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Random notes about teas I’ve had so far today.

1.jinmaohou-yixiang tea company. While I still prefer the yinhao from this company, I find that this tea makes a nice lighter bodied golden monkey if I keep to my normal leafing (@2.5g/225ml) and allow it to steep at least 2minutes. It then yields, a bright sweet potato and honey tea with underlying grainy notes and cocoa.

2 Rou GUI Fu Tea Store Aliexpress. This tea still yields a nice German chocolate torte with cherry kirsh taste two years after its harvest.

3. Pomme de verger damman Frères. Though this isn’t my favourite df tea I appreciate best with longer steep times closer to 5 minutes.

Edit 4. 5. TenRen Dragon Well. This is a very old green but it still is very flavourful. It has a good mix of grilled fruit bitter green, chestnut, and floral notes with honey. It wasn’t what I started out intending to drink but I am quite enjoying it right now.

This is the very first tea I picked up from this supplier and it is still my favourite! This is quite different than Tao Tea leafs version for those who are familiar with it. While Tao’s has similarities with some keemun and jinjunmei I’ve had this tea’s first steep tastes like a rich hot chocolate.

This is a a Congou tea with fairly long dark folded and loosely curled leaves that smell of dark chocolate, malt and a hint of molasses. It resteeps quite well but the first steep is by far the most memorable. It smells of cocoa, cinnamon, hot chocolate with a deeper note of toasted grains, a light hint of molasses, sweet potato skins, spice, honey, and hints of broiled plum.
The flavour is initially light on top with fruit at the front, with plum, opening quickly to sugary caramel notes, hot cocoa, cinnamon, and a charred sweet potato skin mixed with toasted grains and a faint hint of a sweet walnut. The aftertaste is of hot chocolate with a faint hint of cinnamon.

Later steeps do maintain consistent flavour but with cream and malt added. There are stronger nutty, molasses notes that are a little bit boozy. The aftertaste of some later steeps reminds me of brownies.

Overall this is a wonderful tea!

Fujian Zhenghe Gongfu Black Tea herbal tea health tea Chinese 100g bagged tea
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Fujian-Zhenghe-Gongfu-Black-Tea-herbal-tea-health-tea-Chinese-100g-bagged-tea/1980624893.html
(from AliExpress Android)
https://instagram.com/p/0xwtjImKxv/
https://instagram.com/p/0xyKsnmK02/

This tea is still really delicious two years after it’s harvest date. I t has a great mix of cocoa, roasted notes, fruit, honey and Keemun like floral notes. I hope this tea is available through aliexpress this year I will buy it. It goes really well with dark chocolate.

This is a really lovely tea for a bright sunny day promising spring.

This is a blend of Thai jin Xuan, watermelon, peach, ginger, and rose petals. The dry leaf smells very fruity and actually reminds me of passion fruit and cream.

This scent does translate into the flavour as well, yet the individual fruit elements are still discernable. Flavour notes include, passion fruit, watermelon, peach, ginger. These are augmented by cream and a slightly nutty element from the base tea. The base also provides peach, a spicy cinnamon floral note, and a lightly bitter vegetal note that helps to provide a good sense if body for the tea and grounds the flavour. It resteeps really well, with the second steep being even more fruity than the first. Really nice.
https://instagram.com/p/0V7XlJGK6y/

I drank a Xue Pian ( snowflake) Dancong from a heli tea sampler last night. The first time I had it I was not that impressed it really tasted mainly of mineral notes and not much else. The second time I doubled the leaf I originally used it and brewed it using the chazhou method ( lots of leaf and flash steeping) and it was a different animal. The mineral notes were still there, but the tea had these lovely honey nectar notes that I always imagine finding in mi lan xiang but haven’t found yet. The leaf of this one was only mildly oxidized and were not completely folded into bars. The tea did have a nice resiliency using this method and I would be happy to try more Dancong of this fragrance type. The honey and nectar flavour lingered for a long time.

I’ve had this tea as both a cold hot brew and have come to the conclusion that it’s more savoury than my preferred greens.

The dry tea smells of mint, fruit and smoke. It is a blue spruce tinged green with silver green buds.

I steeped 1.5tsp in 200ml of 80°C water.

The first flavour notes are savoury with cooked peas and bitter greens. These open up to peach with a crisp green pea note and a chestnut note. The tea has a thick present mouth feel and a faint hint of smoke. As it cools that taste is slightly grainy, with mint coming into the flavour as it cools. The mint and smoke notes become most distinct as it cools.

As a cold brew (steeped 3.5hrs), the tea has a thick creamy texture and a savoury mix of smoke cantelope, hints of plum and the texture of chestnuts.

Interesting but not a favourite. Thanks for the sample Capital Tea Ltd!

I like this tea but I find that it is easy to overleaf and the tea moves quickly from bright and fruity with breast notes to bitter so I decided to experiment with flash steeping with this tea. I used around twice my usual 1tsp of leaf in 225ml of water and then rinsed the tea quickly before steeping the tea for 10s. The result was that lovely bright fruitiness I found in my last review accompanied by a good white yeast bread note and honeyed sweetness. So far it’s flavour profile is consistent into the third steep. I have added 5 seconds per steep. This tea has a good dose of caffeine and while I don’t feel it coursing through my limbs like I do sometimes, it does create a feeling of lightness and alertness in me. This is a good wake me up tea.

This tea while not overly complex is a pleasant, easy to drink loose ripe puerh blend.
The dry leaf smells slightly spicy and fresh and looks pretty much like the photo. I used 3g in 100ml of water. The tea broth had a deep reddish peach tonein the first steep after the rinse before darkening. The first steep was a little woody and drying. It had tones of tart fruit, camphor, leather, and cacao.

Subsequent steeps softened significantly with the tart fruit diminishing and mixing with the other notes and a floral toned vanilla becoming apparent.

This is maybe not the most resilient maocha. I got 6 short steeps before lengthening to a minute steeping time. However on the 10 the steep which was around 3minutes it still has a pleasant and fruity flavour. The woodiness and tartness returned in the longer steeps. Altogether pleasant and easy to drink and a nice shou for the still slightly hesitant initiate like me.

Just a note to myself, that this ages well. The fruit is really distinct right now. Like canned peaches with light floral notes and honey. I might get more of this when I pick up more of my still favourite Dancong.

Now that this tea has mellowed from the fall the roasted notes have combined fortuitously with the other flavours in the tea to create a flavour note that reminds me at first taste if carob. I could also see it tasting like charred sweet potato skins to others. This is mixed with cream and a dryish cocoa note. Once the carob settles back it reveals a beautiful mixture of caramel, cinnamon, and an amber note with a hint of vanilla orchid and a creamy plum note. It is soft, sweet, and spicy at the same time. The tea feels creamy on the tongue but this dissolves to a bubbling light astringency to reveal a slightly cooling and drying sensation which could be interpreted as woodiness. My leaf is slightly glossy and slightly twisted flat blades. They have the same char and carob smell as the initial flavour. A pleasant and easy to drink tea and quite different from my other wild black tea.