350 Tasting Notes

Finally trying some more of my Wymm Tea samples! 5g sample in my 4oz (ish) gaiwan, steeped at 90 deg – very fast steeps initially, then gradually adding some time. This was a very nice sheng, especially in the earlier steeps. The scent of the wet leaves was this amazing spicy tobacco-y freshness, and the flavour was quite complex, with a really prominent sweetness both in the back of the throat and on the lips. As I kept steeping, more of a grape skin bitterness and astringency came to the forefront. And then it eventually just ended up in bitter greens territory, which is when I lost interest. :)

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75

Like last time, I found I like this one better than the Spring from the same set. Still quite brisk, but a bit smoother and fruitier. Clear light golden liquor, nice mouthfeel, sweetness coating the back of my throat. I think these leaves would go on for longer, but after about… I dunno, 10 steeps?… I’ve lost interest and am ready to move on to something else. :)

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75

Hello, Steepster! I’ve been away for a while. Still drinking some tea, just not as much as before, and not bothering to log it. Anyway, I’ve been getting email notifications about the Sheng Olympics and will hopefully have some lovely sheng in my mailbox soon, so I thought I’d better reaquaint my palate with this kind of tea. Figured I’d start with this one as a bit of a baseline. I steeped 7g in a 4oz gaiwan, with boiling water and quick steeps, foolishly forgetting that cooler water would probably be better. Anyway, it’s quite bitter – not necessarily in a bad way, it didn’t make me stop drinking the tea, but it’s definitely at the upper end of what I consider tolerable in terms of bitterness. To balance that out, there is a lovely throat-coating sweetness that sort of randomly appears while drinking (especially if I clear my throat between sips). I got some apricot in some of the earlier steeps, especially in the aftertaste, but mostly it’s a kind of medicinal vegetal flavour. Quite bold and no-nonsense, so overall I think it worked out reasonably well as a sort of palate-cleanser. What should I try tomorrow? Maybe the autum or huangpian from this collection, or something diferent?

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I also had to oversteep this a couple of times before I got it right. 2g of leaf, 10oz of water that boiled and then rested for a bit, 3min steep. This time, there’s a lovely sweetness, a slight fruity tartness, a bit of malt and cocoa. Nice, but apparently a bit finicky. :)

Teatotaler

Sounds like my kind of Ceylon! I just might have to try this one.

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This is the first sheng I’m trying from Mandala. :) I pulled a chunk out of the bag and it weighed 4.5g, and I have a 3oz gaiwan, so I decided to just go for it. I did a long 30sec wash with boiling water and then let the leaves sit for a few min to see if they would loosen up, which they did. It was still mostly in a big chunk, so for my first infusion I did boiling water again and a 15-20sec steep. Yiiikes, very bitter. So I dialed down to 90deg and tried a 10sec steep – still bitter. Then down to 80deg and did a series of 10-15sec steeps. At this point the bitterness was tolerable, but still a bit sharper than with other shengs I’ve tried. In one of the fairly early steeps I got a strong aftertaste of apricot, but that didn’t persist into later steeps. Then I started to lengthen the steeps a bit, and once I was up to 40sec or so, I turned the temperature up to 90deg. Suddenly the bitterness mostly dropped away, and a thick sweetness replaced it! Fascinating. So now I’m sticking with this temp and just adding 10sec or so with each steep. I’m glad I stuck with it. The body feeling with this is warm with an “awake but calm” kind of mental state – very pleasant. I’m glad I have enough in this sample to experiment with it some more, but certainly not feeling the need to run out and buy a cake of it. :)

MoxTea

Very detailed and helpful tea-note! Thanks :) Steeping time and water temperature can be so crucial.

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88
drank Banyan Da Hong Pao by Zen Tea
350 tasting notes

Oh, yum. You know when a tea just really hits the spot? That was this tea for me, tonight. After sampling a whole bunch of straight black teas in a row, I wanted to try something different and decided on a roasted oolong. This is one from my Zen Tea order that I hadn’t had a chance to try yet. The scent of the dry leaf is sweet and floral and definitely roasted. The liquor is also roasty-toasty and sweet, with an underlying minerality as one would expect from a rock oolong. It’s like… toasted multigrain bread drizzled with honey. So far I’ve steeped it three times: 2min, 3min, and 7 min (I checked after 5min and it seemed light, so I gave it another couple). I’ll probably give it one more ultra-long steep via the “pour boiling water on and then forget about it” method to see if I can wring the last bit of flavour from these leaves. I’m drinking the 3rd steep right now, and it’s noticeably more mineral than the first two, but still very sweet. Nom nom nom.

Flavors: Honey, Mineral, Roasted, Toasty

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML
Fjellrev

Nice flavour profile!

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74

Well of the three keemuns I bought from Capital Tea Ltd, this one has noticeably smaller, broken up leaves. It brews up into a rich, full-bodied liquor with mild-moderate astringency. The flavour is complex and hard to characterize – a bit of malt, a bit of spice, a bit of wood and dried fall leaves maybe? It’s a good, solid tea and I suspect it would be good with milk. Reminds me a bit of an assam, actually, but with just a hint of smoke if I really concentrate.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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Whoa, weird. I had this earlier today and mostly I just remember being surprised that it was a keemun, because it tasted kind of like an Indian/Sri Lankan tea, kind of medium bodied and with slightly floral/vegetal notes. And now I come online and find out it’s supposed to be biscuit and chocolate, lol. Might have to try it again before coming to a conclusion. :)

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A colleague/friend of mine made me a cup of this recently when I was working late, so I’m predisposed to like it. :) I had no idea what I was drinking at the time, but joked with her that it should be called “Cinnamon Deliciousness”. This is an intensely cinnamon-flavoured tea, with a definite sweetness and just a hint of orange and cloves. It basically tastes like liquid cinnamon hearts, which works for me because I love cinnamon hearts, but your mileage may vary. The chili pepper gives it a warming quality that is very soothing. I would never have guessed that there is green tea in this, and I don’t really see the point of it being there since whatever flavour it might contribute is completely drowned out by all the cinnamon. Maybe it’s just for caffeine? And seriously, this tastes like it was sweetened with something, even though there aren’t any sweeteners listed in the ingredients. Mysterious.

OMGsrsly

Cinnamon on its own can be super sweet! I’ve seen some good reviews of this tea lately, I think I need to try it.

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78

The leaves of this one are small, curly, dark, and shiny. They remind me a little of Laoshan Black. The scent of the dry leaves is mild and hay-like. The liquor is malty and a sweet, but also has a juicy quality that is quite distinct from the yunnan black I had earlier. I get notes of cocoa, caramel, and burnt sugar. This is quite tasty.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 10 OZ / 295 ML

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Profile

Bio

Well it has been over a year and everyone I know thinks my tea obsession is a bit out of hand, so… I guess I’m not a total newbie anymore. :)

I’m drinking a lot more pure tea these days, though I still love a good flavoured blend too. Current favourites: Chinese and Taiwanese blacks, fresh Chinese greens, oolongs both green and roasted, sheng puer.

I really love companies that buy directly from tea farmers, and have an emphasis on quality and sustainability. Favourites: Verdant, Whispering Pines, Eco Cha, White 2 Tea. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, so I buy almost all my tea online.

For hot tea, I’m usually brewing in either a 100ml gaiwan, or a 10oz mug with a steeping basket. For cold tea, I cold brew overnight in 500ml mason jars.

My cupboard on Steepster doesn’t include small samples, just the ones I have at least 15g of. So if you see something you’re interested in, I probably have enough to share. :)

Location

Northwestern Ontario, Canada

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