SWApilot Send Message

Another excellent Sheng from Eugene and Belle. The liquor is a beautiful golden color that smells like a smokey hay with a bit of tobacco thrown in. The tea itself is extremely smooth with absolutely no kuwei or astringency noted. This tea tastes just like it smells, it is a beautiful balance of hay, smoke and tobacco with a very gentle huigan to it. Well done Eugene and Belle, you have a passion for tea and your products show it!!!

Another truly amazing tea from Eugene and Belle (I sense a theme here). They say that this tea is “One of our hidden gems”, and folks it really is. The color of the liquor is a beautiful gold and it smells like hay mixed with a bit of butter and hint of brown sugar. The tea itself is very smooth with lots of great huigan and absolutely no kuwei or astringency. The taste of the tea is that of grass with light undertones of butter, nuttiness, and brown sugar. As with all Tea Urchin teas the energy of this tea is unbelievable. Almost forty minutes after my steeping session my taste buds are still excited and I can actually still taste the tea!!! Well done Eugene and Belle, and at $58 for 357g this tea is an outstanding bargain.

I am amazed at what a difference 12 degrees of temperature makes. This time I used boiling water during my steeping session and it made a really big difference. From the first steeping this tea had a very sweet and floral taste, with 200 degree water it took 4 steepings to get that taste to come out. With the boiling water there was a very smokey undertone that was not present during my last steeping. I really had to shorten my steeping times to prevent the smokiness from overshadowing the other flavors. This is a really good Sheng and it is an excellent bargain at $15 for 357g.

I have been drinking a lot of pu’er lately and it was time for a break so out came Mandala’s Milk Oolong. Man is this ever a great tea!! I forgot just how excellent this tea really is. The sweet creamy taste is just unbelievable. With this tea in my cupboard, maybe I should take some more pu’er breaks!!

After this review people may get the feeling that Eugene and Belle are paying me to write reviews, they are not! Another EXCELLENT sample from Tea Urchin! When I opened the sample bag and smelled the dry leaves I was greeted by this wonderful smell of pipe tobacco, yes pipe tobacco. The liquor has a beautiful golden color that smells of flowers mixed with tobacco. The taste, flowers mixed with tobacco, is unbelievable and everything about it is exceptionally balanced. There is some astringency and kuwei but the sweetness keeps everything in balance and the three work in perfect harmony to produce a taste experience that is a pure delight for ones taste buds!

Another excellent Sheng from Eugene and Belle. The soup is a beautiful golden hue. The smell of the soup is a really pleasing floral smell that reminded me of wildflowers. The taste is incredible, simply incredible. This Sheng has a unbelievable taste of grass mixed with butter. Like the Wan Gong 2014 Spring that I drank last night, this is one extremely smooth Sheng. Absolutely no hint of kuwei or astringency at all. Again, way to go Eugene and Belle!

Another excellent Pu’er from Eugene and Belle. In their words “… this Wangong cake is a stand out processing from the 2014 spring harvest” and are they ever correct. The color of the soup is a beautiful golden color. The smell of the soup is an excellent floral and grassy combination that is a delight to smell. The taste is quite simply amazing. To my taste buds the soup has a very well balanced floral and grass flavor with just a hint of honey that comes out at the end. What really surprised me is just how smooth this Sheng is. After seven steepings there was absolutely no astringency and just the slightest hint of kuwei. My favorite part of this Sheng is the energy it exhibits. Here I am twenty minutes after my last sip and my tastes buds are still excited and I can actually still taste this wonderful tea.

Another tasting note. This is the second Pu’er I have brewed using boiling water instead of 200 degree water. I am blown away by the difference 12 degrees makes. This tea went from excellent to incredible. This time around I noticed a buttery smell to the soup that was not present during my last steeping. Also, there was a touch of butter to the taste of the soup as well. Again, if you love Sheng Pu’er, you really need to give this tea some serious consideration.

This is just a tasting note/book review. I just returned from vacation and while on vacation I read a copy of the English translation of “Pu-erh Tea” from the Appreciating Chinese Tea Series which is an excellent book by the way. The most important thing that I learned from this book was that I was steeping me tea incorrectly. So today I decided to put the techniques that I learned from the book into practice. Let me just say, I was BLOWN AWAY. Those techniques turned this excellent tea into an incredible tea, they really did!!!! I still want to know what that secret 20% is.

Another excellent Sheng from Eugene and Belle at Tea Urchin. I have to agree with Stephanie and DP’s review on tea Urchin. The soup is a very nice golden color. The first few steepings produced a very nice vegetal taste with just a hint of kuwei and astringency, and I do mean a hint. Later steepings transitioned to a much sweeter taste with a nice honey undertone. To keep the tea as strong as I like it I did have to increase my steeping times on the later steeps. Over all, an excellent Sheng that is well worth the money. Well done Tea Urchin!