1040 Tasting Notes

I had a challenging day at work. Came home, looked at my tea stash and thought – I don’t want to make a decision. So I reached into my sample box and randomly pulled one out. When I saw this, my first reaction was ugggggg, and my second was – at least it came from Garret. For those that don’t really know me, let me explain. I want to like sheng, really I do. I keep buying samples, and I keep trying but it seems that the more I fall in love with shou the more I dislike sheng. The vast majority of the ones that I’ve tried have fallen into two categories – really green and bitter or dirty stagnant swamp water. And then I run into one like this……. if all sheng were like this I would drink more of it.
This is fantastic!!!!!!!!! It tastes like sheng…whatever that taste is….. a little green, a little smokey, a little earthy, clean. This one is darker than most I’ve had. It’s pretty sweet, it’s really good. If anyone out there is like me…..not liking the bitter greenness of sheng, I encourage you to try this.
Thank you so much Garret for including this sample in one of my orders.

mrmopar

Good ole Haiwan, Lao Tong Zhi. The man in charge of this tea company worked for the Menghai Factory for over 40 years. He has a good base for tea. The shou’s are nice with about 5 years age on them.

OMGsrsly

LOL. Dirty stagnant swamp water. Yeah, that’s bad. I do like the bitter greenness, in moderations.

Sil

Yay for good Garrett tea!

Ubacat

I’m the opposite. Love the raw and have a hard time with the ripe.

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Ze_Teamaker was kind enough to send me a sample of this. Thank you so much.
WOW. This is what I’ve been searching for in a moonlight tea. It starts out light, juicy, fruity, a little earthy, and totally amazing. As you steep it, it just keeps getting darker and darker. It’s still a little earthy, and juicy but it’s getting deeper and more savory. I used boiling water and started with flash steeps, still only at 15 sec by steeps 7 and 8. This is a fantastic example of a moonlight tea.

https://instagram.com/p/4NmhcMuE71/?taken-by=dex3657

Equusfell

Oh man, I have been watching your reviews of moonlight white teas for a while, waiting to find out who came out on top! Looks like a strong contender, can’t wait to try it myself!

Ze_Teamaker

Yay! Glad you really liked it.

Dexter

@Equesfell – I don’t think it’s available. It’s not listed anywhere on their website. Maybe an offering in one of their club boxes? All I know is that it’s really good. Of the ones I own: Streetshop88 Loose Moonlight and Mandala White Night are almost too close to call. The best cake I have is the one from Dragon Tea House. This of course is just my opinion. The cake from The Chinese Tea Shop that OMGsrsly shared with me is excellent, but pretty expensive – was looking for a more economical alternative. LOL I should have just bought a cake of that one. :)

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drank Wuyi Oolong by Rishi Tea
1040 tasting notes

GCTTB
MMMMMmmmmm this is good. Dry it smells like a rou gui, there is a cinnamon scent to it. Steeped it’s more like burnt sugar and caramel with a bit of woody oolong. For me this is a well balanced, interesting, really nice dark oolong. I like dark roast, but this isn’t really roasty, just heavily oxidized with a hint of burnt. Awesome.

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GCTTB
Starting to think my taster is off tonight. Why does this taste like stone fruit, apricot? This is lighter than I think it should be for a Yunnan black, but wow us it sweet. This is more like the Nilgiri I was drinking earlier that a typical Chinese black. There is a hint of chocolate and malt in the scent but it doesn’t seem to be coming through in the taste. I like this but it’s odd.

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GCTTB
This tea confuses me. I’m a big bold chocolatety Chinese black tea kind of girl. I don’t normally like the lighter style blacks, and I really don’t like Indian teas. So why do I like this so much?
It’s light, it’s fruity, grapey, winey, sweet, a little astringent – but in this one I find the little astringency balances the sweetness. I’m putting the rest back in the box, but this makes me wonder if I should watch for other teas from this estate.

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GCTTB
This is outside my comfort zone, and I was pleasantly surprised. My thoughts are a little different than other reviewers, but I did steep it Western 80C 3min.
No floral, no grass, no vegetal – I thought it was more savory than most green teas I’ve tried. Deeper, darker somehow. It’s still not something that I would stock, but I enjoyed getting to try it.

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drank Random Steepings by Various Artists
1040 tasting notes

GCTTB
Monoucha GenMaiCha – Kashima Tea Garden
Considering I don’t drink much green tea, I’m a pretty big fan of genmaicha. This is a really good one. Nice roasty flavor from the rice, just a hint of vegetal in the back. It’s a bit sweet, not at all bitter, and there’s lots of flavor. I reaaly like this.

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drank An Hua Hei Cha by Tao Tea Leaf
1040 tasting notes

GCTTB
I’ve had this style of tea before and was excited to try Tao’s version of it. I did rinse, and I did keep the steep times pretty short, but there is still something in here I dont like. One of my teacfreinds suggested another one tasted like the chemicals in her father’s wood working shop. I’m thinking that might be a good description of this. It’s woody, its musty, its old, and then something icky. Sorry this one was a miss.

scribbles

can’t bring myself to try it again. still remembering the first time I tried it and am scared for getting that taste again. I love most Tao’s teas, but I agree – not this one :(

Dexter

I have other An Hua style teas – my friend didn’t like it, but I don’t mind it. This one wasn’t for me. Wondering about steep parameters. If I can find some time, I’m going to play with one of mine and see if I can recreate this. I’m not sure if it’s the tea or how we are brewing it. I agree Tao usually has really good tea. :)

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drank Lemon Meringue Rooibos by Tealish
1040 tasting notes

GCTTB
I cold steeped this overnight and the result is fantastic. It’s like lemon candies, a little sweet a little tart, but really good.

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I had tried this earlier using my prefered moonlight 80C water temp. It was nice a little sweet, a little hay like, maybe some honey. Of the moonlight cakes I bought, this was my favorite.
conversation was happening today regarding the best way to steep moonlight and OMGsrsly said….. boiling water, flash steeps. Really? OK I never use boiling water and certainly not on a white tea, but I respect her opinion so I tried this tonight using her method. Wow, I was wrong. This method takes this tea to another level. It really brings out the honey notes, there is some subtle fruit notes in the earlier steeps. Later steeps and this is becoming more like a black. The changes in the steeps is more pronounced. I need to revisit some of the other moonlights in my collection.
Tea friends are the best, thank you so much for making me try this. :)

Ubacat

This got me thinking. I remember how much I loved my first moonlight and then some of the others paled in comparison. That’s because I first brewed it with boiling water! Then I was told to use lighter temperatures which I did when trying all the rest.

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Bio

C.S. Lewis – “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

I needed to update my profile. I joined Steepster 03Mar13. I am just amazed at how much my tastes have changed since then.
When I discovered loose leaf tea about a year and half ago, I didn’t know anything other than my local Davids and Teavana/Teaopia. Stumbling onto Steepster CHANGED EVERYTHING.
Hello, my name is Dex I’m a tea addict.
I’ve been through the “I need to try every single tea out there” phase. I really hope the worst of that has passed. I’ve learned enough to know that I only need to try HALF of all the teas out there. LOL
When I started this journey, I was all about the flavored rooibos and fruity tisanes. Don’t get me wrong there is still room for dessert (chocolate/caramel/nutty) Rooibos teas in my cupboard and I still do enjoy them, BUT I am quickly learning to appreciate the some of the straight teas of the world.
Big bold (but not icky)pu’erh is suddenly my favorite, followed by woody/roasted oolongs. I’m just starting to explore straight black teas, and have found some that I really like.
Generally speaking I’m not into greens at all, only like the occasional green oolong, and white teas are just too mild for my tastes (unless they are fruit flavored). I still enjoy really good fruit tisanes, but am now cold steeping them.
I don’t like floral/herbal blends, and mint anything is not on my preferred list.
I am still exploring new teas, adapting to my changing tastes, understanding more every day how little I really know about tea. Ultimately I would love to find approximately 50 teas that I just “can’t live without” and always have them in my cupboard. That might not be practical, but that what I’m searching for. It’s going to be a fun journey.

All in all, I love this site. I’ve met some wonderful people, and have gotten to try some amazing teas because of them. It really restores your faith in humanity when you get a note saying “oh by the way I sent you some tea”. Wonderful, generous, people here.

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Manitoba Canada

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