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This time I can smell a strong dried apricot note in the dry leaf, it reminds me of apricot danish pastry a bit too. Generally, I found the smell somewhat more fruity, with some peach and nectarine hints too. Some new notes I got from the wet leaf smell include tobacco and strangely enough quite strongly also the smoke generated by smoke machines at concerts and such. That took me by surprise somewhat. Generally it’s quite a sweet smell compared to the taste, which also has some sweetness (this time I also noticed bubblegum in at least one of the infusions), but verges on the savoury side overall I would say.

I think this is the first white tea I tried that I thoroughly enjoy. The aroma is very sweet floral, with some hay/dry grass notes too. It is strong and calming, I spent a lot of time just sniffing :D

As for the taste it is complex enough even at low temperatures, which is something I lack in other white teas I’ve had. As such, one can adjust the astringency levels up to their liking without compromising the flavour depth too much. Overall, the mix of floral and vegetal qualities makes for a very delicious drink. The mouthfeel is not particularly pronounced, although it can get quite drying at high temperatures.

I am going to try to cold brew this one soon too, I think it could yield good results.

This is definitely the best shou I have tried so far! I literally like every aspect of it. It brews an incredibly rich and dark burgundy coloured liquor. The smell of the wet leaf is pleasant and cooling like an autumn breeze with some plum sweetness present as well.

As for the taste, it is very balanced – somewhat savoury initially with light coffee bitterness, which transforms into cherry and sugarcane sweetness soon enough. Especially the latter steeps are more on the sweet side. In the aftertaste, there is a dark chocolate note and I get some strange “dancing” sourness on my tongue for minutes after drinking it.

For a ripe pu-erh, I would say this is a full bodied tea with a soft and velvety mouthfeel that is a little cooling. I also noticed that it makes me more focused, without any caffeine rush. I feel like this would be a good tea for my office.

First few steeps were dominated by the bitterness and some mushroom notes mentioned by others as well. Later on, the bitterness faded to allow for some sweeter and fruity notes to come forward, nothing specific i could identify though. The body is medium overall and the astringency was fairly strong throughout the session. Even though I can’t really pinpoint many specific notes, it seems complex enough. There’s a lot of subtle ones that are very much in the background. I feel like this tea can benefit a lot from aging, but it wouldn’t be my choice for drinking right now. However, the rating I gave is with respect to its current state rather than aging potential, because really that would be just a pure guess on my part.

One interesting thing I did notice during the session was very strong warming effect around steeps 4 and 5, especially in the chest and throat area.

High quality sencha with a strong smell of freshly cut grass and somewhat bready taste.

At first, the smell seems similar to Japanese green teas, but then I notice an a floral & sweet note, a bit like honey, but not quite. In fact, it reminds me of breckland thyme to a large extent. The taste is fairly sweet and mild with only a hint of umami. I didn’t find any bitterness and only very little astringency from the third steep onwards. Next time, I can maybe use hotter water to see how the tea reacts. The mouthfeel is velvety and body is medium for a green tea.

Overall, it reminds me of some early spring chinese green teas I have had, but I like this one more because of its stronger flavour and thicker body.

This tea has a mild aroma of forest floor with some wet wood and mushroom notes, which I found very calming. The body is medium and it is also slightly mouthwatering.

In the taste I mostly noticed bread crust and a bit of mushrooms. Even though I could tell the taste is fairly complex, most of the notes were too subtle. However, I guess the fact that none really dominates enables a wider range of flavours to come to the front than what is usual for a shou tea. All in all, it has a balanced and pleasant taste, which I enjoyed a lot. Given the price that this is selling for, I would say it is a total steal! I will definitely be getting at least one cake.

I overleafed this quite a bit, but since it is not all tea leaves it didn’t present that much of an issue. The steeping times I kept very short though nevertheless.

The smell seems to be dominated by the chrysanthemum flowers, it is slightly sweet and spicy and has a strong lemon note. The liquor has a very deep brick colour and medium body.

In the first few infusions, the tea was also on the back foot in terms of the taste, but that has changed throughout the session. I found the taste to be nicely balanced in these latter infusions with considerable bitterness, a little sweet, but still very floral and citrusy. The aftertaste has mostly the floral and spicy notes, and the drying sensation seems to be limited to the throat only. It actually reminds me a bit of some chili peppers.

Overall, I think this tea presents a nice alternative to standard teas. It is sufficiently different, but still has many qualities of a decent red tea. I can imagine that with a normal amount of leaf it can be a bit mild, but the way I brewed it this time it wasn’t a problem.

Drinking this again and I have to say I am even more impressed than last time, especially in terms of the taste, which I actually enjoy as well. And as I mentioned before, the floral aroma is just incredible, like the cha qi, which put me in a very pleasant state of mind.

What a wonderful smell this tea possesses. It is very floral and sweet, reminiscent of some high quality honey.

The liquor is medium to full bodied with oily and slightly drying mouthfeel, which becomes minty and cooling afterwards. It is a very refreshing tea to drink and the taste is fairly complex. It took me a while to appreciate it though, at first I wasn’t very fond of it. There are some vegetal, buttery, floral and astringent notes, but nothing really stands out. The aftertaste transforms the sensation into somewhat fruity, sweet direction and lasts for a very long time.

One other thing to mention is a very noticeable and calming cha qi, probably my favourite among the oolong teas I have tried.

P.S. Originally I was going to rate it around 75, but with the aftertaste and cha qi kicking in, I had to reconsider the rating and change it significantly.