151 Tasting Notes
Tea giddy.The most accurate way I can describe how this tea made me feel.
Say what you will about the Verdant controversy from 10 years ago, but their tasting notes are on point and I can never say I’m disappointed with a purchase if it tastes exactly as they wrote of.
They say perfect strawberry, vanilla, turbinado sugar and cucumber soda. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It was the number one tea I wanted from this order, with Bai Rui Xiang, Laoshan Black and Laoshan Roasted Oolong as runner-ups.
Only 5g samples are available now, and I ordered 3 of them, which I got for free because we struck up a deal to make the insanely expensive shipping to Australia worthwhile. Great customer service.
I got such a sweet strawberry ice cream aroma from the aroma sniff cup that I said ‘oh my lord,’ out loud. After taking a sip, I sighed with sincere satisfaction.
Usually I go for roasted oolongs but I’ve been on a green oolong kick for those cooling elements according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Too much fire in my body as of late. So with this tea, I could feel my body rejoicing at receiving exactly what it needed.
Sipdown no.10 of 2025.
A bit of a finicky one to brew, as oversteeping via too much leaf or too hot water does lead to sourness, and that wonderful chocolate-covered strawberry note will be lost.
I never quite bothered to time my brews and I can’t remember what temp was best, but the packet directions would be a decent shout. Brew it right, and it would be quite glorious.
Got a new glass teapot for my black teas so that I can base it off the colour now. I like my stone pot but the transparency of the glass is fun to watch the leaves unfurl.
I enjoyed the first steep of this tea very much, but the subsequent steeps slightly less so. Hasn’t got the complexity and longevity which other Da Hong Paos have spoiled me for in the past.
Fared much better in my clay teapot and my variable temperature kettle, than with my gaiwan and the hotel kettle where I experimented with 100C but found it muted all my usual favourite DHP notes of mineral vanilla fruitiness.
Still a solid tea, but I look forward to trying Da Hong Paos from Wuyi Mountain-specific vendors.
Sipdown no. 8 of 2025, 10g sample.
I enjoyed this but I have a feeling that if I steeped with more optimal parameters, it would turn from jasmine-with-black-tea to floral-fancy-Peruvian-cocoa in a cup. It certainly smelled that way in a heated gaiwan. Would like to order another sample sometime and pay more attention to different brewing temperatures.
Sipdown no.7 for 2025!
I’ve never had a single decaf black tea that I liked, so I’m on the hunt.
After this one, I’m still on the hunt.
One time, I managed to get that golden tannin glow on my tongue from this tea, maybe I brewed it really strong for a long time or something.
All other steeps, it tasted like the pale umpteenth steep of a black tea, as you might expect. Still superior to decaf teabags but sigh what’s the point.
Lovely taste but after 3 or so Western-style steeps, it becomes non-descript though still tea-y. I mindlessly opened this one when I was actually wanting a cooling, green tieguanyin.
Rou Guis are meant to be more warming, which it was, with a slightly cooling camphor note underneath the strong fruitiness of the first steep.
Satisfied with my first Rou Gui.
Lovely flower tea!
For the first time round, I did a half tablespoon in 300mL boiling water for around 5 minutes. It was a light and subtle taste which suited the late evening when I wasn’t looking for too much sensory stimulation. The fragrance is wonderfully mild and I can’t really compare it to anything else. I did read that the Japanese use this flower in fragrances to scent linen and I can see how that would work beautifully. Good resteeped for an unknown number of minutes as well.
The second time, I experimented with a heaped tablespoon in 300mL water at 100C, and forgot about it for some time. I returned to quite a sharply bitter tea which reminded me of the outside coating of antihistamine tablets. However, this bitterness was somehow deeply thirst-quenching? I wouldn’t recommend oversteeping it though.
Also seemed to improve my dry cough symptoms the following morning, and I can see why this is used as medicine.
A rare and wonderful find.
This tasting note is just to log that today, I steeped a half tablespoon in 200mL-ish for 5 minutes at 100C, and the sweetness was more prominent than when I’ve steeped a heaped tablespoon in 200mL-ish for 3 minutes at 100C.
Can you describe the physical appearance of the dry leaf you received? I often have trouble measuring my taiwanese blacks using a spoon!
Some length and spindliness perhaps. I use a spoon that one would use for eating – less curvature on the sides. As opposed to a baker’s tablespoon used for measuring, which may be harder to get odd leaf shapes upon.
I can’t think of any Whispering Pines varieties that get anything but stellar reviews.
Expensive but you pay for very sincere curation.