1031 Tasting Notes
First time trying this tea out. Since I have two cakes, I decided to conduct a small test of my personal pu’er storage and left one of them out. I will be regularly coming back to these two to look for any differences. The first side by side tasting is just 3 weeks after I got the cakes, so I don’t expect there to be any differences due to aging, but I still want to see if just the fact that they had to acclimatize to different environments will have an effect.
The “humid” version: more pungent and interesting wet leaf smell, more savoury, herbal, grassy and umami flavours. Stronger and more interesting aftertaste (but tbh it’s very hard to differentiate the aftertaste in a side by side tasting).
The “dry” version: more astringency and stronger flavour (both could be due to different level of broken leaves). More milky, nutty and metallic.
No noticeable difference in the dry leaf smell and mouthfeel.
All the differences are minute though, as one would expect.
Preparation
I agree with tperez that this is pretty much a perfect black tea. It has the savoury, woody and bitter aspects of Ye Sheng blacks, it has the sweetness and maltiness of standard Yunnan blacks and has the smoky and leathery notes of Fujian blacks plus much more, all contributing to its complex yet balanced nature. Other notes one can find include medicinal/herbal ones, mostly in the aroma, citrusy sourness mostly in the early steeps and the aftertaste, vanilla, honey, tropical fruits, metallic and decaying wood flavours. The aftertaste is very long and a touch biting in the throat, as well as quite floral. Of course, one of the hallmarks of this tea is its full body and creamy, smooth and thick mouthfeel. On top of that, you get a very nice warming and relaxing qi. All round high quality tea with no noticeable drawbacks. I only wish it was cheaper, but I can’t say it’s overpriced. I would highly recommend this tea, especially to people who are already familiar with the landscape of the standard Chinese black teas. Relative to those, one can really appreciate how special this tea really is.
I need to drink the white version of this tea once again to see how they compare, but at the moment this one wins for me by a mile.
Flavors: Alcohol, Berries, Biting, Bitter, Citrus, Creamy, Decayed Wood, Floral, Herbs, Leather, Malt, Medicinal, Metallic, Oak, Pleasantly Sour, Smoke, Sweet, Thick, Tropical, Umami, Vanilla
Preparation
After some resting/aging period, this tea is smoother, has slightly fuller body and better balance as well as a nice minerality in the aftertaste. Therefore, I upped the rating and will look forward to further changes over time. This tea is like the opposite of a daily drinker :D
Flavors: Anise, Biting, Drying, Mineral
A new box of tea lavishness from derk arrived today, happy times! It’s too late to indulge in caffeinated tea, but I had to try this tisanne and it doesn’t disappoint.
Before steeping, I dropped the bag into a preheated glass teapot, and the aromas sent me directly to a fir tree forest. Nostalgic, a little sad for the lack of forest around here in Southern Ontario, but also full of beautiful memories.
Once infused, the tea has mostly a citric acidity as one would expect, but it’s got a good sweetness and woodiness supporting it. The balance is pretty good and it drinks well. The aftertaste has some nice vegetal notes and has an interesting throat drying quailty. As far as bagged teas and tisanes go, this is awesome.
Flavors: Citrus, Drying, Fir, Forest Floor, Green Wood, Sour, Sweet, Vegetal
Preparation
Upon opening the pouch, I am greeted by an invigorating and pungent herbal aromas, reminiscent of massage lotions. There are notes of allspice, peppermint, black currant leaves and ammonia. Unlike with some other teas, the smell is a very good indicator of how the tea tastes like too. The taste is savoury, tangy and bitter overall. I noticed flavours of cinnamon, peppery spiciness, grass, quinine and lime leaves. Later on, there are fruits like guava and passion fruit emerging. The aftertaste is generally very long and cooling with a sour and tangy character. Towards the end it gets quite drying. Mouthfeel is thick and lubricating, and contributes a lot to my enjoyment of the tea.
I would say this is a full-budied, powerful yet nuanced white tea. I like it a lot. All in all, I managed to get 11 nice infusions, the last 3 of which were somewhat astringent though.
Flavors: Bitter, Bitter Melon, Black Currant, Cinnamon, Grass, Guava, Herbs, Lime, Medicinal, Passion Fruit, Pepper, Peppermint, Sour, Spicy, Tangy, Umami
Preparation
I don’t think I picked up any whites from TTC way back when I ordered from them. This (or future versions of it) seem like a good candidate for a future order!
[Autumn 2017 harvest]
Even though none of the flavours of this moonlight white are particularly uncommon, I found the combination fairly unusual. In any case it is very tasty. The overarching theme is provided by the various shades of sweet, with a fight between floral/hay and malty/fruit notes.
The dry leaves smell of books and haystacks. The aroma becomes quite strange in a preheated gaiwan. I get coconut macaroons and cognac, but I recognize even that is very far from what it actually smells like. Wet leaves don’t have such a distinctive smell, it is mostly floral and woody. As for the liquor itself, the dominant aroma is that of fruit blossoms.
As I mentioned, the taste is sweet, but remains balanced for most of the session. The main notes are malt, dried fruit (dates), sandalwood, molasses and dry grass. There is a light sourness and the late infusions remind me of Himalayan black teas with a decent astringency and a mixture of grassy, floral, fruity (blackberry, lychee) and malty tones. Aftertaste is subtle and the only new flavour is the one of white peach, which is probably a variant of the fruit blossom one.
All in all, I can definitely recommend this tea, especially given the very friendly price. It has a lot of caffeine and a thick, although not too exciting mouthfeel. From the 6g, I got 9 pretty strong 90ml infusions, which is really good too.
Flavors: Alcohol, Astringent, Blackberry, Coconut, Cookie, Dates, Dry Grass, Floral, Fruity, Hay, Lychee, Malt, Molasses, Orange Blossom, Paper, Peach, Sour, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
This is not the most interesting Silver Needle I came across. It will be interesting to track its aging process though. It takes a while to open up, but once it does, the liquor has a medium body and the taste is quite strong, albeit not too distinctive. The aromas I get are the standard ones – dry grass, forest floor, florals and mushrooms, as well as some fruit in the wet leaf. The taste is quite sweet and citrusy with notes of lemon balm, lemongrass and pine. Astringency is mostly felt in the throat and is quite strong, but not overpowering.
Flavors: Citrus, Dry Grass, Drying, Floral, Forest Floor, Fruity, Lemongrass, Molasses, Mushrooms, Pine, Sour, Sweet
Preparation
I had the 2017 version of this tea and it aged very well over the year I had it and wish I had bought more or had drank it less often. This and the moonlight mini cake are my go to teas for revitalizing my taste buds if I drank young sheng for too many months in a row. So I suggest drinking this tea early fall after a long summer of raw.
An easy to drink shou with a super clear liquor we have here. Its dry leaf scent reminds me of old books and fish market. In the we leaves, I noticed aromas of wet wood, sauna, leather, old furniture and later on in the session also red currant and toasted rice. Taste-wise, there is a light bamboo note initially indeed. Overall, it is quite medicinal, woody and savoury, with some bitter, tart and nutty characteristics too. One particular flavour I tend to get is sage. The aftertaste is much sweeter and reminiscent of red bean paste.
The liquor is mouth-watering, smooth, bubbly and a touch astringent. It is not very coating though. There is some aggressive cha qi, although not too strong. It makes me feel focused.
Flavors: Bamboo, Beany, Berry, Dark Bittersweet, Fishy, Leather, Medicinal, Nutty, Sage, Tart, Toasted Rice, Wet Wood, Wood
Preparation
I would describe this tea as light in many respects – the body, colour, smell and taste. The mouthfeel is kind of sticky with little astringency. Aromas of the tea are in the vicinity of sweet potato, honey, cake and a general fruitiness. The taste is very sweet and a bit tart with a floral finish and an almond note. It’s not the most exciting tea, but a decent one as far as GABA black teas go.
Flavors: Almond, Cake, Floral, Fruity, Honey, Sweet, Sweet Potatoes, Tart
Preparation
This tea didn’t really grab my attention in either of the sessions I’ve had with it. It is fragrant, but overall there are very little distinctive aromas that stand out. It’s as if the aromas of the different constituents neutralize each other. The taste is sweet and floral with a lightly tannic backbone. I get notes like yellow courgette, dandelion and related vegetal and floral ones. I like the mouthfeel quite a bit, it’s probably the highlight. There is little astringency to be found. Instead, it is very smooth, soft and slightly mouth-watering. Overall, a pleasant tea to drink, but quite unremarkable all things considered.
Flavors: Dandelion, Floral, Smooth, Sugar, Sweet, Tannic, Vegetal, Zucchini
Love that you are trying this experiment.