Bitterleaf Teas

Gongfu!

Now that it feels like spring weather is sticking, I’ve been drinking a lot more light, crisp and floral white and oolong teas, and a White Peony style like this one really hits the mark. The dry leaf was so fragrant and fresh in a deeply drool-worthy way. Floral in a sticky sort of way like elderflower or lilac syrup! Steeped, it very much keeps that distinct notes of sugared flower petals, but also picks up a cooling vegetal note like cucumber skin and pulp. Heavy on the pulp. There are hints of freshly zested citrus peels and a bit of fruitier, ripe green melon that add some complexity but take a backseat to the florals and fresh garden veg.

Over the years, even though Baimudan is one of my favourite styles of white tea, I feel like I’ve taken a break from ordering them because of how fluffy and space-occupying the leaf is. Glad I made an exception on this one, though!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DX-RWgKCRWC/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kjdskd6mZ0

Gongfu!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXhwLU5CeV8/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr50JVWcJRo

Gongfu!

Overall, this green tea is medium-bodied and lightly nutty in the way I expect from a pan-fired Chinese green tea; but then it bursts into a buttery explosion of green beans and edamame, with a lightly toasty finish. I think this might just be the most accurately named tea I’ve had from BLT, and I’ve had quite a lot of their teas over the years. It’s just so freakin’ bean-y tasting!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXPzcM5CaIl/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB7mRbe1vws

Gongfu!

The leaf material of this dark tea is very stem heavy and chopped up looking, but you would never know it’s made from ‘lower grade’ material based on the taste. It steeps up thick and potently earthy with intoxicating undertones of old leatherbound books, molasses, freshly cut cocobolo wood, and fragrant spices. Galangal and anise in the body, in a way that’s equally aromatic, throat tickling, and sweetly mouth-coating. The finish lingers lightly, with notes of daaaarrkkk, sticky buckwheat honey. But maybe that’s being a bit subconsciously influenced by the tea name…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXC8iDNCb7D/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgw9cFdCPxU

Gongfu!

Sticky rice herb scented teas, like this one, are always a bit of a safe and easy go-to when I need a bit of comfort, especially on grey and rainy days. They’re like a warm hug! This is my first one on a green tea base instead of the oolong or pu’erh I’m more used to. It was a bit fresher and more Spring-y with notes of buttered green beans, chestnut, and hazelnut to go with such a smooth, velvety, and almost creamy and pandan-like sticky rice note. Immediately a favourite!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DW2IihtCYMK/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efGW4BL-bWc

Gongfu!

A morning sesh paired with some sweet, juicy oranges! I was so excited to see that BLT was now carrying yabao as this style of unique white tea (or pu’erh depending on who you ask) made from buds is typically a reliable favourite of mine. This one is super fragrant and herbaceous with a lighter-leaning body, but VERY strong notes of pine, rosemary, and the green/white pithy part of a watermelon rind. So crisp and refreshing, and very spring-like with an almost sappy finish. Sappy in a good way. It made this tea come off as especially pine heavy to me, in a wonderfully woodsy and grounding way.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DW4u5EwiWld/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDKnWsyMc0o

Western – a long steep to decompress the leaves to start. This is not as old as the shoumei (2020). Softer, thicker, a little bit floral, a little bit sweet – kind of reminds me of clover? flowers straight from the field. Honey a bit. Much softer than the shoumei. The leaves are greener looking in the cup. It’s okay. I like my whites a little more robust.

This is the 2020 version. Good flavor for losing it in my stash and only finding it last week. Sipdown – I have a few left but am giving them to my friend.
Good flavor at 212F, full taste and lingering sweetness. I’ve been doing a long initial steep with the lid on to let the leaves decompress. Then two steeps after. I would buy these again if I wasn’t drowning in tea. I have the baimudan version as well, but I prefer this one.

Half a mandarin
Tea itself is smooth and kind of floral. First steeps are heavily overshadowed by the mandarin peel. I’ll probably drink the other half yet today.

I updated some of my tea spreadsheet today. I added about 100 total teas in the white, black, and herbal sections. That took like 2 hours. I still need to check the puer stash. So much for being on a buying break. I have a lot of aging tea I need to drink especially the oolongs.

Gongfu!

This sheng is a bit more medium to full-bodied, with a touch of bitterness and astringency that comes out in the first few steeps after the leaves have opened up. Nothing too crazy; almost more like the fuzziness of peach skins. Otherwise, it follows through on the hallmark floral flavours that this tea producing region is known for with notes of lillies, lilacs, and orchids. Some stonefruit and a snap of greeness to the finish, which ends cleanly. It’s bolder than other Jingmai productions I’ve had the pleasure of tasting from Bitterleaf, but not in a bad way. Just a different one!

In other news, I fear this gorgeous cobalt and indigo teapot is headed for an early retirement. Right near the end of my tea session, I noticed a pretty gnarly hairline crack spreading from one of the glaze drips on the side of the pot. You can see it in the last photo. Definitely a shame, as it was the only piece in my teaware collection with this stunning colour, and the shape and capacity were so nice too. If anyone sees anything similar for sale, please let me know! I’ll be scouting for a replacement…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DV6mPNzCfyr/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPy1NIiKKW0

Chipping away at this cake. Compared with other years of BLT’s Skinny Dip series, this one has a more overtly autumnal profile with soft undertones of hay, ripe apricots, and heady florals like chrysanthemum and osmanthus. Much less crisp, cooling, and cucumber tasting than some of the pressings that used Simao material, but that doesn’t make it bad – just different. It was an easygoing, cozier sip to start the day!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUogj4ykseL/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0LXLJVEFQ

Gongfu!

On top of just being convenient, these little shou coins (well, squares) are super full-bodied and creamy with notes that make me think of brown sugar milk tea but with earthy and grounding undertones. It’s incredibly velvety in terms of mouthfeel, and just made for such a wonderfully rich tea session.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DUMbXOgibrG/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqZGns_5354

This Dan Cong is very fruity and bright with an engaging bitterness and surprising longevity.

Dry leaves smell of pastries and apricot, while wet ones more like rosehip and red currant. The taste is bittersweet, fruity and woody throughout. I get notes of bark, physalis, gooseberry, parsnip, peach, black locust flowers, among others.

The tea has a soft mouthfeel and a strong, perfumy aftertaste.

A lovely white tea. Its dry leaves smell of grass, fur, meadow, apple leaves. The wet leaf aroma brings more of courgette flowers and sage for example.

The liquor is smooth and thick, and has a refreshing, zesty taste. It is a somewhat savoury and vegetal tea with a long sweet and cooling aftertaste. There are flavours of grass, okra, citrus fruits, curry leaves, cinnamon, licorice, hay, and others.

This is an interesting tea that I am happy I tried. Until now, I have had the sticky rice herb mixed in with pu-erh, but not yet with green tea. In a sense it should work, green tea can be quite vegetal and savoury. And it does, but still this particular blend would not be one I would buy again I think.

It emphasizes nutty and floral aspects in the aroma, while the taste is bitter, vegetal and sweet with a decent umami and complemented by this curious rice-like touch from the herb.

From the Element Tasting Set. I steeped this yesterday Western-style in a mug. It was good, I guess? Very clean earthy shu flavour, very inoffensive and easy to drink, but a bit… uninteresting? I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve had a chance to gongfu it.

Gongfu!

This is one of the shou pu’erhs from BLT’s new Maestro series, and I was definitely very drawn to the description of it being a much more fruity and fragrant tea. I definitely found it quite smooth and approachable, though the more medium-bodied mouthfeel was a bit lighter than I personally tend to reach for in a ripe. But, to be fair, I’m guilty of a VERY heavy hand when it comes to my shou sessions.

The fruitier profile hasn’t been undersold, though. In particular, I found this tea to have a very round feeling, sweet black cherry note that very much complimented the more grounded, earthy undertones and the bright sweetness of my strawberry tea pairing. At times the finish and aftertaste also gave off notes of more darkly sweet and biscuit-like black sugar as well. Like what’s sometimes used in bubble tea.

I think I want another session or two before making my mind up, but there’s definitely a lot of good qualities to this tea!!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRfuM-WEglc/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTp4gmi8Sb0

Gongfu!

This shou steeps up thick and dark almost right out of the gate, with a super opaque liquor save for a tinge of garnet at the waterline. The top notes are a bit brighter and more fruity, with a pleaaant sharpness and acidity that makes me think of red plums. However, that fruitiness passes quickly, and this full-bodied brew immediately plunges into deep, dark, bitter earthiness. Many of the steeps reminded me of chicory coffee, particularly because of that aggressively roasty flavour that makes the root such a good coffee alternative.

Sometimes you drink a shou pu’erh and it’s all sweet browns, but this one is brown tasting in a way that channels the darkest parts of a forest with whisps of smoke and an abrasive, grizzly nature. I like both; they each have a time and place and this one was perfect for a cold Sunday afternoon curdled up indoors.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRIgsMsks2Q/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H2d0KASDM8

Gongfu!

This steeps so smoothly with a soft, buttery mouthfeel that perfectly mirrors the gentle creamy and floral profile. Not surprising given both the name of this white tea and previous uears pressings, but it has a very overt rosey profile. However, in almost equal intensity are notes of steamed milk, corn silk, and poppy seed. Mellow, mildly sweet, and just a touch nutty. I may even like this year’s pressing more than past ones, but then again that could also be a bit of recency bias…

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ-ROKeEkpk/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzivG68Cba4

Thermos brewed!

I wasn’t sure how well this white tea would come out steeped this way, but it’s actually quite smooth and comforting with a light and creamy top note of whipped honey and vanilla and a more crisp, cooling vegetal finish that just screams of snow peas.It’s so miserable and gross out today, but the light, fresh warmth of this tea is making it a whole lot better. I’m sure I’ll get more nuance out of this baimudan when I take more time to steep it gongfu and sit with the flavours, but right now it’s perfect as is!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ7wKUnkn8i/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQtGQ6p82Y

Unsurprisingly, this black tea is superb. Its mouthfeel is perhaps not overly thick, but it is a smooth one with low astringency. Otherwise, the tea also lasts for quite a long time, I get almost twice as many infusions from it than from most other black teas.

Dry leaves smell woody and sweet with a hint of smokiness. During the session then, I get aromas of nectarine, red currant, flowers, tyres, thyme, and nougat.

The taste is bitter, sweet, mineral, woody, mostly smooth and cooling as well. There is that characteristic grapefruit bitterness of LaoManE that I love, but also flavours of honey, cocoa, grapes, root vegetables, quinine and others.