Old Tree Black Tea - Premium (2017)

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea Leaves
Flavors
Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Cream, Floral, Flowers, Fruity, Leather, Lemon, Lychee, Malt, Nutmeg, Nutty, Orange, Rose, Tangy, Tobacco, Almond, Butter, Cocoa, Ginger, Green Wood, Honey, Mineral, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Smoke, Vanilla
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 3 oz / 94 ml

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3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “In comparison to the 2016 harvest I had earlier this week, the 2017 is more of a high-end daily drinker as opposed to a real treat.  It manages to be both bold and light yet not so complex that it...” Read full tasting note
  • “This was yet another of the Wuyi black teas I reviewed in May and then did not bother to review here until now. I think this was the last of the four black teas from Old Ways Tea that I tried. I...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “Gong fu a long, long time ago, and this had a really great and full bodied profile. Like any old tree, it was rustic, leathery, and dry, but gentle with lingering malt and dense mineral in the...” Read full tasting note
    89

From Old Ways Tea

Grown high in the mountains above Tongmu in the village of Masu (麻粟) this old tree black tea is a particular treat. The gardens are small, rocky, and weeded with hand tools.

About Old Ways Tea View company

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3 Tasting Notes

1604 tasting notes

In comparison to the 2016 harvest I had earlier this week, the 2017 is more of a high-end daily drinker as opposed to a real treat.  It manages to be both bold and light yet not so complex that it commands all my attention.  The flavor profile is exemplary of Old Ways Tea’s Wuyi black teas.  It is very similar to the 2016 though more rounded and less active in the mouth.  It smells and tastes a lot like a sunflower seed dark bread.  Quite sunflower-wildflower-rose floral, malty, leathery, fruity.  There seems to be less of an old-growth depth and the baking spice and cream notes are not as apparent, briefly experienced early on in the back of the mouth.  It evokes a feeling of a cool, damp meadow in full bloom, surrounded by berries, rather than an old-growth cedar forest. It’s still a wonderful tea and I’m sad to see it go.

Flavors: Apricot, Blackberry, Blueberry, Bread, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Cream, Floral, Flowers, Fruity, Leather, Lemon, Lychee, Malt, Nutmeg, Nutty, Orange, Rose, Tangy, Tobacco

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
tea-sipper

derk – I briefly saw a note late last night that you wrote, but you must have deleted it… I just noticed you were talking about pandemic times and it’s completely fine for you to leave these types of notes up! I mainly noticed you talking about ridiculous people wandering around your work mainly because they were bored, who shouldn’t be there. I can only imagine your frustration at this. People SHOULD be treating this like they already have it, symptoms or no, and think of every other person out in the world. I hope you stay safe.

ashmanra

What tea-sipper said, yep. I have cancelled all lessons for the next two weeks minimum even though we meet one and one. Because this ONE will have two more coming home from work who may have been exposed or may get it from a student, and my students have working parents or grandparents keeping them and who knows which of them may have caught it….in ever widening circles,

derk

This week was a little easier than the last and business finally seemed to be slowing down but I attribute that to the rain. Our customer capacity is currently limited to 30 at any given time, down from 50. A man in line outside the other day loudly gesticulated his frustration with other customers being there only out of boredom or for their non-essential home improvement projects, while he was there to purchase some plumbing to fix an old woman’s sink. As he was voicing his annoyance at having to wait behind all these people, 3 of the customers in front of him actually left. A little public shaming worked. We should hire the guy to stand in line and complain.

A wise decision, ashmanra.

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86
1049 tasting notes

This was yet another of the Wuyi black teas I reviewed in May and then did not bother to review here until now. I think this was the last of the four black teas from Old Ways Tea that I tried. I recall rushing to try it because I was so smitten with the 2016 Premium Old Tree Black Tea. Unfortunately, I did not find this tea to be quite as good as the 2016 version, but that is not much of a knock considering how great I found that tea to be. All things considered, this was still a very good and very satisfying Wuyi black tea.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, and 7 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of honey, malt, butter, baked bread, and pine coming from the dry tea leaves. After the rinse, I noted emerging aromas of roasted almond and roasted peanut. There was something of a green wood presence too. The first infusion then introduced a slight hint of smoke to the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of roasted almond, roasted peanut, butter, malt, and baked bread that gave way to impressions of green wood, honey, pine, cream, and vanilla. After the swallow, I noted a subtle smokiness and an unexpected note of cinnamon in the aftertaste. Subsequent infusions saw the nose turn a little smokier with cocoa, citrus, and mineral aromas also emerging. Impressions of minerals, cocoa, leather, and orange zest emerged in the mouth alongside stronger impressions of cream and cinnamon. Towards the end of the session, I also managed to pick up some subtle ginger and brown sugar notes. The final infusions offered notes of minerals, baked bread, orange zest, and malt backed by subtle leather and roasted nut notes and a cooling herbal presence on the swallow that was reminiscent of tobacco.

This was an extremely deep and complex black tea with tremendous texture in the mouth. Compared to the 2016 Premium Old Tree Black Tea, this tea did not display quite as sharp or clean of a mineral presence. I also did not find it to be as spicy, complex, or energizing as its forebear. Despite these minor quibbles, this was still a very good Wuyi black tea that only suffered a bit in comparison to a truly exceptional tea from the previous year. Try both this tea and the 2016 version if you get the chance. If you are into Wuyi black teas, I’m willing to bet that you will enjoy them.

Flavors: Almond, Bread, Brown Sugar, Butter, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Cream, Ginger, Green Wood, Honey, Leather, Malt, Mineral, Orange Zest, Peanut, Pine, Smoke, Tobacco, Vanilla

Preparation
5 g 3 OZ / 88 ML

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89
1724 tasting notes

Gong fu a long, long time ago, and this had a really great and full bodied profile. Like any old tree, it was rustic, leathery, and dry, but gentle with lingering malt and dense mineral in the texture accompanied by some fructose sweet hints that kinda reminded me of cherry tobacco, or even blackberry and spice. Emphasis on the berry. The earlier steeps were the densest and the more thick, and later steeps got sweeter with ever remaining mineral.

I’d have to drink this again to give a better review, but I do remember it being more woodsy and faint than the wild style…though they were pretty darn close in terms of taste. I highly recommend this tea to Wuyi lovers, and to those who like well rounded and dense black teas. It also has enough sophistication to appeal to lighter hong cha drinkers.

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