What-Cha

Hey end of january…you were a tough month and i’m glad you’re over. :) I have successfully made my various tea drinking goals, though the lack of snow this month meant i didn’t hit my exercise goals.
January – 18 teas; 1135g 16 puerh; 1230g

This is such a lovely tea. sweet, juicy, smooth. Just a happy place.

So i’ve decided that 21 teas is too few teas in my cupboard lol i’m ignoring my puerh for the count, since that’s something that i tend not to just “drink” and i spend more time with it than every day drinking. pulled this one out today as i love this tea, but man it’s been hard not to buy more tea since i feel like i’m drinking the same things all the time :)

oh happy tea day. I’m annoyed at all this rain. I know some will hate me for saying it but where’s the damn snow!? I just want the weather to normalise a little, give us some snow for riding even if it’s a little on the cold side. Anyway…really enjoying a little tea day at home while i work like a crazy person as everyone tries to wrap things up before they have a long weekend in the US….while getting ready for my husbands “christmas” dinner that we do in January with the extended family heh.

took a break from puerh to have a cup of this. So happy this is back in my cupboard.

oh happy day…this is back in my cupboard. :D

Edit: Final count 48 (2 BF orders showed up!)

pulled this sample out when the weekend started to go sideways. Lots of blergamot samples to go through (that means more than 1 in my world) and i wanted something that was delicious and that i KNOW i love. I pretty much knocked back 2 cups of this in short succession. I still really need to get this into my cupboard permanently. thanks for the re-visit crowkettle!

last cup of tea for the day, what with travelling and all, but another one from cookies She was kind enough to let me try and few teas from what-cha and Han Xi…

This one was intriguing because it’s another white tea, brewed hotter than i would normally for whites. I was curious as to whether this would be similar to white rhino or the other tea from Mandala that i can’t recall that’s a white that turns black. it’s similar, but in a totally different sort of way. Makes me wish i had white rhino to compare against…not that i can order that ever again sniffles

this tea is juicy and tastes….like flowers smell, but isn’t floral. if that makes sense lol there’s a bit of malt in this and caramel like notes…though not overly strong. a really nice cup to end my morning with. I’ll be adding this one to my cart when i get around to a what-cha order for sure…which is great because i’m not sure i would have otherwise since i’m not a fan of white teas!

Backlog:

an unusual looking leaf. It looks a bit like a TieGuanYin Oolong “pelleted” leaf but with smaller leaves.

I thought that they might be fun to watch unfurl since they’re all wound up in a “cannon ball” so I brewed these in my glass teacup, but the first infusion proved to have very little “show” to them. The leaves didn’t unfurl much at all … but they did produce a very flavorful tea.

Sweet, nice, buttery texture and a light buttery note. I taste citrus notes, floral notes and hints of vegetation. The citrus is particularly noticeable toward the finish and that bright flavor lingers in the aftertaste.

The flavors develop as I continue to sip and by mid-cup, I was tasting more buttery notes than the citrus and floral flavors.

The second infusion – again, very little “show” but the flavor more than makes up for it. Sweet, whispers of flower, notes of tangy citrus, less buttery texture or taste this time around. I find that a little bit of cooling time brings the buttery notes forward.

The third infusion – the leaves are now completely unfurled. The third cup was my favorite because the flavor was simply amazing. Soft, buttery, silky, less astringency than in the first two cups, very lovely flavors this third cup.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/08/29/nepal-2nd-flush-2014-cannon-ball-green-tea-from-what-cha-tea/

Oh man, I am pooped! My birthday has been great fun, in typical mom and me fashion, we went out on a thrifting day! Of course we cranked Thrift Shop (it is our theme, retroactively, for most of our lives) and hit all the shops in the area. Surprisingly (or not because I am almost broke) we did not bring home too many things. I did meet an awesome lady at one of the thrift stores, a fellow tea fan, so I had a nice bonding experience, which is always fun! Oh yeah, and my mom and Sheena combined to get me a new teapot, but more on that this weekend!

What does one review on their special day, clearly one of their favorite types of tea (yes it is an oolong) but which of the multitudes do I reach for? Yancha, definitely Yancha. Specifically What-Cha’s Fujian Qi Lan Wuyi Rock Oolong, from what I can gather it is a fairly light rock oolong leaning towards the more floral side than the roasted side. That is fine by me, though I prefer the kick in your face char and tobacco notes, I do really appreciate the milder ones as well. Oh who am I kidding, have I ever met an oolong, even a really garbage one at a Chinese restaurant, that I haven’t enjoyed? So, on to the Qi Lan, the aroma of the dried leaves is certainly a Yancha, I notice the tobacco and char notes that are so familiar, but they are much milder and joined by dried cherry and flowers, specifically hyacinths. Many rock oolongs are sweet, this one takes it too a whole new level, much like combining a Dan Cong and a Yancha for ultimate yummy smells.

Guess what, no surprise this tea is going into my Yancha teapot because anytime I can use my Yixing I am happy. Now don’t get me wrong, Yancha is fantastic in a gaiwan, but there is something really special about Yixing teapots, a special kind of magic. The aroma of the wet leaves is a blend of chestnuts, flowers, black walnuts, roasted chestnuts, and a touch of pipe tobacco. The aroma is very complex and sweet, the floral notes are really quite light, not the headiness of orchids, more like walking in a spring garden. The liquid’s aroma is sweet and creamy with notes of cocoa, chestnuts, hazelnuts, spicebush, violets, and pansies. Odd to mention pansies, but as someone who has harvested and made pansy tea MANY times (I was an odd child) I know that smell all too well.

The first thing I will say about this steep is it feels good, fancy tea folk might call this Cha Qi, it tingles and makes me feel both relaxed and focused, it is a beautiful feeling, much like my body is blending with the tea. It coats the mouth and is very smooth, the tastes starts out with walnuts and a hint of char, like a very distant and now dead fire. This transitions to sweetness, like figs and dates, two of my favorite things to eat, so extra yummy points there. It ends with a blend of toasted nuts and spring flowers.

For the second steeping, the aroma is warm and spicy, a blend of dates, cocoa, and hazelnuts with a distinct lily finish. The taste is a touch milder, there are less notes of figs more notes of nuts, definitely picking up the hazelnuts and walnuts. In the middle there is a small date themed explosion that has the same coating sensation, but instead of the entire mouth it is more of the back of the throat. The finish is lilies, this taste lingers with a nectar like sweetness for quite a while, or at the very least long enough for me to do another steep and let it get to sipping temperature.

The aroma of the third steep shares the same spicy and floral notes as the second with an added char and tobacco finish, It is a little bit like someone tossed a flower on dying coals and instead of burning the flowers released its scent to be mixed with the smell of coals. The taste has mellowed out a good bit, mostly it is a sweet blend of hazelnuts and dates with a hint of tobacco. For the finish I am left with lingering lilies and honey. This Yancha is delicious and unique, is it my new favorite? Not sure, I am not sure anything will replace my love of Shui Xian which I consume in rather insane quantities, but this will certainly be an immensely enjoyable treat. Now I shall finish my birthday by catching up on my reading!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-cha-fujian-qi-lan-wuyi-rock-oolong.html

I’m away from home for work this week, so I brought my Discover Darjeeling samples from What-Cha and… I’m kind of regretting it, because I’m getting a bit bored of Darjeelings? Oops. :) So this was a nice enough 1st flush (but seriously, how are these called black teas? they’re so green) but not particularly memorable. I don’t have a thermometer, so I’m kind of winging it re. temperature, so it’s possible I just haven’t figured out the right way to brew these teas to really bring out their full potential. I just have this ridiculous craving for like, Assam all of a sudden, lol. Hopefully I can get my head into Darjeeling Appreciation mode for the rest of the week!

The dry leaves were not as cut up as the last in fact they appear twisted into tight spirals and are quite dark even though most of the Russian Teas I have tried had dry leaves darker then I normally see in greens and oolongs; I must remember to look into how Russian Tea growers roll their teas, I don’t remember seeing spiraled tea leaves before. There was a slight tangy scent to the dry leaves, almost like barbeque sauce without the smoke and spice. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes once again and the liquor became very redish-brown for a green tea. This time there was a very slight smoky aroma, although not as smoky as the Yunnan Purple Zi Juan, but more than the ZhejiangPurple Zi Sun Cha. There was a very generally fruity taste, maybe more apple than anything else, but the taste lingered for a long time.

Once again I could definitely see myself buying this tea individually as an everyday tea. It is very non-offensive.

Award winning photography at: http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-chas-discover-russia-green-tea.html

Sipdown (118)!

This is still much too light/gentle in flavour for my tastes though I have enjoyed the subtle caramel and honey flavours as well as the fleeting notes of baked bread. Interestingly, I thought this last cup had a bit of a smokey finish – though I hadn’t experienced that with any prior cup. Perhaps if it’d been more noticeable in past cups this would have made more of a memorable impression.

Thanks The Last Dodo for the sample!

I really like pearls, generally speaking, and they’re really convenient. It’s really a wonder why I don’t have one that I regularly stock.

I don’t know; this one was nice. Definitely tasted caramel and honey notes, and maybe a tiny little bit of malt but overall I thought it was surprisingly light and gentle for a black tea, and I was just looking for and expecting something with a little more punch to it.

Tasty enough, and smooth going down but left much to be desired overall.

EDIT: Apparently I’ve had these pearls a couple times before when Marzipan sent me a sample. I’d completely forgotten about this though and had zero recollection of ever having them – obviously they’ve not left a great impression on me overall.

Sipdown (116)!

Ok, when I made the last of this one in my timolino is did make to sure to pay attention this time, a little. And then, my detailed notes are at home since i’m writing this at job #1 so this is gonna be even less descriptive than it would have been.

So by memoery, this was definitely a more smooth, naturally sweet black tea with some honey/cocoa notes and then a fair bit of malt to it – but really, that’s all I can remember. Which is frustrating. I do remember liking it; surely that counts for something?

Thank you Marzipan for sending me a couple of these beautiful pearls! I, unfortunately, may have wasted some of the splendor because both times I made this I did it in a timolino for work, so I did really get to watch the pearls unfurl.

The first time, I wasn’t paying any attention to the taste when I had it. Oops. I was on break at Dollarama, and had just launched into a mad Christmas shopping/prep spree while sipping on it. Post spree, it was gone.

Since I can’t even come close to wrapping a present nicely, I bought a bajillion Christmas bags in all sorta of shapes, sizes, and prints and then a metric fuck ton of bows, ribbons, gift tags, pattered tissue paper, and little candies to sprinkle inside the bag and add as little “decals” on the outside! My Christmas bags this year are going to be beautiful!

All in all (with a couple of presents thrown in too) I spent around $200 – but I have supplies to last years! I’m adulting! You should all be proud.

PS. VariaTEA I have a very special Christmas present ready for you! No arguing about it, it’s already purchased, compiled in a shipping box and ready to be sent out. The question is, when do you want it sent? Earlier in December or more around Christmas. Everything inside is basically wrapped already (kinda – you’ll see what I mean when you get it) so you could get it earlier, and still be able to wait to open it on Christmas, if you want to do it that way…

I’m drinking both the 1st and 2nd flushes from Castleton this morning. 1st flush is very green and floral, 2nd flush is darker (though still not dark enough that I would feel inclined to add milk) and has a richer, deeper flavour. I’m mostly just sitting here, sipping, thinking “ok, I guess this is that muscatel flavour I keep hearing about”. Tastes like tea. ;)

Well this is my second 1st flush darjeeling, and they have both had very green leaves and quite a floral character, so I’m guessing that’s typical of 1st flush darjeelings? This is quite nice: light, smooth, no bitterness.

The dry leaves were more broken up then I expected (I totally ignored the photos on What-Cha’s website, hopefully any reader ignores my own) although broken up may not be the right word since the tea leaves appear purposefully cut up. The tea leaves have a slight dried fruit scent. I brewed at 175 °F for three minutes. The liquor had a very common greenish yellow color and there was a slight peachy aroma. The taste not surprisingly was of nectarines ( a lot of the greens I’ve tried from What-cha have a peach-nectarine taste I suspect Alistair likes them) and there was a slight tart edge. Compared to the Premium greens I had before the taste was a lot less clean.

I could very well see myself buying this tea again as a sort of everyday tea that I could easily serve to company.

http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-chas-discover-russia-green-tea.html

This was a new variety for me, but the sweet and smooth maltiness made for a tasty cup. I’ve never tried a purple before, but I wasn’t able to notice much difference between it and the other Oolongs in my cupboard. Maybe it influenced the milder, gentler flavor, or the fruity notes? Whatever it was, it was a nice way to start the day!

You can see pictures here:
http://wordsabouttea.blogspot.com/2014/11/kenya-hand-rolled-purple-varietal.html

Dry leaves smell like sweet raisin bread and they are all perfectly uniform with tons of golden color mixed with tan medium sized twists. The leaves are really perfect looking.
Did a very quick rinse in my gaiwan with their suggested 185F temp. This lower temp produces a clear auburn broth that also smells like the dry leaves,,,sweet raisin bread.
Wow! This is super smooth!! And the flavor of sweet raisin bread as well.
At this low temp, you can steep it for a pretty long time to extract more flavor. This tea is super super clean. Love it.

I have really been impressed with What-Cha teas because all of their teas are perfectly intact-there are no broken, mishapen, or dusty pieces in the bags-just perfect tea leaves.
These dry leaves are really pretty, long purple needle shapes.
If you like young sheng, this is one for you to try!
Crazy scent to the leaves after I rinsed them in my gaiwan a couple of times. Really smells like a young, very stern sheng. Very petrol scented with a little bit of edamame to it. Liquor also smells very petrol. (I used green wood in the flavors section, as Steepster doesn’t include petrol in it’s choices) (I didn’t bother trying to add petrol to the Steepster choices :)
Wet leaves reveal themselves to be long, gorgeous green super buds.
Flavor is definitely like young sheng but it is very smooth and not bitter or astringent, just hard core petrol flavor. It has a thick and creamy mouth feel as well. Later as I am done drinking it, I feel it coating my chest area so it does have a biting and a bit of a burning effect so could be a good one to drink if you want to open your chest area for deep breathing.
This is not my favorite tea from What-Cha but I love that I was able to purchase 10g of it to try without the risk of buying a huge amount and not enjoying it. So I really like that about What-Cha as a company.

Backlog:

I think that this is the first tea from What-Cha that I’m writing about here on Steepster, but I’ve reviewed quite a few of them over at SororiTea Sisters and this tea company has become one of my newest favorite tea companies. They are AWESOME! Like totally awesome awesomeness!

And this is a lovely green tea from the purple varietal. A smooth and silky texture, mild smokiness to the flavor and a sweet undertone. Notes of fruit (melon and plum?) hints of vegetation, and a buttery note.

The second steep is even better than the first.

A really lovely tea experience, read more about my experience with this tea here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/08/18/yunnan-graceful-zi-juan-purple-varietal-green-tea-from-what-cha-tea/

This is one of those days where I lack anything truly interesting or insightful as an opener to today’s tea. Sorry about that guys, I guess I can’t always be super clever or have super fun days. Yours truly might have overdone it a bit while I was rock hunting, it was totally worth it though. Examining one of the rocks I just stuffed in my pocket that fell off while I was hammering a larger chunk, it appears to be crusted with tiny epidote crystals. Next time I feel better, rock cleaning will occur and it will be awesome.

Today’s tea is part of a quest, not just to try all the teas at What-Cha (yes I have an obsession) but to find the perfect everyday Long Jing, yeah, I could drink this tea everyday…problem is all of my favorites have been really expensive. The cheap ones I have tried have been good, but not ‘everyday’ material, so maybe Zhejiang Wild-Growing Dragon Well ‘Long Jing’ Green Tea will fit the bill. This particular Long Jing is pretty nifty since it is picked from tea plants growing wild on an abandoned tea field. The aroma of the leaves is delightfully sweet and nutty, like roasted sesame seeds and a tiny touch of peanuts. This transitions to spinach and a tiny bit of sharp artichoke at the finish, so the aroma has a nice zingy finish.

So for this tea I decided to break out my (possibly) 18th century Chinese Imari Ware gaiwan, it is super tiny and delicate, perfect for a green tea! The aroma of the brewed leaves is very vegetal, a really green smelling cocktail of artihoke, green beans, and cooked spinach. There is a tiny touch of chestnut at the finish, but mostly the leaves are a pile of veggies. The liquid is delightfully delicate with slightly sweet nutty notes of chestnut and sesame seed and a touch of indistinctly vegetal aroma at the finish.

OMG yum, this tea is so tasty, and it has nothing to do with sipping it out of a dainty crystal…not sure if this is a cup or tiny vase, it was a quarter so it is a cup now! So, what makes this tea so good you are probably wondering, its crazy smoothness. The taste starts out sweet with notes of honey sesame candies and a touch of chestnut. This transitions to greenness with artichoke and green beans, this greenness lingers until the end with a hint of spinach. The aftertaste is honey sweet and lingers long after I have finished.

Second steeping time brings out more sweetness in the aroma than the previous steep, a sweetness of honey, roasted chestnuts, and toasted sesame seeds, there is a hint of vegetal at the finish reminding me that this indeed a green tea and not a sweet and nutty treat. The mouthfeel is surprisingly creamy for a green tea, which I like, it gives what I usually consider a light tea a touch of richness. The taste starts off honey and chestnut sweet and then fades to a savory cooked spinach and green bean midtaste. After that the finish it buttery, like lima beans and a bit like peas.

I also decided to give this tea a go grandpa style, Long Jing being one of my favorite teas to do this style (one of the reasons I am hunting the perfect everyday one) and this one handles really well. Steeping it grandpa style (or bowl style if you don’t want to get Gangnam Style stuck in your head every time you use it) brings out more of the savory vegetal notes, and calms the sweet down, which has its pros and cons. After many refills of the bowl and sippings I noticed it never got bitter, which is awesome. This tea is perfect for a grandpa style everyday tea, it is a little too rich and sweet for the gaiwan steepings, which is fine by me, I can make it a treat to do it that style. Perhaps my quest is over (not that I am not going to still try tons of Dragon Wells!)

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-cha-zhejiang-wild-growing-dragon.html