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A random Huangshan Maofeng I got as a gift. The leaves were pretty whole with a few buds, slight inconsistencies, while the aroma was rich in nuttiness and floral notes. The liquor is clean and vibrant, and the flavour is decent, tasting very much like a typical decent Chinese green tea. This hurts the tea’s character for me, simply being one-dimensional and too similar to many other teas. Texture is smooth and oily, aftertaste is decent, cha-qi not much, and steep longevity pretty average, topping out at steep 5-6. In the end, I don’t really know much about this tea but it’s an okay daily drinker I guess.

Side note: This will be my last steepster review as I’m starting a tea company in my home country Singapore. Won’t be doing reviews of other company’s teas as that is a conflict of interest in my opinion. To the 6 people who followed me on steepster, thanks for liking my reviews and commenting on occasion, will still be reading your reviews :) If you’d like to check my online shop out, it’s www.sipscollection.com (I will remove the link if steepster mods come knocking, not sure if it’s allowed or not). Have a good day fellas adios

A nice dancong! I got this tea from a local online tea retailer and I decided to brew it in my Chaozhou teapot. I jammed the teapot with leaves and started the session. The leaves were pretty nice, relatively whole and uniform, and the aroma was pretty good as well, with wafting pungent floral and honey notes in the air. Liquor was clean and vibrant, and the flavour was decent as well, albeit having a slight bitter note to it but it was still good. Texture is smooth, slightly oily, slightly juicy, and the finish & aftertaste was really good, with lingering notes of honey and florality refreshing the mouth. Cha qi is okay, slight buzziness, and steep longevity is okay as well, with the tea lasting till around steep 8-9.

There are definitely better Dancongs out there, but this one isn’t bad especially for the price.

Interesting but pretty hard to drink tea. I got this tea last year and completely forgot about it, so I digged it out today and brewed it in my yixing teapot. Nice huangpian leaves albeit slightly more stemmy than usual, a rich dry and wet leaf herbaceous aroma, and a clear and vibrant almond hue liquor. The flavour is quite bitter, with a unique juicy mouthfeel that slightly quenches the astringency. The texture is pretty astringent, and while I am one for astringent teas, this may just cross the line. The finish & aftertaste was okay, nothing amazing. The cha-qi was relatively present, slight buzziness to the tea, and the steep longevity is decent as well, with the tea possibly lasting upwards of steep 10.

A brilliant Dancong! I got this tea from my recent TeaHabitat order, and it definitely doesn’t disappoint. Brewed in a Chaozhou-style porcelain gaiwan with Nongfu spring water, this tea really performs quite well. The leaves are nice and uniform, whole and has a nice dark colour. The aroma in both the dry and wet leaf is moderately strong, with beautiful floral and sweet notes in there. The liquor is clear and vibrant. The taste is wondeful, rich mix of florality and sweetness, with a hint of grassiness and spices added to it. The tea is pretty complex, with a bold character and an interesting nuance to it. Texture is solid, smooth and juicy, with the sweet floral aftertaste lingering in your mouth. The tea has some slight buzziness to it in terms of Cha qi, and the steep longevity is pretty good, lasting up to steep 11-12.

Overall highly recommend despite its steep price, maybe just for a one time experience you know?

Did not live up to my expectation. I got this tea from my recent order with local brand Pekoe & Imp, hoping to try out an exquisite aged baozhong, especially since it costed $1+/g. However, I was mostly disappointed. Beautiful leaves to start off with a nice black and brown sheen to it, but had slightly more stems than I had anticipated. The wet leaf aroma is really nice, pungent, strong, and nuanced in its own right. The dry leaf aroma was lacking however, which was evident when I first opened the packet and when I heated my teaware up. Liquor is very nice, beautiful vibrant reddish hue to it.

Flavour was okay, had to really push the tea to get any decent enough flavour notes. Without that, it was quite weak, but somewhat multi-dimensional with a nice tang to it as well. Reminds me of aged raw pu-er, but having a fluffiness about it as well. Character was not bad, somewhat decent complexity with its own unique citrus note that I thought was interesting. Texture was decent, milky and smooth with some slight astringency at the end. Aftertaste was okay, not much to say about it. The tea did have some effect on me, sitting in and churning my stomach away with a slight buzz to it as well, but nothing substantial. Steep longevity is poor, the tea lasted till steep 5-6, when I expected it to last till 8+.

All in all, not worth the price, probably not a good representation of aged baozhong, and frankly quite disappointing despite showing so much promise at the start. The tea just seemed to run out of steam.

Meh tea I guess. A new tea to put in my stock after not really having bought any at all for the past six months. I got this from a local vendor in the mall near my house, who apparently has an office in Hangzhou as well. This tea was not that great, with leaves that are whole but have little buds in them, indicating lower quality. Aroma was quite weak for the dry leaf, but the wet leaf was decent I guess. Liquor was pretty, beautiful yellow patina around a clear and vibrant red liquor.

Flavour was meh, not much going on other than your usual black tea malty taste with some notes of fruity, floral, and grassiness. Character is quite bland, one-dimensional and not that interesting in my opinion. Texture was decent, nice and smooth with some slight astringency. Aftertaste was also decent, with a pleasant sour acidity popping through at the back of the mouth and on the tongue. Cha qi is non-existent, no real effect on the body, and steep longevity is mediocre, lasting for around 5-6 steeps.

Haven’t had any new teas to review so I thought I’d revisit this one. Seems like the edge of the tea has diminished a bit compared to the last time I drank it, signs that it potentially is starting to age, but overall still a nice tea. Great leaves with decent amount of buds, beautiful aroma both in the dry and wet leaf, vibrant and clear colour of liquor, great flavour full of floral and herbal notes, decent texture with a slight bite, decent character with minor steep variability, decent finish & aftertaste albeit less than last time, cha-qi is somewhat there and semi-potent and steep longevity has reduced to maybe 8 steeps. Overall still good.

Meh tea. I got this tea from my OWT order a while back, and it’s not really that great in my opinion. Decent full leaves with a pretty black-brown colour, with a decent aroma in the dry and wet leaf. Liquor is decent as well, clear and vibrant-maroon. Flavour is not too bad, weak in some areas but does stand out quite a bit compared to other yanchas. Complexity is average, with little steep variability. Texture is average, smooth but nothing special. Finish & aftertaste is nothing special as well, with a slight yan yun expected from yanchas. Steep longevity is mediocre, lasting up to steep 7-8 despite brewing Wuyi style, and cha-qi is weak, almost unnoticeable.

I’ve not done a review in a while thanks to illness but I had to make one for this two weeks old tea I just received as a gift. First of all, beautiful green-yellowish leaves indicative of very early pickings for Longjing (a month before Qingming festival). Seems like warmer weather could have started the harvest earlier. The leaves are plump when wet and verdant green albeit just slightly broken. Aroma is a 10/10, and the smell coming out of a newly opened pouch should be classified as the next world wonder. Yuzu and light citrus yet greenish notes, packed with multitudes of aromas yet rich and clear. The dry leaf is nutty and rich while the wet leaf is overtly green and vegetal. Liquor is a vibrant lime-green, clear yet packed with trichomes.

Taste is extraordinary for the first few steeps, great balance of citrus fruits and vegetal notes, with light lime and nuttiness portrayed as well. Well-balanced and rich. Complexity is wonderful albeit could be a bit better down the steeps. Texture is smooth and oily with a milky sensation that runs through the mouth, finish & aftertaste is one of the best I’ve had with green teas, potent yet well-balanced, smooth and creamy yet strong while still remaining subtle. Cha-qi is small but only slightly noticeable and the steep longevity is better than average, potentially reaching up to steep 8.

A really good tea worthy of a 80+ for me, however it does have its shortcomings in its complexity outside the taste, which denotes why maybe extremely early pickings, although very prized and expensive, may not be the cream of the crop when it comes to the experience in the cup. Still, an experience worth trying for the uninitiated.

Back writing reviews after a while as I was clearing up some old stock that I’ve already reviewed. I got this tea from my OWT order some time back, and it’s quite mid in my opinion. Great and beautiful whole leaves with a slightly weak but unique floral aroma and a decently vibrant liquor. The flavour was decent, definitely unlike most yanchas which was quite nice, but it felt one sided and didn’t have enough balance to the palate. Texture is smooth and juicy, with an interesting character due to it being so different from other yanchas. Finish & aftertaste is decent and the cha-qi is unnoticeable. Steep longevity is mediocre, topping out at steep 8-10.