Hoplite

Very nice! Gives a nice core sample of the exemplary flavors associated with yancha. Nice malty roasted notes that come with a moderate-to-strong weed funk but still allow a lovely lilac note through. Wonderfully balanced and definitely going to be in my regular rotation!

Summary: Smooth sweet dark honey yancha from W2T

Prep: 4-7g, 100cc gaiwan, 190F or boiling. Rinse, 10s, increasing from there for anywhere from 6-12 steeps.
Sessions with this tea: 10?

Taste: Starts off with easy mineral roasty herb or smoke or something (cannabis mentioned by previous reviewer, seems to fit in retrospect). Sweetness is apricot . No bitterness, no astringency. Turns into something inbetween floral and kinda dark honey or caramel flavored and that herby note drops out. Very sweet throughout.

Body: thick body. Sits down low in my abdomen. Mild background energy, not very bright.

A little on the sweet side for me, and probably will not buy again. The thick smooth body is very pleasant though.

I decided to try this tea from last month’s tea club shipment (still way behind, I just jumped ahead for this), because some people in teachat were talking about W2T Wuyi, so I decided to give one a try myself. To be honest, this one was a little odd. Not necessarily bad, but funky and unusual. The leaf smelled lightly roasty with a bit of honey or caramel sweetness.

The first steep is thick, with a raisin-y sourness and honey finish. I also detect a slight herbal flavor which, based on the talk of W2T Wuyi, I think might be kind of cannabis-like. I have little to no experience with that particular leaf though, so it could be something else entirely – that’s what kind of gives this tea a funky vibe for the most part.

The next couple steeps are also a bit off. While they offered some nice throaty feeling, I also got a soapy note, like what I’ve gotten from overbrewing dancongs before. The aftertaste remains fruity, almost getting peachy, with that funky note still hanging around.

After those steeps, I started getting less fruitiness with more of a mineral sweetness, still accompanied by the seemingly omnipresent cannabis note. The aftertaste became slightly floral. I began feeling a bit of energy and buzziness in my belly from this one. This went on much the same through steep 7, after which the tea’s flavor started to drop off.

This was an interesting Wuyi yancha – not a category of tea I have a particularly great amount of experience with. It was incredibly aromatic, with very long lasting flavor filling my mouth after each sip. I detected more qi from this than any other yancha I’ve had yet. The thickness was also the greatest I’ve experienced for a tea of this category – no longer a surprise from W2T. I think it is good and quite interesting, but a bit odd and funky. I really can’t decide whether I’d recommend it or not – leaning towards yes, because it’s fun to drink if nothing else.