Avery F. Send Message

Grandpa style, this is pretty much a dead average black tea with a tad of chocolatey flavour and scent. The leaves are cut, though coarsely. It’s much, much better Western-style. I thought adding sugar might improve it further, as it sometimes does with chocolate-based drinks, but I think it’s actually better without; the flavours are clearer and smoother.

It’s mild and savoury. Supposed to be boiled for a long time in a very large quantity of water (one 3g bag to 1000ml), but I haven’t tried that, since I have no reason to make that quantity of tea at one time. I expect it would make more sense to do so if this were for multiple people and/or for drinking constantly throughout the day, as happens often in Mongolia and many other cold countries. It’s very pleasant, though, and warming. Has a familiar smell I can’t quite identify.

A local tea shop gave me a single one of these tangerines as a sample; they were thinking of carrying it regularly. I think they ended up not doing so, which is a shame because it’s quite a nice tea. However, it’s available from Yunnan Sourcing, so I can always get it there.

The texture is kind of thin for a shou… It doesn’t have too much of a citrus taste; this comes out more in later steeps. Nice, but not what I’d pick when I want a pu-erh specifically. Like most of the fruit-packaged tea I’ve tried, it steeps well both grandpa-style and gongfu.

It has some roasted and chocolate tastes, but nothing too strong. Slightly bitter at times. It almost tastes a tad medicinal, but not in a bad way. There’s faint sweetness on the first steep, but not after that.

Brothy flavour, drying sensation on the tongue. You can really taste the tannins in this one. Nice warming smell. Not really up my alley in terms of flavour profile and sensation, but very much a good quality aged sheng. Despite being two decades old at the time I tried it, the taste was still complex and robust.

I was a little disappointed with this tea. While it wasn’t bad by any means, it’s extremely well-reviewed, and I was expecting it to be quite exceptional as a result. However, at least to me, it was just an average sheng – nothing really special about it. A bit astringent, a bit tart… Not too bitter, probably as a result of being huang pian.

A fairly straightforward green tea, more delicate than some other Chinese greens I’ve tried. It has a slightly dry, slighty bitter herbal taste that reminds me of ‘gunpowder green’ tea, but more complex and better balanced.

It works very well with condensed milk (or condensed coconut milk, if you prefer) and tapioca pearls. By itself it’s somewhat lacklustre. I wouldn’t really call it ‘powder’ exactly; it’s just finely chopped leaves. It won’t dissolve in water, but can be used with any reasonably fine strainer.

Very strong scent and moderate taste of pecans. Some smell of caramel, some of red wine, I think – maybe of oak? All the flavours are balanced, but they almost cancel each other out to some extent. It’s alright, but not an exceptional hei cha to me despite the somewhat unusual flavour profile.

Exceedingly floral! Strong taste and aroma of roses; it’s almost like a Turkish delight without the sweetness. Definitely one of the better teas from the black tea sampler set I ordered from this company. There’s some cocoa taste as well, especially in later steeps, as the rose flavour fades a bit.