661 Tasting Notes
Thank-you Christina for sending me this sample!
I am not a big fan of roasted oolongs. There are a few I like but it’s mostly the roasting that seems to dominate the tea experience for me.
I could pick up honey and stone fruit along with the roasted flavour. Later steeps were better for me when the roasted flavour died down and the other notes came out.
Overall, not my favourite tea but still glad I got to try it!
Flavors: Honey, Roasted, Stonefruit
This tea started out with a bit of creamy feel to it and the remaining steeps it was less. This had a sweet honeysuckle taste to it along with an underlying bitterness. The bitterness wasn’t too strong and it still make an enjoyable cup.
Flavors: Bitter, Creamy, Honeysuckle
I finally tried this tea with water from my bamboo charcoal.
First infusion was 15 sec with boiling water as per the website that had all the instructions on how to brew dan cong. This was the best this tea has ever tasted. It was honey sweet and peachy. All other infusions after that were a bit disappointing but not bad.
Here’s a picture of my brewing session.
So what is Shrek doing in it? Well, in my kitchen where my kettle is , I discovered this little Shrek today. How long has he been there? I don’t know. It was weird that I’ve been using that kettle most of the day and who knows how many times yesterday and never even noticed Shrek sitting in the corner on my counter. lol My husband must have put him there sometime. (He just told me now it was there a couple of days!)Brewed this one today gong fu. I did 2 quick rinses and the first infusion was so good! Sooo creamy with a thick mouth feel. Just delicious.
2nd infusion – creaminess less and bitter notes came out. Did not like 2nd infusion.
3rd and onward- The bitterness mostly died down in the 3rd infusion and the ones after. The creaminess was no longer there but there was a faint floral note.
This tea is best in the first infusion. I am leaving a note on my little sample to just brew this western style with only 1 or 2 infusions since the best part is in the first infusion. I would even forgo the 2nd rinse.
Brewed this one up today. I notice I had the same problem as Christina. The chuck of tea just didn’t want to break up and I had to break it up manually. I did two quick rinses and then 10,10,10,10,15,15. Most of the infusions I took a few sips and threw out. It had a strong fermentation flavour and was just too woody & earthy. Later steeps it smoothed out a bit more but there was nothing there really pulling me in with this tea. I think this tea could go numerous steeps so I would be interesting to see what it tastes like after steep 6 or 7. I didn’t take it that far since it had major caffeine kick and was bothering my stomach a bit.
I remember when I drank this it made me feel all fidgety and strung out like I had just pulled an all-nighter. Was your experience similar?
Christina gave me a big sample of this tea and I’ve enjoyed it 2 times aleady! Thanks Christina!
I like to add a little honey to this tea to give it a bit of sweetness and bring out more of the honeysuckle floral taste. I’ve been feeling pretty good drinking this tea and love the fact that it’s anti-bacterial. I have to get some more of this tea for the winter months ahead.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad Tai Ping Hou Kui but does this tea live up to the Supreme added onto the name? I think not but still a good brew.
First I have to critique Tealyra’s instructions. Use 1 tsp of tea. Really???!! Like how do I get those massive straight leaves in a spoon? They need to revise this and change to weight measurement. Then to steep 2 – 3 min. I think that’s far to long for this tea. I brewed 1 min and even at that time some faint bitterness comes through.
I brewed this in my test tube gaiwan (Love that gaiwan!). 1 min and just eyeballed the amount. It’s fruity- something I always love about this type of tea. A bit vegetal, light sweetness, and a bit of bitterness creeping through. Unless, I need to revise my steeping method, I would say this is not a tea that is “Supreme”. It’s still a nice cup though.
Flavors: Fruity, Sweet, Vegetal
Christina was so kind to send me a substantial sample of this tea. Thanks Christina!
I tried it almost as soon as I got it but just didn’t get what the fuss was about this tea. I have to admit I was busy at the time and just not enjoying the tea experience as much. I put it aside and thought I would come back to it again before leaving a review. Glad I did.
Brewed it up today in my gaiwan at 90C. Don’t remember how much tea I put in but I tend to go on the lighter side than most with my tea. Two quick rinses and then tried it out. It was light with a brown sugar sweetness, No bitterness at all.
2nd infusion – Not as much brown sugar. Picked up a hint of vanilla. It had a creamy mouth feel and just a bit fruity (not as much apricot as I get in other shengs)
3rd infusion – Vanilla note stronger. Brown sugar just a bit less but still sweet & creamy. I picked up a bit of astringency in this one. At this point the sweetness of this tea made me hungry and I ate something with garlic in it. Tsk Tsk. Yes, I know. A bad decision but I still kept enjoying the tea.
I don’t know which infusion I am on now but thoroughly enjoying this young sheng. It’s an amazing sheng and definitely worth ordering.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Creamy, Fruity, Vanilla
Backlog
I couldn’t find this tea on White2Tea’s website but it came in the monthly pkg Christina and I are sharing. When she sent it to me I almost missed the tiny tiny tiny (yes tiny!) little brick. They say this size is very deceptive. No kidding. I think this tea swelled about 4 or 5 times it’s size. Maybe more.
Supposedly this tea is roasted, then aged , then re-roasted and pressed into a brick.
I found it extremely smooth and roasted. Very full bodied tea. Very dark. I got plenty of infusions from this tea. Probably could have gotten more.
This is a good tea for those that love a full bodied, dark , roasted tea. Although, it was good, it just wasn’t the type of tea I would want very often since I prefer the lighter teas.