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Exemplary, requisite caramel, malt and throw in some dried blueberry and clove. A real gentle sweetness that last throughout the gong fu session and absolutely no bitterness or astringency. Leaf quality A+, long thick firm strands steeping out to 10-12 times and a cha qi that sneaks up and places you on a cloud. Again exemplary.

Why take a good Dan Cong and make it into a black tea? Because you can and someone will drink it I guess are the main reasons. I personally have no bias as long as the price is not too steep. Brewed this western and gongfu, short steeps, long steeps , over steeped to get an idea on the depth. The longer processing of this into a black tea adds the requisite maltiness we all love but dampens and mutes the floral notes. The underlying sweetness is still present early but dissipates quickly. It has very good structure in dry form and on the tongue, all in all I would drink this as an every day tea.

Oh dear!! Did not expect this at all. Shhhhhhhhh be very very quiet, I’m drinking WuYi nectar of the immortals. This is my first time with this varietal, been scoping it out for at least 5 years but hey there is soooo much tea out there to drink and I like my favorite WuYis in my cupboard. I decided to try it because of its source WuYi Origin. All of the teas from this company have been super tasty and reasonably affordable. The first thing when opening the bag is you get a big whiff of cocoa and turbino. The leaves are deep black, plump, thick, long, velvety. The name of the tea is suggestive that this will taste like BaiYe, BaiJi & RuiGui and it does and doesn’t. First off there is the sweet floral nature of the Bai then the backbone stonefruit of the Rui, but then it morphs into a DaHongPoa but without the over smokey roastiness with creamy peach honey flavors. Super smooth and supple on the tongue with a chew. After a few steeps the rock comes in along the sides of the tongue as a slight mineral astringency but still smooth. Later the sweetness gives way to the gentle roast and some orange rind. Used gaiwan GongFu brewed out to 10 steeps. 5/10/15/20/30/45/60/90/150/300. The longer steeps at the end did not offer up any bitterness at all. West and wewaxation at wast!

There is no truer tea tasting note for this tea than the one #tanluwils posted, and it was on his recommendation that I purchased this. Iron Arhat is another of the WuYi 4 that’s hard to find in a good representative state, it’s either too smokey, not roasted enough, a blend of other material, so on. This tea has such clarity and as my friend states in his notes, “I recommend taking breaks in between steeps to extract the most flavor.” I brewed gongfu with a small gaiwan and yes I drank the rinse, I know eeew but I can’t help myself sometimes. The tea holds tight the first 3 then relaxes and at 6 really needs to be told what to do. Flash, 10sec, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 150, using 7g in 110ml over 4 different sessions. I did go further in 2 of those sessions and added minutes to the steeps and a bit of demerara, chilled, for ice tea tasting but was not enough tea to make a splash. Overall goodness, enjoyed immensely.

I had stopped trying Xing Reng because I could never “get” the almond fragrance the tea is named after. Time after time it was probably a blended inferior Bai Ye varietal and it would invariably have too much floral perfume. Well I’m glad to say this is a true representative of this fine Dan Cong. For the first pour it is imperative that you place your schnozzola just above the vessel, be gentle, as the hot water hits the thin threads of tea, bingo, almond fragrance. The soup has a lovely flavor, with almond, butter, floral tones, sweet, orange slight sourness in later steepings, just an all around enjoyable brew. I am really impressed by the offerings from this company and will continue my forays into their terroir.

Had a belly ache this morning, not pushing it, look there in the back, past all the oolong and pu erh, silver needles, alllll right. Used quite a bit of leaf at 180° for a minute +, with a decent brew of slightly peppery, marigoldish yumminess. It pays to have a stash.

Another fine Yancha from WuYi Origin. This is their premiere RouGui from the flight of three (Cinnamon, Flowery, Fruit) as it has the highest price tag. I echo tanluwils with the comments on its fine structure and flavors. One thing I can add is the first pour released the quintessential cinnamon aromas I really love in a good RouGui. I can’t wait to try the next two RouGuis they have to offer.

Ah, Da Hong Pao, the big daddy of all cliff tea. This being a blend will certainly not taste like anything I’ve had before, and the mystery continues. Deep, sultry, but not overly forceful as some I’ve tried. A faint sweetness in the back of the throat and some red stone fruit flavors too. Baked 4 times which for me is on the lower side, but they must’ve been watching this like hawks because the amount of roast in the mouth feels like 6-8. Leaf structure held up nicely after 10 steeps, the minerality hits just perfectly at steep 4 along the lateral tongue. A blend for all seasons, cause I love me some DHP.

Bai Ye is just one of those teas that if you buy it from 7 vendors you’ll get 7 different teas. This is fairly representative with a good amount of florals and sweetness and a hint of cashew. Brewed for extra length which is always a plus, but it was not the best I’ve had, still I will drink the rest of my stash with reverence.

Smoooooth! Highly enjoyable, sweet with a hint of nut and oat/wheatberry. Has all the structure of a fine Yancha with the rock appearing in the mid-late steeps, a slight increase in salivation throughout. Glad I bought scads of it.