16 Tasting Notes

90

not impressed by boxed supermarket tea i didn’t have much expectation, but the packaging looked high quality, like a premium product so i gave it a try.
and i am impressed.
i had far worse loose oolongs from real tea shops.
it’s made from medium leaves, and not very large leaves.
the smell is very nice like a slightly milky sweet oolong, but not artificial.
the taste was not bitter at all and even with 5 minutes steep time at about 73 °C it became very sweet and aromatic, just like a good oolong.
it even had a slight fresh taste to it, you rarely get a fresh green taste from oolongs.
the aroma could even be more dense, so try 4g on 150ml / 5g on 200ml.
i would definately recommend it and i am gonna try the other kinds of tea from Hazo, too. The price range is very good for the quality (8.50 Euro / 100g)

Flavors: Caramel, Milk, Mint

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 5 min, 0 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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60

i bought it at an asian supermarket.. normally i don’t buy tea there but i thought this may be better because it’s not a simple chinese tea box but imported and marketed specially for the european market with a clear colorful packing, essential information on the origin and good packaging.
now when opened up i compared it to an organic lung ching at a higher price range (premium) and the smell was like an older lung ching. the leaves were still green/slight yellow but still ok. but nothing compared to a premium lung ching (plain light green and hairy). after smelling for several times it smelled like a lung ching, but not very intense and it had a rather usual aroma and not a real fresh one. but hey. it’s a supermarket tea, you knew it wouldnt be a premium fresh lung ching.
for the taste: i can say yes, it tastes like lung ching, but not like a fresh and good quality lung ching- it doesn’t taste like a bad or worse lung ching, but i would rate the quality “ok”, not very good, not bad, not good enough to be good, but far better than a bad tea.
i rate it “ok usual supermarket lung ching”.
therefore it’s not a happy face (66 points) but far from a “i don’t know” face (33) and absolutey way far from an “awful” face (1), so here goes my 60 points for it.
price range was medium (16 Euro / 100g), but too pricey for the quality in my opinion. you get a lot better and organic lung ching for 20-30 euro / 100g.
would i recommend it? – no.
would i drink it when there is no other tea around ? possibly yes.

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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80
drank 2014 Da Xue Shan by Bannacha
16 tasting notes

this is a very light tea, the color is a light yellow, the taste is very easy, not strong.
it reminds me of bamboo tea with a hint of mint and a little hay in the beginning, a typical easy going sheng flavor, it doesn’t really get stronger throughout the session.
later steepings remind of a milky oolong, i never had that oolong taste in a sheng before.
it could have potential for storage if it got stronger with time, but i am not sure if there is enough intense basic aroma in it for developing an intense aroma. maybe in the end with the milky oolong.
compared to other shengs it may be quite interesting as the hay and astringency and withered flowery aroma is only very light and might not get stronger.
it’s a mild and light but pleasing tea keeping you relaxed and fit.

Flavors: Bamboo, Hay, Milk, Mint

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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95

This is a one of a kind tea.
I have been drinking Pi Lo Chun and other naturally flavoured teas like jasmine, apricot, peach, but this one is exceptional.
The aroma is complex, so flowery and aromatic, no bitternetss at all if steeped with 70°C water (65°C in the pot), but very bitter when steeped with higher temperatures.
I recommend steeping for 35 seconds, then 30, then 55.
The tea is grown on Putuo Mountains on Zhoushan Island, Zhejiang by monks.
The whole process is done by monks and it is known as Buddha tea.
You should really try this tea, but never steep it with too high temperatures.

Flavors: Flowers, Peach

Preparation
150 °F / 65 °C 0 min, 45 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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70
drank Jade Snow by Teaopia
16 tasting notes

Jade Snow is a mix of Green (Jade) and White (Snow) Tea.
It’s not a real Snow Tea (which is not Sinensis) but usual white upper leaves, i couldn’t really make out hairs but there are some light green leaves mixed with larger darker greens (photo)
The problem with this tea is how to brew it. I wasn’t able to really brew it perfectly.
It get’s either watery with less aroma (2min 60 °C, good for green but useless for white) or bitter (3-4min 70-80 °C, good for white but makes green bitter).
Maybe the best way to drink it is with about 3grams for 100-150ml water, steeping it for 2.5-3 minutes at 65-70°C.
with 4-4.5minutes at 70 °c you get more sweetness and flavour (you can smell a wonderful sweet aroma on the leaves after straining) but also quite bitter tea.
but that hasn’t got to be bad. just try it and imagine drinking a bitter snowy “winter” sinensis with sweet aroma and a taste of iced tea.
The tea couldn’t really convince me but maybe there are lovers out there who appreciate the bitter and sweet taste.

edit: today i tried 70-80 °C and 2 – 2.5 minutes and got a better result. No bitterness, more flavour. I used a cold pot and brewed the leaves with 80 °C, so they can get soft quickly, the water went down to 73 °C very fast so it steeped at like 73 °C with a hot initial wash.
The taste was ok, nice warm aroma, but nothing special really. More like a Bi Luo Chun.

Flavors: Bitter, Grass, Sweet

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 15 sec 2 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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85

first i gotta say.. it’s not what i expected.
i got this tea in 2013 (2012 production, 201 batch), about 6-12 months after production. it had a full aroma with a slightly sweet twist and i quite liked it.
i stored it for 3 years now with the paper slightly opened so it gets air, no direct sunlight in a shelf. as it is a shu/shou tea (ripe) the quality is not really expected to get better like with a raw sheng tea, and it didnt.
after 3 years it just tastes like pure dark earth with a slight sinensis aroma. it’s kind of interesting, but the good sweet aroma really went away with the years and did not improve or get more intense.
i wouldn’t say it tastes really good anymore. sweetness is gone and it’s more bitter without beeing really bitter but also not sweet. that’s why i give it only 85 points for the original taste. after 3 years i would give it only 65 points.
steeping time needed is still very short for the first steeps, like 5-10 seconds, but needs quite more time with the 6th steep (like 25-35 seconds).
you can brew it up to 7 times, the following steeps will have a lighter color and a more watery flavor and it doesn’t feel very healthy anymore but you can brew it up to 12 times if you really have to.
first steep feels like nothing, 2nd feels like a real steep, 3rd gives your body energy and you feel the blood flowing freely through your veines, this is a very good tea for tai chi or yoga. starting with the 5th steep it will make you calmer and sleepy. and the 8th steep will make you feel uncomfortable and give your body a hard time. at least this is my experience.
i would recommend it, but you should use it within 6 to 12 months and not store it for years like a a sheng.
important to wash it with boiling water for 5 seconds first as the leaves got very dry after some years, they will get very soft after washing it though and you can spread them in your pot.
temperature: important to let the boiling water cool down for 10 seconds so it is not boiling any longer. with boiling water you get a slightly burned flavour, 93 °C will give you a round and pleasant flavory aroma with no burned bitter-old flavor.
caffeine: 2 grams is ok in the evening so you can sleep. 3 grams is a normal amount in the early afternoon, 4 grams is too much and i had a hard time trying to sleep, heart beating and feeling dizzy. this happened a few hours after drinking 3-4 grams in the evening every time. it’s perfectly fine when you are awake and while drinking, but even hours after drinking 4 grams and getting tired, i had severe problems. this could be related to the first batch of 2012 (batch 201) where the leaves contain a higher amount of caffeine.

Flavors: Dirt, Earth, Mushrooms, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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Bio

i’ve been drinking original teas from china for several years since a contact in zhejiang area sends tthem to me through my uncle 2 times a year.
i’ve had all kinds of chinese green tea like mao jian, long jing, fo cha, wu yuan and went on to puer teas of all kinds.

Location

Munich/Germany

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