493 Tasting Notes
i ordered few samples with my recent order. i love Yunnan teas. i decided to brew gongfu style
205F 100ml gaiwan 1 TBS
rinse 5/5/7/7/10 seconds etc
wet leaves smell of chestnuts and earth
my first 5 sec produced very potent brew. it is earthy and strong. has some tobacco notes.
2nd steep was a little better. some faint leather notes, tobacco, not much sweetness.
3rd steep i took some leaves out. its incredibly strong and i dont like the taste. i also feel something in my tea even though it went thru very fine mesh strainer i use for puerh.
I think i should stop. its not working today
Maybe i should brew it western style lower temp less leaves and 1 min top
Preparation
So sorry it didn’t work out :(
I was surprised be because Yunnan is my fav. TeaPet asked me to try it, she bought 2oz in store. She said it was weird so it’s probably not me, it’s the tea. My main issue fuzz in my mouth. I’m not sure I want to play with the rest of it
I think you are hooked on puerh….
Mrmopar and boychik, speaking of pu-erh, did you guys see the 80s Da Ye Qing on EoT??? http://www.essenceoftea.com/tea/puerh-tea/aged-puerh/1980-s-early-da-ye-qing-bing.html
I’m so tempted…
This is a sample and sip down
I brew the whole sample in 8 oz mug 205F
The taste was interesting but not something I like. I added splash of milk and spoon of maple syrup. It was very tasty spicy chai. I felt that I was missing some coconut and added tiny amount of coconut oil. I was very happy with the result. It was comforting.
Interesting idea, to add coconut oil. I’m thinking about steeping some chai directly in almond-coconut milk…
If I had almond or coconut milk on hand … Now I’m thinking it wasn’t bad at all, even kinda savory. I love coconut oil for its taste and multipurpose.
Maybe tomorrow morning I’ll start a small crockpot of almond milk & Chai, for an afternoon treat!
Today i made it western style according to Verdant website.
4g 205F 8oz 45 sec
this tea is so full of flavor. its sweet and malty, smells strongly of honey with the spice notes.
my second steep was 1min. i’d say flavors became more intense,less sweet, some citrus and sweet potato.
I guess i have to pick up more, i have less that 1/2 oz left.
Preparation
I was drawn to the pre-order this weekend. I debated adding this one in. After reading your tasting note I am glad I did.
I think I’ll stick to gongfu method which is my favorite.
I used scale , the leaves are long twisted and it would be hard to measure by spoon.
Think it would be any good with a rookie doing a western steeping?
yes. its good any way. but i prefer gongfu.
Btw i just noticed Nahorhabi full leaf assam back on H&S. i dont know if you tried it, but its amazing. im gonna get 4oz
Yeah, donkeytiara I’ve only ever western steeped a sample of this and it was quite good :)
This lovely tea is a surprise tea from TeaTiff – thank you so much.
2tsp 8 oz 212F 3 min
It’s very flavorful and tasty. It’s malty bittersweet chocolate, some nuts, some honey and as cools I pick faint sweet potato in aftertaste. Smells strongly of honey. I love it.
Thank you for picking this tea for me TeaTiff, I enjoyed it a lot
Preparation
This is a surprise tea from TeaTiff – thank you so much.
Afternoon tea with cheese and crackers. This tea is delightful. Smooth, strong, malty and flavorful. I don’t pick stone fruits. It’s grape and some faint citrus in aftertaste. If it would be blind test I’d say its Darjeeling 2nd flush. So it’s not your typical heavy thick Assam which is fine with me. I really like to drink Assam without milk and sugar. This tea doesn’t require any additions.
Thanks again TeaTiff for giving me a chance to try this wonderful tea.
Flavors: Grapes
Preparation
i got this generous sample with my recent order from Mandala – thank you so much.
2 days of drinking this wonderful tea. i think its time for review even though its still pumping.
i was extremely cautious because i’m beginning to explore sheng territory. the most remarkable sheng I had was Wild Monk 2012. runner up is 2005 Xiaguan Tibetan Flame Raw. others i tried the bitterness was so overwhelming i just dumped the cup.
195F 5g 150ml gaiwan
rinse, pause, 5/5/5/7/7/10/10 etc.
Leaves are gorgeous long with some silver threads
1st steep clear pale, little spice, some mint lingering
2nd steep was more intense, flavor like green roasted pepper, more spicy tingling the tongue. I felt very warm and sweaty(sorry for details)
3rd steep the color intensified to yellow-green, spicier. Some bitterness came along, but nothing harsh even welcoming to round out the flavors. Incredible sweetness in aftertaste
4,5,6 i had to combine in my Timolino
later steeps were very smooth and sweet. as i writing this review i keep sipping, lost a count of steeps.
i’m sure that more experienced sheng lovers would use more leaves and higher temp, longer steeps. I just wanted to play safe. Once i get a cake of it and have more material to experiment I’m sure I’ll try diff parameters.
Preparation
Wild! I am drinking the Autumn Song pu’er right now!! Did you get the mao cha or the pu’er??
Puer. its awesome. I only had 4 steeps.
I’m really excited about this tea. Did a session of it this morning and wrote a poem about it following meditation.
The fragrant mountain leaf
extends its song.
My kettle add the harmony.
Glad you are liking this tea, my friend!
I love it. When it will be available?
We have it up on the site as of yesterday. Got a few cakes express shipped so we could begin getting it out to people who have tried the mao cha and want the cake. There is no description up yet… just a couple of pics and the prices. New Wild Monk 2014 is also up. As is the Autumn Song mao cha!!
http://shopmandalatea.com/raw-pu-er-tea/2014-autumn-song-raw-puerh-100g.html
it’s my kettle adds the harmony. oops. wish we could edit posts here.
I need edit and emoticons
I love wrappers, so cool. I think I will sample Temple Staires tomorrow. Thank you for the samples.
oh great! I had forgotten I sent a sample of the temple stairs to you. It’s young. But… it’s creamy and really changing fast. Besides the loose tea (which you have) there are 10,000 5 gram mini-tuochas being pressed as well as 500 100gram cakes. They were to be pressed last week. It’s gonna be the best dang mini-tuocha ever. :)
I just received a phone call from one of our customers who got a sample of the Autumn Song in the order he received this morning. He ordered a tong of them (7 cakes) during our phone call. He is a picky man when it comes to sheng so I was very happy to hear him be so excited about this new tea!! Yes!
Oh i love mini tuo. A lot. Are wrappers going to be cute or just white? I started collecting them. So today I had 7 steeps and have a feeling it’s still strong. Will continue tomorrow
Just read your review of this tea! Fantastic! I think you are intuitive with the water temp. In the village where this tea comes from, they often start steeping this tea at temps around 195 (especially with younger tea) and increase the water temp as they go on with later infusions. And for others, full-on boil from the get-go is just fine, too. Thanks for writing this up!
Thank you for the opportunity to try this wonderful tea.
