Tong Xin She Teahouse

6.5/90. wet leaf is roasty. 1st: taste is woody and then sweetens quickly in mineral/celery aftertaste. good mouth feel. 2nd: forgot about it and was bitter. some floral in the edges. liquor smells of honey. strong lingering celery/mineral in aftertaste. 3rd: similar.

1.8g in Yeti w/ boiling. not memorable at all.

Can definitely do better at this price point.

6/90. Got this from TXS at some point, but I can’t find it on their site anymore so it must’ve been a long time ago. Assuming it was pretty cheap, but I can’t remember.

dry: roasty, bread, berries, almost sour. wet: roasty, medicinal. taste is medicinal and bitter chocolate, with some of the celery/mineral notes. some astringency at front of tongue. not a great experience overall. My pack was pretty crushed, so that didn’t really help.

6/90. decent for price, but does not particularly stand out in any way. decent florals on gaiwan lid. Can’t tell if it’s rose-like, but it could definitely pass for it. I was in Portland for a conference this summer and after visiting the rose garden, I can’t identify what’s exactly rose anymore. all the varieties of roses smelled different. Pretty cool, but also lowkey upsetting since rose constructs in perfumery have a somewhat contrived and constricted view generally presenting the same across houses and perfumes. I felt misled! anyway, tea has a roast that’s on the lighter side of medium for my preferences. vegetal, grassy, coconut notes in the middle. can have some bitterness, but doesn’t transform too much and somewhat weak on aftertaste. can’t remember anything else despite having it this morning.

12s(rinse)/8s/10s/10s/10s/12s/12s/15s…goes for a while

Dry leaves are long, emerald green with white hair, and spindly—the smell is overwhelmingly of dried apricot. Once rinsed, the leaves include a generous amount of twigs but the leaves are small/medium and a few whole leaves can be found but are mostly partials. The tea appears to be machiene processed off of a reasonable quality product. Broth is glassy and clear, starting at a very pale yellow but deepening into a more `mustardy` tone. The mouthfeel is deeply buttery and the taste is soft and sweet. In early infusions, it tasted of honeysuckle and zucchini.

Brewed in 65 ml ceramic gaiwan, this tea is #2 of the 10 included in the Chinese Tea Discovery set on offer by the Tong Xin She teahouse

12s(rinse)/15s/15s/15s/15s/15s/15s/15s/20s

Dry leaves are flat and spring green with hints of purple at the base of some stems, small/medium in size and unbroken. The smell inside the gaiwan is strongly vegetal with hints of hay, seaweed, and a slight wet rock minerality. Once the leaves are rinsed, the aroma transforms into a stonger barnyard scent with more compost elements. The first (rinse) steep yields a glowing pale yellow broth with exquisite clarity. The yellow tends (very mildly) towards a green and has no red or umber undertones which is maintained through the first 5-6 infusions before softening into a barely tinted broth.

In early infusions, the flavor is also vegetal and resides in the back of the throat with hints of straw and broccoli but lightens and sweetens into something softer and more floral with a buttery mouthfeel. While the tea description promises a delicate orchid fragrance, I think the closest I got was a hint of geranium on the tip of my tounge at the end of the later steeps. The flavor does linger in the back of the throat but it certainly resides more strongly in the vegetal family.

Brewed in 65 ml ceramic gaiwan, this tea is 1 of the 10 included in the Chinese Tea Discovery set on offer by the Tong Xin She teahouse

20s(rinse)/10s/10s/5s/8s/10s/15s/20s/25s/30s/45s

Dry leaves are ropy, long, and richly mahogany colored with a strong scent of chicory and molasses. After rinsing, the smell is slightly fruiter shifting into dried cranberries but still with those dark sweet elements. The taste is spicy with hints of clove and tobacco, along with something subtler of dried cranberries and apricots.Despite such strong and potentially cloying flavor profiles, the taste is smooth and balanced, rich without being agressive or astringent. It has a huge impact on the tip of the tounge with some floral tingles and then slides through the back of the throat with a spicier profile. Broth is red orange and glowing and the tea seems to be forgiving of experimental steeping- stong enough to give decent quick steeps but patient enough not to punish a long (or forgetful) brewtime—I think the sweet spot (pun intended) is about 10-15s. It has a lot of character in common with a Do Hong Pao, if perhaps a little quieter and sweeter. This tea does run out a little more quickly, unable to sustain infinite steeps.

Brewed in an 80 ml Porcelain Gaiwain.

Lotus Peak Rou Gui
Tong Xin She Teahouse
6.2g, 100 mL duanni, boiling, Poland Spring water
Dry leaf is a sweet roasted smell, also something nutty and sweetly bread-like underneath
In prewarmed pot, roasted note is clearer
wet leaf smell is mostly roast, but with a slight underlying sweetness. Roast in this one seems lighter than in the Lotus Peak Shui Xian from TXS
Didn’t rinse today
~15s: roasted taste, with slight bitter and sourness, then vegetal/crushed minty note in aftertaste. Smell of soup is sweet in a floral/somewhat sweet potato note way, but roast smell present as well. Empty cup is usual roasted oolong smell of dried graham cracker-like notes
10s: soup is more sweet potato like smell. Roasted taste, sweeter upfront, but sour bitter note is still present. Similar aftertaste, gaining a slight sweet potato-like quality at the end. Somewhat more rounded in the mouth than the LPSX, but didn’t achieve the same power of that aftertaste or extend into throat, concentrating in front of mouth.
15s: soup retains same floral sweet potato note. Taste is somewhat lightened from before. Crush mint aftertaste with slight sweetness is stronger than before, but still concentrated on front tongue. Will do a longer steep, then thermos the rest.
1 min.: just a sort of roasted taste with the slight bitter edge, only slight aftertaste, a bit drying. Thermos’d the rest.
Overall: Somewhat warming. Historically I’ve tended to prefer Rou Gui over Shui Xians that I’ve tried, so surprised that didn’t hold true here since everything should be constant (brewing variables-wise and growing area, etc.) between these two LPSX and LPRG other than the strain. This wasn’t terrible, by any means, but I was disappointed in it as compared to the LPSX so I wasn’t interested in pushing it for more steeps.

2.1g, thermos, boiling: a sweet roasted taste, slight florals with the osmanthus-like, sweet potato-y note, with a hint of the bitterness and mint underneath. A lightly sweet, crushed mint aftertaste. Whereas the LPSX was better pincha, this one is better grandpa. Seem like flipped versions of each other for better pincha or better grandpa.

Probably wouldn’t repurchase this one either

Lotus Peak Shui Xian
Tong Xin She Teahouse
6.2g, 100 mL duanni, boiling, Poland Spring water
Dry leaf I can really only pick out the sweet roast smell
In prewarmed pot, smell is more of the same, with a touch of a sweet floral note
Nothing distinctive about wet leaf smell Didn’t rinse today
15s: initially bitter taste, slightly sour, underneath which is a sort of soapy floral. Aftertaste is sweet and refreshing, lingering with a hint of mint/vegetal note on the tongue. Empty cup aroma, as usual with roasted oolongs, is one of my favorite things here, carrying the standard sweet roasted graham cracker like note.
10s: aroma cup is a touch sweeter than before. Taste is slightly less bitter, same soapy floral undercurrent and same mint/ vegetal note on aftertaste. Aftertaste not as immediately sweet and has shifted focus to mint/vegetal note. This time mint/ vegetal and slight aroma both on front of tongue and lingers in throat. The aroma and taste in throat shifts from vegetal to a softer sweet floral, and then seems to return to a vegetal mint with the soapy floral undercurrent.
30s: more bitter in the taste, similar soapy florals, but also a slight hint of sweetness.
Didn’t time later steeps, but lasted several minutes each:
1st: lighter bitterness. Taste weakening. More forward sweetness and soapiness. Aftertaste slightly bitter, a bit drying minty/vegetal on tongue and slight sweetness.
2nd: not very notable. Bitterness very lightened and leftover floral soapiness is dominating. Bit drying, with slight mint/ vegetal edge.
3rd: flat taste but some of the mint edged aftertaste
Overall: Adjusted brewing today since I was curious how the way some of the Teaforum people brew affect things, and this turned out really well. There’s a good chance I’ll continue using this method for oolongs.

2.1g, thermos, boiling: pretty disappointing. mostly taste of roast, only slight hints of anything that came from pin cha

mixed thoughts, probably wouldn’t repurchase at present.

Hui Yuan Pit Rou Gui (慧苑坑肉桂), whole packet into 100 mL rongtian pot, all steeps at boiling, Poland Spring water. No timer but steeps starting at 5s and similar and increasing time slightly with each steep with later longer steeps. Had a friend over, so no specific notes, just from memory. Starts off pretty simple, and progresses to gain a floral character with the slight crushed mint vegetal aftertaste, and then also picks up a strong sweet potato note. This was lighter on the roasted taste (though it shows up sometimes) than the other oolongs I’ve tried from TXS so far, even though it had 29 hours of baking per the description. Overall, a pretty enjoyable session, though I need to try more oolongs that I know the price of (since most I have were gifted and seem inflated in pricing) so I know if this was worth for the price. Aftertaste was sweet, but not as strong or lasting as I expected, even against cheaper options (though the steeping method I used for the Shui Xian from TXS last time was different). I imagine Hui Yuan Keng teas probably have gradations based on pricing though.

5.8g, 100 mL gaiwan

dry leaves smell like dried cranberries (Ocean Spray!) and a hint of dark chocolate

leaves in prewarmed gaiwan bring out strong toast/roast notes. still raisin and chocolate

wet leaves smell very smoky

5s rinse

5s: slight sweet & smoke that becomes a slight fruity aftertaste. empty cup smells like brown sugar from baked chocolate chip cookies. slight hint of bitterness.

7s: not super interesting

12s: more roasted

30s: soapy mint aftertaste. leaves also smell soapy.

10 min: still not much change so stopped pin cha here. slight osmanthus note on the lid. pretty disappointed by this one, especially since it started off well. soup never thickened for me, but that could be due to the local tap. Taste was pretty flat, which could be partly due to water, but also I’ve brewed plenty of teas fine with this water.

thermos overnight 212f w/ just remaining leaves from packet: dark hazelnut and roast. Quite good, though not sure if I’d repurchase.

Wu San Di Shui Xian, TXS tea
7.7g (sachet said 8.3g, so guess my scale is off or something, I’m not sure. Have been less mindful of 1:15 general ratio lately because when I do follow it I’m never sure when to use the remaining 2g or whatever of leaf), 100 mL gaiwan, Brita, 212f

dry leaves don’t have much smell

leaves in prewarmed gaiwan have a roasted and bread-like smell

wet leaves have a strong smoke w sweet undertones of dark chocolate and berry

5s: slightly thick. woody medicinal notes w/ slight sweetness that remind me of cinnamon. slight cooling minty aftertaste

another 5s: similar to initial, but a touch stronger mint aftertaste

12s: slight bitter and roast more upfront before moving to a minty aftertaste

25s: starting to lose steam. a touch of sweetness + toastiness w mint aftertaste and a touch of something like soap

1min: lighter but finishes w a bright mint note and something higher that I can’t distinguish

2min: light medicinal woody notes + roast hint

5min: seems to have regained strength. bitterness like a coffee that turns into a soapy note of sorts.

10 min: roasted bitter note and soapy aftertaste. hint of mint

20 min + one last steep of indefinite hours length: not much left to note. would usually cold brew, but the last time I tried that with a TXS tea it tasted like straight soap.

overall, nothing too exciting, fairly standard shui xian profile. I guess this validates the legitimacy of the shui xian that was a gift that I tried before and thought was fake because of the lack of sweetness and rather medicinal/woody profile. Descriptions online of whatever is supposed to constitute a “classic” shui xian messed up my expectations