What-Cha

Wow, so the nose this is very, very different from any white tea I’ve had before. It smells of corn, spinach and predominantly, lightly cooked zucchini. Maybe even hints of mushroom.

On the palette, my first impression is fresh peas from the garden. Mid sip it transitions into zucchini and dark, leafy greens, and then on the finish the peas are back with some green beans, and subtle corn notes linger after the sip is done. There’s some hints of earth and umami in here too. As I sip and it cools, the zucchini notes get even clearer.

The mouth feel started off pretty silky and there’s just a hint of astringency building, but that doesn’t come out in the flavour at all.

This is crisp and light, and just beautiful. Unlike any tea I’ve ever tasted before. This is tending your garden and eating the ripe produce straight from the ground. It’s vegetal but not at all grassy – it’s all fresh, juicy garden veggies.

Fantastic!

I think I got a little bit spoiled by how amazing and evocative my first yellow tea (Darjeeling 2nd Flush 2014 Jungpana AV2 Yellow Tea, What-Chat) was, because while this was nice, I just kept thinking about the other one.

This one was roasty and astringent, with lots of corn and a bit nutty. A touch bitter on the first steep, though that mellowed with subsequent steeps. I was hoping that the character of this would develop some more but each of my steeps (four?) tasted pretty much the same, with strength and bitterness being the only major variation.

I am really glad that I took a “gamble” and ordered a few of the blends that What- Cha offers. When I sniffed What-Cha’s English Breakfast blend in the bag, my eyes got big (like cartoon eyes, I’m sure!) Cocoa!!! Stonefruit!! Malt!! Rah! Rah! Rah! The leaves were large, dark and twisty, a wonderful sign of things to come, I hoped….. and I was right! The blend of Kenyan Orthodox, Assam, Nepal and 2 types of Ceylon creates a dark amber liquor that smells of toasted grains and biscuits, malt, and a “lurking” of cocoa. I over-leafed this tea on purpose, and the cup I poured for myself was STRONG and GOOD. Milk and honey added that comfort feeling that I love so much in UK blends. The Nepal tea brings a woodsy rose note to this tea that is unexpected, and I LOVE that in a tea! This is a nicely rounded cup with some expected (malt, toasty grains, light astringency) and unexpected (woodsy, rose) notes that English blend-lovers should try. The smaller boutique tea purveyors like What-Cha that produce blended teas are helping me understand more about what goes into blends and how creative they can be when done on a small scale. Well done and recommended.

Second steep of my leaves from the other day, 3min, with hotter water (probably 90ishC?)

Ah yes, I think this is paying off now. The liquor is a deep gold and on the nose I’m getting plum, caramel and chestnuts, even hints of baked bread.

Once it cooled enough to drink, it was still a bit weak, so I put the leaves back for another 2 minutes. I still feel like there’s more depth to this tea than I’m getting. Notes of plum and baked bread are there, but still faint.

Further steeping added a bit of astringency but not much else.

Hopefully try three will be better. I can tell this tea has a lot to offer if I can get the steeping right.

I’m having trouble brewing this one right. The rolled leaves are incredibly long and fluffy, so measuring a teaspoon was a lot of guess work, and then some of my leaves were clumped together and didn’t really separate and open up properly on first steep. 3min at 80C didn’t yield a lot of flavour, so I pulled apart the clumped leaves, added a few more from the bag in case I underleafed it, and steeped for another minute.

I still feel like I haven’t done this tea justice. More flavour is coming out as it cools, but it still seems far too mild for an oolong. I’m getting some malt, fruitiness, some floral notes and a touch of honey, but they’re all so, so subtle and not distinctive.

I need to give this another try before I rate it, because I can tell there’s more to this that I’m just not getting on this steep.

This will be my first yellow tea.

I’m really enjoying the smell of the dried leaf – very strong notes of sweet hay, that remind me of farmland in autumn or being in a clean barn.

The liquor is a warm yellow, and there are notes of hay, malty sweetness and a hint of vegetal on the nose.

On the tongue it’s rich and nutty, sweet and malty, with hay, fresh corn and a hint of green grass. There’s a slight tang on the finish, and dry leaves.

This is beautiful, and a perfect tea for the beginning of autumn. It evokes cool breezes and warm, bright sun and being outdoors in the prairies, bundled up in warm clothes with pinking cheeks. So good.

I am a BIG black blend tea fan. Frisian blends, Scottish, English, Irish….they’re all good with me, as long as they are married to milk and honey! So obviously, I was rather excited to get my hands on the blends offered by What-Cha. The promise of a blend including Nepal tea was too much to resist. The first time my husband and I tried a cup of this tea, I immediately looked at the bag to make sure I leafed it correctly…. the tea was very weak and non-descript. Hmmmmm…. so I tried again this morning. Sadly, I had the same experience. I use spring water for my tea, so I know it wasn’t the water…. I finally had to use 3 teaspoons of tea in 12 oz of water to get the tea to stand up to milk and sugar. Now mind you, the flavor of the blend isn’t bad, it was just weak. What-Cha uses 2 different Ceylons in this blend (along with Assam and Nepal), and they are what comes through strongest in this blend. There is a woodsy note, as well as a green note that floats languidly in the cup…. but overall, the thin mouthfeel and the lack of roundness in the flavor profile just didn’t make it something I would order again. If you like Ceylons and drink your black tea without milk and sugar, I would give this tea a go…. the Ceylon in this blend seems to offer something inviting, but for me it was just from too far away…..

Another from my What-Cha order. The dry leaf smells very malty with notes of chestnut.

Steeped, on the nose it’s very fruity and malty, with a bit of floral notes. Also picking up some soapiness, which makes me worry that I didn’t rinse my tea ware well enough when I did the dishes, but I think I did.

On the palette it’s floral and malty, and very smooth. Three minutes left it a bit on the weak side, but an extra minute has given it more depth.

This is a nice, easy to drink tea. Not terribly distinctive, but enjoyable, and a good first cup of the day.

I first tried this tea when Steepster was behaving badly. I am actually glad I couldn’t post a review. My first experience was not the best. I did a western style per directions (176 F, 3 minute steep, and 3 g of leaf). There was almost no taste.

Next I brewed it in a 90 ml gaiwan. I used 3 g and 190 F and long 3 minute steep. It was better. It reminded me of potato with some White peony notes and a pine note late in the sip. Later steeps developed a TGY like aftertaste.

Today, I prepared it western mug style with the last 3+ g of leaf, 190 F water and an 8 minute steep. It was the best cup yet. Slight potato when hot but as it cooled that faded. The cup was more white peony like but as with the gaiwan I really thought it closer to camellia flowers which are more wood like in flavor. It had some light fruit notes and maintained what to me is a light green oolong aftertaste.

Definitely requires long steeps to develop the flavor. My least favorite from What-Cha but the neat part of the experience is getting to try a purple varietal white tea – from Kenya.

A very strange bit of gaming news crept across my radar this morning as I found myself wondering ‘why in the name of all things holy am I still awake’ that made me switch to wondering ‘have I fallen asleep at my computer and am now just dreaming of weird news?’ I mean I did dream I was a computer simulation and saw the world in coding the other day, so this is entirely possible…but no, upon further investigation, this rumor is not a dream. It seems there is a rumor about Microsoft buying Mojang for $2billion, which is really strange and out of character for Notch. I am worried for the future of Minecraft, but hopefully Microsoft will be smart and not change too many things, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds, but more on my thoughts about this on my Saturday Ramblings post.

Introducing a new feature on the blog: What-Cha Wednesdays! I have a small mountain of their teas to review (and will probably get more once I run out, their teas fascinate me and at times become addictions, so I want to Pokemon it and try them all) and until I run out I shall have this be a weekly thing. Today’s What-Cha is Nepal Monsoon Flush 2014 Pearl Oolong Tea, and everything about it is new to me. It is from Nepal (a tea region I have very little experience with, tragically) and rolled into tight pearls, reminiscent of dragon pearl tea, a shape I have never seen an oolong curled into. There is also the plucking time of Monsoon Flush, which is also referred to as Rainy Tea, it is plucked between the Second and Autumn Flush between July and September, a time of continuous rain. It has been a cool, drizzly, day so I thought the timing to review this tea was perfect. The aroma of the little pearls is not very strong, I catch little whiffs of aromas, much like the tightly curled pearls are hiding their secrets from me. There are gentle notes of nuttiness and fruitiness, a mix of stone fruit and citrus, with just a tiny hint of sesame seeds.

As suspected, giving the pearls a bath released some of its hidden aroma as they unfurled, though the pearls remind me of baby Cthulhu-esque monsters which endears them to me immensely. The aroma of the leaves is very interesting, notes of dry apricot, sweet wine, and an undertone of pepper drift up from the leaves, it is very sweet and rich while still being light. The liquid is sweet, with a blend of apricot juice and scuppernong fruit, it does not smell like ‘fruit nectar’ but the juices of a ripe fruit as you bite into it.

The first steep is incredibly gentle and light, it tastes like spring rain, mineral laden spring water…specifically it reminds of the taste of the water I would drink from Boiling Spring’s Bubble (an artesian cold spring from limestone rich rock) giving me a powerful case of nostalgia. There is more to this tea than clean water and minerals, there are also notes of ripe apricots and freshly mown hay.

The second and third steep are identical in both aroma and taste. The aroma of the liquid is very sweet, mixing apricots,a touch of citrus, and nice bit of muscatel and minerals at the finish. The taste has the same clean spring water and rain taste of the first steep, but the real show stealing taste this time around is the apricot and fresh citrus notes. I feel like sipping this tea is cleansing, it is very light and refreshing and makes my soul feel good, I shall have to get more and put it aside for special occasions. This tea is a wonderful reminder how diverse tea can be, it is unlike any oolong I have ever had, in fact if I did not know what it was I might label it a white tea or an unusual Darjeeling, tea has so much to teach and I hope to never stop learning.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-cha-nepal-monsoon-flush-2014-pearl.html

The dry leaf smells like your typical Earl Grey, lots of bergamot. The leaf is small, not CTC but fannings?

Steeped, this tea is very different from any other Earl Grey I’ve tried. On the nose it’s a bit creamy on top of the bergamot scent, and then on the palette it’s very, very light. The tea base is a bit astringent and sweet, malty, almost nutty. The bergamot is light and well balanced.

I’m having a hard time pinning down how to completely describe how this is different from other Earl Greys – I keep thinking light, silky (though the astringency doesn’t actually give it a silky mouth feel), and like I’m tasting the flavours of an Earl Grey but on different parts of my tongue than usual.

I don’t think this would be my go-to Earl Grey, but I always love trying new variations on my old favourite, and discovering new stuff.

Happy lunar new year!

This cup has been a long time in the making. I prepped it in my travel mug to take with me for apartment cleaning, and then forgot it in my car. It froze solid and stayed in my car for a few days, then I finally remembered to bring it in. Once it thawed enough to dump out of the travel mug, I put the whole thing in some more water in the fridge to continue cold steeping.

Surprisingly, this is still pretty excellent. The buttery flavour is much stronger than previous cups I’ve had, and the complexity isn’t as apparent, but it’s still flavourful, thick and smooth, with floral and grassy notes backing up the butter.

Always a delicious milk oolong, with more complex floral notes than others that I’ve tried. A nice way to end off the evening after going out of town for plans.

This was my cup of tea for the road, doing a presentation on sex work at the university today. I threw a teaspoon of this into my large travel mug with 88C water and just let it steep.

Such a good tea to brew this way. The leaves are large and stayed near the bottom of my cup, and a very long steep didn’t yield any bitterness or astringecy. Lots of butter, cream, floral and peach notes. So nice and easy to sip while prepping and presenting.

Mmm, opening up the bag sent a rich waft of butter up to my nose.

Steeped at 90C for 3 minutes, the liquor is pale yellow, and smells buttery, with vegetal, umami and seaweed notes.

On the palette this is interesting. Very, very floral (jasmine?), a wee bit sweet, and very creamy, buttery. A burst of sweet hay mid sip, and then seaweed and umami linger on the finish.

As this cup cools the floral notes develop even further, becoming even more full-mouth, and taking on an almost perfumey quality, that is very pleasant. I also start to pick up some really awesome, round fruity notes – juicy, fresh and tropical, lychee, peach, mango. Toasty notes are blossoming on the finish as this cup develops further.

Continued sipping reveals rich coconut notes at the opening of the sip.

This is very different from the other milk oolongs I’ve tried, and I’m really enjoying the complexity and uniqueness of this. I’ve never had a cup of tea that has changed so much in a single steeping.

The second steep, again 90C, 3 min, still smells very buttery, but the taste is very vegetal, almost grassy, still lots of umami. A touch of tang and astringency, notes of toastiness again. A bit creamy still, though that’s mostly retreated to mouth feel rather than flavour. Floral notes on the finish instead of mid sip and much more subtle, and then lingering hay long after the sip is done.

As I sip and the cup cools, I’m getting more of the butter notes back on my palette. The grassy note is just a fleeting burst as the tea hits my tongue and then mellows right away, and the more it cools, the more the dominant notes shift from vegetal to buttery. There’s also a touch of astringent mouth feel developing as I get closer to the bottom of the cup.

The second cup isn’t as amazing as the first, but it’s still pretty amazing.

Third steep, 90C, 2 minutes, half as much water.

It’s both buttery and very perfumey on the nose. The perfumey taste is also the opening note on the tongue with this cup, which then draws in some vegetal and butter, and a bit of grassy tang on the finish. There’s a slight bitter note which only peeks out for a second before it’s gone.

I think I’m about done with these leaves for now, but I am super impressed with this tea. I think it’s going to be a staple in my cupboard.

Fantastic! Dry, it smells like a slightly lemon scented dragon well. Steeped, it starts with sweet corn, fills the mouth with sweet grass/straw/nuts and finishes with a surprising and amazingly strong citrus peel that lasts and lasts. Really nice!

After reading on Reddit yesterday that this tea is Alastair’s (of What-Cha) favorite black tea, I put it in front of the tea line for this morning’s cup. Definitely not disappointed! I don’t know that I had ever had a tea from Nepal before but now I am really intrigued! My favorite teas are the malty blacks from Yunnan, and I could easily have mistaken this for one of those. Even the look of the leaves – with that delicious cocoa like powder on the inside of the envelope – was the same. Really, really delicious and definitely worth your attention!

What-Cha is a small business in the UK that has some very interesting and unique offerings for tea drinkers. I am a true fan of of most quality Yunnan teas, and this tea is certainly one of those.

Surprisingly, the dry leaf wasn’t actually as tippy as I though it would be, considering the fragrance coming off the leaf! The dry leaf is long and twist…the kind that won’t stay in the teaspoon and you’re never quite sure that you’re measuring properly because it won’t go IN the teaspoon. But I’m not going to complain about that quality in any tea! Notes of cocoa, apricot and yam were gentle but present in the dry leaf. Wet, the leaf is long and beautiful, leaving a golden amber liquor in the cup.

This tea has the same wonderful notes that make me a true fan of teas from this region: dark cocoa, earthy sweet potato skin, a touch of raisin….but this tea also has a woodsy note that some Yunnans have. It’s the taste that reminds me of long-forgotten secret places and old trees that should be visited with reverence. The earthy yam skin and cocoa notes give this tea a beautiful base to balance the raisin and woodsy note on. There is a slight apricot top note, but the strength in this tea lies in it’s deeper notes. Overall this is a well balanced cup of tea, with no astringency and a medium well-rounded mouthfeel that is worthy of a tea drinkers favorite thing….quiet contemplation and enjoyment.

So, this is my new favorite green tea.

It sips in strong with lots of nectarine/peach notes and a little straw with a delicate light finish. After each sip there is a bit of dryness and a strong distinctive apricot taste that hangs out for awhile. The resteep isn’t bad but is moderately dry and a bit acidic.

This unflavored green is more apricot flavored than apricot flavored added tea blends! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/azores-teas-cha/

I love how delicate this black starts off. It has a light creamy texture, woodsy, vanilla and fruit salad notes. You know, the fruit salad with diced peaches, pears and not enough green grapes (no cherries though – not in this tea). The tea finishes off dry and brisky.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/azores-teas-cha/

I had this one a couple days ago when Steepster was down. Adding it now. Edited from my blog post:

I used my press and water heated to the recommended 95 C (203 F) and steeped it for 2 1/2 minutes. The guidelines say 2-3 minutes. The result is a nicely orange liquor that sparkles as I pour it.

Cooled to drinking temperature – which is probably cooler than most of you like it but I don’t care for extremely hot tea. My first sip is… really nice. This is extremely smooth. Honestly I was expecting a lot of throat grabbing bite. Nope. None. No bitterness. If it is astringent, I am immune. I am also not noticing any problem with stomach burn on an empty stomach.

What I am getting is a really smooth malty sip with a fruitiness mid sip. This dissolves into as close as this gets to bite, which is really more of a woodsy taste. What-Cha calls it an earthy finish.

Second cup: While the cup was hotter than I normally like it, I took a sip and thought it was kind of mushroom and pond water. However, as the cup cooled the smooth malt returned at the front of the sip, then finished with earthy woodsy taste blended with the mushroom. The really hot cup was not my style but I quite enjoyed this second cup, once it cooled. It remains very smooth.

As some of you might know, I make tea themed advent calenders each year for Christmas, it started as gifts to friends and has exploded into me selling them. I had to do pre-orders early since I will be in Pennsylvania for the holiday (really three months that also include holidays) and as of now, four days before pre-orders close, I am making ten calenders. I am so excited for all the folding of origami envelopes and awesome tea I am going to be introducing people to. I am like some sort holiday elf spreading tea joy to people, which is really fun.

Today’s tea is Kenyan Silver Needle White Tea by What-Cha, as you can tell by the name, this tea comes from the Mount Kenya region of Kenya, Africa. Usually when you see Silver Needle (Baihao Yinzhen) it comes from Fujian, China, but this fuzzy tea brings a unique twist since it is from a whole new terroir. The aroma of this particular silver needle is nothing short of mouthwatering, which is why I advise pouring the tea you wish to sniff out of the bag, don’t want to ruin tea by drooling. It is incredibly sweet with notes of peaches and sweet corn, this transitions to floral notes that very much so brings to mind blooming peony flowers. This tea is very fragrant and so very sweet!

I decided to go pseudo-gongfu for my first brewing of the leaves. I discovered (thanks to the power of books and experimentation) that if you brew a silver needle at 185 degrees for 15 minutes, it is fantastic. So I used my gaiwan and tiny cups (mainly for aesthetic reasons, I really like my auspicious gaiwan) and just used less leaf than I would for a usual gongfu session. The brewed leaves have a very strong aroma, even more floral with notes of peony being dominant with a touch of honeysuckle and hyacinth. There are also notes of sweet corn giving the tea leaves an extra sweetness and richness. The poured off liquid is very creamy and sweet with notes of sweet corn and honey.

After a slightly long wait (the only real problem with a 15 minute steep) the mouth feel is very smooth with just a hint of fuzz from the leaves. The taste, well it is fantastic, it manages to be delicate and very rich, it fills up the mouth while not overpowering. The tea starts out very sweet with notes of hay and sweet corn, this transitions to sweet sesame seed, like Halva. After the sweetness there is a strong peony blossom that that lingers into a nectar like aftertaste. The finish is surprisingly fuzzy, adding a delightful tickle to the back of the tongue.

I will admit, I have become mildly addicted to this tea, it Grandpa Styles wonderfully and I have found myself sipping on it for hours. As the tea loses its steam it becomes more floral and slightly vegetal with a lettuce tinge at the end. This tea has become one of my go-to teas to use in my travel steeper, especially on my Thursday game nights where everyone comments on the pretty leaves floating in water. For those wondering how it compares to Silver Needles from Fujian, I would say it is definitely sweeter and has a wonderful sweet corn note that the Chinese variety lacks, the Fujian Silver Needle is much milder and tastes more of fresh vegetation and sweet flowers. I still love the Chinese Silver Needle, but Kenyan Needle has stolen my heart.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-cha-kenyan-silver-needle-white-tea.html

Oh, this tea is really unique. It’s incredibly sweet and tastes and smells exactly like honey. If you were to give some of this to a non-tea drinker, I’m positive they wouldn’t believe you hadn’t added any to it. The liquor is even thick and slightly opaque, like it would be if you had dropped in some honey. Along with the lovely sweet honey there is a bit of butterscotch and a nice malt ending.
Even though it brewed up light compared to my usual preference, I think I’m going to have to pick up more of these soon.
I used 2 pearls for 7oz brewed with 212º water for 3 minutes.

How about we have one of those ‘here is something you probably didn’t know about me’ intros to today’s blog? I sleep walk, sometimes I think I have more adventures at night than I do during the day! It was really bad when I was a kid, I wandered around everywhere, it got to the point where my parent’s had to build a special crib/cage thing around my bed to keep me from wandering around or falling out of bed. I also talk in my sleep and have been known to have whole conversations in my sleep with no remembrance of them when I wake up. My most recent adventure was last night, I woke up in my bathtub, no water or anything, I was just sitting in the tub leaning against a wall. So now you know some other random little factoid about me!

I think that today’s tea from What-Cha, Huoshan Huang Ya Yellow Tea, might be the first yellow tea to make an appearance on the blog! I have a few yellow teas in my collection, but they do not have review priority since I bought them myself, company supplied samples always take priority (it is just polite!) Before I get into the usual aroma description, we need a brief description of what yellow tea and by extension Huoshan Huang Ya is. Traditionally only produced in China, yellow tea has a lot in common with its close relative green tea, but it has an extra step in its production called ‘sealing yellow’ basically this means that the damp leaves were allowed to sit and ‘yellow’ during a slower drying period. Both the leaves and the liquor have a yellowish color to them and in theory this process makes them milder and less grassy tasting than green tea. Now this particular tea, Huoshan Huang Ya, comes from the mountains of Anhui, China, it was once an imperial tribute tea during the Tang Dynasty and was written about in Lu Yu’s work on tea. Sadly the methods of this tea were thought lost, but were rediscovered in the 1970s by some distinguished tea masters, the version of this tea we have now is not quite as yellow as it was back in the Tang Dynasty and is sometimes mistaken for a green tea.

Phew, that was a lot of info, and I even abridged it! I certainly recommend looking up yellow tea, there are a lot of really neat articles written on this type of tea. The aroma of the dry leaves is quite sweet, there are notes of lightly roasted sweet corn, gently roasted sesame seeds, bamboo leaves, and a tiny hint of tomato leaves. At the finish of the sniff there is a hint of smoke. It is odd, every yellow tea I have had has had that tiny hint of smoke at the finish, I find that really neat.

Once the tea has been steeped, the wet leaves take on an extra layer of richness. The toasted sesame and roasted sweet corn are stronger, they are accompanied by the aroma of fresh growing things and bamboo leaves. It does have a similarity with green tea, but it is also quite different. The liquid is a mix of sweet corn and bamboo with a tiny hint of smokiness at the finish.

For the first steep, oh wow, that is a sublime tea (I always feel like Morinth from Mass Effect 2 when I use the word sublime now) it starts with a sweet corn and a touch of roasted sesame, there is a mild sweetness and a touch of bamboo. There is a nice tingly mouthfeel at the back of the throat and a peppery aftertaste.

The aroma for round two is very similar to the first steeping, there is a bit more of the bamboo leaves and the roasted corn and sesame aroma has a sweeter note to it. The taste again starts out with sweet corn and sesame seeds, but less roasted and more creamy sweet. This transitions to fresh bamboo leaves and a touch of pepper. There is a hint of smoke at the aftertaste, also the mouthfeel is smooth and not tingly this time.

The third steep’s aroma is faint, there are creamy sweet notes of sweet corn still and a hint of bamboo leaves, but mostly that is all that is left. The taste has become quite delicate as well, it starts with sweet corn and a touch of roasted sesame. There is also a hint of bamboo, broken stems, and a hint of kale giving the tea a little bit of a bitter green taste. Oddly this steep had a cooling effect, as I sipped it I felt cool and very relaxed, I also noticed this tea has a decent kick of caffeine making me feel very mentally alert, luckily not at all caffeine buzzed. By steep three I was just on the edge of being tea drunk, it is a wonderful feeling to go along with a really delicious tea!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/08/what-cha-huoshan-huang-ya-yellow-tea.html