Tea Urchin

This cake is made from high quality leaves and the tea is very easy to drink (i.e. little to no bitterness or astringency). The leaves are whole and quite large. As the tea brews the aroma is buttery and sweet with a bit of hay thrown in. The tea liquor is very clear and is a lovely pale yellow-orange color. The flavor of the sip is also buttery and sweet with a warming freshness and a pleasant mouthfeel. This is a delicate and reflective tea to enjoy. I went through six very pleasant steeps today and will likely try it again tomorrow or the next day to see just how far I can take it. Some may find this tea a bit boring since it does not “knock your socks off” but I find it rather comforting.

I totally thought I had reviewed this one before, but I guess not! This is another sample from my huge box of TeaUrchin sheng samples my husband got me for my birthday back in June. Best gift EVER!

After my recent blissful experience with the 2012 Spring version of this tea (insanely good flavor and strong cha qi!) otherwise known as “One thousand butterflies” I decided to revisit this one for comparison.

This harvest is also quite wonderful. It is a bit more mellow, not as floral or as insanely sweet but still well balanced. I get a warm richness from this fall harvest. Early steeps are quite bold. Tastes like colorful autumn leaves instead of spring flowers. Very light pleasant bitterness and no astringency. It is not exactly buttery but I keep thinking of browned butter as I drink. Third steep in I start to get that lingering herbal/spiced aftertaste in the back of my throat. Ahh, sheng. You’re my pal :)

This Yi Bang is a very nice tea! When I first started the session, I was not very impressed but by the fourth infusion the leaves had become magical. Beautiful whole leaves and the resulting clear bright liquor has a warm, smooth mouthfeel with soft, sweet notes. I’ve been through 12 infusions and the leaves continue to produce. I also prefer it in 200 degree water rather than boiling.

I got a sample of this from the lovely Stephanie

Quite nice. Sweet with an almost bitter finish.

It took me several infusions to figure out what it tastes like: bell pepper!

Yummy!

I can’t overstate the importance of tea urchin’s presence in the current tea landscape. Their shengs possess the most incredible energy and depth of flavor, which bespeaks the care with which the leaves are chosen and crafted into beautiful cakes. Read the reviews on their website; their devotees capture far better than I the intense experience of drinking them.

Sampling this amazing sheng is like test driving a Ferrari or Aston Martin; it confirms that there is a level of excellence and a driving experience that is transcendent. Unfortunately, it also makes your own car seem like an ox cart. You buy these shengs from Tea Urchin for the long haul. Right now they are wild, mercurial, and exploding with fruity, grassy/grainy flavor, and there’s something enjoyably masochistic about the bitter fruit. The time will come when the this tea will mature into something incredible, but by then I’m sure my sample will be gone.

Breaking this out in remembrance.
Listed by the vendor as outstanding floral, sweet soft and creamy with a intense huigan.
lots like a man who passed last night. Soft and smooth, not creamy but always pleasant and a intense strong man who loved his wife and children and nieces, nephews and grand children with a soft but strong love.
The floral and pleasant notes with the good tea buzz on the tongue are very reminiscent of the man I drink in honor of. Soft and strong at the same time. Like a whisper at many times and like a storm in his strong and faithful love for his family.
A special tea that I raise a cup to for a special man.

Another excellent Sheng from Eugene and Belle. The liquor is a beautiful golden color that smells like a smokey hay with a bit of tobacco thrown in. The tea itself is extremely smooth with absolutely no kuwei or astringency noted. This tea tastes just like it smells, it is a beautiful balance of hay, smoke and tobacco with a very gentle huigan to it. Well done Eugene and Belle, you have a passion for tea and your products show it!!!

Another truly amazing tea from Eugene and Belle (I sense a theme here). They say that this tea is “One of our hidden gems”, and folks it really is. The color of the liquor is a beautiful gold and it smells like hay mixed with a bit of butter and hint of brown sugar. The tea itself is very smooth with lots of great huigan and absolutely no kuwei or astringency. The taste of the tea is that of grass with light undertones of butter, nuttiness, and brown sugar. As with all Tea Urchin teas the energy of this tea is unbelievable. Almost forty minutes after my steeping session my taste buds are still excited and I can actually still taste the tea!!! Well done Eugene and Belle, and at $58 for 357g this tea is an outstanding bargain.

Broke this one out as directed by Chairman Meow. The Chairman “pawed” and pointed this out tonight for me to try.
I got out 10 grams and let the Chairman approve of it and in the Gaiwan it went. I gave a quick rinse before starting. The aroma was nice and very sweet an fruity. I can’t really describe which one but very nice. I did 5 second steeps on this one. The liquor is a medium yellow level of darkness. It has a nice aroma to it. The brew has a bit of bitter bite and astringency to it but not overpowering. Not a lot of discernible smoke as in the vendor’s description. It does creep up on you and give a semi-sweet and pleasant bitter to it.
Multi- faceted in terms of flavor notes. maybe a bit more complex than my taste buds. Pleasant and very reasonably priced for a 5 year old tea. I think I should have bought more than a sample.

Another insanely good TeaUrchin sheng! Woo!

This is the last un-tasted TeaUrchin sample from my birthday gift from my husband. This is definitely not one I would have picked out for myself just for the cost alone. (30g for $17.50)

But yes, it is indeed something special. Delicious floral sweetness, nice balance with the tangy “bitter” spice notes, and amazing cha qi. I am tea drunk at work :) “One Thousand Butterflies” FTW

I’m super impressed with TeaUrchin in general and would recommend them to all fans of raw puerh!

Edit 7/31/14
I was too harsh on this one. I was biased towards the price tag. I had four notes written two in the 90s and two in the 80s. The 80s were mostly considering the price vs what else you can get for that price. But the reality is that I should just rate the taste of tea and price being expensive or cheap is up to each person. Read the notes for details. :)

7/30/14
Initial Note This are the notes I took when I first received the cake, the cake was very aromatic with fruity and young sheng notes. I’ve consolidated my other three notes at the bottom in the Final notes section :)

Dry – Aromatic, young notes apparent, honey, apricot, faintly creamy.
Wet – Young, honey, creamy, floral, fruity, stronger apricot.
Liquor – Bright, somewhat pale yellow with slight green hue.

1st 3secs – Honey, creamy, slightly nutty and floral bittersweet notes up front. As it goes down, the bitterness is more apparent, but very mellow and pleasant with fruity and floral undertones and a somewhat savory base. Very young notes were apparent in the aftertaste.

2nd 4secs – Honey, slightly creamy and nutty, floral bitterness with bittersweet fruity undertones up front. As it goes down, it becomes slightly more bitter, but maintains a mellow and pleasant body with some more body adn thick apricot notes at the end. Slightly young still but more honeyed-apricot finish.

3rd 5secs – Floral bitterness, bittersweet fruity notes, light creamy and nutty notes and honeyed up front. As it goes down, it thickens and intensifies its bitter notes with floral and fruity character that resembles apricot as it fades away. It still has the young notes as the huigan fades and stays on the tongue.

4th 7secs – Floral bitterness, bitterseweet fruity notes, thinner body with nutty notes and some honey up front. As it goes down, its bitter notes become more apparent and develops a very pleasant thickness that in turn develops floral/fruity tones that resemble apricots. Some astringency is present with faint young notes, but still honeyed-apricot finish.

5th – 10secs – Floral bitterness, Bittersweet fruity notes, smooth but juicy (as opposed to the initial creamy character) honeyed up front. As it goes down, it becomes thicker with more apparent floral bitterness and fruity bittersweet notes that resemble apricot. The finish is sweet, with honey and apricot and develops young notes with minor hay/herbaceous characteristics.

6th 15secs – Floral bitterness, bittersweet fruity notes, smooth and somewhat thinner and honeyed up front. As it goes down, it is slightly thicker with an apparent floral and fruity character that play betweent bitter and bittersweetness that is very pleasant but plays with more astringency on the tongue. The finish is honeyed-apricots like, it is lasting but has a herbaceous prescense that lingers with astringency.

7th 25secs Floral bitterness and fruity notes that lack the initial smoothness but remains honeyed up front. As it goes down, it has faded thickness in the background like a ghost of what it had to offer, the astringecy is more apparent and brings out the bitter and bitter sweet floral and fruity notes. The finish is still honeyed, and the astringency is still there, the herbaceous/hay is more apparent in the finish.

8th 35secs – Mostly flat and one dimensional. It starts with bitter floral and bittersweet fruity notes, but they seem faded and overtaking by astringency and a mineral/metallic tone, there’s still honey in the front. As it goes down, it gives hints of a thickness that quickly dissipates and becomes bitter-to-bittersweet floral notes and astringent. At this point to me, the astringency went from apparent but pleasant to just astringent.

9th 45secs – Mostly flat, bitter-bittersweet notes and some sweet, no body to it.

Final Notes
Not stealing, but cleverly borrowing Cwyn’s analogy for New Amerykah 2 :P

If New Amerykah 2 (2014) is an illegal and a jail-bait, this one is the Beauty JUST over the age, that carries herself very well… but had that tad too much to drink LOL. When you first meet her, you take it at face value; it is a young sheng after all, but it surprises you during the first few steeps with a gentle well rounded body and only hints of immaturity. The living image that age does not dictate maturity….

As cups go down, the unfiltered reality starts to leak out. Once you reach the 5th steep (sometimes one or two past that), the scene gets loud, immature and uncomfortable. Astringency develops at first and it isn’t an issue, it’s expected, bitter notes are demanded from any Kucha and it slowly delivers. It feels like I went on the ‘perfect’ date and ended up stalking the waiter to bring me the check.

Now, for reality. I was victim of my own preconceptions, the reviews were amazing and with the price tag I expected no less. I feel like this is a really good Sheng blend, but that’s all it is, a blend. The huangpian gives it this undeniable maturity and deep notes at first, but that’s make up and dress up, each cake portion will differ from the other because you can’t guarantee that every piece you get will be balanced, some times it seems like you hit a honeyed, bitter and complex jackpot(sometimes short-lived) and other times you get mostly younger leaves with fine developing characteristics, but lacking depth and maturity. I’d say sample this one for the good times, $90 for a cake this young and with not proof of aging potential is not in my budget; but if you favor young Sheng… this is your date.

After this review people may get the feeling that Eugene and Belle are paying me to write reviews, they are not! Another EXCELLENT sample from Tea Urchin! When I opened the sample bag and smelled the dry leaves I was greeted by this wonderful smell of pipe tobacco, yes pipe tobacco. The liquor has a beautiful golden color that smells of flowers mixed with tobacco. The taste, flowers mixed with tobacco, is unbelievable and everything about it is exceptionally balanced. There is some astringency and kuwei but the sweetness keeps everything in balance and the three work in perfect harmony to produce a taste experience that is a pure delight for ones taste buds!

This is so good…why do I keep falling in love with samples of $100+ cakes I can’t afford :(

i get notes of apricot skin, dryness on the tongue and lingering flavor on the back of my throat. Somewhat sweet with a pleasant bitterness, and a bit “darker” tasting than most shengs. Not dark like a black tea or a shu, I’m really not sure how to describe it! I do not have the words for this…FAIL.

Great tea buzz from this one though :) TEA ENERGY FTW

Breaking this one out after one of these long work days. They are terrible and don’t leave a lot of hours to drink tea.
I did 10 grams in the Gaiwan to start out. A quick rinse and 3 5 second steeps into the fair cup. The brew is crystal clear in the cup. No cloudiness at all. A little touch of grape in the aroma and the first sip is “Bang” a large hit of the bitter as noted on a previous review and a nice mouthfeel to this one. This has one of the hardest bitter punches I have experienced. It gives a slight touch of faint sweetness in there after plowing through the bitter. Some hints of pine and flower in there.
Nice and strong as this one will punch you in the buds. You will have to enjoy the strength of the bitter it brings to truly enjoy this one with the good Ku Wei and Hui Gan.
Strong and powerful balanced a bit more to the bitter side but enjoyable.

Another excellent Sheng from Eugene and Belle. The soup is a beautiful golden hue. The smell of the soup is a really pleasing floral smell that reminded me of wildflowers. The taste is incredible, simply incredible. This Sheng has a unbelievable taste of grass mixed with butter. Like the Wan Gong 2014 Spring that I drank last night, this is one extremely smooth Sheng. Absolutely no hint of kuwei or astringency at all. Again, way to go Eugene and Belle!

Another excellent Pu’er from Eugene and Belle. In their words “… this Wangong cake is a stand out processing from the 2014 spring harvest” and are they ever correct. The color of the soup is a beautiful golden color. The smell of the soup is an excellent floral and grassy combination that is a delight to smell. The taste is quite simply amazing. To my taste buds the soup has a very well balanced floral and grass flavor with just a hint of honey that comes out at the end. What really surprised me is just how smooth this Sheng is. After seven steepings there was absolutely no astringency and just the slightest hint of kuwei. My favorite part of this Sheng is the energy it exhibits. Here I am twenty minutes after my last sip and my tastes buds are still excited and I can actually still taste this wonderful tea.

This is SUPER good sheng!!!!

Excellent balance between sweetness and pleasant astringency, with some fruit and floral aromas. Great energy. Seems super solid and one of my top picks from TeaUrchin so far :)

Good Monday tea, for sure.

Drank this one all day! It started out somewhat astringent, which I enjoyed but I think perhaps others might not appreciate. It was good, as almost all of my TeaUrchin shengs have been, but definitely not my favorite of the bunch. I give it a B-

Beautiful leaf from 100+ year YiWu tea trees so I was anxious to try this one. First few steeps were very subtle – pleasant enough but little depth or complexity. For a moment I wondered if I should just move on to another tea but I decided to keep working with this Yiwu. After the fourth steep there was stronger flavor but certainly not overwhelming – sweet taste, coats the mouth and throat and lingers; enough subtle bitterness slips in to balance nicely. In general this is an easy to drink tea with beautiful high quality leaf. It won’t knock you over with its flavor but a good tea to keep on hand. I used 6.5 grams with a 5s rinse and a 30s idle followed by 10s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s steeps. Not my favorite YiWu but definitely worth owning. Note: fairly priced at $35 for a 357g cake.

This is one of the more expensive teas at Tea Urchin. The good: the quality of the leaf is amazing. The color is a crystal clear amber that holds up to seemingly endless infusions. The tea is very thick and hearty. There is almost no bitterness. But it is lacking in character. I find the flavor is kind of dull, with no punch and little huigan. I wonder how a tea like this will age. It is clearly very high quality, but little flavor for my tastes.