Jin Guazi (2018)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Bread, Floral, Malt, Nutty, Rye, Smooth, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tobacco, Allspice, Almond, Blackberry, Blueberry, Butter, Cedar, Cherry, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cream, Dandelion, Grass, Hay, Lemon Zest, Milk, Mineral, Nutmeg, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Pumpkin, Brown Sugar, Butternut Squash, Flowers, Leather, Moss, Orange, Orchid, Osmanthus, Rainforest, Red Apple, Savory, Spicy, Tangy
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 3 oz / 83 ml

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From Old Ways Tea

金瓜子 (Gold melon seed). This tea is named after the leaves at harvest time. When the sprouts are starting to open, the outer two leaves revel the center bud. At this stage the leaves are like the shell of a sunflower seed.

This production started with 50kg of wet leaves picked from older trees of my cousin’s garden in Masu above Tongmu. The result is a unique tea produced from this early harvest of small pointed leaves. The dry leaves have a slight nutty fragrance while the soup is fairly thick for a black tea. When brewed quite strong the thickness further develops, some astringency emerges. The strong brew can be felt in the throat.

About Old Ways Tea View company

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6 Tasting Notes

90
1839 tasting notes

Thank you derk for this wonderful tea.

I have prepared it gongfu, all (5g?) in my gaiwan and it lasted whole afternoon session from 2 pm to 5 pm — with my thermos from derk as well.

I even preheated my gaiwan, which I do not do every time, but I felt this tea deserved it. It brought aromas of sweet potatoes, malt, a little of tobacco. I haven’t rinsed it and instead I stearted with 10 s steep, which brought aromas of baked bread, rye, but also some floral notes and some other bright aromas. Taste-wise it was rather on the light spectrum, with notes of meadow, but with dark notes as well, considering nuts, thick smoothness and sweetness.
This was a story of most of the steeps.

I lost my track though pretty much soon and after a few 10 seconds increments I did also a few really long ones, mostly because I forgot about the tea — as I was making topics for finals which isn’t a best pairing with gongfu tea brewing, but it delivered me needed caffeine boost and also a little bit of distraction from transport economics.

In conclusion, I say I am happy with this tea and I am glad I have tried it, because it is really good one. However, for such a high rating I expect a little more… on the other hand it is 4 years old tea. Maybe it has faded a bit, maybe I just wasn’t exactly in the necessary attention that it deserves. It’s gone for me, which is a little sad, but every time I finish a box, pouch or a bag, I say to myself, that I have more space for another wonderful teas that will come one day.

Flavors: Bread, Floral, Malt, Nutty, Rye, Smooth, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tobacco

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 125 ML
derk

You’re welcome :) Are you taking a class again?

Martin Bednář

I will explain in PM :)

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91
1048 tasting notes

Okay, time for another review of a late 2020 sipdown. I think this one comes from late 2020 at least. I can’t really be sure. I blew through a bunch of samples from Old Ways Tea late last year and early this year, and this was the second that I finished, so I’m guessing I drank it in 2020. Whatever the case may be, I found it to be a great Wuyi black tea. It was subtler than anticipated, but it also had a ton of appeal.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 fluid ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of baked bread, cinnamon, cedar, and blackberry. After the rinse, I detected novel aromas of roasted almond, roasted peanut, and cream as well as a subtle scent of hay. The first infusion saw the hay scent strengthen somewhat while aromas of grass, lemon zest, and pine also appeared. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of baked bread, malt, cream, butter, grass, hay, cedar, pine, and roasted almond that were balanced by hints of cinnamon, roasted peanut, and lemon zest. The majority of the subsequent infusions added aromas of butter, cherry, daisy, sunflower, and orange zest to the tea’s bouquet, though I also occasionally noted subtler scents that reminded me a bit of coriander and blueberry. Stronger and more immediately detectable notes of cinnamon, lemon zest, and roasted peanut emerged in the mouth along with mineral, blackberry, steamed milk, sweet potato, orange zest, sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, and nutmeg impressions. There were also some subtle touches of cherry, allspice, blueberry, and coriander that popped up here and there along with some vague floral notes that reminded me a bit of a combination of daisy, sunflower, and dandelion. As the tea faded, the liquor continued to emphasize notes of minerals, orange zest, roasted almond, malt, butter, cream, grass, and lemon zest that were chased by fleeting, ghostly hints of pine, cinnamon, roasted peanut, cedar, pumpkin seed, hay, coriander, and flowers.

Plopped in my desk chair typing out this review made me think back to jotting down my impressions of this tea while I sampled it. I was stunned to discover that I recalled drinking it very vividly. This tea struck me as being so unique that the memory of trying it for the first time is now etched into my brain. Even before I sat back down to write this review, I glanced down at my notes and thought, “Oh yeah, that’s the one that tasted like sunflower and pumpkin seeds.” Fortunately, this tea offered more than just an extremely novel drinking experience. It was also an incredibly deep, complex, tasty, balanced, and sophisticated offering. If you don’t mind a tea that offers a bit of a challenge, Jin Guazi would be for you. It takes a little time to get into, but it’s so worth it.

Flavors: Allspice, Almond, Blackberry, Blueberry, Bread, Butter, Cedar, Cherry, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cream, Dandelion, Floral, Grass, Hay, Lemon Zest, Malt, Milk, Mineral, Nutmeg, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes

Preparation
5 g 3 OZ / 88 ML

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3226 tasting notes

Another gift from derk!

I got all out of whack making my breakfast today. I usually start the tea first so that it is ready when the food is ready and everything is hot. I was nearly done making the bacon when I realized I had not chosen a tea and this pouch was closest. Thus the first steep was western.

It smelled marvelous and was a departure from what most of us think of as breakfast tea, but I don’t drink those much anyway. It was so good that I decided to have another gong fu session after breakfast, even if the leaves were already steeped western once.

Derk was right about the tea having a lot of steeps to give. I didn’t even play them all out, but I kept going for as much water as I had put in the kettle and it was still giving.

Medium body, round mouth effect, building briskness that is not at all sour but simply dries the tongue and makes a nice tingle. I dislike the tingle of many teas, but this is a kind I like, a scrapey feeling like you would get from unsweetened cocoa, but not bitter or unpleasant. Not that I felt there were chocolate notes here, just the sensation cocoa would give.

I sniffed these leaves so hard looking for the elusive grass note derk mentioned, but I concentrated as hard as I could. Deep sniff. Not smelling grass or flowers. Deep sniff. Mental image of my mother’s purse in my childhood. What?

Deep sniff. Aaaaaah, TOBACCO! Her cigaretttes, of course!

Definite sweet-ish tobacco aroma was the dominant scent for me. I suppose that is a little grassy and flowery underneath? But also it is a rich, warm, ever so slightly sweet smell to me.

I really enjoyed this one as I have ALL of the Old Ways tea I have tried, and I was shocked to see derk’s review that said they are in California! For some reason I have always assumed they were in Asia and hard to come by. I need to take a good look at their site now that I know.

Thank you, derk! Another lovely tea session thanks to you!

Michelle

Sigh, another tea site to check out. I might actually drink all the tea I have one day if it weren’t for all you fun enablers here on Steepster.

gmathis

(giggle) That’s why we’re our own support group!

Evol Ving Ness

Hahaha, true that. Times two.

ashmanra

I was doing….fair?…at drinking down some teas but I just got an order with six new ones today. I blame Cameron B for most of these, ha ha!

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98
1541 tasting notes

It is not often (enough) one is in awe.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Butternut Squash, Cinnamon, Cream, Floral, Flowers, Leather, Mineral, Moss, Nutty, Orange, Orchid, Osmanthus, Rainforest, Red Apple, Savory, Smooth, Spicy, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tangy, Tobacco

gmathis

I am slow. And perpetually distracted, this week more than usual. Do you always alphabetize your flavor profiles? If you do, dear one, I am in more awe of you than ever!

Mastress Alita

Steeper always rearranges all the items input in the Flavor field into alphabetical order for display.

ashmanra

Mastress Alita: I didn’t know that! Neat, but also…I think I would want them in order of strength!

gmathis

I’m too loosey-goosey to use that particular feature, so I was clearly not paying attention :)

Evol Ving Ness

Loosely- here too. and I would prefer to go in terms of strength too, if I were prone to organizing them in any kind of way at all.

I have been marvelling at the posters who have been posting alphabetically. For me to be able to track down the exact tea I want is already a colossal achievement. Never mind the one’s I have forgotten about.

Also, this tea sounds stellar. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Evol Ving Ness

Loosely goosey. This auto correct is killing me.

gmathis

I think my phone auto correct has just given up on me, the way I make up words to suit the moment.

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