661 Tasting Notes

60

Actually this tea review is for this one and Han Xiang Ecological Tea – Rizhao. I’ve got this one in Sept and was not that enthused with it. Since I didn’t have any Rizhao tea around to compare it with, I thought it was possible my taste changed. So I ordered my favourite Rizhao from the Aliexpress seller Han Xiang Ecological Tea (You can check out my initial review of this tea under “Shandong Rizhao Green Tea”).

In comparison of the two teas dry, they both smelled good from the bag. Pretty similar – a nice fresh green scent. Both teas had the same twisted shape but this tea from RTB had bigger leaves. Brewed both up with 8oz , 80C, 1 min.

The both brewed a similar bright yellow colour but the tea from HXET was a lighter brigher yellow. The tea from RTB was a little bit murkier, not so clear. When I took a taste of the HXET it was still as good as it’s been in past years: butter, spinach, nutty, creamy, sweet. So good. Then I took a taste of the RTB tea. It tasted completely flat. No taste at all. I let my palate clear a bit and tried this tea again. After waiting a few minutes and taking a sip , it was a bit better but was a plain green with none of the underlying creamy, spinach taste the other one has. It was non astringent with a very faint nutty flavour to it. When I would take a sip of the tea from HXET it had so much flavour it just overshadowed the RTB tea so much , I couldn’t taste it at all.

I definitely won’t be buying this tea from RTB anymore. In fact I got 3 teas from them in Sept and all 3 are fairly mediocre.

I enjoyed comparing the two and think I will do a comparison of the HXET Rizhao with some Laoshan Greens I have. They are all grown in about the same area and I think they are all very similar.

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Spring 2016 – I’ve tried this tea quite a few times already with a few different brewing parameters. I just can’t figure this out.

From the bag it smells fresh with a slight nuttiness to it. The leaf is a high grade. Full small leaves. This tea should be amazing….but it’s not. Unless it’s supposed to be like that. I’ve had other dragonwell teas and they didn’t taste like this one.

I can’t remember specifics on this. I know it was vegetal but was missing the chestnut, buttery, or green flavour I get from most greens. Most green teas I brew around 2 minutes or less. This one had very little flavour at 2 minutes. So I brewed it longer and it got stronger but not better. I’m not very good at describing exactly what it tasted like. It wasn’t bitter but just was not appealing to me. Perhaps someone else might really like this tea but it just didn’t suit me.

There is a couple of brewing methods I have not tried yet for this tea: grandpa style or iced. It’s getting pretty cold outside to have iced tea so I guess next on my list is to try this grandpa style.

Flavors: Vegetal

apefuzz

I couldn’t figure this one out either – never got any great flavors out of it. I ended up doing grandpa style most of the time. Good luck!

LuckyMe

I tried last season’s harvest and my experience pretty much matched yours. YS has good teas but their green teas have never really appealed to me.

Recently an astute Redditor noted that Yunnan green teas come from the assamica bush while the rest of China produces tea with camellia sinensis. Assamica is a little more aggressive cultivar which may explain why YS green teas taste a bit different than other Chinese greens.

Ubacat

Yes, I have to wonder about some of the greens from YS. Most have been okay but nothing really amazing out of all the greens I got.

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100

I had admired this shiboridashi for awhile but it was pricey and I wondered if it would really work like I wanted it to? Then I read TeaNecromancer’s review and thought “I HAVE to buy this!” but it was still pricey so I thought I would wait for sale. The next day I got an email from Yunomi that they were having a 35% off sale when you purchased $50.00 and over. So I bought it right then.

Now I’ve bought a Japanese teapot in the past and it didn’t meet all my requirements for what is a perfect vessel to brew my Japanese tea in.

1) It needs lots of room to allow the leaves to expand so an infusier that pulls out is not a good option.
2) It needs to have a capacity for one person only. I rarely have Japanese teas with someone else.
3) It has to pour quickly and allow the water through easily when the leaves expand. Every second it pours slowly bitterness creeps in.
4) It must be easy to clean.
5) When the tea pours, it must pour out clean without any leaf. Most of the others I used, I had to pour with an extra filter.
6) It must be pleasing to eye.

Well this shiboridashi meets all those requirements and more. Especially in the last one (6). It is cute, easy to handle when pouring. Love the little red knob . Love the crackels. And here’s an extra bonus: When I poured the water in to do the first infusion, I noticed part of it turned a blush pink inside. I also noticed a bit pink on the lid when I was brewing the tea. I wonder if that is only the ones with a red knob on them?

I never had any problems cleaning this up like TeaNecromancer but I was brewing a sencha which has bigger leaves. I haven’t tried this yet with some of the finer leaf teas but it performed beautifully with my sencha. I can see this will easily become my favourite teapot for brewing Japanese greens.

Rasseru

aww shes a cutie

Sil

beautiful!

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80

This tea smells wonderful from the bag. Fresh jasmine flowers and the fresh green bi luo chun’s green mossy scent.

When brewed up however, the jasmine tends to dominate. I love jasmine so I can still enjoy this tea. I am a bit disappointed I can’t taste the sweet green mossy of the bi luo chun. I think it’s there but so faint. Perhaps I need to adjust the brew times on this tea. Or try this on the 2nd infusion (I rarely have more than one infusion on green tea).
I am picking up a bit of nutty flavour from the tea under the jasmine.

Still enjoying this tea and it’s a good buy. Can’t beat YS prices. This tea would be so much better if they’d used less jasmine flowers and had more notes from the tea come through.

Flavors: Floral, Nutty

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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I had this tea quite a few days ago and was not impressed. I tried many different infusions of it and each infusion kept tasting like dirty socks. Just not my cup of tea.

Liquid Proust

It’s some serious iron pressed stuff

Mookit

Hmm… What DO dirty socks taste like? :P

mrmopar

How much do you have left? Maybe a swap to take it off your hands?

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85
drank Bronchial Tea by Flora
661 tasting notes

Been sick this week with a cold and was taking the gel pills for congestion but decided to try this tea. At first I didn’t think it was working but one evening after work I had this tea two hours before bedtime and I noticed I didn’t need any meds before bed. It really helped settle down the lungs and stop some of the congestion. I’ve been taking it now all through my cold and it’s best in the evening. When I first drink it I don’t notice any difference. I seem to notice a difference 1 or 2 hours later.

So this tea is very effective when you have congestion in the lungs. There’s licorice root in it so there’s definitely a bit of sweet licorice flavour mingled with a bit of medicine herbs. Not unpleasant tasting at all. My rating is based on how it works and not the taste since that’s what this tea is for.

Flavors: Licorice, Medicinal

Sil

awesome to hear that it helps you out!

Ubacat

I love it, especially since I don’t have to resort to the nasty drugs. I’ve taken other herbal teas for lung congestion but none are as effective as this one.

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80

The dry green leaves are very long and spindly and take up lots of space like a white tea. They smell so good from the bag – a rich green bean/chestnut smell.

This tea is very delicate and light. A light sweetness followed by a nutty chestnut flavour and green beans. Everything is very light and subtle about this tea.

Flavors: Chestnut, Green Beans, Nutty, Sweet

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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100

I’ve had this tea sitting for two months unopened. So finally got around to trying it out today.

This tea is AMAZING!!!

When I opened the bag the fragrance of the tea was sooo good. Kind of a bit like a black tea, a bit like a green, fruity and fresh. I couldn’t stop sniffing it.

I brewed this at 80C for 2 min. I usually brew my whites at 90. Some use 70C. I figured I would change things up and go inbetween.

First infusion was intoxicating. Sweet and creamy (like in the Jin Xuan oolongs), with a fruity flavour (a bit like grape) and slightly malty. The sweetness was not overly strong but it had caramel notes. There was a little fruity tang to it too. I also got nutty notes like in green tea.

2nd infusion was more caramel and fruit. Less creamy/nutty.

There were elements of this tea that was like black, then white, and then green. What a unique tea! Glad I bought this one!

Flavors: Caramel, Creamy, Fruity, Malt, Nutty, Sweet

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85

I’ve had this tea a few times and haven’t left a review yet. I love the way Taiwan Tea Crafts seal up their tea leaving no air. The teas are always very fresh as was this one. It was very sweet and nutty with a bit of green bean in the first infusion. No astringency at all. Second infusion was less sweet and hardly much green bean flavour but still good. Overall a great green tea.

Flavors: Green Beans, Nutty, Sweet

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Bio

Green teas are my favourite teas but I also enjoy: white, some herbal,rooibos, raw pu’erh, light oolongs, a little bit of black , and a little bit of ripe pu’erh. I have moved away from artificial flavourings and there’s hardly anything left in my cabinet with artificial flavouring or colours. It is mostly straight teas or tea blends.

Location

Ontario , Canada

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