Taiwan Sourcing

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Recent Tasting Notes

97

Very enjoyable tea. So like oolongs that I have tried in ways, but with a variety of other flavors that must come from the green tea. I’m no tea expert, but I thought this tea was fresh and sweet, with grassy and nutty notes. Very slight and good bitterness. The sweet potato flavor is quite present and pleasant as well. Different and lovely!

Flavors: Grass, Nutty, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Thick

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 2 OZ / 60 ML

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92

I am definitely a fan of Lala region teas smile emoticon The initial wet leaf aroma is incredibly rich and fruity. I wanted to leave my face buried in the gaiwan. I did brief steeps with boiling water. Light nectar-like flavors emerged alongside subtle fruitiness. As I steeped the tea more and more the fruity and floral qualities developed fully and very satisfyingly. I enjoyed this tea from start to finish and thought the leaf material was also very beautiful. Happy tasty tea!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 6 g

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85

This tea was very good. It was heavily roasted. The roast profile was prominent for about six steeps. There was a sweeter note that began to emerge about this time. The roast profile was still noticeable for another four steeps. Only in the last two steeps was this sweet note the main note. Another reviewer mentioned notes of buttery and cream. I suppose that is one valid interpretation of the sweet note that was behind the roast. I did notice the GABA starting in steep eight. Overall I liked this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve time in a 120 ml gaiwan with 7.9g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.

Flavors: Roasted, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
Cathy Baratheon

What did the GABA feel like for you?

AllanK

Sort of a pleasant light headedness is the best way I can describe it. A mild euphoria too. None real strong mind you.

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92

This is an excellent and I think high quality black tea from Taiwan Sourcing. I was expecting to western brew this today before work, but I couldn’t sleep this morning so I got out of bed and had a gongfu session with this tea. There were two main notes to this tea, both on the lighter side, malt and chocolate. There may have been a third note but I really didn’t pick up on it. I bought 150g of this tea so I’m glad it’s good. I suspect that in the future this will get western brewed before work when I normally don’t have time for gongfu but I am glad to have gongfu brewed this at least once. I didn’t really notice much qi off of this tea. It may have some but I’m not feeling it. This is an excellent tea. It’s nice that both flavors work well together, neither is too strong. I should also note that I really didn’t find any bitterness to this tea.

I brewed this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.4g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The leaves were not quite done. I could have gotten a couple more steeps out of them.

Flavors: Chocolate, Malt

Preparation
Boiling 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
ccrtea

Nice, glad you like it. I just placed an order yesterday that included 25g of this.

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100

This tea is delicious! Very floral and buttery. Hardly any bitterness, it is mellow and satisfying with a delightful aroma. It brought to mind toasted coconut and honeysuckle. It feels thick in the mouth, and nourishing. I could drink it often. Brewed Gong Fu style, 5 grams in a 60ml gaiwan. Washed for 15 seconds, first infusion 15 seconds, 2nd infusion 20-25 seconds, and so on.

Flavors: Butter, Cannabis, Coconut, Creamy, Honeysuckle, Nectar, Pastries, Roasted, Sweet, Thick

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 2 OZ / 60 ML

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80

First infusion: Wet leaves, smell very floral. Lily, orchid, and hint of jasmine. Undercurrent of overripe fruit. Maybe peach and a little strawberry. Old book pages / not unpleasant. Light tan / yellow liquor. Not much scent on liquor – immediate tannic bite, dissipates quickly. Trails off to lasting sweetness. Mild / pleasant. Some fruit at back of palate. 2nd – more raisin. On the nose of the leaves, fresh farm summer days. Dark golden color. Pleasant, velvety body, very subtle aroma. Slight cooling after swallows, pleasant lingering presence but no astringency. Pleasant woodiness.

Flavors: Floral, Jasmine, Orchid, Peach, Raisins, Strawberry

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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90

Got this as a free sample with my order a while back. Just now getting around to trying it. It’s one of their lass expensive oolongs but it’s quite good. It’s got a note that people would call buttery even if it doesn’t quite seem that way to me. It’s not too grassy or vegetal but is nice and sweet. I would really be tempted to order more of this tea. It is quite good. I have enough of the sample left for one more gongfu session. I should also note there was very little bitterness to this tea.

I brewed this eight times in a 129ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. So far I have to say I have not gotten anything that wasn’t good from Taiwan Sourcing.

Flavors: Butter, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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89

This is excellent tea. I bought a sample of this a while back. Unfortunately they are now sold out. Like everything I seem to buy from Taiwan Sourcing it is good. It is a pleasant mix of sweet, and a little bit of astringent with a little bit of bitter. It is a greener oolong with some grassy notes too of course. It is not roasted. This is one I would be tempted to buy more of if it was still in stock. Ah well, whats the saying, you snooze you lose. I will enjoy the rest of my sample. I have enough for perhaps three more tea sessions or so.

I brewed this ten times in a 100ml gaiwan with 5.4g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 454 sec, and 1 min. I could definitely resteep this a few more times if I wasn’t at my caffeine limit for the day.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Grass, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
90

This tea is quite good. It has a fairly light roast profile. It has a sweetness behind the roast. I’d say the roast was noticeable for four or five steeps. It is very tasty. I brewed this eight times and am sure I could have gotten a few more steeps out of it but I was at my caffeine limit.

I brewed this eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 7.1g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. The leaves really opened up during this ten minutes. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. The tea was not watery in the eighth steep. I could have gotten more out of it had I wanted more caffeine.

Flavors: Roasted, Sweet

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 7 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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I’ve totally been remiss at posting notes. Sorry all! I enjoyed this tea for the second time today while baking cookies. It’s roasty and creamy, and gets slightly sweeter in later infusions. It kind of reminded me of the dong ding I had from Tea Ave, but not fruity really. It tasted yummy with the cookies and I got several steps out of it. My gaiwan was bursting with the leaves as they unfurled. Thanks to boychik for convincing me to pick this up. It’s very cozy.

boychik

cookies +tea=yum

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Knowing that I needed to take a new oolong to work, I picked this out because it was my free sample.
At first I looked at it like: thankfully I took this to work because it looks like ‘free sample’ quality to me.
So I began brewing these small beat up pieces of oolong that I wouldn’t consider to look good. The first steep was full of that sweet oolong aroma! The mouth feel was in that high zone, not the best but it is clearly noticeable. As for the texture, it’s there. This might be a bit on the salty side, but once you get through six+ steeps you will see that there are multiple leaf inside that stem that looks like it’s holding a ripped up leaf. I even found one to have 5 leaves coming from it :)
This was probably one of the better samples I’ve ever received from a vendor. This was unexpected though as it doesn’t look or smell like what it taste and smells like when it brews. I’ll be looking at the winter crop for my next order for sure because if it has some of that more woodsy notes within the backtone of floral… that’d be sweet.

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86

I found this to be light and delicate, with a mild honey note. Early steeps tasted on the green side, later steeps were a bit deeper with more pronounces honey. Seems like it has a good caffeine kick to it. A bit light for me, but still good.

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94

This is an excellent tea. Like the name says, it does actually remind me of grapefruit nectar. It has the honey sweetness expected from a ‘bug bitten’ oolong, coupled with a sweet citrusy note that is slightly bitter, just like grapefruit! I was amazed at how durable and productive the leaves were. It held up as well as a solid pu erh, I think I got a good 10 infusions before it petered out. It reminded me of one of those ‘drink now’ sweet pu erhs we’ve been seeing lately. Overall this was quite delicious!!

Ubacat

Is that an unflavoured oolong? From the name I assumed it was but then I saw the name Taiwan Sourcing and I don’t think they sell artificially flavoured teas. It sounds pretty good.

Rich

It is not flavored. It is one really good tea!

Ubacat

I’ll have to try that one—once I get my 200 teas in my cupboard sipped down!

Rich

Ain’t that the way…. I hear you on that one…

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The first of the gaba teas from TS I ordered from the sampler during Black Friday.
Ended up drinking three different sessions to get a decent grasp on how I felt about this tea. While I now great things are going to come from TS, this one just didn’t give me ‘wow’ I was looking for. While the third and fourth steep are quite enjoyable, something about the mild smell contributes to something I taste s mildew. I don’t believe all gaba have such a taste to it because I’ve had two more (one of which was also a TS tea). I think it has something to do with the roast profile of this tea. I’ll try the other s from TS and see how they compare.

Rich

I have a sample of this on the way. Will have to see if I detect a similar mildew note

Liquid Proust

It’s possible it is me; I am very picky with my roasted oolong.

Daylon R Thomas

I got the mildew. This one was way too brothy for me. I still have some and have yet to drink any of more. It might make a better cooking tea, though.

Daylon R Thomas

With that said, the GABA Oolong is less roasted and very muscatel. It actually tasted a lot like a Darjeeling. The GABA Green is a bit more like a golden lily oolong (Jin Xuan for a reason) but still more on that spectrum if you haven’t had it.

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This is the first tea I’m trying from Taiwan Sourcing’s ‘Summer 2015 Black and Oolong’ sampler pack. I’ve been steeping it in different ways over the last couple of days, and I’ve found my perfect cup at about 5-6g with 1-minute steeps in boiling water in my 200ml Yixing pot.

It’s a beautiful mellow cup, with warm, honey-like sweetness and a soft, silky mouthfeel. It has a very mild fresh lemon astringency, and the scent of the liquor and wet leaves is a gorgeous combination of honey and baking bread.

Steeped for 1-minute steeps, it’s smooth and mellow; steeped for 2 minutes, it becomes very bold and has a much darker black-tea taste; coppery and a bit malty – it does taste a little over-steeped with the longer time, but still quite well balanced between astringent and smoothly sweet.

Flavors: Bread, Honey, Lemon

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec 6 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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95

I’m going to be leaving town soon, and I knew I had to try this before I left. This tea is beautiful, and I am most grateful for an opportunity to try. The leaves are long, intact, and graciously delicate. I gave them a whiff and picked up some dried and fermented fruit tones. I warmed my gaiwan up, and I got ready to brew these treasures up. I placed a fairly decent amount in my warmed gaiwan, and I let them sit. I sat back in my chair and took time to think about what this tea really is. This is a historical brew. This tea has seen more time than I have, and it has stayed intact and ready to be enjoyed. I love the idea of drinking a piece of history. I love the thought that this tea has sat waiting for decades, and it decided to show up on my doorstep. I returned back from my daydreams and lifted the gaiwan lid. I picked up so many complex tones. The aroma began with a sweet plum and then quickly moved into a spiced persimmon. This scent carried into smoothed mahogany with some candied rhubarb. The steam scents ended with some ripe pipe tobacco and remnants of tree sap. I sat for quite some time to take in this buffet of scents. I washed the leaves, and I drank the rinse. The rinse had a nice body, clean sweetness, and was subtly tangy. In my opinion, the drink itself was more for the experience rather than the taste. This is not to say that this tea tasted poorly, for it was an exquisite flavor profile. However, I have had more palette pleasing sessions. The taste begins with sweet candied dark fruit and light aged wood. This brew is subtle yet a full mouth-feel. I picked up a sweet twisted tang on the tongue after every sip. The brew moves from antiquated woods to dried red fruits. The mid session brings about a nice lasting sweetness with rustic tobacco flavors. Oddly, this brew faintly reminds me of a higher quality Old Bear Fangcha (W2T). The flavor drops off incredibly slowly and becomes sweeter and smoother. This brew is spectacularly smooth and clean throughout the entire session. I’m amazed at how this has been stored so purely for such a long span of time. The tea lasts forever and can brewed over and over. I was able to let it steep and walk away without any bitterness or astringency occurring. The final note is about the qi. The feeling this tea gifted me is something phenomenal. There is a slight and subtle feeling at the get-go. The sensation begins in the head and repeatedly rushes the body with a wave of warmth. The feeling then moves into a more whimsical flight prescience. Afterwards, the sensation calms the body and gives a debilitating effect. Finally, the sensations circulates throughout body. I experience a deep warmth and uplifted feeling. I loved this tea, and I’m grateful to experience it. I usually don’t ramble, but I always want to give the good ones their proper spotlight.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_u795LTGYR/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Flavors: Dark Wood, Dried Fruit, Raspberry, Red Fruits, Rhubarb, Sap, Smooth, Sweet, Tobacco

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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85

Nothing really further to add from the first note. I had this after the Jasmine, and I actually prefer the jasmine. Weird.

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85

Nice oolong=which means a good tea, but had different expectations of it. Honey (Mi Xiang= “Honey Fragrance”) is the strongest note in smell and taste. Overall aroma was nutty with minerals and dried fruits. I thought that this oolong was going to be greener, but it turned out to be much darker than I imagined. I’ve had bug bitten oolongs before and this definitely ranks as one of them, but it tastes like something between a Dan Cong (maybe a Rou Gui) and a high mountain green oolong, maybe a jade.

It’s got a fruit note that I’m not sure how to describe. Mildly peachy, but more floral and honey like. Nectar, even. Honeysuckle and orchid for sure. Also kinda creamy, but like a fruity creamy. A bit nutty too. Gong Fu is preferred, but Western is by no means bad for fewer leaves of this tea.

Other than the GABA oolongs I had, this is my second favorite of the Simple Joy of Tea sampler. I’d recommend it and definitely recommend it for a green tea lovers and oolong lovers. Something to try if experimenting, but more for people who know what they are looking for. Newer drinkers might be intrigued, but as for my mom, it just tasted like a good green tea for her. So good, but it might be overpriced for you guys.

Flavors: Creamy, Floral, Fruity, Honey, Honeysuckle, Mineral, Nectar, Nuts, Orchid, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 236 ML

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88

This tea is pretty good. It is sweet with mineral notes is the best description I can give. It had a fair amount of astringency to it too. It is not roasted. It had fair lasting power as I gave it ten steeps and all indications are it would have gone a few more steeps. It was sweet enough so as to need no sugar. A year ago I would have added sugar to this tea. This is probably my last gongfu session for another week as I am going to have to pack my last gaiwan after this session as I begin moving tomorrow.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.1g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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I’m an aroma junkie, and this tea makes me happy. Its got a sweetly spiced anise fragrance that is mildy malty, mildly bready, and slightly cooling in a mint-like way.

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90

I’m so tempted to raise the rating. I got the perfect combo this time. 190 F, 6 ounce vessel, at around two very light tea spoons of tea. I was eyeballing it really. Nevertheless, Gong Fuing it at 15 sec (maybe closer to twenty-the aroma was my indicator), then 20, it was sweet creamy and nutty goodness. The Jasmine was mega strong, but for whatever reason it was so creamy that it made me think of ice cream. The heat of the water with the tea’s sweetness was like the brain freeze of eating freshly opened pistachio ice cream.

It could just be my imagination. This really is one of my personal top teas-I just to need to figure out how to be consistent with it.

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90

Only one day until the blind samples of oolong arrives. I’m very excited, Andrew. Very excited indeed. A part of me was thinking about sending some samples your way of the Eco-Cha Shan Lin Xi once I get it, but that might take to long.

I decided that more oolong in the place of anticipated oolong would do me good. And happily, this made a good morning tea. I used a traditional porcelain tea pot and cup. The pistachio nuttiness that I often describe shined through as much as the jasmine. However, there was a woody bitterness and grassy astringency. Basically, I brewed it with too many leaves. I was able to get some wonderful cups in steeps of 30-45 seconds for a pot 2/3rds full-more or less than a cup and half. 11 ounces could be more accurate.

Maybe less leaves next time. Learning more brewing parameters is so much fun.

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