cube Send Message

The most noticeable thing to me about the tea is that the taste and texture are creamy as hell, like “?? Did I put oat milk in this without realizing it?” The other notes are more subtle, like a sort of lemony aftertaste. Seems to steep out pretty quickly. A quiet but enjoyable experience.

I’ve tried several zhengshan xiaozhong from different places and I think this is my favorite. A good black tea for any occasion, a little more special than a daily drinker but not as pricey as some of white2tea’s other offerings. Complex sweet flavor with some savory undertones, I’m thinking of sweet potatoes and maple syrup but also red currant? Very strong but without overwhelming some of the subtler notes. The caffeine kick is noticeable and tough on an empty stomach.

Nice interesting oolong! Wet leaves smell strongly of woodsmoke but I’m not picking it up that much in the liquid. There’s an interesting almost spicy aftertaste, like the flavor of chili powder without the heat, if that makes sense. More on the savory side and less sweet than some yancha.

Thin, inky, flavorful liquid. The first few steeps are more earthy, with that sweet dirt shou flavor, later on the tangerine peel comes out more. Forgiving to steep, I think there’s lots of potential here to play around with different temperatures and ratios. Nice big pieces of tangerine peel too, which gives a more intense citrus flavor than some other cakes with chenpi.

A really mild but solid oolong, with creamy texture and nutty flavor. It doesn’t actually taste like osmanthus, which is a plus for me since I don’t like osmanthus anyway.

An odd tea. The wet leaves smelled so sour and chemical I worried something was wrong with it, but the brewed tea is perfectly nice. I leafed it pretty hard so maybe that’s exaggerating the strange aspects. The liquid is sticky and both very sweet and very sour, like cotton candy dipped in balsamic vinegar, with a refreshing floral aftertaste. I wouldn’t drink it every day but it’s a fun change of pace.

Light, sweet, and salty. Very easy to drink and comparatively forgiving to brew, but not as complex as some.

2021 harvest. Just exactly what I like in a yancha, heavy honey-like stickiness, toasty notes that don’t taste too much like smoke or overwhelm the floral aftertaste.

2021 harvest. This strikes me as a nice classic yancha – makes me think of some kind of bitter honey, sticky and sweet with strong mineral notes and an astringent aftertaste. Everything I’ve had from Old Ways Tea so far is of very good quality.

(I think I have the 2020 harvest of this tea, but I’m not certain of the year.)
I love a complex black tea. This one is both fruity and smoky without being overwhelming, reminds me of applewood smoke. Moderate body. Carries a variety of flavors that are all distinct but blend together really well, I’m struggling to describe it – it’s like the brushstrokes in a Turner painting, individually they’re fuzzy and muddled but together they form a clear picture. Towards the end the tea becomes pleasantly bitter in a way that makes me salivate. This one deserves paying attention to.