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mineral, nutty, sweet earthy note (beetroot), bubbly, #2 stronger, wheat, licorice root, #3 biting, #4 barley

I don’t find this tea to be quite worth the price, although I only had one session with it to be honest. It is mineral and nutty with a swee earthy beetroot note. The mouthfeel is biting and bubbly and there are also flavours of wheat and barley.

Black teas like this are great if you like them a bit more savoury and value depth of flavour and full body.

When dry, it smells leathery and woody with sweet undertones. During the session, there is a mixture of more standard black tea aromas and floral notes. I can smell malt, chocolate, but also forest floor, chrysanthemum, and lily-of-the-valley.

The liquor has a thick texture and pungent taste. There are flavours of butter, acorn, milk, and moss. At some times, it possesses a sour/bitter mixture like coffee, at others, the sweet honey finish is pronounced. In the aftertaste, additional notes of fresh wood, celery, vanilla, and caramel appear.

In today’s session, I wasn’t paying too much attention. Nevertheless, I liked the cooling floral profile, underlying bitterness as well as the numbing mouthfeel. I noticed flavours of sunflower seeds and lavender. On the other hand, the aroma reminded me rather of nuts, earth, vegetables, and sourdough bread.

I have a soft spot for the Baozhong profile, this is a nice example thereof.

Dry leaves have a floral aroma with notes of custard, cookies, grass, and brownies. On the other hand, wet leaves smell of gai lan and mustard.

The taste is very comfortable, even with the slightly biting but warming finish. There is a mild astringency, milky mouthfeel, and a sweet grassy flavour alround.

This one is more vegetal and savoury than most GABA teas I’ve had. The aroma is very familiar – there are notes of pear and baked fruits, as well as some toasty ones. The tea has a pleasant buttery mouthfeel with a cooling finish and it tastes of fruits, burnt food, and moss.

[Spring 2020/21 harvest]

Today I tried another part of this three-way blend, the Mangfei. It’s a very different tea. Even when brewed strong, it remains pretty smooth. There is a lot of sweetness as well as floral and vanilla notes. It has a beautiful aroma, but lighter body.

[Spring 2020/21 harvest]

This is a note for one of three teas that make up this blend (even though from different batches). Namely, I drank the Mannuo today. Interestingly, it has been kept in an enclosed package ever since I got it a year ago, unlike most of my other teas.

As I open the package, I get quite a fruity and perfumy vibe. This is reflected also in the aftertaste later. Otherwise the wet leaves don’t have a particularly strong aroma.

The taste is nutty at first. Soon it turns fruity, but not really sweet. The liquor has a medium to thick texture and is somewhat fluid if that makes sense. I mean, it doesn’t bubble up much at all. There is a good amount of bitterness, but too much astringency, which makes it a tea that’s not so easy to enjoy casually in its current state. The finish is particularly tannic and mouth-puckering. The aftertaste is a little sweet and has hints of tobacco.

[Spring 2023 harvest]

The tea is even more mineral nutty than last year I would say, but I like it just as much.

[Spring 2019 harvest]

This tea is quite perfumy with an aroma of cherry wood. The taste has a lot of underlying bitterness, as well as a strong mineral presence that makes is quite savoury, almost salty. There is also a kind of vegetal note and a sweet finish with a very strong aftertaste subsequently.

The liquor has quite a presence. The mouthfeel is at first silky, then mineral and astringent, almost tannic. The finish is somewhat cooling with an expansive fragrance.

This is an elusive tea. It has a sweet, aromatic aroma with a note of fenugreek leaves. The taste is floral, nutty and quite bitter, while the mouthfeel quite oily and numbing. The aftertaste is a bit sour and herbaceous with flavours of green olives and sage.