1006 Tasting Notes
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.
Flavors: Black Pepper, Broth, Cinnamon, Citrus, Cranberry, Dried Fruit, Licorice, Medicinal, Nuts, Spicy, Sweet, Walnut, Wheat, Wood
Preparation
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.
Flavors: Drying, Fruit Tree Flowers, Herbaceous, Herbs, Medicinal, Pear, Sweet, Tart, Thick
Preparation
This is a very nice medium to full bodied tea that combines nicely the fruity sweetness and roasted notes. Its smell is thick and sweet with notes like cherry, dark wood and molasses. The liquor is bubbly, soft, mouth-watering and gets decently thick throughout the session and also as it cools down. It has a cooling finish.
Taste is quite complex and balanced. Among the notes I found are those of toasted rice, nuts, resin, coconut skin and cedar. I also like the fruity aftertaste that lingers for a while.
I will try to get this one in my next What-Cha order.
Flavors: Cedar, Cherry, Coconut, Dark Chocolate, Dark Wood, Fruity, Honey, Molasses, Nuts, Resin, Sweet, Thick, Toasted Rice
Preparation
After 1 year of Canadian storage with slightly enhanced and stabilized humidity (but still dry compared to what I expect this tea has gone through), I see a relatively big change in the profile, which surprised me a little bit.
The smell is more nutty, sweet and medicinal. I think it’s a little more pungent, but not by a large amount. The taste, on the other hand, is more subtle. I can taste the strong herbal notes, but they are much more in the background. Also, the bitterness seems to have faded a notch, now it’s almost unnoticeable. Instead, I get more mushroom notes, especially in the finish. Mouthfeel is more or less the same as far as I can remember.
At this point I wouldn’t say it’s either worse or better than when I bought it necessarily, just different. I have a feeling that if it mellows out much further than it could become too flat. For now it’s ok though.
Flavors: Medicinal, Mud, Mushrooms, Nutty, Sweet
Preparation
This is a very unusual tea. It literally smells and tastes like fenugreek. If someone gave me this labelled as fenugreek tea, I wouldn’t doubt them for a second.
The dry leaf aroma is very weak and slightly vegetal. In the wet leaf I can smell just … fenugreek. And some milk in the background. First infusion was super light with almost no taste, but the later ones were ok. I could taste fenugreek, some bay leaves and gastric acid (no kidding!). It is somewhat savoury and bitter, and overall quite imbalanced. It has light body and the mouthfeel is powdery and drying.
All in all, not a very good tea, unless you are in love with fenugreek (which I actually quite like personally). I can’t deny that it’s a unique experience though.
Flavors: Bitter, Herbs, Vegetal
Preparation
Another sample from derk and I am quite excited about this one, knowing the quality of production coming from Jun Chiyabari.
The dry leaf scent is exactly as derk described – a sweet dark cocoa powder. The wet leaves have even sweeter scent that reminds me of christmas with notes like clove, hot apple, cranberries and others that I couldn’t quite put in words. It is quite feminine and sweet but pungent aroma.
The taste is also sweet, but less so, which I appreciate. It has a cocoa bitterness, cherry tartness and very spicy (as in fragrant) finish and aftertaste. I also get a little sickly feeling in the throat after drinking it. The liquor has medium body and a soft, drying mouthfeel.
I don’t think this will be my favourite tea by Jun Chiyabari, but it’s still very good.
Flavors: Candied Apple, Cloves, Cocoa, Cranberry, Dark Bittersweet, Overripe Cherries, Spices, Sweet, Tart
Preparation
This is the oldest (as in aged the longest) tea I have tried to date, although I just got some older ones recently. It is very interesting for me in the sense that different aspects of it resemble various teas like shou, aged white, sheng, oriental beauty and dianhong.
The smell is initially similar to a lot of ripe pu-erh, but very clean. It is sweet, earthy and nutty with notes like camphor, peat and prunes. It is very complex and later throughout the session becomes more woody and medicinal. There are aromas of spruce, oak, forest floor and chlorine.
The liquor is super clean and its colour is located between dark orange and red. The taste is also clean and inoffensive, but definitely enjoyable even though it may lack some pungency. It starts off sweet, spicy and nutty with light bitterness. I can taste coffee and hazelnuts in particular. The second half of the session (steeps 7 to 10) is a bit more herbaceous, while the very end (steeps 11 to 13) is fruity with notes of apple, apricut and walnuts. These last few infusions remind me of aged shou mei a fair bit. Even better than the taste itself is probably the aftertaste, which is very long. It doesn’t really have much extra complexity over the taste though.
The body is full and the mouthfeel is slimy, buttery, mouth-watering and a touch dry in the finish. I didn’t really notice any cha qi, apart from some caffeine effects in the chest around infusion 10.
Overall, I got 13 infusions of about 100ml and one final simmer of 200ml. Getting 1.5l of tea from 6g of leaf seems like a lot to me, especially given that this is not likely to be made from old trees.
Flavors: Apple, Apricot, Camphor, Coffee, Dried Fruit, Forest Floor, Fruity, Hazelnut, Herbaceous, Medicinal, Nuts, Oak, Peat, Plum, Spices, Sweet, Walnut, Wood
Preparation
Upon opening the bag, I get hit by an intriguing smell. It is not quite like what I would normally expect from DianHong. The most prominent note is the one of the smoke from a fog machine. Behind it, there are scents of tomato vine and malt to be found. Once the leaves are hit with hot water, the aroma changes. Now it is more medicinal. In fact, it reminds me of the smell of some disinfection sprays. The strongest aspects of the smell are more standard though – malt, nuts and cocoa.
Like many Yunnan black teas, this is the Assamica varietal, and the taste profile is somewhat similar to Assam black teas. It is floral, savoury and bitter with a touch of sweetness in the finish. There is also some astringency, although much less than what I would expect in actual Assam teas. I found flavours and aromas resembling lily, lime zest and bread.
After drinking, I get a constrictive feeling in the mouth that’s almost drying, but not really. The mouthfeel of the tea is nothing spectacular, but decent enough to not pose any issues. It’s thinner than what I expected based on the description, but still medium bodied I’d say.
Overall, it’s an interesting and fragrant tea for those who like Assamica and don’t mind their black tea be on the bitter side.
Flavors: Biting, Bitter, Bread, Citrus Zest, Cocoa, Flowers, Malt, Medicinal, Nuts, Smoke, Vegetables
Preparation
I got this tea as a free sample with my order, thanks MST! I won’t rate it though, as it is noted as being past its shelf life on the website. Since it’s already late today, I opted for less leaf and western brewing.
The aroma is surprisingly weak and initially I don’t really get much pomelo fragrance, if any. There is a sea air like scent though. After second steep, I can definitely smell the pomelo blossoms. The taste is somewhat light and very floral with bitter finish. I get notes of spinach and pomelo, as well as citrus zest in general terms. The aftertaste is quite long and displays the pomelo fragrance nicely. It is savoury too, reminiscent of sourdough bread in fact. The body is light and mouthfeel drying, but not really astringent.
Unfortunately, I found that the way the tea made me feel was quite unpleasant. It quickly got into my head and upset my stomach, even though I had dinner not that long ago.
Flavors: Bitter, Bread, Citrus Zest, Floral, Spinach, Tart, Yeast