93 Tasting Notes
Another shai hong cake. This is an interesting one. It brews a really dark red. It is thick-textured, aromawise it isn’t really strong and at first glance it might even seem a bit empty because it has no high aromatic notes, but then there is a depth to it that is just really nice. It has a smooth, deep and round dried fruits aspect that comforts and satisfies.
I think I like this one a lot. It has big leaves that are relatively lightly oxidized with quite some green shining through. The color of the brew however is a deep red. It seems like an exemplary shai hong (sun-dried black tea), lacking the caramelly honeyish notes of ‘normal’ oven-dried dianhongs and aimed more towards the darker fruity notes.
This one does have the plummy/apricot dried fruit thing that I like about shai hong, but it is relatively subtle and the brew isn´t too sweet or thick. It feels fresh and clean, but a bit subdued. I am guessing that, since it is still very fresh (less than a year old), it should be expected to attain the deeper sweetness and dried fruit characteristics in the coming few years. I am considering buying a coupe of these nicely priced cakes to keep.
This Assam is a little different than I’m used to. It has a great red color and is thick, full, malty and smooth. But aromatically it doesn’t really have the sweet, broad and mild fruitiness that I associate with most good Assams; flavorwise it seems drier, much more leathery or even almost earthy and not so crisp, brisk and lively. The dry leaves smell weirdly chemical, like gasoline or paint. It’s not my personal favorite.
I have had the 2020 version of this tea before and enjoyed it a lot. Now I’m drinking the 2022 version and I’m impressed by the differences. The dry leaf looks very similar, but the brew is completely different. The 2020 version was remarkably foamy, had strong spice aromas and was very strong and quite tanniny. The 2022 seems more like a classical dianhong, with caramel/honey and some flowery aromas, and there is a bit of a weird toasty/nutty aspect, almost like sticky/toasted rice, that I’m not really sure I like.
This tea isn’t very sweet or fruity or flowery, there aren’t any strong aromatics in an upfront way. But it is nicely thick/oily and smooth, with an active, evolving mouthfeel and really nice sensation of overall ‘substance’. Very nice and sympathetic tea.
I hate how since 2015, every description of this tea is copy-pasted, including ’Da Qing Gu Shu (Da Qing Old Tree) is my favorite tea from Spring 20XX. ’. That feels so unpersonal, Scott… I guess it shows how big Yunnan Sourcing has become.
I really like this tea. It feels very lively. There is a lot of freshness and sweetness to the taste, and the mouthfeel has an active, tingling, interesting quality that makes this tea engaging. There is very little astringency and no grassiness. Maybe I would have liked a little more thickness to this tea, but it is still very young and I guess it might acquire more substance with some short-term aging.
I love the size of the leaves, which gives this tea a rustic feel. This tea is very aromatic, with mostly dried fruits and some honey. It kinda feels like a shai hong to me. Sweet, thick and fruity, smooth and not very strong or tannin-heavy. Not really a breakfast black tea, but nice and characterful.
