73 Tasting Notes
Finishing off my sample of this tea. I still love the way the wet leaves have this heavy, fruit scent—kind of like ripe plum or apricot or something along those lines. In the first and second steep, flavors are very low and mellow, with no particular high notes making their way known to me. Generally, it seems people describe this as being more “spiced” as opposed to “floral”, though I’m still not quite sure what that means. It does have a little bit of a spicy note on the uptake (is this just confirmation bias?), and overall it has a very low flavor profile. It’s quite enjoyable! Different from some of the other young sheng I’ve been drinking thus far but I’m quite enjoying this tea as it is.
The dry leaves smell wonderfully fruity, a strawberry sort of smell that I’ve only really noticed coming from GABA oolongs thus far. After a rinse, the fruit smell is still there, but also a very dark, somewhat unsavory one that smells like burnt something.
First sips reveal something very unique. There are a lot of things happening at once, but the first thing to notice is the quick onset of a minty feeling—a quick sort of rush of coolness. The flavor is sweet and mellow in this first steep, resounding of strawberry and fruit and not showing any particular black tea flavors yet.
The second steep brings out another new flavor. A little bit of a low maltiness is sneaking in, and along with it is a tartness that shows up all over my mouth making it hard to pinpoint. I’m finding this to be really interesting even though I’m only two steeps in.
Third steep darkens out more with more of the black tea flavor working its way in, though it’s not quite the same as the chocolately, burnt malt flavor I’m used to seeing. It does have a character similar to that, but it’s faster, and I think the tartness offsets it in a way that makes this tea feel very different from other black teas I’ve tried.
As the brew proceeds on, it starts to vary less, but definitely a favorite of the teas that I’ve tried thus far.
Sampling this from Liquid Proust’s Sheng Olympiad. This is the middle child of the three bang dong samples received, and though it was a little while ago that I tried the others, I will hopefully be able to make a judgement on where this stands.
The dry leaves smell of apricot. After a rinse, the fruity smell comes out strongly, headlined by a note of sour plum. The first steep comes out super light with a thick viscosity but not much flavor yet. There isn’t bitterness, but a smooth sweetness.
The second tweet brings out a little bit more flavor. I’m still noticing the strong viscosity, as well as an overall roundness and sweetness that makes this tea quite enjoyable. The profile is centered around its strong mid notes, a mouth filling body and an upfront bitterness that lingers into the aftertaste. There’s a little bit of a sharp, high note bitterness, but no particular fruit note stands out to me.
It’s quite enjoyable! From what I’ve read, this is actually a fairly high ticket price tea. Others have described it as having a spiced element to it, though I can’t say I’m familiar enough to comment on it. I can definitely attest to the creaminess, though, as this tea pushes quite a strong viscosity as far as I can tell.
Preparation
Drinking this tea in my probably-fake yixing pot today. I’ve tried this tea once before, and generally, I’m not too well exposed to roasted oolongs and don’t quite have a taste for them yet, but I’ll try to do my best.
Generally, this tea brews out very smooth. No bitterness and a very mild astringency to be found here. The mouth feel is very round and mellow, with no particular high notes to speak of (though I believe this is one of the allures of this kind of tea!).
I’m not very good at picking out those middle notes yet. There’s definitely a little bit of sharpness in the way the roasted flavor comes out, but other than that it’s quite smooth overall. I’m not really picking up “honey sweetness”, though maybe I have a misunderstanding of what that feels like.
The leaves in my sample are quite dark in color and broken up into fairly small pieces. The wet leaves strongly smells of apricot fruit, and the leaf itself has a slightly different fruity note, like a sour plum sort of smell.
It brews up as a deeper, golden yellow color. It has a very strong and forward body combined with an upfront bitterness that generally blends together well. The bitterness reappears in the aftertaste, though in this early steep, it’s an enjoyable bitterness. There is a little bit of fruit in the aftertaste as well, that quickly fleets by after you drink.
The second steep brings in a little bit more roundness to the flavor. There’s a smooth transition between a low sweetness to a medium body and bitterness up to the ever-so-slight fruity high notes.
Overall, this is a tea that plays quite low in its overall flavor profile. It has a unique sort of sharpness to it due to the way the high notes appear and disappear as an aftertaste, but overall, the main allure of this tea is the mouth filling bittersweet. This isn’t a beautiful, delicate tea, but you’ll definitely know it’s there when you drink it.
