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I started this off by rinsing my duanni yixing with hot water, then putting the leaves in and taking the aroma, I got a wonderful floral and fruity aroma that is often associated with Tie Kuan Yin, after giving it a quick rinse to get the leaves to open up. I noticed there was almost no dust or particulate which is usually a sign of a higher grade oolong.

First infusion gave me a very pale light honey colored liquor, and a bright floral aroma. The leaves havent fully opened up yet at this point, so the liquor was very light, with a nice refreshing mouthfeel. I usually dont second rinse Tie Kuan Yin even though you can to get to the good infusions quicker, I find that is just throwing away very drinkable tea.

The second infusion was slightly darker, with a creamier feel, a stronger fruity and floral aroma and taste. A slight nutty and grass flavor also peeks in at this point, there is also a very tiny tingle on the tongue. It was still very clear honey color and had a nice clean finish.

The third infusion was slightly darker still but still very clear. Also the aromas and flavors intensified a little as well as having just a slight lingering taste on the tongue. The third infusion is usually considered the best for Oolongs as the leaves have fully opened at this point and the most water is in contact with the tea and it still has a lot of flavor to give at this point.

At this point I opened the yixing and took a few of the leaves out for examination and it was good medium sized leaves with just that slight darkening at the edges which is what should be there with light oolongs as the only oxidation is from the rolling. Whole leaves with very few stems.

Fourth infusion was just slightly weaker than the first, and was still producing a nice colored liqour with good mouthfeel, I think this will steep out very nicely for 4 or 5 more infusions.

I highly recommend this tea for people who like light refreshing clean oolongs with that lightly fruity and floral aroma and flavor.

This is one of Teavana’s better tea offerings. They tend to do really well with the micro lot offerings as those seem to be intended to market to serious tea drinkers to keep them coming back.

I started by brewing this in a gaiwan with 4 grams of tea leaf in about 90 Ml of water, I didnt wash it as greens dont usually need it. Steeping it for about 30 seconds at 175 I got a very very clear light color liquor. The first aroma’s were a slight floral, spinach, grassy scent. Tasting it , it was sweet, light, refreshing with just the teeniest tiniest hint of a slight mouth watering astringency, I didnt even list it as a flavor its so mild.

The second steeping was much like the first, with the same flavors and aroma’s and I cant quite pin the floral scent, maybe slightly herbaceous.. its sweet and makes me want to drink more. Maybe a tiny bit of honey aroma?

I upped the temp to 185 to bring out a bit more flavor in the third steep, it did add a tiny bit more to the astringency but not enough to interfere with the flavors. The sweetness also comes out a bit more at this temperature surprisingly. But this does tell me its not first picking anji as that should have very very little astringency even when taking up the temperature. But at this price that isnt surprising and the tea is still very enjoyable.

Fourth steeping the floral notes came out a bit more and the astringency went away mostly, still at 185. Grassy spinach notes are still present.

Now all this is interesting because the first time I brewed this tea, the flavors were nearly much reduced, they were a bit more pronounced this time. I much more prefered this steeping, its strange how tea’s vary from day to day.

I recommend this tea for people who like green, light tea, refreshing tea, and sweeter greens over more astringent ones.

Today I am sipping 2005 aged mao xie by Verdant tea, I started this off by giving it a quick rinse in my Yixing. The rinse produced a very pale honey color liqour and an intense aroma of floral, smoke, honey and caramel.

First infusion the liqour darkened to a medium honey color and took on a bit more floral notes at this point, there is a bit of minerality and a little sensation of tingling on the tongue that you really only get with good oolongs. I knew right away this was going to be a winner. Sweet and smokey, that aged oolongs seem to really engender.

Second infusion was slightly darker, but not by a lot. I got a little more honey in this one, as the infusion got a little sweeter. But the flavors and aromas were pretty similiar, though the leaves opened up nicely at this point. I think for the third infusion Im going to bring the water up to boiling.

This was a wise choice, it brought out more fruit flavors, maybe raisins and a bit more of the minerality, that you kind of feel on your tongue. Also it’s hard to describe how clear this liquor is.

Im sure based on this it will steep out many more times.

I highly recommend this tea if you like aged oolongs, smokey, floral or minerality.

This is one of the more unusual tea’s Ive tasted. Its a white tea, but the flavor profile is all green. I started by brewing this at about 185, I find most white tea’s can take a little bit more heat than greens can, so I like to brew them at 185 instead of 175. In this case that was a wise choice.

First infusion I got a clear bright yellow liquor that was absolutely delightful. Spinach, Asparagus and sweet vegetal aroma’s are the first thing I got from it. Then sipping a bit, the flavors matched the aroma quite well, there was almost no hint of bitterness or astringency at all.

The second infusion got slightly stronger as I took it from 15 seconds up to about 25, and the liquor slightly darker. This produced a very nice flavor as well. I got a bit more asparagus at this point.

After doing some pretty extensive googling , I found that this tea is also called Drum Mountain white or Gu Shan Bai Yun and is known for having a flavor profile somewhat similiar to dragonwell.

I recommend this tea to someone who wants their green a little milder or a white tea with a bit stronger vegetal notes.

First up today is hand fired black by verdant tea. This is an interesting tea that I wasnt sure at first if I liked or not. Its a bit on the mild side for a black tea, so lets start with the brewing. Getting out my Yixing because I really wanted to hit it with alot of heat this time. So picking out 5 grams of leaves, and they are nice big whole leaves too. I heated the yixing and put the leaves in and got a wonderful caramel aroma from the pot. That classic black tea sweetness. I decided to skip the wash on this as the leaves look fairly open and and clean, so no need to remove dust.

First infusion 30 seconds I got a clear very pale redish liquor, I have to admit, the tea looks and smells awesome, but the taste doesnt quite match up to the promise the aroma and color give. Its nice, with caramel and Vanilla, and its sweet and no bitterness at all, but its a bit on the mild side.

Second infusion got slightly darker, and the tea tasted better, perhaps I should have given it a quick wash. Sweeter, caramel and here is where it got good, it has that nice black tea aftertaste, that makes water taste sweeter for a while.

Third infusion I hit it a little harder, pouring boiling water over the yixing and letting it steep a little longer. I got a bit more of that savory notes that blacks are known for.

Fourth infusion was about the same, with just a hint of astringency popping in at this point.

I recommend this tea for anyone who likes mild black tea, I usually like a bit more intensity in my black tea.

First up today is Dayuling high mountain spring oolong by Taiwan tea craft. I started by preparing my Yixing by washing it with near boiling water and then putting the rolled leaves in there for a moment to get the aroma. A nice floral, vegetal and fruity aroma came from the pot. Then giving it a wash I got an incredibly clear light liquor, and giving it just a little taste. I got fruity notes and just a hint of apple I think.

The first infusion opened up the leaves very quickly and still gave a very light clear liquor, the aroma was fairly light once out of the pot and so was the flavor, but it was quite nice and refreshing though not quite as intense as the first aroma. Fruity, vegetal, floral and apple, I got the same flavor profile as the aroma’s from the wash. I was a little surprised how much more intense the aroma was in that initial burst of hitting the hot water.

The second infusion got a little stronger, this isnt too unusual with oolong tea, and the liquor got a little darker as well. The aroma got a bit more intense as well as the leaves fully opened up at this point. Looking at the leaves in the pot, they are large and broad and very lovely looking. This is a high quality tea.

The third infusion was very similiar to the second, and I didnt pick up any different notes, but I suspect I will get at least 6 or 7 steepings from this tea.

I recommend this tea as its slightly pricey, but extremely, light floral and fruity, a great summer tea.

Up today is Green Miracle by yunnan sourcing. This is a tea Ive heard alot about and really wanted to try, so when they had their sale I picked some up. I started by first slowly working around the cake loosening the cake. Then I used a knife to pry into the cake slightly to try to work a big piece or two off, this is quiet a tightly packed cake and it was a bit tricky to get it to come apart.

When I finally did get it apart, I got 2 big pieces and a few extra leaves. I popped about 5-6 grams into my gaiwan, I wanted to use a neutral vessel to taste this the first time. A quick rinse at about 205 for 10 seconds. I tasted the wash and there wasnt too much dust in it, so I decided to just do a single wash. The wash was a bit weak, but had a nice woody, chocolate aroma.

First infusion I got a fairly dark ripe liquor, and the flavors intensified and smoothed out a little. Definitely one wash was the way to go here, as the flavors popped in the first infusion and it would have wasted good tea, I steeped for about 10 seconds and then tasted. Chocolate, sweetness, earthiness, caramel, and just a very smooth tea greeted me with this. It had absolutely no overpowering ripe or dankness to it, it was just solid and smooth.

The second infusion was much like the first though very slightly darker, the flavor profile was almost exactly the same. The leaves opened up a little and and darkened the liquor. Maybe it got a little sweeter.

The third infusion got darker still almost to black and this is fairly normal for ripe puerh tea. And interestingly a little tiny bit of bitterness creeps in at this point, which actually works really nice, not too much just a touch. Almost like a bittersweet chocolate which is still one of the primary flavors im getting.

The fourth infusion is almost a copy of the third, flash infusing it at this point, im pouring the water in and right out again and its still incredibly dark, this tea is going to get at least 10 infusions. The flavor is exactly the same as well. Dark bittersweet, this is a good tea to have after a meal or with desert, maybe instead of a coffee.. I bet this would be great with coffeecake.

Highly recommended, and the price is incredibly reasonable!

I recently received this from Taiwan tea crafts and decided to brew it up today for my first tasting. Its a very dark aged smoked oolong tea from Taiwan. After giving it a very quick rinse, I tasted the wash, and it had light smokey qualities before dumping the rest. There was very little dust so I decided one wash was sufficient.

First infusion was about 35 seconds to give the leaves a little time to open up. I got a medium dark liquor actually a little darker than what was shown in their picture, and the most wonderful smokey, caramel aroma. I did brew it in a yixing so that might have darkened it slightly. It was also sweet and earthy, and it had the most wonderful mouth watering aftertaste, that you only really get on good oolongs.

Second infusion was slightly darker and the flavors and aroma’s richer and more pronounced. A bit of nuttiness creeped in at this point as well, the flavor is rich and smooth and very nice.

The third infusion got darker still but the flavors and aroma’s slightly got weaker, it was still very drinkable and pleasant, and I think this tea has quite a few more infusions left to give. I do love that about oolong’s its staying power. The lovely aftertaste is still there as well.

This is a very reasonably priced tea for an aged tea, and is just utterly delicious, I highly recommend this tea!

First tasting today is Biluo Chun from teaful, I picked this up at the southwest tea fest. And finally got a chance to try it today. I picked this up as part of their taste of taiwan volume 1 pack.

I started by brewing this in my gaiwan for about 30 seconds, I got a very clear very pale yellow liquor, with a very mild aroma. Tasting it, I got just the very smallest hint of astrigency, but a very strong creamy spinach flavor and aroma. Its surprisingly delicate and sweet for a green tea.

Second brew made it a bit stronger, but still very good, the vegetal notes are coming out now but not overpowering the cream or spinach. And the astrigency has almost disappeared.

The third steeping I pumped the temp up to 185 and brewed it for 45 seconds and it kept the sweet spinach and cream flavors and aromas and just slightly picked up a bit more vegetal astrigency.

I highly recommend this tea as it would be incredibly hard to overbrew this to astrigency as even pushing it resulted in a very light refreshing tea.