What-Cha

Received this one from a swap with Christina!

I generally like Russian teas.

The dry tea is nice long, spiraled leaves which look quite nice.

This one is good. It is not too strong but still has some boldness to it. Very slightly sweet. There are definitely burnt flavours, without any smokiness, and I like that. There is a bit of malt to the tea. I don’t get any astringency with this one. The second steep brews up quite a bit lighter, but the burnt flavour profile is stronger.

Still like Russian teas.

Thanks Christina!

Not a huge fan of flavored teas but I’m finding this tea be an exception as I really enjoyed this one. Was drinking this one with friends and we passed around the pot after rinsing it to experience the aroma which lead to quite a few audible sounds of appreciation. So we definitely knew we were in for a treat and it held up to our expectations.

Was surprised how many steeps I could get out of this as in my experience I can’ only get 2-3 good steeps from most other flavored teas. I’d say I got 4 solid steeps along with a couple of lighter but enjoyable steeps following. Definitely a tea I’d like to have around even more when considering the price.

I am going to share the story of Mittens with you all, Mittens the Wither that doesn’t know how to Wither. In my creative world I built a zoo, all the various mobs have a nice little enclosure allowing for viewing in a pseudo-native habitat. So to spice things up I made a Wither enclosure, saved the game, then turned off auto-save and turned on mob griefing and decided to watch the Wither destroy my zoo before I quit out, the destruction having been erased. I have never seen a Wither fail so epically, so much for being the enemy of all life! It took forever to blast through a wall and then when it finally did it couldn’t even manage to kill an Endermite, so I turned off mob griefing and shoved it back in its enclosure, not even bothering to exit without saving…it made that little of a mess. So feeling sorry for it I put a dispenser that ‘feeds’ the Wither random cows and such and half the time it doesn’t notice it, realizing this Wither had…issues…I named it Mittens and created a rehabilitation fund in the zoo, maybe one day, with luck, Mittens can be returned to its native habitat.

Today we are taking a look at What-Cha’s Vietnam West Lake ‘Golden Flower’ Lotus Green Tea, sourced from Hatvala, and this tea is artistry. The way lotus tea is produced is green tea is stuffed into the blossoms, the blossoms close overnight sealing the tea in to absorb the aroma. There are other versions (standard scenting by blended the flowers with the tea and then the flowers are removed, and for really cheap Lotus tea, using lotus oil or extract flavoring rather than scenting) I am not sure if this one is a ‘stuff the blossom’ or standard scenting procedure, but regardless I have a serious weakness for lotus scented tea. The aroma is intense! Strong notes of anise and honey, vanilla and sassafras, pollen and an underlying greenness of grass, hay, lotus leaves, and bamboo leaves. The mix with an overwhelming sweetness and fresh verdant notes, an unusual note with this tea is the sassafras. Lotus smells amazing, with strong sweet notes of anise, this is the first time I have run into one with sassafras adding a fun level of depth.

Steeping the tea ramps up the intensity, which is a little mind boggling considering it was already super intense. Strong sweet notes of anise and a touch of licorice (similar yet different, the same sweetness without the root notes) blended with sharp green notes of bamboo leaves, hay, and cut grass. It is surprisingly cooling to my nose, like breathing in mint without the menthol notes, I find this immensely intriguing. The liquid is a really sweet blend of anise and cream, with a touch of sugar cane, broken bamboo leaves, and a touch of grass at the finish. It balances its green and sweet notes in a very summery way, reminds me of the lotus pond I visited at Wildwood park in Harrisburg, one of my favorite wetlands.

First steeping and wow, it manages to be incredibly intense and delightfully mild at the same time, quite the accomplishment! This is definitely a tea you taste the most with your nose, if I was to plug my nose the taste would be light with notes of anise and bamboo leaves, with a lingering touch of honey at the finish. The moment I breathe through my nose then it is like having my face in a lotus flower, it fills up my nose, mouth, and throat, it is intoxicating! The aftertaste/smell of lotus lingers long after the cup is empty.

Second steeping, because there is no way I was stopping after one. The aroma is strong, notes of anise and sassafras with creamy honey undertones mix with cut grass and broken bamboo, the green notes have a sharpness, very much so the notes of freshly broken vegetation. This time around the majority of the strong lotus notes are not just in the nose, you can really taste them. Underneath this powerhouse of anise and sassafras is gentle notes of pollen and honey. The finish brings in crisp notes of bamboo leaves and a touch of raw spinach. The lingering aftertaste of anise stays for a while, like the previous steep.

The third steep has a strong aroma still, though it is more balanced between the lotus flower notes and vegetation, either the lotus is fading or the green tea is getting stronger, either way it still reminds me of summer. The taste takes a cue from the aroma, it is not just a powerful blast of lotus, but a more subtle and subdued sweetness with strong notes of crisp grass, broken lettuce, and a distinct herbaceous sage note which I found blended really well with the anise notes. This tea lasted for a few more steeps, it is really quite wonderful, but I love lotus tea, even the occasional really cheap bags of the flavored stuff I get from Vietnamese markets, though they do not hold a candle to the real scented ones. I have seen some people say it is an acquired taste, and I can believe that, if you are not a fan of anise then chances are this is not the tea for you, but if you are then boy are you in for a treat!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-cha-vietnam-west-lake-golden.html

I enjoyed this. It was veggie and a bit sweet and earthy but not overly strong. It steeped well for me four times, which I appreciate.

2-3g in an 80ml gaiwan, 30s steeps with about 80C water.

The wet leaves have a scent I’ve not had from any tea before – a gorgeous perfume of light, fresh spring flowers; it’s very different from the strong, insistent floral aromas of high mountain oolongs, and it’s not like the fruity grape-melon scent I remember from Chinese silver needles – it’s much lighter and more delicate; an almost powdery scent that has a ‘barely there’ quality but a strong presence.

The liquor has the taste of the aroma: delicately floral, with a hint of sweetness, and the mouthfeel has a nice thickness and silky ‘coating’ effect.

First, this is not a tea for light drinker. Strong on the wood taste and earthy notes with a bit astringent finish. Depending on your tea/water ratio and brewing time, the wood notes get stronger. My first and second brew s (3.5 gr/100 ml – 2 minutes ) are quite strong and leave a pleasant smokey taste. The third brew, which is the best, is much smoother and addresses most tea drinkers. The brew time is again 2 minutes

The Hatvala information card claims it’s good with your favorite (whatever that means) whiskey. I think it could go well with a smooth malt with flower notes to balance.

Le Gasp! I just realized flipping through my notes that I am running low on What-Cha teas to review, jeaopordizing What-Cha Wednesdays, looks like a shopping trip is in my future, not that I need an excuse, but we are not out of teas quite yet, we still have Taiwan Medium Roast Dong Ding Qing Xin Oolong Tea for example. This tea hails from Wushe Garden in Nantou, Taiwan and is made from the Qing Xin varietal with a medium roast, the bare minimum for me to seek out a Dong Ding. No offense to green Dong Ding, I just prefer the roast, so comforting! The aroma of these leaves is really surprisingly sweet, like sesame seeds and almond paste drizzled with honey sitting next to a bouquet of honeysuckles.

Gaiwan time for the leaves, and the aroma of the soggy and unfurled leaves is really quite heady with notes of spicebush, squash flowers, orchid and honeysuckle, but blended with sesame seeds, acorn squash, and a gentle bread note at the finish. The liquid is sweet and creamy with notes of sesame seeds, acorn squash, almond paste, honey, and a finish of distant orchids.

For all the sweetness of the aroma, surprisingly the taste is only a little sweet, not at all cloying. It starts with a smooth almost oily mouthfeel and a distinct buttery note that moves to almond butter and sesame seeds. The finish is a gentle vegetation and bok choy note that lingers for a bit. This tea retains enough of its pre-roast that it shakes things up a bit, which is fun.

The second steep is intensely sweet in the nose, strong notes of honey and sesame, reminding me of sesame candies, and a nice burst of squash at the finish. The mouthfeel, like the first steep, is very smooth and almost oily, like eating cashews. In fact it has a bit of a cashew note along with the sesame seeds and almond nuttiness. This steep has more of the roasted notes I am used to with a roasted Dong Ding, notes of nuttiness with squash, honey sweetness, and mellow butteriness. At the finish is distant orchid which lingers for a bit.

Onward to the third steeping, notes of buttery spicebush and squash blend with honeysuckles and sesame greet my nose, it is sweet and gently toasty. The mouthfeel this steep is a bit dryer, with a crispness at the finish, but it is still quite smooth. The taste is sweet and toasty, notes of spicebush and cashews, sesame and honeysuckle, and a lingering gentle buttery note. This is a very mellow Dong Ding, and it hits the spot.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-cha-taiwan-medium-roast-dong-ding.html

Today, I picked up from my local delivery office my first order from What-Cha, because when my long-suffering postman tried to deliver the box on the 30th December, I was nominally on holiday, standing on a beach on the island of Anglesey, buffeted by storm ‘Frank’, looking soulfully out to sea and wondering if I could swim back to civilisation if I really put my back into it.

Along with my order, which was packaged in a box upon which What-Cha had affixed a stamp issued on June 16th 1971 depicting ‘Ulster 1971 paintings’ (specifically, on my box, ‘A Mountain Road’ by Terence Philip Flanagan) and a couple of Wallace and Gromit stamps, there was a handwritten note in the box from Alistair, and a couple of extra samples that he thought I might like to try.

I have never met Alistair, nor did I even know his name until the handwritten note arrived, but from this point forth he shall show up in my imagination as a Sherlock Holmesian figure who turned for comfort to exotic teas in times of great stress and deduction, instead of the heady soup of the opium poppy.

I was in need of black tea, and I wanted it brisk and malty. I regretted, briefly, my decision to end my electronic shopping trip at four countries, and wished I’d added a little Assam to my order. But I wiped away a solitary tear and pulled myself together, and brewed up a nice strong pot of Burma Shan CTC Black Tea, because as good fortune would have it, What-Cha’s very own description of this is ‘Brisk and Malty’.

CTC black tea leaves are by no means a match made in heaven for a Yixing teapot; not even one that is reserved exclusively for black teas. These CTC leaves are as tiny as grains of sand, and with the addition of very hot water they conspired to construct a small but sturdy wall against the inside of the spout, so that my precious tea trickled out rather than poured.

But again I swatted impatiently at the tears that sprang unbidden to my eyes, and pulled myself together.

This tea is outstanding. The leaves, dry or wet, have a scent that’s a little bit reminiscent of puerh – I think it’s the scent of pure tea that in puerh becomes concentrated, but I catch it unexpectedly in every tea at odd moments – and beneath that, a malty, coppery, sharp black tea-scent. The liquid is a dark and welcoming red-black, and the taste is intense, and nothing short of divine – the fine promised briskness is arresting, but the tea is also strangely honey-smooth and without the mouth-puckering drying quality that often accompanies this level of briskness.

It’s also a surprisingly long-lasting tea – I was sure that with leaves cut so small, and with the liquor being so very strong and delicious from the very first steep, this tea would be good for only one or two steeps – but I’m already on my fifth steep, and a couple of the notes have become particularly strong in this cup – a gorgeous woody undertone, and sweet woodsmoke. It’s a warm and complex tea that’s evolving beautifully with each infusion.

Heart-wrenchingly, I think this tea is sold now by What-Cha only as part of the Burma Discovery collection, and I am unable to purchase a stash of it from them.

I swipe at a tear or two, pull myself together, and trek onwards to What-Cha’s Malawi.

Sweet grassy flavor. Liquor actually has a purple tinge to it.

This is an interesting one, my first thoughts screamed ‘Oriental Beauty!’, and lo & behold, its a Taiwanese cultivar ‘Qing Xin’, & grown in Fujian, which is right next to Taiwan. I dont know how much the location & varietal matters in the taste vs the process, but its interesting to note.

Taste-wise it has elements of Dongfang Meiren – slightly spicy & woody, slightly honey & molasses crossed with a flavour that I have noticed in some purple leaf tea, almost sharp – not sure what it is but tastes to me like a darker leaf. Really reminds me of varnished wood. Its also quite strong tasting (and looking!) – Brandy Oolong is an apt name for sure. Its robust, forgiving in the steeping method as well – rich.

Performed well with multiple steeps, and the price is very good considering its in the UK.

I got to paint today, yay! Yesterday I tried painting and my hands were really hurting, and they are certainly not perfect yet, but I got to get some work done and this pleases me. Winter is always wicked tough on my hands, well on my body in general, so I spend a lot of the colder season busily playing video games and reading. It is my version of hibernation.

Today I am taking a look at another tea from the Satemwa Tea Estate by way of What-Cha, a very unique tea you can only get from What-Cha…seeing this I was understandably intrigued! Malawi Livingstone’s Twist & Dry Oolong Tea is a tea with some massive leaves, seriously I think this tea has the single biggest leaf I have seen in my tea. The aroma of the twisty leaves is woody, strong notes of dry oak wood and apple wood mixed with ripe juicy plums and sweet dried peaches. The aroma is surprisingly woody, which gives it a brisk quality, however the briskness is tempered by the fruity sweetness.

I gave some thought on how to brew this tea and decided to go for gongfu, several of the teas I have tried for the Satemwa Tea Estate I have brewed in my gaiwan, and none of them have disappointed me. The aroma of the soggy leaves is a bit of leather, a bit of nuttiness, and well hello there sweet fruit! It is like sniffing peach jam with hints of lychee and a finish of burnt sugar. The liquid is honey sweet with strong notes of peach and apricot jam and undertones of wood and apples. Very sweet indeed!

There is a lot happening in the first steep! It starts with a slightly dry and tingly mouthfeel and a woody blended with mineral taste. This move to thick apricot jam and dried peaches, the sweetness transforms to a gentle spinach and leather note with a lingering honey.

Second steeping, the aroma is sweet peach and apricot jam with a touch of burnt sugar and a slight spiciness at the finish. The texture of this steep is a strange blend of buttery at the front and dry at the finish. The taste starts spicy and sweet, like gently spiced cooked plums, it moves to woody, specifically apple wood and oak wood. The finish is gentle cooked plums with a lingering bit of mineral.

The aroma of the third steeping has the same fruit jam, burn sugar, and gentle spice but with a touch of woodiness at the finish. This steep is surprisingly woody, notes of apple and oak wood with gentle notes of clean soil and a finish of burnt sugar and spinach. This is an odd tea, some of the notes seem like they would contrast, but they don’t, it blends well and is a wild ride. Plus, the leaf of epic proportions makes a wonderful hat for my teapet!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-cha-malawi-livingstones-twist-dry.html

Absolutely wonderful. I think I’m going to be come a big fan of Yunnan teas as the two I’ve had have been wonderful.

Chocolate malt might become a bit of a morning tradition.

This is one odd tea. The word ripe threw me off from my initial smell of the tea and look. While it may be a dark tea, I wouldn’t consider it ripe in the Yunnan ripe sense as this isn’t a dark earth taste for me. This is somewhat like wet puer that was fermented lightly and left lone for awhile.
I can’t say I will try it again because it wasn’t appealing to my taste buds. It’s god a wet woodsy taste to it with a slightly fading funk, which is to say that the later steeps are more rounded for tasting than the earlier steeps.

2015 harvest from Liquid Proust’s group buy.

This tea comes in balls of roughly 2 grams. I used 2, with multiple steeps of roughly 1 minute each. The first steep was pretty much wasted, since the balls stayed solid and the tea was very weak. The balls didn’t fully break up until the 3rd steep, though the second steep was reasonably strong. Still reasonably flavorful in the 4th steep (2 minutes).

The taste is earthy, with some vegetation flavors. Not what I think of when I drink an oolong. Nothing really wrong with the tea, but it didn’t excite me.

Enjoyed a session with this tea this morning. The notes are right on…smooth raisin sweetness and some malt. Really quite delicious! I just wanted to keep inhaling the scent of the wet leaves. Another winner from What-Cha!

This tea deserves the hype. It’s delicious! It reminds me a lot of Butiki’s White Rhino. The leaves are fuzzy green and gold, and medium in length. I ignored the western steeping instructions and gongfu-brewed it, but only at 190 degrees, because it’s a white tea. It has a touch of malt, but I mostly taste the caramel and sweet potato sweet notes. It’s also a little floral with the slightest hint of vegetal in the background. The texture is super silky. Very nice!

I like the shape of the leaf of this tea, medium length and wiry. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the flavor. It tastes tangy sweet, like there’s some sourness, kind of like a green apple. Oh, well, can’t like them all! Better for my wallet anyway. ;)

Mild, and slight toffee. Worth trying, but I can’t say I’ll get any more necessarily.