Tea Trekker

This was my first yellow tea. Well, i was disappointed. It tastes like green tea but with most of the ‘green’ removed. I actually really like whatever that ‘green’ is. So, it was missing.

Maybe this is not my style of tea. However, i would try a different yellow tea just to try it.

It tastes like standard jade tieguanyin. It’s not really my style of tea. But, it’s fine for what it is

Sweet pine smoked Tian Jian, its pretty fragrant in that regard (I was surprised when I had the first taste, the sweet smoke was pretty forward).

Quite smooth, easy drinking, sweet. I only had one large sample of this, been 90c with my thermos this evening while painting and listening to music on youtubes.

I have lost count the steep number buy now but its still got a pine thing going on, but lighter & thinner. There has been a slight cinnamon spice going through the session, but I didnt get that strong of a cherry note as mentioned on the website. Its been a nice companion throughout the late windy & rainy night though.

Thanks T-Curious for this lovely pack of hei cha! :)

Really solid tea. Delicious, homey, I’m new to Tieguanyin but I really like this. Crowd pleaser for sure. I got elements of Jin Xuan in its butteryness and sweet cookie notes. But it had a whole other element of smokiness and dark spirits. Would very much buy again, really enjoyed.

Brewed 5 grams in 100ml gaiwan starting at 15/20s, then 25, 30, etc. Went for about 12 infusions

Quick overview/TLDR: A delicious tea featuring intoxicating creaminess and rich brothiness. Dark green (but not bitter) vegetal flavors mix with gentle minerality and subtle floral notes.

Dry leaves: Very dark, twisted/curled leaves, mostly intact, with some stems. Dry leaves have characteristic oolong roastiness, brown sugar sweetness, a bit of cocoa powder.

Brewed in gaiwan (~100 ml capacity), 4 g of tea. Started with ~200F water. Quick wash. Wet leaves look deep green and smell that way too, smell of cooked hardy greens like collards, a touch of vegetal bitterness, but with a lot of butteriness in the smell too.

First steep: ~5 sec. The color is a clear light brown with touches of orange and green. Wonderful creaminess in flavor, with light to medium body. A slight tickle of bitterness and minerality on the tongue as it goes down.

Second: A bit more than 10 sec. Leaves are still somewhat compressed and partially curled but starting to open up. Leaves smell quite savory. The liquor has even more of that luscious creaminess. Like a tasty vegetable broth made with lots of extra virgin olive oil. Still feeling that minerality on the tongue and throat.

Third: ~20 sec. Color remains that light golden brown, but a bit deeper in shade. Some of the buttery texture has thinned out, but it leaves a wonderfully soft, gentle, creamy aftertaste (or “afterfeel”) in the mouth.

Fourth: ~30-60 sec (let it go a bit longer here). Leaves still haven’t completely unfurled, but are starting to expand and fill the bowl nicely. Liquor was noticeably darker this time. Intoxicatingly creamy aroma with those light savory/brothy notes. The longer steep brought back more of the buttery texture, while I’m also getting noticeably more tingly minerality. I’m starting to notice a gently floral quality and sweetness, particularly at the back of the mouth/throat. As the tea evolves it’s becoming more balanced, blending the creaminess, minerality, savory and sweet components.

Fifth-Eighth: Bumped the water up to near boiling (whatever temperature my kettle kept the water on its “keep warm” feature). Increased steeping time.

Overall these steeps feature a lighter, honey-like color. They continued to have less creaminess (although still a noticeable amount) and more minerality, with an overall weaker flavor. But the flavor was different with each infusion, some bringing out more roasted flavors, some with more sweetness.

Overall feel/energy: Mellowing, comforting, the creamy quality of the tea seems to spread through your body. Mild giddiness/drunkenness. Very easy on the stomach, helps control appetite. If you do a lot of steeps, you’ll start to get some caffeine energy/jitteryness, but I find it overall balanced and pleasant.

This review is based on one steep western style. It is a nice sweet tasting, somewhat earthy ripe puerh. It is from 2008 so it has cleared somewhat. I might even go as far as to describe the sweet note as a dates note. It is pretty tasty. I should add that Tea Trekker sells some good tea.

I brewed this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 30 seconds after a 10 second rinse.

Bought this the other day. Forgot it said 190 degrees and brewed it at boiling. It’s got a mild fruity note and a note of malt that is not strong.

I brewed this one time in a 16 oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 2 tbl leaf and boiling water for 4 min.

Not sure where the teas in this blend are from. But it’s a very nice blend. It’s got a main note that is fruity in nature with perhaps just a little bit of malt in the background. There is no need to add milk to this tea. Although I added sugar I think it would be ok without too.

Steeped thhis overnight in the fridge in a 32oz Lupica Handy Cooler with 4 tsp leaf.

Bought two ounces of this the other day. This is good tea. It’s got a fruity note to it off the bat. I’m not getting any malt or really any strong flavors other than the fruity note. The people at Tea Trekker know how to pick a tea.

I brewed this one time in a 16 oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with approx 4 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 2 min.

This is quite a tasty tea. I can understand why they call it peach blossom. It has a strong fruity note that I would indeed describe as tasting like peaches. Perhaps it was grown next to peach trees. There is also a note of malt much weaker. This is an excellent tea and one I will have to be on the lookout for next year.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 6 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 2 min. That sounds like a lot of tea but their recommendation was two tablespoons of tea.

Got the 2016 spring pluck of this yesterday. This is nothing short of phenomenal tea. It has a mildly fruity main note followed up by an undercurrent of malt. This so far is among the best teas I have tried from Tea Trekker and on of the best Jin Jum Meis I have drank. I may want to pick up some more of this stuff.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

This is a very malty tea with only a slight bitterness. It has undertones of dark chocolate. It is very good. Just got this in my order today. I would definitely buy this again next year if I finish this.

Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 4 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 minutes.

I have a lot of respect for Tea Trekkers. They are honest, knowledgable, and dont rely on gimmicks to sell their tea.

This tea while good is more of an expiremental tea than a solid choice. As we all know the Fenghuang, Phoenix Mountains, produces wu longs. This is unique because it is a red tea from this area. So what does this mean for the tea?

The first is that it does have characteristics that coincide with pheonix wu longs. The aroma is fruity with a little metallicness. On the first steep it can be easily mistaken for an wu long. The red tea body and sweetness really comes out in the later brews as the aroma fades.

The aroma is guava with a little metallic, makes me suspect they used either Shui Xian or Bai Ye cultivar. Once that fades you get the classic red tea sweetness. The red tea flavor is flawed though. The tea isnt smooth, as red teas are suppose to be. The tea is a little matly with a sour raspberry taste. The smell of the gaiwan at the end was pretty funky like manure. It also leaves an unpleasent taste in the mouth.

This being said, these flavors are pretty small. Non of these flaws over power the general fullness and sweetness of the tea. I would suggest buying a sample of this tea. It is interesting to see what happens when wu long makers make red teas.
I personally wouldnt buy anymore but I can see how other may really like it and buy a lot. (remember I dont really like Fenghuangs)

2009 From Liquid Proust’s aged oolong sampler.

I tried this tea twice: first gong-fu, and then a cross between gong-fu and western style: 60 s steeps of 3 grams in 6 oz water. I preferred the second approach.

The dominant flavor of this tea is the heavy roast, which hits you as soon as the water hits the tea. In the gong-fu session, this was pretty much all i got, but in the semi-western session, there was a stone fruit hiding under the roast, which peeked out at various times; in the finish during the first steep and as the tea cooled in the second steep, and again in the finish of the third steep.

I prefer my oolong roasted, but this one was a bit too much for me. My rating is an average of the first session (81) and the second (85), which was high largely because the tea was fairly interesting, not because it was a pleasure to drink (though there was nothing unpleasant about it, at least for me).

On a personal note, I’m a terrible tea hoarder. Despite my participation in two travelling tea boxes and 3 of Liquid Proust’s samplers, this is only my 21st sipdown of the year. the worst thing is that this one was accidental. this sample was in a bag of teas that I didn’t think I had tried. My usual modus operendus is to save the last portion of a sample pretty much forever. i need to change this.

Frankly any old-style, old tree tea and purple varietals are to my liking. This tea combines these two aspects. As one contemplates the dry leaf, before steeping it, it seems to talk of loving, careful hands that cut long, well developed but young and tender leaves in spring 2014 then processed them to a subdued cordovan color, delicately twisting them to come up with an exceptional flavor and aroma for my tasting still now in 2016. This is one of the longest lasting teas in the mouth that I have ever tried. The first time I steeped it, while meditating later on , I was distracted but its persistent taste. Perhaps it lasted almost an hour!
This morning I made two steepings for 3 minutes at 190°F and it is so smooth, so velvety. Nothing harsh, by any means. A full bodied, complex taste and, as I say, long in the mouth. A few hours later, I have made a third steeping at 195°F for 5 minutes and it retains its entire flavor, perhaps gaining in subtly—or is it because I am more awake now? I will later on do a fourth steeping— I have done it many times— at 200°F and for 6-7 minutes and it will still maintain a good taste level, although by this time, it will be less pronounced.
Tea Trekker is indeed true to its reputation which such a fine, very top-notch tea. They definitely have an excellent hand at making their contacts and choices. Their quality is very consistent, indeed.

Wonderfully round, complex, full mouthed, long lasting taste. A high mountain oolong leaf made into a subtle black tea. Very smooth and no bitterness whatsoever. This is a big gnarly leaf which why I used an apparently big amount. I made three excellent steepings, using 200°F water for the last one with only 4 ounces of water for 6 minutes. (With a tea of such high quality, I like to play with time and temperature so as to coax out more steepings.) For my experience, Tea Trekker always comes through with very high quality and decent prices. They have never sold me something that is not in the upper range of premium tea. I have learned to follow their suggestions, descriptions, temperature ranges and quantity of tea.

I didn’t care for the aroma. It was a full-bodied green, as advertised.

Bought this last month in my Black Friday order. While I liked the tea there are a couple of things about it. There was a lot of fermentation taste and this taste was somewhat unpleasant if not fishy. There was also a lot of bitterness. That being said there were some good points too. I developed into something nice. It was thick and rich in the early infusions. Even if it was somewhat bitter. There were some notes of chocolate and it did develop something of a fruity taste later on. Rated on the first few steeps this was not very good. Rated on the eight steeps I gave this it was fairly tasty.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rest and a 10 minute rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Judging by the color of the tea in the eighth steep I’m sure I could have gotten another six or seven steeps out of this tea.

Trying this today from the aged oolong sampler. Thanks again to*Liquid Proust* for all the work he did on this. I would say this is a medium roast tea. It’s also got a strong roast aftertaste. It tastes a bit of charcoal. It had some bitterness but not too much. This one is somewhere in the middle for me, not the best I’ve tried, not the worst. I am still not a big fan of roasted teas in general.

I steeped this tea 12 times in a 60ml gaiwan with 4g leaf and 200 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I think this would go a few more steeps if I had a desire to continue.

This tea is excellent. I bought it during Tea trekker’s Black Friday sale and am just getting around to trying it. There is very little fermentation flavor to it, maybe a little in the first steep and that’s about it. It had clearly been wet stored at some point because there was the faint taste of wet wood in the first two steeps. It had obviously cleared of it’s storage taste while stored by Tea Trekker. It was sweet with virtually no bitterness from the beginning. It was dark and rich in the early infusions. It turned into a fruity sweetness as the tea got lighter in color. Unfortunately Tea Trekker has run out of this. It was priced right at $55 for a pair of 250g bricks. The tea itself was fairly large leafed. I am not sure if Wuliang is the region, the name of the tea factory, or just what Tea Trekker called it. It hard to pin down the exact nature of the sweet taste but it is good.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min. Judging by the color of the brew in the tenth steep I’d say I could get another three or four steeps out of this at least but ten cups is a lot of tea.