1113 Tasting Notes
Got a nice sample from the Green TTB and in all honesty I tried this and said “HELL NA”
Maybe everyone else got a different batch or something… what I have is olive green (dark) and I suppose that’s okay because it isn’t tencha from Japan so I don’t expect bright green. My problem is the taste is quite bitter and really rough. I whisked the hell out of this like I would with any other matcha, but it just isn’t working for me. Reviews here say floral and that is the final tip that must mean I got a mislabeled, old, or weird version of Deluxe Matcha because mine had zero floral; and I pick up floral very easily.
I have enough for at least 12 tea bowl whiskings, but I am not so sure that I can do that to myself. Does anyone have a picture of theirs because I am curious if I have something different.
Even though I dislike black tea… I keep trying more and more of it until I find the right ones. This tea actually has a natural sweetness at the back end to it, but that is not what I enjoyed about this tea; the fact that it brews a dark amber color with no real subtle bitterness makes it something I drank for four days at work between 9am to 11am. Interestingly, I now have allotted tea breaks just as smokers have their smoke breaks. It’s kind of odd in a way… but hey, I get to brew tea :)
P.S. did I already mention that I dropped a full kamjove top at work and spilled pu’erh leaf all over the kitchen floor?
Hands down the most alluring of all black teas when it comes to scent. I don’t care what happens in the future, this tea smells like chocolate about to touch my taste buds and I love it.
The worst part about this tea is that I drank it all. Damn me, should of been a hoarder but something about me just shares everything.
This is one of those blacks that you can steep as you prefer and find new ways to make wonderful cups. Want some ‘kick your ass’ brisk black tea for the morning? Just 210f for 3 minutes with this guy and you’re all good to go. Well, what about something weaker… easy, just 190f for 2 minutes and you have a more settling cup. Either way, this is quite a chocolate tea treat that is a MUST try.
Again, a MUST try.
Here’s another black tea I am unable to swallow once it hits my tongue.
Tried brewing it six different ways.
Anyone want a solid 50g+ of this?
I’ll let you know when I get the sample you sent me!
Oh gosh, I liked the one I have. Maybe green is better for you?.
I think the green scale is more my thing… but a really good shou or dianhong is sometimes the best of tea. Overall, oolongs are my favorite; however, I do not enjoy oriental beauty. My favorite teas suggest that black are not something I avoid actually. Maybe I just have really picky taste when it comes to black tea. I literally cannot stand astringency which makes my Darjeeling purchases really expensive because they tend to be first flush :/
I am definitely interested in this if it’s still available. I’ve actually had my eye on this for a while.
Do you happen to have any of this left?
Just finished 14 steeps of this guy http://www.ebay.com/itm/2012-Yunnan-Xiaguan-Canger-Round-Tea-High-Grade-Raw-Pu-er-Tea-Free-Shipping-/221892872147?var=&hash=item33a9d887d3
Was given as a free sample with my tea tray purchase :)
This has a strong smoke aroma, but the taste seems to lack that taste (which I prefer to be lacking). Unfortunately this tea is quite dry. I knew this by steep three but I kept going because even though it is dry, it taste quite nice. This might need a little restoring to get the mouth feel to dissipate over time, I’m not sure though. T’was a nice experience though, something I liked and disliked at the same time.
Check out the topic on this link about water and storage. Good info about waking a tea up some.
http://horsesmouth.puerist.co/page/5/
couldn’t agree more ^
mrmopar — I agree with the info in the link you provided. I usually give a tea about a month to acclimate before trying it.
Also, our water here sucks (from a well with high iron and sulfur, run through filters and a water softener). I tested various bottled waters available here for pH and TDS several years ago and settled on a brand that now gets used for all coffee and tea. It made a noticeable difference over what came out of the tap.
I’ve not yet had to restore a dry tea. Any idea how to do this?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I have brewed http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=419&controller=product five times and it is not something I can drink… it’s very close to an Assam tea.
I’m not a fan. Someone please take this off my hands!!!
I’m sad on your behalf – that looks so interesting! It’s a shame Assam teas aren’t to your taste; those are the best ones :P
I literally cannot handle Assam… it needs to find a new home!
That stinks :/
Have you had the same experience with other Dian Hongs or only this one?
I’ve had over 15 DianHong teas and they have always been malty/chocolate in taste. The name of this is quite misleading, I’ve never heard of a dianhong tea tasting like an Assam. Through some experience I have found that there are Lapsang Souchong teas that have 0 smoke taste though so maybe it is just some description that should be altered. I’m not sure if this is good or not, all I know is that I am unable to drink Assam just like I cannot finish a cup of coffee; my mouth just finds it painful to taste.
Malty and chocolate are both flavours that are generally agreed upon to be very characteristic of the terroir of the Assam region (along with honey, caramel, brown sugar, and that kind of thing), so it’s not surprising that you’re drawing a comparison though it is interesting that you’re only now making it. Dian Hong has generally agreed upon notes of chocolate, honey, and caramel and is sometimes described as floral or fruity, neither of which are a stretch considering Diang Hong is often fermented alongside lychee or rose. Seeing the two compared isn’t a stretch, tbh. I’m curious, what does Assam normally taste like to you if it’s not chocolate/malt/caramel?
It just taste like the most bitter liquid after kidding tea. It took me 12 steeps to even enjoy Global Teas Sunmoon Red. Black teas and I are both are a love hate. Dian Hong is the exception because it taste like a dessert, but this was like Attack on Tastebuds… I’ve tried Assam from Butiki, Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company, Teabox, and a few others I forgot about and nothing really agrees with me. This will probably just end up being sent for free when I swap someone who likes Assam
alas, im not much for black teas
This will probably be a lengthy review…
So I’ve been searching for the right sheng and shoe variations for my own taste preference. This is one very enjoyable journey so far, but it must be known that such a journey never ends! I decided to try samples from all over first and surprisingly Yunnan Sourcing was not one of them. Thankfully there is the US site now which is fast and a flat $7. This was the only one I picked up because it sounded like what I was looking for. The best part is the community, I was able to purchase this cake and split off pieces of it to others which reduced the cost a bit. This also means I will be making another purchase sooner than later :)
Breaking the cake went smoothly :) http://postimg.org/image/uant70z3t
Had to try this asap so put about 5 grams in my kamjove and began my sessions. I found myself outside drinking this with the fourth Marcel Proust novel… but I couldn’t read because there were two birds playing some kind of game in the tree in front of my so I watched them for a good two minutes. Ten steeps in and a bee comes to join me: https://instagram.com/p/8I1nXdxYMY/
I tried to get it to taste the liquid, but I realized I probably would have harmed it so I let it just walk around my shirt until it flew off.
This tea is crazy though. At first I was really confused because it smelled like roasted zucchini. What an odd experience it was to just smell it. I ended up smelling it multiple times before drinking it because I just wasn’t sure. Once I first tasted it I realized that this was one deep sheng. The flavor for me is like a smooth raw pu’erh that had a roasted vegetable taste with backed of smoke (very light though). The mouth feel is nice on this, but it only occurred at the back end of my mouth which was a new experience.
This will now be a cake that I will sample off to others because it was a fun experience and I find it to be a smooth deep vegetable sheng with a taste that is quite different.
Now that I have had this tea I am looking at the next two to know what I’ll get:
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=141&controller=product
or
http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=517&controller=product
The nice part of YS is that there are samples for their full cakes which some places do not offer, but it does seem that more and more places are providing samples to purchase.
& to think that pu’erh was something I really disliked in February…. it take time as I was told and I was told right :)
end note
I spilled a whole cup of this tea over that book I was suppose to read… so now this will live on longer than I thought :p
I brewed this up this morning without reading about it. This was a sample provided for me and it was without cocoa nibs so it looked like wood and oolong. I recently talked with quite a few people at work about making teramisu for out month in lunch for October to find out that everyone thinks differently of tiramisu. While I like this, I must admit that I was really looking forward to a coffee taste/aroma within an oolong blend. I did not find any coffee taste though and the chocolate notes are gone because the nibs are not there so maybe I will just have to make my own.
How about this… green dan cong powdered with coffee and roasted, shaken gently to reduce the coffee powder once roasting is complete, cocoa nibs and vanilla bean chopped side by side and roasted with the leftover powder from the tea, and then finally all shaken loose to remove the powder and aired out before packing.
Last night I had a 20+ steep session with a sheng so it was hard to decide what to end with at 1am… I decided to pour out 4g of this and let it sooth me to sleep.
Upon opening the bag I thought to myself, ‘dang this tea leaf is ugly’. However, the look isn’t that important so I got my water (185f) and brewed this up. The thickness of the liquid is a medium which is interesting for a floral tea because it adds to the mouth feel. There is a lasting feel and taste which is quite nice, yet I am unable to name the sort of floral taste this tea provides. This tea would probably be better suited to be drank outside or during the day; I believe I made the mistake to think all florals are a soothing/sleepy tea.
Today I tested a tea I waited five days to try… and I found out that I failed :/
This tea is being a pain, clearly I’m not a ‘tea whisperer’
http://postimg.org/image/e76tys0i5
http://postimg.org/image/el85ydklp
I shall keep trying.
