87 Tasting Notes

drank Lishan Heavy Roast by Shing Hwa
87 tasting notes

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83

Heavily fired aromas of charcoal, scorched almonds and peat. Underneath the brawn, there is plummy fruit and vanilla. Intense and punchy. Salted plums, minerals, strong charred notes and roasted celery on the palate. very long finish. low astringency.
The charred elements really dominate

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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92
drank Golden Fleece by Verdant Tea
87 tasting notes

Beautiful dry leaves that are firm in the hand.
Wet leaf leans to the darker spectrum: cocoa, earth and malt with bits of vanilla.
The liquor has much sweeter aromatics. Most evident is creme brulee, then honey and malt. Bit of smoked sweet potato and black cardamom, but this is overpowered by the sweeter elements.
Creamy and smooth on the palate

This is very nice

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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87

Picked this up at the PingLin Tea Museum in Taiwan. This was their mid-grade offering of Baozhong.

Leaves are long and twisted, brittle and dark green
Initially thought this had a slightly roasted character, but this dissipated in the later infusions, replaced with familiar floral aromas. Slight butteriness and plasticine. Roasted spiced apples. Occasionally would get sniffs of tropical fruit like dried mango

Medium mouthfeel with an attractive mid-palate and lingering finish.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 tsp 110 OZ / 3253 ML

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82

Dry leaf is long and brittle and smells of asparagus, white chocolate and smoke.
first steep was all wet grass, seaweed and smoke
later steepings revealed more apricot, saddle leather along with vegetal tones, but I thought it lacked in the mid-palate so I pushed it a little more with steep time. This was a good idea as it picked up some body and brought out some warm spices such as cinnamon and sandalwood, supported by apricot and fine astringency. Smokiness still lingers.
a very delicate sweet finish.
reminds of a young pu’er, but lacks a certain je ne sais quoi

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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drank rou gui by Shi You
87 tasting notes

A sample brought back from China.
Dry leaf is a cloudy charcoal black and brown.

Quite unusual aromatically with chinese dried plum, older apples, wood and wet rocks.
This is consistent on the palate as well, which is very mineral driven.
Intense and long finish

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90

Ahh, the purple teas; I do find them unique. Highly aromatic with strong flavours.

Extremely fruity, massively fruity: Ripe plum, red berries and even some blueberries. There’s malt in the background and a sulphury smell as well. Throw in some wood and flowers and tada.

Drinking in Nov/16, this is medium bodied and quite smooth. Apparently, they can be quite bitter when young, but I don’t get that here. Flavours are more malt dominated on the palate with the fruit now in the background.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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88

This is a Dong Fang Mei Ren tea from Pinglin, Taiwan. Most of the Oriental Beauty teas are from Hsinchu, so I wanted to review one from a different area. Apparently, these are getting more popular within Taiwan precisely because the Hsinchu Oriental Beauty teas are more popular elsewhere…and hence more prone to being adulterated. Apparently.

An immediate benefit of the Pinglin oriental beauty is its price, which is easily half of that of the Hsinchu teas.

Appearance of this is what one would expect of a quality Oriental Beauty — a fair amount of white tips along with brown, black and greenish hues in the dry leaf and very small leaves.

The infusion is typically aromatic with honeysuckle, wood, very mild malt, lemon oil and fresh autumn leaves.

Very smooth on the palate with a delicate honeyed sweetness.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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86

It’s been a wild dynamic ride thus far with this tea. I’m still trying to figure out how to coax the best out of it. It’s in there somewhere.

Higher temperatures dull the fruit flavours and bring out the bitterness. So I played around with temperatures, but didn’t actually record the degrees.

Wet leaf reminds me a little of some Sri Lankan teas with their tomato and floral nature.
Infused liquor though is quite different. Medium amber with dates, honey, wood and malt which comes and goes.
Depending on the steep, the malt comes through on the palate as does a sweet woody element. Other times, I get the minty cinnamon spice that I was told I should expect, but this is fleeting.

I’m still figuring this out, but enjoying doing so.
Key take away for now: use a lower temperature. try around 80C and adjust accordingly

Update 10 Nov. I tried again today and this time with a thermometer. I can confirm that 80C is a good temperature for the infusion. A slightly longer steep at this temperature does not bring out the bitterness, but more of the heady aromas, especially sandalwood.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 115 ML

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83

I’m assuming this is the tea I’m reviewing (purchased 100g for 450NT).

I don’t normally buy TenRen, as I think it’s overpriced, but apparently they are trusted when it comes to provenance.

Definitely a green version of Dong Ding. Rolled leaves are dark green and have a pleasantly fresh grassy pear aroma.
Infusion gives off baked apples, cream and gentle spice.
Taste is more apply and bitter vegetable greens with a slight chemical taste on the finish (at least on first few infusions).

This is good, but not great. A fine daily drinker.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 115 ML

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I like tea; I’d like to drink more of it. I also like wine; I probably drink too much of that.

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