997 Tasting Notes
The leaves are fairly unevenly oxidized, ranging from green to almost fully brown.
Liquor has dark yellow colour. It has medium body and the mouthfeel is buttery and mouth-watering. The taste is very light, being a mix fruity sourness and a little bit of sweetness with some hints of grass (but on the drier side, not so much of the fresh vegetal notes).
It has a decent astringency and a cooling effect. Overall, a good choice for a daily oolong.
Flavors: Astringent, Butter, Dry Grass, Passion Fruit
Preparation
This tea doesn’t brew super strong, but lasts for a while. The colour of the liquor is paler than other ripe pu’er teas I came across. It has a medium body. The mouthfeel has some kind of cleansing feel to it, especially in the finish.
Without the skin, the citrus sourness is mostly present in the smell, the taste has more of the citrus bitterness.
The tea taste is very brothy (mushrooms) and only a little earthy. The tangerine taste is definitely present in the tea, but doesn’t dominate.
There is almost no sweetness in this tea, it’s mostly a bitter affair, but I think that’s nice. Also the aftertaste in the early steeps is mostly savoury with some bitterness but not much sweetness. The later steeps seem to have more acidic aftertaste.
With the tangerine peel, the liquor smells a bit like an apple pie to which someone added a bit too much of citrus peel. The wet leaf is now really reminiscent of citrus orchard with both the earthy and citrus notes present.
The taste with the skin is more tangy and sour and akin to actual fruit juice, but without the sweetness. I like it a lot.
Flavors: Apple, Bitter, Broth, Cinnamon, Citrus Zest, Cream, Dirt, Mushrooms, Red Wine
Preparation
Very light tea, floral with nutty hints. I think it might be too subtle for me though. Sure, there are times when a light tea is nice, but this is not one I would go for regularly.
It mainly tastes like sugary water. The smell is more enticing, I noticed some resemblance with lavender and orchid.
I should try a cold brew at some point to see if it yields better results. Also, right now it’s winter in Canada and I have a feeling this tea might fare better as a summer tea.
Flavors: Lavender, Nutty, Orchid, Sap, Sugarcane
Preparation
At first, I did two quick infusions, which yielded a nice and easy to drink tea with a good balance of woody, malty and sweet flavours.
For the third infusion I upped the time and temperature, as a result of which the pine notes were enhanced and the tea possesed a very enjoyable bitterness to counter the sweetness.
The cocoa and coffee notes I only noticed in the smell (cocoa in wet leaf, coffee in the liquor), not really in the taste.
The aftertaste has a bit of a sheng vibe to it, very vibrant with hints of fresh herbs like thyme.
Overall I found it to be much fresher than the smoked versions of LS and I prefer that. Also, this tea has a fairly strong cha qi for a black tea I reckon, it can warm you up on cold days (like today).
Flavors: Bark, Cocoa, Coffee, Malt, Mineral, Pine, Plant Stems, Sweet, Thyme, Wood
Preparation
This tea has a really beautiful dark amber liquor. The smell is very intriguing, but I can’t quite identify it. There is definitely some ripe pu-erh smell of old furniture and it’s also a little fishy, but not overpoweringly so.
The taste is where this tea won me over though, it has a great balance and depth. There is salty and savoury taste of vegetable broth with some umami, molasses sweetness, bitterness not unlike medium roast coffee and some sour notes too. On top of that, there is noticeable spiciness, which reminds me of aromatic arabic dishes, in particular those with star anise. In later steeps, slight astringency develops as well. All in all, given it’s price, I would highly recommend this tea for anyone (like me) new to the world of pu-erh tea.
24/02/18
I just noticed there that the aftertaste has some brazil nuts hints to it. Those are my favourite nuts :)
Flavors: Anise, Campfire, Camphor, Coffee, Fish Broth, Meat, Mineral, Molasses, Salty, Sour, Spicy
Preparation
5g of tea
1st steep, 45°C, 60 sec, 100 ml: The mouthfeel is incredible, so silky. The colour of the first steep is actually very light compared to the latter ones and not cloudy at all. The taste is quite salty even for a gyokuro, but the umami is not super strong. The finish is bready and the aftertaste has honey sweetness.
2nd steep, 55°C, 15 sec, 100 ml: Again, great viscosity, but with a very strong green colour that could almost compete with some matchas. I like the taste more than the first steep, it is a bit more complex with grassy notes and some bitterness appearing. Otherwise not too dissimilar from the previous steep.
3rd steep, 60°C, 30 sec, 100 ml: The colour is still holding up, only slightly weaker now. The taste is vegetal and a little bit spicy, hints of courgette, black pepper and pattypan squash. The savoury tastes are still present, but much more modest, allowing for a yet more complex flavour. There is also a slight astringency kicking in and the taste is a bit more buttery overall with hints of citrus fruits.
4th steep, 70°C, 45 sec, 100 ml: Finally, the viscosity drops to standard levels. The taste is not too complex, but fairly balanced and enjoyable. The astringency is naturally a bit stronger but not overbearing at all.
5th steep, 80°C, 120 sec, 100 ml: I was feeling the tea is already giving up a little bit so I tried to get as much out of it for the 5th infusion, hoping that the bitterness and astringency won’t be too strong. And it isn’t, the tea holds up well even with longer steeps (with respect to how small the leaf bits are). There is a noticeable caffeine bitterness, but it is not too strong.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Black Pepper, Butter, Butternut Squash, Freshly Cut Grass, Honey, Parsley, Salty, Umami, Zucchini
Preparation
Second time trying this tea and it came out better. Still not very complex, but possesses a good balance of flavours, which was probably intended by mixing various types of tea. There is not a huge difference between various steeps, but naturally umami gradually dies out while astringency appears around 3rd and especially 4th steep. The last, fifth, steep is lacking in many respect with respect to the previous ones, so I didn’t push it any further.
6 g of tea
1st steep, 70°C, 60 sec, 60 ml
2nd steep, 75°C, 30 sec, 100 ml
3rd steep, 80°C, 60 sec, 100 ml
4th steep, 80°C, 100 sec, 100 ml
5th steep, 90°C, 150 sec, 100 ml
Flavors: Astringent, Broth, Butter, Grass, Pineapple, Umami
Preparation
This tea has a great balanced flavour, which develops nicely over different steeps. A nice little surprise are the hidden woody flavours which are rarely found in green teas. I suppose these might originate from the use of harder twigs as well as stems.
1st steep, 68°C, 60 sec: Umami and sweet notes dominate.
2nd steep, 72°C, 30 sec: Umami and sweetness still present, but the soup is more clouded and viscous with vegetal notes coming to the fore. Very nice mouthfeel.
3rd steep, 78 °C, 60 sec: Astringent and citrus notes appear, but do not dominate.
4th steep, 85 °C, 120 sec: The taste profile is the flattest with surprisingly mild astringency. Citrus notes seem to be the most present, especially in the aftertaste.
Overall, I am impressed.
(Out of curiosity, I also went for 5th steep, 90 °C, 240 sec. As expected, the tea doesn’t have much to offer there. This last brew is somewhat bitter and grassy, but not particularly enjoyable.)
Flavors: Citrus, Grass, Umami, Vegetal, Wood
Preparation
Level: Delicous.
To my surprise, this tea was not a blend of senchas, but rather a blend of karigane, sencha and bancha. Overall, it’s not bad, but not quite what I expected. The flavour profile is flatter and less complex than that of higher grade senchas, but with the vegetal notes still on the forefront.
Flavors: Butter, Vegetal
