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Wow! This is a truly delicious tea, and the description by Yunnan Sourcing is spot-on. The aroma is heady and I can immediately sense its assamic descent. Taste is rich, malty and sweet, like stewed stonefruit. Some astringency arose in the second steep, also greatly enjoyable. I’ll buy more for sure! Steepings #3 & 4 were 12 hr later and also satisfyingly tasty.

I received this packet as part of the “Smoky Tea Lovers Sampler Set” form YS, not because I particularly love smoky teas, but because I wanted to try some of the varieties available and see what was out there. These leaves were supposedly harvested in spring 2021, and so they’re just barely one year old. Nevertheless they were deep dark brown as dry leaf, and stayed dark brown through steeping. I’ve added a photo of the spent leaves. The tea liquor was a deep honey color. There could be no doubt that this tea was intentionally smoked over wooden fires. In the first steeping, I got an overwhelming fragrance of pine smoke very reminiscent of the aroma in my jar of smoked paprika. I was unable to smell anything else. Flavor wise, although I detected sweetness in the back of my mouth, the overwhelming flavor profile was as though I had been inhaling campfire smoke through my mouth for an hour. I didn’t really taste anything else, probably because the smoke residue deadens the sense of taste, and I actually developed a numbness on my tongue and the inside of my lips. I would only pair this tea with very strongly flavored foods, and I have a hard time imagining when I would want that level of smokiness except, perhaps, when eating meats. The second steeping was much less pungent and far less flavorful, and I see no reason to try a third steeping. They might as well have smoked wood shavings or forest leaf-litter to achieve an equivalent product. I just don’t like this and now I have to try to get the flavors out of my mouth. As bad as it is, I’d still drink it over rooibos. Maybe this will come in useful as a dry rub for oven roasted meats. I’ll have to try grinding some up.

Another smokey, raw pu’erh from YS. This one came as part of their “smoky tea lovers sampler set“ which I bought not because I particularly love smoky tea, but rather I am unfamiliar with it and wanted the experience! A sampler set seemed to be a good place to get that experience, especially if they are teas selected by lovers of smoke!

Well, this tea did not disappoint. Steeped to a golden hue (after 10s rinses in hot tap, then boiling spring, water). A great smoky flavor, soft mouth feel with low astringency, and a good lingering aftertaste. Clearly well aged, but without “humidity“ in the nose and no trace of fish, compost, or dirt on the tongue. This tea would stand up to, and complement, a bacon & egg breakfast, with the sweet smokiness echoing smoked bacon! By the third infusion, the leaves had opened up to reveal a dark green chop with a few stems, and the soup had transitioned to a honey-brown hue. Fourth infusion still had some fines at the bottom of the cup and the flavors had tempered—still smokey, but time to lengthen the steep time considerably.

Yup, this is smokey. And had bitterness & astringency in my first steep (after a rinse in hot tap water and another rinse for 10s in boiling water). Deep golden colored brew and very aromatic. The leaves were still quite green as you can see in the right-hand dish of the photo, which belies the teas youth and drier storage. By the 3rd steep, the smokiness had diminished but the astringency remained potent. Perhaps this tea will age to a smoother and sweeter brew in 10 or 20 more years, and if so, perhaps my heirs will be enjoying it.
UPDATE: I continued sipping this, now on infusion number 6 (five minutes). The bitterness and astringency have tempered, but the soup remains a beautiful, clear, deep golden color. Nice, round mouhfeel. Bumping up my rating by 5 pts. though the tea still needs more age. This, too, was part of the “smokey tea lovers sampler set” and I’m glad to have tried it.

NTT describes this Oolong as: “Bold | Earthy | Complex | Malt | Toasted Pecan | Brown Sugar” and I can partially agree. Definitely bold and complex, but I’m not getting earthiness (thankfully), nor do I get malt or brown sugar. There is a roasted flavor and aroma that is reminiscent of nuts which, I suppose, could be called pecan—but not a strong pecan. Maybe pecan shells. The oxidation is heavy and there in no grassy or buttery or honey flavor to my tongue, but the brew is surely tasty. Second steeping satisfied too. Overall just not exciting to me. I’ll finish off the bag and move on! Nevertheless, I was very happy to be able to try this offering from Nepal, and I have been enjoying a number of other Nepalese teas as well!

2013 Cha Yu Lin “Hua Mei” Hunan Tian Jian Tea. I have no idea what the name means, but I can attest that this is a dark tea. Both the leaf, which is rather stemmy, and the soup, which was clear and oak-brown in color. I’ve never tasted smoked peat, so I don’t know if I can concur with that part of the YS description, but I sure don’t get fruit or chocolate. Instead, the first impression in my initial three steeps was of seaweed, reminiscent of nori used to wrap sushi. Both in aroma and flavor. No compost or fishy notes, but definitely a taste of the ocean! No astringency or bitterness or undesirable notes, but nothing really appealing either. A longer 4th steep smelled faintly of dirty socks and both color and flavor were petering out. Not complex at all. No lingering flavor either. Someone put in the listing that this is a pu’erh? Okay….

Here we have a pretty uninspiring but drinkable 12 yr old puer with Taiwan aging. It’s a blend of ripe & raw. Not fishy or dank, pretty clean tasting. Not astringent, little bite, faint aroma. Steeped up as a bright golden infusion that has some complex woody notes and a lingering finish. Found a 1-cm black round seed floating in the pot. I enjoyed my 10g sample but wasn’t compelled to buy a full cake which is good since the cakes are now sold-out.

I believe a big part of this tea’s excellence comes from the terroir as well as the skill of the teamasters involved. Because another very similar tea (also sold by Tealyra) is called Black Beauty #8, which also comes from the Sun Moon Lake region. But Teapedia describes TTES #8 as “a assamica varietal from Jaipur (India, Assam)”. So a completely different cultivar, with very similar flavors. It is my second-favorite. The TTES is a formal research station, so their pedigree designations are authoritative.

So, yes, Brandy Oolong Ruby 18 is, in my estimation, outstanding. Please also find other tea notes listed for this tea under the company’s prior name, Tealux. This is also among the more expensive tea I’ve had, at $8/25g since I get only one pleasing steeping out of it, thus it rivals good pu’ers, on a per-cup basis. But it handily beats all of them in flavor and aroma! YMMV.