2012 Gao Jia Shan "Wild Tian Jian" in a Bamboo Basket

Meh tea. I got this tea from my recent YS order, and it really doesn’t perform. Nice leaves albeit slightly broken, with a rich aroma in the dry and wet leaf and a vibrant red liquor. Flavour is slightly fishy with a slight storage taste, but somewhat full bodied and nuanced, texture is oily, almost a bit too oily for that matter. Character is mediocre, and finish & aftertaste is okay to decent, but not much to note of. Cha-qi is relatively noticeable, gives you a heaty sensation which was nice, but the steep longevity was poor, topping out at steep 8-9, which isn’t good by the standards of a typical 黑茶.

All in all, don’t recommend.

A sample from White Antlers’ Swedish Death Purge — I hope you’re well wherever you are.

A good pick for a Sunday morning in which the valley is again blanketed by autumn’s marine layer. The cool weather complements the scent of the dry leaf which has pleasant aged notes of old books, forest mushrooms, bamboo grove, an old leather jacket embedded with the smoke of a long-ago extinguished campfire, remnants of dried cherry and jerky in the pocket. Overall, the leaf scent is a combination of lukewarm-dry and cool-damp-petrichor associations.

The warmed leaf smells like a dense walnut bread with brown gravy as part of maybe some kind of eastern European meat dish. TCM comes to mind as well. Rinsing mellows this aroma and brings out a hint of berry-ish wintergreen.

In terms of aroma and flavor, it is not a particularly penetrating tea. Most notable in expression are its mild alkalinity and smooth and flowing, almost creamy mouthfeel. Some gentle effects present on the tongue such as a numbing of the tip and a mild tannic rasp. The expression of flavor is a very rounded warm nutty-woody, cool limestone and gentle TCM character with steeps that range from probably 30 seconds to several minutes long. Not until the second steep can I pick up on the low-sitting aroma of dried jujube, olives and latex hidden within the liquor.

I agree with Togo’s description of the energy as sedating and would also say it is soothing in a way that wandering through a foggy old-growth forest with an old friend can feel.

It’s been a while since I’ve had aged heicha and this was a gentle re-acquaintance.

This is a complex and well-balanced Tian Jian with a pungent aroma. I am likely to purchase more once I finish my sample.

Dry leaves smell of old books, nuts, old leather clothes and have a very noticeable cooling menthol quality, especially in the preheated gaiwan. After the rinse, I get further aromas of wood, tea tree oil, petrichor, and mushrooms. It is a very distinct and memorable scent, reminiscent of aged yancha and also a bit like a clean side street in a city after some rain.

The liquor is very smooth and comforting. It tastes sweet and metallic with a slightly sour finish and notes of wet earth. In the aftertaste I can taste sage and molasses, but it is quite nutty overall. The mouthfeel is another great aspect of the tea – it is creamy, smooth, and thick. Finally, the cha qi is not too strong, but I found it to be very nice too. It felt mind-clearing, sedating, and relaxing.

072/365

Another from Dark Matter 2016. This is an odd one to describe, because it’s complex without being obvious. That seems an odd thing to type, but sometimes when a tea has a lot of flavours, it just has a lot of flavours. They’re easy to pick out, and you can list them. Not so here. It’s difficult to work out exactly what I’m tasting, and (of course) it’s all coming from the tea rather than added ingredients/flavourings. Regardless, I’m going to have a bash.

The initial sip is sweet, in the way of brown sugar. It’s not as dark or as deeply flavoured as molasses, although it’s heading in that direction. The mid-sip is woody and earthy, quite a contrast with the opening sweetness, and that develops into a mild smokiness that lingers into the aftertaste. Running underneath all that is a soft creaminess.

No single element becomes overpowering, and it’s perfectly smooth with no bitterness or astringency. It’s not my favourite of the Dark Matter teas, but it’s certainly a thought-provoking, take-your-time kind of tea. It wouldn’t, or couldn’t, be a daily drinker for me – it’s the kind of tea that needs contemplation, and not a hurried work day rush. Worth trying – when you have the time!

From Dark Matter 2016 :

I didn’t rinse. 1st steep was about 10 seconds. It was a bit fishy, but more of “this would be good in noodles” kind of way so I ended up finishing it. 2nd steep was around 25 seconds and had a bit of a bitter taste. By the third steep it was gone and a mineral flavor came out. I feel like it faded rather fast, but later steepings still retained a bit of funk. I also started to get a bit of mouth coating feeling at the end.

It might be interesting to see how this would age but otherwise there’s nothing here to really catch my interest.

The first time I steeped this tea it had a bit of a fishy flavor so I threw out that steeping and tried again. Fortunately the second and third steepings tasted much better. So I recommend rinsing this before steeping it (I know some people do this as a matter of routine but it just seems wasteful to me to throw out perfectly good tea so I always try it without rinsing first to see whether it needs it).

If you make sure to rinse it first, I’d say it’s a good tea, although not my absolute favorite Dark Matter selection. I didn’t take notes for a full review yet but I have enough leaves left for a bit more tea (I brew Western style) so I guess I can do that later. I’m on the third steeping now but it’s not very representative because I accidentally steeped it for like ten minutes lol.