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The dry aroma is a mix of white and black tea. The woody earthiness of a black mixed with the farm and barn qualities of a white. Hay and bits of alfalfa. The wet leaf smells of squash. Perhaps closer to an acorn squash? The liquor color is golden orange. Almost a dark amber. The flavor is a bit nutty but the woody overtones prevail the strongest. Decaying woods. I love how the leaves change from dark chocolate when dry to light brown when wet. Do you play with your tea? If not you should. This Jin Jun Mei is especially fun because you can unroll the leaves to find each separate leaf. Two leaves and a bud. And those glories trichomes on the bud. There are trichomes on the instead of the bag as well. Lively body and the finish remain with a slight mineral sweetness like rocks and twigs. Burnt my finger while writing this. Now to grab the cake with proper cake grabbing gloves.

It’s not very often that a tea makes me reminiscence to the point of almost tears. A flavor and aroma that transcends past senses. When you open the packet you are immediately thwacked with floral notes. In a good way. Like walking off the plane (I live in MN) in a hot, tropical climate being enveloped by tropical floral aromas and airplane gas. (I love that scent.) A bit spilled in my cup brewed in less than 10 seconds and it blew my mind. The floral flavors were already well developed. At 2-3 mins it is still quite floral but they share the road equally with wet woody notes. Also present is a high amount of lychee and a bit of passion fruit. The aroma is a mix of gardenia, plumeria, jasmine, and a bit of honeysuckle. I have not tasted and smelled enough of osmanthus to be able to pick it out but I could definitely tell there was something I was missing. My reminiscence took me to Hawai’i.

Even just saying the name Alishan gets one excited. But then I opened the bag… Generally, when you have an absorber in there you don’t get much aroma but this one jumped up and popped me a good one. Floral with wet mineral accents. Big smile The wet liquor reminds me of being in a jungle and coming across a fresh bubbling brook loaded with flowers around the edges. Gardenias and orchids. Oh my. It is so soft on the tongue. The minerality increases the more steeps you progress into. Coconut. Fresh coconut milk. It isn’t strong but the mouthfeel and the taste are reminiscent of this. I love unraveling the wet leaf to see the beautiful pluck. A bud, one, two, three, and sometimes four leaves.

My four-year-old son is generally pretty good with knowing not to shake my arm while I’m drinking tea but this delectable brew and my keyboard were almost in big trouble when he grabbed my arm and hung from it. Good thing I’ve been working out.

The keyboard to my MS Surface is surprisingly durable. During a matcha workshop with Sooz of BeingTea.com I spilled at least a 1/2 cup of water all over the place. Half of which went into my keyboard. I unplugged and immediately tried to gently shake out what I could and then set it upside down in the sun. The first few days I thought for sure I’d need a new one. These things aren’t cheap T_T But now almost a week later it’s back to normal. Glad my son didn’t spill on it because that probably would have been the nail.

Highly reminiscent of a Laoshan black. Same woody undertones and slightly chocolatey weaving throughout. But it has a bit of a deeper earthy base with mineralistic tones. Yes, I just made that word up. Ah… which apparently is also a mom-pop shop near me. Go figure. AS you steep longer squash skin notes take over. The mouthfeel is soft with just a slight touch of abrasion. Like you were almost going to lick a rock and you caught someone staring at you. This is not a milk/sugar black, it is a gongfu black. Though doing it western style is fine too, it benefits more from gong fu. The dry leaf smells faintly of rich dark chocolate mixed with dry white wine and earthy tones. Tightly twisted. Hairs on the packages. Yay for trichomes!

The Wang Family Tea company does not disappoint. Every one of their oolongs I have tried has been sublime. This one is another winner. Even at just 10 seconds you can immediately tell you are in for symphony of flavors. The beginning is mainly mineral flavors. Slightly sweet. As we let it steep longer the roast notes emerge along with some toast and some type of stone fruit I can’t identify. Steeped for too long and the heavy charcoal notes really take over. The first steeping was the best. The second I drank too quickly. The third has produced delicious roast notes with charcoal and slightly burnt wood but less of the sweetness found in the first steeping. The minerality remains but is a bit subdued by the charcoal notes. Now onto the fifth steeping. The water is color and the mixture of charcoal notes and minerality is fantastic.

Nothing like a good tea to blow everything else away. I was feeling annoyed. Okay, really annoyed. My FB profile was disabled. I posted something to sell in a garage sale group (marketplace and a few other groups) and for some reason, this group reported the post. After 30 days I received no review of the request I made and now I can’t get in…

Tightly rolled balls, with most still attached to the twigs. A darker shade, greenish brown. That first sip blew my mind. I should have written down more of what I was tasting but my mind kinda felt like it went blank. Superb. That clear, pale, golden liquor. That roasty, toasty, slightly butterscotchy, sweet, aroma. That flavor!! Good heavens. Each cup has produced different flavor profiles, one building on the next. Minerality and a smooth mouthfeel to begin. This third one is a bit more mineral with the light roast notes coming on stronger. The fourth cup is stronger on the roast notes. Charcoal. A bit of burnt toast. On the edges. Still edible. Slather it with butter. Dip it in your tea. Just kidding. Don’t do that. Especially not a tea like this one. A bit of burnt popcorn too. You used the popcorn button, didn’t you? I actually always use that button and have only burnt it once. That was only one steeping! One gong fu of water!!

Thank you for joining me on this third and final infusion. This tea comes from the exclusive tea club hosted by the MyTeaPal app. To be more specific this is Chuan Hong B. The dry leaf is dark brown with medium leaf size, twisted, with few golden tippy points. The first steep produced a beautiful clear, umber liquor which changed to more of a golden amber color over the 2nd and 3rd steeping. The wet leaf has a smell of compost
The first steeping was in your face flavors. Barely any astringency, burnet squash, filled with deep earthy notes. Char. It has since mellowed off. A bit smoother but still interesting flavor notes I can’t quite pin down.

When a tea says the style of brewing you should use in its name, you should listen. Steeping this western style really doesn’t do it any justice. Steeped at 160 and now rewarming my water for another go around. It would be a shame to do only one brew with a gongfu session. 10 seconds seems too quick for me. I want to experience some deeper tones. Though it does have some interesting sweet notes mixed in with the twig notes. As you steep longer light compost notes develop. No astringency. It’s an unassuming black tea. Would not be good for milk or sugar drinkers as it doesn’t steep up briskly but also nothing incredible for the purists. A good tea to have in the afternoon during siesta.

Taken quite a fancy to the heavily oxidized oolongs. Verdant does an amazing job with all the tea they procure. And this is definitely up there with my favorites. Dark leaves. Longer oxidation. Dry aroma, light muscatel notes. It has a drying sensation similar to whst you would experience in the dry heat of the desert. Hairs on the bag. Oh little trichomes, how I adore you. Full twisted leaves. A frenzy of flavors. Sweet but woody. Fruity in the beginning with tropical flowers. Mineral. Wet rocks. I’ve run out of water. Sad panda.

I had forgotten how much I love Steepster and the community here. Thank you to all who are friends here. We may not know each other personally but I appreciate you nonetheless. Okay. Now that I’ve gotten all sappy it’s time to review this sipdown that is also the finale to this tea I’ve had for too long. I love coconut. I love black tea. So it truly does make for a good mix, especially with the volcanic notes you get from the Andean soil but it’s just never been one that I’ve seemed to drink above others. It does make a good latte though.