A Different Eighteen

Seduced by the glowing reviews of derk, beerandbeancurd, and Leafhopper, I ordered A Different Eighteen (and a couple other teas) from Song. I was already prejudiced in favor of this tea by my prior experience ten years ago with a gifted sample of the Ruby 18 tea from Nantou county that was brought back from Taiwan by a colleague. We were told only “this is the best tea in the World.” It was that tea which initiated my 21st century return to tea-drinking (after years of coffee), and which ultimately led to my joining the Steepster community.

So I happily indulged in a purchase, despite a tea cabinet bulging with recent adventures. My 60g packet is from the June 2024 lot, so can be expected to vary from prior reports. And I certainly have been enjoying it! I steeped 5g leaf in 8oz 205°F alpine spring water (western style in a steel strainer basket) for 60s, successively. And although it’s into dinnertime, I’m unwilling to pollute my taste buds with a meal, lest the tea be less enjoyable. I do not detect any blackcurrent or wintergreen notes at all, but there is plenty of malt, brown sugar, pruny stonefruit, and a nose of malt and mild woodiness. My fifth infusion got away from me and ran just over 4 minutes, producing a beautiful mahogany brew with crystal clarity and not a hint of bitterness or astringency. The flavors are beginning to lighten up, so I’ll stop here. Note that I used almost twice the recommended amount of water in each infusion, but this was not weak tea! I like it as much as the Ruby 18 based “Brandy Oolong” from Tealyra, though this is distinctly a Different Eighteen! So it gets a 95 rating from me. YMMV.

edit 2/28/25: I ran a formal gongfu series across 21 serial 100 ml infusions of 5g leaf in a small porcelain teapot, ranging from 5s to 60s in 205°F water, using a streamlined process and dispensing with the emotional/decorative aspects. The final 18 of those infusions are pictured, starting at top right and going horizontally, to finish at the teapot. I do not doubt that a few more infusions could have been made. These all gave similar flavor profiles and I have nothing further to add from the experience, besides a bit of a caffeine buzz, but it was a worthwhile endeavor!

I finally have the time to devote to this generous sample from Derk, which I’ve looked forward to drinking for a while. I love everything about Ruby Eighteen except the tannins, and it appears that this tea may be pleasantly low on them. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus many longer steeps.

The dry aroma is of milk chocolate–covered cherries (thanks, Beerandbeancurd), wintergreen, and malt. The wintergreen aroma from the wet leaf is amazing! The first steep has subtle notes of milk chocolate, cherry, earth, malt, tobacco, tannins, and wintergreen. I get a nice blast of wintergreen in the second steep, plus milk chocolate and very realistic-tasting stewed cherries. Maybe there’s some other stewed fruit in there as well. I notice hints of orange along with the cherries in the next two steeps, as well as wintergreen, malt, wood, herbs, tannins, earth, and fainter chocolate. The tea is beginning to be noticeably drying in the mouth, but who cares when I also get that wintergreen aftertaste? Steeps five and six have less chocolate, but still have that pronounced menthol/wintergreen hit, plus more tobacco, honey, and raisins. Steeps seven and eight are more tannic, drying, malty, earthy, and herbaceous, though still yummy and minty fresh. I detect some raspberry at the bottom of the cup. The next few steeps have higher levels of tannins, but also wintergreen, a bit of cocoa, honey, malt, minerals, earth, and cherry. The aftertaste is of honey and maybe a bit of sassafras, which is missing in the actual tea. I couldn’t let this tea go, even when it was mostly sweet, malty tannin water.

I was right to wait until I could savour this beauty. It did have some tannins, but those chocolate-covered cherries were wonderful. This is the most wintergreen-heavy Ruby Eighteen I’ve had, with the best variety of fruit and most balanced profile. This tea has probably ruined me for any other Ruby Eighteens for a while.

Thanks, Derk, for the sample! Let me know if you decide to buy from this company again because I want more of this tea!

On the warm leaf: chocolate covered cherries, raspberry jam, Andes mints… seriously, the milk chocolate is unmistakable. Wow.

Wet dog coming off the pour again — this must be par for the course with Ruby 18? Wintergreen here, too (where the Floating Leaves R18 had it everywhere except the nose). Herbaceous.

First pour tastes of baker’s cocoa, tannin, leather, tobacco. I can’t locate any fruit, mint, or sweetness.

After the first pour, wintergreen is now fully apparent in the wet leaves… medicinal and herbal like a Ricola cough drop, menthol cigarettes… immediately after the next pour there was a distinct celery seed and water chestnut aroma (which changed again before the next fill… smells in the pot are all over the place, haha).

Second pour, wet dog is still heavy on the nose, with ripe fruit and more wintergreen. The taste is more cooling, and I’m able to pick out some wintergreen where I wasn’t in the first pour. Quite drying throughout my whole mouth, with crunchy tannins and cherry. Cocoa seemed to have mostly dissipated, until I took the last sip and found chocolate covered peanuts at the bottom of the cup.

Back to the leaves: chocolate covered cherry and wintergreen now that they’ve cooled a bit. The leaves might be the most interesting part of this tea.

Several more steeps. Some indistinct florality. Biggest pulls are mint, milk chocolate, cherry, tobacco — and it all completely works together. The tannins are what give me pause, which I know is common with Ruby 18s. (derk, I’m shocked you didn’t get any going grandpa style! Maybe I should have followed your lead.) If I had more leaves, I might try this at a lower temperature? Even still: Song recommends 5g in 150ml at 205 degrees for a full minute, and I’m only at 3.5g/150ml at 195 degrees for about 10-15 seconds! I think my tongue might turn to leather if I cranked that hard.

A delightful journey, and probably the most interesting Ruby I’ve had so far. There is so much to uncover here. Thank you so much for the absolute treat, derk!

Something told me to drink it grandpa style. It’s unlike any Ruby 18 I’ve had. Sweeter than any other, softer, complex. No tannic bite at all, which is often an occurrence with this cultivar. Incredible balance of aroma, flavor, texture.

I have a few samples of new-to-me Ruby 18s from Leafhopper to try so it might be hasty of me to say after drinking this tea that there is now no other Ruby 18 for me. Song Tea is going to ruin my tea budget. Their selection thus far has been some of the best leaf I’ve had. The teas make me want to do nothing more than to sit with them and feel, rather than taste.

I will return with more another time.

Song pairing: The Flamingos — “I Only Have Eyes for You”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvzNeh4Mq1o