Dry – Standard bittersweet ripe notes, some starch, faint earthy and sweet.
Wet – Sweet, fruity complexity (dark dried fruits), faint cocoa/chocolate hints, citrus?, thickness.
Liquor – Burgundy to a reddish-brown. mellow fragrance.
Initial steeps were all sweet and smooth with a noticeable thickness and developing some dark dried fruit notes of dates and sometimes berries? with a caramel or better yet molasses finish to it. As you continued to steep the following steeps had more bittersweet-ness to them, but maintained the character from the first steep.
Around 4-6 some changes developed and I had to adjust the steep times being a bit more conscious on the color and smell of the steep, longevity issues. The steeps here are still very smooth, but wear less thickness and the fruity notes are more active. The notes remind me of dates, molasses and perhaps a Chinese dried persimmon.
Late steeps were from the 6th to a 8th and a very forced 9th steep. The notes are still here, though they are faded and is already lacking some thickness. Still very good steeps with some camphor being detected (was there before but the thickness mellowed it a bit).
Final Notes
A very good and simple ripe, the longevity is a bit… inconsistent, specially considering that the description says 25 infusions…. It also depends a lot on which portion of the cake you are steeping from. The middle get just a rougher with more sticks here and there, which honestly isn’t bad I felt like the middle lacks the thickness, but it has some more bitter notes that at some points may trick you into think ‘cocoa notes’.
Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Dried Fruit, Molasses, Sweet, Thick
Preparation
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i love dried persimmon and dates flavor. Chawangshop is an interesting place. but i find shipping rather expensive. I dont feel like getting few samples for $17 ship
Yeah, I had the same issue with them. The quality of the tea is very good so far, but the problem is not so much the shipping cost, is the fact that you don’t really know the the cost until after you receive your invoice.
They use a rounded up estimate so you could be paying a lot less than stated initially or end up with a higher price, which honestly sucks when you are planning your order out.
i really like that YS has loyalty points. quite helpful with the ship. that crazy ship prevents me from placing an order. even if to do join order i think it will be so hard to split the ship portion.
the tea btw sounds really good. have you tried “Lao Yu”? im so curious about this tea.
Yeah, my recommendation is that you find someone who wants to buy whole cakes that may be interested in trying and just chip in a bit, you’ll be better off.
I haven’t tried that one. can you put a link to be on the look out?
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2014-chawangpu-lao-yu-xiao-bing-cha-200g.html
Also i would try this one too
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2004-dehong-raw-puerh-brick-500g.html
trying same cake is a good idea. now i just need to convince my teafiends lol
Those look good! I’ll let you know if I plan to order from them again. Maybe you can tag along.
I’m the same way with Chawang. So many items added to the shopping cart and an almost equal amount of cancelled orders.
JC and jschergen if you ever decide to get something from Chawangshop please let me know ;) that 2004 Dehong is haunting me at night lol
Yeah, actually those two at the top of my radar too. Especially after Jakub’s review..
you see, you people are a bad influence. I’m trying to save money. LOL
You all want to pool an order?
I’m in, I want the Houde oolong squares.
This exploded into ChaWangShop orders! lol I wish I had not been so busy this weekend and keep up with it. :P
i love dried persimmon and dates flavor. Chawangshop is an interesting place. but i find shipping rather expensive. I dont feel like getting few samples for $17 ship
Yeah, I had the same issue with them. The quality of the tea is very good so far, but the problem is not so much the shipping cost, is the fact that you don’t really know the the cost until after you receive your invoice.
They use a rounded up estimate so you could be paying a lot less than stated initially or end up with a higher price, which honestly sucks when you are planning your order out.
i really like that YS has loyalty points. quite helpful with the ship. that crazy ship prevents me from placing an order. even if to do join order i think it will be so hard to split the ship portion.
the tea btw sounds really good. have you tried “Lao Yu”? im so curious about this tea.
Yeah, my recommendation is that you find someone who wants to buy whole cakes that may be interested in trying and just chip in a bit, you’ll be better off.
I haven’t tried that one. can you put a link to be on the look out?
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2014-chawangpu-lao-yu-xiao-bing-cha-200g.html
Also i would try this one too
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2004-dehong-raw-puerh-brick-500g.html
trying same cake is a good idea. now i just need to convince my teafiends lol
Those look good! I’ll let you know if I plan to order from them again. Maybe you can tag along.
I’m the same way with Chawang. So many items added to the shopping cart and an almost equal amount of cancelled orders.
JC and jschergen if you ever decide to get something from Chawangshop please let me know ;) that 2004 Dehong is haunting me at night lol
Yeah, actually those two at the top of my radar too. Especially after Jakub’s review..
you see, you people are a bad influence. I’m trying to save money. LOL
You all want to pool an order?
I’m in, I want the Houde oolong squares.
This exploded into ChaWangShop orders! lol I wish I had not been so busy this weekend and keep up with it. :P