Shui Xian Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea

I really should get a mug warmer. I like my tea hot! and this tea is especially good while its hot. But alas, my current cup is tepid. I do all the after dinner chores and I think its safe to make tea. But then one of my seven pets gets into trouble, makes a mess, vomits, it’s always something. If its not the pets then its my husband, asking me to make him tea after I already made mine. Then I have to go to the bathroom. And of course, there will always be some chore that I forgot that I can’t leave undone. Same thing every night. About the only time I get hot tea is in the morning before school when I’m in such a hurry that I sip it carefully while too hot and end up not having time to finish the cup before I have to go.

I brought this to work, which was probably a mistake. The first hit of the really fine aroma caused me to stop working so I could concentrate my full attention on the tea. It deserved it. several steeps took a big chunk of time out of my day, but this tea required my full attention. It’s one of the best teas I’ve had in a while.

1st steep (1 min): Rich aroma; spice with a bit of honey. Really nice. The taste is deep and rich in a spicy, medium-roast style. The flavor comes in waves, ending in a powerful, long finish.

I’m afraid that I was too wrapped up in the tea to continue writing. Suffice it to say that I had two more excellent steeps and a few others that were weak, a bit less exciting, but still very enjoyable.

Thank to Yezi Tea for the sample

Just what I’ve been searching for. I’m only on the first steeping, but I haven’t found any hint of the bitterness mentioned in the description. The flavor actually seems to improve as the cup cools, with each sip more quickly revealing the perfect mouthfeel and aftertaste. The aroma is very savory, with a slightly earthy and mineral undertone. It tastes a lot like it smells, but giving each sip time to develop on your tongue really cements this as an excellent tea. Only the second Yezi I’ve tried, but I think I’m fast becoming a fan. Will probably add another tasting note once I’ve resteeped.

Sadly, it has been a while since I’ve had the time to post a tasting note. But what a perfect way to get back into my semester at school, by taking the time to sit down and drink a complex oolong. I overleafed for my teeeeeeny gaiwan, but compensated with extra short steepings.
First steeping: Very sweet, lingering flavor. It sticks around on the back of my tongue for ages. It’s a kind of savory tea, it makes my mouth water a little drinking it.
Second steeping: More vegetal. I feel this one in the middle and tip of my tongue. There’s a layer of floral spice to it, as if cinnamon were extracted from flower petals.
Third steeping: Oof, I must have steeped this one too long. It’s very bitter and astringent. Gonna gulp it down quick and start on infusion four.
Fourth steeping: It’s starting to get more one dimensional. There’s one sharp flavorful note, but the other undercurrents of flavor have kind of disappeared. May stop with this one.

May thanks to Yezi Tea for providing me with this sample.

Dark oolong that is amber in color and has an aroma that draws you in. This tea has a nice honey sweetness and the flavors I am getting are a little fruity with a mix strawberry and apricot. On the back end I taste a subtle flavor of a light oolong with floral and vegetal notes. The taste of this tea is quite complex and very delicious.

I just love Wu Yi teas. When I was growing up my mom would take me to the mall and when you first entered the big stores the perfume counter was front and center. I hated it, still do, the overbearing scents that got caught up my schnozzola making me sneeze. But, leave it to the tea plant to seduce me into the fragrances of flowery perfumes that do not make me sneeze or regret inhaling their intoxicant.

Raspberry was the first aroma of the dry leaf in my cup. 5g sample (my last) in a 150ml gaiwan, brewed to Yezi’s guidelines. The wet leaf aromas were so inviting I scalded my tongue a bit sipping the beautifully light brown liquor. The raspberry is still present in the flavor as well as the honeysuckle, gardenia perfumes. But there was something else, I recollect smelling this in Amsterdam at a “coffee” house. All great memories. The flavors are a match to the aromas except for the raspberry, it now took on a medjool taste. In subsequent steepings a hint of tobacco made its presence and the party was in full swing. I managed eight good steeps with four being the best. Next for me are the Yezi red teas, oh boy I can’t wait.

Dark dark green leaves, like blackened steamed spinach. Smooth and earthy tea, like wet leaves, wet oak. Beautiful saffron color, leaves kind of a mushroom wood taste in your mouth. I liked it, but I don’t know that I liked it enough to buy it again.

I am happy, why you might ask? Because SNOW! Yes it is gently snowing out right now, and it plans on snowing on Thursday as well, and this pleases me. To celebrate this snow I had Ben help me with a tea picture taking session, though I only really lasted for one steep since I am small, Southern and freeze easily. Ah, I do love the frigid snow and fantasize about the rugged north, but I will have to enjoy it from my pile of blankets on the other side of a window.

It’s Yancha time! Today I am taking a look at Yezi Tea’s Shui Xian Da Hong Pao Oolong Tea, and the name of this tea confuses me. I am not sure if it is a blend of varietals (Shui Xian and Da Hong Pao) or a Shui Xian made to be a Da Hong Pao, I dunno, and frankly I am getting tired of trying to navigate the convoluted naming conventions of teas. Don’t worry, my passion for tea and knowledge is not at all diminished, I just sometimes like to pay attention to the tea and have its stories be secondary. The aroma of the leaves is sweet, nice notes of cocoa, raisins, and dried cherries with char, dried wood, and a distant note of smoke. It balances sweetness and char really well I think, one does not overwhelm the other.

Into ye’ol Yancha pot the leaves go for a hot and short steep, and the aroma of the wet leaves is very rich and sweet, notes of raisins and cocoa mix with autumn leaf pile and char, the char notes do not overwhelm, this tea errs more on the sweet side. The liquid is very pale of color for a Yancha, but the aroma is intense, strong notes of cocoa, raisins, and rich honey, with underlying notes of dried cherry, loam, and char. The char notes are very mild and the sweetness shines.

The first steep is pleasantly smooth and sweet, well it starts smooth in the mouth and a touch creamy with sweet notes of cocoa and dried fruit, it them moves to a slight dryness with tobacco and orchid notes. At the finish is straight up sweet chocolate that lingers for quite a while, though there was a definite lack of char this steep, and only a slight hint of mineral.

The aroma of the second steep has a bit ore char, and some smoke as well, with notes of cocoa, raisins, baked squash, and sweet cream. There is also a ghost of orchid, but it smells more like an orchid tossed on a bonfire rather than a bouquet. Wow, the second steep is super sweet and creamy, very smooth in the mouth and thick too! Notes of chocolate and char with autumn leaf pile at the first remind me of s’mores, in fact blending with the sweet burnt sugar notes and baked yeasty notes, it kinda is like liquid s’more. The finish has a sweet and gentle note of orchid and dry autumn leaves, with a cocoa shell note that lingers for quite a while.

Third steeping time, wow, the aroma did a turn around on me, no longer notes of chocolate and char, it is all sweet creamy honeysuckle and orchids. The taste is a delicate and sweet blend of honey, molasses, honeysuckles, cream, chocolate, and loam. The finish and aftertaste is really where this tea is at, it is exactly like burnt marshmallows, complete with a touch of campfire! This is a delicious tea, usually I like my Yancha with enough char that you might mistake it for actual steeped bonfire (I think because my first Yancha was Shui Hsien by Sea Dyke, super cheap but super good, so it is iconic in my mind) but changing things up with a lighter Yancha is fun, plus it broadens my spectrum of tastes which is always a plus. So whatever this tea is, be it a DHP or a Shui Xian, who cares, it tastes really good!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/yezi-tea-shui-xian-da-hong-pao-oolong.html

This is one of the most enjoyable oolongs I have had in a while. In fact I enjoyed it so much it sparked about an hour of browsing various other medium roasted type oolongs that I am now considering buying. I had been on a streak of trying oolongs that I didn’t really care for but this one has effectively ended it. It has a peach/apricot like fragrance that was released as soon as I put into my heated gaiwan. The flavor was deep and complex and for lack of a better word, juicy. I was planning on writing this while I drank it but it stole all of my attention. I got about 7 great steeps out of this.

By the dark color of the dried leaves and my previous experience of similar-looking wuyi oolongs, I was expecting a much darker and smokier brew. In fact, it’s rather green and silken in texturer—more like a high quality, lightly roasted TGY! Perhaps my experience differed in part because I used a much larger volume of water than anyone else did!

I like it, I do. All three steps were enjoyable, with plenty of succulent flavor all the way through to the end.