1749 Tasting Notes
Thank you Eco-Cha!
I got this sample as a club member, and it was pleasant. I was a little underwhelmed overall despite some nice florals and texture gong fu. It was certainly milky and green, starting on a weird high floral note that was almost like plastic, going into honeysuckle, spinach, hyacinth, vanilla, green apple, mint, and ending with a vegetal but crisp finish. There were some shifts in later steeps with a little bit more green apple, but the tea did not change all that much. I am going to have to try this one again because I was too bored.
I did not expect this tea to be good as it was. I was looking for a descent loose leaf while I was down in FL, and since this company’s teas were offered, I had to get at least one tea straight. You don’t normally see more mainstream American companies carry more than one type of Dan Cong. The other selections looked decent, but more expensive. I got a whiff of the phoenix mountain one they carried, and it was nice and heather like, but I know what a Dancong like that tastes like, so I opted for the Ba Xian that was more floral.
My brewing parameters were more ad hoc than usual since I used a Ninja Machine for some hot water and a smaller than normal strainer. The shortest steeps were at 45 seconds including the water pouring at 4 grams for a hefty 12 oz mug, the lighter were three grams at 3 minutes.
The lighter I went, the creamier and the more floral it was. The company claimed the tea “offers a creamy, velvety texture with generous notes of warm, buttery cinnamon buns and a lingering, orange-flower-honey finish” and I can see where they were going. The mouthfeel was the highlight, and the notes edged around cream, violets, cinnamon, yeasty sweet rolls, and almonds. Viscosity was a given. The honey notes were in longer steeps or with more leaves-that’s when I got the citrus touch I associate dan congs with, though not quite as fruity as the many others I’ve experienced. The touch was actually kinda welcomed.
It is on the light side, but it did not lack in flavor. It only lacked in staying power giving me 2 to 3 brews on average. Grandpa was also not a bad way to go for this one.
Ordinarily, I would have rated this one in the eighties, but after tasting some of my more “prestigious” teas at home, a part of me is re-evaluating that. The fusion of the cinnamon note and the creamy Dan Cong florals is what made it stand out to me. It was very easy to drink, and it might be a selection I’d welcome to lighter tea drinkers. I’d be interested to see what other people would think of this one, but for me, it was nuance done right.
$16 for 50 sachets, i.e. 150 grams of oolong tea is a deal. I highly recommend a purchase for those in need of a floral oolong with all the convenience of a sachet form. Here is my review of it, along with a little epiphany in my tea journey about the osmanthus note.
I’ve had osmanthus oolongs before, and they are the floral hot Sprite of teas for me. I do like them when I have them, but I usually do not search for them because there is normally something I nit pick about the leaf base, whether the body is too roasted or faint. Given my experience with this companies oolongs as of late, I knew that the body of this tea would have a viscosity at the minimum, and the Jin Xuan base was heavily flavored with Osmanthus, which would transition into the tea since the taste is naturally a part of the tea. The heavy flavor also helps give the dry leaf sachets in the bag a candy sweet osmanthus scent amidst the lenin like smell of the bags.
The tea’s aroma brew varies from buttery floral greens to the same candy sweet osmanthus. Like the scent, the taste of each sachet has been slightly different, and I usually go for a western at 2-3 minutes, or let the sachet grandpa out in a mug. There are times where I can taste the Jin Xuan’s body more than the flavor, but that is not a bad thing since the Jin Xuan notes are actually better than others I’ve had. The texture is always thick and the notes always have a buttery honeysuckle floral taste in the body as a background for the osmanthus. A dryness appears every once in a while that reminds me of steel cut oats, which I know is a weird comparison. I’ve seen some red in the leaves of the sachet, so could it be from slight roasting? I don’t know. The tea is still very, very green and smooth.
Other times, the osmanthus is the star with the same body, but a lighter and sweeter overall taste. Here’s when I get a little bit of vanilla or a bit of a lemon approximation. I will say sweetening the tea hot or iced with a lemon slice really brings out the osmanthus and creamier notes. Sometimes, the tea can be so sweet and smooth that it reminds me a little bit of a Li Shan…which is a fairly hefty comparison that I would have not previously made.
Here is that epiphany: I like me some osmanthus notes in my oolong. There is no doubt that this is a Jin Xuan in how it tastes, but the osmanthus again adds a sweet quality that I usually get from my higher mountain addictions. I can now see why people use Osmanthus to describe the taste of the Li Shans and Ali Shans more, making this a deal of a daily drinker for my preferences, and osmanthus the descriptor I need to look for with sugarcane while shopping for oolongs.
The cold brews of this tea are also fantastic, and a little bit sweeter and crisper. It has saved my tookus in a few workouts, both refreshing me and giving me a stable, but light caffeine buzz while doing so.
Man, I filled too much space on this one. To sum it up, this is a great daily tea for Taiwaneese oolong lovers in sachet form. There can be a little bit of variety from bag to bag in terms of how strong the osmanthus is, but that really is not a problem with a good jin xuan for the base. It is approachable for newbie drinkers, especially those getting into greens, with sugar or honey, but especially lemon as an additive. I’d be interested to see what my more experienced friends might think of this one.
I am not home, so I do not have access to the ones I’ve been itching to write about. I was, however, able to stumble on this brand at a Spice Shop in Cocoa Village, FL. I’ve been meaning to try this one. I almost picked the Lemongrass Oolong since it was an bergamot blend, but there was something off about the smell. I also hesitated with this one since the dry leaf sample smelled like a dried up orange rind, but I went with it anyway. The dry leaf from the fresh package was much better. This blend had lemongrass too, and citrus and Florida go together.
So trying it out, it ORANGE dominates followed by a lemony accent and a little bit of a jasmine hint. I got the oolong in the body with a light to medium viscosity and an overall green feeling. Otherwise, the orange rind is so prevalent that it almost reminded me of a vitamin c tablet. It’s like fruit loop milk when it’s good, but the latter when I overleaf it.
The main stay is the orange and the citrus, which are things that I personally like, but I could see it being detracting. The taste really is not artificial, but there was too much orange for me personally. 80 in terms of taste, 75 in terms of price.
I did not expect to like this one. Ceylon teas can be a little too bitter for me usually, but this one was mega smooth and nicely malty. There were the usual cocoa notes that people get with this tea, but it was a nice contrast with the vanilla making the tea sweet like syrup. Maple was one of the things I picked up on more than pure cocoa. I actually liked it more than Golden Orchid-I know, blasphemy, but this one was smoother…although Golden Orchid is a vanilla gong fu tea. I only needed this black tea twice, however, this afternoon.
Brewing this tea lighter was what did the trick for me-I would estimate 3 grams or less in 6 oz and I kept returning to it whenever I would brew this amber beauty up. The menthol was there, but it was not as strong. I got more caramel, butter, and some sweet fruity notes in the viscosity. I got the citrus, amidst the smooth malt. I was getting some red grape hints in the malt-I know, weird note since I already had citrus, but they were hovering in the middle of the second steeps cool down. The third steep smelled like a saffrony malty black tea, a little cooked tomato like. The after taste of this one reminded me of rose hip beginning at the mid sip. I’d be interested to see if anyone else got that.
I can say I enjoyed this more as I savored the sample and it is without a doubt a high quality black tea. As much as I was impressed by this one and would recommend it, it still is not something that I would make a staple in my cabinet out of sheer preferences. This black tea is without a doubt versatile, and fits perfectly into what I think anything Assam like should taste like, this really is a hong cha mouthfeel snob’s tea.
I opened my bag up and it had that pastry aroma. It was not giving up Gong Fu, and I got an awesome bombshell of new notes like custard, lemon, pineapple, brown sugar, and rose. It’s still as floral as ever, and fairly buttery. It was starting to get a slight spice note which I have only had in a few oolongs. I am definitely upping the rating-I can see why this batch is the staff favorite.
I want more of this one, but I also do not want too much more. What-Cha is always tempting, but there is something about this one that makes me want to get more in a small amount to deeply savor it. That’s how good it is. And this tea is more for Nepal, Darjeeling, and Oriental Beauty lovers or foodies because of it’s nice balance between dry peach seed, cocoa, and autumn leave notes with the sweet pollen, honey, and stone fruit ones. The brew is fairly flexible, though I prefer a lighter western 1 minute steeps with this. I’m odd.
I’ve had this for a while, and it is one of my top 10 teas so far. It’s a Dan Cong, one of my favorite tea types, from Guangdong AND it possesses some very unique florals that I did not expect. Looking at the dark wiry leaves, you’d think it would be darker, roasted, and fruity. But then you look at the and green and purple hues at the tips, and you actually smell the tea, it will give you a milky surprise. “Milky” tends to describe teas in texture more than flavor, and only a few Jin Xuans actually have that hot milk flavor on their own, but this tea actually tastes like and smells like warmed honeyed creamer with a few butterscotch hints. Overall, however, the tea is predominently floral and on the lighter side of oxidation. Magnolia is without a doubt the strongest floral, with some lilac hints at the beginning of each sip, and a little bit of honey suckle and honey mid sip, dense, creamy milk notes at the end….and again, it’s a dan cong.
This tea is weird because the florals are something you’d expect out of a dancong, but the milky notes with the other florals makes it rival the sweetness of a few high mountains. There are no grassy notes in this tea whatsoever too, and it has some staying power gong fu at 8-10 steeps using 4 grams (15-30 sec increments), 5 western (2 minutes is my preferance with 2-3 grams in 8 oz), and decent grandpa style (though you have to go way up on the water and low on the leaves (3-4 grams for 14-16 oz.) You can also bet your hind end it’s aromatic and viscous. It doesn’t really get bitter, but it can get drying if it soaks too long. That is the only complaint, and it is a minimum one.
This is a personal hundred, but overall, I think this is a 95. I do wonder how tea newbies would do with it. The flavor is milky, but incredibly floral and natural so it can kick most flavored oolongs butts. But if you do not like lactose or mega floral teas, this might be a little powerful.
I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather influencing the taste, but the rose note has become more and more pronounced with this tea, and I can dig it. I am going to be sad when this one and the winter special are gone, but there is something to hoarding a small amount of this treasure of a tea. I appreciate the experience more because of it…though I would not mind having more on hand.
