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I think Allan wrote an accurate review of this tea. It is strong, dark, and full flavored with just a touch of bitterness and fermentation flavor. Bittersweet is a good characterization. It is quite tasty and a good bargain.

A very nice deep honey flavored gui Fei oolong. Fairly sweet, just a touch of roast.

I am somewhat new to the oolong scene. With my last Chawangshop order, they included a free sample of a Gui Fei oolong, which I had never heard of. It was a really nice tea, sweet and honey flavor. It is one of those bug bitten teas, I think it comes under the umbrella of an oolong beauty. The bug bites force the tea plant to produce this characteristic honey taste. So I went hunting and found that Taiwan Tea Crafts had a couple varieties, so I ordered them. This is the first I tried. It’s a nice tea, medium dark, no roastiness. It does have that honey flavor, not too strong. It also had a little astringency, which I like, just a touch. Overall a nice tea.

Tried a sample of this from the TTB. Not bad. Kind of that wild earthy woodsy type shu. Big leaves. Definitely a decent tea especially for the price.

I found this to be light and delicate, with a mild honey note. Early steeps tasted on the green side, later steeps were a bit deeper with more pronounces honey. Seems like it has a good caffeine kick to it. A bit light for me, but still good.

This is an excellent tea. Like the name says, it does actually remind me of grapefruit nectar. It has the honey sweetness expected from a ‘bug bitten’ oolong, coupled with a sweet citrusy note that is slightly bitter, just like grapefruit! I was amazed at how durable and productive the leaves were. It held up as well as a solid pu erh, I think I got a good 10 infusions before it petered out. It reminded me of one of those ‘drink now’ sweet pu erhs we’ve been seeing lately. Overall this was quite delicious!!

I found this to be a nice tea from Chawangshop, even better than their 2006 oolong. It’s got a semi aged taste, a bit of that aged fruity plum. Not too roasty. One thing I did notice on the downside was a hint of mustiness. Not that overpowering, though, and I’m somewhat new to aged oolongs so I’m not sure if this is common? Anyway, I like this tea especially for the price. I put 50g away in a tin for aging and will drink the other half now.

AKA Bug Shit Tea

OK, this is the review that you all have been waiting for… drumroll please….

So what does this tea look like? It came in a little plastic bag, and the dry tea looked like little grains. I put about 3g in my gaiwan. I took a whiff, and it smelled very musty and earthy. Then I took another whiff as my wife walked by, and it smelled a lot like poop. Then my wife said ‘excuse me’ because she had farted. True story….

Anyway, on to the brew. I hit it with the hot water, waited about 30 seconds, and poured the tea into our cups. A number of floaties hung out on top, then most of them sank. That’s when it got real. It looked to me like rat poop was in our cups.

The tea soup was golden brown and on the light side. Then we sipped…

It tasted like musty soil. That’s the best way I can describe it. Very musty, light, and earthy. Not terribly unpleasant, but I can’t say I enjoyed it. Two steeps was all I could take. The qi was on the strong side and was very bright.

So, that’s the poop scoop. As for the rest of my sample, I am offering it first to Liquid Proust, as a reward for his diligence in dealing with his last two group buys I have been part of. PM me, LP, if you are in!!!

I decided to try a new tea on my last Chawangshop order. This is a hei cha with golden flowers. Frankly I don’t know how to describe this tea, it is very unusual. It brews a light golden brown. The soup is not thick like ripe pu erh, but the leaves look like shu, with lots of tiny gold dots everywhere, and a number of stems. The flowers, I assume, impart a very unique taste that I can’t put my finger on. It is an easy going tea, though I’m not sure if I like it. My wife enjoyed it. It’s only a couple bucks to sample so if you are curious, give it a try if you place an order with them!