87 Tasting Notes
Individual leaves charcoal black, lightly rolled and wiry.
Tea is dominated by high-toned aromatics: cocoa, camphor, candied fruit and pine resin…almost “cooling”. Light malt and roasted barley at the lower end.
Palate flavours follow the aromas: roasted grains, cocoa and this candy minty coolness. Mild bitter dark chocolate astringency. Medium body with a long finish
Interesting tea that speaks of its origins.
Might be interesting to try blending this with a creamier black fom Yunnan for example.
Preparation
First couple of steeps was with quite low temperature. guessing around 75C.
Very gentle floral, hazelnut wool aromas.
Hotter subsequent steeps brought out more buttery aromas and mild green veg
Palate is round and sweet with a medium+ finish
Preparation
My first black tea from Japan; I was excited.
Smaller leaves, sized like Darjeeling, which can lead to strong infusions if not careful. Indeed, I played around with the temperature a bit and settled on, i’m guessing, 85-90C with short infusions.
First steeps near 100C were powerful, mouth-filling malt and spice. Later steeps with cooler water brought out much more lifted notes of lemon oil and roses, along with roasted coriander seed and marzipan, all backed by plenty of earthiness.
The marzipan aroma becomes more prominent in later steepings.
There’s a lingering bitterness playing in the background – this was at all temperatures that I used.
Perhaps a little clumsy at times, but certainly worth trying.
Preparation
Return trip: Found this at the bottom of my box. It’s been open a while now, so threw the last 5g into a gaiwan.
Aromatically intriguing. Pure initial grassy aromas fade to nutty sweetness with touch of apricot.
Palate is grassy and vegetal but with a surprising creaminess. A pleasant sweetness counters the vegetal notes.
Preparation
Dry leaf looks dusty and gives off cocoa and potato aromas.
Steeped leaf more reminiscent of laoshan black by verdant tea…really dark cocoa, red berries, broken decomposing autumn leaves.
The liquor has a very distinct barley/beer mash aroma….maybe simply by association, but I also smell yeast. Malt, more cocoa.
Palate is lush and smooth with more malt and high-toned raw cocoa bitterness. A distinct vegetal taste gives this a great tension. earthy as well.
2nd steep was sweeter, the potato aroma changing to bbq sweet potato and more honey aromas coming through.
great stuff
Preparation
light amber colour with aromas of celery, wood, peaches, raspberries, coffee and wet rock.
mostly follows through with similar taste profile. took a little coaxing to get out, but perhaps my leaf:water ratio wasn’t very high. i didn’t weigh
anyway, i’m enjoying this this evening, and one of these days shall compare to the non-premium da hong pao from yunnansourcing
Preparation
I read “wet rock” as “pet rock,” and for a moment I thought you had tried to groom a pet rock in your childhood like a cat. I had an entire backstory about why you would know what a pet rock tasted like. Then I read “wet rock” and it made more sense.
What’s the ideal leaf:water ratio on this kind of tea?
I’m not very precise when drinking tea, so really not in a position to comment on any ideal ratio. My gaiwan holds approximately 150ml and i will typically use between 3-5g of dry leaf. I just eyeball it usually; sometimes it’s not enough, and sometimes it’s too much.
It’s rare that I drink flower infusions, but this one really intrigued me, so I purchased from the Chinese site (not the US one despite title here).
Firstly, the cake itself is beautiful; I’d be happy to have this on display..but drinking is even better.
Steeped aroma is of milk chocolate, dried strawberries and musty earth (the mustiness is not unpleasant nor a fault).
Very rich on the palate, coating all parts of the mouth with honeyed sweetness, chamomile. Long finish.
quite delicious
I make this in a gaiwan. It requires a bit of coaxing to get a thick liquor on the first steep.
1st tasting will be quick. I don’t think I’m tasting that well this morning, so i’ll probably update at a later time
light amber infusion
aromas of marshmallow, sweet potato and honey
medium body. very smooth and delicate with light malty tones and a lingering honey finish
highly drinkable, but don’t serve with anything too strong.
Preparation
this was for the Spring 2015
was impressed with its initial parfume. Floral, patchouli, cocoa, baked potato
first steep was approximately 80C. sweet milk chocolate, minerality, malt, dates. liquid velvet
increasing temperature gave a bit more body, though still quite light, and wine-like flavours and the dustiest of tannins. tingling minerality. this is elegant; everything in its right place. a long honeyed finish. The burgundy of black teas
