I got from YS. I used 3g in a 60mL gaiwan with boiled water.

This was not complex but was pretty tasty. Malty, kind of chocolately notes for the most part. Maybe honey as well. I didn’t get any of the fruity or smoky flavors I got from Golden Monkey – which is nice, because I didn’t find the smoke in that particularly enjoyable. I was prepared for a good bit more bitterness just based on what I have heard about purple tea, but this one had basically none – in fact the taste was pretty delicate. This tea did not last for a great number of steeps, maybe 6 good ones and a few subpar ones. Good tea for the low price, especially combined with the sale that was going on when I bought it.