67 Tasting Notes

dark amber and indicative of its age (9 years old), seems aged much longer than its age, but was maocha for 7.5 years before it was pressed in 2014. Not as intensely complex or deep flavors/effects/qi as a higher quality tea, but this tea is not lacking in any area (except maybe chi). Its flavorful, immediate cooling huigans, and lasting sweet kuwei bitter to sweetness aftertaste. I enjoyed this tea, was instantly wow’d by this, and when I saw the price per cake at $36.50 I put 3 cakes in my shoppping cart!

THIS is what a daily drinker should be. No chi, no sedating, just flavor and aftertaste. Really good daily drinker.

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drank 2005 Naka by white2tea
67 tasting notes

smokey taste dominates but its smooth balanced smokiness, not a harsh rough bitterness. There was also what some other people described as a sourness, which I can relate. Its a contrasting flavor that isn’t really a flavor, so I’ll just say “sour” anyway. The flavors are one-dimensional. Its pretty much gentle smooth creamy smoke. That’s about it.

No bitterness, no aftertaste, no sweetness, slightly mouth drying at the end of the session.

Not seeing what the hype is about for this one. HOLY SH*T! To think I paid this much? at $1.28/g? This is a decent tea, it got me slightly drunk, although I had it on an empty stomach, and I eased off the tea midway through session so that the drunkenness didn’t fully overwhelm (I eased off because I felt the wooziness coming on). Lasted over 12 steepings.

Decent amber color, definitely 11ish years old. But IMHO not worth the price. Not even really glad I tried it to be honest, but now I have a point of reference when other people rave…well…don’t believe everyone’s rantings.

After pondering this tea, its a pure “drunkeness” tea. You drink it to get tea drunk. You drink it for the chi. I think this would be better material for blending to increase chi of other better tasting teas more complex teas, but not as a stand alone tea.

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almost all the nuggets had fungus on them, no crystalization, not golden flowers, white spots…fungus. I am not sure I’ll be even venturing into this tea. This is how it arrived (not due to my storage).

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um…pretty blah. dark colored water. no flavors, no body, no aftertaste, just…dark colored water. Is there a silver lining? There’s no off flavors, nothing bad. So I guess that’s good? Glad its inexpensive.

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Soft earthy smooth gentle, not super complex flavors. I really enjoyed this tea for a late night/early morning session like 3-4am until sunrise. No caffeine jitters, just a soothing simple shu.

2-3 rinses and brewed in Crimson Lotus Jian shui dragon egg teapot (love this little guy!).

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This tea took me by surprise. Its flavors are light, but not weak. I think that’s important to distinguish. This tea is all about the aroma, huigan, cooling, aftertaste.

Aromas of fresh apricot on the dry leaves. Flavors of tea are honeydew/melon, apricot, sweet-ish but not sugary, honey aromas fill the cup as you sip but the floral honey flavor is delayed and appears in the aftertaste.

After about 5-6 steeps a slight drying/astringency appears that is pleasant and urges you on to take another sip.

This tea is light, but unexpectantly delicious. I’m not a fan of light puerh, but this one is all aftertaste and its wonderful. wow! wish I could have tried this when it was fresh off the production line a year ago.

FYI this is a spring tea

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This was a very enjoyable tea. I’m going through an orange/mandarin/whatever stuffed with puerh phase right now so figured I’d get one of these and one Black Star in my last order from W2T.

Originally hesitant to purchase this due to reported ‘fishy’ flavors/aromas. I’ve had fishy puerh in the past, and not a fan at all. But I figured I’d let myself be the judge, and also doubted that W2T would actually be selling fishy (improperly processed) puerh. So it was a leap of faith and it paid off.

This tea is GOOD! The puerh is very smooth, aromatic, clean, no fermentation or wodui present. With just the right ratio of orange peel to tea you get a very rewarding experience with smooth creamy earthy puerh, slightly spiced and pungent but smooth mandarin notes in the background. They say aroma is like 80% of flavor, this tea has lots of yummy aroma from that orange.

Pro-tip…after initial 2 rinses put some of the orange peel in your chahai, it needs more time to steep/open up and is not going to turn bitter like tea. Thank me later :)

Pro-tip 2…when I initially drank this it had a papery flavor to it. So I threw away the paper and rewrapped it in foil, and a month or so later the paper flavors were gone.

Flavors: Earth, Orange, Orange Zest, Spices

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Really looking forward to getting this tea, but after my first session…hmm…I’m honestly hesitant to venture back for a second session.

First whiff of the aroma was like WHOA! This is powerful aroma. I want this in my teacup!! Smells like the sweetest Jingmai you ever had.

Brewing: 2x rinse, bone china gaiwan. Aroma of wet leaves changed to a rich fryer oil-like aroma sort of like funnel cake (in a good way), not the fruity sweet of the dry leaves.

Steeps 1-3: steeped 5s each. Deep, thick, mouth coating, back of the throat, lingering, heavy waxy bitter, that never turns sweet. Ever try bear gallbladder (TCM folks?)…its that kind of bitter. There’s a rich sweetness present that is trying to peek out and say hi, but that bitter just shoves it back down. I really diluted my chahai halfway with water and the tea became somewhat more palatable, but not really enjoyable. I’m struggling at this point. But venturing on.

Steeps 4-5: Steeped barely a second, trying to reduce bitter to something I could drink. It kinda worked. This tea needs VERY quick steeps. There is a thickness and rich sweetness you want to enjoy, its definitely there, but the intense bitterness on the back of the tongue really dominates.

There’s some chaqi. Ever eat something so sour you get goosebumps, sweat, and takes your breath away? Kinda like that, except its from bitterness. I got goosebumps from this tea. Strong cooling huigan after taking just a sip, very nice. If you can get past this unique bitterness and look at the other aspects of this tea…I don’t know.

Not sure I’ll be drinking much of this. I think its going into storage for quite a while. Its just too bitter for me. I’ll probably sample a bit here and there to see if it grows on me. At the moment I would say its undrinkable. So I hope it ages well.

All that said, this is definitely high quality leaf material. That much is evident. But unfortunately its just personally not my cup of tea. For the price, I really wish I could have tried a sample first.

Crimson Lotus Tea

I appreciate the review. This is one of those interesting teas that either fully grabs you or fully pushes you away. It is what it is and it isn’t ashamed. That high bitterness does fade in a year or two. The material we have from 2014 is much smoother now.

andresito

I’ll revisit every six months to see how its doing. There are lots of great qualities to this tea, so I’m really hoping they’ll stand out as the bitterness fades.

mcrdotcom

Try a lower leaf/water ratio maybe? The aroma is so intense and the aftertaste forever lingering, perhaps 3g/100mL would yield a fruity and palatable experience?

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Pleasant, relaxing, easy drinking shu, good for after dinner or evening tea.

Very clean, no fermentation flavors, smooth and delicious. Subtle ripe plums. Drying finish for first 3-4 steepings, then it was mouth watering til the end. No aftertaste, flavors faded as soon as you swallow. Mid-full bodied mouthfeel.

Almost a slight camphor cooling thing going on about 3/4 of the way through my whole session, but only when the tea had cooled down to room temperature. I wouldn’t consider it huigan though.

Relaxing, not getting caffeine jitters. Soothing to the stomach.

Made me sweat a little towards the end but that soon passed.

Nice longevity, well over 12 steepings.

Steeped in Crimson Lotus jian shui dragon egg 100mL teapot. Love this little guy! Someone said this same tea in maocha form (that came in jian shui jar) had unpleasant fermentation and was bitter. I got neither fermentation nor bitterness. Perhaps this jianshui teapot removed those flavors or they disappeared during pressing into cakes? I’ll have to test this tea in a gaiwan and update if necessary. (http://steepster.com/AllanK/posts/338033)

2x rinse, gongfu session

At $.16/g this is an easy affordable choice for a daily shu to drink now. I may pick up another cake or two for that reason. I’m not sure if more age will improve this any, so this is a tea I’ll be drinking now and not sitting on.

Flavors: Plum, Wet Earth

tperez

Those jian shui pots are so nice! I picked up two

andresito

aren’t they?! I’m considering getting another one :)

bo-dot-scott

Could you guys post pics of your Jian Shui pots? I’m considering buying one, but I’d love to see some pics/ hear some comments on potential size. I’m leaning towards a 70ml one, since I’m usually the only tea drinker at home.

bo-dot-scott

—I live in India, in case you wondering why this post came so late in the evening.

andresito

Here’s the link. I have black 100mL dragon egg. http://crimsonlotustea.com/collections/teapots/jianshui-2016

andresito

I’m happy with the 100mL teapot, although if I did it over I would have bought a 90mL one. The knob on the lid and teapot handle are proportionate to the teapot in appearance, but functionally they’re a bit small on the 100mL. I wonder if they’re even smaller on a 70mL, to the point I would not be able to use it easily.

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Bio

I like all teas but mostly drink sheng and Taiwan oolong.

My tea notes are just thoughts that come to mind as I drink, so I jot them down. There’s no format to them, just what I want to remember from the experience.

Oh, and why isn’t there a “bacon” flavor option on steepster?

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