Hankook Tea

Sipdown. Last of the leaf of this was added to another black to use it up. It added some creaminess to the cup.

200F, 2min, western
Smells of roasted wood. It has a fruity sweetness, though faint. Creamy. I like this one a lot. It’s tasty and consistent from steep to steep.

I got this tea from the LiquidProust group buy but after trying it I really want to purchase some of this tea just for myself. To me this tea tastes a lot like the GABA Oolong from What-cha. Full of cherry/baked cherry notes a beautiful roast and a little bit of a hint of a black tea. This tea is quite complex and really tasty. It doesn’t have a lot of longevity but the steeps that you do get are quite delicious.

Took me a bit to figure this one out. I messed up one gongfu session with it – I think I underleafed. Tried Western style and was unimpressed. Finally, I stuffed as many leaves into my gaiwan as I could, and now its personality is starting to shine. This little guy needs plenty of leaf! A 60ml gaiwan is perfect for such teas, especially when you are frugal (cheap) like me.

Overall, the Cliff’s Notes version of this tea is that it is a nutty black tea. Actually, it sort of smacks you in the face with nuttiness, especially in the first few infusions. I like teas with that kind of power.

Beyond the nuttiness, it has quite a bit of complexity and definitely separates itself from other black teas. it has some interesting fruit notes as well as interesting sweet notes, with hints of caramel, brown sugar, bruleed marshmallow. Every once in a while, it has a very nice tartness to it, but it sort of comes as a surprise – it is not always there and it arrives at random times.

I’m getting to appreciate this tea more and more. It just shows that fiddling around with your brewing parameters will usually pay off with teas that aren’t coming out right.
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Dry leaf: raw walnut; musty, dried dark fruit (raisin, date), some tangy red fruit (red currant); hints of baking spice and milk chocolate. In preheated vessel: some roasted almond nuttiness, tangy fruit more prominent (red currant, mandarin orange)

Smell: roasted almond, cherry wood, bruleed marshmallow

Taste:
Arrival – roasted almond, cherry wood
Development – cherry compote/pie filling, bruleed marshmallow, dark caramel
Finish – all flavors get wiped out
Aftertaste – light red fruit (raspberry, cherry), hint of caramel and brown sugar sweetness, woody notes remain. Some hints of melon (honeydew, cantaloupe).

After a sessions of raw puerh I reached for an oolong to be refreshing and I grabbed this… well, this is more like a black tea with some texture to it. It’s 1am and I’m half asleep, and probably shouldn’t be drinking tea, but this stuff is quite tasty and it gets bonus points for being from South Korea.

I think this will make for some awesome cold brew as well! Maybe that’s what I will do tomorrow… cold brew South Korean teas.

From the LiquidProust 2017 Regional Oolong Group Buy.

The dry leaves smell sweet and sightly woodsy more like an oak barrel than a forest. I’m excited to try a dark tea from South Korea and immediately brew up 5.5g in my 200ml ceramic kyusu.

The liquor infuses into a very pleasant amber color like Lipton done right. The aroma continues to be subdued, only giving me the same oak like sweet malt I got in the dry leaf. It has a fairly thin body and drys the mouth a bit. The taste is at the same time familiar and unique… It takes me back to sitting around the yellow 60’s dining room set having Tetely with milk and sugar as a young child with my grandmother… but at the same time fits my current much more snobbish palette. The tea is malt forward with a wet not overly assertive cinnamon and a balance of a tannic bite with a oak like smoothness and lasting sweetness.

At the third infusion the malty sweetness turns into a bit of fruity tartness , but turning the water temperature to 200F brought it back into that malty sweet spot. Flavorful for about seven infusions (1.5-1.7L of water) with the last two being several minute brews.

My comparisons to bagged black tea were not made in malice, quite the opposite in fact. I think a lot of tea drinkers would appreciate being catapulted back through memories while still being able to genuinely enjoy this tea. This is not a daily drinker, but rather a tea I would love to curl up with on a cold winter day and just for a little while bask in the warmth of my childhood and my grandmothers embrace, forgetting about the million things that are weighing on my adult mind.

On to the second one, randomly grabbing something that sounds like Tekken when you’re drunk of something???

Starts out tasting like grass like cotton candy. Smooth texture with a sweet note throughout. No overpowering green enemy of the meat diet or blades which we wear shoes to avoid.

This is unexpected as the leaf is darker than the previous leaf as well as… stem’ish?

Steep two is quite the same actually which is really pleasant. No bitterness coming out or changing notes.

Steep three is when the vegetable notes actually come out which is later than you’d think, even if we are taking about one to three. I would say something like squash laying around grass on a cool spring day while the sun is shining. Sweet and enjoyable.

The leaf ends up becoming larger than I thought it was as it absorbs the H2O. Continues to brew out longer than your typical green which is great. On to steep five with no reason to continue to comment as this is extra credit and all. This is a pretty solid leaf with longevity and my favorite part about a green when brews long, correctly that is, there is no dry mouth as I sip away cup after cup.

No idea what to expect… but here goes South Korean tea day.

This one was first because I was thirsty and green tea needs less time to heat water and bathe the leaf : )

Yellow tint to the liquid and low aroma. The leaf is really small, but whateve.

The first brew is really smooth. Comparing this to my usual Japanese green will point out that this is wet seaweed opposed to how Japanese teas will be dry seaweed with grass notes. This has that slightly buttered vegetable feel to it that I somewhat like, but usually associate with oolongs. Rather light and easy to drink.

The second brew brought out a bit more color as if the leaf opened, normally something you don’t need to worry about with a green tea. The seaweed taste is backgrounded and now the tea has more of an upfront asparagus taste; no longer a grassy light taste but a hot vegetable.

The leaf has expanded a bit more showing off its choppyness in my 100ml kyusu I use for Japanese greens. Looks a bit more tasty this way. The liquid brews out bit darker and takes on a slight mouth pucker with the darker vegetal notes now as the lightness of the tea is gone. A little mouth dryness from the liquid.

The next few steeps were dying out, but when a green tea dies out it tends to leave a sweetness on the tip of the tongue so I drank a bit more of the next few steeps to see if anything changes… creates a dry mouth : p

Mmm, this tea is delicious! What is it? Well, it’s semi oxidized like an oolong, but missing other processes oolongs usually has, but has similar processes to a black and yellow. Ehhh. I’d lean this one taste wise closer to an oolong.

The tea is smooth and very sweet for an unflavored tea. There is a fruityness (apple pear) to it with a hint of tart. Lots of rich cacao flavor, nutty, roasty and a bit of smoke. It has a richness that normally black tea could have and sweeter than any other tea I’ve had. This tea resteeps very well and is not dry or bitter. I love the flavors in this tea, as well as the mystery on how the processing of this tea gives such a neat combination of flavors..

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/hwang-cha-gold-oxidized-korean-tea-hankook-tea/

By the way, this is for the Gold grade Hwang Cha – first flush sejak. Hankook Tea also sells this tea in Amber grade (second flush) and in tea bag form.

Whoa, a twist! Jungsun is the cheaper Korean green tea offering from Hankook Tea. This one has more corn, barley and hay flavor than grassy green. Delicious sweetness too. This one reminds me of korean barley tea. Very unique flavor for a green tea!

Full review (plus 3 other Korean green teas) on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jaksul-cha-korean-green-teas/

Doo Mool is an organic Korean tea – this one a second flush sporting a marine, unami and savory green tea flavor that has an even flavor throughout the sip. This green would be perfect for someone who likes a more savory tea. In comparison (and probably personal taste) I preferred the other Korean green teas I tried from Hankook Tea more.

Full review (plus 3 other Korean green teas) on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jaksul-cha-korean-green-teas/

Of all the 4 Korean green teas I sampled from Hankook Tea, this one is hands down my favorite! Teuksun is complex – it is a mix of first and second flush teas, so you get that delicate, sweet and smoothness, but with a more robust grassy depth and a sweet tart finish! Love it!

Full review (plus 3 other Korean green teas) on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jaksul-cha-korean-green-teas/

Korean Green Tea Time!

Gamnong is one of the higher priced offerings at Hankook Tea. This one is a first flush grade that tastes delicate, fresh, clean, crisp, creamy, light floral and grass notes. So sweet and delicate. The steeped leaves are a beautiful vibrant green! Wow!

I’d compare this tea to say the luxury of drinking a Gyokuro, with Gamnong being much more delicate, sweet and not very grassy.

Full review (plus 3 other Korean green teas) on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/jaksul-cha-korean-green-teas/

I actually purchased this at World Tea Expo last year from the Hankook Tea booth. It was an odd sorta beast – powdered Korean sejak leaves. But they did their best impression of a Japanese matcha I’ve ever come across.

The stuff fluffs up nicely into bubbles when whisked, the color is pretty, and the taste is very…uh…sejak-ish with more of a matcha kick. Basically, like a green tea espresso.

I’ve practically been emptying my li’l tin of this stuff for the last two weeks while various plagues have gone through both my apartment at work. So far, I’m holding up fine…if a tad bit over-caffeinated.

One such over-caffeinated adventure can be found here: http://steepstories.com/2014/03/07/teaity-chat-adventure/

Looks cool. Leaves range in color from dark green to off-white. Smells and tastes kind of like oolong but more vegetal, like a sencha. Very good.

Has a little bit of a green vegetable flavor, like the stalk of an artichoke maybe but pretty mild.

I received this – and two other Korean green tea samples – directly from Hankook several months back. What took me so long to get to them? Um…unicorns? (I have no good reason.)

Hwang Cha instantly held my fascination because it was dubbed a “yellow” tea. However, it was not to be confused with Chinese yellow tea – Huang Ya. I’m not sure how this one is classified. Is it an oolong? Is it a black tea? I have no clue.

Point is, it’s a beast unto itself. It’s nutty, it’s sweet, it’s slightly smoky…it’s hard to classify. As are Korean green teas.

Full [fictional] write-up here: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2012/09/06/everybody-hwang-cha-tonight-gamnong-style/

I have a pretty big sweet tooth but the abundance of sweetness found in this infusion is not the same sweetness you get with sugar. It reminds me of artificial sweetners (like equal or stevia).

Very light and uplifting. It feels like a cloud lifting up in your mouth – this effect comes a few seconds after I swallow.

I’m not too fond of drinking it by itself. But it’s a perfect herb to blend with other teas to add a bit of sweetness and to mask acidity (great with persimmon leaf or lotus leaf).

Because it can’t technically be categorized as a “oolong”, it should not be tasted like one. The most significant difference is that this tea is not good more multiple steepings (like a traditional oolong would be).

The first steeping has a very smooth texture. The taste notes that can be picked up are fruity, nutty, roasted and (my favorite) chocolatey!

Because this tea is made with first flush leaves, the leaves are very small and delicate. As with all delicate tea, one must be very careful about the temperature of the water and the steep time. To get that chocolate flavor, one must especially pay close attention to these factors.

I love drinking a hot infusion of this tea with a piece of dark chocolate – heaven in my mouth!

The taste drops drastically in the second steeping.
I would describe it as becoming more “sharp” in flavor – the smoothness and roundness of the texture are pretty much gone. Preferring the smooth texture, I usually only steep it once or twice. The loose version is fairly pricey (especially if I only drink the first couple infusions). I go for the teabags, which works just as well. :)

I wouldn’t try to treat an illness with this leaf, but the sweet, spicy, delicious brew made from it is certainly cheerful and heartening on a chilly day in winter when your head is stuffy. I tried this on my first trip to Hankook’s store, and I bought several other items so was offered a sample cup of any of their teas. I picked this one because I remembered a reference to a hydrangea tea somewhere in my tea wanderings online, and I was delighted from the first sip. It is very very sweet, but I don’t find it cloying.

I use one or two leaves per 6-8 oz cup of tea, boiling water, and infuse grandpa style, directly in the cup, waiting at least 5 minutes for the first sips. My first sample cup was nearly 16 oz from 2 leaves, and I got another full infusion out of it at home.

It is very very expensive, but a little goes a LONG way. Highly recommended as a treat.

I also once brewed it up with a cinnamon stick too, and that was an exceptionally delicious cup.

A nice straightforward green tea.