413 Tasting Notes

76

I bought a 10 g sample of this tea back in February, when Taiwan was still shipping to Canada. (What a long time ago that seems!) I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 190F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of malt, sassafras, raisins, and flowers. The first steep has notes of sassafras, cream, malt, cinnamon, raisins, jasmine, soy sauce, and menthol. The second steep is heavier on the raisins and malt and has a metallic undertone. The raisins become more like grapes in subsequent steeps, and the sassafras, malt, and cinnamon notes persist. The end of the session has malt, tannin, wood, and mineral notes.

I found this to be a fairly average Taiwanese Sun Moon Lake black tea, although the heavy cinnamon and menthol were pleasant. I’m glad I steeped it at 190F, as I imagine the astringency would be greater at higher temperatures. I’m sure I’ll be able to better pick apart the flavour notes in these types of teas when I’ve tried more of them.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Cream, Floral, Grapes, Jasmine, Licorice, Malt, Menthol, Metallic, Mineral, Raisins, Soy Sauce, Tannin, Wood

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
Veronica

Yum! I added this tea to my wishlist after reading your note. It sounds like a very “me” tea. :)

Leafhopper

It’s pretty good. Having said that, it’s also quite similar to other Taiwanese Red Jade black teas, so if it’s not convenient to get it from TTC, you can probably find it elsewhere. What-Cha usually has nice Taiwanese black teas, and I’ve heard good things about Whispering Pines, though I haven’t tried them myself due to the high shipping rates to Canada.

Veronica

I haven’t placed a major tea order in years (my stash was overwhelming me), but I’m almost to the point I’m ready to get some new-to-me teas. I’ll probably look at Whispering Pines since I’ve ordered from Brandon in the past with excellent results. Thanks for the great advice!

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78

I seem to have bought this tea on three separate occasions, despite having given it a relatively low grade on my review of the 2015 version. Maybe that’s because people keep recommending it? I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of malt, pine, tobacco, and gooseberries. The first steep has notes of malt, tobacco, baked bread, honey, wood, roasted almonds, and tannins, and the tobacco and tannins linger in the aftertaste. There’s a sweet potato aroma in the teapot that fails to translate into the tea. The second infusion adds notes of molasses and caramel. I can faintly detect orange zest, although that’s likely because Eastkyteaguy pointed it out in his review. The next two steeps focus on baked bread, honey, and tobacco, with tannins, caramel, wood, cream, hay, roasted nuts, and very faint chocolate in the background. Sadly, no berries or sweet potatoes are to be found. I get some eucalyptus in the fourth steep. These flavours gradually fade, and the session ends with malt, honey, baked bread, tannins, earth, wood, and minerals.

This is a very complex tea with some unusual flavours. However, I was expecting berries and chocolate, as in the 2015 version, and was a bit disappointed.

Flavors: Almond, Berries, Bread, Caramel, Chocolate, Cream, Earth, Eucalyptus, Hay, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Molasses, Orange Zest, Pine, Roast Nuts, Sweet Potatoes, Tannin, Tobacco, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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83
drank Cui Feng by CHA YI Teahouse
413 tasting notes

This is my penultimate tea from Cha Yi. The owner told me it’s from winter 2019, although harvest dates aren’t shown on the website. I’ve had somewhat lacklustre experiences with Cui Feng oolongs before, but this tea was relatively recent and available, so I bought it. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma of these unevenly sized, loosely rolled nuggets is of roses, other flowers, honey, and cookies. The first steep has notes of roses, peonies, orchids, honey, grass, and cookies, and as expected, it’s somewhat sweet. The honey and florals continue to get stronger in the next three steeps, and there are hints of grape and maybe honeydew melon. The sweetness and florality continue until almost the end of the session, joined by increasingly prominent notes of grass, spinach, and other veggies.

This is an elegant, undemanding oolong with lovely rose notes that persist throughout most of the session. If it didn’t entirely grab my attention, neither did it present any off flavours. Of the three high mountain oolongs I tried from Cha Yi, the Ali Shan was my favourite, which surprised me given my ambivalence about oolongs from this region. I’d highly recommend this company, particularly for Canadians who can’t order directly from Taiwan for the time being.

Flavors: Cookie, Floral, Grapes, Grass, Honey, Honeydew, Orchid, Rose, Spinach, Vegetal

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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85

Yay! This is my two hundredth tasting note. I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to develop my palate on Steepster and to meet so many fellow tea people. This is truly a great community, one that I hope to continue participating in for a long time to come.

I bought this oolong two years ago. Ai Jiao is usually a Wuyi varietal (and I had a not-too-impressive example of that version a few years ago), so naturally, I was curious to see how it would take to my favourite terroir, which seems to be all of Taiwan. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, flowers, grass, roast, and faint stonefruit. The first steep has notes of honey, raspberry, roasted grains, apricot, and grass. The honey, roast, and grains become more prominent in steep two, and the roast gets even stronger in subsequent steeps, with a hint of roasted walnuts. Though the stonefruit, berries, and flowers put in sporadic appearances throughout the next few steeps, mostly what I can taste is the honey and roast.

As someone who prefers greener oolongs, I’m not the ideal drinker for this tea, but I do appreciate its complexity. Maybe after another two hundred reviews I’ll be able to look past the roast to understand the full spectrum of flavours, though by then this tea will probably be gone.

Flavors: Apricot, Floral, Grain, Grass, Honey, Raspberry, Roasted, Stonefruit, Walnut

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
Martin Bednář

I completely agree with you regarding the taste development. It certainly develops and I notice more and more with every drank tea. And congratulations to your 200!

And about the people here… yes, we are here so welcoming I would not believe it is even possible!

White Antlers

Congratulations on your 200 reviews! That is a wonderful accomplishment and a lot of tea! : )

Leafhopper

Martin and White Antlers, thanks! Though I’m by no means a tea expert, I’m definitely noticing more than I did when I started and there isn’t so much guesswork involved. And yes, I’ve gone through a lot of tea, though my cupboard is strangely still as full, if not fuller, than it was three years ago when I joined Steepster! Now how could that be? :P

Veronica

Congratulations on 200 reviews!

Leafhopper

Thanks! You’re way ahead of me. :)

mrmopar

200 Go!

derk

I always look forward to your contributions, Leafhopper. Hope to see many more.

tea-sipper

Happy 200 thoughtful notes. :D I can’t wait until I can taste pass the roast on an oolong… though I might not ever be able to. haha

ashmanra

Happy 200, and many more!

Leafhopper

Thanks, all of you, for your good wishes! Most roasted oolongs still taste similar to me, but I’m working on it!

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86

When I was buying a bunch of herbal teas in February, I couldn’t resist adding this Bai Hao to my order. I was a little wary because these teas are often eye-wateringly expensive and this is around $13 for 50 g, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 30, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of baked peaches, honey, and grapes. The first steep has notes of honey, muscatel, peaches, citrus, baked bread, and flowers. There’s some dryness in the aftertaste and it lacks the darker sandalwood and spicy notes that characterize pricier Bai Hao. The second steep introduces pears and dates (thanks to Eastkyteaguy for noticing this flavour!). All of these notes intensify in the third and fourth rounds, and the citrus and muscatel become more prominent. This tea leaves a lovely grape/citrus/baked pear aroma at the bottom of the cup. Hints of malt and wood appear in the fourth steep and the drying sensation in the mouth gets stronger. This Bai Hao becomes more like a black tea by the sixth steep, with noticeable malt and tannins. The black tea character gradually overtakes the tea until the end of the session, which features malt, metal, faint fruit, and tannins.

This is a nice Bai Hao, particularly in the early steeps, and I don’t regret purchasing it in the least. However, it lacks the balance among sweet, spicy, and sappy/woody notes that makes really great examples of this tea so magical. If I had to compare it to another Bai Hao, it would be the Jingmai Bai Hao from China from Camellia Sinensis, which also lacks that bug-bitten complexity. For the price, this is excellent, but there are better Bai Haos out there.

Flavors: Bread, Citrus, Dates, Drying, Floral, Honey, Malt, Metallic, Muscatel, Peach, Pear, Tannin, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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83

I received this generous 15 g free sample in an order I placed last fall, so I assume it is from the spring 2019 harvest. Gardenia is one of those flowers whose fragrance is sometimes hard for me to pin down in tea, so I was happy to get an example of what it’s supposed to taste like. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of gardenias, other heady flowers, peaches, and sweet cream. The first steep tastes strongly of gardenia, orchid, butter, cream, peach, banana, and grass. It’s simultaneously sweet and kind of waxy, and drying in the mouth. The banana and peach persist in the second and third steeps. I get a distinctly floral gardenia flavour as well. The banana becomes more prominent as the session goes on, especially if I let the tea cool. The tea develops a lovely, thick body with a gardenia aftertaste. The florals and grass take over by steep seven, and the session ends as one with a regular green oolong would, with floral, vegetal, and grassy notes.

Although some people might consider this oolong to be too perfumey, I like floral teas and enjoyed this one. I also think it would make a great cold brew.

Flavors: Butter, Cream, Floral, Gardenias, Grass, Orchid, Peach, Sweet, Vegetal

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
LuckyMe

I once had a gardenia scented oolong from Eco-Cha but wasn’t terribly impressed by it. Didn’t really have a distinct gardenia flavor. Tempted to order this one as Mountain Stream scented teas have generally been pretty good.

Leafhopper

I’m not terribly familiar with gardenia so I can’t vouch for how authentic the flavour is, but it seemed convincing to me.

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82

I bought this tea back in March when DAVIDsTEA had their free shipping promotion, and I’ve gone through almost the entire 50 g, which, given the number of teas I have, is impressive. This is partly because it’s a good chai and partly because it’s one of my better decaf options. I steeped around 4 g of tea in a 355 ml mug at 200F for 3.5, 5, 8, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cardamom, ginger, and licorice, and the flavour reflects those notes. This is a particularly spicy chai, and the cinnamon, cardamom, and pepper are prominent. I’m not sure what ashwagandha tastes like so I can’t comment on that. Sadly, the ginseng in this chai makes me think of licorice, which is not one of my favourite flavours. Some form of licorice seems to find itself in almost every herbal chai I’ve seen online, even though there’s no similar flavour note in regular chai. Maybe this is due to the assumption that decaf chais have to be sweet (which is annoying, as I’d prefer them not to be, and the cinnamon takes care of that anyway). Whatever the reason, this detracts somewhat from my enjoyment of this tea, though the licorice isn’t strong enough to prevent me from drinking it often.

This tea is quite resilient, maintaining its oomph into the fourth steep. As decaf chais go, it’s something I could buy more of, though I’m looking for an alternative that doesn’t contain that dreaded licorice.

Flavors: Black Pepper, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Licorice

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 30 sec 4 g 12 OZ / 355 ML
White Antlers

Ashwaganda has an earthy taste. Not bad but it is used in Ayurvedic medicine and does not belong in chai. Nor does licorice. That’s why I make my own chai from scratch or order it from What Cha (when it’s in stock).

Roswell Strange

I don’t think that you can claim anything should/should not be in Chai. At least in a broader sense, anyway. Considering this blend was inspired by Ayurvedic medicine and, in fact, marketed as an Ayurvedic blend I think the ingredients are right at place for the purpose.

Leafhopper

I’ll have to see if I can detect an earthy taste from the ashwagandha. It’s great that DAVIDsTEA is being creative with their choice of chai ingredients, although as I mentioned, I’d be happier without the ginseng/licorice.

White Antlers, does What-Cha have a decaf chai? Any chais that contain neither caffeine nor licorice would be appreciated!

White Antlers

Nope. I don’t think Alistair carries anything decaf at all. His chai is stocked seasonally, I believe and if you are ok with caffeine, I find it absolutely stellar.

White Antlers

@Roswell Strange, I can claim, say and write anything I please. I am a holistic physician and chai is not and has nothing to do with Ayurvedic medicine.

Leafhopper

I’m definitely okay with caffeine and will keep What-Cha’s chai in mind. However, I’m also looking for a decaf chai that I can drink later in the evening.

Roswell Strange

@White Antlers – You’re right, you are completely entitled your opinion. In fact, we even share the opinion that Chai is not Ayurvedic Medicine. My comment was not intended as an attack or nitpick, and I’m sorry if it came off that way.

When I said “…that you can claim…” I was using the word you in the plural sense, referring to my belief that there are no rules about the use of ingredients in what is the colloquially accepted North American meaning of the word “Chai” – which is a spiced tea/tisane. Of course, one could argue the place of ingredients like ashwagandha or licorice in specific and established Chai recipes or in a more traditional sense, but that is not what I read your comment as meaning (sorry if I misinterpreted) and that is also clearly not what this blend is/has been marketed as.

As I’ve expressed on the discussion board recently, I can’t seem to reply directly to PMs right now (503 errors) so I’m sorry that I cannot reply directly to the message you sent me – but, again, I assure you I’ve not intended to single you would with my comments. I will simply leave my statement there, and unfollow you like you requested.

Roswell Strange

**single you out with…

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87

This tea is from spring 2020. The curly leaves still have some give to them, which testifies to its freshness. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of honey, cocoa, and stonefruit. The first steep features honey, raisins, malt, muscatel, and peach. The second steep adds plum and more peach and muscatel, making it a jammy peach/raisin combination. This tea just keeps getting fruitier. In the third and fourth steeps, the stonefruit really takes off and the plums/peaches balance the grape/raisin notes. The honey and faint malt bring it all together. Steep five sees a return to the raisin/grape notes, and honey, malt, wood, and slight tannins gradually take over as the session goes on. The final steeps have notes of honey, wood, tannins, and minerals.

The love child of Doke Black Fusion and a black Dan Cong, this is a fantastic tea. If it has one fault, it’s that the stonefruit disappears too quickly, but the remaining steeps are still tasty and interesting. I’m glad I picked this one up.

Flavors: Cocoa, Honey, Malt, Mineral, Muscatel, Peach, Plum, Raisins, Tannin, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
White Antlers

Such a pleasure to see your enjoyable, intelligent reviews again.

Leafhopper

Thanks! I’m hoping to get to 200 reviews while the site is still usable. (Or maybe I’m panicking over nothing and IE will continue to be supported.)

White Antlers

Better safe than sorry, right? : )

Leafhopper

Exactly! It’s also an excuse to break into some of the expensive teas I’ve been hoarding.

White Antlers

Good for you! Take it from an old lady-don’t hoard the good stuff!

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91

After years of neglect, Steepster suddenly changing comes as a surprise. I hope that with the new owners, the community will get some love and some of the spam and posting issues will be resolved. However, I have an old computer and use IE11, neither of which are great for a flashy new site, so I thought I’d better post some reviews while I still can.

According to the owner, this oolong is from spring 2019. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of cookies, flowers, and candied orange. The first steep has notes of cookies, honey, orchids, lilacs, spinach, and cream—no orange to be found. The orange makes a slight appearance in steep 2, along with the promised cocoa butter, though I would never have made that leap without the website description. The third steep has notes of orange, honey, spinach, cookies, cocoa butter, and faint flowers. The orange continues in the next three steeps, and is joined by orange blossom, veggies, and grass. The tea fades quickly after that, though the steeps are still enjoyable.

This is an above-average oolong that I wouldn’t immediately peg as a Shan Lin Xi. I loved the complexity of flavours, though as with many high mountain oolongs, I only got five or six really good steeps. Contrary to my usual preferences, I liked the Alishan better, perhaps because it’s newer.

Flavors: Cocoa, Cookie, Cream, Floral, Grass, Honey, Orange, Orange Blossom, Orchid, Spinach, Vegetal

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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77

Each spring, I get caught up in the hype around the new green teas, even though I know I don’t particularly care for their vegetal, grassy profiles. This year, I managed to prevent myself from ordering large amounts of tea I’d feel guilty about not drinking, but still couldn’t resist the pull entirely. Hence this 25 g pack of Liu An Gua Pian, which is something that I liked before, even when I accidentally dumped boiling water over it.

That brings me to the other reason green tea and I don’t get along: I have a terrible time brewing it correctly. I don’t have a variable temperature kettle, so getting the water to 176F is a waiting game. I also don’t have consistent gongfu parameters. And I only have huge mugs or small 150 ml teacups, so I don’t even know where to start with bowl brewing. Also, I probably have the wrong water because everyone seems to have the wrong water.

I steeped 5 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using water cooled to 176F for 40, 20, 25, 30, 40, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds. The first three times came from the owner; the last few are just my guesses.

The dry aroma of these long, curly, rolled leaves is of toasted pumpkin seeds, seaweed, and veggies. The first steep has notes of pumpkin seeds, spinach, cabbage, green beans, and iodine. The iodine and cruciferous vegetables get a lot stronger in the second steep, which also reminds me of zucchini. This somewhat sweet, vegetal profile remains strong in the next couple steeps, and then takes over as the session goes on, with highlights of spinach, broccoli, and kale. Nonetheless, there is not much astringency.

Although it has not made me into a green tea convert, this Liu An Gua Pian has the profile I remember and is nuanced enough to be interesting. Still, however, it’s a lot of work for flavours I don’t particularly gravitate toward. Maybe I’ll finally stop buying these types of teas every spring, or maybe I’ll eventually learn to like these vegetal notes. Only time will tell.

Flavors: Bok Choy, Broccoli, Green Beans, Iodine, Kale, Seaweed, Spinach, Zucchini

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 5 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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Bio

Since I discovered Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong four years ago, I’ve been fascinated by loose-leaf tea. I’m glad to say that my oolong tastes have evolved, and that I now like nearly every tea that comes from Taiwan, oolong or not, particularly the bug-bitten varieties. I also find myself drinking Yunnan blacks and Darjeelings from time to time, as well as a few other curiosities.

However, while online reviews might make me feel like an expert, I know that I still have some work to do to actually pick up those flavours myself. I hope that by making me describe what I’m tasting, Steepster can improve my appreciation of teas I already enjoy and make me more open to new possibilities (maybe even puerh!).

Location

Toronto

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