Tea of the day. Not sheng or shou

Jukro semi-wild Balhyocha, from what-cha.

This is a lovely tea, especially for someone like me who isn’t so much into the malt of some red/blacks.

the dry leaf is all chocolate & cocoa, with some roast added, but the taste is where this shines for me – its like keemun-roasted-oolong. That’s the simplest way to describe it.. Oh and the aroma has the cocoa. The body is Keemun-sweet with a little salt & fruit.

In fact it reminded me more and more of Keemun or unspoken lapsang as im finishing the cup. But with other things going on. Tongue had a little life and I enjoyed the supple body with soft fruit. It was really nice.

Steeped 5g 12oz fish-eye bubbles 1 minute which I need to try with some other teas as it was a perfect cup

And I had a dragonwell, which was interesting – I don’t have my notes here but had a perfumed aroma. The description said tastes like it is made next to a temple, because, incense.

I don’t know if that is a normal dragonwell thing or not? Greens aren’t my usual, and most of the recent greens I’ve had have been savoury.

I had a mystery sencha that was gifted to me long ago without label. Either I brewed it too long or it was never that great. Ah well, better luck tomorrow.

Banyan DHP from whatcha.

Enjoying this a lot – its choccy, and toasty done right – not harsh roasted, nicely toasted.

I am searching for any cream or fruit notes but i keep getting chocolate & dan cong lively tongue noms.

only a few steeps in, will continue to drink but gotta go bed soon!

Never know whether to post heicha here or in the puerh thread.

Either way this stuff is lovely now it’s aired out a bit in my very dry flat. It’s so old tasting, a bit salty too which adds nomness, maybe doesn’t last like a rich puerh but omg I like it.

Da Hong Pao Oolong from Totem tea. Just a whiff of roast, both in the aroma and the taste, which is nice. More roast can be fine, but generally that means you gotta give it a rest; this one is ready to go. My first thought on tasting was “meaty” which has more to do with the density of the tea then flavor. Kinda sits at the top of the throat a bit, in a pleasantly astringent sort of fashion.

Today I’m having Teavivre Huang shan mao feng. The 2015 harvest was amazing, but last year’s is pretty meh. Thin body with a faint marine flavor. This one is going into my work stash.

Darjeeling Oolong from Twinings. I found this OK before but today I must of had a good brewing technique (gongfu) and the correct palate as this was superb today. TBH, I never thought much of Twinings thinking they were just a bag vendor but after visiting their shop on the Strand in London near where I work, I was pleasantly surprised by their selection of loose leaf, but unpleasantly surprised by the prices! Check it out if in London, established 1706.

Imperial green, a 2016 Long Jing from Meileaf. It was pretty dang good. I usually drink puehr, but realized I should go through my green teas since they’re not going to last forever, and this one was a fine choice. I never had Long Jing before, and it gave me an appreciation of just how good green tea can be.

I had da hong Pao, and rainforest white over at tealet today, absolutely wonderful teas! Came home with a tin of both.