A Different Eighteen from Song Tea & Ceramics

A Different Eighteen

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Celery, Cherry, Cocoa, Crisp, Drying, Herbaceous, Herbal, Jam, Leather, Medicinal, Menthol, Milk Chocolate, Mint, Peanut, Raspberry, Red Fruits, Tannin, Tobacco, Wet Dog, Wintergreen
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
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Edit tea info Last updated by derk
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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “On the warm leaf: chocolate covered cherries, raspberry jam, Andes mints… seriously, the milk chocolate is unmistakable. Wow. Wet dog coming off the pour again — this must be par for the course...” Read full tasting note
    88
  • “Something told me to drink it grandpa style. It’s unlike any Ruby 18 I’ve had. Sweeter than any other, softer, complex. No tannic bite at all, which is often an occurrence with this cultivar. ...” Read full tasting note

From Song Tea & Ceramics

Notes of manuka honey, hibiscus, and black currant.

Red tea from Taiwan・April 2021・龍眼炭焙紅玉・Organic

Eighteen is a hybrid of a native Taiwanese wild cultivar and a large leaf Assamica, creatively named by the Taiwan Tea Research & Extension Station (TRES) for their 18th successfully developed cultivar. The wild Taiwanese lineage gives Eighteen its natural floral qualities, while the richness and intensity of the brew stem from the Assamica strain.

From the Sun Moon Lake scenic area, these leaves are grown and produced by a farmer we met on our 2018 sourcing trip. His harvest, our original iteration of Eighteen, stood out with beautifully shaped, consistently sized leaves, and a tea with both clarity and depth.

A Different Eighteen pushes the post-harvest craftsmanship even further. In this iteration, we’ve parsed out the finer leaves from the general harvest, selecting leaves with more aromatic intensity and flavor. They are then charcoal roasted to concentrate and intensify these qualities. This is no easy task; twisted leaf teas are extremely challenging to roast and therefore quite uncommon. Unlike rolled teas, the twisted leaves catch in the weft of the bamboo roasting baskets, easily breaking or burning in production. A gentle hand, and sharp intuition for the craft, are paramount.

During our spring 2022 sourcing trip, we were fortunate enough to meet a charcoal roaster equal to the task. Over the course of three days, the leaves were slowly roasted over longan wood pits to distill the tea to its most innate form. Here roasting softens the highest and lowest notes of the tea, reducing the background noise and presenting a final product with a crystal clear structure and finish. Brewed, a Different Eighteen’s leaves unfurl in beautiful vermillion, with the sweet, almost menthol-tinged quality of Manuka honey, and notes of black currant, and hibiscus.

Brew: 5 grams・150 ml・205° F・1 min

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2 Tasting Notes

88
365 tasting notes

On the warm leaf: chocolate covered cherries, raspberry jam, Andes mints… seriously, the milk chocolate is unmistakable. Wow.

Wet dog coming off the pour again — this must be par for the course with Ruby 18? Wintergreen here, too (where the Floating Leaves R18 had it everywhere except the nose). Herbaceous.

First pour tastes of baker’s cocoa, tannin, leather, tobacco. I can’t locate any fruit, mint, or sweetness.

After the first pour, wintergreen is now fully apparent in the wet leaves… medicinal and herbal like a Ricola cough drop, menthol cigarettes… immediately after the next pour there was a distinct celery seed and water chestnut aroma (which changed again before the next fill… smells in the pot are all over the place, haha).

Second pour, wet dog is still heavy on the nose, with ripe fruit and more wintergreen. The taste is more cooling, and I’m able to pick out some wintergreen where I wasn’t in the first pour. Quite drying throughout my whole mouth, with crunchy tannins and cherry. Cocoa seemed to have mostly dissipated, until I took the last sip and found chocolate covered peanuts at the bottom of the cup.

Back to the leaves: chocolate covered cherry and wintergreen now that they’ve cooled a bit. The leaves might be the most interesting part of this tea.

Several more steeps. Some indistinct florality. Biggest pulls are mint, milk chocolate, cherry, tobacco — and it all completely works together. The tannins are what give me pause, which I know is common with Ruby 18s. (derk, I’m shocked you didn’t get any going grandpa style! Maybe I should have followed your lead.) If I had more leaves, I might try this at a lower temperature? Even still: Song recommends 5g in 150ml at 205 degrees for a full minute, and I’m only at 3.5g/150ml at 195 degrees for about 10-15 seconds! I think my tongue might turn to leather if I cranked that hard.

A delightful journey, and probably the most interesting Ruby I’ve had so far. There is so much to uncover here. Thank you so much for the absolute treat, derk!

Flavors: Celery, Cherry, Cocoa, Crisp, Drying, Herbaceous, Herbal, Jam, Leather, Medicinal, Menthol, Milk Chocolate, Mint, Peanut, Raspberry, Red Fruits, Tannin, Tobacco, Wet Dog, Wintergreen

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1458 tasting notes

Something told me to drink it grandpa style. It’s unlike any Ruby 18 I’ve had. Sweeter than any other, softer, complex. No tannic bite at all, which is often an occurrence with this cultivar. Incredible balance of aroma, flavor, texture.

I have a few samples of new-to-me Ruby 18s from Leafhopper to try so it might be hasty of me to say after drinking this tea that there is now no other Ruby 18 for me. Song Tea is going to ruin my tea budget. Their selection thus far has been some of the best leaf I’ve had. The teas make me want to do nothing more than to sit with them and feel, rather than taste.

I will return with more another time.

Song pairing: The Flamingos — “I Only Have Eyes for You”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvzNeh4Mq1o
7 comments
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ashmanra
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You sent me a Ruby White once that put me on Cloud Nine! Tea memories….

Leafhopper
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If this is better than What-Cha’s Ruby 18, I’m in trouble!

TeaEarleGreyHot
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I will have to compare this to Brandy Oolong from TeaLyra, which is also a ruby 18.

derk
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It’s definitely worth a try, TeaEarleGreyHot! I could send you a sample if you’d like. And I hope you enjoy yours, Leafhopper.

ashmanra – I’ll never forget your note for that tea :) I’d love to have that particular ruby white again.

derk
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Oh yeah, ashmanra – Mountain Stream Teas’ Earth Ruby White is another really good one.

ashmanra
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derk: I will definitely give it a look!

TeaEarleGreyHot
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Derk, you reminded me that I got a large cake of “experimental” white tea of Ruby 18 a few yr ago from TeaLyra, which was very brittle and crumbly. Flavour wasn’t great, either. It may have improved somewhat with age, and I’ll dig it out soon for another session!

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