Han Xiang Ecological Tea

My first jinjunmei! Thank you, Dexter! :D

I’ve had three steeps so far, and I think I’m going to have to stop because my tummy is super upset with me. I may have had mac and cheese at lunch, and I maybe shouldn’t be eating dairy…

Dry leaf smells delicious and malty and grainy, almost like toasted grains.

Steeped, it smells almost fruity with the toasted grains. Maybe a little sour? Not sure, something might be off with me today because the other tea struck me as sour as well.

30s: Very strong, malty, grainy, a bit toasted. Fruits in the background. I’m not sure if I like this, it’s so in-your-face, and not in a delightful wake-me-up way, either.

1min: Still quite strong, malty, grainy. This is better for sure, as it’s mellowed out. Still not my favourite.

1min 30s: Ahh, this is more like it. Grainy toasty tea with some stone fruits peeking through. Still not my favourite, but totally drinkable. It feels almost creamy as well, but that doesn’t bring the other flavours together – the creaminess is distinct from the grains and fruits. It’s not what I was expecting.

Thanks for sharing, Dex, but I don’t think this particular one is for me! (At least it’s not dirt tea… :D )

I’ve had this sample for awhile which came with one of my orders. I’ve had my favourite milk oolongs from other companies so I wasn’t expecting a lot. Perhaps that’s why it took me so long to get around to even trying this sample.

It was quite a surprise. I haven’t kept detailed notes on this but I brewed gong fu and it is an extremely floral milk oolong! A little bit less milky/creamy than other milk oolongs but the floral notes are amazing. And it just doesn’t quit! 4th infusion and the floral notes are still strong! It’s also very fresh tasting. Drat! I could have added this to my last order if only I’d tried my sample sooner. Right now it’s only $8.97 for 250g. So tempting!

Another from dexter as some know, jin jun mei’s are hit or miss for me. this one? it’s weird. there’s like a fruity taste running through a more malty sort of tea taste… i think this one is more miss for me but mostly because it’s a really strange taste for me today lol thanks dex!

Well, this matches the picture! So I’m gonna go with it. The label Dexter wrote has “High Grade Yunnan Dian Hong 2014” on it. :)

I’m doing this in my cute travel tea set… 1/2 the baggie (about 2 tbsp loose leaves, whoa) and 120-ish ml water. I did a super fast rinse, and I’ve been steeping until it looks and smells tasty. :D It’s a fairly light tea, but strong on the sweet potato and malt flavours. Wow. Very strong. Even with my short steeps, that’s pretty much all I’m getting.

Interestingly, people have noted meat and smoke tastes. I don’t feel quite that way about it (as in, it’s not a dominant flavour for me), but I can see taste where they’re coming from. With longer steeps, there’s an astringency on the teeth, and almost a bitter polish sausage shop flavour of smoked meat on the back of the tongue. You know. The shops that have their own smoke house and smoke their own stuff? Those shops.

Anyways, this is really interesting. I don’t think I love it, but I really appreciate being able to try it. Thank you, Dexter!

This an interesting tea. It doesn’t taste much like I expect a Keemun to taste. It’s very mineral-y and a bit sweet with some wood notes. But not as earthy I as I would have thought. I would be lovely, but the mineral notes are really overpowering everything else. The leaves are gorgeous. Quite curly and speckled with lots of gold. Overall, not a bad tea. I wouldn’t buy it again but it won’t be a hassle to go through the oz or so I have.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this one. It’s really assertive. It’s almost too sweet potato, too malty. I want to say unbalanced but I can’t figure out what it’s lacking. It’s not really bitter, not astringent – I almost want to say burnt – but not smokey, not roasty. It’s not smooth – kind of rough around the edges. I’m not sure. Interesting, strange, not sure I like it. I’m drinking the third steep and it hasn’t mellowed at all.
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I’m not sure this is the correct listing or not. I’m drinking this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fujian-tea-High-quality-Jin-jun-mei-10-bags-of-Free-shipping-Black-tea/2012108253.html
It’s fabulous. Icky packaging – amazing tea.
http://instagram.com/p/xk4_rMuE7i/?modal=true

I like this better than the other black I was drinking tonight.
This is a decent Yunnan black, but I’m not sure that it’s really special. It’s smooth and gentle, pretty sweet, classic sweet potato – nothing offensive, but just normal. I’m not sure if I’m finding it lacking because the other one was SOOOO assertive that this just seems mild. Reserving final judgement for another night.
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Sipdown! This was a really nice Jin Jun Mei, especially for the price I paid. It was a good balance between roasty malty-ness and sweeter chocolate notes. I did detect an odd mineral note in this one though. Almost metallic. It wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying the tea, but I picked up on it throughout the cup. Because of that I don’t think I would order this one again, but it’s still really lovely. I liked the other Jin Jun Mei from the same seller a bit better.

Got this as a sample with my first Aliexpress order. I was mostly interested in a black tea that yyz had reviewed but the most amazing teas to me have been this white and a green.

This tea tastes pretty much like a green. It’s sweet , nutty, slightly astringent. It brews up a medium amber colour which is quite dark for a white. I think I read somewhere that this tea is really a green but called a white in it’s name. I have no idea but it is very “green” tasting. It’s very good and I would consider buying more of this. Delicious!

I was really curious about this tea after yyz reviewed it. So much that I placed my very first Aliexpress order. I should have known better. I tend to like lighter teas and this tea is for those that love dark full bodied teas.

I was afraid of it being too strong for me so I brewed at 200F for 1 1/2 min. That was very strange because all the elements that made this tea what it was still came through but were weak. So on the 2nd brewing I brewed it longer. It didn’t matter weak or strong it still was toooo strong for me.. I could pick up stewed fruit. It was very sweet like honey & molasses & malty. There was also a spicy note in there which was very faint. Kinda like the chilli note yyz got.

Strange , but I have loved some blacks that do have a malty, molasses, flavour. This one had something about it that made it stronger. Anyway, glad I didn’t buy a full size of this, only sample size.

Actually this tea review is for this one and Royal Tea Bay – Rizhao. I’ve got RTB -Rizhao 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.

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.

This tea from HXET has always been really good and this harvest is still holding true.

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.

I love this tea! I didn’t really leave a proper review last time so I’m doing it now. Just finished my kickboxing workout this morning so it’s nice to relax with a wonderful cup of tea.

Dry the leaves are tiny twisted dark green and I could smell spinach from the dry a bit.

Brewed at 185 , 8 oz, 2 min, 1 tsp. Mmmmm. Sweet, buttery and spinach. I can smell the spinach in the aroma. This tea to me seems like it borders between some Japanese teas and the Chinese teas. The spinach seems to give it that umani that the Japanese greens have. Then there’s the rich nutty, butter flavour. I only have one little package left of this which is 2 cups so this is one tea that I will definitely have to order more of. It’s like a cup of heaven.

There’s nothing in this review from a few days ago and yet I was sure I left a review! Darn! I remember I loved this tea but now I don’t recall what stood out about it.

Oh wait, a sniff of the dry leaves sparks my memory. Butter. Yep, it was super buttery , almost thick. Spinach too. Like thick creamed buttery spinach.

Well, I’ll just have to have it again in the next few days to leave a proper review.

This is another sample graciously sent to me be cookies. I love the look of this tea and brewed up it had a nice aroma…but drinking this is weird. it’s sort of like musty water…but not. It’s not smokey or sweet – two profiles that i’ve been used to in the keemuns that i’ve tried. It’s just like thick water…that tastes like books smell? lol I dunno..not describing this very well. It’s not a BAD tea..but its 100% not what i would expect from a keemun. haha thanks for the experience cookies! :)

oh cookies you spoil me! I pulled this one out this morning because i was super excited to get the swap from cookies and didn’t want to wait to try at least a couple of the teas. This one is not the smoked variety of lapsang. Brewed it reminds me of my LB but with and oolong taste in the background. I am really enjoying this one. It’s smooth and slightly bready and malty and there’s some cocoa happening in the background. And even though there’s that oolongy taste hanging out a little, it’s not too bad. heh thanks for the share cookies!

noms. Pulled this one out today because i wanted a yunnan. After organising my cupboard yesterday, i need to get cracking on a few more of my samples so that I can feel like things are under control. I think i prefer the version of this one from Yunnan Sourcing that i’ve had before. they’re both good teas, but teh one from YS has a heavier feel in the mouth than this one – which is a little wimpy for me :)

Nice to try this one again from dexter. Still not sure where i land on it so i’m glad i have a little to play with

Last of the teas from Han Xiang Ecological Tea that Cameron B. sent my way. This tea is a sweet, malty sort of tea….but with that very clearly “yunnan” taste, which i guess is sweet potatoe? toe toe toe toe…poooooo taaaaay tooooooooeeee… obviously, i’m tired this morning.. lol

this is another tea from cameron B. this is a sweet yunnan tea with a little bit of fruitiness and some bready notes. It’s a little weak for my preferences, especially this late/early in an overnight but it’s not a bad tea. I prefer the others that cameron sent me from this company though :)

I’m running late today – i have to be down to the office this afternoon and still have a couple errands i need to try and wrap up before i get down there. Not to mention packing up some tea so that i can make a fresh cup or two tonight. While making a very late breakfast (even terri was up before me today!) i pulled out this one. I’ve never been a crazy omg fan of jin jun mei’s. It’s not that i don’t like them, but i’ve never found them to be as amazing as my tea sister or others. That being said, i have had a couple really great ones that i’ve enjoyed. This one is middle of the road for me. I’m really enjoying the almost chocoaltey, sweet notes in this one, which are tempered by a little bit of maltiness. quite an enjoyable tea while making breakfast :) thanks again cameron!

CarmeronB sent this one my way so that i could try it. I’m having a hard time describing this one today…it reminds me of chai…but not all cloves and whatever…but something about this makes me think of warm comforting chai with a splash of honey, steeped in milk, simmering on the stovetop. It’s not an overly bold, strong tea but it is delicious. I quite like this one as well. thanks cameron!

thanks again for letting me revisit this one dexter i am a fan of this one…cocao, amlty and sweet… noms!