Wild Tree Black

Another solid hong from White2Tea club (when were these from, May?). This one wasn’t particularly interesting or anything, but it was tasty. Aroma of malt and a bit of fruit off of the leaves. Flavors were soft and malty sweet with a touch of floral to begin the session. The fruit an floral flavors lasted through three or four steeps, at which point they dropped off and a bit of a woody flavor started to accompany the malt. It was not quite as sweet for the second half of the session. Not astringent or anything, though the flavor did on occasion dip into some sour territory.

I’ve been loving the lack of tea bags and CTC lately!

I had a little trouble with this tea. No matter how many steeps I did, I couldn’t stand the flavor of it fully hot. It tasted off, like burned rubber or chemicals. I know this wasn’t my equipment, as I’m using nothing new, and the flavor disappeared after the tea cooled.

As the brew cools, the tea is a lovely chocolate and cinnamon flavor, with something fungal beneath like mushrooms. It reminds me of puerh in a way, except for the chocolate cinnamon part. There’s a tiny amount of bitterness and astringency to remind me that it’s still a black tea, but there’s no sweetness. That’s a little odd considering the other flavors.

The dry leaves have a strongly fruity (fruit loop?) aroma. The flavor has a matching fruitiness as well as prominent notes of yam, malt, mint, flowers. As often is the case with fruity teas, the second steep has even stronger fruit notes. I try to think of a specific fruit to name, but it’s more of a generic “fruit” taste like gummy worms or other candy. Reminds me slightly of a Taiwanese black tea or Yunnan Sourcing’s Ailao High Mountain.

This one is made from a wild varietal native to Wuyi, and of the teas from this set I have looked at so far it sports the largest leaves. Big ol curly things that certainly look like something from Wuyi! The aroma is GOOD, I spent the entire time my kettle was zombie-ing its way to life sniffing the leaves, and I picked up notes of honey and cocoa, yams and toasted oats, and a distant floral note reminiscent of magnolias of all things. I think this is the first red tea I have had that has that note, which is awesome.

Awww, the floral notes vanished upon steeping, but that is ok, because the taste is still really good. I am not sure it is some sort of psychosomatic thing, but wild trees always seem to taste…well…wild, more like nature and less like food. True there are the notes of yams and cocoa, but there are note of pine wood, mineral, mountain air, and in later steeps the gardenia notes gently return. It is like walking in the mountains and drinking water from a spring…if somehow that water was already tea. This was a wonderful session that lasted many steeps, drinking it made me feel like I was in another place, even if the effect was all in my brain, it was nice regardless.

Second, back to back with Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong Spring 1 for comparison (shout out White2Tea club, :P!). Much more tempered, lighter malt aroma compared to the Spring1, hints of wood and mineral. A pretty, but confusing shade of red orange or orange red, it is less cloudy than the Spring1 as well.

Much smoother in taste than the Spring1 with a shockingly sweet back of the throat taste comparatively. Still malty, but more rich chocolate in tone with a mineral fullness (not getting any pine, really though, despite the description…), much more enjoyable than the Spring1. More noticeable astringency due to the taste, but not really that much overall. Slight hint of bitterness to the aftertaste, becoming stronger with increasing steeps again.