149 Tasting Notes
The Ever Spring I enjoyed slightly more than the Ali Shan!
It took some coaxing but I managed to elect some faint honeysuckle and gardenia flowers in the 2-3 infusions. It was a soft faintly oily oolong and sort of left a good full mouth feel. I just wish that the flavors had been more pronounced!
New Ranking
Price = 81
Representation = 75
Taste = 72
New Score = 76
This tea tea was sortof a let down for me. I usually don’t read the reviews before I finish my tasting notes, but this one was so subtle I needed to cheat some!
On the first infusion I did get a soft creaminess, as well as some faint vegetal (bok choy?).
However the tea really never developed for me. That was it.
I would be up for trying teas from Tearroir again, but their prices certainly need to come down some. I would not describe this as “the best teas on earth”.
New Ranking System
Taste = 69
Representation = 75
Price = 52
Score = 69
I much preferred this ripe pu-erh to the “Hong Kong” style I tried earlier. This was much softer, and felt more mature. It wasn’t musty but had a delicate sweetness to it.
I had to modify my brewing time because the first brew was quite weak (I guess the leaves hadn’t fully woken up), but the second brew created a very deep dark liquor.
A very faint smokiness on the second infusion that dissipated on the third that just revealed a sweetness. A very easy one to drink for a beginner like me!
New Ranking
Price = 100
Taste = 85
Representation = 80
New Rank = 88.33
Reading White 2 Tea’s blurb about the tea, it stresses the price/quality ratio. While I understand that is important…sometimes I just want to drink a good tea regardless of the price.
While this is supposed to be a raw, it certainly reminded me more of a cooked pu-erh. I think this is the Hong Kong Style coming out. I got the cedar, but more than that I got camphor and fish.
I still have a couple infusions to go on this, but so far this has been my least favorite of the three teas.
With my new ranking system I would give it
70 for the taste
16 for the price
75 for the representation
53.66 new ranking (70 old ranking)
Cooked puerh was invented to resembled real aged sheng, which is what this tea is, aged sheng. This tea is an example of wet storage, very humid conditions, hence the musty odor. The field of puerh drinkers are divided into wet vs. dry storage preference. Hong Kong drinkers prefer aged sheng this way. I am coming around to wet stored tea but I want the musty integrated with other tastes, not to overpower the tea. This one seems like all I taste is storage. I sent it as a sample so you can tell what wet storage tastes like, as a way to evaluate it in the future when you taste this flavor again,
Yep :) I’m thankful for all of the diverse teas you sent me. Pu-Erhs are something I know so little about this has been a great learning experience for me. I’m really looking forward to the Yunnan Sourcing tea’s as I have heard such good things about them
Good review.
I think I liked this one a little more than the Repave I tried earlier; but I can’t tell if it is because this one is more aged!
It started off with a faint camphor that then grew into a butterscotch sweetness in later brewings, the 4th brewing still brewed a strong color but was a bit light on the taste.
Updated Ranking
Taste = 84
Price = 23
Quality = 78
New Rank 62 (old rank 84)
Repave can be bitter unless flash steeped with cooler temps after the initial boil. I liked the Yellow Mark better too.
I think I need to change my rating system because I can recognize when some are a good representation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I like them. Which makes me struggle on which one I should rank my score!
I’m drinking the Hong Kong style storage, and afraid it is my least favorite. :/
Agreed, mine too. But I have friends who would much prefer the HK.
oh. hello good tea!
I’m drinking this tea as I write, so beware the tea-drunkness. The foil sealed bags worked perfectly as when I opened the packet, I was greeted by a plethora of aromas. fruity sweet cherries, a faint menthol, and a sweet tobacco. Reminds me of an experiment I did in my undergrad where we transformed Tobacco plants with TMV. When we infected the plants you had to damage the leaves, and that fresh green scent is definitely present in this tea.
Makes me wonder what tobacco blossoms smell like!
The taste is subtle, but sweet, full bodied, and not over-powering. I could see this being an excellent tea in the future. There is a faint bitterness, but I’m not brewing this in the traditional method so all I can really say is that I am enjoying it, and looking forward to the second and third brews of this tea!
New Rating
Price 81.25
Representation 77
Taste 82
80.1 (old ranking 82)
I got this tea in a swap with a Pu-Erh expert, and it was my first dip into the lot, so perhaps I am grading this one a little too harsly.
My first notice was the large amount of sticks. I actually had to break some up to get them to fit into my cup. (like 3 inches long. I don’t even know how they fit into the bag).
Unfortunately I’m not a fish fan, the only sushi I can do is fully cooked, so the fish broth taste didn’t really work for me. There was a caramel menthol sweetness to it, and a smokey ness.
Reading the blurb on the website, this is a tea I would love to love, but unfortunately I can’t really see myself ordering any more in the future.
Updating my ranking to my new system.
Taste = 65
Price = 52.38
Representation = 75
New score of 64.12
I’m slightly torn on this review, and I think as I finish the rest of the 50 g bag, I will be revising this tea. hopefully.
I’m fairly certain that I have over-brewed it. I watched the pot like a hawk, smelling it constantly to try and discern when it would be at its peak; however not much distinct aroma so I decided after the tea had turned a golden light amber that it was enough.
The first taste that hit me was the astrengency and the bitterness. Which leads me to believe that I have over brewed it. I do get the black cherry jam taste, but this isn’t really a taste I look for in a Djareeling. As the tea cools I get more peachy and vanilla undertones. The tea also has an oily quality about it, which unfortunately with the black cherry taste reminds me of children’s cough medicine.
I enjoy drinking teas because they are like flowers waiting to bloom. Depending on how long they are brewed for, and what conditions are present will really impact the ‘flower’. I feel like with this tea it was a blossom that never matured and just withered and died. I noted the standard woody/peppery aroma as I first dipped the tea into the water, but I never received a second or a third ingredient.
New Rating system
Taste = 60
Price = 27.66
Representation = 74
Score = 53.88
Maybe its the case of really wanting to like a tea but being disappointed in the taste. Hence the torn feeling.
probably. I’m drinking another pot of this tea right now, and again its got the same “blah” factor. It is amazing how two teas (Namring, and the Namring Upper) can taste so different!
Unfortunately I’m also struggling with my ranking of this tea. Its not awful; but for the price, and the fact that it is a MF, I feel that I should grade it harsher.
Out of all of the 2014 FF’s I ordered from Camellia Sinensis…this one kinda pales in comparison. No distinction, really no taste at all, I can understand the ‘mineral’ description they give…but that isn’t necessarily the mark of a good tea.
New Ranking
Taste = 65
Price = 50
Representation = 75
New score of 63.33
I’m a little slow on my tasting notes on this one, and for tasting it as much as I did, I’m kicking myself for not writing more!
As the tea first brewed, it was very green in appearance, with a light toasted hay and faint muscatel aroma. This grew as it brewed to a light mead/honey like flavor that slowly turned to flowers and fruits like nectarines and white peaches.
The tea itself was quite fruity to me, I tasted honey-dew melon and white peaches, with a faint muscatel grape. A faint honeysuckle flower. The fruit became more pronounced the colder the tea became. When I re-steeped the tea I got a nice woody-oak zest.
New Ranking
Taste = 92
Price = 50
Representation 85
New Score = 75.66
