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A unique tea for sure. Strangely enough though, the same characteristics that I like so much in YS’s Ye Sheng black teas, don’t do it for me in this sheng. I can imagine that the profile becomes more likeable over time, but I am not going to invest in this tea in order to find out. Maybe in a few years time, I will try get hold of some sample that’s been aged more.

The main characteristics of this tea are fruity, herbaceous, mineral and alcohol like. Personally, I didn’t get much butter out of it. It has some bitterness and astringency like one would expect from a Dan Cong, but it’s not overwhelming.

The wet leaf smell reminds me of an alpine meadow in its floral and herbal realm, with some fruity (mostly peach & nectarine) aromas on top. Taste is tart, juicy and mineral overall. There are notes of dry grass, lavender, apricot and pear skin. There is also a strong herbaceous aspect to it that reminds me of Provence. The aftertaste is very long, floral and drying. It doesn’t present many new notes, but they come in different combinations. I found it somewhat sour and reminiscent of peach and lavender for the most part.

Liquor is medium bodied, soft and smooth. Not as thick as some other Dan Cong oolongs, which makes it easier to drink I guess.

Overall, this tea is VERY similar to Zhong Ping “Jasmine Aroma” from YS. So much so, that I am not sure I would be able to discern them unless drunk side by side. This one is surely more fruity, otherwise, the qualities are very comparable, both in terms of character and how enjoyable it is. However, the difference is that the YS one is less than half the price. It’s a great tea (I am a sucker for Dan Cong, mind), but I would take the Jasmine Aroma from YS anytime over this though, given the price difference.

I haven’t had a session with this tea in a while and I decided to revisit it to check on its progression. Let me add some more observations I had during today’s cupping.

The aroma of the wet leaf is somewhat marine like and woody. The liquor is mouth-watering and oily. In this session, the taste of the early infusions seems to have more of vegetal and umami flavours, verging on salty at times. I get some grass and alcohol notes too. Middle infusions see the rise of woody and pine flavours. Late infusions are still slightly vegetal, but not really that much savoury anymore. They display more sweetness to complement the sourness that persists. Flavours like taro, butter and mint emerge. Aftertaste is very long and evolves in various directions. At certain points it gets kind of sweet only to give way to the original sour/umami flavours of the liquor returning in brief bursts. After about 10 minutes, the aftertaste displays also some spices, most prominently black pepper I’d say. Cha qi is strong, especially if you let yourself get lost in it, because it is not so overwhelming by itself, like I also mentioned in my first review.

I was a little at loss as for which of the three pages for this tea to use, but in the end I chose this one.

Upon opening the pouch I recieved from derk, I get a fairly standard yancha aroma with a little bit of cocoa beans on top. The wet leaf smell is mostly floral, it evokes dark chocolate, paratha, cannabis and osthmanthus. This tea gives off a really strong aroma in the empty cup, mostly reminiscent of some fruit tree flowers.

The liquor is light in colour – somewhere between yellow and orange. It is smooth, and very mouth-watering with medium body. The taste is somewhat mellow and balanced – mostly mineral, sweet and tart with light bitterness and no astringency. There are flavours of berries, vanilla, cannabis and sage. In late steeps, I found it a bit too sour, which made me lower the rating a bit.

The long aftertaste is floral and expansive. It can get a little biting and bitter at times. I get some curry leaf and menthol on top of the notes mentioned before. The cha qi is fairly quick to arrive. It is warming, heady and leaves me considerably elevated.

I liked this tea a lot. The roast has faded and left it in a very nice spot that’s more balanced than some other yanchas I have tried to date.

This is a light bodied tea with a soft, slimy mouthfeel. The leaves are very green, attesting to the dry storage. I didn’t find it to be particularly interesting or enjoyable. The smell has notes of leaf pile, cooked chicken and barbeque. As for the taste, its profile is quite green tea like, but maybe more sour and crisp without the umami.

This is a review of a mini redhead I got as a freebie from White2Tea. I have to say that more than 7g of tea in this coin is a bit too much for me, as I usually do solo sessions.

At first I was baffled by the tea, beacause I remembered reading in the description it was made dianhong style. However, the smell and taste is quite far from dianhong – rather it has the characteristics of shaihong, a sundried black tea. And of course it makes sense it is sun dried if it’s going to be pressed in cakes.

It doesn’t have a strong smell, but it’s interesting. It smells like a mix of pinewood, molasses and white pepper. In the empty cup it smells like beeswax, not unlike a young sheng would. The taste is savoury, spicy and bitter. In the finish is becomes a bit more sour and astringent with a hint of sweetness lingering. I found it to be quite defined and evolving taste. There are notes of wood, cranberries, honey and white pepper. The aftertaste is even more spicy and sour. It is very long and expansive.

The best aspect of this tea is the mouthfeel though. It is super thick, coating and soft. I also feel the tea is quite caffeine heavy, it really makes me alert.

This tea sits somewhere between white and black tea with some pu-erh characteristics as well. Even if you don’t like dianhong, I would suggest you try this one.

Today I tried something a little different for this tea, in order to see if it makes me like it more. Also, I didn’t want to spend much time on the session. That’s why, I only used about 2.5g in a 100ml gaiwan filled to about 2/3 each time. On top of that, I also broke the dry leaves to about 1/5 of their original size, so that the extraction is faster.

The resulting tea is less pungent and lighter bodied. However, the taste is more robust and in fact manifests its more subtle aspects better. I am happy with how it turned out and I will continue experimenting with this tea further in the future.

Another one of the samples I got from derk, this is exactly what I was craving today.

I haven’t tried the unroasted version, so I don’t have a point of comparison, but to me it seems like a very careful roast. It is not overpowering at all. The tea has full body and beautiful floral fragrance. I found it to be very refreshing in the mouth, cooling in the throat and body warming. The mouthfeel is bubbly, thick and soft.

The taste has a decent balance, but verges on the umami side. It has vegetal qualities of bamboo shoots, savouriness not unlike egg yolk and slightly sour, yoghurt-like, finish. Of course, there are also notes from the roast, but I dind’t find any of them to stand out too much. I feel like the roast created a very nice robust base, but at the same time preserved a lot of the character of the tea. The aftertaste is one of the most interesting I have experienced – I get an aroma of lavender (and eggs), throat-feeling of menthol and taste of sage. It is also super long and over time evolves into more sweet domain.

This ripe pu-erh has medium body and is super easy to drink with little to no fermentation notes. Its highlights are the nuanced aroma and thick creamy mouthfeel.

The smell is quite light but has a lot going on. At first, it is sweet and woody with some hints of dried cranberries. I imagine sitting in a clean mountain cottage in the midst of the winter with dry wood burning in the fireplace. Later on throughout the session, other notes like brazil nuts, banana, chicken broth, cinnamon, black pepper and licorice appear in moderation.

Taste-wise, it is mellow and quite well balanced. There are some slightly unusual flavours, like citrus, wheat, roasted sunflower seeds and walnut skins. Overall, it has decent sweetness and medicinal qualities.

The aftertaste is somewhat spicy, slimy and not astringent at all. It is somehow muted but actually quite long. Mouthfeel is creamy and slightly oily, thick and a little dry in the finish.

This is a review of one of the little Lullabies that I received as a freebie with my order.

It is full bodied, very fragrant and flavourful. Its balanced nature makes it possible to brew quite strong. It is definitely a high quality tea, but I didn’t find it to be particularly special. the other Bai Mu Dan from White2Tea from 2018 – Censers – is more memorable and complex I think. Lullaby is more of a tea to enjoy mindlessly, it also helps by inducing a tranquil state. The name is quite fitting. I would choose it when I want something refreshing, thick and tasty with a long aftertaste.