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She’s Not Me is a very consistent tea with a Bu Lang character. Some of the material seems a little aged, but not a large percentage. Nevertheless, the tea is not overly rough or abrasive. All in all though, I just don’t find it exciting enough to justify the price.

The aroma is sweet and herbaceous with notes of fermented fruits (sea buckthorn juice), sunflowers, thyme and lemon balm. First infusion is already quite viscous with a colloidal mouthfeel. The taste is citrusy and displays a nice sweet finish. Later steeps get more savoury and herbaceous, until the fruitiness reappears after the peak. There are flavours such as those of sunflower and anise seeds, sugarcane, butter, wood, cantaloupe, and spices.

The mouthfeel is generally very nice and foamy. After swallowing there is a prolonged biting and after a few minutes also throat-cooling sensation. The cha qi is energizing and dizzying, but not the most memorable.

Pretty nice as far as scented teas go. It has a really soft texture that sets it apart from basic jasmine teas. However, I rarely feel like drinking it actually.

This is what one could call a classic Yiwu tea. It has the floral sweetness and a nice soft texture. It is fairly consistent throughout the session but also not that complex you could say.

The wet leaf aroma is floral, a bit grassy and it includes notes of bay leaf, compost, thyme and a light smokiness. Taste is well integrated with next to no distinctive flavours. It is sweet, floral, and very fragrant with hints of nutty oil flavour. The liquor has medium to full body with some astringency and it induces a cooling feeling in the mouth. What follows is a very nice huigan and a warm sensation spreading throughout the body.

I can’t warm up to this particular gyokuro and will probably cold-brew the rest of my pouch. The aromas are weak, the body is lighter than usual, and even though the taste is pungent I find the profile off. I am not quite sure why but it seems like it is somewhat unbalanced and disintegrated.

As for the particular notes, there are hints of cabbage and spearmint in the aroma emerging from the leaves and milk & custard in the empty cup scent. Fairly unusual range of aromas for a gyokuro, but they are so weak that they cannot take the center stage.

As expected first two infusions have a strong umami with a brothy / salty profile, which, unfortunately is not very well integrated with the green, vegetal aspects of the tea. Flavours of corn, spaghetti squash, butter, grass, asparagus, okra, green beans are among the ones I detected.

I am a fan of red jade white (and black) teas in large part because when I crave a tea of this kind, there are very few others that can do the trick. This one fits that purpose, but it’s also quite different from its relatives. The minty character less pronounced and the tea has a more malty profile.

The aroma has a strong dill note, complemented by scents of cape gooseberry and puff pastry. On the whole, it is not as pungent as these teas can be though. The liquor is very refreshing thanks to a fruity tartness, quinine bitterness, a spicy anise finish and a cooling mouthfeel. The texture is buttery and a little bubbly, with a distinct astringency that translates into a sandpaper-like, numbing mouthfeel. There is also a strong flowery fragrance in the aftertaste coupled with some more fruity flavours such as those of grapes and gooseberry.

First time breaking into my cake of W2T’s rooster. Comparing my experience with the notes from a year ago show that the tea hasn’t changed much. It still has that lovely upfront bitterness and a mostly vegetal profile.

The dry leaf scent is weaker now though and there are some aromas in the wet leaves that I didn’t pick up previously, such as cream, herbaceous ones, cabbage, and citrus zest.

The taste is a bit more bready with a sunflower seed note and there are flavours of jalapeno peppers and coffee emerging in the aftertaste, accompanying the floral sweetness. I also really like the combination of a throat-cooling feeling with the overall body-warming sensation the tea induces.

[Spring 2019 harvest]

I got a free sample of this tea, which I am glad because I haven’t had it yet. It’s nice to be able to try it even though any conclusions have to come with a qualification that the tea is now one year old.

In a preheated pot, dry leaves smell of bacon, rosemary and corn husks. Subsequently, I get an aroma of peas and candle smoke during the session.

The pea note also comes up in the flavour profile, here it is most reminiscent of pea soup. Other than that, the profile is savoury, a little nutty and with a mild lemon tartness but devoid of the sourness. There are also notes of butter, carambola and seaweed; and the finish gets progressively sweeter in later infusions.

Aftertaste is generally very crisp and cooling. There is an interesting earthy hint that’s not all that common among green teas and the dominant flavour is that of green bell peppers.

As for the mouthfeel, this tea strikes pretty high there. The liquor is smooth, oily and thick. All in all, it is quite an enjoyable tea that I would be happy to try fresh at some point in the future. It has a good body, and there is very little bitterness or astringency. The latter does appear eventually, but only at around 85°C.

Generally, I find Taiwanese oolongs to be a fairly safe bet. They are rarely flops. For some reason, this tea just doesn’t do it for me though. I don’t know if it’s just this batch or since I haven’t had other ones.

The aromas and flavours are fairly weak, the only distinctive note being an osmanthus scent. The taste is somewhat more sour than I am used to, but otherwise doesn’t really stand out in any way and the same can be said about the mouthfeel. There is a cooling aftertaste with a persisting sourness and quite a strong defocusing cha qi.

I don’t, maybe it’s just me. If my impression changes as I finish my pack, I will update the note.

Here’s a well balanced, intricate, and full-bodied Dong Ding – one that I would happily reorder given its reasonable price. It has the right amount of roasting to drink young. Maybe as the only drawback I would mention that the taste is a bit muted and the aftertaste somewhat simple.

Dry leaf aroma is very nice and memorable already. It has a somewhat earthy and cooling base with notes of apple, parsnip, and beeswax on top. During the session, the scent is also fairly complex and mostly floral with some complementary vegetal and sweet, woody tones.

The taste is well balanced, but overall skewed towards mineral and savoury flavours. Bitterness and sweetness are present too, the latter especially in the aftertaste. Specific notes includes ones like bone broth, raisins, butter, lavender, and parsnip.

As I mentioned already, liquor is thick and has a very nice brothy and bubbly mouthfeel. The chh qi is pleasant too and mind clarity inducing.

All in all, a lovely tea that I can definitely recommend.

This karigane is nice, although fairly basic and doesn’t stand out all that much.

Dry leaves are in fact very fragrant with a brothy, nutty and a touch grassy smell. There are notes of sake, some flowers but also cookies. Later on, the wet leaf aroma also reminds of bok choy, celery and likewise some bone broth and alcohol again.

Taste is sweet as expected; the nutty, umami, grassy and bitter notes are a bit less pronounced. I could also detect some flavours like those of chicken broth, milk, raisins and fennel.