Dachi Tea

Not what I expected. I get a lot of menthol, wintergreen, and tomato leaf on top of a standard assamica black tea profile.

Finished off this lovely low oxidation low roast oolong. It is quite light and fresh tasting, with a hint of vegetal character and sweet florals. It was not buttery or creamy to me, although it was not thin-bodied either. Matched the sunny day well.

This was a sample in one of my Dachi subscription boxes. Delicious, delightful white tea! The leaves are rolled into long ovals and remind me of rustic jewelry beads. Dachi’s notes about lemon, cucumber and steamed vegetables are right on. Around steep five the characteristic light but penetrating, fine floral notes that I associate with many white teas appeared. I love those steeps. From start to finish, a joy to drink.

I received a sample of this tea with my last order with Dachi.

I must say, I was very impressed at how complex this oolong was. It was slightly roasted, thus giving it a warmer feel to the mouth. It has a sweet punch of honey and fruits. I strangely noticed the taste of cherries which is something that is completely new to me when it comes to unflavored teas. Even in the later steepings it still carried a strong flavor and it seemed like it took forever for this tea to mellow out.

My only problem with this oolong is the price tag :’(
This is definitely going on my birthday wish-list… in September.

This is the first Dachi Tea i’ve ever tried and I must say, it was pretty damn good. The flavor was mellow in a calming way, but rich enough to keep the taste buds wanting more. It reminded me of a good milk oolong, but it wasn’t as pungent.

One thing I really liked about this tea is that it was one of the most calming oolongs i’ve ever had. Because of it’s mellowness, it was soothing and relaxing. This tea lasted for over a dozen steeps as well, which is always a plus for an oolong.

When I was done with my session, I sorted out the wet leaf pile. I was surprised to see how large of a leaf/stem you get from this oolong. I even found an entire tea tree stem with all of its leafs intact in my vessel! It was very clear that this tea wasn’t processed in any way and looked like it came straight from nature – something of which i’ve never seen in an oolong.

Here’s a photo I took of my session!!

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

It’s always tricky to review a tea that I didn’t brew myself, but here are some of my notes. The package says that this tea has notes of Magnolia, Sugarcane and Spring Water.

1st infusion: (205˚F, ?)
Tea smells buttery, this is a very light infusion. Leaves smell intoxicatingly sweet and floral.

2nd infusion: (200˚F, 1:00)
Tastes buttery, savoury almost salty. I half-suspect that the mug I’m drinking it out of came into a brush with some salt (but it’s the same mug as I drank the first infusion out of, so… very curious). In any case, this is a good tea.

3rd infusion: (200˚F, 1:50)
Too astringent probably steeped too long.

Tastes like a roasty, chocolatey Wuyi oolong. The leaves have that similar dark green sheen.

After a 1:00 infusion, this Iron Goddess gives off a beautiful nutty aroma though slightly bitter taste.

Increasing the rating a bit because this tea is forgiving, even though I forgot about the second infusion and steeped it for 4:00, it still tasted good.

Note: The correct brewing temperature for this tea is 195˚F, in my experience, instead of the 200˚F specified on the packet.

Had this brewed at 205˚F and it was pretty astringent, had the smoky roasted and metallic quality but flat like the dull peal of a bell. At 200˚F it was also burnt, the leaves smelled like they were on fire.

At 195˚F it tasted like an earthy freshwater well, elegant and subdued. Very nice everyday dry (not sweet) tea.

I think I measured out the low side of 3g of leaves this time. It was a bit too watery, and there was almost no scent left in the 3rd infusion. Better to err on the side of more leaves with this oolong.

Very dark green, almost black, long rolled-up leaves. (Dachi Tea describes this as a black tea.)

My favourite thing about this tea is the heavenly smell. The fragrance is harmonious––a rich blend of chocolate, floral, fruit, honey, and vegetal scents. This is the first tea I’ve ever made in a gaiwan, so I’m glad it turned out well.

On the first infusion, the overpowering flavour of this Honeysuckle Oolong is a dark, bitter chocolate. The tea smelled good but tasted bitter and the tea leaves smelled bitter (I feared I had burnt it) so I threw out most of the first infusion.

But it brightens up by the second infusion, and the fruity notes (kumquat, plum) and vegetal notes are out in full force by the 3rd infusion. Oh my goodness I love this tea. On the 5th and 6th I’m really noticing the vegetal / herbal notes more, but also more astringency, dryness though. I don’t think it can handle a 7th infusion.

–– Pairings ––
This tea goes great with pastry to counter and complement the sugary-sweetness of a baked good. I feel like I’m pampering myself when I have this with my breakfast.

This was a sample with my Dachi subscription. This tea is smooth and balanced, with flavors of sugarcane, cream and flowers. There is a bit of vegetal aspect, but very light, like lettuce. Very delicious and long lasting, I stopped counting after 10 steeps.

Really enjoyed this tea. Great mouthfeel, rich almost, but still light. Flavors of buttercream and toasted oats, with floral overtones. I had six full flavored steeps before stopping. This was a sample, but I will have to buy it!

A little hesitant about trying this last night because my Dachi sampler from last year disjointed me. Since I’ve been drinking puer and yancha, green oolong have an upper hand on pleasing my taste buds because it is a missed flavor that I love; it’s just that I drink them outside of winter.

Upon brewing this I have a bit more to look forward to because the leaf isn’t as bad looking as last years samples. The taste came through quite clean, providing a way to relax while brewing the next cup. A little floral hint, with a mild texture to it.
I’ll look into trying some of Dachi’s 2016 teas to see if they find a special ones, but in the world of green oolong there is competition just like puer and I face the hard question on which to get… Beautiful Taiwan Tea is a must, What Cha is a must,Tealux’s exclusive is a must, J Tea is a must, Yunnan Sourcing is a must, how much tea is tooooo much???

Oh technology how I love you! Until an update gets rolled out that makes you useless. I was one of the lucky ones who the new Instagram update does not really work for, each time I try to upload a photo it crashes, which is better than how it was pre-reinstall where I could not even open it. My normal morning ritual of checking notifications and posting my first tea of the day was ruined and I have been in a foul mood ever since, which in turn is a little amusing. Why is it amusing? Well, it puts things into perspective, how reliance on a set schedule or pattern is great, but to keep in mind that things happen and to not let a hiccup in a pattern ruin your entire day. Thanks for the reminder…now roll out a patch so I can use IG correctly!

Continuing on with the glory that is Oolong Week with Dachi Tea’s No 9 Emerald Alpine Oolong, whose name just sounds evocative of mountain frolicking and pine trees, but that might just be me. This lightly roasted Oolong is from Alishan, one of my favorite mountains in Taiwan for tea, I find that a lot of times a tea I become enamored with hails from that region. Amusingly enough the cultivar tab on the website talks about how the leaves were harvested later in the season, but does not list the actual cultivar, so fun mystery there. The aroma of the balled up leaves is very sweet, and hilariously remind me of cake batter! That cake batter sweet creaminess turns pretty quickly into floral notes of magnolia, hyacinth, orchid, and honeysuckle. It is quite the bouquet, but manages to not be heady, just very sweet and floral.

Into the gaiwan the leaves go, and I am glad I brewed them there because I might have missed how stem-y this tea was, and that would be sad.The aroma of the wet leaves is sweet and yeasty, creamy, and again it reminds me of cake batter…with a nice bouquet of flowers. The liquid is vegetal and buttery, with notes of crushed sugar cane and a finishing burst of magnolias and lilacs, adding a nectar quality to the sweetness.

The first steeping is mellow, it starts with a creamy and gentle mouthfeel, which gets smoother it seems the more I sip it. The taste starts with a gentle buttery note and pretty quickly moves to sweetness, like sugarcane and honey butter. Then it blooms into flowery notes, primarily lilac, but also a note of magnolia and lily at the finish. For the aftertaste there is a lingering flower nectar sweetness.

Onto the second steeping! The aroma is intensely floral, wow, so much floral! Strong lilac and magnolia notes, and even a touch of orchid and gardenia. I feel like I can play floral bingo with this tea. The mouthfeel is smooth and thick, buttery, definitely a mouth-coater! The taste starts out slightly buttery and yeasty, again I am thinking of cake batter, though a not so sweet batter, so maybe more like pancake batter. I am a connoisseur of batters. This moves to flowery mouth-splosion, strong notes of gardenia, magnolia, lilac, hyacinth, and honeysuckle go off like little floral fireworks on tongue, this might be the most diverse with types of flowers Oolong I have had. The aftertaste is honeysuckle nectar, fresh out of the flower!

Third steeping time, and the aroma is still intensely floral, so much! Mostly just lilac and magnolia, with a sweet cake-like finish. Buttery and smooth in the mouth like the previous steeps, that shows no sign of stopping, though the start of this steep has a crushed vegetation greenness that immediately goes into floral explosion. Strong notes of magnolia and lilac as the main note, honeysuckle at the end of the flowery burst. The finish is buttery and sweet, and it lingers, I sat a while with this tea, lost track of exactly how many steeps I had!

Blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/10/dachi-tea-no-9-emerald-alpine-oolong.html

I think I know the next thing I am going to treat myself to when I have a bit of money…drum roll…a lap desk! As much as I love working at my desk, sometimes I really want to just stretch out with a mound of pillows at my back, doing that now actually. My current setup of using a book as a table on my thighs and my Minecraft spider plushie as an armrest is not the most optimal of setups. But I am of course very picky, I want a lap desk with feet rather than putting my legs to sleep, and there can’t be a lip to push down on my already screwy arm tendons…oh yeah, and I need room for my mouse and my inevitable tea, and in a perfect world there would be a small lamp. I am having fun window shopping!

Today we are taking a look at Dachi Tea’s No 6 Golden Lily Oolong, a green Oolong from Taiwan, made from the Jin Xuan Varietal. Ah Jin Xuan, whose name translates to Golden Daylily (name drop!) and also goes by #12 or Milk Oolong, you are one of my favorites, I turn to you when I want flowery sweetness unlike any other. This particular tea was grown at 1200m on Alishan, though not all Jin Xuan is from Alishan and not all Alishan Oolong is Jin Xuan, of course even the ones that are from the same mountain and cultivar can have different roastings, growers, elevations, they have similar traits but each one will be subtly different in some way. It is like a mouth adventure. But first I suppose is the nose adventure, The aroma of the very tightly coiled leaves is at first quite creamy, then gentle notes of toasted sesame blended with the ever so slightly spicy note of Asiatic lily drift out of the leaves. Lastly the notes are honeysuckles, fresh milk, and a tiny touch of snap peas at the very finish.

The leaves made their journey to the Xishi pot for their steeping, only gently opening up after their first steep, but the aroma is certainly not some wilting flower. Ok it is floral, but it is not a weak aroma, Notes of warm milk, toasted sesame seeds, honeysuckles, snap peas, and spicy Asiatic lilies waft out of my teapot, my nose is happy, creamy teas just make me happy. The liquid from this first steep is quite sweet and floral, notes of honeysuckle, lilies (the spicy kind) sesame seeds, and a touch of sweet peas greet my nose. It smells less creamy than I was expecting.

For all that the aroma was not very creamy, the taste certainly is! The texture starts out creamy and the tasting starts creamy, like that relaxing note of warm sweet cream and sugarcane. It then moves to a nice flowery burst of sweet honeysuckles and spicy lilies. The spice from the lilies is very similar to what I describe as spicebush, but instead of it being a more musk spice it is a floral spice. Yes, I like to surround myself with spicy flowers, dianthus is also a favorite. Anyway, after the flowery burst the finish is a touch of gentle honey and very distant sweet peas, a lingering aftertaste of honey, well, lingers!

Second steeping time brings the creamy! The aroma of the liquid this time is definitely milky and sweet, with honeysuckles and sweet peas, sesame seeds and a gentle touch of lilies, it has a headiness to it reminding me of summer flowers. The taste and texture both start out creamy again, like sweet cream and sugarcane, then it moves ti sesame seeds and spicy lilies and a touch of honeysuckle. The finish has a crisp snap pea note with a crispness that lingers in both mouthfeel and taste.

The third steep’s aroma is sweet and creamy, with notes of milk and honeysuckles, a gentle touch of lily and a strong note of sweet snap peas, adding an extra crisp greenness to the sweetness. The texture is still creamy, but it turns crisp yet smooth around the middle of the sipping, right around the same time the taste turns from sweet and creamy to sweet and snap pea crisp. Usually when green Oolongs take on a green note, it is more crushed vegetation, so this snap pea note is quite fun, and it goes really well with the overall sweetness of this tea.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/10/dachi-tea-no-6-golden-lily-oolong-tea.html

Well, I got my results from the MRIs and EEG, and they were for the most part normal. Well except for the weird white mass on my frontal cerebral cortex that they think is not related to my current problems and they have no explanation for. Clearly that means I have superpowers, I will totally tell my neurologist that when I go for my follow up. I am glad I do not have epilepsy or MS, though I admit, not having any answers and still having problems is frustrating, a diagnosis means I get help…but all I have now is more questions, superpowers, and pain. Ah well, at least I have tea and can still paint!

Today we are looking at Dachi Tea’s No 8 Scarlet Honey Oolong, oh yeah, time for another bug-bitten oolong! This one is more oxidized than some of the other bug-bitten oolongs I have had, so expect this to be a fun adventure. Opening up my package I am pretty much slammed with an incredible sweetness. It is like someone put a bowl of honey drenched black cherries with a light sprinkling of black walnuts and baked pears in front of my nose. It is immensely intense, rich, and oh so sweet, I feel like I am sniffing dessert and not tea!

Into my jankity sage gaiwan the leaves go, I wanted a smaller gaiwan so I could stretch this tea over multiple sessions, if that aroma is anything to go by. The aroma of the wet leaves is intense, almost heady in its sweetness, I feel myself swooning! Notes of cherry, grapes, cooked pears and plums, and loads of honey. The liquid starts out with a cream and honey note and then it melts into baked cherry, plum, and pear notes and a touch of condensed milk. It is intensely sweet, consider me impressed, this might be the sweetest smelling tea.

First steeping, it starts smooth and gentle, a touch of juicy pears and lychees and then out of nowhere a small honey themed explosion goes off in my mouth. I am totally ok with that. This moves to cooked cherries and plums, with a finish of walnuts. The lingering honey sweetness stays for so long, it is wonderfully sweet.

On to the second steep, it starts with sweet honey and rich cherries, a touch of walnuts and creaminess as well. My notes in my notebook kinda slant and look very garbled, my handwriting tends to do that when I an drinking a bug-bitten oolong! It is a sweet explosion of honey drenched plums, cherries, pears, and a gentle finish of walnut. I am loving that walnut finish, this is like drinking a baked fruit dessert.

The aroma of the third steeping keeps it going with the sweet honey, dark cherries, walnuts, and that oh so decadent creaminess. It keeps my nose happy. Ooh fun! This steep has a new note that has surfaced, alongside the notes of cooked plums, cherries, and pears, there is a nice rich note of dates. Of course on top of that is the ever present note of honey, it is wonderful. I had so many steeps of this tea, I got unbelievably tea drunk too.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/10/dachi-tea-no-8-scarlet-honey-oolong-tea.html

I totally fell asleep during my MRIs yesterday, I just want everyone to know this fact. So first was the EEG which all the strobe lights and fast breathing in the world could not make me have a seizure…though I did find out that even when I am asleep my eyes never stop moving so much so that the technician felt the need to point it out, even having it where my eyes were open while I was asleep, which made for some amusing results. Also I had a hard time falling into a deep sleep while being in a dark room with a comfy chair. But, put me in a tube with loud banging and crazy laser noises and I go right to sleep…I should point out this was also after I chugged the entire much needed contents of my travel steeper full of oolong. This just goes to show you that the brain is a weird thing, They think I should have results of the MRIs on Monday, and the way the tech went from cracking jokes to very comforting and not letting me see my brain at the finish has me hoping that he just thought I was exhausted. In all seriousness though, I want an MRI tube to sleep in, they are quite relaxing.

Today we are looking at a tea that I honestly need to look at more, but it seems that I frequently forget it exists, which is pretty unforgivable since it is a bug-bitten beauty. Oriental Beauty to be exact! This is Dachi Tea’s No 7 Oriental Beauty Oolong, grown in the northern low elevation triangle (I didn’t know there was one of those, which is cool) between Miaoli, Shiding, and Hsinchu, plucked during the summer, once a year, Bai Hao (this tea’s other name) is the fancy stuff, like all those bug-bitten treasures it tends to be both rare and pricey. And totally worth the price (I may or may not be obsessed with bug-bitten teas, I blame my love of leafhoppers) I also blame the Concubine Oolong for my tendency for forgetting the graceful Oriental Beauty exists, for shame. So, how does this one smell, so first let me say I got a bit of a surprise with this one, the first note I detect is ever so gentle peppery nasturtiums. After that there is a burst of sweetness, rich brown sugar and sugar cane, scuppernongs, and muscadines, and a finish of honey and delicate flowers. This is a very sweet Oriental Beauty, and with a suitableness I appreciate.

The wet leaves are so colorful, definitely one of my favorite things about Oriental Beauty, shades of browns, greens, and reds remind me of autumn leaves. The aroma is sweet and slightly delicate while being very distinct, it is graceful like a silk scarf in the breeze. Notes of honey and grapes, specifically more like muscadines, and a finish of allspice. The liquid is like sniffing a honey drizzled muscadine grape, ah, like a juicy bite out of my childhood.

The first steep is sweet and very smooth, again the silk scarf in a breeze image comes to my mind, this tea is silky and gentle, distinct while light. The taste starts out with sweetness, a juicy burst of muscadine grapes and and honey sweetness, it starts gently and swells to an intense sweetness. The finish is sweet and the aftertaste is one of grapes.

Second steep time, the color is as rich as autumn leaves, and the aroma is sweet and wonderfully muscatel, honey and grapes mix with just a touch of sugar cane. The taste is sweet and gentle, me thinks that is a theme with this tea, along with its silky mouthfeel. It starts with notes of honey and juicy muscadines and moves into rich honey and a touch of allspice. This finishes with muscadines and a sweet lingering honey.

The third steep comes in with beautifully large leaves in a practical rainbow of leafy colors. The taste keeps in theme, silky, gentle and sweet. I found it did not really evolve much throughout steeping, just sweet muscadines and honey with occasional spices. It is pleasant, the muscadine notes remind me of late summer feasting during my childhood and the gentle sweetness I found to be peaceful.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/dachi-tea-no-7-oriental-beauty-oolong.html

I have a fun story to tell today, a story about little ol me, specifically very little me. See, my mom has a nickname for me, ‘moonshine’ short for both ‘pumpkin moonshine’ and ‘moonshine girl’ so yeah, nothing to do with mountain booze, all about moons. This name came about when I was still toddling around, when we would visit my grandparents in Augusta (we lived in Aiken, SC, so really close) I would insist on wandering off in the evening to talk to the moon in some random made up language. I was especially drawn to moon viewing and chatting while there because they lived on a hill and I swear the moon was massive and frequently pumpkin orange, a magical looking thing to a tiny child. My obsession with the moon did not end as I grew up, you can still find me outside when everyone is asleep conversing with the moon in my own made up languages. And yes, the Tasha Tudor book by the same name was also a childhood favorite, but I think most her books were.

Today’s tea is one of many names, Red Jade, Sun Moon Lake Tea, #18, Ruby Red, Hong Yu, and I know there has to be something I am missing. Dachi Tea’s No 11 Sun Moon Lake #18, a tea with a unique story, see what makes this tea so special is it is a blend of native Taiwanese tea trees and the Assamica cultivar, usually this tea comes from the valley around Sun Moon Lake (name drop!) but this tea was sourced from their grower in Pinglin, adding a unique spin to the familiar tea. This tea is also a tea of many faces, if you look at a dozen vendor’s descriptions they all list it as distinct, but they all seem to have similar yet different notes: cloves, mint, cinnamon, eucalyptus…but none ever list the note that makes this tea iconic to me, and I admit it took me tasting it a few times before I facepalmed realizing that note that kept escaping me was one right out of my childhood. Sassafras! I had sassafras trees all over my yard in Georgia, their differently shaped leaves and wonderful smelling bark was a staple, that I would nibble on more often than I probably should have. If I am doing my quick and very scan-heavy research correctly, Safrole is chemically similar to cloves, bay, cinnamon, and a ton of other things, fascinating! Anyway, tangent aside, leaves! The aroma is complex, strong notes of sassafras with an accompaniment of cinnamon, sweet potatoes, peanuts, honey, and a touch of menthol and pepper at the finish.

Brewing time, and whoa, that is a potent pile of soggy leaves. Strong notes of cinnamon and menthol waft out with the steam, alongside cloves and peanuts, with a finish of sassafras. There is a hint of woodsiness at the finish as well. The liquid is nutty and sweet, peanuts and cloves, and a distinct woody sassafras note at the finish. Definitely smells like I just broke some sassafras sticks under my nose.

The first steep is yum, it is smooth and rich, and very sweet. Starting out with notes of cinnamon and sassafras, it moves on to yams and honey. The finish is a lingering sweetness of honey, a touch of malt, and a delicate roasted peanut earthiness. The aftertaste of honey lingers for quite a while, making me feel all fancy and contemplative.

Second steep, the aroma is strong with the sweet potatoes, and I find it amusing that the smell is sweet potato and the taste is yam, such a subtle yet important distinction. Alongside the sweet potato is sassafras and a touch of honey. The taste is ramping up, the sassafras notes and cinnamon notes are joined by cloves and a touch of menthol at the front. The midtaste brings with yams and honey and still really potent sassafras and cloves…kinda makes me want candied yams. The finish is all honey and lingering sweetness, with just a tiny tiny hint of malt. This steep has some oomph to it.

Third steep, and wow, it is still going strong and also getting stronger, I was not sure that was possible because the aroma is already pretty intense. Strong notes of sweet potato and cloves, sassafras and honey great my nose. The taste is still ramping up, strong notes of malt, sassafras and cloves take the forefront. The midtaste is woody and yam heavy with a note of peanuts. The finish, like before is lingering sweet honey. I went on for a couple more steeps, and yeah, I got very tea drunk from it, this is an intense #18!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/dachi-tea-no-11-sun-moon-lake-18-tea.html

Guys, I think next month I a going to break down and buy a camera. This saddens me for a few reasons, the first one being the death of a friend, see my camera was a gift from Ben when we were at Unistar. I was using a really crap camera to do nature photography, and more importantly to catalog all the fungi on this weird island to write a field guide. I needed a better camera desperately, so five years ago I got my Fujifilm S1800, my baby. But it is dying, after years of much love, and it is time to move on, I was hoping to get a super fancy one with the ability to switch out lenses, actually photograph lightning, and all those bells and whistles, but they are not cheap, that is like ‘save all my money for a year’ kinda new electronic. So I am compromising and going to probably get a Fujifilm S8630, it will take all my money next month (I swear I am never going to get new clothes after that dryer incident…priorities man, I has them) and will be great for my blog photography and basic nature photography. Compromises are not always bad!

Ok, enough about electronics, tea time! Today I a looking at Dachi Tea’s No 5 Verdant Valley Oolong, a Baozhong from beautiful Taiwan, just east of Taipei actually. If you get the chance, you should check out the website for this tea, it has a great aesthetic, but more importantly, it tells information about the tea and its grower, including a video interviewing Mr. Weng and showing the process of making the tea. If you are like me and find this stuff just wonderfully fascinating, then trust me, it is worth a look. Ah, Baozhong, this tea is a notorious flowery explosion, and these leaves do not disappoint. The aroma starts out with sweet honey and flower nectar, lots of spring flower notes of hyacinth, lilac, and a touch of honeysuckles. Along with the spring flowers is a gentle note of broken sweet hay and a tiny touch of nuttiness.

Brewing this tea is a lovely sensory experience, it is like spring wafting out of my teapot, fresh broken green vegetation (much like walking through a garden and gently crushing leaves as you walk) and of course flowers, hyacinth, lilac, and even a touch of slightly spicy Asiatic lily at the finish. The liquid is very sweet, a blend of honey and flower nectar and buttery green growth. It has a freshness to it, which is very evocative of springtime.

The first steep is smooth and buttery in its mouthfeel, it is refreshingly smooth without being thick. The taste starts out predictably sweet and floral, with strong notes of lilac and hyacinth. This initial flowery burst transitions to refreshing green vegetation, like crushed leaves and grass, with a slight vegetal buttery note. The finish is honey and it lingers for a while.

Typing with a lap full of a cold cat is hard. just a word to the wise. The aroma of the second steep is heady but light, it is like walking through my local formal garden at spring, so many hyacinths and lilacs blooming, I even get a bit of daffodil and lily as well. The taste is very rich, creamy and thick mouthfeel, and so sweet. There are notes of sweet honey and flower nectar, I feel like a butterfly drinking this stuff. The flowery notes moves to a slightly mineral spring rain storm and lush vegetation at the midtaste, with a finish of honey sweetness.

Third steeping time! Espeon is now using my notebook as a pillow, luckily not on the page I am trying to read! The aroma is buttery vegetation and flowery intensity, heady with all the blossoms, I feel like sinking into a bed of hyacinths and taking a nap surrounded by bees and butterflies. I am not a Disney princess, I swear. The taste this time is focusing on the green aspect of the tea, crushed rain covered vegetation and freshly harvested hay and straw. The finish is sweet and honey, with a lingering floral note. Usually I find Baozhong kinda fizzles out after four or so steeps, I ended up sitting with this one for a while, not sure if because this Baozhong was fresher or if it is a testament to its quality.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/dachi-tea-no-5-verdant-valley-oolong.html

Another sample for review from Dachi Tea.

5g 205F 100ml teapot 30/15/20/30sec etc
This tea is very light and refreshing but not short of flavor. it does have this fresh sugar snap peas flavor and creaminess. I think its spicy too, like cinnamon and slightly peppery.
i had a very enjoyable session even though im not a huge fan of green oolong. it wasnt floral which is great for me.

Thank you Dachi tea for sharing your teas with me.

https://instagram.com/p/7GTZXAhwjS/

https://instagram.com/p/7GVlFuBwni/

https://instagram.com/p/7GWzDdhwpy/

This is a sample I received for review from Dachi Tea Co

This oolong is incredible. its skilfully roasted, dried stone fruit sweet with refreshing citrusy notes which started slightly but became stronger as i steeped this tea. The color was bright yellow that changed to amber around 5th steep. it has that lychee-grapey honey flavor that make it somewhat similar to Oriental Beauty. It is bug bitten so they should have similar traits .

I really enjoyed this tea. So happy i had that opportunity to try. Thank you so much Dachi Tea

5g 100ml teapot 30/10/15/20/30 sec etc

https://instagram.com/p/678w3KhwrI/

https://instagram.com/p/67_PB8Bwgk/

Thank you Liquid Proust for this sample!

Tasting #1 – Steep Time 2 Minutes
Very faint in aroma, and it actually smells like cannabis. Almost a clear color, barely any flavor other than the slight toasted flavor in the back of my tongue.

Tasting #2 – Steep Time 4 Minutes
More toasty in aroma, like burning greens. Smokey flavor, again most noticeable in the back of my tongue.

Tasting #3 – Steep Time 6 Minutes
Not much change in aroma, the color has deepened slightly.

This tea doesn’t taste grassy and vegetative, it smells and tastes like decay. I’ve never tasted a tea like this. I would say that every other tea I’ve ever had has always tasted lifeful and rejuvenating, and this is not that. Its complicated and conflicting, the flavor is good but I feel contemplative. Like wilting flowers, I know what was once alive but am faced with transition to death. This tea makes me self reflective and I’m finding a desire to create with my complicated feelings.

Thank you, Liquid Proust again! It tasted like a paler version of Mandala’s Tie Guan Yin. I definitely got Orchid, some cream, and some sweetness with a butter aftertaste. I am glad I did the western because I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise taste it. I liked it, and it reminded me of my new coming preference for greener style oolongs. Only complaint is that it was watered down. Glad I sampled it.