Siam Tee Shop

Gongfu, 6 grams. 125 ml gaiwan. Preheated.
Previous attempt was western with 4 grams, but too hot water used — bitter, due to human error.
Preheated gaiwan aroma was fruity. But I haven’t been expecting white grapes. This one was present in first two steeps too. Along with tropical fruits, papaya, lychee maybe, quite sweet and delicious. Smooth mouthfeel with long aftertate, where it takes more of “tea” notes as a little tannin there.

Third steep, was again to human error, a little bit more bitter. It seems that I devoted all the focus in the work today (preparing a shipment of highly flammable liquid) and can’t focus on the tea. The tropics are gone as well, but it is still pretty flavourful; somewhere between green and white teas in terms of flavours, meadow, herbaceous.

Following steeps were similar, until it was just gone. Worth 6-7 steeps. Be careful of water temperature, 75°C is absolute limit.

Third of 7 teas from SiamTeas Clubbox January ’23 – Tuyet Shan

Decided for western steeping of this Vietnamese shu-puerh, but I am already looking forward for proper eastern steeping.

I did two steeps, first with 90°C water and for two minutes only; second one was with almost boiling water and 4 minutes long.

Both were equally good, but I liked first one a bit more. It had got an earthy aroma like a cheap shu when dry (my W2T teas which arrived today don’t have that smell); but when brewed, the loose leaves instead of chunks, it got again that interesting red fruits taste and aroma, alongside with minerality and chocolate notes. I took a piece of dark chocolate with raspberry pieces and it was almost the same, but tea is liquid and that chocolate is solid.

A little bit of creaminess would make this tea a solid daily drinker, although maybe a bit more expensive.

I am again, looking forward to try more of those Snow Shan teas. They seem to be interesting, especially when they are prepared in Chinese style. Pu-erh or oolong seems to be better than “western” styles like black tea which was sooo boring. Rating on hold

Second of 7 teas from SiamTeas Clubbox January ’23 – Tuyet Shan, prepared western; with 5 grams / 300 ml. Gongfu steeping with remaining 5 grams next time.

Honestly, I am disappointed with this tea. Prepared similar to suggested parameters, yet it was dismal. The visual of the leaf is perfect, many golden tips, wiry, twisted leaves, some black, though they are not shiny, but that’s fine.

I was ready for “At this, the most coining features are malty and cocoa notes and a pronounced, but nevertheless pleasant roast aroma.” but it was just malty, and somehow flat. I will borrow a note from Courtney with tea with same name, but from Teerausch: " I wouldn’t say this is anything special, but not bad to drink as I work on school stuff."

Yep, that’s it. Nothing special, a nice daily drinker, but that’s all. A dismal after such unique and interesting oolong from very same leaves. And nothing as chocolate or roasty here. What’s worse, second — 4 minute steep didn’t helped it develop better tastes. It was actually almost the same as the first. Hmm…

First of 7 teas from SiamTeas Clubbox January ’23 – Tuyet Shan

I vaguely remember having some Shan Tuyet — Red Buffalo oolong, but also some other Vietnamese teas. But it seems it was pre-Steepster time for me (I have been on r/tea pretty much active), because no notes for those teas here. Also I have decided for whole Tuyet Shan CLUBBOX, becaue it will be interesting example how different processing can make different teas, though used same plant from same region.

Why I took oolong at first? Well, I was in mood for oolong. And this is also Wuyi style oolong — something I have so very limited experience with.

The leaves look amazing. It’s not rolled into small balls, instead it is long and sharp, wiry. After adding 5 grams to preheated 125 ml gaiwan, it was very strongly mineral, almost licking a stone or cave aroma (somebody wrote it somewhere before and I still remember that) feel and I was afraid it won’t be my jam.

I have decided to steep it as suggested by vendor. “That is, 3-4g/100ml might steep at a sequence of 1-1-2-3 minutes for a total of 4 infusions. At this, each infusion surprises with an individual taste pattern of its own.” which is quite interesting, as I tend to do first steeps short, maybe even 10 seconds long. I did completely no rinse, because there was absolutely no dust to be flushed away.

I did 60 seconds long steep and well, I am not used for such long steep with boiling water. My fingers are a little sore from very hot gaiwan, but it’s fine, they need to get used to. I got also very dark liquid, with orange-red colour, with red fruits aroma, mostly I think about raspberries, with they tart aftertaaste, with sweet note, but it’s fruit sweetness, not sugar, stevia whatsoever. Mouthfeel is very long, smooth and actually no minreal notes to be found! How aroma of dry leaf can be misleading!

2nd steep was again one minute long.
This time it is with we leaves already, so I assume flavours will be very similar, but stronger. But anything can change, so I wouldn’t be surprised to notice other things. I took a sniff on wet leaves in gaiwan and it is still mineral, with red fruits. Mouthfeel is great, very coating, but also so smooth, with flavours towards mineral part of the flavour wheel, however, I would rather say slightly nutty, also peanuts here. Certainly it’s less sweet, a bit burnt-like. Aftertaste and mouthfeel are long again.

Third steep, 2 minutes! Isn’t that too much?
I guess not. It leans again to different flavour profile. Now it is sweet again, a little bit like licorice root? It’s a bit sticky too. Flavours are a bit more woody, with sweet aftertaste, aroma is weaker mineral from dry leaf. Yes, in flavours it is woody-herbaceous combo. Oak wood with hops. That doesn’t make any sense! That long mouthfeel is amazing about this tea!

4th steep, 3 minutes. Even longer? Fine!
It tastes like washed out all other steeps together. Not bad, of course, but much weaker level of flavours and aromas. Mouthfeel remains long, smooth, almost velvet like.

A sipdown! (M: 7, Y: 7)!

I have used last 4 grams in gongfu session.

Well, it’s not so good tea for this preparation method, as only two or three steeps were worth it and other ones were flat and with “brewed-out” taste.

First steep was very similar to French press method I mentioned it previous tasting method. Quite fruity, red currants with a little tart aroma. The flavour was round, very low in tannin notes and little honey-ish.

Second steep was different, it was very malty, with some robust aftertaste, a little bit like an earthy notes, however in mouth it was again round and not so rough.

Third steep was a weaker second steep. And from fourth one (and fifth one) I got absolutely nothing, but a tannic water.

I wasn’t sure which tea to choose today in the evening, so I let my brother decide. He picked this one (the second was Dhara Black) and I have brewed it in French press. I have decided to fill my cup after 2-3 minutes, as suggested by the vendor.

Honestly, I am quite tired, as I have been helping my cousin to move all day, but the feeling being helpful is priceless.

I will return to the tea really fast: the color of the brew is light yellow, clear and very nice to watch. But, the tea is rather about the aromas and mostly flavours. Aroma of dry leaf, but as well as the tea in the mug is fruity. I am not able to recognize any exact ones.

Flavour is honey-ish, smooth and slightly malty. It is very round taste, but it feels a little bit flat. Certainly, it’s low in tannins and not bitter at all. Maybe longer steeping or different steeping method could make the tea more complex.

In conclusion, for now I will say it is nice, smooth and easydrinking tea. Daily drinker.

Taking a day off is fun, until you return to job and… you work overtime every day for 2 hours. That’s my week.

I have arrived home later than I was expecting and I wanted to. But I never left work undone.

Anyway, today I had a mood for oolong. Or actually, just gongfu brewing something. And this tea sounded like a perfect choice. An oolong, so certainly good for gongfu, and a new experience. Thai oolong. I remember I had one before, it was something with “red” in name and I think it was from What-cha. And now I am too lazy to search in my history.

Anyway, Thailand isn’t a place famous for oolongs, afterall. But when I see it in the offer of Siam Tee Shop I have decided to pick 20 grams and trying it out.

Dry leaf have an aroma of lemon zest. Pithy, strong lemon zest. Almost sour, hints of sourdough a bit as well.

I have done a rinse, very quick one. This woke up lemon aroma even more, mixed with touch of vegetals and florals.

As I have been steeping this, without precise timing, with around 90°C water in thermos (so maybe it was cooling down a bit during the session), I got aromas from very lemony, through vegetal, with smooth and floral in the end of the sessions.

The notes of flavours are quite similar to me, while first steeps were quite astringent, quite throat shrinking feel and maybe even a bit drying. Later steeps were fruity-sweet and smooth, with hints of minerality and earthy notes as well.

It is amazing how this tea develops and one must be patient to get through first steeps which are indeed quite “hard” to enjoy. But afterwards getting rewarded with smooth, fruity-floral notes with mineral-earthy undernote, is great. It wont be an oolong that I would crave often, as I have found I prefer more roasted/fruity ones from very first sips, but those 20 grams I would finish within a few months I think.

Two celebrations today! It is my 4th Steepsterversary (how time flies?) and tasting note 1300!

Yes, I was looking for a special tea today and this tea is definitely on purpose, though I had no idea that today would be tea-mail day! If it wasn’t delivered today, I would pick maybe some Georgian tea from group order. Anyway, this was a free sample in. Thank you!

Anyway, to the tea. The dry leaves are huge, twisted, black with golden. Rolled and prepared handmade in my opinion. The aroma of them are spices, cocoa and roasty. A little bit of malt, probably as it is from Assamica bushes or trees.

I have very limited experience with Thai teas. I remember trying some, though. I think those were red oolongs from What-cha, before Brexit.

When brewed, a lovely aroma hit my nose. It was quite “dark”, roasty and spicy. I would say black pepper and maybe hints of cloves. Please note, it is orthodox tea without any additions, with clean glass and strainer! Amazing. Simply, amazing!

As I was sipping, I have noticed very similar flavour profile to aroma profile. Again, those spices, roasted notes, but with one more flavour — coffee (mentioned on their website too), and it was a bit drying. Also, cacao notes were there, or maybe it was all together a chocolate with cacao nibs in flavour.

I really would like to see others opinion on this tea. I wonder how my tasting buds are correct, because it felt they were fooling me sometimes.

Technical stats:
Two steeps, each around 3-4 minutes long.
300 ml glass cup with plastic strainer
5 grams of tea

Luckily, I have loose leaf tea to the rescue today! After two, mediocre-worse teas at work today, which are nearly finished, but never took that much attention to them, I took one loose leaf which I still had on the desk as I still haven’t put it into correct box.

As I was measuring (recommended) 5 grams, I noticed long, wiry, multicolored leaves. Certainly handmade, because they had different hues of brown/black. Also there were some light ones. Sadly, no trichomes… but I am not even sure if it’s possible :) — this was for Skysamurai.

Anyway, after first steep — 3 minutes long, I got very dark copper color, reminding me a forest honey. The vendor says it has got coffee flavour and I have to agree combined with mild spicy notes. In aftertaste I notice also some roasty notes and I would love to see nutty flavours, but they aren’t here. In the nose it is raher lighter, woody and little floral.

Second steep — 5 minutes long have even darker colour, with stronger coffee and roasted flavour notes. The spices are weaeker and instead roasted flavour is stronger. Aroma stays very similar.

Brewed leaves show it is produced from medium sized leaves, usually torn in half and there is quite a lots of stems there. After those two sessions, aroma of it is strong tannic and bitter, but the brewed tea show no bitterness or astringency.

I know I’ve been brutal with heicha. And I broke my thermos. So never having patience for kungfu ritual, I settled for iron teapot from tkmaxx. Now this is my first experience with steaming chunks of sheng inside of it. Being a lazy beaver, I fill up empty vessel with boiling water and pour the rest on top of it. I leave it for few minutes, empty and place the victim inside and cover with iron lid. It is a torture. Or maybe sauna for microbiological bacteria. I think they are sending distress signal to comets passing withing few light years away. But the only entity answering call is me getting from nephrite car seat and putting another haden kettle on, this time with silver ionized water. It is a battle lost to fluoride. My teeth don’t know any better. After all, all the fillings are buzzing from 5g soup the whole neighbourhood is steeping in. What a trip.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-USTDmNOgR0

Sipdown. Western, 2min, 200F & 2 min, 190F
I liked this better done western than gong-fu. The overall flavor smoothed out. Woody, roast, barely sweet. It got sweeter as it cooled, but also more roasted. So not a plus, better drink it hot.

Part of the Liquid Proust’s Oolong group buy 2017:
Western, 200F, 2min
Heavy roast, hazelnut shells, cocoa shell, sour, gets somewhat sweeter as it cools. This is too much roast for me. Leaves don’t unravel well and seem to be more burnt than anything else. I don’t want to spend much time with this tea. Super heavy roast that’s not well done.

My first proper Oolong. This tea makes you realize how important the smell is to the taste of the tea: I usually drink tea from a thermos, which basically eliminates the smell. Without the smell, you taste smooth cocoa, and a bit malt and honey, butterscotch. Opening the lid, however, reveals the raisins and apple pie scent on the nose, rather a sweet finish. The tea is quite soft and smooth, makes me think of grandmother’s milk-and-honey.

I really don’t get Dong Ding. I don’t hate it, but every one I’ve had so far has been just a little boring. I think it has to do with the charcoal roasting more than anything else. The result of this roasting is a generic roasted peanut flavor at best, and lighter fluid flavors at worst.

Doing a few side-by-side comparisons between roasted and unroasted versions of Taiwanese (or Taiwanese-style, as the case may be) oolongs, the unroasted versions were substantially better. Better flavors, more depth, more complexity.

Anyway, that said, I don’t really know where to place this one. In terms of Dong Ding, I think it’s pretty good. The aftertaste is pretty tasty and has some staying power. But in-mouth, it’s pretty boring. But, like I’ve said, I found this to be true with my other roasted Dong Ding experiences too.

In terms of the roast, I don’t really think it’s too bad on this one; there are a few hints of lighter fluid, but overall, it’s really just a charcoaly, nutty sort of experience.

In the end, I found myself gulping the tea just to get to the aftertaste. Not a whole lot to explore in the tea liquor itself.
*
Dry leaf: raw pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, raw walnut, roast peanut. In preheated vessel – sweet char notes like charred green vegetables, some notes of charcoal.

Smell: charcoal, lighter fluid, bittersweet green herbal

Taste:
Arrival – roast nut/peanut, charcoal
Development – does not develop – same nut and charcoal notes. At times some pleasant sourness (tart raspberry) arrives and fades.
Finish – fruit sweetness arrives and some creaminess develops
Aftertaste – lemongrass, bittersweet citrus, tart berry

From Liquid Proust’s 2017 Regional Oolong sampler

I steeped this gong-fu style, which I don’t usually do for oolong. It came out so well, I will have to do it more often.

Many of the teas in the sampler have been too heavily roasted for me. I realized that my taste in oolong has been compressed into those teas in the mid-roast range. I’m not crazy about green oolongs, or heavy roasts. Having said that, this tea hit my sweet spot. It had quite a bit of roast, but I was still able to taste the underlying tea.

The first two steeps (10s) were pleasant and toasty, with herbal notes. The roasted, almost burnt, flavors were stronger in the second steep, but I can still detect the tea behind the roast. Nice finish. Surprising amount of cha qi. 6th steep (30s): Still potent, though more in the nose and especially the finish than in the taste. Rich and toasty with a hint of spice caramel.

I got this in the LiquidProust Regional Oolong Group Buy 2017.
Let me first say that I have come to really enjoy Dong Dings. Or at least I thought. I’m not sure what makes a DD-Oolong a DD-Oolong but I can’t stand this tea. I only infused it twice (plus a rinse) before giving up.

I did 4.5 grams in 150 ml gaiwan and probably about 190-195 degrees for 25 seconds.

It taste very medicinal like drinking oolong flavored cough syrup. There are some nutty notes and some sort of floral notes but overall it taste like something you take when you’re sick. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad quality tea, it just doesn’t work for me.

I received this from the LiquidProust Regional Oolong Group Buy 2017.

The dry leaf (very tight almost black rolled balls) smells like a middle ground between a strong rock and an alishan oolong with a nice roast but not overly so a slight sweetness also comes through. In a good oolong mood today, I decided to brew up 6g in my 200ml tempered glass teapot with 30 second infusions and 190F water.

The teapot lid smells strongly of honey roasted peanuts and the wet leaves smell like cracker jacks. The liquor is a very transparent light copper brown and smells of roasted edamame. It has a pleasant roasted vegetable umami flavor with a sweet almost vidalia onion lasting sweetness. The tea is smoother than it’s aroma led me to believe with a delicate mouth-feel and noticeable cooling afterwards.

The second infusion is noticeably darker as the tightly rolled tea is able to unfurl in the teapot. The flavor profile moves into more nutty territory, reminding me of roasted chestnuts, and the mouth feel is a bit more oily. The third infusion on is more of the same with the roast dying off a bit more. I stretched it out to six infusions overall.

This was an enjoyable tea that was a worthwhile addition to the group buy as the flavor is akin to other oolongs but still sets itself apart, and shows its terrior.

I’ve almost finished my 100g bag of this without writing a tea review. In honesty I wasn’t overly keen on this tea but it came in handy for those awkward times that I want tea but have no idea which tea to have. That is the reason I have it today actually, after this cup I have one mugs worth of leaf left. I’m thankful I chose this tea today because when I sat down my cat Ollie jumped onto me for fuss and he lay in my arms for 15 or so minutes. All that while my tea was steeping, but the good thing about this tea is it’s very forgiving. Most black teas would have to be thrown away after such a long steep but this is still mild and unoffensive.

It’s slightly fruity (like dates) mixed with dry chestnut and toasted wood. It’s extremely light, even after that long steep, which makes it easy to drink. There is also a sweetness coming from the date fruit character that becomes slightly sour in the after taste before leaving a dry finish.

It’s not a bad tea, it’s just not my favourite and honestly once it’s gone I will probably forget what it was like. It was suitable as an everyday tea and is easy to transport to work etc when the mood struck. I do find on the whole that Thai teas tend to be fruity and light in comparison to Chinese and Indian black teas which are much darker. If I had to liken this to anything then it would probably be similar to a mild Darjeeling but without the muscatel notes.

It taste good i dring in the morning before work

Just pouring in the water created a beautiful rice aroma that was strong enough to fill my kitchen and living room. Wow, it’s making me salivate!

Once steeped a yellow tea liquid is produced with the aforementioned rice aroma. If someone were to blindfold me and ask me to guess what it was by scent I would say it was a bowl of rice. There is also the same sweetness and toasted notes from it’s raw form.

The first few sips are interesting…I can detect a toasted grass, milky, floral Oolong but by it’s side is a sweet yet thickly moreish rice flavour. The after taste is a lingering thick (almost stodgy) rice note that has coated the whole of my tongue. A few more sips and it has an added sour note though honestly it’s not for long. I have noticed a slight dryness however which becomes noticeable in the after taste which frankly feels even more like I’m eating rice.

Ok so as rice heavy as this tastes it still does not take much away from the Jin Xuan base which manages to hold it’s own. This I am pleased with, if you’re going to drink Jin Xuan then you should really be tasting it.

Half a cup in and the dryness has increased again to a point that I have a cotton dry tongue. Not pleasant but the lingering after taste is making up for it. It’s still consistent though in strength and flavour from those first few sips.

For a longer review and more information please view the blog: http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/05/17/premium-cha-khao-hom-thai-rice-tea-siam-tee/

Opening the packet and taking a quick sniff reveals a mild mixed fruit scent. Further inspection shows very large leaves that are: black, curly, long, thinly rolled and are dark black with some golden tips present. Spreading the mixture out also exposes a couple of large fruit pieces. A closer sniff-spection adds sweet wood to the mild fruit tone.

Steeping Parameters: 5g of blend. Boiling water. 320ml vessel. 3-4 Minute Steep.

Once steeped the tea liquid is amber with a red hue and bares a sweet, strawberry fruit scent with undertones of wood and sour malt.

The first few sips reveal delicate yet sweet fruit notes with some astringency and a sour malt background. The after taste is sweet and fruity whilst not being too overpowering. The fruit is coming through as strawberry sweet but cranberry sour/tart.

As it cools the sour malt comes through a little more but the after taste is fruity and it lingers with the malt, adding some dryness to it all. Perhaps slightly perfumed over all but in a nice contrast to the malt.

The rest of the cup remained rather consistent in terms of strength and flavour. I know I bigged up Siam Tee at the start of my review and while this is not my favourite blend it is still a good job. In terms of quality they are one of the best available. No broken or finely chopped leaves here! The black base is stronger than the fruit but that is to my preference, with such a good quality black tea I want to be able to taste it. So think of this as a black tea with added fruit flavours rather than a fruit tea that happens to contain black leaves.

More info: http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/05/11/hillside-black-tea-blend-siam-tee/

Dry leaves, unpacked, light aroma of nuts. Wet leaves smell of cigarettes, flowers, smoke. Similar notes during tasting, with cigarette flavor being dominant, but overall a bland tea. Medium body, slight astringency lingers, no sourness, very slightly sweet. A long lasting star anise flavor lingers in the back of the throat.

Just finished a tea share and it was certainly a welcome and unique addition. I’ve never had purple wild, and it had a very interesting flavor profile. Leaf packets as expected – deep purple in about 1/3 of leaves. Aroma, even of the dry, is extremely pungent fruity. First steep was heavy sweet fruity – something like lychee/mangosteen and grassy. Medium mouthfeel. Aftertaste continued the trend with more lychee and less grass. Second steep was waning in flavor, and the third was very light.

I got a sample of this quite a while ago. These little pearls expand a LOT so… this tea came out very very strong, but that’s not a bad thing! There’s no funky should’ve-rinsed-the-tea-first aftertaste. (I’m lazy, who has time to rinse their tea? I know, I don’t deserve the tea I drink.)

This the first tieguanyin I’ve had where I could actually taste the smokiness! Usually I’m like, suuuuuure, smoky… uhuh. Nope, this one’s got it in a profound, delicious way!

There’s a little bit of bitterness, probably because I didn’t read the package properly (there’s no English, really, just Chinese or German) so I didn’t realize this was an oolong (I found “Tie Guan Yin” printed sideways on the sample after I’d drowned the tea leaves), and brewed it with boiling hot water. Sorry little tea leafies! The next few steeps will be less shocking, I promise!

In any case, this tieguanyin is different than any other I’ve tasted. I can definitely say I prefer the floral varieties more so than the dark, leather, smoky, manly? kinds. Haha! But it’s still yummy! Just not one I would keep around as a staple. :)