994 Tasting Notes
[Autumn 2018 harvest]
I am treating myself to a special tea today, a competition grade TGY. Straight after opening the pouch, I can tell it’s a great one. It is the strongest smelling ball rolled tea I have encountered. The aroma reminds me of a conifer (spruce?) forest after summer rain, with some extra hints of cabbage. It is very “green” smelling. In a preheated pot, I get an unreasonably strong asparagus aroma, followed by apricot, apple and custard. Once the leaves open up, they exude a mixture of cooked vegetables (carrots predominately), lemon skin and later on throughout the session also cannabis.
The taste is very delicate, mineral and sweet. The first infusion has flavours of custard, cream, warm grass, spinach and fish broth. Second steep gets more metallic and vegetal, while the third one has a stronger umami flavour mixed with notes of melon and grape skins. I pushed infusions 4 and 5 a bit more and found them to be a little flatter in the flavour profile, but more spicy. Steep 6 is more grassy and has a new flavour which reminds me of courgette.
The aftertaste is slightly biting and quite crisp. It is floral and has a nice sour touch to it, nothing abrasive like so many of the lower grade TGY I have had. There are notes of seaweed, vanilla ice cream and moss too in the aftertaste. The sensation is warming at first, but becomes cooling in the throat after a while. The mouthfeel is generally very soft, velvety and lubricating with medium body.
As for the cha qi, it’s mild and very pleasant I’d say. It is quite body warming and mind focusing, as well as elevating.
This is undoubtedly the best TGY I have ever tried, it’s not even close. Now, the question is: Is it worth the price? I am not sure. I think maybe yes, as long as I haven’t found a comparable tea at a more competitive price. I don’t drink TGY often, but when I do, I would like to be able to drink this one. The 7g yielded about 1.3l of tea in 8 steeps, which is about what I would expect from a high grade TGY.
Flavors: Apple Skins, Apricot, Asparagus, Biting, Cannabis, Cream, Custard, Fish Broth, Floral, Grass, Green, Lemon Zest, Melon, Metallic, Mineral, Moss, Pine, Pleasantly Sour, Rainforest, Seaweed, Spicy, Spinach, Sweet, Sweet, Warm Grass, Umami, Vegetables, Vegetal, Zucchini
Preparation
This is a very nice ripe, like all of recent Scott’s productions. It still has a decent amount of fermentation flavour, but that should dissipate in a few years. I find it to be comparable in quality to Rooster King, but it’s not as sweet, that’s for sure. The smell is a mix of medicinal and chocolate notes, with caramel hints in the empty cup. The taste is bitter, earthy and spicy with a sour finish. I get notes of citrus zest, tree bark and molasses, as well as some coffee in the aftertaste, which I found to be very long and getting sweeter and spicier over time. The body is medium to full and the mouthfeel is creamy and quite mouth-watering. Thanks to the balanced nature and strong, complex profile, I can imagine this tea rivaling Yang Luo Han as my favourite young shou, once a few years have passed and the fermentation notes are not as strong.
Flavors: Bark, Bitter, Caramel, Chocolate, Citrus Zest, Coffee, Earth, Medicinal, Molasses, Spicy
Preparation
This morning I pulled out one of the teas from the recent Taobao group buy organized by Liquid Proust. On the label it says “Black cake”, which is the only information I have besides the tea itself. Of course, that much I could extract by looking at the leaves anyway :D
Judging by the spent leaves, this is made from older leaves than the standard hong cha production. They are large and stout with thick stems. They remind me of either mid to small sized huangpian leaves or the kind of leaves you would see in Taiwanese oolong production.
The tea turned out to have more longetivity as a result as well. From the 3g, I got 10 infusions of 50ml, but I probably could have gotten one or two more, judging by the fact that some leaves didn’t properly open up after that. Another interesting feature is that the tea can withstand high temperatures very well and in fact needs close to boiling water after steep 6 or so.
The taste is not too pungent, but quite nice. I found the profile to be similar to some pour-over coffee. There is a floral quality that’s common in sun-dried black tea as well as the roasted, tannic and a touch fruity flavour. However, it is sweeter than coffee, even though less so than other black teas. Compared to those, there is more bitterness. I also noticed a tobacco note on top of those. The aftertaste is again not strong, but lasts long. It is drying and reminds me of peach skin.
The mouthfeel is not too interesting, but the relatively light body makes it easy to drink. There is some cha qi too, mostly caffeine like effects I’d say.
Preparation
I have yet to dig into the Taobao buy. I’ll have to pull out my box today and try to figure out some of the interesting stuff. Have you tried anything else yet? What categories did you buy from?
[Spring 2018 harvest]
This is a green tea for young sheng lovers. It has a thick and full bodied liquor, complex profile and it can withstand high temperatures very well too. Even the dry leaf aroma is a bit like raw pu-erh. I can smell stewed fruits, meadow, honey, nuts and wheat. Once hit with water, the smell is more savoury with hints of meat and popcorn later on. In the empty cup on the other hand, flowery tones dominate.
The taste has unusually bitter onset for a green tea, even if brewed at lower temperatures. There is very little of astringency though, unless you push the temperature over 90 degrees. The taste profile is vegetal with notes of cabbage, celery, grapefruit, grilled vegetables and green pepper. It has hints of smoke and a sweet finish. Aftertaste is very crisp and tart and characterized by a strong huigan. It is a touch drying, especially in the throat. I found it to be quite herbal and displaying more of vegetable notes like bok choy and cauliflower.
The tea definitely doesn’t disappoint in the mouthfeel department either. It is smooth, mouth-watering, coating and slimy.
This ranks among my favourite green teas for sure, but it’s by no means a standard green tea. I recommend you to try out various brewing methods and parameters for this tea. Not only it is versatile, but that way you can explore its many facets. You can even try pu-erh like parameters. The bitterness will be strong, but I find that it transforms quickly, just like in a good sheng.
Flavors: Bitter, Bok Choy, Celery, Flowers, Grapefruit, Green Pepper, Honey, Meat, Nuts, Popcorn, Smoke, Smooth, Stewed Fruits, Sweet, Tart, Thick, Vegetables, Vegetal, Wheat
Preparation
This is probably the most floral black tea from outside Darjeeling that I have tried so far. The leaves in a preheated gaiwan smell of rosehips and orchids, while the wet leaves have a distinctively herbal, sweet, cooling and medicinal smell. I am tepted to say it’s like a mixture of sage and fresh fenugreek, but that’s not quite right. There is some tomato leaf smell though.
The taste is also fairly unusual. It has some malt notes, sure. However, the dominating feeling is that of tart fruitiness at the onset, followed by biting herbal notes and a smooth, creamy and floral finish. The aftertaste starts kind of astringent, but very quickly transforms into a little sickly sweetness, allowing the florals to take over and stay for a long time. The liquor also has a very good bitterness, something I lack in many black teas.
I am very satisfied with this tea. It is comparable in quality, price and taste profile to second flush Darjeelings that I have had.
Oh, now I know what the wet leaf smell reminds me of. It’s that of an unscented massage lotion/cream. Now, I don’t know which (combination of) ingredients in them is it that creates the characteristic scent though.
Flavors: Astringent, Biting, Bitter, Floral, Herbs, Medicinal, Orchid, Rosehips, Sage, Tart
Preparation
I can’t quite warm up to this tea. It is clearly of good quality, but I may just have to accept it is not for me. It is mostly the strange combination of heavy bitterness, sticky sweetness and a bright tannic quality that just doesn’t appeal to my palate.
Anyway, here are some notes I wrote down. The smell is very heavy and sweet. I compare it to a mixture of shisha tobacco, swamp vegetation and brown butter. As I mentioned, the overall taste is bitter, sweet and tannic, as well as quite vegetal and refreshing. As for the flavours, I noticed notes of sugarpeas, grass, fresh bay leaf, mediterranean florals and mussels. The last one becomes strong especially in late infusions. In the aftertaste, there are further notes of moss and red pepper (the spice, not the vegetable).
The liquor has medium to light body and soft, powdery and sticky mouthfeel. After swallowing, I get a numbing sensation in the mouth. I can definitely attest to the subtle, yet strong nature of energy of this tea. Since it doesn’t affect consciousness much directly, I found it possible to work while drinking this tea actually.
Flavors: Alcohol, Bitter, Butter, Floral, Grass, Heavy, Moss, Peas, Pepper, Sweet, Tannic, Tobacco, Vegetal
Preparation
Today I pulled out this sample I received from derk, probably the last one if I am not forgetting some. I have never tried Bai Ji Guan before, but I thought it could be my gateway into WuYi oolongs, as I have had a little hard time with the more roasted ones.
In a preheated gaiwan, the leaves smell of milk chocolate, gingerbread cookies, honey and dry grass. After the rinse, I get mostly quite standard rock oolong smell – mineral with a touch of cannabis. In the empty cup, I can smell mostly floral scents.
The taste of this tea is very interesting, definitely different from any other one I have had. It is savoury overall, but with plenty subtleties. At various times its aspects reminds me of sheng, Dong Ding or Tie Guan Yin. I noticed flavours in the general vicinity of mushrooms, mineral and floral ones.
The mouthfeel is complex too. Honestly, I would need quite a bit more than one session to figure it out. The liquor is thick, soft and slick generally. I also get the a sourness at the very back of the mouth that’s characteristic of TGY. After swallowing, the sensation in the mouth is mostly cooling and a little drying on the sides, while fairly constrictive in the throat.
All in all, an ok tea, but frankly not the most enjoyable or memorable.
Flavors: Biting, Bitter, Chocolate, Cookie, Dry Grass, Floral, Honey, Mineral, Mushrooms, Sour
Preparation
For me, this tea seemed to be in the same taste family that What-Cha’s Amber GABA oolong and Indonesia Harendong #12 ‘Jin Xuan’ Dark Roasted Oolong are in. I can’t explain what that family is at the moment (foggy brain), but if you didn’t enjoy those teas much, I can see why wouldn’t be so into this one. The Verdant Bai Ji Guan was a totally different and expensive tea but worth a try.
I see. I can definitely observe some similarities between those. However, hat this Bai Ji Guan reminded me the most of is a light roasted TGY. But, I am not much into those it seems either :D
I have never ordered from Verdant, although I checked their selection at some point. What’s your experience with them? Do they present a good value for money?
Togo, with Verdant, it seems like a good portion of the consumer cost is absorbed by marketing like the website and packaging, but what do I know. Verdant does have good yancha and the price range for their current lineup with some sale prices has about 50% of the teas at less than $0.40/g for 25g packages. They do offer 5g single-serving samples which is how I opted to try their a handful of their Wuyi oolong.
I’ve been wanting to order from Wuyi Origin, so it’s nice to see a recommendation, tanluwils.
It’s been a long time since I tried a new gyokuro, so I was really excited to open this one as soon as it arrived in mail. I used about 5g for this session and the amount of water was ranging from 70ml to 100ml.
Leaves in the preheated kyusu have a pungent smell of beef and brownies that is a little sweet and cooling too. Once they had been submerged in water, aromas like chicken broth and cedar come to the fore. On the other hand, smelling the empty cup is like sticking your nose into a bag with a mixture of gummy bears and nuts.
Overall, I found this gyokuro to have a remarkably balanced, yet evolving taste. It is very delicate and juicy.
For the first infusion, I use 50°C water for about 90s. It yields a super soft, coating and lubricating mouthfeel. The taste is brothy and crisp. Umami is in moderation. Flavours of pine and kale are the ones I can isolate.
Second infusion is a flash one with temperature close to 60°C. The liquor is full bodied, buttery and extremely thick with a slightly minty mouthfeel. Taste is very different from the previous one. It is nutty and grassy with a hint of butter. The protracted aftertaste evolves from savoury to sweet. It leaves a tingling and a bit drying sensation in the mouth and throat. One new flavour that I notice is cauliflower, but there are many vegetal ones too.
Steep number three is done with 70°C water for less than 20s. Again, the taste changed a lot. This time, it is more fruity and sour. I get notes like dried lime (limoo amani), leek and asparagus.
The last two infusions have again increased temperature to 75°C and 85°C respectively. The times also go up to 60s and 180s. These are finally displaying some bitterness. Steep #4 is distinctively medicinal with a hint of thistles. The last one is not bad at all, but doesn’t really bring anyhting new to the table.
All in all, I greatly enjoyed this gyokuro and can recommend it without hesitation.
Flavors: Asparagus, Bitter, Broth, Butter, Caramel, Cedar, Chicken Soup, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruity, Kale, Leeks, Lime, Meat, Medicinal, Nuts, Nutty, Pastries, Pine, Pleasantly Sour, Sweet, Sweet, Warm Grass, Thick, Umami, Vegetal
Preparation
The dry leaf smells quite a bit like a Yunnan dianhong. It is sweet, malty and chocolatey. In a preheated teapot, I get some more unusual aromas like cherries, chicken nuggets and barbeque sauce. The wet leaf smell is relatively less pungent and display a little more of the leathery side of the spectrum.
Likewise, the taste blends malty and smoky notes. It is very well balanced with some cranberry sourness that’s very present and woodiness in the background. Later steeps also have some distinct sweet brown sugar note. There is the slightest bitterness and some lingering astringency too. Ultimately, the balanced nature is what makes me so drawn to this particular tea.
Its mouthfeel is super soft and coating. Sometimes even after swallowing I still have a sensation of the liquor in my mouth. It is not the most thick black tea, but I didn’t find it lacking in viscosity.
Even though not spectacular, this Golden Monkey is one of the very best black teas I have tried among those that don’t have the “wow factor”.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cherry, Cranberry, Dark Chocolate, Leather, Malt, Smoke, Sour, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
I am revisiting this great tea today to check up on it. I get a deep smell that’s brighter than I remember it. It is more fruity and spicy, with hints of orange, cinnamon, walnuts and parsnip. The taste hasn’t changed much, but it’s somewhat more medicinal and tangy. There is a touch of sourness that persists into the aftertaste as well.
I have tried a lot of Scott’s ripes from 2017 and 2018 in the last two weeks (reviews will come later). This one – Rooster King – and Crimson Rooster are my favourites. Neither of them is quite at the level of Yang Luo Han though.
Flavors: Blackberry, Bread, Cinnamon, Coffee, Medicinal, Orange, Parsley, Sour, Spicy, Tangy, Walnut