Tasted this one again as part of a tasting session from another forum.
It is quite a lovely tea.
Tasted this one again as part of a tasting session from another forum.
It is quite a lovely tea.
Got a little sample of this free with my latest Norbu order, and because I want to get to sleep early tonight, I figured a low-caffeine tea was just the ticket for my first taste of the new stuff. I very much enjoy a roasted toasted flavor in my teas, but the first genmaicha I tried was overwhelmingly toasty and not at all to my taste. I think this tea must be what genmaicha wishes it could be: warm toasty but also sweet and surprisingly, fruity!
I started with 2.4 grams of tea in my small gaiwans (about 75mL or 2.5 oz water per infusion), with water at 150 degrees. I used shorter infusion times than Greg recommends just because I’m a tea wimp and like most of my teas a little more dilute than average, and for the same reason I started on the lower end of his suggested temp range.
I started 30 seconds, then 15, 30, 45, 45. All infusions were warmly toasty, but not so toasted as to be bitter (in this very different than that genmaicha that I couldn’t really enjoy at all). They were also sweet, and where I was expecting some vegetal flavors from the green leaf, something alchemical happened with the toasted stems transmuting it into fruitiness. Wonderful, odd, but wonderful. Very very nice. The sweet n’ fruity faded with later infusions, but even at my fifth it was delicious (probably lasting so long because of my short infusion times).
This is a very nice tea.
This tea is just so very very nice. Today I bulk brewed up a thermos of it, starting with cooler water, because I was simultaneously drinking some Bi Lo Chun, and then ramping up the temp for the last few infusions to nearly boiling. As always, this is a lovely tea, but what was a little unusual and different is that somehow the flavor has a very strong sweet/caramel/woody note that was so strongly reminiscent of the 2008 Yi Wu bamboo aged puerh I’ve been drinking that I could have sworn it was the same tea. And since I love that Yi Wu, this was a good surprise.
This is a lovely anise-sweet young sheng that I got as a free sample with a recent order. I did a parallel tasting with another very nice young sheng, and the link below is to a version of this with photos on my tea page.
Long twisted intact-appearing leaves and a fair bit of stem. The dry leaves smell sweet and earthy.
I put 2 grams of my tiniest gaiwan, with 1.5 ounces near boiling water. After a flash rinse, they smell even stronger and more delicious.
First infusion, 205°F/96°C, 10": sweet anise
Second infusion, 205°F/96°C, 15": sweet anise, woody/earthy starting up
Third infusion, 205°F/96°C, 20": sweet anise, woody/earthy
Fourth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 20": sweet anise, woody/earthy, still the anise is very strong, bit of bitter aftertaste
Fifth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 35": sweet anise, earthy has retreated now, bitter/sweet aftertaste
Sixth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 60" (stopped to take a picture of the leaves): sweet anise and earthy, rich and strong
Seventh infusion, 205°F/96°C, 1’: a little dilute, should have let it go longer, more sweet water with hints of anise
Eighth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 3’: oh, this is much better, my earthy flavors are back. Still delicious, yum. Young sheng star.
Losing count—10? 11? still wonderful, both of them. Troubling fact: I want to shoot the spent leaves, lay them out to show the size and pluck, but they’re just not quitting, now 15, 16 infusions in. It will be a long night.
1.5 liter later (the kettle was filled completely when I started), they’re not as rich, but still, a little better than just sweet water.
Wet leaves are are mix of light brown and green, large leaves with some more than two inches long, mostly intact.
Full review with photos:
http://debunix.net/recipes/LaoBanPen&YongDe11.10.html
This is a lovely smoky-earthy young sheng that I got as a free sample with a recent order. I did a parallel tasting with another very nice young sheng, and the link below is to a version of this with photos on my tea page.
This tea has long intact-appearing leaves and a fair bit of stem. The leaves smell sweet and earthy, with a bit of mushroom odor to the Lao Ban Pen.
I put 2 grams into my tiniest gaiwans, with 1.5 ounces near boiling water. After a flash rinse, the leaves smell even stronger and more delicious.
First infusion, 205°F/96°C, 10": smoky, earthy, sweet
Second infusion, 205°F/96°C, 15": sweet and earthy, woody, bit of anise and smokiness lighter already
Third infusion, 205°F/96°C, 20": sweet and earthy, woody, bit of anise, smokiness almost gone
Fourth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 20": earthy, sweet, smoky
Fifth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 35": sweet and earthy, bit of herbaceous flavor
Sixth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 60" (stopped to take a picture of the leaves): sweet and earthy, deep, warm, rich
Seventh infusion, 205°F/96°C, 1’: both a little dilute, should have let them go longer, more sweet water with hints of earthy
Eighth infusion, 205°F/96°C, 3’: oh, this is much better, my anise and earthy flavors are back. Still delicious, yum. Young sheng star.
Losing count—10? 11? still wonderful. Troubling fact: I want to shoot the spent leaves, lay them out to show the size and pluck, but they’re just not quitting, now 15, 16 infusions in. It will be a long night.
1.5 liter later (the kettle was filled completely when I started), not as rich, but still, better than just sweet water. Based on the kettle volume and the gaiwan size, both of the young shengs gave me about 20 infusions. Nice teas.
Wet leaves are are mix of light brown and green, quite intact, and small to medium sized, about an inch to an inch and half long.
Full review with photos:
http://debunix.net/recipes/LaoBanPen&YongDe11.10.html
A very nice oolong, quite pricey, actually, and I’m not sure yet if it’s worth the price. I’m trying to understand the buttery flavor other people have reported in Taiwanese mountain oolongs, like Da Yu Ling. Making this one in a small clay pot, about 5 grams of tea in about 100 mL of water. The water is near boiling—the Pino is keeping it between 198 and 212 degrees throughout.
First infusion was 30 seconds, not too sweet, but rich, floral, warm, a little spicy, and yes, a little buttery….I think that what I have been thinking of as a sun-warmed hay could be interpreted as buttery.
A little longer 2nd infusion is spicier, vegetal, still a little of the ‘buttery’, but the floral/sweet elements are a bit overwhelmed because of the overlong infusion. Third infusion, down again to about 40", better, the buttery is more prominent, but the sweet/floral is not as strong as the first infusion. 4th at 45 seconds is spicy, sweet, floral, but the buttery has receded this time. By the 8th infusion it’s getting pretty much to slightly sweet or spicy water.
In the end, this one presently lacks the very strong sweet and floral notes I expect in the best Alishan oolongs, and I suspect the difference is not the nature of the tea, but the storage conditions with the tea in a large jar instead of tiny vacuum sealed bags.
This lovely tea continues to make friends and influence people. Today Lisa said, “this is the first time I haven’t added anything—no honey or lemon or sugar—to my tea!”
And this was a cup from an admittedly inferior brewing—fit in around some crazy fast-paced work that went right through lunch—a 30 minute first infusion (not a typo, yes, 30 MINUTES!), several more almost as insane infusions, mixed in the thermos, and the end result was not only drinkable, but charmed someone new to my teas. Good job, dear puerh!
Drank this in a gongfu session yesterday. Best yet brewing of this tea—mellow, sweet, a little fruity. Mmm.
Can’t be sure what made it better—didn’t measure the tea quantity beforehand, used cool water per usual, bit longer first infusion, maybe?
First time drinking this tea in a while. Like most bricks, it is challengingly compressed, and one of the teas that inspired me to buy some particularly pointed letter openers. Success! several grams of tea have just soaked up their ‘flash’ rinse quickly in my gaiwan. Earthy, sweet, fruity, plummy scents arise—makes me want to eat it as much as drink it.
Greg warns about overly long steeps at first—suggesting a possibility of off flavors. I find nothing like, but perhaps this is in part due to letting it ‘air out’ loosely wrapped in my puerh drawer. The first two steeps—no more than 30 seconds between the—are combined in my small yunomi, and deep red-brown liquor, and I want to drink fast but am waiting….tap, tap, tapping impatient feet—for it to cool. And the first sip is rewarding—deep, sweet, lovely, all the things promised in the smell of the wet leaf. And nothing whatsoever ‘off’ about it.
The leaves are still swelling and will eventually fill a good part of the gaiwan, so this should have a lot of steeps in it.
10 or so steeps in, the gaiwan is at least 1/3 full with very broken up leaves. It still requires a bit of care to avoid oversteeping—and responds well to a little dilution if I overdo it. Earthy, sweet, fruity, plummy. Rich body. Compared to the Norbu private label Lao Tou Cha nugget brick, this is an earthier tea, but equally delicious in a different way. And like that tea, it is very potent due to the density—a little goes long way. I really thought it was such a thin little sliver when I dropped it in the cup….
Many infusions later—certainly more than 20, maybe closer to 30—it is getting on towards sweet water, that gentle ending, but this with what are still very short infusions. Will give it longer to see if I can coax more out of it before we’re done. …… 1.5 L into it, the kettle is empty, but the tea leaves still have some sweet & spicy scent left.
Finished my sample of this tea, and it was most impressive. I underestimated the quantity of leaf and ended up with my gaiwan jam-packed with leaf, and got 20-30 infusions out of it. By the very end, it was mostly sweet water, but still pleasant.
I hope to be vacationing in Hawaii in the not-too-distant future, and will try to score some of this while I’m there.
Breakfast sencha this morning, a particularly sweet and delicious brewing: 5 grams tea in the 5 oz kyusu, water 150 degrees to start, up to 170 by the 4th infusion, so nice in my blue Hagi.
Entering this note on my phone, can’t seem to use the sliders.
I brewed up a fabulous batch of this tea a few days ago—thick bodied, rich, sweet, earthy, spicy, with that deep caramel undertone that is so silky smooth—and it was so well received by everyone else in the clinic workroom that I didn’t get enough of it. I’d hoped that maybe I had enough life left in the leaves to do a few more brewings when I got back to the quiet of my office that evening, but while I did get a little more tea, it was not the same.
This was a bulk brewed batch, 2 pieces of the tea cylinder, about one and a half inches long, brief flash rinse, infusion water 195-212 degrees (started as the kettle was still heating up, and kept up as it cooled down a little), total infusion volume just over one quart (filled my thermos and I got a bonus cuppa). Wow. This infusion was pretty close to perfect.
Tried this tea for the 2nd time tonight, and it was wonderful. 2.5 grams of tea, 60-75 mL of water in the gaiwans, temps near boiling, and 30" first infusion. Somewhere around the 3rd and 4th infusion there was something a bit bitter, but it started sweet, smoky, spicy, earthy, had that slightly bitter interlude, and carried on for another half dozen plus infusions with the sweetness and bit of earthy and spicy. It is a wonderful tea, one I’d be happy to have more of in my cupboard, but the cupboard is already overflowing with puerh.
Didn’t realize I was missing a first tasting note on this lovely tea. I opened the package a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it as a morning tea. It’s very much as I expected from the Shincha—sweet, delicate, vegetal, without overpowering umami, just how I like it. It’s an excellent start to the day.
I do it as I do most of my sencha lately: about 1 gram of tea per ounce of water, net 4-5 grams for my 5 ounce kyusu, preheating the kyusu and infusing water first at 160 degrees F for 30 seconds, then 10 seconds for the next infusion, then back to 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 60 seconds, 2 minutes, and often going to 170 or 180 degrees by the 4th or 5th infusion to get more flavor out of the tea. Good that way or when keeping all to 160 degrees.
1.9 grams of tea (was aiming for 2.0, but got tired of adding & subtracting little bits) in small gaiwans, about 60-75mL water
And I took photos this time, watching the unfurling infusion by infusion: see my flickr set here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/sets/72157625151330461
The flash rinse barely started to unfurl anything
Started timidly, 30" at 160 degrees: warm, vegetal, sweet but the infusion is a little too short/dilute
1 minutes at same temp: vegetal flavors of peas, grass, lightly floral background, no hint of bitterness, much better match of infusion time and tea. Used the aroma cup set for this, and it was fun, sweet fresh mown grass odors.
90" third infusion, sweet, vegetal, delicate, love it love it, the best yet
2’ a little hotter, 170 degrees, slight astringency but still mostly vegetal
3’ 180 degrees, and better than the previous, sweet, vegetal, such a nice tea
5’ 190 degrees, and the tea is done: barely more flavor than hot water.
Large lovely leaves are now mostly unfurled, but I couldn’t get them to completely flatten long enough to shoot the picture
Next time, 1 min, 90", 2 min, 3 min, 8 min?
I was lucky enough to get some of the spring version of this tea, and quite sad when I went to reorder it and found it was sold out. This is an entirely worthy successor.
Drinking this gongfu cha this evening, with a small gaiwan, and water near boiling. The first few infusions need careful timing to avoid bitterness, but later infusions are toasty sweet without any hint of bitter. Mellow, pleasing, tea-as-comfort-food.
Sharing this tea around my clinic workroom this afternoon, raves all over. My acupuncturist colleague feels a particularly relaxing effect with this tea, more than any of the other green oolongs I’ve shared with him. I just know that drinking it makes me feel happy.
Really enjoying a series of infusions tonight….even as the leaves are losing potency—somewhere around the 8th or 10th infusion, that is—the ‘leftover’ taste is still warm, earthy, fruity, delicious. I am liking this tea better the more I drink it.
Had a nice brewing session with this tea this morning—4 or 5 infusions in a small glass teapot, the better to see the beautiful leaves unfolding. It was so delicate and floral and sweet and perfect that I fell in love all over again. I started out with about 12 ‘poles’ in a 6 oz teapot, water 160 degrees, infused 30-90 seconds in the first few infusions, then upped the temp a littele to 170 for another infusion or two (writing this in the evening, can’t be too precise). But I did count out the little poles as I dropped them into the pot. I will definitely be ordering this one again.
Another lovely thermos full of this tea today. I shared it with a coworker who said it was just ‘creamy’ and so nice, and I agree. Sweet, caramel, just a hint of earthy and enough sense of something herbaceous and bitter lurking nearby to add an interesting depth and roundness to the flavor, but never enough to be in any way unpleasant.
So very very good.
This is a very expensive tea, so I wanted to be well prepared. I finished lunch 30 minutes before tasting, brushed teeth without toothpaste, rinsed mouth with plain water—didn’t want anything to interfere with the taste of the tea.
1.4 grams of tea in tiny gaiwan
30mL water per infusion (used a very small measuring cup)
Water boiling or near boiling (205-212 per the thermometer when poured from the kettle)
Flash rinse
Wet leaves smell like forest floor—sweet clean compost scent
first infusion 15 seconds
earthy like the scent promised, but surprisingly strong sweet and spicy
notes right up there with it
2nd infusion 20 seconds
earthy, caramel, sweet, spicy, very very very nice
3rd infusion 25 seconds
About the same as the 2nd infusion, a bit stronger is only difference
4th infusion 30 seconds
earthy, sweet, spicy, caramel
5th infusion, 40 seconds
Still strong and lovely
I have to admit to an ulterior motive here: I was hoping I might find that I actually prefer my young sheng puerhs to the ‘real deal’ of very aged sheng, since I have come to prefer them to most of the ripe shu—ripe shu designed to mimic the aged sheng. So I was hoping to find this would be a rather bland experience like eating dirt. And it wasn’t. It is lovely. It is very, very lovely.
Is it lovely enough to want to invest $$$ in drinking it regularly and in larger volume? Maybe not. I think stuff like this will remain an occasional tea, because even as it is sitting net to me in the cup, and the water has just boiled again, visions of Lao Ban Zhang loose mao cha are dancing in my head.
But do I understand why some stuff like this is praised and prized so highly? Yes. I get it now. It is subtly but dramatically different than the best of the shus I have had, because it manages a wonderful balance of the elements of spicy, sweet, earthy, fruity, more complex than I’ve had yet from a shu.
I’ll report back later when I see how many infusions I can get. Now up to 7, no surprises, still going strong.
: got up to 12 with signficant tea flavor; by 16, it was slightly sweet water, still nice, but not a lot of oomph left.
Tried to brew some of this up tonight, and am so frustrated. It smells so good, and tastes so good, but I burnt my tongue on some pizza today, and I can’t take the heat tonight. Bummer.
I wish I know what I did that was so distinctive, but recently I brewed up the best infusion of this tea ever. I did it a little carelessly, in bulk, for my thermos, so can’t be sure of the exact parameters. But it was floral, vegetal, and sweet, so delicately perfect that people were asking for seconds and it didn’t sit in the thermos long enough to lose that fresh-brewed perfection.
Wow.
I have not brewed up this tea for a formal tasting, but it has continued to work beautifully as a bulk-brewed tea for the thermos. After a few hours it does lose some of its charm, but it is still tasty 4 hours after brewing.
Still need to do that gongfu cha….
Tried this last night in my new Chao Zhou teapot from Tea Habitat, and compared it to a porcelain gaiwan. I’d recently tried one of my other Dan Congs in the Chao Zhou, and that particular infusion seemed to lack a lot of the high notes from the tea, so I was a little worried about that. This is a young pot, having been used only perhaps a dozen times since first seasoning, so I suspected it of taking more than giving to the teas.
As it turned out, I could not tell any difference. Both were fruity, sweet, spicy. I will continue to use the pot and work on its seasoning without worries. But I am almost out of the Po Tou, so there will not be very many more infusions to come.
Drinking it again today, right after a particularly nice set of infusions of Dragon well, and having drunk some of the Jin Xuan green tea last night, and it does have a subtly different flavor that is not particularly like those greens, or quite like a green oolong either. Can’t put a name to it yet, though.
Just opened this one, and it is lovely. First impressions are sweet, floral, delicate, with less caramel than an Alishan and yes, less sharpness than a TGY, but these changes bring the sweet and floral notes front and center. Wow.
Using a small porcelain gaiwan, about 2 grams of tea in 60mL with water 195 degrees, about 30-45 seconds per infusion to start.
I bought this tea mistaking it for the ‘commercial’ version of a Honey Orchid Phoenix oolong that I had been enjoying so much, and was brought up short by some harsher notes it expressed on first brewing. I looked again at the label and realized this was the single-bush Dan Cong version, and unsurprisingly it demands a bit more respect.
Tonight I am brewing it in the Chao Zhou pot I bought from Tea Habitat, and it is lovely. It’s flavors are sharper, spicier, and sweetness is more honeyed and distinct. It is like the prior tea brought into sharper focus.
So far I am on about the 9th or 10th infusion, and anticipate plenty more infusions are left in it.
I used about 2 grams of tea in the 60 mL pot, and infusions from 30 seconds at first to 1-2 minutes now, water 195 degrees, give or take 5, and the entirety of this gongfu session has been delightful.
Today’s infusion is so sweet, so floral, so rich and yet so delicate, so gorgeous, so perfect.
Love this brilliant tea.
Drank again this afternoon, a thermos full. So very mellow and nice.
coming back to a dear friend, after romancing a lot of sweet young things…..or rather, somewhat bitter young things…..
So, after having drunk some 2010 white buds* that are basically the same tea, uncompressed, the parallels are so clear, and the tea is so nice, that I am, naturally, falling in love all over again with this tea, as I do every few months. I’m drinking it very dilute, as this is the end of the day and I don’t want to be buzzed all night, which may amplify the similarities with the uncompressed young tea.
A moment of overconfidence and overlong brewing was a clear reminder that this is PUERH, and not to be taken for granted, yet it gave only momentary pause, not oops-dump-and-start-next-infusion-over response. Even when it’s bad it’s good.
First try with this new tea today. They look thin and delicate compared to the Ya Bao buds I have used before. They smell of peaches and peach blossom.
2 grams of buds to 2 oz water in a small gaiwan, about 30 seconds first infusion. The tea is as promised by the scent, sweet, floral, fruity—again, notes of peach and sweet stone fruit blossom, but lighter and milder on the camphor than the Ya Bao buds. It’s closer to a silver needle, which happens to be what I was craving this morning, but didn’t have around.
A 2nd infusion, also about 30 seconds, is still very sweet, but with less of the floral and fruity notes.
Trying for a 3rd infusion, but upping the water temperature to 180 degrees, and time to 1 minutes, to see if higher temp can unlock more flavor. It does, and there is a pleasing fruitiness returning, a little tart, but overall I suspect this tea would be better brewed as a single longer infusion, to best get the fruity and floral maximized together.
Trying again, another 2 grams, but this time in a 6 oz teapot with water 170 degrees and for 5 minute infusion: this is what the tea wants, I think. Brighter floral flavors, deeper sweetness and fruitiness, the fruitiness has receded a bit, but the overall impression is better. I do think the leaves are done after this first infusion.
This is a very nice tea.
Today was the first time I brewed this up in the Chao Zhou pot I got from Imen. I am not sure if that was what made the difference, but the tea was definitely sweeter, mellower, more rounded, almost too much so.
I clearly need to do a head-to-head with the same tea in a gaiwan.
This has been a pleasant, reliable oolong in my cupboard for a long time. I am surprised I haven’t posted about it before. It is a dark, earthy, woody, toasty oolong, when brewed well, capable of some pleasing spiciness, but capable of a bit of surliness if mistreated.
A nice tea, but not a great one.
I did a head-to-head with this tea and a similar tea from Yunnan Sourcing today:
http://debunix.net/recipes/YunnanOBs.html
In the end, both were lovely teas. Oddly enough, given that the BYO was end-of-bag with more broken leaves, it took the 2nd infusion to start showing the spiciness and full flavor that the YSOB gave immediately. The BYO, however, seemed to hold that lovely flavor a little longer, but by the 5th infusion, both are starting to thin out, pretty much done. I have only had one Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, and that was a rose scented version that was quite unlike roses or like these lovely teas. A high quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty is reputedly quite hard to come by, but these teas are quite satisfying, and not too pricey, so I don’t feel any particular need to try the genuine article.
1.9 grams of tea
about 4 oz water (larger gaiwans, not preheated)
1st 195 degrees, 45 seconds
2nd 185 degrees (too impatient to wait for full reheating), 30 seconds
3rd 175 degrees (ditto), 1 minutes
4th: 195 (more patient this time), 2 minutes
5th: water just off full boil, 1 minute
(stopping because of diminishing marginal returns)
Yunnan Wild Arbor “Oriental Beauty” Oolong from Yunnan Sourcing
Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent
1st infusion: sweet, plummy, floral, with a spiciness that is not there
in the BYO
2nd: spicy, fruity, floral
3rd: losing a bit of the spicy and sweet edge, thinner flavor, perhaps
dissipating a little faster than the BYO,
but really not much to choose between them at this point
4th: 4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; not holding as
well as the BYO
5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy
Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart
I did a head-to-head with this tea and a similar tea from Yunnan Sourcing today:
http://debunix.net/recipes/YunnanOBs.html
In the end, both were lovely teas. Oddly enough, given that the BYO was end-of-bag with more broken leaves, it took the 2nd infusion to start showing the spiciness and full flavor that the YSOB gave immediately. The BYO, however, seemed to hold that lovely flavor a little longer, but by the 5th infusion, both are starting to thin out, pretty much done. I have only had one Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, and that was a rose scented version that was quite unlike roses or like these lovely teas. A high quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty is reputedly quite hard to come by, but these teas are quite satisfying, and not too pricey, so I don’t feel any particular need to try the genuine article.
1.9 grams of tea
about 4 oz water (larger gaiwans, not preheated)
1st 195 degrees, 45 seconds
2nd 185 degrees (too impatient to wait for full reheating), 30 seconds
3rd 175 degrees (ditto), 1 minutes
4th: 195 (more patient this time), 2 minutes
5th: water just off full boil, 1 minute
(stopping because of diminishing marginal returns)
2009 Fall Bai Yun Oolong—Yunnan Oolong Tea from Norbu
Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent
1st infusion: sweet, fruity, floral
2nd: spicy flavor there now, still fruity and floral
3rd: still spicy/sweet/fruity/floral, but starting to thin a little esp
in the fruity notes
4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; holding up better
than the YSOB
5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy
Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart
Another lovely infusion this morning. I am almost out and so glad that the next order has come in. Whew, no interruption to sencha happiness!
Once again, it delivers superbly. Today, just a tiny amount of leaf, maybe a teaspoon at best, infused up two full quarts of delicious tea. Just amazing. Almost done with it and then it will be time to break out the 2010.
First try with this tea.
First infusions about 1 gram of tea in a 2 oz gaiwan, water 160 degrees, 30 second infusion. It is a little more floral and less vegetal than the Tai Ping Hou Kui I was just drinking, and nothing like as fruity as the Yin Zhen silver needle from the Cultured Cup that I recently tasted. It is a little milder than the Yunnan Mao Feng I’ve been getting from Norbu, as expected for a white tea made from the same general source material. The floral taste is decreasing after the 3rd infusion, but some mellow sweetness remains through a 4th at least.
As anticipated, it is a less refined and more camphorous tea than the versions I’ve had before from Fujian. It is sweet, mellow, but not bitter. A nice tea, but not spectacular.
This is a weird and wonderful tea. The leaves are gigantic, wide, flat, long.
First try with this tea was 30 seconds infusion at 160 degrees, about a gram of tea in 2 ounces of water in a small porcelain gaiwan. It is sweet, spicy, vegetal, floral.
So far, the 9th infusion is still very similar, very very nice: the vegetal flavor is weakening, mildly there, but the sweetness and spicy is still present. And this is not a super fancy version of this tea: I only paid $39.99/lb for it. The ends of the leaves are broken, so it’s not fully intact, but given the size of the leaves, a break or two in each does not seem to be making anything bitter.
Even after 5 infusions, the sweet/spicy scent is still there in the wet leaves.
It reminds me most of the Anji white tea I’ve been getting from WHF, but this one is a fraction of the price. I will definitely keep this one in regular circulation.
(photos on my web site here: http://debunix.net/recipes/TaiPingHouKui.html)
Still enjoying this one very much, getting towards the end of the pouch, and I agree that the flavor profile is lighter than the Tenryu Misakubo, which is why I prefer this one, because I prize a honey-sweetness that gets drowned out easily when the umami increases.
Fortunately my order has shipped and I’ll have plenty more of the ‘sencha’ version of the same tea shortly, before this one runs out.
This has been a tricky tea for me. It has very strong spicy flavor and astringency that can easily overpower the lighter floral notes. But when I get it just right, like tonight’s infusion, it is sweet, spicy, floral, with that extra complexity that just makes the best Dan Cong teas sing. And tonight, it’s doing a floral aria on my taste buds.
I wish I could give coherent brewing suggestions, but I can’t, because I lightly and thinly scattered the leaves over the brewing screen of my Kamjove, poured through water from my Pino set to about 190 degrees but didn’t check the temps before the infusions, and then didn’t pay attention to brewing times—1 minute? 2 minutes?—and mixed the two infusions together.
I was trying to prepare a pint of nice brew to share with some colleagues working late, so needed a larger set of infusions than I easily get from my small gaiwans, and tasted along the way rather than measured. Anyway, this came out so nice that I am going to let this tea out of the ‘doghouse’. Will try to get the same results with a more measured brewing and report back; I’m thinking maybe 0.5 grams in my 60mL gaiwan or the 60 mL Chao Zhou pot to start.
I came back to this tea after several weeks of drinking a fair bit of sheng puerh, and preparing a few orders of tea from Norbu and other suppliers, and thinking to myself that I have at least come to sufficient understanding of my preferences regarding puerh to skip the shu sections of their web sites. And today, I wanted a less demanding tea but wanted a puerh. So I worked loose a few little nuggets and brewed up a thermos of this tea.
It’s a lovely reminder of how nice shu can be: first impressions are delicately sweet and fruity, hints of cherries, plums, grapes, a bit of caramel. It has always been nice, but this is the best infusion yet. So nice. And this is a quart of tea from perhaps 5 or 6 g of nuggets that were still so dense and tight after about 10 minutes of hydration and infusions that there surely is a lot more flavor to be recovered in additional infusions, as the tight bits open up more.
Temp 200-212 degrees, infusions 1 minute or so, but really, there is no hint of bitterness or astringency, so infusion time is entirely up to your preference. The tea liquor is a deep ruby red, quite beautiful even in my rather use-stained Kamjove infuser.
Leaves are dark, tightly rolled, some stems, toasty dark tart scent.
1.5 grams of tea into 60mL gaiwan, water 180 degrees, rinse x 15 seconds, then 20 second steep: first impression is spicy, interesting, but oops, before I can form a proper opinion, I am thirsty and it is gooood, gulp, gone. 2nd infusion is a little spicy, a little sweet, a lot toasty-roasty, but there is a smoothness here even in the 2nd infusion that often takes 4 or 5 infusions to achieve in a more assertive Wuyi rock tea or even my old supermarket brand Ti Kuan Yin. And there’s no sense that a bitterness or astringency is just around the corner if I am careless with times or temps.
I was interrupted and have lost count of the infusions, but I am pretty sure the current one is 9 or 10. The flavor is more dilute now, but there is still some sweetness and a little something else that is very Ti-Kuan-Yin-like. And the flavor was smooth but still quite definite out to the 7th or 8th infusion—that smooth 2nd infusion carried over without turning to water at the 3rd or 4th.
After the infusions, the leaves are unrolled, but still very crumply and twisted, with a dark brown color and a charcoal scent: with some determination they can be coaxed and pressed and flattened into medium sized, quite intact leaves.
Nice nice tea, need to get my order in before I post this, people order it all, and Greg runs out!
I’ve already brewed this one a time or two, but didn’t take many notes. I was particularly interested in this one because it is from a famous name factory and it is a raw sheng, not a ripe shu.
I started with little more than I really wanted—that’s the way the beeng broke—4.2 grams into a 75mL gaiwan. Rinsed with boiling water for a good 20 seconds, because the beeng was fairly tightly compressed. Giving it a couple of minutes to hydrate before the first infusion.
A first infusion at 200+ degrees and 20 seconds was a bit unpleasantly strong, as I was forgetting the very concentrated starting material. Should have broken it up into smaller bits, because this really is too much tea for the gaiwan. Regrouping with a 10 second infusion (measuring to the start of the pour from the gaiwan), now the flavors are still strong, but the sweetness is more apparent, along with earthiness and a hint of smoky. The liquor is a pale amber. And because it is infused in boiling water, I have to remember to wait, to not burn my tongue—brewing cooler green, white, and oolong teas there is no such wait required, and it’s hard to discipline myself when the first sips are so nice. 2nd infusion is earthy/sweet/smoky/caramel/vegetal. 3rd, 4th, 5th are very similar, as long as I remember to keep them extra short because of the excess of leaf.
The leaves are fairly broken up, a medium olive green with hints of reddish tints here and there.
I’d recommend a more typical 1 gram per ounce/30mL leaf to water ratio, short infusions with hot water, and a good long time available to enjoy the many infusions from this tea. It is a stronger than my favorite white bud sheng puerh, earthier with more astringency, a deeper rounder flavor overall.
Quite a nice tea, and one that I think I will keep checking in on from time to time, to see how it matures. That’s in part because I currently have more puerh than I can drink in a reasonable period of time, but also because it’s a famous label tea that I expect to be able to find information and comparisons for in years to come.
I got a free sample of this with an order from Norbu, and it’s a pretty nice tea. I’ll be ordering more with my next order.
I did a detailed review of it compared to another Taiwain black tea here:
http://debunix.net/recipes/TwoBlacksTaiwan7.10.html
I did two rounds of tasting—one dilute (1 gram to 2 oz boiling water) and one more concentrated (2.5 grams to the same), and found it was still not bitter at the more concentrated level. Fruity, sweet, nice. But I would not let it sit, because bitterness can develop if the steeped tea waits too long.
Got a sample of this in a tea swap, and compared it to another Taiwan black tea here:
http://debunix.net/recipes/TwoBlacksTaiwan7.10.html
This was a nice sweet fruity black tea, not bitter, but if the brewed tea sits, it may develop bitterness.
I got a free sample of this with my last order from Norbu, and tonight, when my tongue was overdone with tasting several puerhs together, I tried just a pinch of it as a change of pace. I prepared it with probably about half a gram of tea to 2 oz boiling water (it was late, and I didn’t want to be up all night), and after about 2 minutes steep the liquor was deep orange red, and delicious. Fruity, sweet, no astringency at all (not that I expected any, really, given the dilution I started with), and a second infusion was equally delightful. Not sure about the wine-like aspect, but this was a quick & dirty sipping, so I’ll have to try it again, more carefully, and take better notes to see if I can identify that.
I will certainly get a little more of this tea for a change of pace,
and I suspect it will make a nice alternative to my golden Yunnans for
take-a-thermos-to-work days.
I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, since I first tried it as part of a tasting on egullet.org, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared.
2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan
This is my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!
Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.
Tasting setup
Used 1.0 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwans
Infusions 205°F/96°C-212°F/100°C
2 rinses at about 10 seconds each, before first 10 second infusions
2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems, sweet
woody anise scent
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet anise flavor predominates
Liquor, 2nd infusion: the anise sweetness continues to make this one
mellower than the other two
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: still the mellowest of them,
even after the dregs in the cup sat a bit and bitterness started to
come into play; how is it that the youngest is the least harsh?
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, still that lovely hint of
anise
Wet Leaves: olive green leaves with reddish accents, woody earthy spicy
scent
I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, since I first tried it as part of a tasting on egullet.org, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared.
2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan
This is my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!
Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.
*Actually, turns out the LBZ is sold out. Greg tells me that the Lao Ban Pen Mao Cha on the site is very close, and maybe better. I have a hard time believing anything could be better, but as good, maybe….
Tasting setup
Used 1.0 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwans
Infusions 205°F/96°C-212°F/100°C
2 rinses at about 10 seconds each, before first 10 second infusions
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan
Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems, scent
sweet and vegetal and like clean earth
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet, vegetal, bit of
astringency
Liquor, 2nd infusion: spicy, herbaceous, sweet with astringency and
some bitterness
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: sweet, earthy, again, a little
spicy/herbaceous accent that in addition to and distinct from the
astringency that forms part of the aftertaste of the LBZ
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, mellow
Wet Leaves: olive leaves with reddish accents, sweet spicy vegetal scent
Compared this to two other loose puerh Mao Cha from Norbu today.
2010 Shi Tou Xin Zhai Mao Cha, Nan Nuo Shan, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan*
2009 Wulian Shan Mao Cha from Dali Prefecture, Yunnan
I have been enjoying the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha for several months, so with my last order from Norbu, I tried a couple other Mao Cha, to see how they compared. This was my first brewing of other two young shengs. As expected, these are all wonderful teas, with more capacity for infusions than I have space in my bladder, even with the very small gaiwans, so sometime after 10 or 12 infusions, I stopped drinking the full infusions, and did a series of longer steeps, discarding the liquor, and then did a final infusion, which I estimate to be about the 20th for each, so I could finish the tasting, get the photos of the spent leaves, and go to bed!
Overall? I love all of these. The Shi Tou Xin Zhai is the most approachable in the early infusion, and is one I’ll take to work to share in some one on one meetings with other tea lovers—it’s less likely to bite back if I get a bit distracted. But at the however-many-it-finally was infusion, when all were pretty dilute and mostly had just a gentle sweetness left, I found a little more depth or complexity in the LBZ in than the other two. So….if you’re anxious about bitter, start with the Shi Tou. If you’re already a connoisseur of young sheng, and want the maximum complexity, go for the LBZ. And if you’re undecided, get the Wulian, or better yet, enjoy all of them.
*Actually, turns out the LBZ is sold out. Greg tells me that the Lao Ban Pen Mao Cha on the site is very close, and maybe better. I have a hard time believing anything could be better, but as good, maybe….
2009 Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan
Dry Leaves: long dark twists of intact leaves with some stems,
scents of mushrooms, soy sauce, darker than the Shi Tou Xin Jai
Liquor, 1st infusion: light tan liquor, sweet and vegetal
Liquor, 2nd infusion: spicy, sweet, with that smooth earthy depths, and
hint of bitterness
Someplace about the 8th or 9th infusion: sweet, earthy, lovely as
usual, but the astringency of the aftertaste is definitely present and
noticeably more than the Shi Tou or the Wulian
Liquor, many?-th infusion: sweet, dilute, earthy
Wet Leaves: olive green leaves of uniform color, sweet, spicy,
asparagus scents
Drinking it again after a break, and loving it again so much. I was reading a typically excellent article by Harold McGee in the NYT (link http://tinyurl.com/24rs3zw) in which he discusses the power of dilution to enhance flavor. I think this may be a tea where that really holds true. Many many very short steeps bring out a sweetness and richness of flavor in this tea without the bitterness that can overwhelm with shorter steeps. Works for me!
Just finished a very nice series of infusions to start the morning. Sweet, delicate, floral, vegetal, very nice.
Still didn’t get around to weighing, but I have been enjoying this one again off & on today, with a small gaiwain and the pino set to near boiling. I’d guess I had about 2 grams of leaf in a 75mL gaiwain, and I probably infused at least 10 times before lunch, let it sit for another 8 hours, and am back to it again, and am now on the 3rd or 4th infusion of round 2. Sweeter, still grounded with some earthiness, but gently woody, not musty at all. Very very nice. And I’ve kept at it long enough for the pretty twists to be opening into pretty intact looking olive colored leaves.
I’m in love, and I only have a small sample, but is there really room in the cupboard for another beeng?
The is a very cool tea. My first brewing today was just with a small amount of leaf, carelessly done between other tasks getting ready for work, and to fill the thermos. Not what the tea deserves, but I was tired of waiting for a quiet evening gongfu session, which rarely occurs. So….the bulk brewing alternative was tried, and even thus, this tea is a winner. Didn’t measure grams for the 32oz or brewing times, because it was done in such a hurry.
Warm, earthy, just lightly smoky, a little sweet, a little melon-fruity.
I think the gongfu should be very revealing. But I’m torn between practical considerations—should use the small gaiwans to keep the total volume realistic—and aesthetics—I want to watch the lovely twists of leaves open more fully in a glass container.
Hmmmm…
Apparently made from the same wild varietal as the Ya Bao tea buds that I’ve enjoyed so much, but compressed and aged. Greg describes a ‘lemony’ flavor and there certainly is a lemony aroma to the dried compressed leaf material, which looks rather coarse and quite clearly includes the fuzzy pale buds along with darker leaves.
Used 3.6 grams of tea in a 2.5 oz/75mL gaiwan (the proportions Greg recommends on the Norbu site) with water just off the boil. Flash rinsed, waited 2 minutes, another flash rinse (wanted to see the leaves open up for the rinsing, but it is still quite compressed, so I’m giving up), and then short steeps—first 15 seconds, up to a minute by the 4th or 5th.
It’s mellow, sweet, floral, and yes, lemony. Quite interesting. It reminds me a lot of the silver needle tea I was drinking earlier today, and like the silver needle, it is delicious with chocolate. It really does not in any way resemble puerh, despite being aged and compressed, except that it does shine here in these short steeps.
The liquor is a rich amber, and the leaves at the end vary from green to tan.
All in all quite interesting and tasty.
Photos here:
http://debunix.net/recipes/2005YeShengWildTeaLog.html
Got a free sample of this including with the rather disappointing GABA tea. This is a nice green oolong with a floral sweetness and spiciness very reminiscent of a Tie Guan Yin, but it is a Taiwanese cultivar.
Can’t give exact brewing directions because I did it in my kamjove, but would start with enough leaf to cover the bottom of a gaiwan, water about 185-195 degrees, and 30 second first infusion, increasing time for at least 5-6 infusions. Didn’t have enough to test the stamina of the leaves for many many infusions.
I have just finished off my second thermos full of the 2007 White Bud Sheng Puerh from Norbu (a private production cake which is now sold out). This was a typical thermos brewing—working with the kamjove ‘gongfu art’ brewing thingie, flash rinse, starting brewing with water even before it quite hit boiling, having to stop and start several times over an hour and half as other work kept pulling me out of the office, and finally ending up with a brilliant thermos of tea, subtly smoky, sweet, with a warm background of caramel. Just soothing and calming and oh so good. And as is usual for this tea, a little went a long way—maybe 5 grams-8 grams for a 1 quart thermos full, then resteeped for a second full batch. Fortunately, I have several more beengs of this in reserve. Heh.
Finally opened up the sample I ordered quite a few months back, and it is fabulous. Floral, sweet, a little spicy, with a rich thick liquor texture.
I used 1 gram of tea per ounce/30mL of 190 degree water, for 30 seconds, and gradually increase the infusions to a couple of minutes. I stopped on it at the 6th infusion tonight, because I was done, not because the tea was done. Given how strong even the 6th infusion was, I expect it to give 10 or 12 at least before it gives out.
Like the 2009 vintage, this is a glorious tea, rich, sweet, floral, a little spicy, and all around brilliant. Tonight I ran out of bladder capacity and hot water at the 6th infusion, but I have little doubt that it will keep going well beyond that.
I used 1 gram of tea per ounce/30mL of 190 degree water, for 30 seconds, and gradually increase the infusions to a couple of minutes by the 10th or so.
Working with a sample of this from a tea tasting, I have been most impressed by the quality of this vs the other Yin Zhen I have had (from Chado, which admittedly was probably rather antique when I last did a formal tasting).
Brewed with 2 grams of tea in a gaiwan averaging about 2 oz/60mL of water per infusion, I started at 30 seconds, and kept going for 7 infusions before I ran out of heated water.
The flavor is fruity, floral, sweet, but more delicately fruity than the Pai Mu Tan it was paired with. And even after 7 infusions of 30-60 seconds, there was more in the leaf to give.
This is an excellent tea.
I’ve been given a sample of this tea as part of a tea swap.
Dry leaves: strong tart/fruity aroma.
Infused 2 grams of leaves in a 50mL yixing pot with 190°F/88°C water
for 30 seconds. The tea is fruity, sweet, like ripe plums.
A second infusion for 30 seconds brings out a little spiciness in
addition to the rich fruit.
3rd infusion at 60 seconds is still strongly, deeply, fruity.
4th infusion at 120 seconds is sweet, fruity, not much tart left.
5th infusion at 4 minutes is losing strength, a little sweet, a little
fruity, warm and friendly, but not strong like the earlier infusions.
6th infusion at 10 minutes (just couldn’t let it go) is still pleasant,
mildly plummy, sweet, but again rather dilute.
I think I may actually buy a little of this for a treat. It doesn’t have the legs of a great Dan Cong, but the fruit up front is pretty incredible. Even the aroma of the wet leaves after the infusions are over is still quite nice.
Probably the mellowest of the Dan Congs I first tried from Tea Habitat. It is hard to make this one harsh, and the mellow delights just keep coming, infusion after infusion, tart & sweet, and a little spicy.
I start with a modest leaf to water ratio (0.5g per oz/30mL) and infuse over and over, 15-20+ times.
Another very fine brewing of this tea. This time it was a gaiwan for gongfu cha, and it responded beautifully. I started with water at 170 degrees, and the first infusion sat a while because I was interrupted; by the time I was free to drink it, it was not very hot or very good. After that, I brief infusions from 10 seconds increasing gradually to one minute, water from 160-170 degrees, and the flavor has a lovely warmth that is almost oolong-ish, but still a bit of astringency and with that first messed up infusion, some distinct bitterness marking it as something closer to a green tea than an oolong. Still haven’t had the best I think it can give, but if my next infusion can take place without interruption or audience, I should get it right. I would start a little cooler, with 160, then moving warmer as I continue to infuse.
Drank this one gongfu cha today during a long meeting. It held up well for a good dozen infusions or so.
This is a very interesting tea. It is tightly rolled, unusual vs the other wuyi oolongs I’ve had, and looks fairly green in the rolled state, and unrolls to a deep green leaf. But the tea liquor reminds me more of a Dan Cong style of oolong—astringent, complex, toasted, sweet, spicy. And it has the ability to last through a dozen infusions easily, getting lighter at the end, but even the light infusions are still fruity/sweet/spicy.
I started this brewing with 3 grams of leaf in a 100mL red clay pot, water about 185 degrees, and infused at first for 30 seconds, and extended as long as 2 seconds by the end of the session.
No notes yet. Add one?
No notes yet. Add one?
This is a tea that demands a little attention and respect, because it can get bitter if you don’t pay attention. But when I get it just right, it is smoky, earthy, sweet, fruity, and delicious. It holds well in the thermos for a day away from home, and it is nice gongfu cha as well.
I’d recommend 1gram of leaf per ounce of water, gongfu cha, starting with a flash rinse of boiling water, then short steeps with water a little cooler, 190-195 degrees.
Some of the leaves are rather dark colored after infusion, but not very purple. And the leaves aren’t fine little buds. But it is a pleasant enough tea for right now, and maybe by the time I finish it (I have so much puerh right now it will be years!), it will be even better.
As anticipated, this makes a dynamite iced tea, although I might have overdone it by trying to make sure it would be strong enough when chilled; the lemon is less prominent in this version.
This is a favorite green tea. There is a slightly peachy/fruity/camphor note in this tea that is distinct from the nuttier edge of a Dragon Well. Also, this is a particularly mellow tea. It is possible to find bitterness in it, but you really have to try: very hot water or very long steeps or way concentrated. And it has amazing ‘legs’ for a green tea—I just keep going for 8 or 10 infusions.
I brew this one with a wide range of conditions: the leaves are so light and loose that it’s hard to eyeball accurately, but it’s so forgiving that I’m not often motivated to measure it. Anything from 0.5-1 grams of tea per ounce/30mL water, water from 160-180 degrees, steep time 15 seconds (for high concentration/hotter water/early steeps) to more than a minute (lower concentration/cooler water/later steeps). Its a rare green tea that even holds up well with brew-in-advance hold-all-day in the thermos.
Used 1.8 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwan
Infusions 160°F/71°C-170°F/77°C
30”, 30”, 30”
Jade Pole Supreme Yunnan green tea from Yunnan Sourcing
Dry Leaves: long twists of intact leaves, camphor, vegetal, grassy
aroma
Liquor, 1st infusion: pale ivory liquor; mild, camphor, floral
Liquor, 2nd infusion: peachy, sweet, camphor
Liquor, 3rd infusion: peachy, sweet, camphor, first astringency, hints
of bitterness
Wet Leaves: beautifully intact yellow-green leaves, in pairs of one
very small bud and one larger leaf
Tasting notes with photos on my site here:
http://debunix.net/recipes/GreenTeaTasting.html
(no ads, nothing for sale, just tea notes & pictures)
(A free sample included with my last order from Norbu)
This is a warm, dark, toasty oolong. It reminds me a lot of the Tung Ting I got from TenRen, and my longtime companion SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin. First impression is just toasty, roasty, dark, woody. Then it starts to open up a little, fruity, sweet, complex.
I started 185 degree water, 3.5 grams of tea in one of my larger yixing pots, but not filling fully—trying to keep it to about 1 gram leaf to 1 oz water. Each new infusion, the first impression is the toastedness, then the fruity sweetness becomes apparent after a few sips, as those the toasty tastebuds are getting saturated and there is attention available to notice the sweet fruity backdrop. Later infusions more quickly drop the toasted mask, and show these flavors sooner.
I think I might prefer this with a little less roast, so that I get to the sweet/fruity sooner. I agree with Greg’s description of the very smooth rich feeling of the liquor, and the remarkably pleasant aftertaste.
This is a wonderful shincha. I ordered a quartet of these from Yuuki-cha this year, and have enjoyed them all. This one has sweetness, delicate vegetal flavors, and milder umami—less briny than many of the fancier shinchas. I am happy through at least 4 infusions in the morning, about 1 gram per ounce of water at 160 degrees in my kyusu, 30" to start, then 10-20", 30-45", 60-90 seconds.
I think I prefer the Honoyama to this one, but this and the Sayamakaori were both about equally delightful.
I put together a tea tasting note on my web site here (no adds, no sales, just plain tea notes with some photos):
Another delicious shincha. I ordered a quartet of these from Yuuki-cha this year, and have enjoyed them all. This one is very similar to the Sayamakaori—it has sweetness, delicate vegetal flavors, and milder umami than many of the other senchas & gyokuros I’ve tried. I am happy through at least 4 infusions in the morning, about 1 gram per ounce of water at 160 degrees in my kyusu, 30" to start, then 10-20", 30-45", 60-90 seconds.
I prefer the lighter profile of this one to the Tenryu Misakubo as well: it has less dominant umami, which permits more of the flavors that I prefer—the sweet and delicate vegetal tastes—to come to the fore. It does not have a lot of stamina, but in the morning I generally don’t have time for more than 4 infusions.
I think I prefer the Honoyama to this one, but this and the Okuyutaka were both about equally delightful.
I put together a tea tasting note on my web site here (no adds, no sales, just plain tea notes with some photos):
After a question came up about whether this was an oolong or a green tea, I decided to check by brewing again, and it was clearly behaving like a green tea, less tempermental than most, but clearly a lovely sweet delicate green tea, with just enough astringency to confirm its green nature.
Brewed up a thermos full of this one, and it retains its essential character of sweet, fruity, and mild herbaceous astringency very well despite the less than ideal brewing technique.
A very nice tea. Need to do a more formal gongfu cha session and report back!
A delicate and fresh smelling tea, with a classic Bi Lo Chun curly snail-shaped leaf, this green tea was quite inexpensive—‘from a new supplier’. I’m not sure it has the same stamina of the sample from Jingteashop.com from last fall, but still a lovely tea for the price. It does have potential for bitterness, so I am brewing it short and low temp, with a low leaf to water ratio—probably about 2 grams in a 5 oz kyusu. This is a great value tea.
What a lovely mellow tea. I started out with what looked like a small volume of green leaves in my kamjove, which had little scent, then added water and there was a strong scent of green peas. Lovely. The leaves expanded to fill their chamber almost entirely. The first steep was a little long and ended up overconcentrated, and I did find a little bitterness in it; but when I finished up a thermos full from these leaves, it ended up as essence of summer hay, warm and mellow, just lovely.
I can see this will be a keeper. I think it will be particularly nice of an evening, to keep infusing while doing paperwork, semi-gongfu cha, but also is going to be lovely for a thermos full when I have to be away from my desk for half a day or more. But I will watch that first steep.
I was particularly pleased with this one because I recently tried some “silver needle yellow tea” from Hunan which was just unbearably bitter for me, very unlike the couple of wonderful yellow teas I’ve had from other sources.
I was pleased to discover some of this in a stash in another office, and brewing it up this morning, i was interrupted a few times, so it ended up quite slapdash in my thermos, a little light overall, but even though I know it can be much better when I get it just so, it is still such a wonderful, forgiving tea that hours later in the thermos it is sunny warm welcoming with hay notes more than the fruity notes that predominate earlier. Nothing bitter or unpleasant even under these abusive conditions. Gotta love a tea like that.
First time logging, not first time drinking. This is a lovely, mellow, forgiving tea that steeps and steeps. I have infused a few grams of tightly furled balls and filled up my 1 quart thermos today, and there is still more to get from these leaves. Sweet, floral, haylike, beautiful.
Can’t give grams or ounces or exact temps today, because I’m brewing in the office with a kamjove and the other tools are elsewhere. But it is giving wonderful results even without that specificity. A good general starting point for me is about 1 gram per ounce, so 2 grams for a small 2 ounce gaiwan, and the wetted leaves will fill the cup.
Again finding this is one lovely green tea. I’ve been brewing it like an oolong, covering the bottom of my small gaiwan with the rolled leaves, and finding that they expand to intact leaves that mostly fill it. I use cooler water—160-170 degrees—because it is a green tea, and the flavor is more vegetal and less floral than the green oolongs, but it is as easy and flexible and forgiving in terms of slightly variable quantities of leaf to water, and varied steep times from 15 seconds to a minute or quite a bit more with later steepings. The steeps thus do vary in flavor and intensity but are never bitter despite that. I’ve brewed up several green teas in the past day (shincha!, korean green, dragon well) and each of those has reminded me that they need attention and respect to remain mellow and pleasant. This one just stays mellow regardless of my fumblings. Love that!
ed: still haven’t reached the end of the flavor from these leaves, now at least 8-10 steepings in. I do like my teas somewhat diluter than many, but this is still amazing for a green tea. Very oolong-like in this too.
A nice straightforward green tea.
Another wonderful series of infusions today. This tea just keeps giving and giving.
The only problem I have with it is safely breaking up the very dense brick of tea.
Another lovely series of infusions. Sweet, mellow, vegetal, just right for the evening.
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The leaves are exceptionally sweet smelling, and the longest of the beautiful leaves of the three shinchas I’ve tried so far (Honoyama and Tenryu Misakubo). The liquor, as before, is bright, light and beautiful.
5 g leaf, 5 oz kyusu, water 160 degrees x 30", 15", 30".
First impression is bright, light, sweet, vegetal, very much to my taste. No time today for a full formal note, but it may be a while before I get to that.
First infusion 30" 160°F/71°C with 4.8 g tea in a 5 oz (150mL) kyusu, 2nd infusion 15 seconds at 168°C/76°C, 3rd infusion 1 minute at 135 °C/57°C (cooling too much in Kettle, got careless). All delicious.
This has been a bit of a breakthrough tea for me. I first tried it as a sample and was put off by the bitterness. Then I tried it again as part of a tasting group and worked out a way to enjoy it: I prepare it like a green tea—lower water temps. The bitterness is still there around the edges but I slurp this one up, avoiding tasting right with the tip of my tongue, and get the wonderful sweet rich flavor in the back of my throat, a little smoky, a touch earthy, and go through infusion after infusion.
I bought a beeng of this one because I want to age it and follow the changes to see how the bitter flavors change with time. I am not working with selected temp & humidity conditions, nor did I buy multiple beengs—just playing with the idea of aging more than anything else.
I like to give this one a quick boiling water flash rinse, then let sit to hydrate with the water that clings to the chunk of cake, about 2-3 grams in my small gaiwan, infusing about 60-75 mL, while the water in the kettle cools to the desired 170-180 degrees. Then, a bunch of short infusions, 10" or less at first, up to 30+" by the time I’ve done a dozen or two.
I’ve even done this one as a bulk brewing for my thermos, to share with colleagues at work during the afternoon, and gotten a good response. The hard part will be keeping enough intact for some semi-meaningful aging, to watch the young sheng turn into mature puerh.
This is probably the 4th time I’ve brewed some of this wonderfully delicate tea, but I goofed in a way that probably limited the potential of the infusions significantly: I used a too low leaf to water ratio, and I was let the water cool too long before the infusions—too much attention to the camera setup as I was working on photographing what I was doing. In spite of that, the tea was good!
Leaves are twisted, large, green to black, with a light sweet scent.
2.2 grams of leaf into my 6 oz glass pot, because the leaves are so pretty as they unfurl.
1st infusion 175°F/79°C 30", sweet, hay, floral, but too light,
should have been longer.
2nd infusion water closer to 160°F/71°C (let it cool too long,
misjudged), let it go nearly 2 minutes, again a very light, sweet,
floral infusion.
3rd infusion 175°F/79°C several minutes, similar—light, sweet, floral.
4th and 5th infusions were with water just off the boil, several
minutes’ steep, and were still lovely.
I’d try water closer to 195 and 30" steep with 3-4 grams of leaf for the same pot next time around; or 2 grams in my 2 oz gaiwans, same temp/time recs as above.
Honoyama Organic Shincha from Yuuki-Cha today, my first tasting of this one.
Dry leaves are needlelike, very dark, rich sweet vegetal scent
4 grams of tea in 5 oz preheated kyusu
30" 160°F /71°C sweet, vegetal, delicate
10" 160°F/71°C umami, sweet, vegetal, nothing overpowering,
30" 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, hint of astringency aftertaste
1 minute 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, no astringency
a 5th infusion, with water that had cooled to 130°F/54°C in the kettle, for about 2 minutes, was losing steam, very dilute, but still sweet, vegetal, mellow.
Leaves after infusion are light green, small, few are entirely whole, but not very small pieces, with mild vegetal scent
This is wonderful, wonderful stuff, and my tastebuds are dancing with happiness.
I can’t remember which grade of the Tung Ting I bought at TenRen at this time—I think one of the best—and today I infused it in bulk to fill my thermos for work. So this note does not reflect trying to get the absolute best from the tea, but of it’s service filling a very practical need. The leaves are dark, tightly rolled, and smell like the dark roast TGY that I used to drink all the time. It tastes a lot like that TGY too, dark earthy toasty, quite nice and mellow. Good stuff, but not terribly special.
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Another day, another lovely series of infusions. This is a very very nice tea.
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Infusing 4.5 gram of tea in my 5 oz kyusu (about 150 mL water) with water at 160 degrees, after 30" the first is light and sweet and vegetal; the second (15") is sweet, a bit heavier with some sweet vegetal flavor and a bit of vanilla, a touch of umami but not much (a 30" second infusion was too heavy bodied when I tried that yesterday), and the third infusion (again 30") is more like the second, but the astringency starts to increase a little, but not enough to interfere with my enjoyment of the sweet vegetal flavors.
Delicious.
I think that shorter 2nd infusion allows the elements that have already started to leak from the wet leaves to be recovered without too much more coming out of the leaves (which would result in in an infusion strongly biased towards the umami, too much so for my taste), and then the 3rd infusion, there is not so much rushing out into the water, so an infusion the length of the first works fine.
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Hard to believe I missed rating this one already. It’s simply brilliant. Warm strong Rooibos bass notes, then highlighted by intense, wonderful lemon WOW. The combination of the lemon and the Rooibos is just amazing. It’s got zing to make you sing. I shared it with colleagues at work last week and everyone liked it, and most said WOW. I know what to stuff everyone’s stocking with this year.
It doesn’t get bitter if left to steep for a long time, and you can resteep it a few times before it starts to lose the lemon zing.
Steep about one teaspoon of tea, 5-8 ounces of boiling water, about 3-5 minutes, and enjoy.
I can really think of only two knocks on this tea: one, the little bits of rooibos can escape unless finely strained after brewing; and two, the boiling water infusion means it is hot enough to burn my fingers when I drink it from my handleless cups, if I don’t let it cool long enough.
The notes from Norbu identify this tea as a varietal “usually processed into a mildly fragrant oolong tea”, but what this one reminded me of was an Alishan oolong, but without the oolong—if that makes sense. There is a strongly floral undertone here that reminds me of the Alishan teas, more than a typical mainland green tea. And, like the Alishan teas, this one steeped and steeped—my first brewing was informal (i.e., did not weigh the leaves, sorry), and with enough balls of leaf to lightly cover the bottom of the gaiwan, water 160-170 degrees, my friend and I were able to enjoy probably 8 infusions before we were done, with the first one maybe 15 second and later infusions up to a minute. Sweet, vegetal, occasional hints of astringency, but no bitterness, and that floral/haylike undertone that was so nice, over and over.
This is what I said about the tea when doing a comparative tasting in March:
Used 1.8 grams of tea in small 40 mL gaiwan
Infusions 160°F/71°C-170°F/77°C
30”, 30” (probably too long, with all the bitterness coming out in the
2nd infusion), 30”
Dry Leaves: flat thin small leaves and fragments, some stems, scent of
hay, grass
Liquor, 1st infusion: yellow liquor; thicker body; hay, warm, less
camphor, but very similar to the Jade Pole (also a Yunnan green tea
from Yunnan Sourcing)
Liquor, 2nd infusion: nutty, dark, vegetal, astringent
Liquor, 3rd infusion: sweet, vegetal, bit nutty, but much less
astringent
Wet Leaves: more broken pieces, leaves are quite small,
yellow-green,and also mostly buds and small leaves
Tonight used a lot of leaf, water about 170 degrees, filled the gaiwan with leaf and steeped enough infusions to fill the quart thermos with nutty warm lightly sweet tea. Mellow and tasty, but not as good a control of the sweet as I sometimes can get with my chinese green teas—under very difficult performance conditions, of course, with the ‘bulk’ brewing.
This is a lightly oxidized greener oolong, less floral and fruity than the greener TGYs and the Alishan oolongs I’ve been drinking, with a spicier note that dominates the middle infusions (reminds me a bit of rou gui, but not as clearly cinnamon as that tea) and something elusive that is not precisely spicy/sweet/fruity/floral but not either smoky/earthy/toasty, something that is both tart and herbaceous and delicious.
I start with water between 190 and 200, and am too lazy to keep reheating the water when at home, so the water cools with later infusions. But I start short and hotter, and go longer as it gets cooler.
I only bought a one-ounce sample of this tea, and I have enjoyed quite a few mostly very small-scale brewings of it. As my tea cabinet runneth over, I won’t be ordering more of this one now, but when I do order again from Jing Tea Shop, some of this will be in the cart.
Today made this one again, still haven’t done it formally with photos and drinking each infusion separately, but I wanted a thermos full of tea, so used enough to stuff my 100mL red clay pot full when then opened, and from that brewed up a quart of tea. It’s been sitting a few hours, and the impression now is sweet, floral, not very earthy. Rather chameleon like vs my first experience with this tea. Delicious however you brew it.
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I bought this tea at the request of a friend who had heard about it and was interested in the purported health benefits of the GABA-rich tea. I thought it sounded intriguing, and I’m always up for an oolong, so I tried it. The dry leaf was brown rather the green I expected from their photo, and when brewed I was a bit disappointed at the relatively thin flavor: I used a quantity that usually is enough to fill my thermos with rich, deep oolong flavor from wuyi, anxi, or taiwanese teas.
I steeped it at 185 degrees, several infusions totaling about 2-3 minutes of infusion time, and combined the infusions to fill my thermos. The result was a brown infusion, with flavor of highly oxidized, almost black tea—no hint of bitterness, but a lightly fruity flavor, without much spice or earthiness.
I have passed it on to my friend after we shared the first infusion, and doubt I’d buy it again. It wasn’t particularly memorable, and I didn’t feel particularly mellow afterwards either.
Addendum: as I was cleaning up last night, I discovered the leaves from this tea were still left in my kamjove, and about 10 hours after the infusion, they were springy, not as soft as typically rehydrated tea leaves, and had a wonderful plum scent—probably more accurately, a very pleasant prune scent—fruity and sweet, and I was regretting giving the entire rest of the bag over to my friend, because it seemed like something with so much good scent must have more flavor potential as tea. Sigh. But if he figures out how to make it yummier, maybe I’ll try a smaller sample again.
Today brewed this as a ‘tea in a hurry’: dumped a few teaspoons into the bottom of a quart thermos, added hot water from the water cooler tap, and went to my meeting. An hour and a half later, it is still delicious: no bitterness, astringency, still just sweet, toasty, delicious.
This is a lovely puerh. The dry tuo smells woods and earth, without being musty. There are some broken leaves and stems, probably inevitable as such a tuo is broken up, but lots of large leaf pieces and some intact leaves visible after brewing. The leaf still smells spicy-sweet and promises more infusions to come.
Infused at 1 gram per ounce in a small yixing pot with boiling water, the first infusions need to be short as it still has some bitterness left that is apparent with careless or overlong infusions. Infused cautiously, 15 seconds at a time, it reveals sweet, smoky, earthy, spicy flavors. The smoky flavors fade fairly quickly, but the spicy sweet remains grounded and earthy for many infusions. I’m at least at 10-12 infusions now, limited more by bladder capacity than by the leaves giving out, and have lengthened the infusions to as long as a minute.
This is a wonderful, brilliant tea. Spicy, fruity, sweet, and with complexity and depth to carry through many infusions.
I have generally given up before the tea has, somewhere around 20 to 25 infusions.
The dry leaves are long, twisted, and open up into reddish green when infused. They don’t smell like much until they hit the prewarmed infusion vessel, and then the scent starts to grow strong and exotic. The spicy scent remains in the leaves after many infusions, promising more goodness to come.
I use about 1 gram of leaf per ounce or 30mL water, use a small yixing or gaiwan, and keep infusing over hours or leave the leaves overnight, do a flash rinse with boiling water, and keep going the next day. Water 185-195 degrees, and infusions that start at about 15 seconds but later extend to a couple of minutes. You do have to watch this one—it is not quite as friendly as the Honey Orchid “commercial” Dan Cong I got at Imen’s recommendation as a ’beginner’s Dan Cong’—this one can get bitter if you abuse it. But if you work with it gently, such a wonderful, wonderful tea.
I am just getting started exploring green teas, and found this one to have umami that overwhelms the honey-sweet that I crave, especially when infused as long and as low as Den’s recommends. I think it will is a great tea for those who are seeking that deeper vegetal flavor. It never gets remotely close to bitterness. It’s just not the tea for me, yet.
My rating reflects my preferred shorter hotter infusion time; because the longer steep is so much less to my preference, I would have to give it a lower rating under those conditions; but people who really crave that deep green vegetal umami, I think the rating would be much higher.
I infused it 5g per 5 oz at 140 for 140 seconds, as recommended, but prefer it 160 degrees for 30 seconds, 4 grams per 5 oz. I have trouble getting a pleasing second infusion because the umami takes over.
I wouldn’t try to treat an illness with this leaf, but the sweet, spicy, delicious brew made from it is certainly cheerful and heartening on a chilly day in winter when your head is stuffy. I tried this on my first trip to Hankook’s store, and I bought several other items so was offered a sample cup of any of their teas. I picked this one because I remembered a reference to a hydrangea tea somewhere in my tea wanderings online, and I was delighted from the first sip. It is very very sweet, but I don’t find it cloying.
I use one or two leaves per 6-8 oz cup of tea, boiling water, and infuse grandpa style, directly in the cup, waiting at least 5 minutes for the first sips. My first sample cup was nearly 16 oz from 2 leaves, and I got another full infusion out of it at home.
It is very very expensive, but a little goes a LONG way. Highly recommended as a treat.
I also once brewed it up with a cinnamon stick too, and that was an exceptionally delicious cup.
This is the tea I ‘grew up’ drinking, starting with Chinese restaurant teas and moving on to this one, which I was taught to revere as special and rare, one my father had learned on from Chinese friends but found hard to get before the 80s. By the time I started to drink it, it was easier to find, but still not something that every chinese market would carry. If I couldn’t find the familiar red tin, I’d go home empty handed rather than buy an unknown tea. A long period when I could not get t from my usual suppliers finally led me to my new local Chinatown, tea shops, and the internet, and this is no longer my favrite tea.
In retrospect I’m very glad that I didn’t find this tea on my first trip to Wing Hop Fung. But I’m glad that I eventually did find it again. It’s inexpensve, reliable, and comforting: a dark roasted toasty oolong with a little sweet, a lot of earthy, a touch of caramel, and when the leaves are treated just right, a bit of spicy too. I have managed to make a harsh bitter cup out of this one a few times, but it takes real effort: boiling water, too much of the dark, tightly curled leaf, and long steeping.Use teaspoon per mug or 6oz pot, water 185-195, steep 1-2 minutes, and you’ll get another 1-2 steepings from the leaves.
It keeps very well, so it’s a great one To keep around just in case, to introduce newbies gently to the darker side of higher roast teas, and for effortless drinking when you’re to frazzled to break off a piece of puerh or babysit a tempermental green.
I’d rate it about a 65, but can’t Figure out the sliders on the phone.
Cinnamon, spice, peppery, nice. Like this as part of a mix with chamomile and hibiscus, or by itself.
Today opened one of my last packets of this tea, and brewed up a bit gongfu style.
The leaves open up to nearly fill the gaiwan, after starting out as a sparse little layer on the bottom of the cup. The expected sweet and floral start is incredibly intense. Somewhere about 6 or 8 infusions in there are a 2 or 3 in a row that are very spicy, then that fades away again, and it’s back to sweet and floral until the kettle is empty of hot water. Wow.
Can’t wait to try the fall version, but I am trying to be disciplined and finish the spring first. Yet, if I do that, how will I ever compare them properly?
This is a warm, wonderful puerh. Today I have abused it: took a good chunk of beeng, tossed it in a pot, added boiling water and ignored it for a few minutes, and then rinsed the leaves several times without further ‘steeps’, adding all to a thermos for drinking at work. And it is tolerating with with a warm, rich, mildly sweet flavor, some depth to it with caramel notes.
Will do a proper tasting later, but this is the 2nd brewing, neither under the best conditions, and it is a very forgiving tea.
This is a tricky tea: when perfectly brewed, it is delicate, floral, peachy, delightful. Steep too hot or too long and it does get bitter; steep with too much leaf and again there’s risk of bitter; but steep too little, and then it tastes thin and light.
It’s been a long time since I’ve weighed out this tea, which probably explains some of my problems with it, because it is a light, fluffy, irregular tea composed of very different sized pieces.
I ordered a sample of this tea with my first order from Yunnan sourcing. It is quite interesting. There is a lot of body and depth to this one, some bitterness that can be impressive with overlong steeps, but I brew it short, relatively dilute, and get a very nice cup of tea, with marvelous sweetness as I slurp/inhale, balanced by a depth of the later flavors.
About 1 gram per ounce/30mL of near-boiling water, flash rinsed, then 10 second infusions gradually increasing to a minute or more; this is a tea that can give lots of steeps.
Addendum: I have lost count of steeps, but now am certainly past 12,
and it is still lovely.
Addendum 2: I finally got to the bottom of it, somewhere around 20
steeps. YUM.
The only hard thing with this tea is breaking up the very highly compressed brick to get chunks to brew. It needs a steady hand and a strong sturdy blade to slip in between the layers and work off pieces of tea.
After that, it’s all smooth. Boiling water flash rinse, then on to infusions, 30 seconds at a time, using a gram or more of leaf per ounce of water, gaiwan or yixing, as you prefer. This is not a tea with any edges that need rounding by the yixing. It is warm, sweet, with toasty caramel notes over a base of gentle earthiness, a perfect puerh for introducing someone nervous about this type of tea, or for those moments when you want something calming and soothing too.
I got mine from Yunnan Sourcing.
This is a rather toasty, mildly sweet green tea, in nice silk teabags (made a mistake when purchasing it, had intended to get loose leaf and didn’t pay enough attention).
I’ve brewed it a couple of times and the sweet green vegetal flavors predominate at first infusion, and the 2nd infusion and 3rd infusions are more toasted, less sweet, still mild and tasty.
I don’t really find it worth the high premium price, but it is a very nice tea, worth checking out if you want to explore Korean teas.
Ten Ren sells ‘Pouchong’ in several grades—1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. I first encountered it when I bought a green tin simply labelled ‘Pouchong’ at a chinese grocery store, and promptly put it in the back of the cupboard and forgot about it. A few years and a cross-country move later, I opened it and was very pleased by the mellowness of this very green-looking tea. I was quite surprised, when I looked into it later, to realize that it was technically an oolong, because to that point I’d only had some traditional dark roast Ti Kuan Yin and Wuyi Oolongs. I was happy to discover the TenRen store in my local chinatown and bought some of this ‘3rd grade’ pouchong because it seemed about the same price as what I’d bought in the tin.
It is a solid, but not spectacular, lightly oxidized oolong tea, sweet, tasting of hay and warm summer meadows, not strongly floral, and the sweet fades faster than with the handmade BaoZhong I recently tried. But it tolerates a wide variety of steep times and temps and is exceptionally forgiving of rushed or off brewing.
I like it best about 1g of tea per oz water at 195 degrees, infused about 30 seconds to start, and it is quite pleasant through 3-4 steeps, and better than plain water for several more, although the high notes of sweet and floral are gone by then.
A nice traditional roast Wuyi Yancha from Norbu, the spring 2009 harvest.
Brewed this one up several times, water 185-195 degrees, 1-2 grams of leaf per 1 ounce/30mL, infusions at 30-60 seconds apiece, in a small gaiwan. I can infuse it 8-10 times and still enjoy all of them.
It starts spicy/sweet, moves on to more earthy/fruity, and is delightful all the way.
I have too many good oolongs in the cupboard to have room for one more right now, but I’ll keep this in mind for the future. It’s not as strongly spiced as the one Rou Gui I’ve had, but the flavor goes longer than the Rou Gui too.
Mellow and gorgeous, but just a tiny bit tempermental: infused cool, it is sweet, vegetal, floral; infused too hot, it can get bitter and sharp. Notes of asparagus, peas and honey.
Infused 1g per ounce water at 160 degrees, 30 seconds for first steep, and up to 6 steeps at increasing times/steep.
I scented some of this with citrus flowers from my yard, and it was mind-blowingly good.
A bright, sweet, delicious Dragon’s Well.
Leaves are the usual flat green needles, a little more variable in color than the two non-organic Dragon’s Well teas that I’ve tried from them. They smell nutty.
Infused at 1 gram per 1 oz or 30 mL water in a porcelain gaiwan, water 160-170 degrees, for 30-60 second steeps, this tea yields a pale yellow liquor with excellent body, sweetness, and minimal astringency, and a mellow almost floral flavor with hints of pea. I expect 4-6 short steeps out of it at that ratio, but am now about to drink my 9th or 10th after doubling the leaf to brew for two people.
It’s not as robustly nutty and asparagus like as the Imperial Shih Feng Long Jing I bought from Jingteashop.com last year, but it is less expensive and really I’m a sucker for sweet and mellow anyway.
I really like this tea. It’s like everything black tea wants to be without the bitterness. Fruity, sweet, tart, yum. It’s flexible about brewing, and has pretty good legs.
The dry leaves are twisted and long and dark, the smell is sweet/fruity/spicy.
I start with my usual ratio of 1 g leaf to 1 oz/30 mL water, brewing gongfu with small gaiwan, water between 180 and 195 degrees, infusions 30" t0 1 minute, and repeat infusions until the flavor is gone.
The liquor is amber to red, medium body, sweet, fruity; the wet leaves more mostly intact, medium to large, and retain the strong fruity scent.
I have also ‘bulk brewed’ this one several times for my thermos to share during a workday afternoon and it’s quite popular with my colleagues.
But now my leaves are sitting in a drying gaiwan, I have no more hot water, and after only 3 infusions, I am pretty sure that there was more there to give. Sigh.
Disclaimer: I have only had one ‘oriental beauty’ tea from TenRen, and that one was rose-scented and just seemed off; I composted rather than drank it.
Brewing up a bit of this, towards the end of a batch purchased probably more than a year ago. I had loved the pouchong I bought at TenRen—my first experience of a lightly oxidized oolong—and was looking for more of the same. What a surprise! This is a darker, spicier, fruitier tea, not as earthy and toasted as the SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin I ‘grew up’ drinking, but not much resembling the lighter TenRen tea. I keep forgetting and rediscovering it in the back of the cupboard. Shame on me. It doesn’t deserve forgetting. The spice is reminiscent of the Rou Gui I recently tried for the first time.
The dry leaf is dark, long, relatively straight but twisted around the long axis. It smells fruity/spicy already.
Brewing about 1 gram of leaf per ounce or 30mL of water in a small gaiwain, water at about 195 degrees.
The liquor is amber to reddish, sweet, spicy, but like Rou Gui, doesn’t have the really long legs of a Dan Cong or Wuyi Oolong: it’s tiring at 5 infusions, with spicy still there but more astringency and the fruity gone. Even after all 5 infusions, the leaves aren’t fully unfurled, seems like there should be more to give, but tonight a 6th infusion is pretty much just spice.
If rated on the first infusion alone, this would be a 90; on the first-through-5th, it’s lower.
This is an interesting tea I picked up at Wing Hop Fung one day—the tag on the shelf said “Many Flowers Puerh” and it was on sale, plus I could see enough of the beeng to see that there were many flowers pressed into it, and wondered what flavors they might add to the tea.
The beeng is pretty—see the photo, or see it larger here at my flickr—http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3914144873/—but doesn’t have much odor, and the tea doesn’t have much flavor. My first time I infused about 1 gram of tea per ounce of water, and it was quite bland; today I brewed up a thermos-full in my Kamjove, enough leaf to fill the upper container after it was flash-rinsed, and a series of short infusions—pour-throughs—and it is still quite bland, dilute, a bit sweet, a little vanilla, a little earthy, no smoky aged flavors, no sharp herbaceous young sheng flavors.
I’m wondering if it is sheng or shu; and what I might do to try to bring up more flavor from it. Anyone else had any experience with a tea like this?
Pictures of the wrapper with a lot of info in chinese :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3914146213/in/set-72157621660566348/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3914932560/in/set-72157621660566348/
It says Menhuajingdian upper left on the wrapper and then Yunnan Shuangjiang Mengku Proterozoic Broad-Leaved Tea Factory, which does not further enlighten me, although the inner science geek loves the ‘Proterozoic’ in the name.
My first puerh, and though it is no longer a favorite, still a very nice, drinkable tea, and a good introdution to puerhs in general.
Still have some left in the cupboard because it’s too good to compost, but I rarely break it out to drink it.
Given a sample by a friend, this one rated very comparably to a Bai Mu Dan from my local chinatown teashop, Wing Hop Fung. Nice stuff.
Warm, sweet, fruity, and very tolerant of sometime slapdash brewing. Super mixed iwth a bit of osamnthus blossoms. A nice all-around tea.
This tea was way too strong by itself, but cut 1:1 with some straight silver needle or silver bud, it was quite a winner—very popular with colleagues who like their teas flavored.
Not too expensive ($48/lb), this tea is curled and delicate, leaves smell vegetal but not strong.
5 grams tea, 5 oz/150mL water 165 degrees, infused about 30 seconds, mixed the first two infusions together as I am drinking them. The liquor is pale golden, sweet, very delicate floral flavor, with a nice thick body, hints of sweet peas, no hint of astringency or bitterness. A 3rd and 4th infusion are losing body and sweetness, some astringency coming through.
The damp leaves smelled like asparagus after the 2nd infusion, but can’t distinguish much after the 4th.
Overall, this is a nice, mellow, sweet white tea, and not too pricey as white teas go—a relative bargain.
Duplicate of this review with photos at link below (my site, no ads, no flash)
I love this one: smoky, sweet, earthy, and if I keep my infusions short enough, not bitter.
1 gram of leaf per ounce water just off the boil, in gaiwan or small yixing, flash rinse, then short steeps, 10", 10", 15", 15", 20", 20", and so forth. I have continued to enjoy 20+ infusions from this tea. It also does nicely bulk brewed: a good wedge of tea, toss it into the kamjove, flash rinse, then steep a minute or so, pour several more volumes of water through it quickly, and add all to the thermos for a long afternoon’s work or meeting or drive.
Another one I love so much that I have one beeng at work, one at the new satellite office, and gave one to a good tea buddy who also loves it, and now I need to bring another chunk home because I have run out here, and that is not a good thing!
This is fairly pricey like most Korean teas, apparently due to rarity with most being consumed inside Korea.
The leaves are dark, small, twisted, with toasty and fruity odors. When added to the prewarmed gaiwan, 2.5 g per 75mL/2.5 oz water, the odor is stronger, mostly fruity and tart.
The first 30 second infusion with water several minutes off the boil (probably about 180 degrees) yields an amber infusion, tasted like dilute black tea—touch of fruit, bit of toasty, but very little of the floral and earthy notes I expect from my chinese oolongs.
2nd infusion at 170 degrees (thought it was a bit warmer, surprised when it was so cool in the cup), also abotu 30 seconds, again tastes strongly of….well…black tea. A little fruity, very tea-like, a little hint of caramel.
For the 4th infusion, I put water just off the boil for 20 seconds, and a little more sweetness comes out. It reminds me a bit of the Yunnan Oriental Beauty I got from Yunnan Sourcing: tastes strongly oxidized, like a black tea, but without any of the bitterness that makes most of them intolerable to me.
The leaves are broken, curled, dark after infusion, and again, has a strong tea scent. (‘Tea scent’ here is code for smells like lipton, but that seems like a bad word to use describing a pleasant mild tea.)
It is easy and pleasant, but not that special for the price.
Same review on my web site, with photos (no ads):
This is a sweet, vegetal sencha I’m drinking to start the day. Alternating it with the Sencha Shin-ryoku, it might have a bit more umami, but really hard to be sure. They’re very similar, and I prefer both to the Fukamushi sencha maki I bought previously from Den’s.
I’m still pretty new to the Japanese greens, first tried them just six months ago, so have only had half a dozen different senchas, mostly small samples, to compare this to.
I spent a couple of months alternating this and the Sencha Select from the Cultured cup as my daily first of the morning brew. It was very nice, but I prefer the brighter taste of the less-steamed tea to the stronger umami of this one. So with my next order, I went back to Dens regular senchas, and have been happier with them.
I was finishing off some Den’s Fukamushi-Sencha Maki at the time that I opened a sample of this one, and I was so impressed by the bright sweetness in contrast to the more umami taste of the fukamushi that I ordered more, along with the Sencha Zuiko. So far, I can’t tell much difference between the two, except perhaps a little more umami in the Zuiko. When I do think I can tell a difference, I actually prefer the Shin-ryoku. It’s a nice morning cup of tea.
And yes, it is temperature sensitive. I do my first infusions at 160 F 30" and may let a 2nd or 3rd get as hot as 170 for a shorter time, but no hotter. I’m a bitter-wimp.
I am writing a note based on the assumption per other’s description that this is the Silver Needle Yellow Tea from Hunan, which I bought from Wing Hop Fung recently. I had bought something labelled ‘yellow tea’ a year or more before, loved it, but wasn’t sure where I’d bought it or which tea it was when I ran out and wanted to replace it. This tea appeared dark olive, not as downy as the silver needle I get from Chado.
But the Hunan Silver Needle Yellow Tea was not what I was looking for: not as sweet, more astringent, and even bitter. i have been unable to find a sweet spot to brew this tea, and I have gone all the way down to 160 degrees like for a very delicate white tea without a satisfying result. So….am I describing the same tea as the others here, or a different one?
I ended up giving the tea away to someone else who will hopefully find a sweet spot for brewing it better than I did!
Their web site describes it as a ‘semi-oxidized, earthy brew’. I found the dry tea leaves to be fairly dark, and very tightly rolled. I took just a small amount—enough to cover the bottom of the small 2.5oz/75mL gaiwan—for my first brewing, and after a couple of infusions the leaves nearly fill the gaiwan.
The first impression was rich, thick liquor, sweet and floral and rich, but when several combined infusions sat for a while in my 10 oz cup, the sweetness was much less pronounced, and a deeper, earthier flavor appeared.
I am used to some flavor changes as teas sit: I typically brew up a quart of my teas at a time, and drink that from a thermos over several hours during my workday. But I’ve not noticed such a rapid and profound change in any of my lightly oxidized Ali Shan and Tie Guan Yin Oolongs before.
I guess that’s why its described as “earthy” rather than predominantly sweet. Very interesting tea.
This is a mellow, sweet, gentle young puerh. It is perfect for introducing new tea drinkers to puerh, because it is not only mellow and a little earthy, but the sweetness draws them in. I keep a pouch of this one at home, at work, and at the satellite office.
An amazing, rich, sweet, floral oolong tea. I have steeped this one about 12 times, when using a small amount of the tightly rolled leaves to cover the bottom of a yixing pot or gaiwan, which unfurl gradually to nearly fill the pot by the end of the session.
Infusions from 30 seconds to 3 minutes by that 10th or 12th.
Probably my favorite tea since I first tried it. It stays sweet and rich longer than the lovely AliShan oolongs also carried by norbu. After trying both of these teas, I immediately bought many more little pouches of it, and squirreled them away for holiday gifts. Now that I’m running out of what I reserved for me, I’m hoarding it a bit. It’s that good.
Finally opened this tea up, which I ordered as part of my first order from Den’s Tea. I was shy of bitterness in green teas, hadn’t yet figured out how to steep them, so ordered a little of this, a little of a gyokuro, and a green tea sampler. I figured out how to enjoy the senchas and the gyokuro, and now am drinking one of them nearly every morning, and then this tea got left in the back of the cupboard. But tonight I opened it up, am enjoying the toastiness, and am going to send a thank you to the tea-friend who suggested it as an entry to Japanese tea. It is a little more one-note than my favorite darker oolongs, with the toasted note over a mild herbaceousness, but still entirely pleasant, easy, mellow. I will doubtless pick up a little of this from time to time.
An amazing tea. After a couple of fairly long rinses, 2 × 20 seconds, 1 gram of tea per oz of water yields a series of amazing sweet wonderful infusions—5 to 10 seconds apiece, too short to be captured by the steepster graphics. . Herbaceous and vegetal flavors, little that is earthy or smoky like older or compressed puerhs. A remarkable tea.