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This was my most recent sipdown and a tea I had been looking forward to since trying Yunnan Sourcing’s Royal Chrysanthemum Flower and Big Snow Mountain Black Tea Dragon Ball (still need to post a review for that one). Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the other tea since I found the snow chrysanthemum to frequently overpower the tea base. Yunnan Sourcing’s Big Snow Mountain of Mengku Black Tea is not the most powerful or assertive Yunnan black tea, and I did not think it had room to shine when paired with these snow chrysanthemum flowers.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire dragon ball in 160 ml of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry dragon ball produced aromas of chrysanthemum, dill, mandarin orange, and malt. After the rinse, I picked up new aromas of cream, butter, cinnamon, and black pepper as well as amplified scents of chrysanthemum and malt. The first infusion introduced subtle aromas of oats and red grape. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of cream, chrysanthemum, butter, oats, and dill that were chased by hints of mandarin orange, roasted almond, baked bread, red grape, and sweet potato. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of baked bread, camphor, ginger, nutmeg, caramel, and eucalyptus alongside subtle scents of sweet potato. I picked up a little more baked bread, red grape, sweet potato, and roasted almond in the mouth as well as notes of minerals, camphor, eucalyptus, ginger, cocoa, nutmeg, caramel, and red apple. I also noted belatedly appearing cinnamon, malt, and black pepper impressions and hints of earth and plum. As the tea faded, the liquor continued to offer chrysanthemum, mandarin orange, dill, black pepper, cinnamon, and red apple notes that were supported by hints of roasted almond, baked bread, earth, red grape, and sweet potato.

This struck me as being an okay chrysanthemum black tea. It was nothing special. There wasn’t a lot of integration of snow chrysanthemum and black tea aromas and flavors. The notes one would generally get from snow chrysanthemum flowers dominated the proceedings here while the contributions from the tea base were always playing second fiddle. I think a more assertive, robust black tea would have worked better for a blend of this type.

Steepster has unfortunately now eaten my review of this tea twice, so let’s see if the third time is the charm. I generally don’t go for pu-erh or blended teas, so one would expect this tea to not do much for me, but one would be wrong. This was an absolutely fantastic pu-erh blend.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a 10 second rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose pu-erh, cacao nib, and vanilla bean piece blend in 4 ounces of 212 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 20 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea blend emitted aromas of earth, mushroom, cocoa, vanilla, and marshmallow. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of malt, wood, and wheat toast. The first infusion introduced the aroma of old paper and a subtle scent of smoke. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of earth, cream, butter, malt, mushroom, marshmallow, wood, wheat toast, cocoa, and vanilla that were complimented by subtle notes of cinnamon, black pepper, camphor, smoke, and old paper. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of cream, butter, molasses, and caramel. Notes of minerals and dried tobacco appeared in the mouth alongside subtle hints of molasses and a brown sugar note that quickly transformed into more of a caramel presence. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized mineral, cream, wood, vanilla, cocoa, and caramel notes that were complimented by hints of marshmallow, camphor, wheat toast, butter, and mushroom.

At this point, all I can do is re-emphasize that I thought this was a fantastic blend. Nothing was out of place. Everything worked together. It was just beautiful. Brendan consistently does an incredible job with his tea blends, and this one was another winner. Anyone looking to craft a quality pu-erh blend should check out this tea and some of Whispering Pines’ similar offerings.

With this review, I am moving on from something strange to something a little more traditional. This black tea was produced from the same plants that also produced the material for the spring 2017 Yi Mei Ren black tea, which I loved, but this tea was produced later and from older, larger leaves. I found it to be a timid, subtle tea that retained some of the aromatics and appealing flavor components of the Yi Mei Ren, but with a stuffier, more heavily textured feel that did not quite do it for me on any sort of consistent basis.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of chocolate, malt, baked bread, grass, orchid, and minerals. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of plum, red grape, butter, and roasted almond. The first infusion introduced even more minerality to the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented watery notes of malt, butter, grass, roasted almond, and baked bread that were chased by hints of plum, orchid, red grape, and chocolate. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of orange zest, caramel, violet, and straw. Slightly amplified and somewhat more immediate chocolate impressions appeared in the mouth alongside clear orchid and mineral notes and hints of date, nutmeg, and sugarcane. I also detected notes of violet, orange zest, caramel, earth, cream, oats, and straw. As the tea faded, the liquor started emphasizing lingering mineral, malt, earth, roasted almond, baked bread, and straw notes that were balanced by hints of cream, butter, orchid, violet, red grape, and orange zest.

This was not a terrible tea, but it was not for me. I prefer my black teas to be robustly aromatic and flavorful, and this tea was very subtle, clean, and timid, consistently emphasizing body and texture over any flavor component it had to offer. Drinkers who approach tea based more on feel would probably be satisfied with it, but for people like me who appreciate aroma and flavor more than anything else, this tea would probably come off as boring. I’m glad I took the opportunity to try it, but I also recall being very happy to move on to something else after I finished what I had of it. This one would certainly not be for everyone.

Here is one of my sipdowns from September and a tea that was a totally new and very challenging experience for me. This was a purple yabao that was processed as a black tea. Though I tend to be a huge fan of yabao, this tea struck me as being disgusting the first time I tried it. That first sip of my gongfu session’s first infusion was rough. It was enough to put more hair on my already incredibly hirsute chest, but this tea rapidly grew on me from there. I went from hating it to greatly enjoying it in the space of a couple hours.

Clearly, I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of the loose tea buds in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea buds emitted aromas of smoke, malt, hay, cedar, blood orange, and nectarine. After the rinse, I picked up new aromas of vanilla, oats, cinnamon, wheat toast, sugarcane, marshmallow, and peppermint. The first infusion introduced tomato and plum aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of smoke, grass, green bell pepper, sour plum, sugarcane, blood orange, hay, malt, lemon rind, tomato, and grapefruit pith that were chased by hints of vanilla, nectarine, marshmallow, oats, cedar, and wheat toast before citrus rind bitterness and a turpentine-like astringency completely overwhelmed everything else this tea put on display. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of earth, grapefruit, lemon, juniper, grass, and green bell pepper. Amplified and more immediate impressions of wheat toast, oats, and vanilla came out in the mouth alongside slightly stronger nectarine notes. I also picked up mineral, pine sap, earth, juniper, kumquat, black cherry, blackberry, artichoke, and sour apricot impressions in addition to a softer, smoother turpentine-like camphor note and hints of sea salt, peppermint, and cinnamon. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, wheat toast, earth, kumquat, camphor, lemon rind, grapefruit pith, and grass that were complimented by hints of green bell pepper, blood orange, marshmallow, nectarine, pine sap, tomato, sour plum, and sour apricot.

This was a very unique tea, one that started out rough and prickly before quickly ironing out its rough edges in order to become incredibly drinkable. I can’t really compare this tea to anything else I have tried, though I do feel that it fell neatly between a purple yabao and a Yunnan purple black tea in terms of styling, perhaps leaning more toward the former than the latter. Even if you have tried both purple yabao and Yunnan purple black tea, this tea will still be a unique experience for you and one that you really have to be patient with and for which you have to maintain an open mind. I would have no issues with recommending it to experienced drinkers of Yunnan teas who are looking for something new and challenging. Newcomers to the world of Yunnan teas should probably wait to try something like this until they have at least one or two purple yabao and purple black teas under their belts.

Tonight, I’m hopping in the wayback machine and posting a review of one of my August sipdowns. Prior to trying this tea, I had never tried a Wuyi Que She, though I had previously done a little research on the cultivar. Honestly, I was not well prepared for this tea. It was not how I expected it to be, but rather than striking me as a pleasant surprise, I found it to be more on the disappointing side. My experience with this tea definitely did not make me want to rush into trying more Que She in the near future.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of dark chocolate, pine, charcoal, smoke, raisin, and cinnamon. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of lychee, roasted peanut, roasted almond, vanilla, and blueberry. The first infusion introduced aromas of peach and blackberry. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of pine, smoke, charcoal, dark chocolate, raisin, cream, and roasted almond that were chased by hints of blueberry, earth, grass, black cherry, and roasted peanut. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of black cherry, brown sugar, orange zest, cranberry, and orchid. Blackberry and vanilla notes appeared in the mouth alongside subtle impressions of peach and lychee and more amplified flavors of blueberry, black cherry, earth, grass, and roasted peanut. I also picked up notes of minerals, orchid, orange zest, cranberry, and spinach as well as hints of cannabis, cinnamon, brown sugar, tar, butter, coffee, pear, and roasted carrot. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized mineral, raisin, roasted peanut, and vanilla notes that were complimented by some late popcorn flavor and even more amplified impressions of earth and butter. These flavors were then balanced by hints of orange zest, grass, smoke, charcoal, cranberry, black cherry, pine, and roasted carrot.

This was something of a confusing and awkward tea for me. It faded quickly, and not all of its aromas and flavors came together in a way that was satisfying. The body of the tea liquor was also rather thin and watery, which resulted in it coming across as bland and prematurely washed out when coupled with its sharp, mineral-heavy texture. Overall, I wasn’t happy with this one. There was a lot of complexity and some very interesting and likable components on display here, but as a whole, this tea just came across as a muddled, confused, disjointed mess.

This was another sipdown from August. It was also the first of the Yunnan Sourcing tea and flower dragon balls I tried. It set the bar pretty high for those that followed, although I can now safely say that it was not my favorite of the bunch.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire 8-9 gram dragon ball in 160 ml of 185 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes, with the final infusion steeped in 205 F water.

Prior to the rinse, the dry dragon ball produced aromas of chrysanthemum, dill, hay, malt, and sugarcane. After the rinse, new aromas of wheat toast, cream, butter, vanilla, and grass appeared. The first infusion introduced aromas of orange zest and straw as well as a subtle eucalyptus scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of chrysanthemum, hay, dill, cream, butter, malt, and wheat toast that were backed by hints of straw, vanilla, orange zest, grass, and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of autumn leaves, oats, lemon zest, and anise as well as a subtle pine scent. Stronger and more immediately noteworthy impressions of orange zest, sugarcane, straw, grass, and vanilla appeared in the mouth alongside impressions of anise, oats, lemon zest, minerals, and autumn leaves and hints of black pepper, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and pine. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, wheat toast, chrysanthemum, orange zest, malt, cream, hay, and butter that were complimented by a late, sugary honeydew note and hints of dill, vanilla, grass, straw, autumn leaves, pine, sugarcane, lemon zest, and anise.

This was a very interesting tea. Though the characteristics imparted by the chrysanthemum buds did occasionally overpower the base tea, there was still just enough strength from the base to keep things from coming unglued. The chrysanthemum buds and the moonlight white tea actually played off of one another quite well, as the tea neutralized some of the more vegetal impressions of the chrysanthemum buds, while the chrysanthemum buds softened and smoothed out some of the grainier, more savory notes of the white tea and injected some gently invigorating spiciness into the mix. Though I would have liked to see a little more balance, especially in the early infusions, this was still a successful blend of more or less complimentary components. Fans of both white teas and floral infusions would probably be satisfied with it.

Here is another sipdown from last month. I discovered several black tea dragon balls from Yunnan Sourcing in my tea hoard, and having recently finished the fantastic spring 2017 Yi Mei Ren, I just had to try this tea. Unfortunately, I did not realize that this dragon ball was made using the similar but not nearly as satisfying Yi Mei Ren Needle black tea. I was expecting an abundance of sweet, floral, fruity flavors, but instead, I ended up getting more flowery notes springing from a muted, fairly nondescript black tea base.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped the entire 8-9 gram dragon ball in 160 ml of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry dragon ball emitted aromas of osmanthus, malt, and straw. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of cream, baked bread, and sugarcane as well as subtle cocoa scents and a greatly amplified osmanthus aroma. The first infusion introduced aromas of anise and pine. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of osmanthus, pear, malt, cream, butter, and pine that were backed by hints of baked bread, sugarcane, straw, and pineapple. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of raisin, licorice, earth, and rose. Anise notes appeared in the mouth alongside hints of pine, smoke, roasted almond, apple, and vanilla as well as barely perceptible cocoa. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of baked bread, sugarcane, and straw also came out alongside notes of licorice, raisin, earth, minerals, orange zest, and rose. There were also very subtle menthol hints on each swallow. As the tea faded, the liquor settled and emphasized notes of minerals, osmanthus, malt, vanilla, butter, orange zest, and pear that were chased by fleeting hints of straw, roasted almond, pine, cream, baked bread, earth, raisin, and menthol.

This was not a terrible tea, but it also struck me as being decidedly unbalanced and unfocused. The osmanthus tended to dominate throughout most of the session, and it seems that the base tea just did not have enough strength and character to rein it in and pull everything together in a satisfying fashion. If you really like osmanthus and aren’t looking for something with more depth, then you’ll probably be into this, but if, like me, you are looking for a tea with balance and great interplay between the tea base and flowers, then you should probably look elsewhere.

This was one of my last sipdowns in September. I recall buying a sample of this tea during either the summer or fall of 2016. I was just getting into some of What-Cha’s offerings at the time and was experimenting with aged Tie Guan Yin, but after a number of bad experiences with aged Tie Guan Yin from other vendors, I shelved this tea indefinitely. Clearly, curiosity got the better of me late last month. I’m glad it did because this ended up being a very enjoyable tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves and dried bitter melon pieces in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 19 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaf and melon piece blend emitted aromas of raisin, dried blueberry, pine, plum, cedar, and malt. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of fig, butter, cream, black raspberry, and black currant. The first infusion introduced aromas of black cherry and roasted almond. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of raisin, dried blueberry, cedar, pine, malt, butter, cream, and fig that were complimented by hints of black raspberry, black currant, roasted almond, black cherry, and earth. The following infusions introduced aromas of vanilla, brown sugar, roasted barley, baked bread, roasted hazelnut, cinnamon, and straw. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of black cherry, earth, and roasted almond appeared in the mouth along with belatedly emerging notes of plum and butter. Impressions of baked bread, minerals, vanilla, roasted barley, roasted hazelnut, orange zest, and straw also appeared alongside hints of brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cattail shoots, and peat. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, malt, earth, baked bread, roasted barley, pine, butter, and cream that were balanced by a late popcorn note and hints of raisin, plum, straw, cattail shoots, orange zest, and vanilla.

This was a very nice aged oolong. Though I often find that aged oolongs, especially aged Tie Guan Yin, can develop something of a musty, papery profile, this one was very smooth and balanced with a nice, complimentary blend of aromas and flavors. Nothing seemed out of place. My only complaints with this tea were that it started to fade a little sooner than anticipated, and some of its more intriguing aromas and flavors faded a little too soon. Otherwise, this was a very enjoyable offering.

This was another one of my sipdowns from September, this one coming from around the very end of the month. Not only did this tea end up holding the distinction of being the very worst tea I drank last month, it was also one of the very worst teas I have ever consumed. Nothing about this tea clicked for me.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of cedar, pine, straw, hay, cinnamon, and malt. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of fresh yeast rolls, roasted peanut, and honey. The first infusion introduced aromas of roasted walnut, smoke, and leather. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted peanut, straw, malt, hay, cedar, and pine that were complimented by hints of smoke, baked bread, roasted walnut, honey, and sugarcane. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of minerals, nutmeg, cocoa, caramel, toasted marshmallow, sugarcane, and grass. Slightly stronger notes of honey, sugarcane, and roasted walnut came out in the mouth along with impressions of minerals, leather, earth, yeast roll, cinnamon, nutmeg, graham cracker, cocoa, orange zest, toasted marshmallow, grass, butter, and caramel. I also picked up on hints of lemon zest and plum. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, butter, malt, yeast roll, straw, and roasted peanut that were underscored by hints of hay, smoke, orange zest, caramel, sugarcane, honey, and toasted marshmallow.

This was a very odd, awkward, and unsatisfying Jin Jun Mei. There was a lot going on with it, but none of its aroma or flavor components really came together in any sort of pleasant way for any length of time. The mouthfeel of the tea liquor also struck me as being very harsh and chalky. Overall, there was nothing about this tea that was pleasant or enjoyable. Even though I have a small pouch of the Spring 2018 version of this tea, I now doubt that I will be in any rush to get to it.

This was another of my sipdowns from last month. In truth, I had put off trying this tea for a while because Rou Gui is not one of my favorite Wuyi oolong cultivars, and I had always heard that the winter harvests in Wuyishan tend to yield teas of poor quality. At the time I resolved to try this tea, however, I knew that some of the recent winter harvested Wuyi teas were starting to change the overall perception of teas produced outside the traditionally highly regarded spring harvests, so I resolved to approach this tea with an open mind. It immediately shocked me. First, I was surprised by the quality of the leaves. They looked much better than expected. Second, I noticed how light the roast was. According to What-Cha, this tea was given a light-to-medium roast, but to me, the roast looked light. Light roasted Rou Gui is not all that common. Third, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this tea. It was really a great Wuyi oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After rinsing, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was followed by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cinnamon, charcoal, baked bread, malt, pine, red grape, tart cherry, and roasted almond. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted peanut, grass, mushroom, and cannabis. The first infusion introduced aromas of rock sugar, pomegranate, and smoke. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cinnamon, grass, cannabis, cream, butter, mushroom, charcoal, and baked bread that were complimented by hints of malt, tart cherry, smoke, red grape, and roasted almond. The subsequent infusions brought out aromas of minerals, ginger, dark chocolate, red apple, roasted barley, pear, oak, and tobacco. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of tart cherry, smoke, red grape, and roasted almond appeared in the mouth alongside notes of minerals, roasted peanut, pine, rock sugar, earth, roasted walnut, pear, red apple, ginger, dark chocolate, oak, tree bark, tobacco, orange zest, and roasted barley. There were also some very subtle hints of pomegranate here and there. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized notes of minerals, earth, oak, roasted barley, grass, charcoal, mushroom, and malt that were balanced by hints of baked bread, roasted almond, cannabis, roasted peanut, red grape, tart cherry, tree bark, tobacco, and orange zest.

This tea was both incredibly interesting and incredibly satisfying. Normally, Rou Gui tends to strike me as being very spicy and heavy, but this tea was light, fruity, earthy, nutty, and woody. While I was drinking it, I could not compare it to any other Rou Gui I had tried. Even at this point, I find it to be a very memorable, unique tea and unlike any other Wuyi oolong I have consumed. Definitely check this tea out if you are looking for a unique Wuyi Rou Gui that avoids the heaviness of some of the more traditional takes on the style.