Daylon R Thomas Send Message

Excited about this one as I got my order. Sparrow’s Tongue are harder to find, and based on my reception of their Red Robe and Qilan, I had a feeling I’d like this one too.

I only got about 5 grams in my Manual Teamaker, so I only had one session using roughly 190 F water in 120-150 ml. Mineral and roast are very prominent, but it’s layered as expected. First steep is the most intense and heavy with stone and ore, but some peatiness shows through. Second steep was the most complex, starting off with smoke, earth, peat, plum, sugar, mineral and peat again in the finish. Extremely smooth and well rounded. The later steeps yielded much the same thing with salt and raisin, but got more woodsy and more prominent in floral “water char”.

I was really pleased with it, but wish I got more than 6 brews. The fruit notes are what I want in my rock oolong and actually prefer in conjunction with healthy peatiness, though the Red Robe and Qilans are a little bit more durable. Overall, a good rock oolong that can go toe to toe with more expensive ones in terms of flavor, not necessarily longevity.

I’m still not ready to rate it. This session was better, and more forward, but not by much. Creamy overall, generally vegetal and floral moreso. The thick texture matched by the florals made it kinda custardy, edging on vanilla-leaning more into lilac. Orchid and lily of the valley are what I get more, kind of bordering on the headiness of jasmine. The spring floral creamy notes are probably the “poundcake” they write. Pineapple and longan still have yet to fully show up other than in hints, and really, the teas color. It’s a bright yellow like a young pineapple. Maybe pineapple skin like in some other Shanlinxi’s?

I’m still learning this one and do like it. I’m not raving in a vichyssoise of adjectives when I drink this, so I may be missing something. Kind of like I wrote before, this tea comes out like a muted Shanlinxi. I think if I were tasting it blind, I may have guessed it was a Cui Yu or a Four Seasons. I’ve been too spoiled by other Qin Xins. Future sessions may bring more of what I hope to get out of the tea.

Sipdown! This one surprisingly lasted long. I made a cup for myself western, 2 1/2 minutes and another one for my mom. I made hers with cream and sugar, and the sugar surprisingly enhanced the orange blossom/apricot/citrus whatever nicely. I still got much of the same notes. You can rebrew this tea pretty easy, but I rarely finish it after the first or second cup. It’s still a good second flush kind of tea that’s as good as some Darjeeling.

Nearly the same blend as 2019, but in sachet form! Fruity, lemon and ginger dominate. The lychee does come up, and the oolong is a heck of a lot more subdued. I’ll come back to this when I can actually pay attention in verbose detail.

Light tea. Got it ‘cause it’s a Hawaiian Black, and there was a 20 percent discount for the new year. Dry leaves are gorgeous and kinda aromatic like orange blossom. Taste so far is way lighter. Notes are kinda oolongy, definitely floral. Sometimes there is something that strikes me as papaya, though Harney notes citrus. I’ve done it western and tumbler/grandpa, and not a whole lot going on. We’ll see.

The solution to this one-overleafing the hell out of it. I think I put close to 10 grams in my 5 oz gaiwan, and did a bunch of flash steeps. The mango and nutty tones were a lot more obvious with some honey like sweetness, all under the distinct TGY orchid flavor. I’m happy with this one-it’s essentially a high quality TGY for daily consumption and a cheap price. I’m going to plow through it fast though to make some cupboard space.

I waited to drink this one because I could not remember if I really liked it, or was meh. Doing it again, I really liked it. Describing it is going to be hard. Butter, sweet potato, starch, regular potato, malt, wheat, florals, caramel hints, rose hints, etc. is in it. Unlike the other teas, the first steep was nutty after about 30 seconds approaching almond. There are prominent florals, and while I have seen some reviews on the Wuyi website describe rose, I keep on getting hit with geranium instead in every cup. There are times where it approaches chamomile or buckwheat (I know, those were descriptions for other teas I’m using for this one), and then it goes back into the geranium ending in a sweet dry bread-sy finish.

The later brews are just as floral. Not loud or obvious while layering it. Oddly enough, I found the other teas more floral than this one. This tea actually had more dimension. I’m not sure I’d reach for this one again, though I do think it’s good quality and recommend it for people wanting something different.

I liked this one more than the Meizhan, but it was also pretty similar in profile in its subtlety. The leaves are gorgeous and uniform, yet not as fruity as I’d think. It’s got nice malt, texture, aroma, and great viscosity, though the flavor slowly develops. I’m writing the adjective ’honeysuckle" again, though the fruitiness is a lot more like a subtle apple and feels more floral than actually fruity for my palette. It gets more fruity after steep three and starts to taste a little bit like appleskin, maybe apple juice.

My parameters were gong fu twice and I used between 3-4 oz of water per 5 grams, starting maybe around 30 seconds and went by that in increments. After a while, the tea just got generally malty and savory. I likely am underappreciating this one, so here it goes: I think it’s good, but I prefer the Honey Style because this one was a little subtle for me.

Backlog:
I finished this one months ago, and procrastinated the other samples. I loved it in my tumbler. Honey developed more slowly, though everything else was straightforward. Malt, chocolate,caramel, rose, butter, yams, wheat, and some other things going on between starchy and floral. I really liked it, and I wonder if Alistair has the same source.

Backlog:

I tried this twice-once as tumbler fuel, and the next time in a quick gong fu session from my Jin Jun Mei sampler.

I was honestly not as impressed with the sampler overall. All of the teas were pretty subtle, and the Honey Style was my favorite. This one was surprisingly the least straight forward, and heavily resembled the Wild Jin Jun Mei from What-Cha. Extremely buttery, light, and floral headed by honeysuckle, textured by savory sweet potato, with some caramel/brown sugar hints here and there. There wasn’t more than that otherwise. No astringency or bitterness, and while it was complex, it lacked malt and some qualities that I hope for in a Jin Jun Mei. Combining all the fancy pretentious notes together, I could also describe this tasting like summer squash, and that’s it.

I do think this was a quality tea, and it’s exceptional if you are looking for something that doesn’t get bitter-I was just hoping for more considering the price tag and varietal. Since it was Meizhan, I hoped there would be some redder fruit notes like plum or cherry. Alas, honeysuckle it is.