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Purple leaf tea is a weird one for me. This one has a similar thing going like the other purples I am sampling from YS, almost a sheng-type freshness. It has only just been harvested two months ago, and doesnt have any roasty, what you get is sweet & almost sour citrus notes going on. Grapefruit is a good description, as YS have on the website.

The steeped leaves have a OB-like spice smell, and also something else that I really dont like. I dont know what it is, but its there.

later brews reveal a slight astringency, with more of this sour plant/citrus taste appearing. This isnt a very complex tea, and later steeps the taste seemed to fall apart a bit, with the sour taste lingering in a not-so-nice manner. This is probably down to my inexperience with steeping young leaf such as this. I am doing it gongfu, maybe it is better a different way.

Really on the fence with this one! I will continue to try different methods and maybe a re-review soon.

Starts off nutty & savoury. Medium thickness liquor from the first steep! chocolate notes from the leaves. The roast isnt strong at all, and the tea has a pleasant woody/natural classic oolong-ness to it.

I brewed 4g in my 60ml gaiwan and maybe that was a bit too little, but the flavour definitely says da hong pao, with hints of nuts, a bit of sweet, and a lovely oily oolong flavour that sits on the tongue. Theres a nice balance of flavours in there. it gets thicker too.

It tastes new, doesnt have any charred sharpness to it, round and soft. Still tastes ‘wise’ like an oolong should taste, but a bit more like the zen masters apprentice than the zen master. haha. Mellow without being weak. I really like it! – I really feel like im in the enviornment, misty mountains and dewy forests :)

Every steep went down one after another. fifth steep in, its the gift that keeps on giving. Started mellow (refined?) and is just keeping up with it.

Mental image was creamy water droplets infused with misty forests.

2014 (?)

A sweet, slightly vegetal smell from the steeped leaves. A nice honey liquor, with a honey aroma coming from the cup. That works really well for me! The liquor is thin, clean tasting, sweet and woody, slightly vegetal, slightly honey, a little bitter, a little astringent. It holds up well I think. The sweetness leaves a nice slightly numb tongue. The aroma is always 50/50 honey/plants, with the astringency always tugging your tongue back. Its a nice balance. As the cup cools it dips into deeper territory, with a slight hint of nuts. not sure which, but it was there.

All in all, a very nice first flush Darjeeling.

Its a very nice 2nd flush Darjeeling.

A slight hint of rose does creep into the taste & aroma, which is grape & wood, all the nice 2nd flush characteristics.

Nice clear deep amber/red liquor, decent price, cant complain really!

I had this Darjeeling last year, so cant review it as drinking, which is my preferred.

All I remember is that it has been my favourite of the second flush darjeelings I have tried. The Grape aroma is strong and wonderful, the liquor is a lovely deep amber & clean, and the taste is perfectly balanced, deep, with no bitterness and little astringency.

I have tried other darjeelings and none have been as good as this. Tried to find it today and it wasnt on the website. Im hoping that is just due to the time I am writing this (fireworks night!)

This was a weird one -

Interesting smell from the steeped leaves. its a smell I get from some Oolongs but I dont know what it is. A combo of smells perhaps, a cakey smell. Slight roastiness with it, and same from the cup.. totally lovely!

The taste breeds more interesting aspects – somewhere a yunnan gold turns into a young plum sheng. Zesty something going on as well on my tongue and when I exhale. weird.

Slightly malty & plummy, no bitterness, smooth. A slight sheng medicinal (?) huiguan and aroma when exhaled. fresh, minty. Pu fans will know what I mean. Theres wet leaf going on, some sweetness, some plant taste.

Definitely leans to the red side of things, but with a sweet numbness on the tongue, and maybe some cherry or red wine notes. Sometimes like a keemun. Nice

I was a bit confused until I wrote this review and then realised it was sheng by name as well!

the chameleon effect was weird in that it was subtly freshening my mouth like a sheng, but with the malt & wine of darker teas in the background & no bitterness. If I focused on that aspect I could taste the fruit.

Right then, another Oolong for my taste test, this time a Qi Lan from Fujian.

First off, a ever-so-slightly tiny amount of burnt honey smell from the steeped leaves & a very subtle taste of petals & burnt honey, like some flower petals have been smoked by burnt honey. – Interesting Amandas review says something similar, where the smoke feels distant. Thats exactly what its like. slightly nutty, sweet, fragrant, with some melon, flowers & nectar thrown in.
Its medium thick in the mouth with a subtle honey & cream aftertaste, which lingers a short amount of time.

All in all a nice session, didnt smack me around the face like some, but nothing bad about it either. Perfect for the time you want that taste but dont want it to be so strong, during a jade/white/green session it would fit perfectly.

Aha! The famous duck shit aroma. I had read about Ya Shi being not very nice, and actually bought this one by accident, just using the description on the website.

Im glad I did, for two reasons -

One: its very interesting, (read: totally lovely)

Two: Made me realise how nicely kinaesthetic tea is to me. I struggle to think of what the flavours & aromas are sometimes, I don’t have the breadth of knowledge of smell that some of the reviewers here have (Amanda Wilson im looking at you). But I do have a kinaesthetic way of thinking about sound, taste & aroma, by way of colours generally in day-to-day life. And this one I just couldn’t describe apart from it is just so goddamn purple. with black & white stripes.

Imagine a lovely oily Dan Cong, but wearing a stripey gown made out of purple & black velvet, with silky white trim. That is how the aroma smells. Maybe its because I dont know the flower (maybe? definitely). But because ive got no point of reference I just get a burst of colour information thats bloody marvellous. The oil is rich, full, delicious, with a silky fuzzy aroma, that when i exhale through my nose, reminds me of something else thats also delicious. AND then its the aroma of the steeped leaves that really floors me again. I am just inhaling it over and over again, then sipping on the oily liquor. Its really that nice. Inhale – beautiful sweet, rich, aroma of purple velvet, sip – gorgeous oily liquor of silky creamy something, exhale – delicious something or other. It really feels like an old tree Oolong that’s mastered it’s craft.

There emanates a creamy aroma present from the liquor in the second & third steeps, and a gorgeous mellow chaqi cloud thats enveloped my head with an almost caramel feeling. I absolutely love the huiguan you get from certain Dancong. Grapes, astringency, more grapes, then i sit down and realise how nice the feeling is. “purple haze, all in my brain” comes into my head. It even selects good music to play. haha.

Later steeps lost their vibrancy which was a shame (edit* this is not the case, it can steep like a mofo, all day in fact), but I kept going because I just wanted to rinse the chaqi to see where it would go, and in doing so I oversteeped and made it bitter. Only five seconds too much, but it was enough. Grapes huiguan became grapes with pips huiguan. (well, not that bad but you get the idea) and after that the sweetness was lost and I finished.

So yeah, I really like this one. You need to brew it correctly. I generally have Allan K’s 5,5,7,10,15,30 in my head as a starting point, and try to adjust, but alas I wanted too much than it was willing to give, turning the 15 into 20, using water too close to boiling and ruining it a bit…. Booooo…. Or, maybe quack?

Still, that first few steeps were totally gorgeous, and for me, who usually gets images of recognisable things like plants, places, foods & drinks from tea aroma, its like absorbing a piece of abstract modern art. A big swooshy purple thing that swooshes into your brain. SO good.