JAS eTea

Very nice WiYu. Clean and sweet

My youngest daughter loves Lapsang tea, so my eldest daughter always buys new Lapsang for her on trips, for birthdays and Christmas, and just because. This one was for her last birthday and we have been sharing lots of it every night.

If you don’t like smoke at all, this isn’t for you. If you like super heavy smoke, you may want to reconsider. But if you like a really, knee-shakingly good base with medium smoke, here you go. I think every cup has made me moan, even though I try to prepare myself by remembering how good it is. The base is sweet and smooth and round, and the smoke isn’t heavy on the campfire and bacon vibe, just smokey.

Well done, JAS eTea. Well done.

This has been on my wishlist for a while, ever since reading mrmopar’s review, I believe. My daughter shopped from my wishlist for Christmas and I am now the proud owner of a cake!

I haven’t had a really special gong fu session in a while and decided to set aside some time tonight. I wanted to try this tea when I could give it my undivided attention.

This is the hardest cake I have had in a long time! All the cakes I have right now can be broken with your fingers, or at least with very little pressure from a pu knife. I was about to lament not owning a pu pick when I finally managed to get off enough for my wee pot.

Since the cake was so hard I decided to do a rinse. Breaking the cake had created some tiny bits of leaf that I wanted to dispose of in the rinse since hubby doesn’t like chunkies, although I don’t mind them at all. I did a five second rinse and the liquor I poured off was fairly light.

First steep was slow to color, so I gave it a few extra seconds. Right off the bat the smell and taste of this tea made me glad I was taking the time to enjoy it properly. I didn’t detect the fishy aroma some reviewers did but this has been aging for a bit longer, so maybe that took care of it. It is quite earthy and has the bolder puerh taste more than the “oiled horse tack” vibe. The texture is really what made this tea for me, though. It is so creamy/silky/oily. It has a great mouthfeel.

Second steep colored very quickly, as did the next four. At steep seven, I had to lengthen the time because the leaves were nearly spent. In spite of the lack of color, it was still an enjoyable cup. Eighth steep was pale even after a lengthy steep and the flavor almost undetectable, so we retired the leaves.

This was a lovely tea to slip back into night time gong fu again. Thank you, SuperAnna, for all the Christmas teas!

This mushroom suits me just right on a (bitterly) cold & snowy night. I’m impressed with the development and smoothness since my last session with this tea. It’s brewing up a clear and dark orange color, with a sweet earthy scent. Nice woody flavors dominate, balanced by sweet leather and maybe a hint of vanilla. A smokey addition and a hint astringency add some complexity to this straight-forward tea. Warming and comfortable is how I’d describe this one. I’ve been exploring shou recently for something on the deeper side, but this is what I’m looking for. Hopefully later vintages age as well.

Another from Stephanie. Wooooow is this fragrant. I cavalierly took a gulp and proceeded to quite literally choke. Disclaimer: pretty sure it was partially the fault of liquid trickling down into my airway, but the unexpected strength of the flavor did not help. After my coughing fit subsided, I did another couple of hummingbird-like swallows, and had to dump the cup. It was way too potent, floral and almost artificial in a way that gave me a headache. Though, again, that could have just been a residual effect of hacking up a lung. I have a hard time believing this is a “natural aroma” as the website advertises, but stranger things have happened. Not to be deterred, I brewed it up a second time to see if the flavor was a little more palatable. I should note that the rating is based on this latter steep. It is definitely better as it fades, but still much too reminiscent of accidentally walking through a cloud of perfume. There’s honeyed notes that I would enjoy in a different cup, but they’re overwhelmed here. I might try one more steep and see if there’s an improvement, but apparently I’m a green oolong girl above all else. Sorry, Dan Cong.

Thanks again for all the DANCONG samples Kieblera5

I’m going to be real honest here. This is my 3rd different dancong sample from Jas-E-Tea so far, and they’ve all been extremely similar. I can’t tell the difference between Almond and Magnolia aroma. Not sure if this is a problem with my palette or a reflection of the tea itself. Having said that they have all been quite drinkable. Not OUTSTANDING but a solid B-

I’ve also read conflicting things about DANCONG itself. Like how it gets its “aroma”…not sure who or what to believe. “It is very hard to make this natural almond flower aroma since it requires great proficiency on the part of the teamaker to process the tea and impart this delicate aroma.” From Jas-E-Tea but yet another source says " The doppelganger of teas, Dancong teas are noted for their ability to naturally imitate the flavors and fragrances of various flowers and fruits, such as orange blossom, orchid, grapefruit, almond, ginger flower, etc."

Anyway, I’ll let you guys know if any of the other DANCONGS in this set are unusual or outstanding in any way :)

Thank you for the sample kieblera5!

This is a very nice DANCONG. There are definitely some floral notes but it is not as intensely floral as some others I’ve tried. Decent level of complexity. I give this one a B- or a C+

I was given several new varieties to sample so I’m definitely going to take notes on each one and figure out which kind is my favorite!

:D

No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the bitterness out of the brew.. I steeped it the same parameters as the previous dancong, but it always had a bitter finish even when I lowered the water temperature or had shorter steeps. Not sure what I did wrong – maybe I need a dancong expert :P
Still, woodsy notes with a hint of sweetness until the bitterness hits at the end. Steeped gongfu style.

I enjoyed this dancong. Nice and full flavor with notes of wood and flowers. Nice clean finish and a very relaxing tea. Steeped gongfu style.

Haven’t done this in awhile. Got this tea from JAS-e Tea little a while ago. To start off I know nothing of yellow teas & little of whites. That said my expectations weren’t high. Would not have mattered if they were though because this tea was fabulous! Without an idea of how to prepare it I scanned around for a few until I felt just confident enough to wreck it, grabbed a gaiwan & some 155,or so, degree water, & I jumped right in. Not quite gong fu, but a healthy amount of leaf for a quick infuse. The overall buttery impression was so strong that I think of corn on the cob… the kind from the county fair… lathered in creamy butter. The vegetive was something akin to asparagus or even a fresh green bean-but sweeter. Something reminded me of rice as well. Silky smooth with no astringency (if you’ve seen me before you know about astringency and me) & a nice after flavor. I steeped it close to ten times & was still happy with what I was drinking. It started to resemble more of what I’m familiar with in a green tea as it got up in steeps with a slight metallic bite, but that initial 3-4 cups blew me away. Thanks to Stephen at JAS-e for your service.
No tune today;

I got a 15g sample and split it into two sessions. The first session I was very impressed. This note is about my second session. First steeping I shared a cup with my mom. She noted some mild bitter aftertaste. She also said “whoo, this tea is making me dizzy, I probably shouldn’t have anymore”. I didn’t want to tell her she was getting tea drunk off one cup. She is really sensitive though but I was feeling it too after the first steeping. This tea is way too strong on an empty stomach! An omelet and a pear later and I delved into the next couple steepings…

Golden color and floral scent, taste of melon and honey with an initial sweetness and mild bitter aftertaste. Very sweet for a young sheng and the melon taste was quite pleasant. The liquor has a little viscosity to it which I liked, went down very smooth and coated the mouth and throat. The cha qi character was much more enjoyable with some food in the belly. A little buzzy and out there, I would describe it. Kinda fun, but it was a little nauseating on an empty stomach.

Currently checking in around $80 this one is a little spendy, but an excellent candidate for long term storage. It will be a gem in its later years!

Sample from a very generous Steepster friend – thank you so much.
5g 100ml gaiwan 200F
rinse/pause/flush steeps
This tea is such bright yellow-orange color. Tobacco notes, slightly floral. its quite bitter but then some sweetness comes out later. i was surprised that this bitterness didnt bother me at all. Couple months ago i would just spit it out;)
I did like it and i plan to continue tomorrow. Thank you for the new experience, my tea friend. I’m learning everyday

http://instagram.com/p/uB3TL0Bwgh/

OMG this was an amazing sheng.

I drank on the leaves all day, towards the end just leaving them in my cup to continue to steep as I drink…

The first few steeps were a bit woody, but not in a bad way at all. There was some gentle smokiness too. No bitterness or astringency that I could find. Usually I enjoy sheng with a more bold fruity or floral taste/scent, which I did not get much of here at all, but wow, as this one began to open up as the steeps progressed and it sweetened, it was magical nonetheless! I guess I can appreciate the “sweet wood” type of sheng after all! I had a rough afternoon and the energy from this really helped me power through. Clarity in a cup! Thanks very much to my special Steepster friend for a sample of this one :)

I was sent a sample of this tea by a fellow Steepsterite and it has sustained me through today. It’s a sheng, and it smells like a sheng: hay and horses to my nose. The liquor is a yellowish amber and smells sweet, but not strong. It tastes sweet too with a smokiness that I liked, but the promised cha qi did not appear. Never mind. I’m convinced that cha qi is more about your relationship with the tea than it is about inherent qualities of that tea. Even without that, I enjoyed this tea and it has sustained itself well through the day. I am still getting a smoky sweet liquor after about a dozen cups although I am now up to a 1 minute steep. Still that’s pretty good. I’m off for another cup now and then a large glass of port before bed. :)

Having this one actually for the second day. I brought this one out and picked about 10 grams off the cake. I started out with a quick wash on this one . It brews a golden amber color. It has just a touch of smokiness very subdued and a woody pine with a touch of bitter to it. This brews very nice as opposed to the younger versions of this I own. It gives you a bit of the calmness after drinking in and seems to have a little “thickness” when drinking. it is a nice pretty full bodied tea to have in the cup. The taste seems to carry on a bit after drinking it.

Had this one late last night. It has some age on it and the tuocha reflects this in the color of the leaf. It brews an amber golden color. Darker than I thought for its age. It still has that smoky “bite” of the Xiaguan teas and comes across with a woody leather taste. I have only done 2 steeps so far and hopefully this will evolve away from the smokiness.

Okay, I’ve gone from not really caring for this tea at all to really enjoying it now that it has aged some. I think I need to find a few more yixing jars so that I can lay in some sheng pu-erh for aging, since I certainly can’t afford the aged stuff.

Initial review: First infusion has a very strong mineral, grassy taste (think Timothy hay, if you’re familiar) with a very grassy scent. The second infusion is still mineral and grassy but it also has a floral scent and taste. Subsequent infusions lose the mineral taste, but continue to have as much of a taste and scent of Timothy hay as well as the floral scent and taste. The finish on this tea is slightly sweet, but I did not note any scent or taste of honey. In all honesty, I’ve had plain green tea from various large chain tea companies that was just as good at nothing approaching the price of this Spring 2009 Taste of Jinggu Mountain; to say that I’m disappointed with this purchase is an understatement. I would have been much happier spending the extra $20 to buy a 2003 Yiwu Puqing Hao Green Pu-erh Tea Cake from Puerhshop.com but I wanted to try other teas as well. I guess I’ll chalk this one up to ‘live and learn’ and do my best to buy a sample of a tea before I invest in an entire bing/tuo/brick.

A note on the tea cake itself: I know bings are supposed to be tightly packed to allow for storage but this particular bing was so tightly packed one could use it as a discus at a track meet! I was very careful when I tried to pry off a few pieces of this cake and used a pu-erh knife but there was just no separating it without breaking the leaves into tiny flakes in the process. I decided to go ahead and separate this cake and put the tea into a new yixing clay jar to allow it to get some air to age and wound up with as much powder and tiny flakes of leaves as I did small chunks of tea. I was completely unable to separate the center of the cake and will try to use a nail to break it up later; the darn thing could have been used by Wayne Gretzky for hockey practice it was so solid. I just hope a few years in a nice yixing jar will make this tea worth the trouble.

This has been stored well it has no sharpness left in it. Very nice and almost sweet on the sides of the tongue. Pale light green brew,very nice to just sit and inhale the aroma. Not an overpowering one by far. Very nice and easy to drink. I think this will just get better and better with age.