247 Tasting Notes
I can’t remember when I drank the rest of this pack (6/90, not cheap and not memorable, lost the notes) but the remaining 1.9g (stiffed .6g lol) in a Yeti mugged at work was acceptable, but mostly boring. I haven’t been super thrilled with any of the top-end EoT yancha I’ve tried. Maybe my water is off or something, but the “aftertaste lingering for hours” bit is far from what I’ve gotten. Were I to disregard the price, and assuming I had never read the praise-laden descriptions they include, I’d be ok with their pricey yancha. But overall, if I were to repurchase to scratch an occasional yancha itch (without breaking the bank for DXJD since I have bills to pay), my bets are on the higher end of what OWT sources, with the caveat that I only like the ones they’ve had with stronger roast than most of what’s there.
ordered a cake from TWL and had it sit with a Boveda for a few weeks, but I don’t think it actually rehydrated… the dry leaf aroma is usually stronger (more noticeable with young sheng though) when it’s properly hydrated and the cake weight measured only around 370g, so 30g less than expected. Today’s session seemed sleepy and was consistent w/ when teas have dried out. It’s been very cold in my apartment despite keeping the thermostat 68-70 constantly. It’s not explicitly drafty, but my parents’ house the thermostat at 65 keeps the place downright toasty, whereas I’ve been wearing a shirt and sweater around here and still feel cold. I’m not sure if i should consider a hotbox-lite set up just to keep my teas at a more friendly and consistent holding temp.
anyway. 5.2/90/212, one rinse. fruit, smoke, and wood on wet leaf.
1: a restrained vegetal, almost minty taste. good texture. heady, slowing and settling. extends into throat.
2: darker and an engaging bitterness, in a juicy, gripping way.
3: not much change from here on out and lightens from here. texture is lighter, and slight floral aroma presence in throat remains for the rest of the steeps. something about the aftertaste reminds me of the end feeling on the tongue from biting into raw olives.
It’s clear that it’s good, but I think the session today came up a bit short of expectation and reinforces why I don’t like to brew puer for guests. Too many variables at play. So much easier to easily impress with a random green tea.
6/90/212.
did not rinse. first try yesterday, so not a fully formed opinion, but wasn’t particularly wowed like I was with the DXJD white tea set last weekend. This is comfortable and at standard entry level oolong pricing, this felt par for the course for the price (vs. some of the entry OWT and TSR options iirc). and I didn’t take notes, but all I remember is a light goji berry scent on the lid at the end. Otherwise, my impression was that I should’ve just bought an extra cup from them instead of 50g of this.
I’ve been eyeing that white tea set. It would be great to hear your thoughts!
Caveat that I’m not a huge white tea drinker, and this was the only other time I’ve tried silver needle except the TShop one. The TShop one is great in taste but gave me anxiety every time I drank it, but other people I had try it really liked it so it might be a me thing. Anyway, I enjoyed the set, and it was fun having a friend over to run through them together. The 2023 was very enjoyable, and reminded me of a less sharp floral TShop one that was more comfortable to drink.
Here were my notes from an individual session of that: “5/90/212. wet leaf has strong sugar snap peas and later reveals rose-like florals (if you’ve ever walked through a rose garden, they can smell wildly different, not what the rose/lychee edged note of perfumes would have one believe), before ending as general steeped green sweet-edged notes. taste has sweet honeyed notes, and a green quality (not mint, but something fresh) and lingers somewhat”
I didn’t take notes for the wuyi and the 2020 since that was with a friend. The wuyi was sharper and flatter, and the 2020 is a more honeyed and rounded, gently sweet version of the 2023 from what I remember. If I had the money, I’d purchase the 2023 or 2020, but skip the Wuyi.
Finishing random sample packs.
YQH Longtuan Fengmei 5/90/212
some smoke in wet leaf.
Quick rinse followed by 10s steep.
1. Lightly woody, and rounded sweet, floral aftertaste on front of tongue w/ some heady feeling. Decent texture
2. Medicinal and hint of bitter that evolves back into the deep floral that coats the mouth.
3. Darker woody and somewhat floral, somewhat sweet. Some background mushroom like note.
4. Not much taste upfront (maybe sour woody), but a vegetal tinged floral in the breath
5. Mint like but very light
6. Dying out, leaf taste w sweet floral edge
7. Stopped here. Thinned out woody taste, slightly honeyed note
Overall this was pretty nice. Maybe it’s due to its youth, but I’ve been trying to drink through my Qi xiang cake and it’s simply nowhere near as pleasant in taste or feeling. At any rate, I’m no longer in my caking phase, having realized that I do not have puer often enough so I have no plans to buy any.
Have had this tea for a while and despite breaking up half the cake chunks a while back for convenient access, I’m rarely inclined to reach for it. My sessions have been okay, but not very exciting or particularly enjoyable, but not sure if my preferences have just shifted. If I could go back, I would not have caked it
5.3g in a 90 mL hongni pot.
wet leaf aroma of grape jam, smoke, toast, and wood.
1st: honeyed taste. edge with some astrignency and malty taste like oversteeped hongcha. 2nd: not strong taste, but a floral aroma on breath.
3rd: grape jam and smoky.
moves to base steamed/oversteeped young ish sheng taste thereafter. Guess the additional heat retention of the pot did it no favors. Still young and heady in effect, so not too comfortable. Probably will pass on caking this one.
5.3/130 pot. boiling after rinse in gaiwan. light YQH house smell, but also light smoke and fruit. Has been set aside and aired out further.
1st: mushroomy, some bitter and very slight warmth. some sweetness builds in back of mouth, and it’s almost dried cherry-like. maybe some cough drop/apricot notes, but I also just ate my gummy vites earlier.
2nd was darker and almost malty, with lighter aftertaste. quickly falls from here to a more woody and thin tea. sometimes sharp w/ fine astringency on tongue. after 6th, moved to a mug where it gave up. essentially, mushroom note is pretty integrated throughout. not the worst YQH i’ve had, but hardly my favorite.
Brewed last 5.3g of sample in a pot today and seemed transformed. Admittedly I have been distracted by other things in the past few sessions, but there’s a fullness that wasn’t present in previous sessions. I’ve used roughly the same ratio at 5.1-5.4g w 90 mL, just in a gaiwan and never felt like it was dialed in properly. Always too hollow and light/floral, or just too bitter/sour, and I couldn’t understand the hype for it. Today’s felt more full and balanced, and the smokiness was a nice complement. I would’ve been tempted to cake with the recent discounted price, but I think it’s too late now and based on the past sessions, seems like too much of a gamble based on my preferences and brewing style.
6/90. dry was raisin, a bit of sour, spices. wet leaf is woody, spicy.
1. medicinal, woody, cinnamon, raisin. mineral/celery coating on tongue.
2. smoky, roasty, medicinal, woody sweetness. aftertaste extends into throat
3. kind of one note. bright, something like clove
remaining 3.7 in a mug. got stiffed .3g lol. aroma is nutty and butter cookies. taste is roasty, minerally, and kind of sweet
It was okay. Not sure if I’d repurchase
