80

I needed a tea that I haven’t reviewed yet cause my girlfriend just left to go back home for the summer and I’m sad and need a distraction :c

I’m brewing a significant amount of this in my 90ml gaiwan (about a quarter of the Gaiwan is full of dry leaf). After the first steep, which I only did for about 2 seconds, my whole brewing area smelled lovely and sweet, so I went to smell the wet leafs and it’s got a really bitter, smoky .. almost hot-dog-like aroma.

The first thing I notice in my first sip is an almost overwhelmingly spinach-or-lettuce-like flavour, amidst the obvious smokey, charred meaty taste. it’s light and vegetal, but it isn’t sweet like the aroma was.

The second steep yields a bit of a sweeter taste, there are noticeable honey notes. the meat notes are a bit clearer, and it’s thicker as well. There’s mild bitterness, this actually has a really nice mouthfeel. the bitterness and thickness are really nice. There’s a bit of a burnt taste.

The third one brings out floral notes and.. urgh there’s been a note at the back this whole time that I can’t seem to name.. meh.. It’s still smoky and bitter, I think it’s getting a bit less meaty.. there’s a bit of a coffee flavour to it too now.. but yeah, it’s getting really bitter now, to a point where many people might not be able to handle it anymore. The astringency is also very potent.

Fourth steep brings a bit of fruitiness as well, a sort of peachy or orangey taste. (peach is a really common flavour isn’t it). Ooh or even perhaps more strongly, grapefruit, especially with the bitterness of the tea. It seems not to be too vegetal anymore, but I just detected the slightest hint of chocolate.

I kind of accidentally over-steeped the fifth one (I got a snapchat okay?!), and it tastes really bitter and astringent and rather overpoweringly like sweet, thick coffee. Oops

Can someone let me know if this review is too long to be accessible to people? Cause I also want to continue into like the nth steep but I’ve already written so much

as the flavours fade, the bitterness softens and the fruits and sweets become more pronounced, the thickness naturally fades as well, and it becomes slightly vegetal once again.

I got like 50g of this cause it was on sale (I bought this in 2016, and it’s a year and a half old) and I was getting a bunch of pu’ers.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Burnt, Chocolate, Cocoa, Coffee, Floral, Grapefruit, Honey, Meat, Melon, Orange, Peach, Vegetal

Preparation
3 OZ / 90 ML
Ni Zan

- good length for an detailed impression of the different stages we can share this way. go on.

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Ni Zan

- good length for an detailed impression of the different stages we can share this way. go on.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Hey :) welcome to my steeps!
I really only ever drink straight teas, every once and a while I might have something flavoured, but odds are I won’t ever write about any of those. All of my reviews are done using my 120ml gaiwan unless otherwise specified.

I’m mostly into Sheng, Red tea and Oolongs right now, but I also can enjoy greens and whites sometimes.

My cupboard is NOT up to date. I tried for a while, but it’s too much effort, and so many of the teas I have just aren’t on here and eh.

ig: @mackie_tealife —>
https://www.instagram.com/mackie_tealife/?hl=en

Rating System:

95-100:
|| One of the best teas I’ve ever
|| had; I’m definitely planning to
|| restock
90-94:
|| Very very good tea, I’ll restock if
|| I’m planning to make a purchase
|| from this company anyways, if
|| not I’m alright living without it
80-89:
|| Very good tea, I’d be more than
|| happy to sip again, though it’s
|| not likely I’ll be repurchasing
70-79:
|| Good tea, I drank it happily,
|| though I might not be reaching
|| for it again in my cupboard
|| for a long while
60-69:
|| Okay tea, it was drinkable and
|| it’s probably going to be
|| gathering dust in my cupboard
|| for a while
50-59:
|| I struggled through the tea,
|| but managed to finish the
|| session, will probably be giving
|| it away to a friend.
25-49:
|| I cut the session short, but
|| I think it’s possible for one to
|| have enjoyed it, it’s just really
|| low quality
0-24:
|| No one should enjoy drinking
|| this, and I would have no
|| problem throwing it out.

*This system is used on my first 100 reviews, I’ve decided not to rate teas anymore because I’m definitely not qualified to be objective about quality yet and it’s just pointlessly subjective numbers and that’s not really helping anyone

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