What-Cha

Another one that reminds me of horses….D:
There’s a slight sweet potato flavor going on, but not enough to make me really like it. Really wanted to like it though :/ What a shame. Oh well. Maybe What-Cha is not for me :S

Okay, this is the first What-Cha tea sample of the day that I actually kinda like. It’s different. Didn’t really know what to expect, but it’s pretty good.
It’s pretty malty, which is weird since it’s a white tea. Kinda expected it to taste like hay and have a really light flavor. But I taste malt, which makes me feel like I’m drinking a black tea. :O
I don’t know if I like it or not. I have mixed feelings.
I can’t pick out the other flavor. It’s malty and something else. Not bad. I look forward to sipping down the rest of this one and figuring out what I think of it. It’s definitely one of the best white teas I’ve had so far. xD

And this one just tasted like leather and ink.XD Wow, I am one picky tea drinker. I have really really off taste buds clearly 0_0

No…Just no. xD
I don’t know why this one tastes like horse manure…but it does to me. Maybe I have been in the country way too long. I already hate living by horses, and I hate when I taste those smells in my tea.
not for me!

On the package it said to use 1-2 pearls. I used two because I never really know how those big pearls work while steeping. And I don’t know…it just turned out really strong, and I couldn’t explain it at all. I tried re-steeping it for a shorter time and it still was strong and I couldn’t pick out the flavors.
I didn’t really like it, but there was a hint of something that might get me to really like it in it too….
So I am going to withhold a rating till I try this again. Next time I am only gonna use one pearl. Maybe then it will turn out better. ><

Whew, spent a lot of time in kitchen today (and there’s more to come), so it’s nice to sit down and relax with a hot mug of tea. I chose this one to try because it was the first black tea I saw in my What-Cha sample pile. And I’m happy that it was, because now that I think about it, a smooth Chinese black sounds particularly good. The leaves are fairly large and quite twisty, and a dark, warm chocolate brown in color. Dry scent is amazingly sweet with hay and molasses tones.

The steeped tea also smells quite sweet with molasses, honey, and raisin aromas. Mm, wow. This tea has such rich and deep flavor with a dark and comforting sweetness. There’s a bit of malt, but the main flavors I can taste are sweet and rich molasses, a touch of tobacco, and some syrupy, sweet dried fruits such as fig and date. Also some raisin perhaps. Dark and delicious! I would recommend this one to any fruity black tea lover.

Good morning Steepster! Gah, I don’t even know what to do with myself with all of these new teas to try. I have so many black teas to choose from in particular. Oh well, gotta start somewhere! I thought this would be a good first tea of the day because it mentions briskness on the package. The leaves vary a lot in size, and there are pieces of stem as well. In the package, the tea smells somewhat spicy and malty. If I dump some tea into my hand to smell, it smells more mellow and sweet. Odd!

This is one of those teas that just doesn’t have much aroma. And that’s no fault of it’s own, it’s just the way it is. Whoa, this is an interesting one. At first taste, it seems very musty and hay-like. But it becomes creamier and maltier as the sip progresses. The flavor is actually really light and not brisk at all. There’s also a somewhat vegetal flavor, I think? It’s odd, the flavor disappears before I have much time to think about it, leaving just a light malty aftertaste.

Backlog:

Silver Needle teas are among the most delicate teas that I’ve tasted and while this is also a delicate Silver Needle, it’s not as delicate as a Chinese Silver Needle would be.

I got quite a few lovely infusions from this tea. The earliest infusions were sweet, haylike, with hints of melon-like flavors and a crisp, floral note. Later infusions proved to be even sweeter than the earliest infusions.

Very little astringency with this tea. Just smooth, lovely flavor.

A really good silver needle. I’d recommend this to those who think that silver needle teas are too subtle. This one’s very flavorful.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/08/kenya-silver-needle-white-tea-from-what-cha-tea/

Being forced to be in the family room to do my computer work is really sapping my inspiration, you would think a bright room with lots of windows would make me happy, but nope. Not sure why but I have never liked this room and I avoid it at all costs, soon, my power cord will be here. Sadly that is all the intro I can muster today, so on to tea!

So, it is Wednesday, meaning that my journey to try all of What-Cha’s teas continues! Today we are looking at Nepal 2nd Flush 2014 Silver Needle White Tea, a fuzzy tea after my own heart. What can I say, I love fuzzy teas, be they gold or silver! This particular tea comes from the high mountains of Nepal, specifically the pesticide free Greenland Organic Farm, this is one of several teas I have had from this farm, and I can say from the past teas that they all have a distinct mountain air taste and feel to them. I am completely ok with admitting that might be a ‘mind over matter’ thing, knowing the teas come from such a mountainous place. Like a little bit of the spirit of the place has entered the leaf and come along for me to enjoy, a mini vacation in a cup. The leaves have a subtle sweet and green aroma, blending a bit of fresh hay and sweet corn with distinct herbaceous notes of sage and lettuce. It is dominated by the more herbaceous note and finished with a tiny note of tomato leaf. The aroma reminds me a bit of a blend of the more traditional Chinese silver needle and Kenyan silver needle, which is pretty neat.

Whoa! After a steeping in my gaiwan, the aroma of the leaves did a massive transition to sweetness. The aroma is a blend of sweet grass, fresh hay, apricot, a tiny touch of sesame nuttiness, and a finish that is some intense mouthwatering honeysuckle. The liquid also pretty sweet with dominating notes of honey and apricot, with a backup band of hay and sweet sesame paste.

Ah, I love the first steep of silver needles, and fuzzy teas in general, they always tickle my mouth ever so gently and it makes me giggle. Trichome power! Fuzziness aside, the taste is a pretty neat blend of sweet and leafy, there are notes of honeysuckle and sweetcorn along with sage and lettuce. The finish is a distinct juicy apricot that lingers for while between sips.

Second steeping time! The aroma of this steeping is sweet and fruity with notes of honeysuckle and apricots and a pleasantly refreshing sage finish. The taste starts off with cooling and slightly dry notes of sage and lettuce which transitions pretty cleanly into sweet corn and sesame seeds. I say transitions cleanly because really the transition is crazy smooth, none of this early 2000s era Power Point checkerboard transitions, this is straight up sideswipe…ok, that got a little weird, but hopefully you can see my point. The finish of the second steep takes the same path as the first steep and finishes with sweet and juicy apricot. I said at the beginning of my rambling that this tea is like a blending of Chinese and Kenyan silver needle, and after tasting it I certainly stand by that, it blends the notes from both teas in a really tasty way, I like!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-cha-nepal-2nd-flush-2014-silver.html

Good evening! Trying another one from my What-Cha order tonight. I’m glad that I ordered such a variety of tea types, since that means I can keep trying new teas even when it’s too late to drink high-caffeine varieties. I’ve really enjoyed the lightly and moderately roasted rolled oolongs I’ve tried so far, and this one is reasonably priced so I added it to my order. The pellets are somewhere between green and brown in color, with a warmish hue. The dry scent reminds me of autumn leaves and nuts with a sweet edge. I followed the package instructions and steeped this at 185 degrees even though I usually go up to 200 for roasted oolongs.

Yum, this is a tasty one! Definitely one of the best roasted oolongs I’ve had thus far. The roasted nut notes are strong, and I would describe it as pecan. There’s also a nice caramel flavor mixed with sweet and slightly floral honey. Just a little bit of autumn leaf flavor that can sometimes dominate this type of tea. I can also taste a bit of that “ripe fruits” from the description, and I would describe it as plum or fresh grapes. Overall, it’s very tasty! Love those honey notes.

I have pretty much avoided Assams. Back in my early teabag days, Assam is the type tea I held most responsible for stomach burn. Besides, it tasted like, well, tea. So it was a real pleasure trying this one. The malty fruity aroma is definitely sniff worthy. The sip is likewise malt with hints of fruitiness. Mostly what impressed me was how smooth this was to drink. I steeped for two minutes and there was no bitterness. There is a bit of dryness but I’m ok with that. Grocery store assam almost ruined this type tea for me. I know better leaf means better tea. This is a prime example. If you have been avoiding Assam, this is a good one to rethink that move.

I’ve been having mixed feelings about Darjeelings lately. I’ve been sampling a lot of them, and some I really like, and some are more of a miss, but I’ve been finding a common thread amongst them has been a kind of ashy, char, mineral note, which I’ve not been wild about.

This one fortunately is a bit different. There’s still a distinctive Darjeelingness to it, but it’s primarily got a lovely, sweet muscatel flavour, with just a hint of minerality. I catch a wisp of citrus on the finish, but it’s incredibly subtle and brief.

All in all a very tasty Darjeeling. Interesting, that Darjeeling oolongs and blacks seem undifferentiated to me. Though perhaps, given the less than complete oxidation of Darjeeling blacks, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Woo, I’m so glad to keep finding more Chinese black teas in my untried box. I’m not sure how I kept missing this one, but I’m super pleased to have it today.

Opening the packet, the dry leaf smell immediately evokes chocolate and salted caramel. I’m not exactly sure why the salted part, but that was my impression. The leaves are small, dark and twisty.

Steeped 1tsp for 2:45 in 95C water. The smell is very potent – my one cup scents the air. Still a bit of caramel and chocolate, but now there’s a lot of frutiness in the forefront. Rich fruits, like dates and prunes. Hint of smoke, but not a lot.

The flavour matches the smell – prunes, dates, chocolate, caramel, touch of smoke. This cup has good body and a very mild astringency.

So very tasty.

Woo, I got my What-Cha order! I forgot how many samples I ordered, and taking them out of the box made me feel a bit like Mary Poppins because they just kept coming. There was a little village of pouches on my coffee table by the time I was done unpacking. Thanks to Alistair for including two bonus samples and a lovely handwritten note! I admit, I ordered two Vietnamese teas mostly because the names were so epic! Seriously though, Wild Boar and Red Buffalo? Too awesome. The leaves of this tea are large and twisty, and there are a few golden tips included. Dry scent is malty and sweet but also savory in a way that I can’t describe.

The steeped cup smells rich and malty. Hmm, this is a simple but yummy tea. Definitely quite malty, and the texture is very thick and rich. I can definitely see a comparison to unsweetened dark baking chocolate or very dark cocoa powder. I have a hard time tasting chocolate when there’s no sweetness, but since I already read the description and know it’s supposed to be there, I can taste it. There’s perhaps a tiny bit of dried fruit flavor? Overall, it’s a strong tea with Assam-like intensity but without bitterness. Perhaps the tiniest touch of astringency?

Mmm the smell of the dry leaf is quite heady – full of malt and almost boozy. The leaves are black and gold, small, twisty and dusted with orange dust.

Steeped, this smells delicious – lots of sweet potato. The flavour is more interesting than I was anticipating. Sweet potato, malt, sweetness and a hint of smoke that melds with the sweetness to create a rich fruity taste, reminiscent of dates and very ripe plums.

The mouth feel is quite smooth, only the faintest drying sensation that appears about half way through the cup. Medium heavy body.

Sipping this one fairly cool too.

God, I love Chinese black teas. So so good.

The leaves of this tea are huge and fluffy. Two leaves and a bud, not twisted or rolled to make them more compact. The leaves are a mixture of medium brown and green colours, and smell faintly malty.

The directions say to use 3-4 teaspoons per cup, but good luck measuring this tea with a teaspoon. I pulled 3g of tea out of the bag with my fingers, and put it into a 1oz tea cup for weighing. There was a little mountain of tea in that cup, and the leaves were poking up from the top of my medium Finum brew basket.

Steeped the liquor is golden and clear. It smells faintly boozey, like a white wine, but very delicate, with a touch of malt and apricot.

I initially steeped for three minutes but ended up going for four and a half. Hot, there’s not much flavour. It gets better as it cools, with a slight fruity note and a “tea” flavour, all very mild.

All in all, I’m left really wanting more from this. I think perhaps a longer steep is in order – a blog review recommends 7-8 minutes, which I will try next time, since I bought 25g of this.

It’s awesome to be able to try teas from new regions, but this one was a bit of a disappointment.

Backlog:

I really loved the various teas that I tried from What-cha. This is a top-notch company, and if you’re looking for good pure teas (and who isn’t?) you should really check them out.

To get my full thoughts on this tea, please check out my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/29/assam-2nd-flush-2014-silver-needle-white-tea-from-what-cha-tea/

Sweet, delicate (but not as delicate as a Chinese silver needle), with distinct hay-like notes. Notes of malt! Calming to sip. No astringency. Gentle notes of fruit and flower. I would add this to the “must try” list from What-cha.

Not bad – muscatel, minerals, a touch of floral, maybe slightly peppery? With that distinctive Darjeeling note that I sometimes associate with char and sometimes with minerals.

Not as grapey as many Darjeelings I’ve sampled.

I feel like none of these What-Cha teas are what I’m used to. I don’t really expect them to be how they are. Don’t take that in a bad way, for the oolongs it was a bit disappointing. But for these black teas, It’s kinda a pleasant surprise.
I’m expecting them to be more like the black teas I’ve had before, but they’ve proven themselves to be different. My What-Cha order is beginning to be quite the experience. xD
I think i was expecting this to be more like honey and that’s about it, but I was wrong. The stronger flavor of the two I tasted was malt, and the weaker one, honey. But not the kind of really sweet honey that would almost give you a sweet potato flavor. It’s the kind of honey that is just sweet enough to not make it all just thick and malty. If that makes sense xD
I really enjoy this one. This was the last tea I bought 50g of. And again, definitely not a waste of money! :D

Okay I like this a lot. Today’s cup was super juicy and cooling – lettuce, cucumber, hay, and spices. Very similar to a Darjeeling white tea.

Well, I totally screwed up my first cup of this. I made a travel mug to go, for running errands – oolongs are usually a good choice for me for travel mugs. Well, first issue is that either my mug or steeping basket wasn’t properly rinsed. Steeping, the dominant note was soap. Uh oh. I was hoping that maybe it would still be drinkable, so I stuck the lid on and ran out the door. On my first sip I was greeted with the over powering smell of chocolate and coconut from the last tea I had in that travel mug. And then to top it all off, I put on chapstick, so all I could taste was chapstick, chocolate, coconut and dish soap. Bleh.

Tried resteeping the leaves when I got home, but the cup was still a touch soapy and bitter. Down the drain it went.

So let’s try this again. Fresh leaf, clean mug, well rinsed steeping basket. 1 heaping tsp, 80C, for around 3 minutes.

Muuuuch better. Very interesting. Hay, floral, mineral, a touch of citrus. If I’d had to guess, I would have pegged this as a white tea, not an oolong. The liquor has a hay, lettuce fragrance.

I like it, but I’m going to withhold rating it till I’ve had a chance to have another cup.

This is another tea that surprised me! But in a good way finally! XD
I picked up 50g of this tea in my first What-Cha order because I was sure I’d like it! Well I was finally right for once. xD
So the steeping aroma smelled pretty malty, which is always exciting!
When I began to drink, chocolate and cocoa notes emerged from the tea. And better yet, there was a soft undertone of sweet potatoes. All four amazing flavors in one!
I was honestly not expecting it to be that complex. I really enjoyed the layers of this tea. I really didn’t expect it at all.
It’s not very sweet, probably due to the chocolate, cocoa, and malt notes combined. But it still is quite nice. Really happy to have gotten 50g of this-definitely worth the money! :D