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I started this by heating a medium sized ceramic pot with near boiling water. Then putting 2.5 grams of leaves and giving a little shake , I got a lovely light chocolate and citrus aroma, its actually a little hard to describe as its quite sweet, maybe caramel as well.

Brewing it at 205 for about 90 seconds, I got a clear red liquor with the same aroma but much more intense now. The flavors are light caramel and chocolate with a little bit of citrus and raisins. This tea is quite soft and light, and I would highly recommend drinking it straight up. Though it might work iced with just a touch of sugar, I might have to try that sometime.

Highly recommended.

Today we have up Pou Chong Oolong from Fong mong, thanks to them for this sample.

I started by heating the yixing and then adding in 6 grams of leaf. Using 200 water, I decided to skip the rinse for this as Im doing a longer steep about 45 seconds on this to bring out the intense aroma. I got a clear pale yellow liquor that smelled of an aroma of maple syrup, honey and cinnamon. Tasting it , I also got a floral taste as well as lingering sweetness. I really need to try this someday at breakfast. Its softly flavored but intense in the aroma.

The second steep is very similar with just a slightly darker liquor this time. Also the sweetness seems a bit more prevalent, though there is still a general note of spices, Im still going to stick with naming it cinnamon but it could be allspice. This tea makes a very nice last morning or early afternoon tea, but I can imagine it going well with breakfast.

Third steep the aroma is much more pronounced in the floral area, Im not really good at placing floral aroma’s. So I will just leave it at this. There is a very slight astringency on the back end now as well, not disruptive to the flavor at all, but it is there. It might actually be a little better like this as it feels more complex and full now.

This is an excellent tea I plan to brew out a bunch more times.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Fong Mong for this sample.

I started this one by heating the yixing and giving the tea leaves a quick rinse. I picked up an aroma of spice, floral and fruit. There is also a slightly honey aroma in there as well. After giving it a quick rinse it was time to proceed with the steepings.

First steeping is rather pale golden straw color liquor. Giving it a quick sip, I got a slightly stronger spice aroma and taste, more anise and cinamon now. I also got some peach and stonefruit, as well as floral taste I cant quite put my finger on. Also its quite sweet with a nice honey aftertaste.

Second steep the liquor got slightly darker as well as getting more stonefruit now. The spice taste isnt quite as intense now as it was in the first steep. I believe the yixing I brew it in intensifies the spice aroma. Which I do happen to like. It is also a bit more floral at this point, but I cant quite put a name to it.

Third steeping is about the same color, but there is a slight grass or vegetal aroma now entering into the picture, the aftertaste is all sweet and honey still.

I feel this tea will brew out for at least 8 times based on this assesment and I plan to enjoy every one of them. This is a very fine tea,

Okay this one is a fanning grade for which I brewed it in a strainer ball. Using 2 grams of leaf in a 6 ounce mug for about a minute and a half at 205. I found this gave the best results of boldness without being overpowering.

The aroma is caramel, honey and plums, with that intense tea aroma you sometimes get from black tea, a great scent for waking up in the morning if you arent a coffee drinker. The liquor is a clear dark red brown . There is a tiny bit of fanning that escaped the ball , but the liquor is quite clear. The tasting of this gives dark bittersweet chocolate, honey, caramel and plums. Dark fruit and dark chocolate is what is what really comes out as well as sweetness.

Highly recommended for breakfast or for afternoon snacks.

Today we have up New Vithakanakanda estate FBOP. I started by brewing this in a clay pot, 3 grams for 150 ml water at 205 for 3 minutes. I got a somewhat dark clear caramel colored liquor. I get aroma’s of raisins and chocolate, and a little bit Cacao or a raw chocolate. I do find competition or western style brewing works a bit better with Darjeelings and Ceylon tea.

Tasting this I get many of the same flavors as aroma, but there is a slightly stronger citrus note as well as plums. There is also a dark bittersweet chocolate flavor now. Its actually kind of hard to describe it. Now the information on this says it goes well with lime, and though I usually take my tea straight I can see this, it does seem like the flavor profile would work well with this.

In conclusion, this tea has a rather complex flavor profile, makes a great tea for going with an afternoon snack.

Recomended

Thank you to Glyxtea for this sample.

I started this with 5 grams of tea for 80ml of water in my yixing. I used 200 degree water to bring out more of the flavor. Starting with a quick rinse to wake up the leaves, this is a 2017 and exceptionally clean, so this was more to help unpack the leaves than rinse them. It came pre broken up, so one rinse is sufficient as the leaves opened well enough. I got a grassy, vegetal and light fruity aroma. Not entirely unexpected in a very young sheng.

First infusion I get a light golden clear liquor, tasting it I get floral, grassy, a bit bitter, and stonefruits, maybe apricot? Nice tingle on the tongue from this, and the bitter is pretty restrained as well. Nice sweetness on the finish as well, its actually a bit more intensely sweet than I would have expected from a tea this young.

Second infusion is mostly the same, but the bitter is a teeny bit more pronounced, but so is the sweetness. Maybe peaches? It’s definitely a stonefruit flavor, light, sweet, very tiny bit sour.. Honey now as well.

Third infusion , now getting a bit more bitterness, the liqour is also slightly darker. Tasting of vegetal and flowers. Still quite light but a bit more body than the previous infusions. The leaves expanded considerably now, so I think IM getting the most complete flavor profile now. The balance is actually really good between them all.

Quite a nice tea, and seemingly a very strong steeper as well as the third infusion was the best. Going to brew this out a few more times now.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Fong Mong for this sample.

I started by heating the yixing and giving it a quick shake in the pot. I got a slight aroma of anise, cinnamon and honey. Giving it a quick rinse to wake up the leaves I get a slightly stronger aroma, now with roasted notes, as well as toast and maybe a little cream.

Starting the first infusion I get spices, and toast, it reminds me of cinnamon toast, the roast on this is fairly light. So there is some floral green under the roasted flavors, but the spices are really intense and taking front stage, so Im having trouble picking up some of the under flavors, they might come out more strongly in the later steepings.

Second infusion Im getting much the same, but the anise is much stronger now. Also more honey flavors, and still a slight sensation of toast, as well as a delicate tingle on the tongue. Very nice tea, with good body. The tea liqour is a very light pale brown, its clearly got some roast on it, but its very subtle and light.

Third steeping the roast is much more intense now, as the leaves fully open up. The color has darkened slightly to a honey color now, the honey flavor has also gotten more intense. The liquor is also a little thicker now as well, and there is just a tiny bitter note on the finish of the tea. Im also getting a bit of straw flavor now, which is a bit unusual for an oolong. Much sweeter though, the spice flavor is also dissipating leaving more of the sweet honey flavor.

Fourth steeping , im getting the toasted flavor again, as well as a touch of anise. There is still a tiny tingle on the tongue and the caffiene in this tea is moderately high as Im feeling a slight buzz coming on. Its tasting like roasted honey, or caramel, or something like that now.. very nice, very smooth.

Im going to brew this out a few more times as it seems like a very strong steeper, I highly recommend this tea if you like light roasted oolong.

Thanks to Fong Mong for this sample.

I started by warming the yixing and then giving the tea a quick rinse. Using 5 grams of leaf for about 90ml of water. I got a subtle spicy aroma. Then moving onto the first infusion, I brewed it pretty quickly, only about 20 seconds. I got a nice clear slightly darker yellow color, like a dark straw color. The aroma got more intense, nutmeg, allspice, peach, apricot. Tasting it the flavor matches the aroma with a very pleasant sweetness.

Second infusion was much the same, though the spice is getting slightly more intense, cinnamon now as well, its like a peach cobbler is what it really reminds me of. The sweetness now is absolutely divine as well. Its subtle and soft and very mellow, relaxing and a wonderful evening tea to wind down the day with.

Third infusion I got a little more of the nutmeg aroma now, its really peachy and nutmeg, its even got a tingle of sourness on the finish. I really recommend brewing this one in a clay pot, it really pushes those subtle spice notes out. Im not getting as much of the floral as the description says, its there but its rather subdued. I think the clay pot brings out the spice notes, the peach flavors while subduing a bit of the high floral notes.

This tea is holding up incredibly well, I expect to get at least 10 steepings from it.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Glyxtea for this sample.

I started with using about 6 grams of leaf in an 80ml yixing. Giving it a quick rinse to wake up the leaves. They leaves were very clean there was no dust and the compression wasnt tight, the sample came broken up. So I decided once rinse was enough. Leaving it to open up for about a minute.

I started on the first infusion, I got a smooth smokey aroma and a clear just slightly darker than yellow liquor. This tea has a bit of age on it, but its still pretty young, I was surprised the smokey aroma was that prominent and that smooth. Giving it a taste, there was a nice vegetal, peach, smokey, grassy aroma. There was also some wood taste to it as well.

Second steep was much the same, though I got a bit of tingle on my tongue with this infusion, I usually get this with tea with a bit more age. Though it still had some of that young bitterness. But its that bitterness of young sheng, so it really wasnt surprising at all.

Third steep I was starting to get more sweetness as the bitterness started to die down at this stage, letting more of the floral and peach aroma come out, the smoke was also starting to dissipate as well. The wood flavor was still pretty strong at this stage.

Fourth steep and now im feeling a tiny bit of a buzz, drinking this one out 10-12 steeps is going to be a fun experience.. Aroma and flavor was pretty consistent at this stage with the last one, though the sweetness is coming out more at this point. Im still pretty much flash steeping it with just sitting for 5 seconds and then letting the pot pour time of about 6 seconds take care of the rest of the brewing.

Im going to brew this out a bunch more steeps, I like this tea alot, the flavors all compliment each other and its aging nicely, im actually curious what this is going to taste like in 5 more years.

Highly recommended.

Tonight we have up 2016 daily Darjeeling , I added in the year, because for darjeelings this seems to make a big difference because of the weather. In a blend like this its probably slightly less important, but still might make a difference when the 2017’s come out.

I brewed 2.5 grams in 160 ml water, in a glass pot. I used 205 water as I find a slightly less than boiling works well on Darjeeling tea. I got a plum and muscatel aroma, a slight sweetness and a hint of apricots. There is a few other aroma’s that I cant quite identify.

Tasting it , I get more sweetness as well as a tiny hint of astringency right on the end of it. This is a really easy drinking tea for breakfast or later afternoon. It’s about medium on the caffeine scale , so it good for most times. Im drinking this to relax and wind down at the end of the day, and its very smooth..

Highly recommended.