Taiwan Tea Crafts

2023 sipdown no. 67

Yuchi WMB, Lot 864 — a very sad sipdown.

It’s 6a here and I’ve completed my ecology exam! I have to submit my final ecology paper today as well and I’m just putting the finishing touches on the APA formatting. Next up, the peatlands final paper due next week. Woot, almost there! Buuuut before peatlands, I’m starting work early today, so I can finish early and watch the all the new Star Wars films back to back haha!

I woke up at 4:15a to get a shower and make tea so I could be as refreshed as possibly at such an early hour and of course I made my all-time favourite: Yuchi WMB. I can’t say enough good about this tea, it will be in my cupboard as long as it exists! It’s just perfect in every single way and never disappoints. The sweetness with the breadiness and a hint of malt is just such a perfect combination.

I felt like I had to steep this as my first cup this morning instead of B&B, to try to prolong the time before I have to place another order. This tea I order in bulk once a year and it has always served me well.

As always, this tea is like falling into a magical world of flavour where bread is baking and waffles are wafting with hints of honey. The flavour profiles are similar as the tea cools, but different notes take centre stage at different times.

I have my work email in front of me, but also my Pacific oyster assignment so I can re-word my notes into something fit for submitting. I’m attempting to move a website over to a new platform for work and it’s not going as smoothly as I hoped, so I’m grateful I can divide my time between school and work today.

It’s starting to snow here, mostly flurries right now. We’re planning to decorate our Christmas tree later on this evening, so it’s kind of perfect!

This pastry-like tea is also perfect right now. Subtle hints of caramel are hidden in each sip as the tea cools.

Good morning! It’s just before 7a here and I’m about to start a volunteer shift before work. I’m fairly tired, but this tea to the rescue!

The scent of this tea is just a nice calming wake-up. :) Also, it’s always so quiet at this hour and I love it.

Enjoyed a peanut butter bagel and now enjoying this tea!

I’ll never get over the deliciousness of this one. It’s always so amazing how much depth and flavour can be in a straight tea.

Enjoying this one this afternoon and I’m quite sure it’s helping me be super productive! It also probably didn’t hurt at all that the time fell back. :)

This is my 800th tasting note as well – yay!

A wee note to say good morning as I enjoy this as my first cup of the day!

Taiwanese blacks are my faaav.

Lex had back to back Zoom calls all afternoon, so I made this one up just before they all started to attempt to not have the kettle going quite as much.

This one is always super tasty. I forgot about it about halfway through and had the last half quite cold, but nonetheless it was great! The sweetness comes out even more once it cools.

Today we decluttered the house and listed some things for sale on Kijiji. I steeped one cup of each lot (641 & 864) and then received a message that someone could pop by tonight for a sale (covid-safely, of course!). Naturally! So, by the time I got to these teas, they were lukewarm, however, my notes are below and I’ll try for a more detailed/at least a hotter cuppa later in the week!

Lot 864: Maltiness and oat-y with a hint of a savoury note mixed in at first sip, a hint of sweetness and no astringency. As it cools (even more), notes of floral come through, though very subtle.

Lot 641: Maltiness and oat-y with a hint of sweetness in the background mid-sip, absolutely no astringency at first sip. I would say this one has the barest hint of floral as it cools (a little sooner noticeable) and some fruits in the background, though I can’t say which fruits.

Overall, very similar in taste with only the barest hint of difference, at least at this temperature. I have only a limited amount of 641 remaining, so I’ll have to postpone any and all things when I steep these two the next time around!

Mediocre Ali Shan. This one is big on aroma but flavor just isn’t there. Intensely fragrant with notes of honey, orange blossom, and vanilla cream in the wet leaf. However none of it comes through in the steeped tea which is fairly bland and has a sort of mild/generic floral flavor. Once again, cold brewing came to the rescue and helped salvage an otherwise boring tea.

I’ve tried a number of TTC Ali Shans now and they all seem lacking. I’ll continue to buy my other high mountain oolongs from there but skip this one next time.

This one is bringing up all sorts of memories of the Amish Cinnamon Bread I make, but haven’t made in a long time. The upcoming holidays will be the perfect time to make some.

I can’t get over the delightful cinnamon profile in this tea. I am not a fan of cinnamon added to tea, but when a straight black tea has that taste hidden inside? Love it.

Enjoying the second steep of this now. This one steeps up really well for the second go-around. I haven’t tried a third steep, but maybe next time.

The mineral notes come through on the second steep more, but they don’t overtake the slight maltiness that I love so much.

Such a tricky oolong, masquerading as a black tea!

First steep 3 minutes
Second steep 4 minutes 30 seconds

Enjoying this as the last tea of the night as we hang out with the bunnies! You know, this tea was tasty the first time I tried it, and it’s really grown on me. I may have to order this one again (if it’s available next year when I place my annual TTC order). I left the leaves for a second steep tomorrow.

I’m going to turn in early tonight to try to get some decent rest for some serious paper-writing this weekend. I also booked off Monday and Tuesday from work to write this paper and work on other assignments as well.

I have so much catching up to do and decided to wade through some of it tonight with this tea!

This one is really tasty — very smooth with the slightest hint of mineral, but with a subtle background sweetness as well. I wish I had ordered more!

The Taiwan Tea Crafts have arrived! Four days early, and no custom fees (Sil)! :)

This one is super tasty! I was interrupted and managed to get half of it in while hot and the other half while ice cold haha — but it was tasty both ways! Such a great ‘mix’ of black and oolong flavours. I saved the leaves for a second steep, so hopefully I can provide a more detailed review soon!

Sipdown of this delicious tea this afternoon. I’m so happy I have lot 864 so I never have to live without this favourite.

I’m getting pretty close to a sipdown on this now. Thank goodness I have lot 864 in bulk. I drink this tea almost every day and it’s definitely one of my favourites (and has been for many years).

There are subtle differences between the lots, but overall, this is just amazing baked bread with honey afternotes, perfection in a mug.

Baked bread and honey goodness here. I have only a limited amount of this lot remaining, so I’ve been mostly drinking the new lot (864). They’re both so tasty!

I’m finally polishing off my 250g package of this after hoarding the remaining bits of it during COVID. I bit the bullet and ordered another 250g earlier this week and now I can comfortably finish this off knowing more is en route (unless something happens with the post…).

This is one of my all-time favourite teas and I usually order the 250g package once per year to enjoy throughout the year. I would describe this as waffle-y and delicious. I can’t wait to see what the new lot (864) brings!

Not usually a big fan of bug bitten teas but this one is really nice. I’m struck by how much it resembles Darjeeling. Notes of rose, wood, and muscatel. Light malt and a hint of Dian Hong sweet potato in he finish.

First oolong of the spring 2020 harvest. Grandpa steeped just over a gram in my knock off the wall style mug from AliExpress. I love me some AliExpress for cheap teaware. Shipping takes forever sometimes but I don’t mind waiting given the deals that can be found.

This one has more aroma than flavor. The scent of the dry leaves is a perfumy bouquet of honeyed flowers. Notes of gardenia, lilac, and violets. Brewed tea is rich and buttery with a vegetal sweet pea flavor. Lilac dances across the tongue in the after taste. Towards the end of the session, it turns somewhat flat.

Good baozhong though nothing earth shattering. Going to brew with lower temperature next time to see if I can extract more subtleties from it.

I bought a 10 g sample of this tea back in February, when Taiwan was still shipping to Canada. (What a long time ago that seems!) I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 190F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of malt, sassafras, raisins, and flowers. The first steep has notes of sassafras, cream, malt, cinnamon, raisins, jasmine, soy sauce, and menthol. The second steep is heavier on the raisins and malt and has a metallic undertone. The raisins become more like grapes in subsequent steeps, and the sassafras, malt, and cinnamon notes persist. The end of the session has malt, tannin, wood, and mineral notes.

I found this to be a fairly average Taiwanese Sun Moon Lake black tea, although the heavy cinnamon and menthol were pleasant. I’m glad I steeped it at 190F, as I imagine the astringency would be greater at higher temperatures. I’m sure I’ll be able to better pick apart the flavour notes in these types of teas when I’ve tried more of them.

Shibi is my favorite high mountain cultivar and a regular TTC purchase. But this particular harvest was a real dud. It had the familiar aromas of wildflowers, custard, and vanilla. The actual flavor however was weak and pretty bland. Don’t know if my sample was old or what but it didn’t even taste like the same Shibi oolong that I’ve come to know and love. Ended up cold brewing the rest of my stash.