Eric Honaker Send Message

The classic oolong flavor. Floral, nutty, vegetal and sweet. A hint of buttery aftertaste. Very smooth, with almost no astringency.

From my Bana Tea sampler. A really flavorful, complex tea. A bit vegetal, a little camphorous, very mildly astringent. Definitely a great cup. Brewed at 192F.

Tried cold-brewing this. I learned something – don’t brew in the container from which you intend to drink. This should have been obvious, but I messed it up. Brewed for right at 12 hours.

The flavor profile was basically the same, but the emphasis moved around. The chocolate and brown sugar flavors came out (while remaining very smooth) and the savory, semi-spicy notes took more of a back seat.

Definitely a good iced tea, which I drank without any sweetener.

The last of my “5 for $5” sampler from Verdant Tea. Also, the first young sheng I’ve really enjoyed.

I took some advice from /r/tea over on Reddit and brewed this one at lower temp, like an oolong. The result was less bitter and astringent than I associate with young sheng.

The flavors were vegetal, with some camphor, dry grass and sweetness. A very pleasant, mellow sort of drink.

Had nice session of this over the weekend and shared it with my wife.

The problem is that she gets done with tea much sooner than I do, but I can’t drink a whole session’s worth of 300mL steepings. I think next time I’ll go with a smaller brewing vessel and do two steeps at a time for the cha hai.

Upped the leaf a bit and decided to push it today.

The answer to “how long can I keep drinking this” is all day long, and about 2L of water.

The flavor didn’t change a whole lot, but got a bit more mellow and sweeter as the session went on. At the end I was at a 2 minute steep.

Dropped my leaf down to 3g this session. I think it’s actually a bit better this way.

This tea has been sitting around for a couple of weeks, in a snap-top storage tub with airholes. The “rest” time since unsealing it from the ziplock bag the brick came in has done it some good.

Very little fermentation smell even in the rinses. After 2 rinses it was gone from the tea itself. Like last time, it was a smooth, earthy cup, easy to drink.

Adjusted my rating upward a little bit.

I left the tuo sitting open for a while since last time, and there has definitely been an improvement after airing out. The “lake” taste is gone, leaving a rich but uncomplicated earthiness. Maybe a bit of mushroom in there, too.

Still not my favorite, but went from a disappointing experiment to a no frills “daily drinker” sort of cup.