Camellia Sinensis

Gongfu!

This is the 2021 production – I still have a tiny bit left. It’s such a beautifully silky and medium bodied tea with the perfect harmony of rich cream and fresh churned butter w/ aromatic fresh floral notes of peony and orchid. This varietal always makes me think of Spring time, though I do love to steep it year round. This tea session in particular was a bit heavier on the buttery notes, but with such a clean and crisp sweet finish!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch7-DlMO7I2/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4Ishg-R4Q4

Cold Brew!

I’m officially on “summer vacation” from now until July 5th so I’m looking forward to catching up on tasting notes, drinking lots of tea outside, and binge watching some new shows. Of course there will be lots of cold brews too – including this bad boy, which is kick starting the vacation! This tea is just super refreshing to sip on during this extremely sunny day w/ plenty of crisp notes of freshly mowed grass, fragrant light florals, sweet vegetal garden peas, and a buttery coconut finish!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQgmZVLD52M/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIMnyx8dCoM

2021 sipdown no. 99

Polished this one off yesterday and it’s lovely. I was busy and didn’t write any real notes, but went through three steeps and enjoyed each one.

1st steep: 190° F, 3 minutes
2nd steep: 190° F, 4.5 minutes
3rd steep: 190° F, 6 minutes

I’ll have to add this to my next CS order.

[winter 2020 harvest]

Sweet and floral with notes of sugar, cooked lemon skin. It’s a lovely tea that reminds me of lemon custard a bit. It has a distinctive character while being very much true to its category. I find the energy to be a bit too dizzying though.

[Spring 2021 harvest]

Here’s quite a flavourful tea with great depth and lots of elusive notes. It has a bit higher oxidation than many FF Darjeelings and turned out to be my favourite of the three I got this year.

I can smell popcorn, grass flowers, and moss at first. The floral wet leaf aroma brings out hints of courgette flower, lime zest, honeysuckle, rice field, and apples.

I find the liquor to be medium bodied and creamy with a fleeting foamy touch. The taste is woody and warming. It has a astringent, floral bite to it, as well as flavours of pistachio, white grapes, egg shells and others. Aftertaste also brings more sweetness and umami to the table. There are hints of butter, pine and a stronger honey note that appears after a while.

This year I am trying to drink down a lot of my stash, but I still decided to get a few fresh teas, this being one of them. On the whole, it is a multi-faceted tea displaying a great deal of tension. It is warming and cooling at the same time, both sweet and savoury, smooth and astringent, fruity and vegetal, flowery and woody, etc. Such tea can get quite imbalanced which this one suffers from a bit, but not to a substantial extent.

The dry leaf aroma is nutty and floral. Once wet, I get multitude of scents, vegetal ones like spring onion and cabbage, fruit tree flowers, licorice mint, as well as hints of muscatel, cotton candy, gooseberry and incense.

Taste is floral and bitter with a caramel finish. There are notes of thistles, curry leaves, green beans, wood, eggs and others. Depending on the brewing parameters, the mouthfeel ranges from misty to creamy and there is a noticeable drying sensation in the throat. Aftertaste is quite pungent with a persistent vegetal bitterness akin to apple leaves. It marks probably the most imbalanced aspect of the whole experience.

Even though overall, this tea is true to its identity as a FF Darjeeling, its subtle notes at times give it a character of a green tea or jade oolong. This makes it fairly unique in some sense, without being truly weird or experimental.

The first sniff gives an impression of scones and green beans. Later, the aroma is more like a mix of eucalyptus and some flowers. The tea has a soft mouthfeel and warming presence, albeit the aftertaste gives off a cooling vibe that comes with its very flowery profile. The taste has a pleasant and decently strong nutty bitterness, some fruity notes of apricot and guava as well as savoury ones like black olives, butter and charred kale. In the aftertaste, a lasting milky sweetness appears too.

[Autumn 2020 harvest]

Another great tea from Jun Chiyabari. It is very elegant, aromatic, and smooth with no astringency.

The aroma reminds me of apricot, cookies, cherry, wood, star anise, and honey. The taste is sweet, woody and also a bit more savoury than the typical Autumn black tea from Himalayas. There are flavours of brown sugar, cocoa, honeysuckle and apricot. I has just the right amount of bitterness to create a balanced profile. In the finish, some sour notes also come to the fore and make for an unusual aftertaste.

Am a fan. Sample of this from VariaTEA and it’s delicious and exactly what i wanted on this cooler/rainy day. It IS like white rhino but slightly different. May be worth picking some up from Camelia… hmmm thanks lady!

Bought this so I could compare to the 2003 7542 from mrmopar
https://steepster.com/teas/liquid-proust-teas/82124-2003-7542-menghai

This definitely tastes aged. I think Camellia Sinensis’s description is spot on. However, I do find the bitterness unbalanced. This 1998 is smoother, less drying and a little sweeter (almost whisky-like) than the 2003 but not as strong with the camphor. Maybe the type of storage and 5 years more of age have transformed the acidity I get in the 2003. This tastes more humidly stored and verges lightly alkaline. The body is nothing to note; I don’t recall noting it in the 2003. Qi is calming and warming, caffeine isn’t very high — I can fall asleep without issue if had in the evening. After 3 or 4 infusions, the qi urges me to take a break. Over the next several infusions, the power is gone and the tastes devolves into bitter, peaty swamp water.

Overall, it’s ok, the feelings elicited are nice and early infusion taste good but I feel like it’s missing the depth needed to make this a very good aged tea. For the price, I pass but it is worth trying.

[Spring 2021 harvest]

I was excited to try a sample of this tea, expecting something different, at least. When dry, it smells of nuts, meat and chard. On the other hand, wet leaves have a very distinctive cabbage aroma.

First infusion is quite savoury and nutty with a mild bitter bite and honey sweetness. The flavours have a a good depth and the mouthfeel is very velvety with no astringency. The protracted aftertaste starts off juicy, buttery and warming, eventually a bit of vegetal sweetness appears from the bitterness though.

Subsequent steeps are pungent, vegetal and floral (still like honey, but without the honey sweetness) with a hint of spiciness and some astringency appearing too.

I don’t know if I’ve ever had any tea that you could say is truly a “yellow tea”. It’s certain is that this one is unlike any other tea I’ve had. It’s a bit hard to describe in what way though. Most of the specific aspects can be found in other teas, but the manner in which they come together is certainly unique. Also, the strong cabbage aroma is quite memorable.

I’ve had previous iterations of Camellia Sinensis’ Li Shan and enjoyed them, so I picked up this spring 2020 harvest in their September sale. I’ve had it three times now and have gotten slightly different flavours in each session. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of brown sugar, coconut, spinach, honeysuckle, and lilacs. In the first steep, I get lilac, sweet pea, gardenia, butter, coconut, grass, spinach, and pastries. It has a nice, viscous texture. The second steep is sweeter, with custard, cream corn, green apple, and honeysuckle. Steep three offers more honeysuckle/gardenia/other florals, particularly in the aroma, and the veggie, grass, and spinach notes become stronger. (I also got pineapple in previous sessions, but sadly, not in this one.) The next couple steeps display more of the cream corn sweetness, which I guess could be interpreted as custard or condensed milk. The tea is also still very floral. The steeps become more vegetal after this point, but with lots of floral sweetness to balance them out.

This tea is full of florals and is sweeter than many Li Shans, with some of the tropical fruit flavours I like when I leaf it heavy. I agree with Daylon that it’s kind of midrange, and I also prefer their less expensive Shan Lin Xi. Still, I might pick it up again if it’s on sale, simply because of the relatively reasonable price and the convenience of buying from a Canadian vendor.

Gongfu!

This was such a pleasantly full bodied and aromatic black tea. Though it didn’t translate as intensely into the steeped liquor, my whole tea space smelled wonderfully of fresh, floral lychee and roses as I was brewing. Otherwise, this was yet another rich and chocolate-y tea with dense notes of cacao balanced by a lightly nutty and vegetal zucchini note and elements of malted grains. Think the tea version of a really well makes chocolate zucchini cake or bread with just a touch of a floral finish! Wow!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0PwI9eOdn9/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwRbr4Q6Yo

X is for… Xiao Zhong!

I actually had a few X options to pick from for this day, but they were all pretty hyper traditional teas and I didn’t really end up having time during my work day to brew up more than just this one with the care I felt it deserved.

I did make this Western style – but I feel like it came out really well! It’s very chocolate tasting to me, but really dark chocolate with a healthy amount of bitterness to it. I know Camellia Sinensis describes this as a bit vegetal, but I didn’t get that all. Aside from the dark cacao/baker’s chocolate type notes, I mostly got a bit of a smoky edge, some red bean, and a woodier/oak-y backbone to the sip. Full bodied, complex even as a Western brew, and just very rich with a long lingering finish.

Cannot wait to brew this Gongfu – I feel like I’m gonna have some high expectations now.

This second flush is from 2020, which makes it relatively new in my tea collection. It caught my eye because Camellia Sinensis noted it was representative of the style, and even though I’ve had many SF Darjeelings, I still look for benchmarks of what they’re “supposed” to taste like. I steeped 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 5, 7, and 10 minutes.

The dry aroma is of caramel, nuts, and flowers. The first steep has notes of autumn leaves, nuts (yes, hazelnut seems accurate), caramel, butter, wood, flowers, saline, and a hint of muscatel. The finish is rather woody and drying, especially if the tea is held in the mouth for any length of time. The tea also has some tannins. The next couple steeps are heavier on the nuts and caramel and lighter on the fruit and florals. I get some minerality in the third steep.

This tea is a good deal more restrained than the luxuriantly fruity, floral second flush Darjeelings I gravitate toward. However, I think it is indeed a high-quality, well-made example of the type, if not one that really wows me.

2021 sipdown no. 81

This seems to be all malt and nothing else. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, it’s a fine tasting tea. I’d just prefer other straight black teas from CS.

Only have three samples left from the Leafhopper trade. Again, thank you!

I was debating on what I wanted this morning, and since it’s a crisp spring day, a slightly autumnal or floral Darjeeling would probably go well with it. This note is going to be shorter than my usual verbose nonsense because I decided to do this western.

I emptied the entire sample in my french press that I do not actually press, and let it sit between 2-3 minutes. I sipped a little pour to see how it would play out, and it was sweet floral and savory, a little nutty, but thin. After a full brew, I filled my mug. Same descriptors apply becoming more specific: orange blossom, butter, roasted and salted nuts, and a savory but very woodsy finish. There was a little bit of cocoa in the notes, but not a lot and the tea was definitely not malty.

Second brew had much the same notes, but woodsier and nuttier. The finish was pretty drying but not quite as flavorful the first time, so I stopped there.

Looking at Camellia Sinensis notes, they make more sense. Caramel, “saline” notes, and hazelnut are the more vivid descriptors, and they actually amped up the woodsiness on their flavor wheel. I haven’t totally agreed with some of the other flavors they’ve described before applying different approximative adjectives for the same thing (supercalifragilisticexpialidocious), but I agree with their assessment this time. I will say that saline does make it a little bit more fancy than just “salty”. Curse negative connotations.

Either way, the mix of floral, sweet and savory components were nice, and what I like about Darjeelings. I’m not sure if I’d buy more due to me using the big bucks for my outrageously expensive usuals, but I would say yes every time I’d be offered up this one. I think it would be a nice entry for straight second flush teas, but I wouldn’t add cream AND sugar to this one since it is on the fainter side, though some sugar might be nice. It made my morning anyway.

Q is for… Qimen Hong Gong Fu!

…and, as the name would imply, I brewed this one Gongfu!

I didn’t take great notes for this one because I had it while at the studio over my lunch break and I was a bit rushed – but I enjoyed it a lot and was impressed by how many infusions the leaf seemed able to take. Definitely a longer session than most Qimen I’ve had in recent memory. It was super smokey (but in a natural way, not a “smoked tea” way) with these delectable woody top notes & a jammy stonefruit undertones peeking out. It’s hard to find a good Qimen, but this was solid.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN3SCLCAdHS/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJpf3YNiw88&ab_channel=adambrianpaul

[Spring 2021 harvest]

Marvelous looking, delicate leaves with lots of hair here. It’s an exceptionally elegant tea with a silky full body and a resolute chest warming cha qi.

Initially, I get a nutty, floral and meaty scent which becomes vegetal later – a bit like chard.

The taste profile has vegetal backbone reminiscent of thistles and fiddleheads, as well as some floral and tart carambola notes. Subsequently, protracted sweetness comes to the fore, while mild vanilla and black pepper notes linger in the background.

It’s not a cheap tea, but a fresh green tea of this quality is hard not to appreciate for me.

Got this as a free sample with one of my orders. It’s got a sweet woody profile with notes of stonefruits, licorice as well as some floral ones. The mouthfeel is plump and the aftertaste quite cooling. In the aroma, I could detect oak wood, fermented vegetables, and flowers.

All in all, a decent and agreeable tea that’s easy to drink.

[Spring 2021 harvest]

Fresh green teas are always something to look forward in the spring (if one can get hold of some). Even though this one isn’t the most remarkable one, it certainly satisfies that need.

The profile is quite vegetal with floral, umami, sour and herbaceous notes trailing behind. Some of the flavours to be found are eucalyptus, alfalfa, lilac, kohlrabi. In the aftertaste, a mix of lime and green wood sweetness emerges. The liquor texture is velvety thanks to the large amount of leaf hair present, but it also has a nice bubbly quality. After swallowing, a minor drying sensation remains, but there isn’t really any astringency. The aromas are hard to describe. Some of the notes I’ve already mentioned – such as lime zest and eucalyptus – but there is also a scent that reminds me of moss covered in dew.

[Spring 2021 harvest]

CS’s Zhu Ye Qing is a beautiful tea that’s both crisp and surprisingly warming for a green tea. It is well-balanced with sufficient complexity, pungent aftertaste and a relaxing cha qi.

The aroma is very fresh and vegetal (cucumber, broccoli, leeks) with just a hint of cream. Taste is a mix of nut oils (walnut), sweet grass with a nice bitterness (chicory) to it. There is no astringency basically. Other flavours on display include rice, sunflowers, green beans, and rapini. Liquor has a medium body and a buttery texture, which is really quite nice.

This tea has an invigorating dry leaf aroma, but it didn’t leave a strong impression at first otherwise. However, I found myself reaching for it fairly often afterwards, so there is something attractive about it. I guess the fairly light body and a good balance of sweetness and woodiness make it an easy-to-drink tea without the need for much engagement.

Initial scent is sweet with hints of cookies, popcorn, cocoa, and chickpeas. It gets less pungent during the session, and the range of aromas is more in the neighborhood of charcoal, forest floor, and moss.

First infusion is smooth, sweet and milky with an upfront cocoa taste. There are also some fruity, vegetal, metally and woody flavours. Later steeps are somewhat tannic with a short-lived bitterness.

Sipdown (263)

J is for… Jin Shuan

Thank you Roswell Strange for the share! I am having this while eating Wendy’s and watching Drag Race. It’s an odd combo since I don’t usually have tea with my meals and if I do, it’s usually cold and picked to go with the meal. This just sort of worked out to be the accompaniment to my meal.

It’s smooth and a touch metallic. Some roastiness. It’s also quite buttery. It doesn’t stand out among other oolongs but it’s a solid option. Also works with the meal better than I expected it to.