J-TEA

From the aged oolong group buy

This one is really interesting. Tastes like I pulled a fresh beet out of the ground and juiced it

Somehow my review for this didn’t post and I just noticed while updating my cupboard…

Anyways, this is clearly one exceptionally stored tea. Being that I am not a fan of OB, that is some strong words. This taste like a light version of the 90’s red mark sheng from W2T; not even a slight exaggeration. This is just a beautiful tea all around that provides some nice notes that I am unable to describe to anyone who hasn’t drank a 20’year sheng (which I can say this is like the 98 mark as well).
I don’t suggest many teas because I know how important money and spending is, but out of all the aged oolong I’ve had (beside the 89’ from Tea Urchin)…. I highly suggest buying some of this. You won’t find such a beautifully stored and aged OB that brews at such ease with such the flavor profile that this has.
I’d love to be proved wrong as I always love me some new tea :)

I gifted the rest of this tea over 5 years ago, and she still kept it after a while. We are enjoying it as we lesson plan and grading this morning, the memories are coming back. I’m not sure if J-Tea still sells this one, but it was good enough to tempt me into getting more Drunken Green Dragon and some of their other goodies….I don’t need more tea, I don’t need more tea, I don’t need more tea…

If you’re more curious about how this tea tastes, I nailed it over the head in my previous two reviews on this one. The bourbon brings out fruity and sweeter elements in it, while the tea provides a cherry wood backbone. Still nice to this day.

Used more leaves and those of you who already follow me know that I have the bad habit of raising the rating after I tried it again and a previous critical review. Forgive me for my subjective inconsistency.

Back to the tea: this works Gong Fu or Western, making it pretty versatile. Bourbon is the strongest scent and taste that I get out of it, and drinking it is like drinking clean, liquid bourbon booze chocolate with hints of cherry and wood. Later on, the bourbon wears of and it progressively gets more woody in profile maintaining its sweetness. It can go on for several steeps until nothing but sweetness and cherry are left over.

In terms of roast, this tea is more medium to dark roast for an oolong. Some leaves are nice and green while others are fairly dark. The medium, woodsy profile was closer to a Gui Fei personally more than anything else. Actually, the woodsy profile was kind of like toasted or fried rice but boozy. So in short, Sake. The only tea that I’ve had comparable was Liquid Proust’s Dark Chocolate Oolong, which is one of my all time favorites.

Like I said before, I really do enjoy this tea. Josh selecting a tea close to one of my all time favorites is already astounding. The price still upsets me. I wish that I would have been smarter and asked for a sample, because I am glad that I tried it. I would probably get it in bulk if I had more income to dispose.

I do recommend a try for this, but the appeal is probably specific to bourbon or whisky lovers. Some people might otherwise think this tea is too weird for their palate, or wonderfully odd and exciting. The woodsiness of the oolong is the main deterrent. The medium body, versatility, and moderate caffeine amount are the welcoming crew. I also get to enjoy a boozy beverage without worry over the legal confines of age.

So, here’s what I’m going to do with my ounce. Savor a few cups for myself and for my friends. The rest I’ll include with a swap…Andrew, there’s a good chance some of this is going to you.

Okay, I admit, I’m weak willed and got me some of this tea. Josh recommended this one along with a few others. I was going to get all three, but the coupon code wasn’t working. I emailed him about it, it still didn’t work, so I settled on just getting this one.

The dry leaf smell is amazing. It’s like smelling bourbon liquor chocolates. Had eight leaves for 9 ounces, and the first brew at three minutes was pretty good. Fruity, closer to cherry, chocolaty, and boozy with the bourbon. Steep two at four, and the bourbon is still there but with the typical roasted and woodsy profile of this type of oolong. It reminds me of a Hojicka a little bit. The third steep is flat.

I am going to try this again with a few more leaves. It would probably work Gong Fu, but Western or Grandpa is probably better for the bourbon flavor. I like this, but it was not worth the twelve bucks plus seven dollars in shipping that I paid for it. Should have went with my first instinct and got the green version of this, maybe even the Pu-Erh. The bourbon would actually go really well with the green florals and probably make for an amazing tea. With the Pu-Erh, it would provide a dense foundation sweetened by this chocolaty booze. Not that the bourbon blends badly with this-in fact the first taste is amazing because of it. The fact that I got such a full bodied profile with so few leaves is amazing. It’s just not worth the price.

Thank you Andrew for a chance to try this one! Well, I’m still having a hard time getting into aged teas. I’m getting the same ash-bark-dirt flavor from the other aged oolong I had, only that one had more cherry notes. This one is mega herbal. J-Tea’s description is accurate: fungal, root like, herbal, medicinal, and similar to sarsaparilla. As it cools down, it’s peppery. I’m definitely feeling the chi though…or I had too much tea. ’Cause you know. Habits.

I still need to try more aged teas (Aged Bao Zhong 1984, you’re my main target if you do taste like almond milk and wine). I would drink this one more for energy or even medicinal reasons. Would probably help with a cold or act as a potent detox (that’s just something I personally found from experience, though there are studies about oolong generally being a detox agent).

I also know for certain that J-Tea’s descriptions are accurate, making them a vendor I will certainly try more of.

This is a qued rating because of one of the gifts in the Oolong Sampler. The two who haven’t paid, it’s being spoiled…
So the aged oolong sampler had two nice people gift the 1979 Beauty :)
I asked for two samples and got four, one of them was this.

holy shit
I’ve drank a lot of green oolong, a ton, and this went into the top 3 on the first session.
I’ll be getting 4 ounces of this next year for sure.

I should have brewed this one sooner. Oh well. I really enjoyed this anyway. It has a great aroma, flavor, and most importantly to me, a great aftertaste. The only thing it was missing for me was astringency. I think it was that. There was something missing. Maybe it’s because of the age? I’ve experienced this with another tea recently. As I swallow, the flavor almost entirely disappears, and all I really experience is a smooth, creamy texture. This might actually be a positive thing for some people, and it might grow on me. I’ll have to pick up more of this tea someday soon.

Here is another aged tea that my dog tried to eat…

Definitely getting sick today. Blah. My nose is only mildly runny, but I’m sure it’s affecting my senses at least a little bit.

The leaves look nothing like an oriental beauty. They’re all black, and don’t have that mixed “calico” tea look. I did do a quick rinse. The tea liquor becomes colored very fast, like puerh-fast, which surprised me.

This is an unusual type of tea, for sure…But I wasn’t a huge fan. I also did get a note of green peppers when I first brewed this tea, some black pepper, there was also an earthiness, some mushroom-y notes, and a lot of clay/pottery…A chalky flavor without the dry texture, if that makes sense (ETA: this is called “minerality”, duh). I’ll definitely try this again when this cold passes. I’ll be brewing a lot of flavored teas until then, I guess.

Strong brew with flash steeps :)
I really like how smooth this tea is while having the notes of bourbon in it. I didn’t think that it would contain anything detectable. However, there is a smell and flavor that comes from how this tea was stored which is wonderful to experience as I drink multiple steeps.

Also, this: https://instagram.com/p/4phpxwxYIn/

Thanks for the sample, MissB, but sorry, it isn’t my cup of tea. My palate isn’t particularly fond of smoky notes. In addition, I kept picking up on an undertone akin to an overly ripe avocado, specifically the brown spots. I don’t know, overall, it was funky. Unique, yes, I’ve never experienced a black tea like this before. But unique in an unpleasant way. Oh well, you can’t like them all.

Not the world’s most amazing tea, but it’s from my home state in my home country. Considering I’m in Oregon, USA, that’s saying something.

The leaves are very thin which appears to result in the need for longer steep times. I’d go with nice hot water and let it sit until it takes on a greenish brown color.

Unlike many black teas, the flavor is not very strong, which, in my mind, is a big plus. It’s more delicate. I’m not a huge fan of black teas (I could take them or leave them), but this is rather enjoyable.

finished this one over the weekend – super fun time tea from tastybrew! thanks again darling!

Another from tastybrew that i’ve had before and really i’m just trying to drink up since i know there is another round of the BBB Box on it’s way in a week or so when ipick things up from Terri. yes, that’s right TEA SISTERS UNITE! I get to visit with my dearest tea sister in a couple weeks. We won’t have a lot of time, but it makes this stupid work travelling worth it. I will get to play in the garden! And see terri’s sun room…and the porch and it’s going to be awesomesauce!

Another selection from the BBB Box from tastybrew! This is an interesting tea – the leaves are all over the place and dry, they small slightly sweet. brewed, this makes for a cup of tea that reminds me more of a juicy green, sweet tea than a black tea. It was an intersting cup for the morning. Glad i have more to play with and enjoy! :)

Awesome Cheri sent me a sample of this tea. I’ve been super curious about it but not willing to pay $$$ for shipping on only an ounce without trying it first. I really enjoy beer aged in bourbon barrels!

So anyway, this puerh. The bourbon barrel flavor is actually quite distinct! The shu is dark and rich and sweet. There is some astringency not normally present in shu, perhaps from the barrel? I actually quite enjoy this though! Still not sure if I’ll ever purchase it since there are so many shu puerhs I like, but I am SO glad I got to try it!

finished this one up on the weekend as well. It was delicious and fruity and tasty. Another great tea from the BBB Box – thanks again for the journey tastybrew

mmmmmm thank you tastybrew! i am really loving this today! it’s a great cup to get me moving and out the door…i hope haha

i think my taste buds are off this morning as both cups of tea that i’ve had so far, seem rather bitter. I’m going to hold off rating this one for now until i can have it again.

i swear steepster is just eating notes randomly. i’ve had this a bunch of times but i don’t see any tasting notes from me on it, and i know that i’ve done notes…several. sigh

this was one of the teas in the BBB Box from the most recent round…sadly i still have some teas from the round before that to get cracking on! Thankfully, i can get back to that after my sample insanity from the past few months lol. This is a decent puerh. I’m going to have to go through a few more steepings today after i get back from the mall ugh but so far this is shaping up to be quite tasty! there’s a sweetness here, but also an earthy quality to it. Mostly though, this is smooth and really quite tasty. I’ll see how it holds up once i get home :)

Sipdown on this one. Thanks again tastybrew! this has been a lovely tea to enjoy :) I would be inclined to get this one again in the future :)

backlog from yesterday. I’ve been really happy with this tea. I’m also super glad that my sipdowns are basically over so i can focus back on my BBB Box teas that i’ve been neglecting, especially if they are like this one! thanks again TB :)