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10g sample weighed in at 10.8g. Decided to brew gong fu first, using 6.8g.

Dry tea looks nice, large-medium sized balls but quite a lot of dust and tiny pieces. Dry aroma is subtle light floral.

Gong fu style:
Filtered tap water at full boil, quick rinse.

1st infusion, full boil, 30 seconds. Aroma is light, sweet floral and vegetal. Aroma of wet leaves is honey and osmanthus. Tea flavor and mouthfeel all typical of high mountain oolong: osmanthus, honey, slightly vegetal and a long sweet finish. But not tasting anything magical like the best (supposed) Li Shan or Da Yu Ling teas I’ve had. Still, a very nice tea.

Cutting this review a bit short – subsequent infusions were very similar. It’s a very nice tea with a very nice long sweet finish and I don’t doubt them when they say it is from the 95k marker in Da Yu Ling. And very fairly priced at $34.99/56g. But we’re getting above the $5 per gong fu session mark and given the quality of some of their other less expensive teas I’m not sure I’ll be ordering a larger quantity of this one. It really is nice though. Still tasting that sweetness.

13.3g in this 10g sample! Decided to brew gong fu with this one, using half the sample.

Dry tea looks nice, large-medium sized balls and very little dust. Appearance is typical of the style, beautiful dark green that’s somehow “bright” at eh same time. Dry aroma is subtle honey, osmanthus, sweet milk.

Gong fu style:
Filtered tap water at full boil, quick rinse.

1st infusion, full boil, 35 seconds. Aroma is light, sweet grassiness. Wet leaf aroma similar with a bit more osmanthus and milk scent. Pleasant taste and mouthfeel but both a little thin. I used about 5% less tea than I typically do — will try going a bit longer on the next ones. Finish is sweet and vegetal. Milk/buttery flavors are noticeable but quite subtle. Pleasant slight lingering sweetness. Ahh, waited a couple of minutes and there’s the hui gan. Nice.

2nd infusion: full boil, 45 seconds. A bit stronger and darker than 1st infusion but aroma, taste, mouthfeel all similar.Balance now shifts towards more sweetness and less vegetal. Stronger umami

3rd infusion, full boil, 60 seconds. Similar to second in color and mouthfeel; flavor and aroma slightly lower across the spectrum. Very little tannin or bitterness. Strong hui gai on this one!

4th (and final) infusion: full boil, 120 seconds. Nice sweetness now. Aroma has faded but mouthfeel and sweetness are very nice. Honey orchid & osmanthus flavors now. Still not getting a lot of “milk” from this one. (And I despise flavored “jinxuan” so not looking for that.) Very nice lingering sweetness.

Based on this session, I think this tea wants longer brews. Might just do the remainder in 2 small competition-style brews and catch all those layers at once.

Leaves very delicate and tore easily post-infusions. Possibly hand-picked? (They say it is.) Mix of leaf & bud systems & single leaves, even a few long, thin lonely stems. Those leaves that aren’t on stems are quite torn. Almost looks like a mix of hand- and machine-picked, but I’m far from an expert.

Nice tea at a good price ($12.99/56g).

10g sample weighed in at 10.9g. Used 5.5g for competetion-style brewing. Will follow up with gong fu brewing test. I usually use 7g for gong fu so with 5.4g I’ll use a bit less water & slightly longer steeps.

Dry tea looks nice, large sized balls (odd-shapen more that perfectly round) with some really big ones and just a little dust. Dry aroma is moderate sweetness.

Competetion style:
Filtered tap water at full boil, quick rinse. 6-min brew in gaiwan. Tea color darker than I expected. Very nice honey aroma. Wet leaf aroma is sweet with floral and vegetal notes.

Tea taste is very nice: pronounced honey sweetness with notes of stone fruit, mild roastiness, something vaguely familiar that I can’t quite identify, a little cinnamon, and…leather! Moderately tannic. Nice umami. Appearance is a lovely amber color, about the color of a Dongfang Meiren/Bai Hao.

Subtle hui gan still there 10 mins later.

Appearance of wet leaves is interesting. They are somewhat torn, and I suspect it was machine-harvested? Evidence of bug-bites around the edges and where present the leaves have a notable purple tinge. Some leaves are entirely purplish and those tend to be very thick and resistant to flattening. Don’t recall seeing leaves with this color or the thick leatheriness that some of them have.

Try this one — it’s fairly unusual and a very nice tea at a good price ($14.99/56g)!

10g sample was actually 9.5g (no big deal). Used 4.8g for competetion-style brewing. Will follow up with gong fu brewing test. I usually use 7g for gong fu so with 4.7g I’ll use a bit less water & slightly longer steeps.

Dry tea looks nice, medium sized balls with some larger ones and a bit of dust. Dry aroma is not strongly present.

Competetion style:
Filtered tap water at full boil, quick rinse. 6-min brew in gaiwan. Tea color and aroma are both surprisingly light. Wet leaf aroma has notes of orchid, omanthus, honey, peach.

Tea taste and mouthfeel are both very pleasant. Tastes about like what a light, unroasted Dong Ding should taste like. Lingering sweetness is present and very nice but less pronounced than in high mountain oolongs? (I think?)

Lots of 2- and 3-leaf systems in the open leaves, as well as some extremely large leaves (Fo Shou cultivar?), a few smaller torn bits, but I’d say it appears hand-picked?

Very nice tea, and would be more than happy with it as an everyday drinker, particularly given the good price ($12.99/56g).