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Pretty enjoyable fun tea to drink. I didn’t notice any overwhelming astringency or bitterness, although there is some there. Not overwhelming qi but it is certainly there. It didnt kick my ass but it had me feeling very invigorated. I haven’t drank many teas this age and haven’t tried any Yiwu teas (to my knowledge) so I don’t have much of a reference, but I definitely enjoyed it. I look forward to trying the Gaoshan Qingbing to compare.

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I’m so happy Mr Twodiggity made this tea. I’ve been looking for a nice huangpian to enjoy as a nightcap ever since I tried the huangpian in Basics. I used 4 grams in a 95ml gaiwan which was plenty for me. No puer needle nescessary, this tea breaks up easily in your fingers like… Other plants that break up easily in your fingers.

It may be because this tea is more choppy than the huangpian in Basics, but I notice more sweetness, and more bitterness right off the bat. I also get a very nice lasting floral/fruity/sweetness that continues for a good half hour after each cup. I did not know huigan like this was possible in huangpian.

It has a pungent factory like tongue puckering punch (in a good way) also probably from the consistency of the leaves. As I continue drinking this I’m just blown away by how sweet it is. Once again so pleasantly surprised that a tea at this price level, and caffeine level, could be this good. I’m an insomniac so this is a godsend

Flavors: Sweet

Preparation
4 g 95 OZ / 2809 ML

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90
drank 2015 Pin by white2tea
661 tasting notes

This tea is so good. I think my favourite from all the monthly teas so far. I’ve done quite a few infusions of it today. It has a nice creamy taste to it. There’s also a bit of fruitiness. Earlier steeps have a faint bitterness in it but it doesn’t detract from the tea at all. I am pretty impressed when such a young sheng has hardly any bitterness and that was only after one quick rinse. That faint bitterness disappears really quick and it’s just creamy and fruity forever. I don’t know what steep I am on now. I think I’ve had far too much tea but it still tastes soooo good.

Christina / BooksandTea

I’m glad it’s working out! I was worried that I broke up the leaves too much and possibly made it too bitter.

JC

This one is good. It probably one of best easy drinks this year.

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drank Qilan Trees by white2tea
921 tasting notes

What a beautiful day it is, so sunny and warm, and yet with all its warmth I have a very clingy cat. Espeon has been practically stuck to me today, which has made painting…interesting. I should consider myself lucky that she just wants to sit in my lap instead of playing with the brushes, but one wrong move of her tail means disaster. Or at the very least an inconvenient smudge or mispaint.

Today we are looking at a Yancha from White2Tea, their Qilan Trees! This tea was part of the tea club to go in tandem with their Qilan Fire, two rock Oolongs made by the same farmer, but processed differently. Namely Qilan Fire has a heavier roast and Qilan Trees is more gentle and in theory more tree themed. The aroma of the long curly and very dark green leaves (they are truly quite pretty) has a gentle bit of char, you can tell this is a Yancha, but the char is super delicate, good news for those who dislike the empyreumatic tinge to Rock Oolongs. Of course there is more going on then just faint char, there are gentle notes of wood (hello trees) distant flowers, mangosteen, cocoa, and honey. This is a very sweet smelling Yancha, which I like.

The Yancha pot hungers for leaves, so I load it up with its much wanted leafy friends and go to town steeping. The aroma of the soggy leaves is gentle in the char department again, like a distant pile of coals rather than wet coals or a burning fire. There is also notes cocoa and distant flowers with a subtle spice, like a spicy cooked quince and sweet mangosteen. Well this tea is winning on the exotic fruit department. The liquid is gentle in char again, with accompanying notes of mangosteen and cocoa, at the very end is a gentle wilted orchid aroma giving the distant floral note a name.

Ooh, that mouthfeel is silky! Usually I find most Rock Oolongs have a robust and at times sharp mouthfeel, but this one is like silk, it is so smooth. The flavor on this first steep is pretty light, starting with a gentle blend of mineral and distant char which pretty immediately moves to sweetness that stays for the entire sip. Blending spice and fruit, specifically quince and mangosteen (not a combo I ever expected) with a woody almost reed like finish.

The aroma of the second steep brings out more of a woody note, reminding me a bit of bamboo or some more reed like wood, combine that with cocoa and very sweet mangosteen and it is safe to say it smells quite good. The mouthfeel has moved from silky to almost creamy, which is quite fun, but it does move back to silky at the finish. Tasting the tea it starts with sweet cocoa and quince, moving to mangosteen and gentle mineral, and the finish is a blend of char and bamboo making for a woody finish, since it is the taste of older dry bamboo rather than the bright green shoots.

Third steep time, and the aroma is quite sweet, a light blend of bamboo wood, mangosteen, cocoa, and a touch of wet slate and char at the finish. The taste has a bit more char and mineral this time around, like a blend of limestone and wet slate and distant charcoal, specifically bamboo charcoal. The one thing that really struck me with this steep is how the gentle char, mineral, and a sweet honey and quince taste blended for a really light and almost airy flavor, something I generally don’t associate with Yancha. Sadly my plans of tasting this one along side with Qilan Fire did not go as planned because when I finished with this steep my kettle died! Luckily it has since been replaced, but I have not had the opportunity to get back to the pair of Qilans, I think when I do I will coerce the Tea Barbarian to join me and I will do both in my gaiwan, meaning my Yancha pot will get cranky, but it can deal with it.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/12/white2tea-qilan-trees-wuyi-oolong-tea.html

curlygc

This is one of my favorite rock oolongs.

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85
drank 2015 Pin by white2tea
1271 tasting notes

Really cool wrapper on this cake! This sheng is on the light and sweet side, with notes of moss, linen, straw, hay, and floral. I found it quite gentle with a thick mouth feel. A nice light bit of dryness and bitterness that many pu newbies would like.

2015 Pin is quite different compared to 2015 2Late or Poundcake as it’s lighter. I got this tea with November 2015 White2tea club, and it says to try this cake again in a few months once the excess water in it goes away. That said, these tasting notes may change.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/november-white2tea-club-2015-pin-tea-review/

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 90 ML
Christina / BooksandTea

I found that this tea was a bit bitter using my usual steeping parameters. I’m going to try sometime later with 85C water.

Oolong Owl

Checking, you leafed less and did a lower temp (194f). I’m thinking your steeps were much longer than mine. Or very well could be I’m getting used to bitter sheng.

boychik

Maybe it has slight bitterness but I almost haven’t noticed.

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drank 2006 Gongting Shu by white2tea
107 tasting notes

It’s a chilly day here in NC. Well, it’s under 65, so to me that’s chilly. Anyway, I was finishing up some Naka sheng from last night and not really feeling it, so I switched to ripe. I finally decided to break out the 2006 Gongting Shu cake from the October White2Tea club. It’s been airing out for a little over a month in the pumidor (aka “cabinet with all my tea.”) 5g in my 100ml gaiwan. Despite the cake being extremely compressed, I had no problem breaking it up with my pu needle. I could see where a more blunt ended pick or knife might be a problem, but my needle is flippin sharp because it isn’t actually a pu knife but a very mean looking pick I got for under $10 from a hardware store. I have a whole set actually, different angles and such. But the straight one works like a charm. And yes, I have stabbed myself with it and made a blood offering to the pu gods (not on purpose).

Back to the shu. I did not find this shu to be fishy or fermenty or gross in any way. I find it quite tasty actually. Now, I do have to admit that my palate might be weird where it comes to shu; other reviewers have not liked this one and my wife exclaimed “what the hell is that you’re drinking, it smells awful” when she walked near me. So, maybe it’s just me but I think this tea is very nice. Dark, rich, thick red/brown soup coats the tongue and throat. Earth, loam, peat, wet forest. It has a pleasant sourness reminiscent of Delirium Nocturnum, which is one of my favorite Belgian ales.

If you can make it past caffeine tsunami into later steeps, the sourness of the tea calms down a bit, and the flavor becomes mellow and smooth, with a touch of sweetness and yeast bread. But the caffeine… crikey I don’t know if I’m going to pass out or run a couple of miles and then pass out. 2Dog should consider renaming this tea to “Caffeinated as #$&%.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/-rmjA5GgA_/?taken-by=curlygc

mrmopar

Ashe county native here.

curlygc

A Southerner moved North? Isn’t that supposed to go the other way around? LOL.

mrmopar

Well I was brought as a child so I had no choice!

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The cake is a tightly compressed mass of dark green, with strands of silver, beige, khaki and white interspersed throughout. The dry leaf smells smoky and slightly fruity — pretty typical for a younger sheng.

I broke off 5.85 grams of dry leaf and gave the tea a quick rinse in 90°C water in my medium-sized gaiwan (about 130 mL). After the rinse, the smell of the leaf transformed from slightly smoky and fruity to intensely fermented — it was sour and reminded me of yogurt. I don’t mind this smell, but it was a surprise.

The first steep was very clear and had an amber tint to it like beer. The taste was refreshing: clear, smooth, with no sharpness or astringency. I noticed a slight bitter aftertaste.

The second steep was bitter and some smoke started to creep in. It’s possible I oversteeped this one, though, as I was slow to pour the liquid out of the gaiwan. Because of this, I noticed some astringency along with the bitterness. I took care during the third steep and was rewarded with liquid that was lighter in both colour and flavour – the bitterness hadn’t disappeared, but the fruitiness of the leaf came out to play. Despite the presence of fruit, though, the tea was still relatively herbal in flavour, with a bitter aftertaste.

The flavour stayed pretty consistent from here until the seventh steep. One thing I noticed about this tea is that its bitterness has a quality I feel on the middle and sides of my tongue, rather than the back of it. The mouthfeel and the flavour are both thin — this tea washes over my mouth smoothly, coats my tongue, and recedes quickly, leaving no trace. The colour lightened over time as well, becoming a pale gold rather than the amber it was at the beginning.

C’mon guys, read the full review. It’s got cat photos! http://booksandtea.ca/2015/11/white2tea-november-2015-subscription-box-2015-pin-raw-puerh/

Kaylee

You had me at cat photos. What a cutie! :-)

Cwyn

Awesome blog! I love your design. Yeah I have this tea also and am waiting a few months for it to settle before I try it.

Christina / BooksandTea

Obviously, I need to add cat photos to get traffic. You think I would’ve figured that out earlier.

Kaylee

Don’t underestimate people’s appetites for cuteness. Oolong Owl is great, but half the reason I click through is the cute crochet owls in the pictures.

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66

Pulled this out tonight for the first time. Broke off 10 grams for 160 ml. This tea is very weak and the first couple of steeps. Does get a little stronger the next few steeps but there really isn’t much to this tea. A bit of astrigency but that’s it. I was waiting for it to open up and give off something. Anything. It never did. Went through 10 steeps. I purchased a whole bing and I will drink it all up but it is not something I will be purchasing again.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 160 ML
AllanK

I bought this with my last order, have yet to try it. Too bad you didn’t like it. How long were your steeps? Maybe longer steeps would make it stronger?

mrmopar

I think this one needs to age. I haven’t touched mine yet.

Cwyn

I find w2t uses price tiers fairly accurately, the super low price of this leaf suggests the parameters are going to be more like 10g/100ml.

tea-junkie

@AllanK my longest steeps were 25 seconds. I will definitely try longer steeps next time. See if it helps it.

tea-junkie

@mrmopar it will be a while before I touch it again. Hopefully when I do it has aged some. I just wish I had room for a pumidor to help it.

tea-junkie

@cwyn I might have to try that as well 1g/10ml. Maybe that’ll give me a little more. I will combine your advice with the advice from @AllanK. More leaf and longer steep times.

Brian

its pretty straight forward. but i get a good amount of returning sweetness and a light bitter snap at the front. i push some longer times with this one than some other young teas.

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Big thanks to kieblera5 for sending a sample my way!

I drank this this past weekend and had two gongfu sessions, one on each day, using a ceramic gaiwan. This review is based off of the second session.

I need to stop procrastinating with obtaining a small scale (I’ve a couple saved on my Amazon wishlist for months…), then I’d really know how many grams I’d actually be using rather than relying on guestimation – especially when pu’erh cake is involved. The leaf of the first session was practically in loose leaf form, much easier to gauge. I had thought the remainder of the sample – an alarmingly large chunk in hindsight – would have been equal.

But I, sheng-newb. By the middle of the session the leaf went up to the rim of the bowl, in comparison to 2/3 the day before. I had to take three three-hour long breaks throughout that Sunday. Went from 9:40AM to 4:10PM. Couldn’t continue the session the next day – I had work, and no way the leaves would kept until the next weekend.

The number of infusions went up to 20. I won’t list all of them. Started with 5 seconds and ended with 10 minutes. 2 flash steepings beforehand.

The dry leaf smells peppery and sugar-sweet. I haven’t yet thrown away the packet – still smells like that. Letting the leaf sit in a heated bowl brings out a fruity and honey-like aroma. The notes of wet leaf aroma evolve, starting off with honey, then turning into white grapes, and then into apricots. Fresh and delicious. Best in the beginning, after the first couple infusions.

The liquor is a soft yellow and full-bodied. Infusions 1 through 5 were bitter with green peppers, with the bitterness gradually subsiding after each infusion.

Break 1. Second round begins with a bittersweetness and an apricot aftertaste. Infusion 7 was great! Wonderful mouthful. Silky. Here is the fruit. After infusion 8 I wrote: BLAST. This tea not only brings out the energy in me – it is energy. That mouthfeel is even stronger. By infusion 12 I can’t tell if I’m tea-tipsy or overly caffeinated. My heart rate doesn’t increase that much and my temperature is about the same. Oh well, I have brown sugar topped on my apricots now. Wow yes. Yes. Yes. Amazing.

I don’t remember brown sugar. It’s what I wrote in my journal but at this point the bird-watcher in me got distracted from the tasting. I had to inwardly wax poetic about the Cedar Waxwings having a feeding frenzy in the cedar tree across the street.

Second break. Too distracted by the waxwings (bluebirds joined them!!!). Then I went exercising. Normally I am a tired in an exhausted way after exercising. I even exerted myself more than usual hoping to rid of the excess energy. I sweated more than usual. I couldn’t tell if this was because I upped the workout intensity or because of the pu or because. I could’ve kept going (I’m sure more push-ups would have done the trick) but I had chores back home.

Infusions 13 through 16. Becoming even sweeter. At its fruitiest. Very apricot. I wrote “wiped” below “apricot apparent.” I don’t have a clue what that means. Though it definitely doesn’t refer to me at that time.

Break number 3. Infusions 17-19. The sweetness lightens and eventually balances with a vegetal flavor. 20: The End.

Epilogue: I did not drink it all. I’d say I fed half of each infusion to my tea pet piggy. Wasteful! – if you might think. But Georgie Pie gurgled with love every time I poured.

Also, was it work-related stress or the pu that gave me grief about not falling asleep until 1AM? Still, I had great day the next day!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 OZ / 88 ML

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90
drank 2015 Pin by white2tea
526 tasting notes

I was excited when I heard all the talk about this cake. Once it arrived I tucked it away in storage for a couple weeks before busting it out for steeping. The cake is an array of loosely compressed maocha with long strands. You can identify the older material blended well with the fresh stuff. The cake is not heavily aromatic, but you can pick up a distinct sweet fragrance with some light herbaceous tones. I broke off a decent chunk and prepared for brewing. After placing the picked amount in my warmed yixing I gave them a shake. The scent deepens to a much sweeter tone. I was picking up nice warm honey, nectar, and possibly some wildflowers. The sensation was so sweet and tangy. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The scent completely changed in the steeped leaves. I was picking up more sharper notes such as; bitter greens, wet wood, and moss. However, I was also picking up a sweet apricot tone in the background. The taste began slightly askew. The brew had a full mouthfeel with soothing qualities, yet it was lacking in flavor. I pushed this aside as a needed “second wash”. The second steeping was much more appeasing. I was picking up that same sweet and tangy tone. The apricot tones were much more prominent and they were followed with a pleasant drying sensation. The qi was quickly felt in the session by originating in the temples and following to the eyes. I was experiencing a nice eye fluttering by the third steeping. The qi is very cooling and an almost airy feeling; its very uplifting. The brew is not that sweet afterwards. I was experiencing bitter qualities shortly into steeping. The kuwei was nice and peppery and helped keep the tongue alert. The light honey tone followed and helped soothe the bitter sensations. The huigan was extremely delayed, but it was well worth the wait. The huigan was a light wild blossom honey flavor, and it was fairly thick. The sweetness was lasting and followed throughout the session. The later steeping sessions include a peppery bitterness, light amber colored liquor, and a nice pleasant sugarcane sweetness. The brew lasted for some time and is very durable with multiple longer steeping. I enjoyed this, and I’m glad that I have so much of it. This is a good daily drinker, but it won’t make it to my top puerhs.

I will take more notes after a few months in storage.

Also, I felt compelled to take a lot of photos. This tea is more photogenic than most things ;)

https://www.instagram.com/p/-RYjfmTGQA/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/-RjkKEzGU_/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/-bgk_-zGVa/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Flavors: Bitter, Flowers, Green, Herbaceous, Honey, Moss, Pepper, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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drank 2014 New Amerykah 2 by white2tea
314 tasting notes

From the Puerh TTB 3. Thanks to W2T for donating the sample

I’m furiously drinking up samples to try to figure out what to buy on Black Friday. This is a tea I’ve considered buying so was anxious to try it. The initial steep featured light straw and smoke. Astringent but not bitter. Lots of tannin in the finish. By the 3rd steep it was much more interesting: layers of wood and tobacco, with a metallic flavor on the tip of my tongue. Very astringent finish; so much so that to makes the tea less pleasant. The cha qi is overwhelming; very strong. I think the tea is in an awkward point in development. Probably needs more age. 4th (30m): Seems to be getting more bitter/astringent.

A lot of reviews talk about “good” bitterness, but I’m just not into bitter. I got the feeling that this tea was in an awkward phase, where the various components just weren’t working together. I suspect it needs aging, but just don’t know enough about puerh to know how it will turn out in 10 years (which of course depends on how it is stored). I’ll be looking for a more accessible tea to spend my allowance on.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 g 2 OZ / 59 ML

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drank 2014 New Amerykah 2 by white2tea
314 tasting notes

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80
drank Qilan Fire by white2tea
661 tasting notes

Had this tea on the week-end. I had already tried Qilan Trees and found I enjoyed it but not keen on the roasted flavour. I knew this one would have an even stronger roasted flavour so wasn’t sure if I would like it.

It turns out I was surprised. Yes, more roasted but it seems the fruity and mineral notes came through more. I don’t know, I rather liked this one but it made me awfully hungry. Maybe it’s the roasted flavour that makes me hungry. Got a few infusions from it.

Flavors: Fruity, Mineral, Roasted

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drank Big Tree Red by white2tea
880 tasting notes

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drank Duck Shhh Oolong by white2tea
880 tasting notes

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70

The first, say, 20 times I drank this tea were great, and if I’d rated it back then, it would have been a solid 90, perhaps even higher. But having reached the centre of the beeng, with all the pretty leaves from the outside used up, I feel like the core is too tight and there’s a lot of broken leaf. The taste is not as good as I remember it from earlier steepings. It’s still alright, just a little flat, less interesting and the bitterness is more pronounced without adding depth.

Preparation
7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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76
drank 2015 Pin by white2tea
21 tasting notes

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Bought this with my last White2Tea order and am just getting around to trying it now. This tea is initially somewhat bitter and it’s quite smoky. It reminded me of whiskey without the alcohol punch. There is also something of a camphor aftertaste to it. It got progressively smoother as I resteeped it. I gave it ten steeps and it would keep going but as I have just drank a liter and a half of tea I don’t really feel like continuing. It’s very smooth in the tenth steep. Started out with 9g of tea but that seemed a little much so I took out about a gram and got better results. This is a powerful, punchy tea, the kind of tea that knocks you out when your not looking. But it did get smoother. I am not feeling much in the way of qi off of this tea. Perhaps there will be a delayed reaction as I have yet to finish the tenth steep.

I steeped this tea 10 times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8g 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. I think this tea would keep right on going if I had any desire to continue.

Flavors: Bitter, Smoke

Preparation
Boiling 8 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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I’m not part of the W2T club… but I got one of these :)
I’m more of a swapping type of person and was quite happy to see this come in the mail recently.

I took this guy to work with me without knowing anything about it. What I found out is that the first two steeps were light and wonderfully because it didn’t expand. Once it opened up fully around the eighth steep there was more depth to the flavor and a nice feeling came over me at work around the 10th steep so I synced it with some epic music. This is clearly something easy to steep, sip, and enjoy. Now I need to hunt down a Misty Peak orb to compare because I find these to be practical for someone like me who dislikes owning full cakes.

Kirkoneill1988

i take it the tea is a compressed ball?

Kirkoneill1988

lol they look like flowering teas

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80

I had this one this afternoon. W2T says to split the 9g orb if you want a lighter tea so that’s what I did. I brewed it at 90C.

It has a light sweetness & fruity taste. Some bitterness came out in steeps 2-4 but only light bitterness. I found it pretty smooth and apricot tasting. Quite pleasant with a gentle cha qi. I got plenty of infusions from the leaves . Although nothing seemed to stand out about this tea it was a very pleasant sheng.

Flavors: Apricot, Fruity, Sweet

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This tea has a wonderful aroma but sadly has nothing to do with ducks, it just has a nice pleasant sweet fruity aroma with a bit of a roast. I used quite a bit of tea while brewing so I was able to get a ton of steeps out of this tea. It tasted quite similar to how it smelled but had a bit of pleasant bitterness. I steeped for a bit long but the tea was never too bitter and was quite smooth.

On a final note I don’t really drink much Dancong so I have a bit of trouble fully explaining the taste of this tea. But if anything I really enjoyed this tea and plan on getting more or perhaps something similar. Can totally say I’m a fan of Dancong even after only trying a few of them.

Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Roasted, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 45 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
Kirkoneill1988

they call it Duck S*** oolong because the farmers use duck manure as fertilizer

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70
drank Qilan Trees by white2tea
661 tasting notes

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70
drank Qilan Trees by white2tea
661 tasting notes

Thank-you Christina for sending me this sample!

I am not a big fan of roasted oolongs. There are a few I like but it’s mostly the roasting that seems to dominate the tea experience for me.

I could pick up honey and stone fruit along with the roasted flavour. Later steeps were better for me when the roasted flavour died down and the other notes came out.

Overall, not my favourite tea but still glad I got to try it!

Flavors: Honey, Roasted, Stonefruit

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