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While I kept meaning to review this…. Pu’erh and oolong got in my way :p
This was an enjoyable tea to create because I talked with Tealet for the black tea base which is quite unique. The idea came from making an earl grey tea that wasn’t too brisk or awkwardly bad quality flavoring. Wasn’t too hard to do that as I had good results with the peach and bergamot oolong I did last year.
Anyways, this tea excels at what I wanted. Great citrus undertones with a feel while the black tea is smooth and goes well with breakfast. I’ve drank this a few times during breakfast and haven’t found an issue with pairing which makes me happy because my best friends favorite type of tea is earl grey. Really looking forward to giving her some as a gift.

I drank through this in two different session on two different days. The first session was really rough because I’ve never said anything negative about something from the Bang Dong area; I generally promote it and explain it’ll go up in price by 3 to 4 times here shortly as the region is more exposed. So here’s the thing….

SPRING BANG DONG IS LIGHT, VEGETABLE, AND HINTS OF FLORAL NOTES.
This… this… there is no trace of any of that. So maybe I went into it with thoughts of the other four I’ve had from this region during spring, but it was murky and harsh each session with this funky wild taste that doesn’t represent the region I love so much. It was really upsetting to experience this tea because I went into it 100% not knowing what it is/was. Once I found out it was Bang Dong, my world kind of shattered. Not only that, but one that cost more than YS’s…

What a sad day it was for me and that is coming from someone who is putting WMD as one of the top 5 sheng productions of 2016 and it’s from BLT.
Sigh.

The last year of my tea journey was completely hands on and I have decided to go beyond that now. I made a list of blogs to read, books to read, podcast to listen to, and videos to watch. Today I started my journey with 17 TeaDB episodes.

I think these videos thus far are as important as a specific vessel to brew in as they provide and offer not only tools but knowledge in approach tea as a hobby.

1. Started with an oolong, smart people. This is also when they call Verdant an excellent company
2. Messaging the leaves what nice men; they even followed that comment up with ‘opened the body’.
3. MAOR OOLONG
4. Knowledge tea shops like Floating Leaves is a rarity compared to other states to be honest.
5. Small and bold… ‘messed up on tea man’
6. Apparently Dayi is better than Lipton…
7. James just said he is an oolong drinker.
8. Why remove hair in your brewing vessel? It can add a new element.
9. James brews matcha for someone who can’t use his left arm… : )
10. Claims on Japanese Sencha might be limited for TeaDB at this point as some Sencha can brew 8 to 10 times depending on style
11. Understanding economies is quite important wen reflecting on Chinese versus Japanese teas
12. Cricket Tea!!!!!
13. Highest you say?
14. I have yet to have a good four seasons myself : /
15. Teavivre vs Floating Leaves, thankfully I didn’t have to comment on that
16. In 2013 a 2005 ripe was called a rare tea in this episode…
17. As you probably learned… wuyi oolongs over time rest and the roasted notes calm down allowing cinnamon, chocolate, malt, burnt sugar, and more complex mineral notes exploding.

This shall be a fun journey. I will be much more knowledgeable on tea after all of these and then on to Scott’s videos… then Chawang blog… then Cwyn (yea… I have only read two of hers), and then so so so much more. I shall become more involved and know more, but will the passion stop?

This has to be the worst tasting raw pu’erh I’ve ever had; Aliexpress/Ebay considered.

A hit of ‘what the hell’ processing. Some brisk astringency coming through a smoke screen of old vegetables.

I thought this was going to be pretty good.. but 10 steeps later, I have to give up and say no no no.

Yesterday I drank through this for quite awhile since I was hooked up with a beenghole:)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIsbctkAfU2/

The rinse brought out very strong aroma which meant either it wasn’t going to be my type of tea or it was going to turn into something good. I went into this thinking it’d be a few months too young for me, however as you will find out, that was not the case.

First thing I noticed was the blend itself. There was a flower in my leaf, multiple colored leaves, and even different sizes/shapes; this made me realize I had no idea what to expect. I went ahead and put a picture on Slack because the flower was interesting to see.

First three brews were murky, looking very strong in taste. There is certainly a texture to the tea that is pleasant, yet it doesn’t have a great taste as of yet. Opening this tea up, as it was a beenghole piece, did take five or so brews but it changed after that. Texture wise it still had some viscosity to it when hitting the later steep, but it was the taste that got me.

Once this opened up, it tasted much like the 2014 wild purple wuliang that YS sells that I have really really enjoyed. This being so young and having some of that gentle wild like taste to it with hints of sweetness is quite nice. This is definitely a quality blended cake with a bit to settle still, but it’s already a pretty nice tasting material as it is. I expect with time the wild aspect will fade a little and smooth out creating a better taste to go with the thicker brews in the beginning.

Thankfully a friend sent some of this to me. ShanLinXi is my favorite type of oolong. All the feels. This one is a bit lighter in terms of thickness than some, it the size of the leaf and the feels are on point.

This is easily one that can sit in the cupboard for who cares how long or short and it will continue to brew nice. Quaility leaf with a smooth taste. Provides an enjoyable session with multiple infusions. I’ll need to try all of their SLX and see if one has the thickness and depth I want, even if this is solid… I’m getting more selective :)

Kind of odd that the only review came from 10 miles away from where I sit. Hoálatha drank this and we never talked about it! A friend sent it my way though and I laughed at the description thinking, “If LP won’t do it, nobody will”. Is that conceited? Anyways, someone did. Smoked TGY… then bergamot???

Yeah… had to try it. Nothing good to say. Taste like Fruity Pebbles left on a grill overnight after someone mowed the lawn. Now that I said that I need to purchase from Solei because this is my only experience with them and I can’t let it be the only one. Once I has money I will load up on their stuff and give some real thoughts because this was just whack.

Easy to notice that this an old tea for sure. Smells quite old and looks old (brewed and unbrewed).

Taste is dry and yet it has depth when makes it enjoyable. I find the color, taste, and resteep ability to make it a worthy tea to purchase. Love the deep notes that come with this. Just needs to be brought back to life where the dryness takes over.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIvZ1zEAeMD/