318 Tasting Notes

93

Digging through my tea stash and finding things that I forgot I had!

This is the 2015 version of this, it’s a little bit different than the one I’d had before, but still delicious. Super chocolaty, I think the most chocolaty I’ve had other than Verdant’s Laoshan Black. I remember the last harvest being more like milk chocolate; this one is more dark chocolaty. Nice honey sweetness, wheaty malt, and just a touch of a floral note. It reminds me of a pastry that they used to have at Panera Bread, a dark chocolate and honey croissant. It’s really tasty and I’m glad I found this.

Ming Ming has expanded and opened up a sushi shop, which, while an odd combination with Chinese tea shop, seems to be bringing in quite a bit of business. The sushi is fairly good and very decently priced. I really hope that they don’t stop selling tea, but I doubt that would happen as the husband/owner is a big tea aficionado.

Flavors: Dark Chocolate, Honey, Malt, Wheat

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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84

I got like six free ounces of this tea during a promotion Mountain Tea did last year. I’m not the biggest drinker of green oolongs, but every once in a while I find myself in the mood and I’ve been slowly working my way through it. Tonight was one of those nights.

I gave it a quick rinse and let the leaves open up for about a minute. Brews a very light yellow-green. Tastes of under-ripe tropical fruits, parsley, kale, and cane sugar. The first steep is a bit thin, but by the second it has a nice creamy texture and flavor. Like some other
greener Taiwan oolongs I’ve had it has a lingering fruity sweetness in the mouth that reminds me of Flintstones vitamins.

Overall it’s a fairly nice, budget Taiwan oolong. Also makes a good overnight cold brew.

I’m planning an order with Mountain Tea to get a big stash of their Amber Oolong, and I want to try their Ruby #18 black and aged Green Heart as well. Any recommendations for other “must try”s ?

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cream, Kale, Parsley, Tropical

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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The highlight of the teas I tried from the Tea Guy, this is a really nice earl grey. Strong, real bergamont flavor, no “natural flavorings” b.s., and a good quality tea base that takes the background. Fruity and citrusy with a bit of malt, good with or without milk.

Thanks for the samples Tea Guy, I enjoyed trying them!

Flavors: Bergamot, Citrus, Malt

Preparation
2 tsp

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drank 10 Year Pu-erh by The Teaguy
318 tasting notes

I have to say that I was a little apprehensive going into this, as my experience with pu’erh from vendors who aren’t specialized in Chinese tea has been… bad. It’s also loose leaf, and while I know there can be good loose pu’erh, my first and worst experience with pu’erh was loose leaf, and I still haven’t completely recovered from the horror.

Medium sized brown leaves, aroma of fresh beet root. I did a quick rinse with boiling water and then let it steep to a nice burgundy red color. Tastes of beet root and wet earth. Very smooth, and no fishy or moldy flavors. I’ve certainly had worse, but to be honest it isn’t very good. Tastes like the old, generic tin of ripe pu’erh that my grandma had on her shelf. It’s drinkable, but not something I’d really want to drink.

Sorry Tea Guy

Flavors: Wet Earth, Wet Rocks, Wet Wood

Preparation
Boiling
apefuzz

I just had a similar experience with some old puerh. Tastes like dirt. Not exactly in a completely unpleasant way, but still dirt. Well, potting soil, I guess. If I wanted a dirt tisane, there are cheaper ways to get it!

tperez

Mmm, Miracle Grow! lol

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This is an interesting one for me as I’ve only tried one Darjeeling (a 2nd flush) other than teabags. The leaves are small pieces of green and brown with some silver tips. They have an aroma of hay and dried herbs.

It brews a light orange-yellow. Tastes of dry grass, basil , and white grapes with a floral aroma. Slightly medicinal and astringent. I’m not sure I really like it, but I can see someone else enjoying it more than me.

This definitely sounds like the Darjeeling teas I’ve heard about that “tread the line” between being a black tea and green or oolong. It’s definitely nowhere near as oxidized as more standard black teas. It’s interesting to try, if nothing else as a learning experience.

Flavors: Astringent, Dry Grass, Floral, Herbs, White Grapes

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82

Brews up a orangeish-gold. Quite a bit of bitterness, I oversteeped the first brew and had to dump it. Slightly smoky with menthol, peach, tobacco, and floral notes. This must have been a real bruiser when it was fresh! Sort of reminds me of the offspring of a milder YS cake with a burly Xiaguan tuo. Nice lingering sweetness in the mouth and the back of the throat.

Made from 2008 maocha, this tea has had almost a decade of age to mellow out, but to be honest I think it could benefit from another ten years or so.

*Edit: Mellows out in later steeps. Very sweet, reminds me of canned peach juice.

Flavors: Camphor, Honeysuckle, Peach, Smoke, Tobacco

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 90 ML
tanluwils

I had this one in 2014. It was also a bit astringent then, but I could see it was heading in a good direction. Definitely got that dominant peach note.

tperez

Yeah very peachy, and I can definitely see this one getting better with age

mrmopar

I got a couple of these aging away.

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86

Revisiting this one for the first time in a while. The leaves have turned to a light brown with golden colored tips. Brews a fairly light gold-ish color with a twinge of orange. Smells slightly smoky and camphorous, but I think it may have picked this up from a tea it was stored with.

It’s a very mild brew with little bitterness or astringency. Nice olive oil flavor and texture in the mouth. Good lingering sweetness in the mouth and back of throat. It’s still slightly floral, but no longer green; more like dried flowers. Also has a spring water minerality and sort of a dried wood/autumn leaf pile note. I gave my dad (who is more of a wine drinker) a cup and he said it reminded him of a very mild but oaky chardonnay. It definitely has a “qi” to it; I started to feel it after just a few infusions.

Overall it’s changed a little bit over the past few years, but not a lot. It’s very light and mild, and I don’t think it will benefit much from further aging, so I’ll move it to the top of the “to drink now” box.

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Floral, Mineral, Oak, Olive Oil, Sugarcane, White Wine

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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85

My stash of black teas grow dangerously low! I’ve got a big YS order on the way though, so maybe it will arrive before I run out. Not likely though because I chose SAL shipping.

Drinking the spring 2015 version. This is a good, fairly run-of-the-mill Yunnan black. It’s malty and lightly chocolaty with notes of brown sugar, toasty bread, and yams. Also just faintly fruity like figs. A good daily drinker, but prefer black teas with a little more “personality” if that makes sense; something that makes them unique. This one is pretty stereotypical in it’s “dian hong” qualities.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Brown Toast, Chocolate, Earth, Fig, Malt, Oats, Yams

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 160 ML

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86

200th tasting note! Being as I rarely make more than one note on a tea, and theres many I haven’t reviewed yet, that means I’ve tasted over 200 teas!

I went to Ming Ming about a month ago, hoping to pick up some Da Hong Pao or other Wuyi oolong, but they were out. What they did have however was a very fresh smelling Dragonwell from last year’s winter harvest. I had never heard of winter Dragonwell, but I was convinced by the freshness that it couldn’t have been from last autumn or spring.

It’s a very mellow green, much more to my liking than most of the other Dragonwells that I’ve tried. I’ve found it brews well with a little over four grams in my 120mL gaiwan. The strongest note is green bean, with background notes of chestnut, butter, and grass, and a touch of something marine.

It may not be the greatest to someone better versed in Dragonwell than I am, but I like milder greens and this one hits the spot.

Flavors: Butter, Chestnut, Grass, Green Beans, Ocean Breeze

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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88

The dry leaves are big, brown, and twisty with some golden buds mixed in. BIG sweet raisiny aroma from the bag.

Brews up mild and lightly sweet with notes of raisin, malty oats, and a slightly oceanic thick, brothy quality. It has a thick, oily mouthfeel similar to a good sheng. It also seems to have a bit of a “qi” like a good sheng. Interesting that the other wild arbor blacks that I’ve tried didn’t have this quality. The flavor reminds me a bit of a generic Assam black, but with almost none of the bitterness.

The more tea that I drink, the more I find that while tea quality is a fairly objective matter, preferences in individual taste and strength are highly subjective and the qualities that people judge their tea by vary greatly.

This is definitely a high quality and interesting tea, but the flavor profile and mild nature aren’t quite to my personal tastes. While nice and pretty unobjectionable, I find it a bit boring. I can see though how this might be a phenomenal brew for some.

Flavors: Malt, Oats, Ocean Breeze, Raisins

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
apefuzz

So far, my Yi Wu experiences echo your thoughts. Objectively, good quality tea, no doubt. Subjectively, too mild-mannered and understated flavor profile.

mrmopar

You are quite correct.

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Profile

Bio

Tea addict since around 2011.

My favorites are pu’erhs, blacks/reds, and roasted oolongs, but I have a growing interest in good whites, and sometimes enjoy greens.

Currently trying to get an education, working a part time job, expand my ceramics/pottery skills, and trying to make the best of existential crisis.

Other than tea I love the outdoors, ceramics, guitar, and diy/building things.

I started a tea blog in February 2018, though admittedly I haven’t updated it much lately.
TheMellifiedCup.Wordpress.com

When I give a tea a numerical rating it’s simply meant to reflect a balance of how well I enjoyed the tea and how it compares to others of the same style. I don’t follow any universal rating criteria, and my ratings are mainly meant for my own use, to remember what I though of a tea and if I want to repurchase.

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Clearwater, FL

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