I finally have the time to devote to this generous sample from Derk, which I’ve looked forward to drinking for a while. I love everything about Ruby Eighteen except the tannins, and it appears that this tea may be pleasantly low on them. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus many longer steeps.
The dry aroma is of milk chocolate–covered cherries (thanks, Beerandbeancurd), wintergreen, and malt. The wintergreen aroma from the wet leaf is amazing! The first steep has subtle notes of milk chocolate, cherry, earth, malt, tobacco, tannins, and wintergreen. I get a nice blast of wintergreen in the second steep, plus milk chocolate and very realistic-tasting stewed cherries. Maybe there’s some other stewed fruit in there as well. I notice hints of orange along with the cherries in the next two steeps, as well as wintergreen, malt, wood, herbs, tannins, earth, and fainter chocolate. The tea is beginning to be noticeably drying in the mouth, but who cares when I also get that wintergreen aftertaste? Steeps five and six have less chocolate, but still have that pronounced menthol/wintergreen hit, plus more tobacco, honey, and raisins. Steeps seven and eight are more tannic, drying, malty, earthy, and herbaceous, though still yummy and minty fresh. I detect some raspberry at the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps have higher levels of tannins, but also wintergreen, a bit of cocoa, honey, malt, minerals, earth, and cherry. The aftertaste is of honey and maybe a bit of sassafras, which is missing in the actual tea. I couldn’t let this tea go, even when it was mostly sweet, malty tannin water.
I was right to wait until I could savour this beauty. It did have some tannins, but those chocolate-covered cherries were wonderful. This is the most wintergreen-heavy Ruby Eighteen I’ve had, with the best variety of fruit and most balanced profile. This tea has probably ruined me for any other Ruby Eighteens for a while.
Thanks, Derk, for the sample! Let me know if you decide to buy from this company again because I want more of this tea!
Flavors: Cherry, Cocoa, Drying, Earth, Herbaceous, Honey, Malt, Milk Chocolate, Mineral, Orange, Raisins, Raspberry, Sarsaparilla, Stewed Fruits, Tannin, Tobacco, Wintergreen, Wood
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You’re very welcome and I’ll be sure to let you know. Probably around April is when my cupboard will have decreased enough in size to warrant another purchase.
I don’t know if it’s my water (unfiltered city tap) or what, but I get very little tannin from this tea until late in a session.
Were you using less leaf? I dumped the entire sample into my teapot.
I’ve been bowling this at ~1g:100mL. It’s a strong tea; 1g:20mL might be too much for gongfu.
Yes, I think so. I’m surprised the tea doesn’t get tannic when you bowl steep it. I’m definitely considering getting 60 g of it in spite of the price. I’ll see what I think once I try the other Song samples. :)
I brewed 3g in a 300mL mug with steeper basket today, filtered bottled water maybe 195F and still experienced very little tannin in comparison to other Ruby 18s. Mystery.
I’d love to solve this mystery with more of this tea! :P I’ll try 5 g in 120 ml if I have it again.
You’re very welcome and I’ll be sure to let you know. Probably around April is when my cupboard will have decreased enough in size to warrant another purchase.
I don’t know if it’s my water (unfiltered city tap) or what, but I get very little tannin from this tea until late in a session.
Were you using less leaf? I dumped the entire sample into my teapot.
I’ve been bowling this at ~1g:100mL. It’s a strong tea; 1g:20mL might be too much for gongfu.
Yes, I think so. I’m surprised the tea doesn’t get tannic when you bowl steep it. I’m definitely considering getting 60 g of it in spite of the price. I’ll see what I think once I try the other Song samples. :)
I brewed 3g in a 300mL mug with steeper basket today, filtered bottled water maybe 195F and still experienced very little tannin in comparison to other Ruby 18s. Mystery.
I’d love to solve this mystery with more of this tea! :P I’ll try 5 g in 120 ml if I have it again.