113 Tasting Notes
2nd day in a row of this.
I find that the main benefit of logging these tea notes is that it’s a reflection of a choice I’ve made to live slower.
2 teaspoons of this in a 225ml pot. 1st and 2nd steeps were quite tasty at 85C. I haven’t been timing them, just intuition. 3rd steep at 90C and it starts to lose flavour. I’ll do a 4th at 95C for longer.
I prefer the Premium Golden Monkey Black tea from Teavivre. That one, I steeped maybe 5 or 6 times into the night and it was still so lovely even when lighter.
My favourite perfume in the world utilizes sandalwood and vanilla. Burberry Classic, in case you were wondering.
Jumped on the opportunity to buy a 15 Year Aged Tieguanyin because it listed sandalwood and vanilla as prominent notes. Also, being new to aged teas, it fascinates me that people are so patient as to store a bunch of leaves for as long as this.
I can’t imagine putting anything aside for fifteen years and thinking so far ahead for something in the physical realm. And I know there are teas and wines people keep for decades and decades.
Anyway, brewed this in my roasted TGY yixing and I’m really enjoying it. Part of the enjoyment is knowing how old it is, haha.
I always feel like I have to overbrew roasted TGY to bring out that fruity tang unique to this varietal. Does anyone else know what I mean? Otherwise, it can taste a bit like water-logged wood to me.
The raisin note is quite enjoyable here, even though I don’t like raisins, the sweetness level is perfect with everything else going on. Also lists a marzipan note, but I haven’t tried marzipan.
I found this to be a worthwhile purchase.
Let me start off this review by saying that I’m not a giant fan of greener oolongs. I have found many to be obnoxiously floral yet thin. Also, they make me dizzy the way green tea does sometimes (except for matcha as it’s more processed and therefore removes some of the ‘freshness’ which causes dizziness in certain people.)
This wasn’t bad. First four steeps were creamy with a decent, lasting aroma. Nothing distinguishes this Jin Guan Yin too much from the average green oolong, only that everything tastes more balanced.
However, after four steeps it seemed to disintegrate into some overly savoury, fishy, grassy flavours which totally put me off.
If I discount that last steep, it wasn’t bad, but I can’t see myself reaching often for this over my beloved roasted oolongs.
Having actually had a lemon macaron before in France, I had high expectations for this.
Butiki hits the mark. So lovely and light and refreshing; clearly a good white tea base too. I also appreciate that this is very, very old and has been sitting in my cupboard for a few years. Added flavouring diminishes with time so I imagine a fresh blend of this would send me to heaven.
And I don’t even usually drink white teas.
Sounds obvious, but steeping vessels really make all the difference. Especially for oolongs, I’ve found.
The first four steeps of this were in a glass teapot and while it was clearly a good quality tea, it didn’t have the complexity I expect from an oolong as old as this. To be fair, my only point of reference for aged teas is the 9 Years Aged Da Hong Pao from YS so perhaps I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Fifth to tenth steeps I transferred the leaves into a new, previously unused and unseasoned yixing and the teapot brought out so much additional sweetness and warmth. Perhaps it was the minerals in the clay. Perhaps it was just being able to keep the temperature closer to 100C which worked best for the tea.
As the first five steepings of this were not in an optimal vessel, perhaps I missed out on a lot of interesting tastes because this ended up a little disappointing. The best TGY I’ve ever had is actually from a yum cha place near me, which is so crazy but I think I prefer that one to this.
This tea tasted like an above average roasted TGY with all the notes described by Verdant, but the one flavour I enjoyed specifically was that of Thai sticky rice.
Will report back again when I brew this in a yixing all the way and adjust my rating later.
Sipdown.
I brewed this many times over the course of sigh 48 hours. It was the very last of the package and I just can’t afford to rebuy it.
Very sad. And slightly regretful that I chucked out the leaves, even at that point. Like maybe I could have given them one last shot as a cold brew?
The hunt continues for an affordable fruity DHP.
