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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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

After a year of aging, this tea has fuller body than I remember. Naturally, the roasted notes have taken a step back. Instead, there is more sweetness and a tart, slightly tannic finish. I get a cooling as well as a kind of tingling sensation in the mouth after drinking. It has definitely improved since last year. If I liked it more overall, I would stock up on some for a little TGY storage experiment, but I don’t think I will as it stands.

I had a side by side comparison with the Imperial grade today, although I did not brew both the same way. One reason for that is the fact that I still don’t have two identical teapots. But I have also observed that the preparation I have come to use for the imperial grade doesn’t work quite as well for the premium grade. The latter responds better to a more agressive brewing, like a more standard gong fu style gaiwan brewing.

Anyway, I think I like the Imperial grade a bit more for its nuttier and more delicate nature. It is somehow more special. On the other hand, the premium grade is sweeter, more grassy and with more umami too. The taste is more in-your-face. The body is comparable and the astringency levels are similar too.

I made this into a cold brew today and I like it quite a bit more than the standard way. It is characterized by a refreshing, bitter, tangy and aromatic taste. The body is good too.

I was craving something sweet-ish this morning, but at the same time I wanted to try out this sample I got from derk. Well, I went ahead with it, thinking it might have some sweetness anyway. It turns out, this tea was perfect for this occasion, although under normal circumstances I would probably find it too sweet for my palate :D

The smell is a mix of vegetal and slightly aged and smoky aromas. After all, the tea is soon to enter a semi-aged category, if it’s not there already. In the empty cup, the aroma is sweet, sticky and honey like.

Taste of the tea can change throughout the session, highlighting different aspects, but on the whole it is a combination of honey sweetness, a lot of herbal notes and a tart edge. Most of the time, I found it refreshing and tangy. Honey is the strongest note, but there are a lot of herbs/plants like anise, mint, eucalyptus and pine present too. The aftertaste is mineral, sweet and slightly bitter. There are hints of autumn leaf pile and I can kind of see the comparison ZeroZen made with Bai Ji Guan primarily in the aftertaste, if we discount much of the sweetness.

The liquor has a medium body and is slippery and very coating. There is some astringency. In particular the feeling after drinking is a touch dry, especially at the back of the mouth and in the throat.

I was in a mood for something special today. At the same time, I am trying to go through some of my YS pu-erh samples to see if I want to order something in the current sale. That’s why I grabbed this sample, so generously provided by derk. As far as I can recall, this is the first single source Yi Wu tea I have had a chance to try. It proved to be special indeed. As TJ Elite already mentioned, I also found it to be a complete experience, as well as a tea that rewards patience. I think that in order to appreciate a tea like this, you really need to take your time.

Starting with the dry leaf scent, I didn’t notice any strong aromas there, just a generic sweet, honey aromas. On the other hand, the smell of the wet leaves initially reminded me of leaf and grass based compost, cream and some faint fruity note (maybe clementine?). Later on throughout the session I also noticed aromas of oak forest, steamed milk and pecan tart.

From the very first infusion, this tea is soft and creamy in the mouth with appreciable thickness and full body. Taste of the first infusion is dominated by umami. There are flavours of toasted rice, fish meat, sweet grass and some lemongrass in the finish. Aftertaste is pretty astringent and has hints of citrus skin (not the zest). The astringency in the aftertaste turns out to be a generic feature of the tea. It comes in various shades and is always there and always gradually transforming, but I never found the peaks of it to be unpleasant, which is quite remarkable.

Second steep brings more bitterness, somewhat akin to slightly unripe walnuts, and notes of fresh spinach, fish broth and charcoal. It is more metallic and mineral, the latter becomes especially pronounced in the aftertaste. The liquor is mouth-watering and very lubricating. Infusion number three is the most astringent from the get go and also reaches a peak thickness. There are honey and sandy soil flavours that give way to a super long aftertaste with allspice, sweet wood and wax like aspects. The taste and the constrictive feeling stays in the mouth and especially the throat for ages. At this point, I was kind of hit by the enveloping cha qi, and I started lucid dreaming for a while. I don’t think that can be attributed just to the tea though, I was already in a somewhat dreamy state to begin with. What I did notice though is that the tea helped enhance my awareness and clear my mind later on throughout the session.

Steeps 4 to 7 were underwhelming compared to the first three, but still very enjoyable. I figured they were shorter than they should’ve. As a result, the mouthfeel is thinner and buttery rather than creamy. The taste is still bitter, with more of a floral edge. I would compare it to tea tree oil at times. The aftertaste is slightly cooling like some alpine herbs. Over time, as the astringency peters out, some sweetness and suble fruitiness emerges.

For the next steeps, I increased the times more radically, which resulted in a return of thickness in the liquor. Somewhat unexpectedly, infusion #8 immediately reminds me of Cabernet Sauvignon. I am not sure if my mind is playing tricks or that note is really there though. It’s one of the stranger associations. Steep 9 is even longer, now up to about 1 minute. It has more bitterness, but I feel like it’s a different kind of bitterness almost. I can’t quite out a finger on it. It seems a little metalic, woody and vegetal but ultimately is like none of those. In the aftertaste, I get a slightest touch of camphor. The next infusion tastes a bit of alcohol and again has a strong bitterness that transforms into tart sweetness supplemented by the lasting astringency that’s of course still there. Despite the mouthfeel being more watery and displaying some chalkiness, it still has a decent viscosity. I love how the astringency in the aftertaste gives way to the floral fragrance over time.

My final steep is #12, about 5 minutes long. It is not super complex, but has slightly muted astringency and displays a lot of the coarse-grained qualities of the tea. It’s as if the tea—after showing all of its complexity—displayed a kind of a blunt summary of the session.

I am tempted to buy this tea. With the sale it comes out as $0.56/g which is still a lot for my current budget. However, I feel like this tea is special and will age well too. I will have think about it :)