943 Tasting Notes

92

[Spring 2018 harvest]

For my morning brew I chose this black tea sample from derk. It was a good choice, it turns out that this tea ranks among my favourite black teas from YS. I will be looking to add it to my next order.

It has a nicely balanced and delicate taste, while being more bitter and less sweet than similar teas. That’s definitely a plus for me. The taste profile is somewhat tart and bitter with spicy and nutty undertones. One of the highlights is the protracted and evolving aftertaste.

Also, I am not sure if it’s related to my state of mind this morning, but I don’t think black tea has ever had such a strong defocusing effect on me, and this was only 3g. Admittedly, I drank it quite fast. The tea is very infusable too, I could get 12 infusions from it overall.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWbsnAHXyBU

Flavors: Bitter, Citrus, Fruity, Nutty, Spices, Tart

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 2 OZ / 50 ML

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94

The first time I tried this tea I was very impressed and ordered a cake straight away. Since then, I tried it a few more times, just finishing my 25g sample today, and my opinion of the tea hasn’t changed for worse, that’s for sure. This tea is about the taste and the mouthfeel. And it delivers. Big time. It is also a very infusable tea. I usually get about 16 (100ml) infusions from ~7g. I love the late steeps too, which are very pleasant – delicate and light.

The aromas I get from the dry leaves are reminiscent of fenugreek and pepper, while in the wet leaves I notices scents of gasoline, mushrooms, breckland thyme and general herbal, flowery and vegetal ones. Later on throughout the session, notes of (clean) barn, warm grass and cake emerge too. The empty cup has a strong aroma too. It smells of wood, brown butter and cooked beef.

The flavours range from citrusy and fruity (apple) to herbal. The overall profile reminds me of some ales and the alcohol-like feeling also permeates the mouth. The liquor is full bodied with mild to medium astringency and little bitterness. It is very flavourful and refreshing drink, at the same being quite delicate. Aftertaste is dominated by tart and umami flavours. I get notes of almond, dry grass, grape skins and kiwi. The huigan is pretty strong too.

Mouthfeel is thick from the rinse onwards. It is coating, smooth, buttery, lubricating and a bit bubbly as well as somewhat mouth-watering. The finish is somewhat numbing, a sensation that persist after swallowing too. Cha qi is mostly relaxing and not too strong.

The tea is already semi aged I’d say, which would suggest to me that the harvest year may be longer ago than 2015, but that could be wrong. I look forward to seeing its further development in the years to come and consider getting a second cake, since I haven’t come across a tea in this price category that I would like nearly as much as this one.

Flavors: Alcohol, Almond, Apple, Astringent, Barnyard, Biting, Brown Sugar, Burnt, Butter, Cake, Citrus, Dry Grass, Flowers, Grapes, Herbaceous, Herbs, Hops, Meat, Mushrooms, Pepper, Pleasantly Sour, Sweet, Sweet, Warm Grass, Tart, Thick, Thyme, Umami, Vegetal, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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87
drank 2018 Arbor White by white2tea
943 tasting notes

Arbor White is an impressive white tea that has a lot going on for it. However, I think it is not special enough for me given the price. Ultimately, I liked the Arbor Red more, which is why I got a cake of that one instead. Nevertheless, the complexity is definitely there.

The aromas are fairly standard for a white tea of this kind – there are notes of autumn leaf pile, honey, petrichor and passion fruit. The rinse is sweet, fruity and woody with a pronounced apricot note. The complexity increases in future steeps. I can notice flavours of bark, stonefruits, lemon zest, egg shells, spices and copper in addition to those mentioned. The profile remains very balanced throughout the session. It is a comforting and smooth tea. The finish is somewhat sour and it extends into the aftertaste, which then makes it feel like the liquor stayed in the mouth.

The liquor has a medium body and is mouth-watering. The mouthfeel is very expansive, soft and a little chalky. It induces a tingling sensation in the mouth and I feel like it’s more interesting once the tea has cooled down a bit.

As for the aftertaste, I find it quite acidic and slick with a cooling sensation in the mouth. It is somewhat earthy and displays further notes of pumpkin spice and cake.

In none of the sessions with this tea I noticed any particular cha qi, which came as a bit of a surprise.

edit: And half an hour after I wrote that, I notice the music filling the room much more than normally, I feel elevated, and my writing looks as if I was dyslexic. The cha qi of this tea is a creeper that you mightn’t even notice because of the slow onset, but it’s quite pleasant overall.

Flavors: Apricot, Autumn Leaf Pile, Bark, Cake, Earth, Fruity, Honey, Lemon Zest, Metallic, Passion Fruit, Petrichor, Pleasantly Sour, Pumpkin Spice, Spices, Stonefruit, Sweet, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 110 ML

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74

Whoa, what an intriguing tea. It is very different from any other tea I’ve had, and just for that reason, I would recommend people to try it. The leaves are dark green with a purplish hue. The liquor colour is somewhere between pink and purple, also unusual.

The aromas I notice include those of char, apricot, almond, sea air and parsley. First infusion is quite salty with a strong umami and a smoky, fruity background. It is fairly astringent too, but I pushed it a bit too hard to be honest. In the aftertaste, some sweetness slowly appears, but it is very shy. It is a strong and protracted aftertaste, which over time gets spicy, sour and warming in the throat. The mouthfeel is very soft, drying on the sides of the mouth while being mouth-watering at the back. Later steeps also have some metallic (Aluminum), bitter and vegetal (spruce) characteristics.

This is a strange tea, and I haven’t quite warmed up to its profile yet. I also don’t expect to feel like drinking it often at all. However, as a change of pace from more standard tea, it can work very well.

edit: I should use less than 5g next time. It is a strong and infusable tea with a strong aftertaste, meaning that I drink it quite slowly. I put away a lot of the remaining tea to cool down in the fridge to see how it tastes cold.

Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Astringent, Bitter, Char, Drying, Forest Floor, Marine, Metallic, Mineral, Ocean Air, Parsley, Pine, Salt, Salty, Sour, Spicy, Umami, Vegetal

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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88

Year of the Rooster is a fairly standard sheng, but a very good one at that. The aromas and flavours are strong and it is quite energizing too. The leaves smell vegetal and peppery when dry and display some spinach, green beans and mineral fragrance once wet. The taste is quite bitter from the get go and it has a kind of sourness I would normally associate with yancha. It is vegetal, grassy, herbal and savoury with a touch of umami. In the late steeps, it becomes sweeter with a honey note. Aftertaste shows some additional notes of butter and asparagus. In terms of the mouthfeel, this tea shines too. It has a creamy, smooth and brothy texture, and the astringency is very light, at least in the initial infusions.

I liked it enough to get a cake, so I will be watching its progression. As Paul mentions, it is a bold pu’er, and I am excited to see how it will change over time.

Flavors: Asparagus, Bitter, Broth, Butter, Creamy, Earth, Grass, Green Beans, Herbs, Honey, Pepper, Pleasantly Sour, Smooth, Spinach, Umami, Vegetal, Wet Rocks

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 80 ML

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86

This green tea has quite a distinctive profile. Even though I wouldn’t drink it often, when I am craving it, there’s not many others that could give a similar experience.

From the dry leaves, the aromas are a mix of sawdust, hay, various flowers, peach and bacon. On top of that, I also get a garden peas and a very light dill note.

The taste of the first steep is very delicate and crisp. The dominant impression is sweet, peppery one. The closest flavour I can compare it to is that of green bell pepper. Second infusion is more salty and astringent. Flavours of grass and swiss chard also appear. The third steep has more of the smokiness, originally present mostly in the smell. It has notes of cooked ham and bay leaf and a sweet nectar-like finish.

The aftertaste changes a lot, from one infusion to another as well as over time. Generally, it is quite sweet, spicy, sour and expansive. One of the highlights of the tea is its texture, which is very soft, coating and viscous.

Flavors: Dill, Flowers, Garden Peas, Grass, Green Bell Peppers, Hay, Meat, Nectar, Peach, Pepper, Salty, Sawdust, Smoked, Sour, Spicy, Sweet

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 30 sec 4 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
ashmanra

Bi lUo Chun reminds me of Cheerios! The plain ones. So i guess that means they remind me of oats!

Mastress Alita

I have definitely had the bacon taste from some of the bi luo chun I’ve tried before!

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79

This tea doesn’t have a strong aroma, but the taste is pungent. It is a mostly vegetal one with a strong bitterness and astringency. The flavours stay in the mouth and the throat for a long time, which is nice. Body is very good too and the mouthfeel is only a little chalky.

It’s not a tea I would drink for its complexity and therefore might not be best for a focused session. However, if you want a young sheng for casual drinking on a tight budget, it’s a perfect choice with its strong and clean flavours. I imagine it will turn out great for the long term too – the flavour remains strong even in the late infusions, which are however dominated by a strong astringency at the moment.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Green Bell Peppers, Pepper, Plant Stems, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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78

This shou is quite delicate and unusual, but I am not totally sure where I stand with respect to it.

The aroma is sweet, thick and red wine like. As the tea cools down, more floral and herbal tones emerge. It has a slight medicinal quality almost like an aged sheng.

Taste is very light and nuanced with a good balanced profile. There are notes of butter, autumn leaf pile, roasted grains and coffee. In late steeps I also get a papaya like sweetness. Overall, the end of the session is a bit too sweet for my liking. The aftertaste is spicy and expansive with a light tannic quality and porter ale note. Later on it gets quite milky too. As for the mouthfeel, the tea is delicate there too. The body light to medium and the texture is watery and smooth. As the liquor cools down, it gets a bit thicker and creamier.

One thing I didn’t quite expect is the fact that this tea doesn’t resteep very well. I can’t seem to get much more than 100ml per gram out of it. I would like to have a cake to see how this kind of light fermented shou with virtually no bitterness develops, but I don’t think I quite like it enough to get a cake.

Flavors: Alcohol, Autumn Leaf Pile, Black Pepper, Butter, Coffee, Floral, Herbs, Lemon, Medicinal, Milk, Red Wine, Roasted Barley, Spicy, Sweet, Tannic, Tropical

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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84

I am not sure in what sense of the phrase gu shu is this tea a gu shu, but I think it’s quite clear that it is not a plantation grown tea. It brews up very dark, has a nice mouthfeel that’s not too thick though, and somewhat muted and bitter taste that lacks complexity in my opinion. However, I think this is still only about a year along its journey since fermentation. I think that the taste will become much clearer in the future that will also bring out the complexity. At the moment, the price is not justified for immediate drinking. However, I am pretty sure this will age into an incredible tea. Especially if you add the fact that the cha qi is the strongest I’ve experienced from shou by far, stronger than a lot of sheng at this price. It is heady without much of a caffeine rush.

I would rate this tea 70 for the flavour, 80 for the mouthfeel, 95 for the cha qi and 100 for aging prospects.

As for particular notes, the aroma is mostly reminiscent of prunes and nuts. The taste is bitter and herbaceous with flavours of coffee, sage, stout (beer), and in late infusions also floral ones like gin. Aftertaste is dry and not too strong, but lasts for a while. There are hints of seaweed, wood, roasted nuts and camphor. The mouthfeel is slick, chalky and very mouth-watering, and I’d say the liquor has a medium to full body.

Flavors: Alcohol, Bitter, Camphor, Coffee, Dried Fruit, Drying, Floral, Herbaceous, Nuts, Plum, Roasted Nuts, Sage, Seaweed, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
derk

I’ve read on a few China-based vendors’ sites recently that ‘gushu’ age is generally accepted to be at least 100 years. Who knows.

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86

I drank this tea cold brewed (for almost 48 hours, since I didn’t come to work yesterday) today and it works really well. I might like the taste profile more than either sheng or shou cold brewed on their own. It is quite nutty and peaty with a strong spicy and sour aftertaste. There is a very good balance of flavours overall and good body too with a slick mouthfeel.

Flavors: Bitter, Nutty, Peat, Pleasantly Sour, Roasted Nuts, Spices

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 7 g 20 OZ / 600 ML

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Profile

Bio

Hi, I am a researcher in math, physics and computer science. Apart from teas and mathematics, I enjoy sports and traveling, as well as music of all kinds. Connect at https://rateyourmusic.com/~Togo

I had been drinking Japanese green tea for a while before discovering the world of tea in 2017. I rarely drink blends and generally avoid artificially scented teas. Other than that I try to keep it varied.

My rating description:
100 _ Unforgettable tea, an experience that changes your life.
90 – 100 _ Excellent tea.
80 – 90 _ Very enjoyable, I will buy again.
70 – 80 _ I enjoyed it, but I most likely won’t be buying it again.
60 – 70 _ Decent.
50 – 60 _ Average, forgettable.
40 – 50 _ I didn’t really like the tea, but it is drinkable.
0 – 40 _ I would prefer to avoid the tea.

Location

Innsbruck, Austria

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