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This is unlike any other tea I have ever had. I am not quite sure why is that the case though. Dry leaves give off an interesting and deep aroma that has a little bit of a leather quality. After the rinse, I get a fairly subtle, sweet and complex smell. There are hints of fish, nettle, swamp vegetation – I just can’t stop sniffing it. The liquor smell like dry bamboo and the empty cup more like rapeseed flowers to me.

The first two infusions after rinse are still just a warm-up. They are quite vegetal, salty and a touch bitter with an interesting aftertaste that’s a mix of fish and thistles. I know it sounds strange, but that’s the closest approximation I could come up with. This is a strange tea.

The third infusion is where the session properly starts. From then on, the tea is thick and incredibly smooth with a buttery and numbing mouthfeel. It is a Lincang tea, so naturally there is a decent amount of astringency, but it’s manageable and it only occurs in the mouth, there’s no drying sensation in the throat. Interestingly, the colour of the liquor is quite dark and with a brownish hue.

I enjoy the taste too, although it’s hard to place it. I would say it’s a mix of sweet, floral and alcohol flavours. I think I will need more time with this tea to be able to pinpoint it. The aftertaste is slightly acidic and floral at first and becomes nutty (think sunflower seeds) and sweet over time. It also lasts so long. As I am writing this, it’s been about half an hour since I last drunk the tea and I can feel it in the throat as if I just swallowed it! One quality of the aftertaste that just emerged now is a kind of vegetal (grape leaf) flavour.

Because of the protracted aftertaste, strong cha qi and a very good longetivity of the leaves, this turned out to be a really long session in the end. It’s not the kind of sheng I would drink casually or with little time to spare.

I think I like it a lot, but I will wait with the rating until further sessions. It’s hard to compare the tea with others because of how different it is. It’s a bummer that the cakes are sold out though, I would have loved to have this one in the collection. At least there are versions of this tea from previous years that I could pick up, but now I wonder which one should it be?

I am really enjoying the smell of this tea. It is pungent, robust and complex. The dry leaves have a aroma that’s a mix of fruity and floral notes with some nutty ones, like cookies. Somehow it also reminds me a bit of some Chinese green tea. The wet leaf smell is dominated by passion fruit to an extent, but behind it there are notes of macadamia nuts, charcoal, mountain forest, sage and thyme flowers. The empty cup and liquor smells of beeswax most notably.

The taste is robust and tangy at the same time. It starts of with some roasted nuts and charcoal notes, but the bitterness is very light. Soon after, it becomes more vegetal, only to get somewhat fruity with a mix of sweet and sour flavours in the finish. The astringency is very mild and comlements nicely the floral and cooling aftertaste. Overall, it’s a very refreshing drink.

Mouthfeel is a little on the thinner side, but very smooth and slightly mouth-watering. I definitely wouldn’t get the tea for the mouthfeel alone, but it’s good enough to not be a huge downside. All in all, this tea is worth the price for sure, especially if the idea of a Dong Ding with some high notes excites you.

This is a nice fruity oolong in the highly oxidized category. However, it doesn’t really stand out in any way other than the smell of the dry leaves, which is unusually strong. Especially the mouthfeel is somewhat subpar I’d say.

I found the overlap between the notes in the smell and taste to be quite large, the main ones being stonefruits (peach), dried fruit (dates) and spices (most I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but in the wet leaf there is definitely cardamon). Apart from that, there are also citrus notes (lime) and the taste sometimes reminded me of cheesecake.

As one would expect from a good Long Jing, this is quite a delicate and nutty affair. The main notes I get are almonds, eggwhites, cooked vegetables (courgette, spinach) and also cooked poultry. It’s savoury, but maybe not as much so as it might seem from the flavours. Overall, the taste is actually quite balanced, with a touch of astringency and sourness in the finish, and very little bitterness. The mouthfeel is velvety, thick, and not too coating.

I can definitely recommend this tea to people who like Long Jing, but if you are not already onboard with this style of tea, you might want to look elsewhere for an introductory tea.

I have stored some of this tea broken up for about 6 months now, and I can definitely see signs of improvement. It is smoother, sweeter and the fishy fermentation flavours are much more subdued.

My favourite out of the three main offerengs by Material Matcha Uji. They are all quite different though, so I think it eventually comes down to personal preference or even particular mood on the day.

This one is incredibly smooth and rich. The dominant flavour is definitely umami, with sweet, peppery and vegetal undertones. There is very little bitterness to be found here.

It is too late now for anyhting caffeinated, so this seems like a good option. I just received a box of samples from derk, so I am excited to try them out, this will be the first one of them.

The first thing I notice is how pretty these look. Obviously, they are not leaves, so the look is always going to be unusual, but very few flower buds are this cute I reckon.

The smell is mostly what I would expect from Chrysantemum, although a little more citrusy and vegetal than the properly grown flower scent I am used to. It also doesn’t really have any of the thick pollen smell. I get reminded of my grandma’s house :)

I really like the mouthfeel of this tea. It is farily thick and at the same time somehow feels as if the tea just disappeared in my mouth – so light. In terms of taste, there is surprisingly a lot of balance. It is sweet, sour, a little medicinal and herbal (reminds me of Almdudler/Rivella and cough sirup). The particular notes I get are not so pronounced, apart from the obvious flowery taste, I also found this leafy taste that derk identified as curry leaf. I am a bit ashamed to admit it, being passionate about cooking and into curries, but I actually never came accross curry leaves. To me, that note is reminiscent of fenugreek leaves.

Another satisfying aspect of the tea is the long cooling and sticky aftertaste. It is sweet and peppery overall and doesn’t seem to change a whole lot initially. Quite a bit later on however, once the pungent sweetness disappears, I get a strong floral sensation coupled with the spicy feeling in the throat that still persists some 10 minutes after drinking. I wonder how many infusions I can get out of this. It has been mentioned that it lasts long, but I need to go to bed soon. Maybe I will cold brew it overnight, or just leave it for a morning continuation of the session.

As far as tisanes go, these Chrysanthemum buds are absolutely awesome, I will be looking to get more. I also have to thank derk for sending me this (among all the other lovely teas), because it is surely a hit!

I think I like this one more than the MMU01 at the moment. It’s not as sharp, but strong enough and yet somewhat subtle. The mouthfeel is not completely smooth, but it is close. It starts of fruity and relatively sweet, the bitterness arrives mostly in the finish, but in moderation. Aftertaste then evolves from slightly sweet to peppery and vegetal until it becomes more tangy and fruity. The astringency is almost unnoticeable, although obviously there is some in the background.

This is quite a delicate tea. It has the characteristics of other teas of similar kind, but less robust and upfront. Overall it’s not as sweet, which I like. The taste is more tangy with some coffee bitterness. Mouthfeel is light and not very coating, with a noticeable astringency that comes after swallowing – another slightly unusual thing about this tea. I actually like the astringency there, it’s not overpowering at all. It is complemented by the more nutty and spicy aspects in the protracted and very nice aftertaste. The aroma of the tea has the expected dark chocolate and malt notes, but there is also a coffee smell that’s at least as pronounced.

This seems like a very good choice when you want a Yunnan black tea that’s more subtle and delicate and don’t mind a lighter body.

My favourite thing about this tea must be the aftertaste. It is really long and evolving. It has some notes of bread, sweet potatoes, chilli, ale, citrus zest and cold brew coffee, but not really all at the same time.

I used a lot of leaf this time, as it was the last bits of my sample and I didn’t want to break it in two light sessions. However, since I didn’t break it up much, it took a while until the leaves properly opened up. When it did though, I got treated with powerful and delicious infusions.

Let’s start with the smell though. Before the rinse, the aroma is quite woody I would say. As the leaves open up during the session, there are more complex and strong aromas unraveling. I still get the woody tones, like pine and sauna. But there is also some smoke and orchid. In the empty cup, I can smell something between a meadow and a field, there are hay and honeycomb aromas too.

The taste is brothy (mushroom), sweet, buttery, medicinal and bitter (mostly due to the amount of leaves I used). There is definitely a strong tobacco note to it that stays in the mouth. Astringency and sourness arrives in the finish, while the long aftertaste is somewhat spicy and has a decent huigan.

The mouthfeel is a mixture of milky and brothy, and with decent thickness. The body is not the fullest, but given the price of the tea, I cannot really complain.

Don’t get fooled by the price! This is a really good tea, not lacking in any way, apart from maybe the body. That’s really a minor point though. The tea has a pungent and pleasant smell; strong, evolving and memorable taste; long aftertaste; ok mouthfeel; and a powerful cha qi. It’s most definitely the best sheng in the ~10 years old category that I have tried thus far.