Old Ways Tea

This was yet another of my late 2021 sipdowns. At the time I set about giving this tea a fair shake, I had been looking forward to trying it for some time despite being preoccupied with finishing off a number of other teas in my possession. Qi Dan, on its own, can be hit or miss, but as Old Ways Tea handles Rou Gui very well, and Qi Dan is or can be remarkably similar to Rou Gui, I had high expectations for this tea prior to setting about reviewing it. Unfortunately, it was something of a disappointment for me. While it was not a terrible offering by any means, it also did not offer a consistently compelling or enjoyable drinking experience.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This initial infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minutes 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of bread, cinnamon, pine, black cherry, and blueberry that were underpinned by a subtle smoky scent. After the rinse, I discovered the emergence of roasted almond, rock sugar, and cannabis aromas that were accompanied by a slight charcoal fragrance. The first proper infusion added subtle orchid, grass, and blackberry presences. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up notes of cinnamon, blueberry, black cherry, charcoal, and roasted almond that were balanced by hints of smoke, grass, cannabis, pear, blackberry, roasted peanut, and orchid. The bulk of the subsequent infusions gradually provided fresh aromas of roasted peanut, orange zest, and earth in addition to noticeably stronger grassy scents. More immediately detectable impressions of smoke, blackberry, grass, and roasted peanut emerged in the mouth accompanied by notes of minerals, butter, rock sugar, orange zest, plum, earth, and pine. Roasted walnut and bitter, oily hickory nut notes thrived on the back of the throat. Hints of peach, red grape, and bread could be picked up here and there. As the tea gradually faded, the liquor continued to pound my palate with notes of minerals, orange zest, blueberry, black cherry, roasted almond, and roasted walnut before a mix of subtler impressions of grass, earth, pine, red grape, blackberry, charcoal, rock sugar, bread, plum, and smoke made themselves known.

What an odd tea this was! It was all over the place. It started off seemingly confused and unfocused. The impressions it offered were somewhat scattered and unclear, but then as it quickly evened out, that bitter, nutty, and somewhat odd aftertaste became ever more noticeable. The best sipping this tea offered came towards the end of my drinking session. If this tea had one standout characteristic, it was its clear and consistent minerality, though I would describe the texture of the tea liquor as being slippery and thin, even for a Wuyi oolong. At this point, I know it may seem like I am really slamming this tea hard, but it was not unenjoyable. It had a lot of nice flavor notes. I just wish it had been more consistent and balanced from the start. Overall, this was an okay offering. It just wasn’t what I was expecting it to be.

Now that I once again have some time to get a few more reviews posted, I wanted to start off with one of my more recent sipdowns. I only had a sample pouch of this tea, but it took me forever to get around to drinking it. It was actually the last of the 2018-2019 Old Ways Tea samples that I had clogging up my cupboard, and I think I took so long to get around to trying it because I know very little about Que She. I had only tried one other Que She previously, and it did not strike me as being very good, so I had virtually no expectations of this tea. Well, it turned out to be an excellent offering and a hidden gem among Old Ways Tea’s 2019 product lineup.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of the loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 203 F water for 5 seconds. This initial infusion was chased by 19 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves presented aromas of charcoal, bread, pomegranate, blackberry, pine, dark chocolate, black cherry, raisin, and prune that were underpinned by a subtle smokiness. After the rinse, aromas of roasted almond, tar, roasted peanut, roasted barley, and toasted rice appeared along with a more pronounced smokiness. The first infusion added a subtle mineral scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered delicate and often elusive notes of charcoal, pine, bread, black cherry, pomegranate, raisin, blackberry, tar, smoke, roasted barley, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of raspberry, dark chocolate, roasted peanut, earth, and roasted walnut. The bulk of the subsequent infusions added aromas of blueberry, raspberry, peach, hibiscus, roasted walnut, orange zest, juniper, and grape leaf to the tea’s bouquet. Stronger and more immediately notable impressions of dark chocolate, earth, roasted peanut, and roasted walnut appeared in the mouth alongside mineral, orange zest, blueberry, rock sugar, red grape, caramel, grape leaf, hibiscus, black currant, and cream flavors. Some hints of toasted rice, peach, prune, juniper, and gooseberry could also be detected at times. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized lingering notes of minerals, pine, bread, roasted barley, roasted almond, roasted peanut, roasted walnut, orange zest, grape leaf, earth, and cream, though often ghostly impressions of black cherry, blackberry, red grape, pomegranate, hibiscus, juniper, smoke, tar, black currant, peach, and gooseberry still hung around in the background.

An interesting, challenging, and incredibly complex offering, this Que She was difficult to compare to any other Wuyi oolong I have tried. Though very aromatic and flavorful, it frequently emphasized texture over any of its other attributes, and while many Wuyi oolongs produce a liquor that possesses a very sharp or crisp mouthfeel, this tea produced one that was light, slick, and only slightly prickly. Overall, it had a very coy and playful presence and produced a very subtly invigorating energy. The way this tea balanced its odd blend of aroma and flavor components was also incredibly impressive. At this point, I can only conclude by stating that it was a winner and deserved a chance from me long before I decided to give it one.

2021 harvest. Just exactly what I like in a yancha, heavy honey-like stickiness, toasty notes that don’t taste too much like smoke or overwhelm the floral aftertaste.

It’s after midnight, and I’m somehow still keeping the tea review train rolling. I have no clue when I finished my lone sample pouch of this tea. It was probably either late 2021 or very early this year. After being slightly disappointed by the 2018 Old Tree Black Tea from Old Ways Tea, I was not sure what to expect of the 2019 production. Well, it turned out that this was a noticeably better offering overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 5 second rinse, I started my review session by steeping 5 grams of the loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 20 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of honey, grass, straw, malt, bread, cinnamon, pine, and cedar. After the rinse, I picked up on fresh aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, green wood (oak?), and butter. The first infusion then added a delicate creamy scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, grass, malt, bread, straw, butter, green wood, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of cinnamon, raisin, pine, honey, and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions primarily added aromas of minerals, smoke, raisin, and moss to the tea’s bouquet, though subtler scents of earth and chocolate also made themselves known. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of cinnamon, raisin, pine, honey, and sugarcane emerged in the mouth alongside impressions of minerals, roasted peanut, red apple, orange zest, moss, earth, and lemon zest. Hints of caramel, pear, plum, smoke, cedar, and chocolate were present as well. Once the tea started to fade, the liquor began more heavily emphasizing notes of minerals, malt, bread, cream, pine, roasted almond, orange zest, green wood, and sugarcane that were chased by subtle hints of grass, straw, honey, lemon zest, cinnamon, earth, moss, raisin, butter, pear, and caramel.

A very complex and heavily textured black tea with tremendous longevity, this tea was both a challenge and a joy to sample. It retained some of the dryness of the 2018 production, but it offered better texture and depth, coming off as being somewhat more akin to either the 2016 or 2017 offerings. The Masu Old Tree Black Tea is clearly a must-try offering from Old Ways Tea in most years. It’s definitely a regular offering to check out if you are looking for a balanced Wuyi black tea with tons of complexity, depth, and texture.

Alright, I’m just going to keep going. I’m in the mood. I might as well. This was another of my sipdowns from late last year. The 2018 Da Bo was one of the more pleasant surprises among Old Ways Tea’s 2018 black tea offerings, so I expected this one to impress as well, and it did.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick 5 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of the loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 19 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, straw, pine, cedar, cinnamon, and sunflower seeds. New aromas of green wood, butter, bread, and malt came out after the rinse. The first infusion then added a nutmeg aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted almond, sunflower seed, malt, bread, cream, roasted sweet potato, straw, pine, and cinnamon that were chased by subtler notes of roasted peanut, honey, red apple, pear, plum, nutmeg, and green wood. The majority of the subsequent infusions added aromas of cream, minerals, moss, oats, and raisin to the tea’s bouquet. Stronger and more immediate notes of roasted peanut, honey, red apple, and nutmeg emerged in the mouth along with impressions of minerals, moss, oats, raisin, and orange zest. I noted hints of grass, cedar, blackberry, mulberry, and black cherry in the mix as well. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized mineral, malt, cream, oat, bread, roasted almond, sunflower seed, butter, and green wood notes that were balanced by lingering traces of cinnamon, straw, orange zest, grass, cedar, roasted peanut, raisin, and red apple.

This was a unique Wuyi black tea. Many black teas from Wuyishan have pronounced chocolate, honey, and dark, rich fruity notes, but this tea leaned heavily on woody, nutty, savory, and grainy characteristics while also frequently emphasizing texture over aroma or flavor. It was a very subtle tea and often a bit challenging to dissect. Once I developed a feel for it though, it was very rewarding. I’d definitely recommend it to experienced drinkers of Wuyi black teas looking for something a little different.

While I’m at it, here is a review of a tea that I’m sure I drank late last year. I had a ton of sample pouches of various teas from Old Ways Tea that had accumulated from 2018 to 2020 just sitting in a box in my bedroom. I rediscovered it while cleaning last year and made a point of trying to go through anywhere from one to three sample pouches per week from that point forward. I finally finished all of them last month. I think I drank this one in either November or December of last year. The Wild Style Black Tea is a regular offering from Old Ways Tea, and until I placed a moratorium on tea purchases, was a tea I purchased yearly. In my experience, it tends to be tremendously variable from year to year. I greatly enjoyed the 2016 and 2017 offerings. I recall the 2018 version not being as good. I thought I had reviewed it on Steepster, but looking back through my notes, I must have never gotten around to it. This production did not rival the 2016 and 2017 teas, but it was rather enjoyable overall.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse (about 5 seconds), I kicked things off by steeping 6 grams of the loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 19 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minutes, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of honey, cinnamon, pine, straw, cedar, bread, plum, black raspberry, and red grape. After the rinse, I detected aromas of roasted almond and roasted peanut. The first infusion added a pronounced green wood aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up notes of roasted almond, bread, green wood, cinnamon, pine, and cedar that were balanced by hints of honey, straw, red grape, oats, pear, cream, and butter. The bulk of the subsequent infusions added aromas of minerals, cream, oats, butter, roasted cashew, chocolate, caramel, grass, orange zest, and malt. Stronger and more immediately detectable impressions of straw, cream, oats, butter, and pear emerged in the mouth alongside notes of roasted cashew, minerals, roasted peanut, chocolate, grass, caramel, orange zest, and lemon zest. Hints of plum, black raspberry, earth, malt, raisin, and nutmeg were also present. As the tea faded, the liquor shifted to primarily emphasize lingering notes of minerals, cream, butter, bread, straw, roasted almond, grass, lemon zest, and orange zest, while hints of roasted peanut, oats, raisin, pine, green wood, earth, malt, pear, and cinnamon remained to provide balance.

This was undeniably a tea with considerable depth and complexity. It started off a little uneven, but it quickly found its footing. If I had one real gripe about it, it was that some of its most interesting and enjoyable components were too muted and/or too short-lived. In the end, this was a somewhat flawed but still quite likable offering. I’m not sorry that I gave it a go.

An interesting Yancha! I got this tea from my recent Old Ways Tea order, and while the taste on the first steep was special, it went downhill from there. The leaves were beautiful and the flavour exquisite, like a cross between a Dancong, Yancha, and Taiwanese Jinxuan. Decent texture with a nice drying sensation. However, this tea fell off a cliff after the third or fourth steep, and there was nothing to note of the finish, aftertaste, and cha-qi. Disappointing given that the first steep was quite special.

A disappointing black tea. I got the 2021 harvest of this tea as a free sample from my recent Old Ways Tea order, and while some parts of this tea caught my attention, others really just didn’t meet my standards. The good things first, a beautiful, rich and complex aroma, especially in the wet leaf. Decent cha-qi, making this tea good for a quick buzz or even as a digestive. However, this tea lacked any form of strength and complexity in flavour, and the texture is overly drying, without turning to juiciness. Because of that, the finish & aftertaste was practically ruined as well.

The dryness of this tea and lack of any flavour makes this tea a disappointing one, and not something I’d buy again.

Gongfu Sipdown (1774)!

I had this on my last day of vacation and I just wanted to indulge in a good yancha and this one delivers with such a pleasantly consistent astringency and a very woody profile that reminds me of the smell of my grandfather’s woodshop; a mix of the sweeter and almost “clean” smelling freshly sanded planks of wood along with something a bit more resinous and spiced. What comes to mind in this moment is frankincense oil. This is offset but a very subtle maple-like undertone; that small bit of sweet brown that creeps into the otherwise very woodsy profile is really lovely, and adds a pleasant and almost playful new layer of complexity to this oolong!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfre3Houza-/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD-k7W9K7Q

Sipdiwn 45

I didn’t love this. Very muted, earthy flavor.

2021 harvest. This strikes me as a nice classic yancha – makes me think of some kind of bitter honey, sticky and sweet with strong mineral notes and an astringent aftertaste. Everything I’ve had from Old Ways Tea so far is of very good quality.

(I think I have the 2020 harvest of this tea, but I’m not certain of the year.)
I love a complex black tea. This one is both fruity and smoky without being overwhelming, reminds me of applewood smoke. Moderate body. Carries a variety of flavors that are all distinct but blend together really well, I’m struggling to describe it – it’s like the brushstrokes in a Turner painting, individually they’re fuzzy and muddled but together they form a clear picture. Towards the end the tea becomes pleasantly bitter in a way that makes me salivate. This one deserves paying attention to.

Okay so I really need to kick the habit of pouring entire oolong packs into a 90 mL gaiwan because it absolutely does not work for oolongs under a certain level of roast, or at least not with the local tap. While this one is not as green as the ones from the Steeping Room (which I suspect are dropshipping Wuyi Origin teas so I need to look at what ratios others are using for those teas), this was still at best a very subpar experience. The greenness and sharpness is overwhelming. From what I can tell though, the material does seem to be better than the SR ones and worth the slight premium.

Gongfu!

Early morning yancha session because toasty, roasty oolong seemed perfect for the overnight cold snap and heavy snowfall…

This tea is delicious with an immediate and consistent heavy roast and mineral quality that reminded me of charred barley, coffee grounds, and fire roasted chestnuts with a pretty peanut heavy finish. After a couple infusions I started to get more of a building stonefruit note that leaned a little plum in taste. With floral hints throughout, the overall profile was one of warmth and comfort – a perfect oolong for the morning!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CciRIz1OoDU/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wd0lAYvVt8&ab_channel=LorenzoGCook

Thank you derk for this wonderful tea.

I have prepared it gongfu, all (5g?) in my gaiwan and it lasted whole afternoon session from 2 pm to 5 pm — with my thermos from derk as well.

I even preheated my gaiwan, which I do not do every time, but I felt this tea deserved it. It brought aromas of sweet potatoes, malt, a little of tobacco. I haven’t rinsed it and instead I stearted with 10 s steep, which brought aromas of baked bread, rye, but also some floral notes and some other bright aromas. Taste-wise it was rather on the light spectrum, with notes of meadow, but with dark notes as well, considering nuts, thick smoothness and sweetness.
This was a story of most of the steeps.

I lost my track though pretty much soon and after a few 10 seconds increments I did also a few really long ones, mostly because I forgot about the tea — as I was making topics for finals which isn’t a best pairing with gongfu tea brewing, but it delivered me needed caffeine boost and also a little bit of distraction from transport economics.

In conclusion, I say I am happy with this tea and I am glad I have tried it, because it is really good one. However, for such a high rating I expect a little more… on the other hand it is 4 years old tea. Maybe it has faded a bit, maybe I just wasn’t exactly in the necessary attention that it deserves. It’s gone for me, which is a little sad, but every time I finish a box, pouch or a bag, I say to myself, that I have more space for another wonderful teas that will come one day.

Okay, I’m finally back on here to post some reviews. It feels like it’s been forever. My spring coursework is finally winding down, and I’m supposed to be starting my new job next month. I also went ahead and reapplied for the graduate assistantship I turned down last year, and from what I understand, I am being considering for it once again, so if I get a wild hair and decide to move, that might be an option for me. Anyway, I wanted my return to reviewing tea to begin on a positive note and decided to start with a tea that I tried early in the year that impressed me tremendously.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 5 grams of the loose tea leaf and osmanthus flower blend in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 20 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaf and flower mix emitted aromas of bread and osmanthus. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of minerals, butter, and roasted almond accompanied by an even clearer, stronger osmanthus fragrance. The first infusion brought out aromas of pear and apple with subtle undertones of cinnamon. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up notes of cedar, pine, bread, butter, roasted almond, and surprisingly light, delicate osmanthus that were balanced by somewhat subtler impressions of straw, grass, beeswax, and honey. The tea’s bouquet did not change much on the remainder of the infusions, though I was able to pick up a subtle mossy scent in places. Notes of minerals, moss, caramel, sweet potato, pear, red apple, plum, and earth emerged on the palate and were accompanied by hints of cinnamon, leather, tobacco, peach, green wood, and juniper. Each swallow then revealed subtle impressions of blueberry, birch bark, and wintergreen that lingered on the back of the throat for some time. As the tea settled and faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, bread, roasted almond, cedar, moss, pear, and earth that were chased by lingering hints of honey, osmanthus, peach, pine, beeswax, green wood, caramel, blueberry, straw, and wintergreen.

Normally, I am not a huge fan of osmanthus black teas, but this one came closer to getting a perfect rating from me than one might imagine. Had some of the tea’s more interesting flavor components balanced the osmanthus in the mouth a little more, and had there been a few more aromas emerge over the course of my gongfu session, I would have had no problem assigning this tea a score of 100. Even with those minor flaws, this was still an exceptional offering. The base tea and the osmanthus blossoms played off of one another beautifully.

Thank you so much, Derk!

This is one of the teas I hesitate with whenever I want to try it. Opening it up, and using about half of the sample to maybe 3-5 grams, smoke and pine qualities come from the bag. Reminds me of a Lapsang as expected, but softer.

Brewing it up gong fu and in shorter 20 second incremented brews, smoke was prominent in the first one. Cedar came to mind in every brew for me, and the leading floral that contrasted with the autumn qualities was honeysuckle and usual white tea peony. Later steeps got sweeter and more floral.

I enjoyed the complexity of this one. I wouldn’t want to have it as a staple, but my inner tea nerd is happy. Funny enough, my mom is going to Ohio and my girlfriend is coming back from Ohio, so it’s serendipitous I drank this one.

By courtesy of derk I had a chance to try another Old Ways Tea. I remember talking with the owner on r/tea IRC chat (I haven’t been there for ages… just re-logged there now.) It seems lots of changed during the year I haven’t been there. I was busy with my life (finals, thesis, job search…) and I am now very sad about it that I left it without saying goodbye.

I remember we were talking about wrappers. Wrappers of those loose leaf “samples”. And he sent me photos of shop where buys them. Here is the link (I have saved it that I can admire) https://imgur.com/a/g88DE

Anyway to the tea. It was my another breakfast tea and today I was feeling it’s gongfu time. So, prepared all 5 grams in my gaiwan. No rinse, because the tea was such great looking and there were no dust.

It had mild smoke aroma complemented with red fruits aroma. It was good pairing to my bread with aged gouda cheese.

In taste it was quite strongly smoky at first, but soon it started to mellowing and it has ended with smooth minerality with sweet notes of tea, which were again quite similar, to red fruits to me.

The pine smoke was enjoyable all the times, it was never overpowering the flavours. And other notes. I wish I got a chance to try it again. Maybe not today. Nor soon. But Old Ways Tea is always a quality tea.

Damn!
Thank you derk.

Gongfu!

It’s been a little while since I last had a really good Rougui and this one is hitting all the right notes. A sharp fruity sourness to the top of the sip, like tangy fruits or even roasted chicory, before being pulled down into a hug of heavy roast and minerality with the trademark warming cinnamon. The finish, especially as this tea session goes on, is slightly floral with sweet ripe stonefruit notes rising from the undertones and lingering on the palate after each sip. Mostly plum, a little nectarine. So nuanced, comforting, and delicious!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CaSip-rOqng/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgV6JDSXhoo&ab_channel=TheJungleGiants-Topic

2021 harvest

A complex and satisfying tea with strength in all facets. Sweet floral-grassy-pine and nutty-malty-grain aromas, fruity aftertaste and lingering retronasal action are pronounced. The body is at first silky, traveling around the mouth and down the throat with ease, where a gentle, warm, bark-like tannic quality stimulates and has me wanting to keep my mouth closed. Chest and sinuses open; energy is mellow and caffeine effects soothing rather than overstimulating. As the session progresses, the tea taste turns more toward citrus qualities and reveals a pithy bitterness. A poke through the wet leaf in the pot does show a picking of buds and 1 young leaf, 1 bud.

I’ve had another Jin Jun Mei from Old Ways Tea that captivated my attention more than this one which suffers from lack of longevity, producing only 4 truly worthwhile infusions gong fu. The leaf overall does require some attention to be paid during brewing.

At nearly $2.20/g for a 4.5g sample packet, it is a nice treat but I’m left wanting something more. Longevity, I guess, knowing what Tongmuguan teas are capable of, like OWT’s Jin Guazi. Maybe the lack of longevity is a result of using such a high bud ratio pick. Is a high demand and hyped tea like Jin Jun Mei worth the price? That’s for you and your personal spending limits to decide.

2020 harvest

Wow, this has an intense taste! I imagine it as rum balls filled with a blueberry-raspberry-vanilla bean-dark chocolate liqueur. The Wuyi ‘wet rock’ character is at a good level, letting the sweet and rich aromatics take center stage. There’s a playful oaky tannic-bitter feeling that gives some extra textural taste; later, that turns more prominent along with an astringent-drying quality but still with plenty of flavor. Not until 5 or 6 steeps in do I notice a vibrant osmanthus-brown sugar-vanilla aftertaste. The tea’s a slow bloomer in that regard. Very nice blended tea that I can see aging well!

I started working on my tea tray project again. After a year on the back burner. Bunch of salvaged white oak. Looks like I can make at least 5+ trays once I rip all the pieces. Hoping to have everything sanded this weekend :)

I think this might have been a freebie included a few orders ago but I’m uncertain. EIther way, thank you Old Ways Tea :) 2020 harvest.

The aroma is moderate, the taste is full and the body of the tea is delightfully creamy and oily. I suppose that means it also lacks the typical astringency or drying character of many Wuyi oolong. It possesses less mineral character than I prefer, so this might be a good introduction to rock oolong — enough minerality that it defines the style but perhaps not so much as to turn people away.

The taste is round and full, nutty-sweet and chocolatey with an orchid top note, and at times expressing a note of pleasant sourness but I can’t nail down which flavor profile matches it. A pithy bitterness arises here and there, giving a hint of edginess. The aftertaste quickly develops after the swallow and blooms into a fruity, airy, rich and sweet combination of white peach, orchid, brown sugar and semisweet chocolate. The throat feels cool.

Between the mouthfeel, tastes and aftertastes, it is a satiating tea that doesn’t have me wanting to drink cup after cup, but rather has me wanting to savor it over the course of a few days. It’s not a tea that was immediately appealing to me because I like more ‘edge’ but it is nonetheless good quality. I could see someone falling hard for this Shui Xian.

This ‘high mountain old bush’ Shui Xian is a subtle and refined rock oolong. My impression after drinking it is of horchata, like if you took the essences of fresh rice milk, floral-woody cinnamon, floral-sweet vanilla and sugar then combined those with the characteristic minerality of yancha in a spring water-like body, you’d almost have this tea.

I say almost because there is also a prominent orchid florality, a note of dry-roasted almonds skins, some delicate berry tones, and a hint of custard. A feeling of wet moss and mushrooms.

The tea feels good, smells spectacular and drinks with ease. A lingering vanilla-orchid aftertaste completes the experience.

Old Ways Tea December box.

Mmmm. Tea drunk. Feeling weightless. When I close my eyes it feels like I’m drifting on a cloud. I could barely utter complete words.

Viscous, as was the Shui Xian in the same box that I forgot to write a note on, oops.

I think of funnel cake and Pennsylvania(?).